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Wellington Independent, Issue 3882, 13 August 1873, Page 2

The construction of the Hntt Railway is progressing, but it is evidently on the , " hasten slowly" principle. Everything goes on "with a leisureliness that is snr- ' prising. Indeed, ordinary people, who I expect to see contractors putting out all their energy in order to be* in readiness ! for another job in these days of multitudinous undertakings in tho public -works line, think that this railway must be looked iipon by the contractor as a bit of work to be done in spare time between the performance of other and more exigent works ; or that the Brogdens must have some great engineering trick in reserve which will enable them to complete it within the contract time. It. may be so, but appearances are decidedly against the feasibility of that realisation at pre- j sent. As things look' just now, anyone would think that Kaiwarra and Pipitea Point were the termini, for beyond these tAVO points there is very little doing. It must, however, be said chat the work so far is being turned out in a substantial • manner. The sea wall especially gives promise of answering expectations. The late wintry weather and high spring tides have not affected the stonework slope detrimentally. It bears the marks of the wash and slime of the sea without any break or subsidence in the rubble facing. The track is laid, ballasted, and fenced almost to Kaiwarra, and a substantial looking bridge i 3 erected over the stream at that village, close to the slaughterhouse on the seaAvard side. The s.s. Ladybird arrived from the wreck of the Rangitoto yesterday after- j noon, with the principal portion of the rigging of the submerged steamer, a couple of anchors, and various other odds and ends taken from her. None of the cargo, it appears, could be got at. Indeed, there was very little time during which work could be carried on since the Ladybird left here —in all not more than tAVO days, owing to tho tempestuous Aveather. It is satisfactory to learn that, notwithstanding two severe gales — one from the northtwest and the other from the south-east — the wreck has apparently sustained but little if" any additional damage ; and though shifted about fourteen feet from her original position, she is much securer now than before, and less likely to be damaged by the surging Avaves. A few days ago her forecastle deck Avas out of the Avatei', and only about half the keel resting upon terra fir ma, the after part of the wreck swinging loose. Now, however, the hull has settled down upon an even bottom, yet not so deep but that the top of the figure-head shows above the water. It has been ascertained that beyond the original rent where she struck, and which is about four feet long and six inches Avicle, the rest of tho bottom is perfectly sound. Experts in the Avork of raising think that if the appliances with which the Taradaki was raised Avere once placed in readiness to commence Avork with, the Rangitoto might be floated and pumped out in two tides. The public evince a hearty sympathy in the success of the N.Z.S.S. Co in this work, and so far circumstances favor tho hope that the Rangitofco will yet be steamed in this harbor. His Worship the Mayor Avas a passenger by the Albion yesterday, and it is refreshing to see that he looks none the wotse for his trip to Australia.

The lecture delivered last night by the ' Venerable Archdeacon Stock, on the transit of Venus, was highly interesting. T,he lecturer explained that the chief object of the interest taken in the transit was that, it would afford a means of measuring the exact distance between the' earth and the sun. He referred to the \ knowledge of the early astronomers on the subject, and pointed out that those | of Greece who came a long time after the ' building of the pyramids of Egypt, had no idea of the distance of the sun from the earth, while the lecturer beheved that the astronomers of Egypt had an exact knowledge of the distance. There was one of the pyramids of Egypt whose height was exactly one-thousandth millionth part of the distance which now, by the most eminent astronomers, was calculated to be the mean distance. He th&n explained the principles of Kepler's discovery of measurement, the one on which the distances of -the heavenly bodies up to the • present day are calculated. Although the result of Kepler's observations placed the sun at abotit eightysix millions miles distant, it was not not through any fundamental error in the principle, but simply through the want of preciseness in the instruments. Since then great progress had been made in the mechanical sciences, and the distances have been variously estimated from between ninety-two to 2iinety-five million miles. The lecturer explainod, in the. most lucid manner, the mode by which the sun's diameter was found, and concluded by pointing out that the more science advanced the more was to be seen the great harmony with which the Creator had regulated the motions of the heavenly bodies. He illustrated the subject by diagrams, which greatly added to the elucidation of the matter dealt with. Of course, the foregoing is only an epitome of the able lecture delivered, at the conclusion of which His Excellency moved a vote of thanks to the venerable lecturer, in the course of which he remarked that he had come there to be instructed, no doubt, like the majority of the audience, and he would say that he would leave with a clear idea of the rudiments of the subject. He trusted that they would not rest with this, but that they would go more fully into this most interesting study. I)r Hector seconded the Vote of thanks, which was carried by acclamation. The seconder then explained the action .which had been taken to have a j>roper observation of the transit, which would take place' on the 9th December, 1874. As it was thought necessary by the leading astronomers in Great Britain that there should be an observatory station placed as far south as was possible, he (the lecturer) deemed it the dutj r of these colonies to give their aid in the matter, and suggested that Victoria should fit out an expedition, as she had the most complete astronomical staff, and that the other colonies should contribute to the cost of the undertaking. A vote of thanks to the chairman (Dr Hector) concluded this very instructive evening's entertainment. The following telegrams were transmitted through the British Australian Telegraph Company's cable from Port Darwin during the week ending July 26 : New Zealand sent 2 and received 3 ; South Australia sent 10, received 5 ; Victoria sent 33, received 49 ; New South Wales sent 20, received 30 ; Queensland sent 4, received 2. Total, 158. By the fortunate intervention of Messrs Jackson and Graham's watchman on Monday evening a probable fatal accident was prevented. This time the rescued person was a woman, who, having business on the Queen's Wharf, was deluded by the dim uncertain light, and very nearly fell into the bay. Her fall was broken by one of the fenders, to which she clung, and from which she was efxtrii cated by the watchful " Bosun." The Wellington Co-operative Society held their eighth half-yearly meeting last night. The chairman (Mr Micaiah Read) read the report for the last six months, from which we glean the following facts : — The business of the Society has increased so much during the past half-year that the present premises have been found inadequate to the requirements of customers, who are daily waited upon and served in all parts of the town, as is the practice with other ■ grocery establishments. This is a significant fact. The present premises have been twice altei"ed and enlarged, and are still found to be too small. Arrangements have therefore been made for obtaining a much larger buildiug. The balance-sheet showed that after incurring various expenses of an exceptional character, there was still sufficient profit to pay a dividend of Is 6d in the £ on all purchases made by members during the half-year, besides the full dividend of six 2>er cent per annum on all paid up ! shares, and leaving a small balance in hand for the purpose of increasing stock. Besides the usual articles disposed of in the grocery business, the committee have found it necessary to add to the list | bread, china, and earthenware. It appears also that the Society's store has received considerable patronage from the outside public, and the committee promise to spare no effort to retain the patronage of all classes of customers. The performance at the Oddfellows' Hall last night, for the benefit of Mr Arthur Vivian, the comique, was well attended. Owing to the indisjiosition of one of the principal female artistes, a change was made in the programme. The farce of " Nan the Good for Nothing" commenced the entertainment, in which Mr and Mrs Sam Howard .appeared. It went off excellently. The burden of the second part fell upon Mr Vivian, who aang a number of songs in capital stylo, and which were highly applauded by the audience. Owing to the impediments on the road through the recent heavy weather, the Wanganui coach did not arrive last night. It is expected, however, that it will reach here to-day. Police business was light yesterday. Thomas Edwards was fined 10s for being drunk and disorderly. George Blues and William Welsh, for deserting the ship William Davie, were remanded till Monday next, when they will be put on board again. A protection order was granted to Ellen Gibson, wife of Thomas Gibson. John Boil, for asaalting R. S. Whitelock, was find 245, or given the option of forty'oight hours' imprisonment with hard labor in default.