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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3868, 28 July 1873, Page 2

It is understood that a survey will be held on the ship William Tapscofct to-day ; and that the depositions of the ship's company will be taken, pending a fuller inquiry by the head Consul of the United States of America. As yet nothing further has transpired regarding the shocking occurrences which took place on board that now notorious vessel ; but it appears that the reports regarding the leaky state of the vessel were well founded, as the pumps have been kept actively going since the arrival of the vessel in port. The decks, too, appear to be in a very shaky condition. This state of things is not very surprising, as the vessel is decidedly ancient. The Carandini company had the gratification of performing to an excellent house on Saturday evening, while the audience had the pleasure of sitting through an exquisite entertainment. The programme was copious and varied, and contained some of the choicest of vocal gems. Madame Carandini frequently threw a spell over many of the audience, and led their senses captive. Misses Rosina and Fannie were applauded to the echo, Mr Gordon meeting with like flattering encomiums. It is doubtful whether Mr Cotterell ever was more amusing or happy than in the delineation of Lady Clara Trembleton and her lovers. No performance will be given this evening. On Tuesday Miss Fannie takes her benefit, under the patronage of Captain Challis and officers of H.M.S. Rosario. The fine bracing weather of Saturday afternoon attracted a fair number of the Football Club and other persons to bhe Basin Reserve. The result wa3, sides of nine each were picked. The game was played according to the rules of the association, and some lively kicking ensued. Sides, however, were so equally matched that the match was drawn without a goal having been kicked, though two tries were made. We learn that the Nelson Football Club will send a team to Wellington sometime during the month. The usual winter course of lectures given in connection with the Presbyterian Church will be inaugurated on Monday week next under the auspices of his Excellency the Governor. The Hon Mr Bathgate will deliver the opening lecture, and will take for his subject " Life in Scotland," a theme which, judging from our past experience of the hon gentleman's ability when treating of anything bearing upon his nationality, will be made deeply interesting, being one on which he will enter con amove. Too much credit cannot be given to the promoters of these lectures for their public spirit, as they intend to devote the proceeds for the benefit of the Athenseum, the resources of which have lately been at zero. Mr Keogh's friends did not forget him on Saturday evening. The entertainment was, by comparison with that class with which the theatre opened, somewhat unique ; but while portions of the selections were very mediocre, many of the fragments were well chosen and rendered with commendable ability. As an evening's amusement the audience had no reason for dissatisfaction, and testified as much in that boisterous manner which appears to be the prerogative of the pit. A complete change is advertised for this evening. The first of the Assembly balls for this season will be given this evening at the Odd Fellows' Hall, and will commence at 8.45. The only case of even ordinary interest heard before the Resident Magistrate on Saturday was a disagreement arising out of the infelicities of wedded life, in which the wife sought a protection order from her liege lord, who appeared to be anything but a bread-winner. The application was granted. The Chairman of the House Committee will move to-morrow a resolution affirming the necessity of providing a room in the front lobby for the convenience of persons coming to see members of the Legislature. This is a move in the right direction. Major Atkinson will ask leave tomorrow to introduce a bill to enable the Superintendent of Taranaki to sit and vote in the Provincial Council of that province. A man named Thomas Green, who was a few days ago sentenced at Foxton to three months' imprisoment, was brought down yesterday by the Napier, and lodged in gaol. Advices have been received that the apparatus for the Napier light, to be erected on the bluff, is on board the ship Lennox Castle, which left London for this port on the 7th of May last. The Hon. E. W. Stafford arrived at Wellington on Saturday by the steamer Ladybird. A deputation has arrived from Westport for the purpose of urging upon the , Government the construction of a railway from the Ngakawau coal mine to the Buller. The National Bank of New Zealand has purchased an eligible site for new offices at Nelson, near to the Bank of New Zealand, the price paid for the site was £1500. The recent snow storm at Nelson was the heaviest known for twenty-four years. All the hills round the city were covered thickly, and there were several inches of snow on the plains. Two bags of the coal recently discovered at the Oroua River, in the Nelson Province, have been sent to the Colonial Geologist for his report thereon. We have seen a sample of the coal which is quite equal to the Grey coal. The seam just discovered is only thin, but is expected to deepen. Snovr fell on Major Atkinson's farm at New Plymouth on Monday last. A new use of paper is that of forming it into window shutters, which are said to be fire proof. The paper pulp, while wet, is pressed over a thin sheet-iron plate, which gives body to the shutter, while the exterior form is obtained from the mould in which it is pressed. Some back sections in Milton (Tokens airiro) are reported by the local papers to have been sold at the rate of £600 per acre.

Some of the residents of Alexandra, Otago, have been enjoying skating on the dams there. The Surgeon-Superintendent of the Hokitika Hospital has been reprimanded by the committee for attending a public ball. The "Bay of Plenty Times" learms that Messrs L. and'F. Simpson have completed twenty-five miles from the Ormond terminus of the Opotiki and Poverty Bay road. The estimated revenue of the County of Westland for the ensuing half year is £20,037, and the expenditure £19,898. The revenue is less than half it was five years ago. Some prospectors in the Northern Territory are asking £4000 cash for their interest in claims there. Two tons of quartz from the Princess Louise mine, shipped per Gothenburg, has been insured at the declared value of £3000. j The manufacture of quartz crushing machinery has been commenced at Nelson, a ten-stamp battery having jusb been constructed for a West Coast company, by Mr Moutray of that place. The "Nelson Examiner," in noticing the defeat of the " Animals Importation Prohibition Bill," naively says: — Although the bill was a Government measure, it is not likely Ministers will regard their defeat aa a vote of no confidence. " We should think not, indeed ! The electoral roll for the Buller district has assumed portentous dimensions, and the local paper considers if voters enrolled thereon exercise their privileges with discretion, at the proper moment, their influence will turn the scale in favor of any candidate for the Superintendental election. A find of gold has recently been made on one of the terraces bordering on the Wangapeka river that is calculated once more to bring prominently before the public that once famous but now almost forgotten district. A few weeks ago, says the Nelson "Mail," a nice little parcel of gold, consisting of 200oz, was brought into town, being the result of six weeks' working by a party of three men, who have dropped upon a ' ' run" of gold that they think is likely to afford them profitable occupation for some time to come. A recent visitor to the Dunedin Industrial School supplies the following statistics : — Of the 96 inmates, 55 are boys, 41 girls. . Somewhere about 34 have been admitted during the year, and about 37 hired out or discharged, and 2 have died. Those hired out amount to 20 boys and 9 girls. This gives a good idea of the school since its opening in January, 1869. The greatest cai*e is taken of those who are hired out. They are not lost sight of, and reliable testimony speaks well of them. Their little savings, amounting from £5 to £20 each, form a nest egg for the boys and a dowry for the girls. The average cost of each child is 4s lid per week. Of the £1453 expended out of the Government vote, £549 is for salaries. Somewhere about £200 lias been obtained from the parents for maintenance. The boys, at least those who are able, attend the garden and farm, and the girls mend and make clothes and generally assist. The principle of constructing roads upon land payments has not been found to succeed in Westland. The other day the County Chairman stated in the Council that the method of payments by land had been tried, but was not found to work satisfactorily. There was a tendency on the part of members to scrutinize less severely the nature of the work required, and he feared that work to the value of £1 per acre was not obtained. He quoted examples as a proof, also that high prices were paid for work so paid for, and also that in addition to losing its land, the County alao lost the cost of survey, which was very considerable. We are informed by the ' ' Grey River Argus" that the Greymoufch Coal Company is about to be prominently brought before the public oi New Zealand, and the work of opening up the mine shortly commenced. Arrangements have been made, at a meeting of the directors, which it is to be hoped will enable them to place all the remaining unsold shares in the principal towns of the colony. The directors are determined to lose no time in proceeding with the practical working of these coal seams, in the opening and development of which it is their intention to secure the services of a practical engineer and coalmining manager from Newcastle. The exceedingly liberal manner in which the Government has met the company — in granting a lease for twenty-one years, with right of renewal ; to select, during twelve months, 1000 acres of the reserve, by charging no royalty ; and making the | rental the nominal sum of £20 per annum, cannot fail to induce the public to take an interest in this promising investment. i The * 'Argus" says that : — A melancholy, almost mournful interest, attaches to the death of Carlo Patti, the violinist, which took place at St Louis, of consumption, i in his 31st year, Carlo Patti was born in the green-room of the Theatre Royal, Madrid, during the performance of the opera of "Norma," in the winter of 1842. His mother, then a popular prima donna, on the evening of Iris birth, lent her superb voice to the first two acts of that sublime creation, but was forced, from her indisposition, to desist from attempting ally further strain, and retired to her room, where, shortly after, young Patti was born. He was well known in this city as musical director of the Grand Opera House, and leader of the famous Ninth Regiment band. He was a violinist of rare merit (besides his blood connexion with one of the most distinguished names in histrionic annals, being own brother to Adelina, Carlotta, and Amelia Patti), yet the strains which had brought tears of sadness and of laughter to the eyes of his heaters while living, and replenished his too-often depleted exchequer, to say nothing of the sacred ties of affection, failed to wring from his hard-hearted relatives a sum sufficient to bury him decently. His kind-hearted musician friends supplied their place. His unfortunate marriage with Mdlle. Pieris is believed to have been the sole cause of this cruel heartlessness on the part of hi 3 sisters and immediate relatives. The ' ' Nelson Examiner" opposes the Miners' Franchise Extension Bill introduced by Mr O'Conor. It says : — " To give the mining body the power spoken of, will virtually be to place the government of the province in the hands of a body of sojourners and men who have little or no stake in the country, ignoring altogether the interests of those who have made the country their home and invested in it their savings — the proceeds of years of toil and industry. We cannot believe the Government would support a measure of bo mischievous a character. Even manhood suffrage would be preferable to a bill such as this, which would enfranchise practically the whole adult population of goldfields, while it would leave a large class of intelligent men in the settled districts without the privilege of voting. So one-sided and mischievous a bill could net have emanated from the brain of a statesman, and therefore we cannot believe that Mr Yogel has given it his'

sanction. There can be no reasonable ground for this reported concession. The elective qualification is so low — in the country the possession of a tenement worth £5 a-year — that any person who has the slightest claim to be regarded as a resident can acquire a qualification if he will take the trouble to seek it. Some show of argument may be found for going out of the regular course to give the miners the power to elect their representatives — but the election of the chief executive officer of the province is another affair 1 , and to make him the nominee of a body of men having no permanent stake in the colony will be a serious blunder. On the morning of the 15th inst (says the "Taranaki News") a pretty heavy whirlwind passed, over our fair city, doing a considerable amount of damage. It seemed to pass over the Sugar Loaves, coming across by Young street, knocking down a large portion of fencing, and lifting an old house near Mr Smith's from the section it was erected on over a fence on to the middle of the road ; at the same time knocking Mr Smith's chimney over. It then went in the direction of the barrack hill, paying Mr Trigger's brewery a visit, capsising the casks and rolling them all over the yard, looking as if thej had take^ too much liquor over night, and had been dancing it off. not being able to regain their proper positions 1c the morning. It also struck the new Catholic Chapel which is in course ol erection in Devon street, straining it considerably, and knocking down twe chiniHeys belonging to the Rev Lampilia'i house, and severely damaging a house belonging to Mr Revell. But the barrack hill seems to have stopped its wild career, as we can find no further trace oJ its destructive power. The following social statistics of Levuka, the capital of Fiji, are supplied bj a correspondent of the ' * Sydney Morning Herald" : — Taking the religious bodies according to their numerical strength, th« Wesleyans come first. They have a wellbuilt and comfortable (but not handsome^ stone church for the white congregation, and two chapels 'for the natives. There are §two resident missionaries, besides native assistant missionaries and teachers. The Anglicans have one clergyman, whe officiates in a handsome wooden church (which is shortly, they say, to be replaced by a stone building), and has a large congregation. The K-oman Catholics have two priests (Frenchmen), and decidedly the best church — of wood, but with a spire and a small peal of bells. There are schools in connection with each of the two former churches, and there is talk of a Roman Catholic school, but no good nonsectarian school is either in existence or, if started, would be likely for some time to come to meet with sufficient support. [ The learned professions are represented by ten practising advocates and four medicalmen, two of whom are undoubtedly well qualified. There are also two chemists. The establishments of the merchants and storekeepers are the most numerous. Of these there are sixteen. I There are three cotton-ginning establishments, three auction marts, six commission agencies, one agency for a number of insurance companies, &c, two newspaper offices, fourteen hotels (and a fifteenth, of large dimensions, in course of erection), three private "boarding establisnments, twelve builders and carpenters, nine shipwrights and boatbuilders, one Bailmaking establishment, two butcheries, three bakeries, one tobacconist's shop, two hairdressers, two drapers, two photograph establishments, two tailors, two bootmakers, one cordial manufactory, two painters, three surveyors, one engineer, four dressmakers ' and millinery, two dairies, one blacksmith's shop, one cooper, two gardeners, and four watermen. There may be, and doubtless are, some othei business establishments or working tradesmen of whom I have not heard. The "Southern Cross," of the 21s1 inst, after referring to the projected applications for financial loans for the purpose of carrying on colonizing operations from the Provinces of Wellington and Otago, remarks that both the town oi Auckland and the goldfields are greatly in need of extended gaol, hospital, and lunatic asylum accommodation, that their trunk roads are out of repair, and that a more effective survey of their waste lands is much needed, and suggests that foi these and other legitimate purposes a loar of £150,000 to £200,000 be asked for the use of Auckland Province from the General Assembly during the preseni session. The settlers of Fiji are, many of them, very despondent upon the fall in the price of the cotton, and a large proportion of them are so heavily indebted, that, what with this sudden reduction of their profits, and the difficulty of procuring labor, there is certain to be some serious defaults, causing many fine plantations to change hands, and bringing ruin upon some who had every prospect a short time back of speedily raising a competence. But the resources of the group are immense ; and such as are sufficiently enterprising and ■well up to try their hands at new industries are already busy. Sugar-growing is attracting general attention, and is found to pay very well, but to require more capital than many are able to command. Coffee of excellent quality is being produced, b\it both the plantations and their products want age. Maize, which grows with wonderful luxuriance, and produces abundant crops, has been shipped to Auckland, and corba is producible in any quantity, and with a certain profit, although not a very large one ; but nearly everything has hitherto yielded to the one great staple — Sea Island cotton. A Napier paper furnishes the following peculiarities of that harbor : — A considerable sized island has formed at the mouth of the inner harbor within the past two days, evidently the result of the late southerly gale. The island is of the extent of about an acre, and is fully four feet above three-quarter tide water mark. The mere fact of this island being so speedily formed is nothing new, similar accumulations of gravel have been known to come and go for the past sixteen years or more, but taken in connection with the proposed breakwater, they assume a more serious aspect than formerly. There is one theory to the effect that the beach extending from the mouth of the N?aruroro and Tuki Tuki rivers to the Ahuriri Bluff, and the Eastern and Western Spits, have been formed by the shingle washed out to sea by the abovenamed rivers, that during every freshet an enormous amount of gravel is swept into the bay, and that it ia gradually, by the action of the tide and waves, thrown up on the beach ; that there being, comparatively speaking, no beach to the southward of the mouth of the Ngaruroro, it shows that tho shingle steadily travels towards Napier and Port Ahuriri, and after every southerly gale, an island of more or less extent is formed at the mouth of the harbor. The Castle Point mail contractor keeps his time well, no matter how bad . the roads. The mail is seldom late, through rivers sometimes require to be swam.