News Of The Week.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 1, 27 April 1883, Page 9

News Of The Week.

\ FBIDAY. Margaret and Frederick Wain were brought before J. Logan, Esq., •J.P., yesterday on a charge of the manslaughter of Joseph Henry Waio, a child of seven. The Crown Prosecutor said the intention was to prove a long course of cruel and inhuman treatment of the tihild, likely to cause tuberculosis, or to develop it where there was a tendency towards it and make it become dangerous. Madina Doyle, who had lived near the accused at May Bank, said that the deceased looked a poor, starved, ill-used child. She had heard sounds as if be were being beaten coming from the hous n , an I heard the child cry •out mournfully : "Oh, mother ! Oh, mother !" to which Mrs. Wain made a rough answer. Deceased used not to play like other children. Agnes McGrath, aged eleven, had seen the deceased put into a room in the Grand Stand at the Caledonian Grounds by his father, who then locked the door and walked away. Margery Diack had lived next door to the accnsed at May Bank. The child was generally kept outside and often in bad weather ; she had seen him out from 7 a.m., till 5 p.m. ; he used to come and ask witness for bread, which ,he seemed much in need of, and ate very, fast ; she had seen Mrs. beat him. Mary Ann M'Kay said the deceased had come to her father's house at South Dunedin on Jan. 28 ; he looked cold and miserable, and asked for food, which was given to him. She noticed that his arm had been broken, and his forehead was marked. Martha M'Eachern had seen the child standing on the ledge of a window at his father's house. He was trembling, and seemed raving to get out for a drink. He was without shoes or stockings, and had a cut on his forehead and a black eye. He ate the bread she gave him ravenously, but she could not raise the windew to give him a drink. He looked cold, hungry, and frightened. On March 2nd, he came ont of the window and tried to climb over witness's fence ; he was cold and shivering, and she gave him something to eat, The witness gave some farther details of the treatment the child had received from his stepmother, and of which he had told her. The Court was adjourned until noon to-day. At the first meeting of the Western Germany Inundation Belief Fund, held in Dunedin last night, the hon. treasurer read a report showing that the sum of £172 15s 6d had been collected, leaving the net sum of £162 3s 4d for transmission to Germany. The Dunedin Town Belt, opposite the residence of the late Hon. H. S. Chapman, is to be replanted, — ie having been denuded of bash.

The scene of the supposed murder near Roxburgh was not far from the junction of Shingle Creek, where the Chinaman, Ah Chin, lived in a kind of cave in the side of the gulley. A fellow-country--man of his named Wah Xi, states that he was with him in his shelter on the evening of the murder, and that having fallen asleep he was awakened by the sound of a gun, Ah Chin crying out at once that he was shot, and was dying. He also heard footsteps- running away outside the cave. Ah Chin's watch and money were found untouched so that no robbery had taken place. At the Ashburton races yesterday (second day\ M.. J. Green's Canary won the County Hurdle Handicap, and Mr. Lawson's Marchioness Nill the Flying Handicap. The cargo of frozen meat by the ship Dunedin is selling at 6d per lb. The shipment per Cuzco is inferior to previous cargoes, and has realised 3d per lb. The market is glutted. At Secunderabad, in Madras, sixty-two natives have been drowned by falling from rafts on which they were worshipping into the tanks beneath them. Daniel Curley has been found guilty and sentenced to death. A box containing explosives have been found outside Salisbury Cathedral. — A sure sign, we need not remark, of the presence of Fenians. — No one else could have been so stupid. At a meeting of Irish delegates, held at Philadelphia, and at which Mr. Parnell was present, it has been decided to hold the convention there on the 25th inst. — The use of dynamite was condemned. The Victorian Government 'are anxious that the annexation of New Guinea shall be approved of by the Imperial Government. Victorian wheat statistics of the Northern countries show that last season's yield was 5,321,000 bushels, or an average of 8 65 bushels to the acre against an average of 9*46 bushels last year. The South Australian wheat crop returned 4*16 bushels only per acre last season. A native meeting at Te Euiti has decided that Mr. Bryce shall be permitted to pass through, but not allowed to make a survey until they are sure as to how their lands are to be dealt with ; they would have nothing to do with the Native Reserves Act passed last session, as they were afraid the result might be a proclamation tying up a large district, as in the case of the land between Rotorua and Waikato. A man named Smith was cut in half and instantaneously killed on Wednesday by falling on a circular caw at Wilding's sawmill f Waipukurau. " Mr. Bryce reached Otorongata on Tuesday, to which place the ' railway may be made cheaply. Wi Pere, and other delegates from the Te Euti meeting met him there, and stated that the meeting .had decided to petition Parliament to amend the law dealing with Native land. The motive of the proposal is that the chiefs wish to prevent those who are willing to sull lands from doing so, as they find this has a tendency to destroy their own influence. They desire that with land held in common the majority may prevent individualisation of title. Tawhiao, on arriving with 200 followers at Cambridge, was recommended, in v. speech of welcome by - Mr. Sheeban, to live in harmony with Europeans as natives do at Wanganui and elsewhere. He made no reply.

An agreeable interview took place yesterday between a deputation from the Dunedin School Committee and the Education Board. The chairman of the Board gave the deputation to understand that the Board had enough to do without being bothered by the likes of them. And Mr. Robin made a suitable reply, in which he vowed he would have said more only he was afraid the reporters might tell on him. Then the Chairman said the Board had a lot of business to do, and Mr. Robin said so had the deputation, and he himself had no notion of sitting to listen to Mr. Green talking. Mr. Begg next protested against Mr. Robin's behaviour, and wanted the Board to resent it— (how?) And Mr. Green poured coals on Mr. Robin's head by saying he agreed with him. — Mr. Green, we presume, stands up when he listens to himself; talking. Mr Ramsay wanted the Board to put a stop to this sort of behaviour— and Mr. Robin tried to get m a few more words of advice, but Mr Begg would not allow him to be heard— and would not have the Board lectured about their own business. Finally, it was decided that Mr. Green should talk,"but the reporters, probably touched by Mr. Robin's fear of their presence, have not told us as to whether that gentleman stood meantime, or sat, or lay down on the floor and kicked, or rolled about.— Something or other, however, he must positively have done, and we want to know what it was. But the only decision come to by the Board in which we feel any interest was that they could not provide the additional accommodation aeceisary, owing to their want of funds.— Afterwards, Mr. Robin had another little brush with the Board, but succeeded in. disburdening himself of the word or two he had to say. At a meeting of the ratepayers of St. Eilda, held last evening, it was resolved to approve of the proposal made by the Council to .pay off the bank overdraft of the borough by borrowing £1500, by which £45 a year would be saved— the loan being available at 7 per cent., whereas 10 per cent, was paid on the overdraft. . . A digger named Henry Coulter is missing, under suspicious cir- , cumstances, from Roxburgh, having been last seen on the 4th inst., when he was the worse for liquor acd had some money on him. The. telegraph office at Tenui was set fire to by lightning on Siturday night — eleven poles on Black Hill being shattered at the same time. The successful tenderer for the Crofton section of the Wellington Manawatu railway is Mr Anderson. The amount is understood to be £ 17,600. „ 4 , Another member of the " Invincibles," nam^d Kingston, has been arrested for complicity in the crimes of the conspirators. The telegraph clerk, kidnapped by Fenians, has been suspended on suspicion of having invented the story told by him. H.M.S. Dragon, ordered to Madagascar, has been detained at Aden, owing to a conflict between the Arabs in the vicinity. The Imperial Government will appoint a Permanent Committee of Agriculture under the presidency of the Right Hon. Mr. Dodaon. The Feniaus are accused of having threatened Government House at Ottawa. The Tapanni paper says Moa Flat Station has been sold to an Australian squatter named Keogh. t Mahuki and sixteen of the Maori prisoners are coming sonth by the Hawea ; it is supposed to Lyttelton gao'. Messrs. S. Kerr and T. C. Fisher, members of the Dunedin Bicycle Club, were thrown from their machines last evening by a rail fixed across the track at the Oval. Both gentlemen were a good deal hurt, Mr. Kerr having his face disfigured. Mr. John Arthur, who comes to Dunedin a3 the representative of Messrs. Gibbs. Bright and Co., is regretted at Sydney as the champion amateur sculler of New South Wale?. A woman aamed Lee, who was lately witness in the PriestlyHamilton case, has been severely injured by the cow-catcher of au engine, between Tepapa aud Onehunga. Her recovery is dispairedof. The Auckland whaleship Especulador, has arrived at the Bay oi Islands, and reports taking 500 barrels of sperm oil since leaving in December. The captain reports that there were plenty of whales, but the weather was not favourable. The entries for the Cambridge Jockey Club Autumn meeting are the largest evet received for any previous mef ting in the Waikato. Nineteen of the principal Auckland horaes have entered for the Cup. The Diocesan Treasurer denies that Bishop Nevili made in the Synod the statement reported concerning his income. In the last four years, he adds, law costs have amounted to only £14 19s 9d. The Committee of the Christchurch Chamber of Commerce have passed a resolution to ask Government to afford assistance in forwarding and arranging exhibits for the forthcoming foreign exhibition at Boston, U.S. Tho trial of Timothy Kelly for the Phoenix Park murders was begun on Thursday. Gallagher, one of the dynamite prisoners, is Baid to have hinted that it was intended to blow up Westminster bridge and Scotland Two vast squatting companies, for tbe purchase of land in the Northern territory of Australia, will shortly be launched. Sir Jtfius Vcgel is the promoter of one. A general rebellion has broken out in Ashantee. The Lyttleton Times gives a few particulars respecting the Hack Race at Ashbuxton. The owner of Dalesman decided to ride the horse himself, displacing the jockey Sharp, and, as certain betting men seemed anxious to lay their money against him, suspicions were aroused. These were strengthened when it was seen that on the fall of the flag Dalesman's rider made no attempt to keep a cafe placeKing Philip leading all the way ami winning easily. The consequence was that the stewards, after hearing evidence, deeMed to disqualify Dalesman and his rider for ever, and further, declared all bete on the horse off. Sharp told the stewards that he had been .requested jto pull tbe horse and that on his refusal the owner said he would himself ride him. A fire occurred at Eglinton, near Dunedin. this morning, by which three houses were completely destroyed. The fire is supposed

to have occurred by the bursting of a kerosene lamp left lighting by Mr. J. A. Boyd, the occupant of one of the houses, but Who, in the absence «f his family, is staying at a hotel in town, and who had forgotten to<extinguish the lamp which he had lit on paying a visit to his house. The insurances are, |Mr. Eaton 'b house (occupied by Mr. Boyd) L2OO, Sun Office ; Mr. Boyd's furniture, L 250, Colonial ; Mr. Shaw's house and furniture, Ll5O and LSO respectively, Colonial; Mr. Byrant's furniture, LIOO, South British. It is hot known whether Mr. Luke's bouse, (occupied by Mr. E. By rant) was insured or not. Mr. Byrant's furniture b&s suffered to the* extent of LlO by removal. Mr. Shaw is a heavy loser. The estate of the late Mr. Costello, of Auckland, is valued at £135,000, of which £3,900 have been bequeathed to private individuals ; the rest, under the name of the Costello bequests, goes to charities. A married woman named Durvall ias been missing from Auckland since Monday. She left a letter stating that her body would be found among the rocks. Mr Montagu Smith, of Gisborne, has purchased the steeplechaser Perfume for £160. The Victorian Parliament has been prorogued till May' 3o. The Governor in his speech said the annexation of New Guinea had given satisfaction to Victoria, and his advisers had taken action to secure for it the approval of the Imperial Government. Hie advisers were anxious to promote collective action on colonial . questions, and, therefore, the conference on the Postal Union would consider other matters as well. is The City of New York will take away a number of Mormon concerts bound, from the Wairarapa District, for Utah. Norman, an accomplice of the dynamite conspirators, who has turned informer, says that the New York Fenians had plotted to destroy the public buildings in London ; that O'Dpnovan Bossa had been one of the abettors and Gallagher had directed the movements of the gang.

Satubday.

At the further hearing of the Wain case yesterday, AgnesTiVright deposed that she had heard sounds as if the boy were getting a beating ;— the blows seemed to be given with a stick or strap. Jane Wright had never seen the deceased playing in the back-yard ; when there he was always running as if in terror of his life. She had seen Mrs. Wain beat him with a leathern strap. He and his brother were washing trousers, and Job was going to wash deceased's when the woman said: "Let the dirty brute wash them himself ." She then beat him very hard with a strap. Margaret Brown had asked the child who gave him the black mark, and he said his mother had dons it with a stick. He said also she had hurt his arm with the broom. Job Wain, deceased's brother, aged fifteen,' said he and his brother slept on a stretcher in a room at the grand-stand ; afterwards they slept at home on the same stretcher; he' and deceased used to play together in the back-yard ; he had taken him tea and bread and butter to the grand-stand and given him tea when he came home. He never knew his brother's arm was hurt, and had never seen a bruise on his forehead. .The examination of this witness had not concluded when the Court adjourned until Monday. At the Episcopalian Synod yesterday, the Eev. Samuel Williams denounced the Waikato war as unjust, and declared that William King bad been badly rewarded for saving the inhabitants of Wellington and Neve Plymouth from massacre.

A box containing gunpowder has been found at the back of the London Times office, representing in some people's eyes an intention to make an explosion, but in other people's eyes a resolution to play an ugly trick. Six Nihilists have been sentenced to death at St. Fetersburgh, and 12 to penal servitnde for life. < Mr. Bryce and his party were feasted at Te Kuiti, — where Mr. Hursthouse had been detained — Te Aroha, the chief, having, moreover, received a letter from Te Whiti blaming the action of Mahuki. Mr. Bryce addressed the people, eaying it was his business to see the law of the country was not broken. Further on Te Kooti was found, drnnk but ready to welcome the party ' with a repast of dough-nuts and tea. At the main settlement, Taoriui, whose sentiments had been considered doubtful, addressed Mr. Bryce, assuring him of safety,' and bidding him look neither to the right, the left, nor behind him, which Mr. Bryce accepted as meaning that he should have no hidden' motive for his journey. Ngtae, an Upper Wapganui chief, also welcomed the Minister, hinting at being included in the amnesty of those concerned in Moffet's murder at Tuhua, and disappointment was evidently felt at Mr. Bryce's ignoring the wish. Next morning Wahanui expressed a fear that the country would now be considered as thrown open to Europeans,' and that prospectors would come there, to which Mr. Bryce replied that the Government would give no such permission. Watnnui believed that there was gold in the country, hut members of Mr. Bryce's party, qualified tc judge,, thought that unlikely.- Next day the party returned to T><? Uira, finding Te Eooti still drunk as they passed. On Thursday, accompanied by 17 Maoris, they came, in two canoes, down the Mokau river, a distance of 50 miles, the navigation of the upper portion being difficult because of the rapids formed by fallen trees and landslips.) The mouth of the river was reached at 8 p.m. At Waitara Mr. Bryce was accorded an enthusiastic reception and ' a banquet given to him, and at New Plymouth, where he arrived at 9.30 p.m. /yesterday, the people turned out at the call of the bellman, the town , band also playing " Johnny comes marching home " and taking out ' the horses of his carriage, drew him in triumph to the Criterion > Hotel.— And so " all's well that ends well." No clue has so far been obtained to the murderer of Ah Chin. The deceased was' a quiet man and had no enemies. It is supposed the crime may have been committed by some of the reckless lads to be found in the district.' The Mayor and City Council of Auckland, yesterday, attended the funeral of the late Mr. Costello. The children of the Parnell Orphanage were also present. Marks of 'respect were generally shown.

Mahuki and seven of his companions have Wen brought to Wellington prison. Other Native prisoners were left at Nelson. The Christcburch Working- men's Political Association have passed, a resolution! condemning Major Atkinson's insurance scheme, and adopted one of their own. The Timarti Herald reports that many of the representatives pj£! Friendly Societies who discussed the insurance scheme with. Majof . Atkinson were converted to a belief in the soundness of the principle. As one of them, well put it : "We have got the stone out of the quarry, and we have now only to find out the best means of dressing it for use. ... ° . Professor Ulrich condemns as misleading the notion thai gold is worked out near Roxburgh.' . ~- The North Otago Tithes says' there are in Canterbury 5,226,286 - bushels of wheat for export, and between two and three millions in . Otago and Southland, whereas the exportable surplus of Victoria has not come up to two million! bushels.. Id oats and barley, and other, products,,, New .Zealand is also .well to the front, and in a few years may hold the first place among th.c Australasian colonies. ,' . A special meeting of members of the .Dunedin Athenaeum will _ be held on the 30th irist. to consider the establishment of a public-, library. Among the particulars published , for the. information of subscribers, we find that the subscriptions' to the Athensaum. during the last three years amounted to £1050, — working expenses being , £800. The revenue of the Public Library, would be probably about £2750, — the expenditure, however, being also greater. . a The Port Chalmers Municipal Council have passed a resolution r objecting to the leasing of the store sites in Beach street, which encroach 20 links on the Corporation street-line. . , _ , ; The Provincial Parliament House at Quebec has been gutted, by a fire said to have been caused by Fenians, who, however, have not been arrested. , ■ ■ - \ The dynamite prisoners in London are to.be charged with treason-felony. Norman, the informer, says Gallagher threatened to blow up the House of Commons, and that. Kingston, arrested at Boote near Liverpool, is head of the inner circle of the.'^lnvincibles." The University at Warsaw has been closed because of a revolution among the students, t Two thousand houses have been destroyed by a fire at Delhi. , Mrs. Lee, who was injured on the Onehunga railway, died last night. , ' A man named Philip Latham has been killed, and a man named Edwin Bryant seriously hurt by the fall of a hydraulic, lift at Messrs. W. and G. Turnbull and Co.'s bonded store in Wellington. The sentence of death passed on Ratima Jacob for the murder of his wife, has been commuted to imprisonment for life. A huge water-spout, of an inky black colour, burst near Wairoa on Sunday,— -being followed by heavy rain. A thunder-storm also occurred, in which a horse was killed. The water-spout was for a time taken -by the Maoris as one of Te Whiti's predicted signs. , Several cases of stack-burning under suspicious circumstances have been reported to the police at Invercargill. At the Taieri races, which came off to-day, the Handicap Hurdle Race was won by Mr. H. Christie's Romance ; the Maiden Plate by , Mr. D. Kirby's First King ; the Handicap Trotting Race by Mr. James Olive's Master Rowe ; and the Taieri Handicap by Mr. J. Cotton's Adamant. The weather was splendid, and there was a large attendance. . , . ,j An inquest was held to-day at Calderville, near Dunedin, on the body of a child named .Cecil George Dwight, who bad .been knocked, down by a large mastiff dog in Princes street last Sunday;, blood . had immediately gushed from one of his ears, and he had been unable to stand. He died on Thursday. A verdict of accidental death was returned, with a rider to the effect that large 'dogs should only be allowed to go about the streets under proper control. The nomination for the Inangahua will take place on the 7th of May, and the polling on the 14th. The Dunedin Land Nationalisation Association will hold a series of public meetings to advocate the cause they have adopted,' beginniny with the second week in May. , ■ ■ • i i The Southland Tvnes gives, as an example of the value of the deferred-payment .system, the fact that 800, settlers are located west,, of the Mataura Riyer, of whom .about 170 'have become freeholders and 630 are engaged in fulfilling the conditions attached to thelicense to occupy— only about 5 per cent, fail to fulfil the conditions, 1 and forfeit the right to occupy. „ , , . , ; The horse harnessed to the mail- van bolted, from the Dunedinplatform. thiß.morning, and ran against Campbell an£ Crust's express,,, driving the shaft of the van through its horse's shoulder, and injuring the animal so severely that it had to. be shot immediately. v > ■ „ At the annual meeting of the Dunedin Horticultural Sopiety, held last evening, the Committee presented a report congratulating the Society on its continued success. The heavy expenses attached , to each exhibition had prevented them from' holding a spring show,, , but their successors may safely try the experiment., .^They regretted, the difficulties found in inducing, gentlemen who.hadgood colleptions of plants to exhibit them, and recorded their appreciation, .of. the obliging manner in which leading nurserymen had -acted as judges'.' Members were urged to exert themselves in the" Society's 'interests.,, . The return from the Keep-it-Dark Company's 'mine at,. Reef ton was 304' ounces amalgam from 189 tons of stoned '79s ounces ,o£ amalgam had been placed in retort at the Premier 'Gold Company, s, mine, Macetown. The Tuapeka Times reports'Bo ounces as the result of the fortnightly washing-up of the Little Maud claim (Cox and Clifford's) at Waipori.

Monday,

r * The jury in Timothy Kelly's case disagreed respecting their veil let on Saturday, and retired until to-day. ■ Touching the annexation of New Guinea, Lord Derby said Sir" Arthur Kennedy had been requested to report on the matter, and his dispatches were" awaited. The news of the annexation had caused surprise, as no pledge had been given to sanction it ; Government

were not aware of any intention on the part of any foreign power to annex the country. The Ban Francisco mail has taken Home nominations of immigrants as follows :—204: — 204 English, 171 Irish, 183 Scotch, and 9 foreigners—total, 567 souls, equal to 491 adults. The total number of immigrants nominated since the renewal of assisted immigration is : 2242 English, 2211 Irish, 1383 Scotch, and 145 foreigners— total 5981 souls, equal to 5207 adults. Mr. William Kirkwood, of the Red Lion Hotel, Wanganui, while shooting pigeons on Saturday, shot by accident bis son, aged seven, •ome of the grains going through the child s heart. He died in a quarter of an hour. A case will be heard at Christchurch, at an early date, in which the plaintiffs, Messrs. Seddon, Bae, and Watt Jack; claim to be legally elected members of the Westland Board of Education, and pray the Court to oust the defendants, Messrs. Taylor, Warner, and Nancarrow, on the ground that they were not properly elected. It is alleged in affidavits that after four committees had voted and sent their votes to the office of the Board they became aware how other committees had .voted, and they were induced to give a second vote, obtaining from the Secretary of the Board the first votes given and thus altering the whole election. The Working men's Political Association of Christchurch propose the nationalisation of the land instead of Major Atkinson's scheme of national insurance, as the means of preventing pauperism. At Nelson on Saturday, a man named Berry, while engaged in removing a building, had one of his legs broken ; a lad at Bridgewater was badly hurt by the kick of a horse ; Mr. Alfred Baigent died from the results of a fall downstairs, in which his spine had been injured ; a man named Williams had the thumb of his left hand almost cut off by a circular saw. The Mataura Ensign reports that fully 8000 tons of grain have been grown this season in the Waimea Plains district by the settlers of the N.Z. Agricultural Company alone, not to speak of the amount grown by the deferred-payment settlers of the district. In the case of a four roomed house at Halswell, belonging to Mr. Sabey, and occupied by a woman named Dowey, incendiarism is suspected. Italy and Switzerland will adopt protection. The s.s. Fenstanton arrived at Port Chalmers for the purpose of taking in a cargo of frozen mutton, with which she will leave for London on the 30th inst. The Hatvite's Bay Herald is accountable for the disclosure of the following electioneering trick: — "When No. 1 elector presents himself at the committee-room, he receives a piece of paper folded so as to represent a ballot paper ; this the trusty voter drops into the ballot-box, retaining the numbered and initialled form which he receives from the returning officer, and which he delivers safely to the agent, who then, and not till then, 'disburses.' When No. 2 voter appears, he receives No. l's paper, which has been satisfactorily marked, places it in the ballot-box, and presents his own to the agent; and so the game goes on, until the time of closing draws near, when someone in the secret, who has for the purpose refrained from voting previously, deposits in the ballot-box his own and the last purchased ballot-paper folded together." The Hon. Major Atkinson has returned to Wellington. He will . shortly proceed on a lecturing tour in the North. In. reply to an address presented to him at' New Plymouth on Friday, Mr. Bryce said he thought. a Minister dealing with critical Native affairs should not be unduly swayed by public opinion. The Government had not allowed itself to be so influenced and had done nothing to court popular applause or popular blame. The Minister paid a warm tribute of praise to the conduct of Wetere Te Perehanga, not only for accompanying him on his journey, but for having gone to Auckland to give evidence in the cause of law and order against some of his own people — that is, Mahuki and his companions. The meeting in question is said to have been the most enthusiastic ever held in New Plymouth. At the Autumn meeting of the Auckland Racing Club on Saturday, the following were the events and winners : — Tradesmen's Plate Handicap, Messrs. Mason and Yallance's Siesta ; Mare's Produce Stakes, Mr. Nosgrove's Victoria ; Handicap Hurdle, Mr. Fraser's Woodpecker ; Easter Handicap, Captain Russel's Leonora ; Selling Race, Mr. Bobbett's Paramena ; Publicans' Purse, Messrs. Mason and Vallance's Siesta. The local paper objects to the time chosen for setting about the steps preparatory to opening up the Waikaia Bush by roads into the Valley of the Molyneux, the country being covered with snow. Our contemporary suspects the Government of a desire to allow the vote to lapse, and proposes that the road shall be immediately surveyed and made up to the snow line, so that it may be completed with little trouble when the fine weather comes. The N.Z. Times reports that if a period of maintenance was in their contract, a Dunedin firm will be at the loss caused by the breakage of the New Plymouth reservoir, which had been recently constructed by them. Twenty additional arrests have been made in Clare on charges of murder and conspiracy. The New York journals urge the American Government to punish the inciters of the dynamite outrages. A number of children belonging to the pauper classes are to be sent to Canada, and if the experiment is successful Government will consider an extension of the policy. Professor Ulrich is of opinion that gold in considerable quantities exists in Anderson's Flat, and Hercules Flat, Teviot. ' The body of a boy named Mason who had left his home at Christchurch on March 30 was found on Saturday. It is believed he had lost his way in returning from Lyttelton, and died on the hills, where his body was found, from exposure. In the case of Cates versus the Otago Harbour BoaTd and another, judgment has been given for the plaintiff for £50 with costs. The claim was for £100, damage done to the brig Motley while lying at Port Chalmers wharf, through being run into by the vessel Philowene, in charge of Pilot Kelly. His Worship said the evidence left

no doubt in his mind that the damage had been occasioned by the Pilot's.default, he having chosen to run the chance of a boat coming off to his signal ; no boat came in time, and hence the damage. A Bill introduced by Mr. Healy, providing for a modification of the system by which municipal councils are elected, has been thrown out by a large majority. De Brazza has been treated by the Congo natives with hostility, and a rising is looked for. The Phoenix Park prisoners are said to have been terror stricken by the sentence passed on Brady, and to have, in some instances, shown a desire to turn informers. Joseph Mullett volunteers important information and disclosures concerning Tynam, supposed to be "Number One." Furious tornadoes have devasted Arkansas. The members of the West Coast Railway Commission will commence their work at once. Tuesday. A boy of five and a half, named Charles Graham, had his right arm broken at Kensington yesterday, by a dray wheel passing over it. Mr. Stanley, of Stanley and Darbyshires Opera troupe, who has had experience of diamond-buying in South Africa, pronounces genuine three stones said to have been found near Alford Forest by Mr. Jacobsen. Another town district will he formed at the Heathcote Valley, three miles from Christchurch. A verdict of wilful murder by some person or persons unknown, has been returned by the coroner's jury in the case of the Chinaman shot near Roxburgh. „, An explosion, supposed to have been of dynamite, occurred close to the Imperial small arms factory at Enfield on Sunday. No barm was done. Two block* of warehouses have been totally destroyed by fire at Liverpool. The loss is estimated at £250,000. King's Pacific Dining Rooms, Christchurch, were burned down yesterday morning. They were insured in the Imperial for LIOO, the loss being much more than that sum. The Southland Conrsing Club will hold a preliminary meeting early in May. It is reported that the boy carrying the mail between the Thames and Tanranga, has been drowned in the Waihi River, and the mails and horses swept away. * The Directors of the Wellington Shipping Company recommend the payment of a dividend at the rate of 5 per cent. Twenty thousand Chinese coolies have proceeded to Brazil. The revolt in Aden has been quelled. The police authorities assert that 150,000 Fenians have been enrolled in the United Kingdom. Affairs in South Africa are still rather disturbed. Cetewayo has been heavily defeated in a Native war, and hostilities are again about to break out between the Boers and some of their neighbours. In the Wain case the examination of the deceased's brother was continued yesterday. He said he did not remember seeing his his mother beat his brother while he was washing trousers. He was only beaten with a light switch, and sometimes two or three times a . week. His hands were sometimes tied behind his back, and sometimes across his chest at night. He had never known deceased to be deprived of his meals, or to complain of being hungry, or to be whipped for Baying he was so. His father had whipped deceased two or three times with a strap for saying he got nothing to eat ; he had also beaten him about three times for running away. Deceased had always got his meals regularly, and witness had been very fond of him. John Coora, a fish dealer, said he had seen the deceased at the Grand Stand, where he had given him a fish, a fresh barracouta, out of which the child took a bite. William Halligan, hotel keeper, had seen the child in a deplorable state at the Caledonian Grounds.' Elspeth Mitchell, a nurse who had attended Mrs. Wain, deposed that on one occasion the woman bad poked her in the side with her finger saying with reference to deceased : " Oh, he won't live long.', The Court was adjourned till Wednesday. The results of the second day's racing at Auckland were as follows : Flying Stakes, Mr. Valiance's Siesta ; Steeplechase, Mr. Keith's Reform ; Autumn Handicap, Mr. G. Bates' The Poet ; Bllerslie Plate, Mr. Adams' Mitraileuse ; The Shorts Handicap, Mr. Vallance's Siesta ; Consolation Handicap, Larry. The departure of 24 Mormon recruits from Wellington, en route for Utah, was witnessed by a large crowd on Sunday. The general opinion was that the party, judging by appearances, would be no loss to New Zealand. Several of them were Scandinavians. The Nelson Mail reports a case in which the net profits on a crop of hops realised by a certain struggling farmer were £400 and a piano. And this is given as an illustration of the results of the crop generally. — By the way, should not a fair percentage of the profits made by this crop go also to the support of charitable institutions ? It lies at the foundation of all our public-houses ; and when Mr. Green, M.H.R., next incubates a political scheme, he should take into consideration the hops and the barley, without whose production no public-house could stand a day.— Let him include them in his next ciucking-match. The Auckland Star says a statue of Her Majesty the Queen, which the Axawas were about to set up, has been pounced upon by a party of constables, and carried off in a cart to share a lock-up with a Maori idol. — And there seems to be something very' disloyal and unorthodox about the matter. At the re-leasing of the Native reserves of seventy sections at Hawera, on Monday, at upset rents ranging from 2s. to 15s. per acre, forty-three were tendered for, comprising 4,190 acres, at rents from 2s. Id. to 11s. per acre. Seventy-seven sections, 3,400 acres, still remain open for application at the upset rental. Theil and Marks' oyster saloon, Manchester street, Christchurch, was burned down on Tuesday morning, — the shops on each side, occupied by Kenneth and Steinmetz, being gutted. Steinmetz's stock was insured for £200 in the Trans- Atlantic. The Tasmanian murderer, James Sutherland, still displays the

utmost insolence and bravado. Ogden has shown the white feather and promises to break down completely. The trial of Massey, late town clerk of Dunedin, and his wife, for the larceny of the waterworks debentures, will commence to-« morrow at Invercargill. A mass of rock weighing about forty tons was dislodged and driven a distance of about 200 feet at the Deep Stream, Hindon, on Friday, by fourteen cartridges of Noble's dynamite, which were placed in a crevice at the bed of the rock. .Wkdnebday. Two stacks of oats, estimated at about 1400 bushels, have been burned at Mr. Forater's Canada Farm, Milton. The carelessness of men in smoking is supposed to have been the cause. Mr. Patrick Hvnt, M.L.A., chairman of the Great Extended Langridge Mining Company, is taking proceedings against the Melbourne Age for stating that a number of the Company's employees had been dismissed for refusing to Subscribe to the Irish League fund. The Thistle Inn, Bridge street, Nelson, was gutted by fire yesterday morning. The insurances were £250 on the building in the Colonial, and £250 on the stock and furniture in the Liverpool and London and Globe. Messrs. J. E. Brown and H. Thomson, M.H.B.'s, waited on Major Atkinson at Christchurch and drew his attention to the fact that manufacturers in Dunedin imported half-made jams, duty free, from Tasmania. The Treasurer said the manufacturers had told him they could not get all the fruit they needed in New Zealand and were obliged fo import it ; to which the deputation replied, that the manufacturers had refused to purchase fruit at Akaroa. A promise of inquiries and consideration was given by Major Atkinson. A man named Richard Bowen had bis left arm torn off add his right arm so injured that it must be amputated, with other injuries, by the fly-wheel of a threshing machine* engine at Tai Tapu yesterday. It is thought his life may possibly be saved. The extension of the traffic bridge over the Rangitata River, made by the Ashburton County; /Council at a cost of £6800, was opened on Monday. : - The returns of the Post-Office Savings Bank for the March quarter show an excess of withdrawals over deposits amounting to £73,127 Bs. Bd. A cottage in George street, Dunedin, belonging to Mrs. Brooks, was burned down yesterday. evening. The building was insured for £250, and the furniture tok £200, in the Norwich Union. The loss is estimated at £400 in esess of these sums. The Waikato will shortly be stocked with cheese factories. Nearly every' township is getting"' one. Another diamond-prospecting expedition has left Auckland. The West Coast Bail way Commission have arrived at Christchurch. They will take evidence immediately, and afterwards will probably inspect the various routes proposed. At the first auction sale of pastoral Crown lands, under the deferred-payment system, held in Christchurch, on Tuesday, 30,224 acres 2 roods sold for £57,802 2s. The average price was £1 18s 3d per acre. The highest price of £3 7s per acre was obtained for a block of 2,014 acres.in Waikari district. The land submitted was in Rororata, Kowai, Teviotdale, and Waikari districts. The reservoir at New Plymouth is said to have been by no means so sericusly injured as had been reported. Mr. Redmond spoke at Tenterfield on Tuesday evening, giving Sir Henry Parkes 1 constituents to understand what he thought of their representative. A cyclone has passed over the Mississippi States, occasioning great loaa to life and property. The frozen mutton, ex s.s. Chimborazo, was prepared too hastily, and is partly spoiled ; it is selling in London at 2d and 6d per lb. Some measures are at last being taken to alleviate the distress in Ireland. The Fenians are going to attack the Curragh Camp, and have, of course, sent a warning there to that effect. Their pluck is more to be admired than their common sense. The Oreti Hotel, and an adjacent store, at Dipton, were burned down yesterday. '« The Vagabond " lectured at Invercargill on Tuesday evening, denouncing the Salvation Army, which he had studied in Adelaide. At the meeting of the Otago Land Board on to-day, three purchaseis of land at South Taieri applied for licenses — namely, (1) Matthew Elliott, who described himself as a Roslyn freeholder, who had bad a farm at Waihola, and had been twenty years in the Colony. Cargill and Joachim were his agents, and he had used their cheque in making his payment, — the land being bought by him with the object of settling on it. (2) Joseph M'Caw, who described himself as a rabbiter, and had purchased 1,456 acres at 20s. per acre, Mr. Cargill bidding for him at 'the sale. He was prepared himself to stock and fence the land ; he had been nearly seven years in the Colony, rabbiting for five years, two of which were spent on Gellibrand's station. (But since the days of Wbittington and his Cat, was .there ever so fortunate an individual t — Who would not "go a hunting and catch a rabbit for his skin " after that ?) (3) Daniel M'Ewan Fisher had bought 2003 acres at 20s. per acre, for which he told Mr. Oargill, his agent, he might bid 30s. an acre, was a labourer, twenty-one years in the Colony, and son of the publican keeping the Spring Bank Hotel. A telegram was read from the Under Secretary of Crown Lands expressing Mr. Bolleston's approval of the Board's determination, and recommending them to refuse licenses ia doubtful cases, leaving the purchaser to ask for a rehearing of the case, or appeal to the Supreme Court if aggrieved. A letter was also read rrom Mr. Gellibrand, written at Hobart, and on behalf of the Messrs. Young, whom he had invited to settle in Otago, bat all of whose statements, except that affirming that the purchasers had no agreement with Mr. Gellibrand or his partners, Mr. Green qualified as " moonshine." The applicants were informed that their cases would be considered, and licenses were granted to Messrs. Topham and Nichol, who were decided to be bon& fide purchasers.

Thtjbsday. In the Wain case yesterday Elspeth Mitchell, the nurse, said that on the night- Mr. Ogg brought deceased home, Mrs. Wain was much upset, and called to Job to " give it to that Henry." When advised to send deceased to the Industrial School, the woman said : " I will have no hand in him, as he is not my boy." She also told the nurse that the boy, when veryyoung, used to call out at night, " I want you, daddy " ; and she had hard work to break him off the habit. Mrs. Wain used to mock him sometimes by calling out these words. Daniel Joseph Conxoy, a warder in the Dunediu Hospital, said deceased, when there, was a well-behaved boy of cleanly habits. Dr. De Zouche said he had found deceased cleanly, intelligent, and not a bad boy at all. He had examined him in October and March, and found him spare at first and afterwards very thin. In March ho found deceased's arm had bern broken, and his body bruised, and the child told him his mother had done it. The doctor then described the post mortem examination he had made, and said the immediate cause of death had been terberculous inflammation of tne brain. The tuberculous inflammation of the lung might be caused by various things— such as cold, any depressing influence, want of air, exercise, light, food, or any depressing illness. It was only under such circumstances that tubercular inflammation occurred in persons who were not predisposed to it. The case was adjourned until to-day. At the Auckland Autumn Meeting £5,000 weat through the totalisator. £10,000 changed hands between the members of Tatersall's and the public, the bookmakers winning ; the public were, however, fairly treated on the whole. Large orders for Caswell Sound marble have been received from Australia, as well as from New Zealand. The company's machinery will be ready for shipment next month. The lonic, one of- the largest vessels of the New Zealand Shipping Company, lately inspected at London by the Prince of Wales, who expressed great admiration of her, will sail from Port Chalmers for London in June. Four indictments have been presented by the Grand Jury against Joseph Morgan and Louisa Massey. That proceeded with yesterday charged them with stealing, on the 12th October, 1881, certain valuable securities other than documents of title to lands — to wit, three debentures for the payment of the sum of £ 100 each, with 84 coupons for interest severally attached, and respectively issued by the Corporation of the city of Dunedin under " The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act, 1872,". " The Municipal Corporations Waterworks Act Amendment Act, 1873," and " The Dunedin Waterworks Act, 1874," dated respectively Ist January, 1875, and numbered respectively 717, 995, and 996, the property of the Mayor, councillors, and citizens of the city of Dunedin. A second count charged the accused with the larceny of three pieces of paper, the goods and chattels of the Mayor, councillors, and citizens of Dunedin. Mr. Stout, in opening the case for the prosecution, said that in 1874 the Dunedin Corporation were authorised to purchase certain waterworks, and debentures were issued to the company selling them in part payment. The form of the debentures was afterwards altered, and on application shareholders got the old form exchanged for the new. A large number of debentures in the new form were prepared and signed, but were never exchanged. Mr. Charles Drake applied for several new debentures, which, although prepared were never forwarded to him, as he had left the Colony suddenly, and these were in the custody of the male accused, who was suspended in October, 1881, aud was afterwards dismissed. It would be proved that Mrs. Massey went to Melbourne, there sold some of the unissued new debentures to Wilder, Griffiths, and Co., and to Were and Co., under assumed names, and that afterwards a large sum of money got into . Mr. Massey's hands. There was proof that Massey knew of the sales and the evidence would be : The male accused got certain debentures sealed and signed ready for exchange, which were never exchanged, and, as his notebook showed, got into the hands of Mrs. Massey, who sold them under assumed names, the money realised being afterwards handed over to Mr. Massey. Witnesses for the prosecution were then examined, the Court being adjourned at 6 p.m. Ten first-class merino ewes and a ram have arrived by the Tarawera, at Port Chalmers, having been purchased at Mr. James Gibson's sale ot stud sheep, at Epping Forest, Tasmania, by Mr. W. H. Teschemaker, of Taipo Hill, Maheno. Some valuable Ayrshire cows recently imported from Scotland by Messrs. A. and J. McFarlane are, for a few days, on view at the firm's premises, Maclaggan street. At the Eaiapoi Council's meeting on Tuesday evening the auditors presented a report showing a deficiency of Ll4O in the accounts for the past year. The residents of Ellesmere district have refused to sanction the erection of a bridge, at a cost of £20,000, over the Rakaia, between Ashburton and Seiwyn counties, at Dobbins Ford. The members of the West Coast Railway League have met with warm support in northern and central Canterbury, where they have condemned the East Coast line, and advocated one to the West Coast, except at Kaiapoi, where a motion moved by Mr. Isaac Wilson, M.H.R. for the district, was carried in favour of expending Ll ßo,ooo in the construction of the Northern railway to a point available for for the proposed West Coast Railway, and also in favour of carrying the line to the West Coast by a Northerly direction. At the opening of the new Theatre Royal in Timaru, on Toesday evening, Mr. Moss Jonas, proprietor, and Mr. Duval architect were called before the curtain at the close of the performance — an opera by amateurs. The building is pronounced by theatrical agents the best and most complete for its size in the colonies.

Important archaeological discoveries have recently been made at Mitla, a village in Mexico, which is situate between 20 and 30 miles from Oajaca, in the table land of Mixtecapan. Extensive remains of ancient palaces and tombs have been revealed, and it is stated that they are exceptionally remarkable from the columns supporting the 'roof, a style of architecture peculiar to the district of Mexico in which they have been found,