PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 103, 31 October 1871, Page 2

PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

—0 £50,000 £50,000 worth of timber is annually exported from Hokitika to Australia. The House of Representatives lias passed a resolution to hold next session of the Assembly at Dunedin. The Governor of New Zealand has a salary of £4500 a year. His establishment costs the country £‘looo annually. The Dunedin Gasworks realised £17,800 at auction, —Mr Larnach, acting for Mr H. A. Hanksy, being the purchaser. Tho General Government has refused the oTors of service of eight Volunteer Companies recently organised in this Province. Mrs Cargill, the relict of the late Captain William Cargill, died at Dunedin on the 25 th inst. The deceased lady was the mother of nineteen children. Her age at death was eighty-one years. The annual show of the Timaru Agricultural and Pastoral Society, held on the 25th, was a very successful affair. The champion cup for merino sheep was awarded to Mr W. A. Tolmio ; and Messrs G. G. Russel & Co. received first prise for wool. Mr Chew Chong, an enterprising “ heathen Chinee/’ has established a profitable industry in Taranaki in the shape of fungus gathering. Tie pays 6s. a sack for it, and as five or six Backs may be gathered by one man in a day, it is not surprising that a number of Europeans as well as Maoris are hard at work collecting it. According to a return presented to Parliament, there are 131 parsons in the service of the Colony who receive salaries of £lO3 a year and upwards, representing a total of upwards of £73,01)0, or an average in round numbers of £550 each. Not so bad for a Colony with only a population of a quarter of a million people ! The Rev. Dr Copland, who has for nearly seven years ministered to the spiritual wants of the Presbyterians in the Tuapeka district, left there a few days ago for Dunedin, having received and accepted a call to the new Presbyterian Church at the north end of the city. It is expected that the Rev. 11. Morrison, of Switzers, will be appointed to the vacant charge.

iVoni the Australian Israelite we learn the interesting fact that after erecting almshouses, the Jewish Philanthropic Society can find no one poor enough to go in to them. The. most suitable applicant is a man with an income of SO?., a week, and a sum of £IOO safely lodged in one of the banks. I? this be the poorest of the tribe, it is difficult to guage the wealth of the richest.

Our Teviot correspondent (says the Tnapzlia Times) informs ns that the survey of the now celebrated. 50,000-acro block' has been commenced. The surveyors engaged by Mr Clarke are performing the work for (id an aere, so that he makes a profit on this item alone of £3,250. This is the all-engrossing topic of conversation in the Mount Benger district, and a monster petition is in course of signature. A Wellington telegram of Oct. 20 states that Mr W. H. Pay," late of Walker-street, Ihmedin, and a passenger for Melbourne per Claud Hamilton, jumped overboard between Lyttelton and Wellington. The high sea running rendered it impossible to save him. His wife and five children, the eldest only seven years old, were on board at the time. All his money was on his person. His family arc said to be destitute. The Victorian Standard says that the Duffy Ministry will henceforth bo known as the "Teetotal Ministry." The Chief Secretary (Mr Dully) is a teetotaller ; so is the Treasurer (Mr Deny); Mr Grant, the Minister of Lands, is a teetotaller ; and so is Mr Walsh (the Attorney-General) ; while Mr Longmore (Minister of Railways) is a devout disciple of Rechab ; Sir o'Grady takes a little No. 2, or Colonial wine ; Mr M'Lellan, the burly and much-loved member for Ararat, is the only one of the team that can take a "nip" of "hard stuff," and he is very moderate indeed. Referring to Douglas's boat-lowering apparatus (an account of which we publishod last week), and comparing the invention with a similar one patented some years ago by the late Mr C. C. Clifford, the brother and representative of the last-mentioned patentee (Mr G. P. Clifford) lias published the following challenge:—"! am prepared single-handed to unlasli, lower, and entirely disengage from a ship (under all the following circumstances), either stationary, or under way, or going at any speed, and from any height, a boat and crow weighing from ten c-wfc. to three tons, against any invention or crew in the world, for the sum of £IOO, to be given for placing a life-boat on an exposed part of the coast, the boat to be named after the successful competitor."

The Sydney Mail publisher a leading ai'ticlo ! in praise of New Zealand flux rope. It says : i —"The character of tho ropo made of the Tlnrmlum tenax is excellent. Moat of the' captains that have given it a fair trial prefer! it to Manilla for all running gear, on acoount' of its superior elasticity, durability, and soft- j 71933, There are qualifications of this statemont, it being said by some to be not so| goo i a:; Russian homp ropo for wator, pur-! P'j<i3d or for standing rigging,,.though the! hthr would soon bo driven from the market i U the Piiormiii'.n ropo vera sold at 45s per! cv,-o. I:i strength, it stood the British Government tast well; nav, in tho 'breaking! machine,' it stood double what the test fori now hemp ropo is. Tho hemp test is 841bs ; some of the flax strands stood at 2101bs. j There soems ib'r-i nn doubt about tho rope- J ina'iing capabilities of this, fibre."