presents of any description, and such transfers were frequently made, as witnessed by the fact of occasional rows taking place, and of the gaoler frequently bringing bottles of grog to light.
"A sum of £5000 had been voted by the Council for a new gaol, and plans had been prepared and submitted for the approval of the General Government more than nine months before, and the delay in proceeding with the new building was attributable to the indecision of the General Government. Considering the means at command of the gaoler, the gaol was in a highly creditable state as regards cleanliness and order." These remarks of the Grand Jury were elicited by the opening statement by His Honor, who added that ere long their gaol would cease to be, what it had hitherto been, an object of derision to beholders, and a reproach to the flourishing Province. Furthermore His Honor said he would forward the presentment of the Jury to the proper quarter.
Another Court called the District Court was also established early in 1859, and a day appointed for the first sitting; but as the Government had neither appointed a Crown Solicitor nor forwarded instructions, Judge Harris had to adjourn the sitting until word was received from Auckland, which had now become the seat of Government. Some months afterwards the appointment was made and business was commenced.
The suggestion was thrown out at a soiree held in the church that it would be much for the benefit of the townspeople were an Athenæum established in the town, that being a better name than Mechanics' Institute. To carry out the idea a meeting was subsequently held, which resolved to form such an Institute, and a committee was appointed to wait on the Board as to obtaining a site for the proposed building. Accordingly, at the next meeting a resolution was passed agreeing to lease to the Athenæum managers the section at the corner of Manse and High-streets at the nominal rent of five shillings a year. The preliminaries being arranged the committee drafted a constitution with a view of submitting the same to the proprietors of the Mechanics' Institute, in the hope that an amalgamation would be affected. However, a strange difficulty occurred. So little interest appears to have been taken in the affairs of the Institute, that for several years no committee had been elected, and when a general meeting of
