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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3974, 10 December 1873, Page 2

The provisional directors of £he Wellington Sugar Refining Company met yesterday at Messrs Bethune and Hunter's office. It was reported to the meeting that 1300 shares had been taken up, and a belief was expressed that in a short time matters would be so far advanced that the company would be registered. A prospectus lva£ approved of, and agents for the sala/of shares were appointed throughout/flic colony. A deputation will wai£x6n his Honor the Superintendent at "half-past 11 on Thursday morning, to prefer a request for a grant of land on which to erect the company's works. The gentlemen present at the meeting had every confidence in the company being successfully launched very soon. It seems the master painters and their journeymen are not yet at perfect peace. The paragraph which appeared in our yesterday's issue did not correctly represent the views of the masters, who have made an advance of la a day to a few only of the hands whom they deem to be worth 11s a day. The majority of the men to whom the increase was refused are now out on strike, and, according to the present disposition of the employers, are likely to remain out. One employer, who has some pressing contracts on hand, has agreed to a uniform advance among his hands, but the rest are determined to maintain a firm stand until helped out of their difficulty by the arrival of a supply of tradesmen from some of the other colonies.

A youthful Bedouin named Thomas Hollis was brought up by his father at the Resident Magistrate's Cturt yesterday, charged with vagrancy. It appeal's that tho young scapegrace has set parental authority at defiance, and evinced a decided distaste for the industrial arts, preferring a precarious kind of subsistence on board the vessels in harbor and sleeping under tarpau'.ins. He had recently come home in a scarcely recognisable condition, having contrived to smear himself with smut in the congenial occupation of rubbing pots and kettles on board some vessel in harbor. The Bench took a very sensible view of the matter, and on the suggestion of Inspector Atcheson, remanded the case for a week, with the view of affording an opportunity of sending the lad to sea, where his penchant for tarpaulins will have full scope for indulgence.

Lamplighters are associated in most people's minds with ladders, but the man who lights the Wellington lamps adopts a novel and easy mode of doing his business. Many a visitor to Wellington has been astonished and amused to see him ride smartly up to a post, jump on the saddle, and light the lamp, then slidiug into his seat and cantering away on his round. In this way he must be able to do as much work as several men on foot carrying ladders. Tho whole arrangement is highly ludicrous, but one cannot help admiring the man's ingenuity, while laughing at the grotesque character of the performance. This is not news to dwellers in the city, but it will be most assuredly to other folks.

There was a large attendance yesterday at the continuation of Messrs Joseph Nathan and Co.'s sale of the whole of their stock of general merchandise. Mr Duncan succeeded in making buyers operate a little more freely than on the first day. Prices therefore ruled a shade higher, although still sufficiently low to show the unreserved character of the sale, and to strongly tempt purchasers to increased operations. The sale will be renewed at 10 o'clock this morning, when lot No. 797 in the catalogue will be the first submitted.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, Ann Parker, brought up on suspicion of lunacy, was remanded for a wsek. Stephen Carrick, schoolmaster at Porirua, was fined 40s and costs for somewhat severely chastising a little girl with a stick,

A smart shock of earthquake was felt at Taranaki, on Monday the Ist instant. The Taranaki cricketers have sent a challenge to the Wanganui club to play home and home matches this season.

The first anniversary meeting of the Wesloyan Church, Thorndon, was celebrated last evening by a tea and public meeting in the Church. A report of the meeting appears in another column.

The Highland Corps met for the usual annual inspection drill last evening on the piece of waste land near the Albion Hotel. There was a good muster of members of the corps, and the inspection was on the whole favorable to the com-

pany,

The connection with the water mains for supplying the wharf and shipping with water was completed yesterday, and further progress was made with the air test opposite the Supreme Court, by affixing the guages and other necessary apparatus for ascertaining the pressure in the pipes.

The Civil cases dealt with at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday were of an unimportant character. In the case of Somerville v. Stewart, an action brought to recover the value of a horse killed and damage to a horse and harness, which had been hired by defendant, judgment was given for £30.

The survey of the Paraekerutu Block, for which a large staff lias been despatched by the Provincial Government, has caused very great satisfaction in the district. It is believed that the opening up of so large an area, will give rise to a large amount of settlement. The soil throughout the block is said to be very rich.

The Wanganui cricketers, says the " Evening Herald," speak in glowing terms of the very cordial reception given them by the Wellington cricketers, clearly proving that the angry feeling formerly existing has now happily been forgotten. It is very probablcrthat the Wellington men may visit AVanganui at the New Year, coming with the boating people ; if so, a match might be arranged for New Year's Day. The Wellington cricketers understand that a match will be played at Wanganui during the gala.

The installation of officers of the Waterloo Lodge of Freemasons took place at the usual monthly meeting of the Lodge, which was held last evening, at the Masonic Hall, Boulcott street. The following are the appointments for the ensuing year : — Right Worshipful Master, J. R. Yonge ; Deputy Master, Dr Johnston ; Substitute Master, G. Downes ; D. P. Player," S.W. ; W. Lowes, J.W. ; C. P. Powles, Treasurer ; C. B. Press, Secretary ; J. R. Brown, S.D. ; C. Ellison, J.D. ; — . M'Kirdy, I.G. ; E. Buok, Tyler.

The entertainment given last evening by the Ethiopian Serenaders was a very great success, both in respect to the excellence of the entertainment itself and of the number in attendance. The Odd Follows' Hall was crowded in every part, and the applause must have convinced the performers that their efforts to please had been most successful. There were of course some shortcomings which evinced the lack of stage experience on the part of many members of the troupe : but, on the other hand, there were in the ranks of the Serenaders two or three adepts in the nigger class of entertainment whose abilities are quite equal to many of the best professionals who have ever visited Wellington. The Christy airs in the first part of the entertainment required a little more finish to make them thoroughly acceptable to the auditory, but any deficiencies in this respect were out-balanced by the humor of the cornermen, who sustained their parts with a vigorous garrulity becoming their situations in such a performance. As an aid to the organ fnnd of St Mary's Cathedral, for which purpose the concert was given, the results of the performance must bo most gratifying.

This interesting piece of European political conjecture is from the letter of the London correspondent of the " Argus :" — From the diplomatic history of 1866 and 1870 we have learned that on both occasions Austria and France fully intended to co-operate against Germany. On both occasions the scheme was frustrated by the same mischance. In 1866 Austria was utterly routed before France had time to come to her ail ; in 1870 Austria, equally cautious as was France four years previously, in her turn let her ally begin the dance alone, and, in consequence, was likewise too late to assist. These being the patent facts about the past, it is naturally inferred that the late allies, having sensibly suffered from former remisness, will take good care to pursue a different course, and start together should they ever combine again. But there are considerable obstacles in the way of their doing so. Germany having been welded into a united country by the result of the two last campaigns, is so very much stronger than she was then, that both France and Austria may well hesitate before rousing her afresh. France, indeed, fiery and irrepressible, may be hurled into any imprudence by a sudden .paroxysm of rage ; but Austria is governed by an irresolute Sovereign, who finds' it difficult to make up his mind or to commit himself to a definite course, even after having wound himself up to the proper pitch, and whoso hesitation is necessarily increased by the reflection that the state he governs is hardly strong enough to be lightly exposed to a repetition of hard knocks. There is also the possibility that Russia, being Austria's antagonist in the East, might succour Germany ; or that Italy, dreading her own fate should Germany fall, might divest herself of tho mixed feelings of fear and affection with which she looks upon France, and courageously take her stand by the side of this country. All of which has a distinct tendency to render Austria doubly circumspect, and to dissuade France from rushing upon Germany, unless, indeed, she is carried away by a sudden access of fury, and determines to take another leap in the dark even more dangerous than the 1 last.

The London correspondent of the Melbourne "Argus" gives the following sensational item of gossip : — Was the Duke of Berry, the father of the pretender, the Count de Chambord, guilty of bigamy ? Was he a wedded man in England when, in 1816, he married the Princess Caroline of Naples, mother to the Count of Chambord ? It is wellknown that the Duke of Berry, second son of the Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. , followed his family in emigration, and married in London, in 1806, Mrs Brown — who is still alive, and residing at Boulogne-sur-Mer — having issue two daughters married, one to the Marquis de Charette and the other to the Prince of Faucigny Lusinge. I had the honor, when young, to be personally acquainted with those two ladies, having frequently met them at the house of an old nobleman, the Count de Courchanges, author of tho " Souvenirs de Mdme de Cre'qui, who perfectly knew the whole story, and often spoke of it to me. All the nobility of the Faubourg St Germain

looked upon them as being true princesses of the house of Bourbon, born in lawful marriage of the Duke of Berry and Mrs Brown, although the marriage was subsequently declared null and void by Louis XVIII., as having been contracted without his consent. In good sooth, neither the law nor the church has ever allowed the pretended claims of the kings of France to annul the marriage of the princes of their house, and Louis XVIII. had assuredly no right in this respect, since when he was restored to the throne, he abolished the law for divorce. But if Mdme de Charette and Mdme de Faucigny are legitimately born, we must necessarily conclude that the Count de Chambord is base born. There can be no possible mistake, bigamy being inadmissable both in a civil and religious point of view.

The " Evening Star" speaks as follows of the want of enterprise of Auckland merchants. "With that lack-a-daisy spirit for which our Auckland merchants are distinguished in the commercial world of New Zealand, the trade of Poverty Bay, as well as that of Napier, is drifting away to Wellington. Our merchants see this, and admit it, and they bow as unto the decrees of fate. We observe that Mr M'Millan brought the matter up in our local Chamber of Commerce, and received, something very nearly akin to a snubbing for his pains. A correspondent of "Land and Water" relates an interesting incident concerning sharks. In 1859 I visited the spot near Kawaihee, on Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, where the lava poured into the sea, after running' GO miles down the mountain from the mouth of the volcanic crater. We went down in a whaleboat, and, as we approached the spotinthe night, the effect of the great masses of red-hot lava flowing into the sea, hissing, seething, and bubbling like a million of steam engines blowing off steam, was startling and most fearful. But something more fearful still met otu gaze. It was a sight of — well I do not exaggerate in saying tens of thousands — of immense sharks as thick as they could swim, close in alongside the rocks, and seemingly comfortable and happy, and intent only on their own situation. Some of the wretches were nearly twenty feet long, and there they went continually rolling over and mixing in with each other ; indeed, a horrible and disgusting mass. It may have been the warmth of the water that attracted them, perhaps its sulphurous fumes. They were not there in search of food ; at all events, did not seem to be eating, only playing about and enjoying themselves.

Surgeons of immigrant ships have onerous and responsible duties to perform, and it not unfrequently happens that they get accused, wrongfully, by discontented passengers, of being guilty of unkindness and neglect. The " New Zealand Herald" refers to a case of the kind : — Two charges were brought against Dr Coughtrey, the Surgeon-Superintendent of the Chile. One was for ordering a sluggard to be pulled out of bed, because he persisted in lying there after the regulation hour. This case having been patiently listened to by the Immigration Commissioners, was disposed of by the Board reprimanding the second officer for the ill-advised act of pulling the clothes off the man's bed (and that of his wife), and they recommended a milder form of procedure, in the shape of a sousing from a bucket of water. The second case was more serious. An immigrant, -whose wife had died on the passage out through a complication of complaints, brought a charge against the doctor of refusing her proper nourishment. The complainant signally failed to produce one title of evidence in support of his grave, though unfounded charge. As an instance of this man's character, may be mentioned that when the woman was asking from her bed for assistance, he refused with foul expressions. He admitted having often knocked her about, but justified himself by saying that it was only with his open hand. And ere her lifeless body had sunk in its ocean-grave he was, according to the evidence given, engaged in chaffing with his fellow-pas-sengers about her -wearing apparel, and offering to sell his dead wife's "pads" to the highest bidder.

There are many ways of keeping, or attempting to keep, eggs fresh. Tha following seems both simple and efficacious : — Dissolve shellac in sufficient spiritß of wine to make a varnish with which to varnish the egg when fresh laid. This will form a thin coating over the egg, like glass, quite impervious to the air, and can be removed at the end of a couple of years, as has been proved, and the egg be found perfectly fresh, and suited to any of the uses to which a new laid egg is applied.