South Australian Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1858 - 1889), Friday 19 February 1864, page 2


TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Considerable consternation was created in town on Thursday afternoon by a report that the steamer Aldinga, with the volunteers from Adelaide for the war in New Zealand, had foundered off the coast of

that island, and that all on board were lost. On the most diligent enquiry we found that there was no truth in the report, and we mention it now only for the purpose of contradicting it, and to condemn as strongly as possible the circulation of these rumours, which, though they rest on no good foun dation, must have the effect of giving great pain and anxiety to the friends of those concerned. On Thursday evening between 20 and 30 persons assembled at the Clarence Hotel, upon the matter of the All-England Eleven. The advertisement calling the meeting requested the attendance of all secretaries and captains of clubs, but only about three of the clubs were represented. The following letter, received from Mr. Marshall addressed to Mr. C. Jervis, was read:—" I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the Bth instant, and in reply I will briefly state the terms, on your acceptance of which the English cricketers shall visit Adelaide to play one match there. The sum of £500 to be paid into the credit of George Marshall at the Bank of New South Wales three clear days previous to the Eleven leaving Melbourne, the date of which I could, of course, further advise you, as there is yet ample ti ue to do so. The expenses of the Eleven going to Adelaide and during their stay there to be paid by the Eleven. The total proceeds of the match, that is for admis don at the gates, sale of booths, &c, and from any other source, to be received by G. Marshall. I should inform you that the people of Sydney pay £3,000 for three matches to be played there, and that Mr. Jones, of Dunedip, has given £3,900 for one month's play of the Eleven in New Zealand, so that you see the terms I am ask ing are reasonable and Cur. I should be obliged by your letting me know, as coon as possible, rf these terms are accepted, as, in that case, I should pay a visit to Adelaide to enter into the necessary arrange ments for the match; and I think it will be a pity if the people of Adelaide allow this opportunity of wit nessing the finest cilcketers in the world to pass i away." It appeared from some remarks that were made, that many of the clubs held back in taking part in the movement till they knew how the selec tion of the players was going to be made; and, as none of those present had anything to communicate showing that any progress had been made in the col- j lection of the sum required by Mr. Marsha! 1, it { was resolved to have lists prepared and issued to all the clubs, calling upon them to subscribe, provided ] they were satisfied with the mode of conduct"' lg the match; and that a general meeting should be called for next Wednesday evening to ascertain the resist of this step, and to procure the assistance of the public Mr. C. Davis was appointed Secretary to act in the matter up to the general meetfng. Owing to the limited attendance at the meeting held on Thursday to arrange for the transportation meeting, no business was transacted. His Worship the Mayor will, however, communicate with a num ber of suitable gentlemen, with a *lew to obtaining their consent to move certain resolutions, to be sub mitted to the meeting. The meeting to-mo;row night is called for half-past 6 o'clock, at White's Booms, and the importance to this colony of the question to be considered ehou'.d ensure a good at tendance. The Government Gazette of Thursday, the 18th instant, contains the following notifications : —Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased, by Her Exequator, bearing date the 9th day of Decem-ber, 1863, to signify her approval of Francis Stacker Dutton, Esq., as Consul for Wurtemberg, in this colony. Alfred Bagless, as keeper and salesman of the Pound at Willochra, has resigned, and the Pound will be closed from and after the 25th instant. A proclamation prohibiting the importation of cattle from all the Australian ports, with the exception of Gipps Land, and Mornington into Otago, is published; and also the importation into Southland of cattle from Twofold Bay. The following is a summary of the Railway traffic for the week ending February 13 .—Port Line — Passengers, £271 6i. 10d.; goods, £538 Is. Id. Total Port Line, £809 7s. lid. North Line —Pas sengers, £i4l 17s. 9d.; goods, £2,612 Bs. 2d. Total North Line, £3,054 ss. lid. Grand tote' £3,863 13s. lOd. We have received, with a request for a notice, copy of a pamphlet entitled " Memoir of Wergon, an Aus tralian aborigine of the Reedy Creek tribe." This little narrative is by Mrs. Smith, late of Rivoli Bay, and is very interesting as a record of one of the now fast dis appearing native race. Wergon was born in 1836 and died in 1850, it is belived, an enlightened and

sincere Christain. We extract the following passage:— "Peter was very fond of getting a number of the native youths together and relating to them the story of the Cross, and would use his utmost endeavours to rqnbe ibpin.undefSStid the cause of>ourie*6 suner-' iDgB,'%nd the'advantages to manki^ - in ieenlrsl, arising from them. But alas! all his endeavours ap peared to be ineffectual. Yet it cannot be doubted, when the facU already stated are taken into considera tion, that the persevering efforts of those whole hearts are fired with a holy zeal in the cause of Christ, under the blessing of God, will eventually be crowned with great and glorious success. It may not be out of place here to record a rather amusing conversation which took place between Peter and his pupil D. Peter observed ' the drual (natives) wish me to go away from this country.' ' For what reason do they wish you to leave us ?' They say there is a c Tun nage' coming to take women and children away; and the earth will be burnt. The drual want me to flee away to another country with them. I told them I would speak to D— about it, and that they would ccc that it was not true.' Quite right Peter; well, let us make a large fire around us, and let us remain within the circle of flames, and see what effect that will have on the drual.' Peter (who was rather in clined to favour the superstitious ideas of his coloured friends) replied, ' the fire will not save us from the 'Tunnage,' we do not ccc it' D— inti mated that God would protect those who put their trust in him. Peter replied, ' I told them Mr. and Mrs. S— were not afraid of the ? Tunnage.' D — asked whether they supposed the sea would be burnt up too? 'Yea,' replied Peter, 'the drual say so.' Then we shall have plenty of fish said D— ' Oh! but what good will the fish be to us when we are all dead?' < Certainly none at alL Peter learnt after wards that the natives, actuated by selfish motives, had made use of these suggestions for the purpose of getting him away with them. One bright summer's morning, a party of us, four in number, took a journey of some distance to one of the nearest swamps, partly for pleasure and partly for the pur-pose of catching leeches. On arriving at the desired spot, we lit a fire on the banks of a small lagoon, and boiled our quart pot for the purpose of making a drink of tea to refresh us after our journey. Whilst thus engaged, Peter, who was one of our party sug-gested the idea of our being entertained with a story from an aged black woman who was with us. After sundry shrugs of her shoulders and woeful expres-sions of countenance, she began. Pointing to a certain spot, the lubra began as follows:—' I have seen an awful death there. I have seen a husband tie his wife's hands and feet and throw her into a large fire." 'What! had she done wrong ?' asked Peter. ' She had committed no crime,' was the reply, ' but was so punished because she was weak and sickly.' The day on which this took place, she had been told by her husband to go and fetch water. She attempted to do so, but being unable to walk, she tumbled and fell, spilling the water. She then crawled back to the wurley, where there was a large fire, and told her husband to go for the water himself. He immediately caught hold of her and tied her hands and feet, and threw her head first into the fire. Her cries for a time were heartrending; but soon all was over.' The old woman concluded her story by saying that this took place before the white man came to the country. The above was related by the old black woman in her own language and interpreted by Peter, upon whom it had a very beneficial effect. He now felt anxious to go forth amongst the natives and endeavour to teach them what he knew of the plan of salvation, of God, of heaven, of hell, and the eternal existence of the bouL" The pamphlet is prefaced by a well written introduction from the pen of the Rev. J. Don, in defence of missions to the aboriginals. The usual meeting of the Clayton Young Men'e Society was held at the Institute, Kensington, on Wednesday evening, the 17th instant, when, after the disposal of the ordinary amount of genera] business, the friends of the members, a considerable number of whom had assembled, were favoured with some readings and recitations, the rendering of each of which was deserving of more or less applause, which was duly awarded by an appreciative audience. The chair was ably filled by Mr. G. Doolette, Vice-President of the Society, who read in a very pleasing style one of the Ingoldsby Legends. Mr. E. Sabine gave a very correct reading of Byron's " Waterloo;" and Mr. W. Strawbridge acquitted himself very well in the part taken by him in a dialogue, " Brutos and Cassius." A comic reading was given by the inde fatigable Secretary, Mr. W. H. Phillips, which scarcely possessed a sufficient amount of the " real brogue" to make it as " killing" as it would other wise have been. The "star" of the evening was, however, Mr. W. P. Auld, who gave an admirable rendering of <c Caste and Christ," as well as a suc cessful representation of " Clarence's Dream." Other and lees meritorious performances were given: and on the whole a very pleasant evening was spent by those present. Although susceptible of much im provement, which can only be effected by considerable practice, the members of the Society acquitted them selves in a manner which would not disgrace older and more important institutions. A correspondent has forwarded the following foi insertion :—" The 20th anniversary of the Baptist Chapel, Brougham-place, North Adelaide, was cele brated on Sunday, the 14th lost. Sermons wen preached in the morning by the Bey. S. L. Harris, it the afternoon by the Rev. C. Manthorpe, and in the evening by the Rev. D. Badger. On Monday a te< meeting was held, after which a public meeting, at which Mr. C. Goode presided, and Mr. Davis, Mr Doolette, and Mr. Jas. Scott conducted the derotiona exercises; after which the Chairman, having made ar appropriate speech, called upon the Bey. J. Maughai to give his promised lecture upon " Christian Use fulness." This gentleman, in his usual telling ant attractive manner, commenced by laying first thi foundation of all Christian usefulness in the forma tion of the Christian character, then brought tbi subject to the great standard of Him who ' wentabou doing good,' described the difficulties to ueefulnesi and how to overcome them by referring to the mosi nobly-determined characters who had passed stead-fastly over the Christian course, and enlivening the lecture by remarkable anecdotes. A pausi gave the choir an opportunity of again exhibiting their ability in another piece of music suited t< the theme. After the conclusion of the lecture to which all seemed to listen with the greatest pleasure, Mr. G. Prince, who has now officiated as pastor for the last nine years, stated that thi object of this anniversary was to express their obli gation to Almighty God for bringing them thus fai to seek spiritual advantages, aud to remove a floating debt, the Church and friends having raised towardi it £75; the remainder they hoped to realise by thi collections on the labbath, the proceeds of the tea. and this public meeting—thus making up £100. H? also stated that a kind friend and liberal donor was waiting to hear the result; he therefore hoped that they could look upon this debt as settled. He would add that the friends had had two heavy calls upon their liberality besides the floating debt, which had been responded to most cheerfully. Mr. S. Bakewell proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer, which Mr. James Scott seconded, and it was heartily responded to by the meeting. Mr. Maughan, in returning thanks, proposed tbe thanks of tbe meeting to the Chairman, to the !choir, and to those who had so liberally provided the repast. The response was im mediately given, and the 20th anniversary of Ebc nezer Chapel terminated by the doxologv and bene diction. On Tuesday, the 16fch, the children of the Sabbath-school, their teachers, with the young people of the Bible-class, met for tea and the usual exer cises, when all was most gratifying to the school and harmonious to the visitors. We regret much to state that Mr. Prince, who has continued so long at his post, braving all weather and circumstances, feels his health and energies failing him, and is about seeking six weeks' holiday." The children connected with tbe Glenelg Congr- • gational Sunday-school were treated to their annual festival on Wednesday, February 17th. There were about 35 altogether. They started between 11 and 12 o'clock in the morning for Mr. Lewis's umbrageous paddock at the Shirt, where they spent the day very njoyibly, returning home about 6 o'clock n the vening. We learn from our Port Gawler corr.—pondent that Dr. J. H. Browne has made a very liberal offer to the farmers of that district. He will allow as much wheat as may be brought to the Port Gawler Creek to be shipped this year from there free of charge, and ?f the quantity amounts to 10,000 bushels he will build a store next year, at his own cost, for the use of the farmers, and then give them the option either of pay ing a small amount for storage, or of leasing the building from him. Our correspondent thinks that there is every likelihood of the requisite quantity being sent to the Creek this season. The Independent Order of Rechabites, South Australian District, opened a Tent in the Primitive r Methodist Cliapel, Callington, on Friday, February 5, proceedings being conducted by D.C.R. Gould, D.S. Alcock, P.C.B. Radford, D.B. Bey. W. Jenkin. The officers elected for the first six months are Rev. W. Jenkin, P.C.B. John Adams, C.R. Alfred Sexton, D.R. Thomas Wiltshire Secretary, and Benjairin Besanko, Treasurer. A meeting of the Foresters' Picnic Committee was held at the Wellington Inn; on Wednesday evening, 17th February, when a lett:r was read from the Hon. the Chief Secretary, granting the use of tbe Exhibi tion BuHc'ing and enclosure for the Picnic on Easter Monday. The services of the Adelaide Volun teer Band were engaged for the occasion, and ar??r adding several names to the Committee, and appointing Sub-Committees, the meeting closed. The farmers in the South of England have been obliged to abandon the practice of feeding cattle chiefly on wheat on account of the mortality it pro-duced. ♦