The Ashburton Guardian, COUNTY AGRICULTURAL & SPORTING RECORDER THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1880.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 May 1880, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian, COUNTY AGRICULTURAL & SPORTING RECORDER THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1880.

A Gazette to hand yesterday gives the complete returns of revenue and expenditure oh the New Zealand railways for the new financial year ended March last. This covers only a period of nine months, owing to the change in the financial year which used to close formerly in June, The Colonial Treasurer in his Financial Statement estimated the receipts at £075,000, the actual results are £99,412 under that figure, being in the aggregate, £575,588. The working expenses for the same period amounted to £460,284, or equal to74§ per cent, of the whole receipts, thus leaving 2o\ per cent., or £145,304, to pay interest on the cost of construction, fully bearing out the Premier’s recent statement that the Colonial Treasurer had in no way exaggerated, but rather underestimated, the probable deficiency that would face Parliament when it reassembled.

We had thought that the days of piracy on the high seas were past, and that men mad enough to attempt anything of the kind on an extensive scale were not to he found in these times. But we have been wrong in our trust in these peaceful and law abiding days, if the following telegram to the Press from its own correspondent at Wellington has any real meaning : <f An extraordinary and startling piece of information has just reached the Government by a special official telegram from the Government of New South Wales. It is that a telegram has been received by Lord Augustus Loftus, Governor of New South Wales, from the Governor of Bombay, that a steamer named the Genii, flying Liberian colors, left Aden on the 24th ultimo, professedly bound for Port Briton, having on board large stores of arms, ammunition, and provisions, and a numerous crew, comprising persons of various nationalities. The object of her mission is not disclosed, but from scraps of information which reached Bombay before she left Aden it is suggested that she is bound on a piratical or filibustering expedition, and a further suspicion has arisen that her operations were to be carried on against either some Australian and New Zealand towns and settlements, or else against the Anglo-Colonial shipping trade by intercepting gold ships and other valuable prizes. The information at present to hand is only of a very vague nature, but it was considered of sufficient importance to warrant the Government of Bombay in sending a special warning by cable to the Australian Government with a request that they would pass it on to New Zealand.”