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Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1951, 6 August 1869, Page 2

Political.— The Otago Hundreds Regulations Bill passed the thud reading in the Legislative Council last night. Fine Arts. —By the Alhambra today, a case of pictures was forwarded to Victoria by Mr C. Carter, of Caversham We believe that some of the pictures were exhibited at the Fine Arts Exhibition here —the whole collection having been sent for exhibition at Ballarat.

Criminal Statistics. —During the pa t month 74 arrests (besides 9(11 or drunkenness and other minor offences) were made by the police. Of this number 26 were for disorderly conduct, *2 for habitual drunkenness, 9 for theft. 5 for lunacy, 3 for vagnney, 2 for uttering valueless cheques, 3 for larceny, I for obtaining goods under false pretences, and 1f r forgery. There Were 48 convictions, and six committals.

Inquest.—An inquest was held this afternoon, before the City Coroner, Hr Hocken, on the body of John Laing, who committed suicide yesterday morning, as re-

ported in our issue of last evening. Several witnesses were examined, and their evidence went to prove that the deceased had been drinking very much lately, as well as losing money by gambling. The jury were of opinion that the deceased John Laing committed suicide during a fit of temporary insanity. Mr John Pugh Jones was foreman of the jury.

Flax. —The following extracts from a : elter ou the above subject from Mr Charles Brown to the Superintendent of Taranaki, may prove of inte est to the public :—“The cabbage tree (ti para-) is stated to yield from two to three times as much lb-re as the same quantity of flax, and this is reported worth about L 22 per ton in Sydney. The process is a simple one, and” is, T think, capable of great improvement. One fault of the machines I saw in use in Auckland was that ihey were not of strong enough construction. Mr Henderson, at the mill of Messrs Henderson and Macfar ane, is remedying for himself this defect in the machine, and is endeavoring to obviate the rinsing < f the fibre in the stream, as he considers this might be effected i n the machine, and so dispense with part of the manipulation. The prices of the machine vary. L2O may be stated as the average price. One machine is estimated to require one horse-power to drive it. And it is estimated that a flax mill, with three machines and one scutcher, ou :ht not to exceed in cost from L 250 to 1.300, driven by water-power included in this sum. ”

Native Affairs.— The Wellington correspondent of the Prrss, writing under date the 26th ult. says .-—The ep rts from th.; .' orth are very unsatisfacrory. On Monday night it was said that uleg ams had been received that Te Kooti ha I o’ taint'd a large force of Waikatos, and was advancing on Tauranga. I hear that 600 men have been put on pay to meet this tbn aimed attack. Probably most of them belong to the 500 who were taken off about a fortnight or three weeks ago by the present Government. There is an increasing feeling that the “reductionof defence expenditure, resolutions which the Government made a ministerial question, were a mere sham, introduced just to catch Middle Island votes. Certainly hardly any one beJiev< s now that the defence expenditure of this year will be less than last year’s. I have been told that many members think now that the entreaty of the Ministry the other night that the House would pass the resolution for the men of the 18th Regiment to remain, was simply a dodge, with the object of smoothing the way to their proposals to apply for Imperial troops to the English Government, and more particularly to case off Mr Dillon Bell, whose position as an old “ self-reliance ” member in Mr Weld’s time is not the bear, at pres- nt as a member of the Government which has declared that Mr Weld’s policy was a delusion, and are going in a direction exactly opposite to it. If the supposition is correct that a ministerial trick has been performed, there can be no doubt that it will cause great annoyance on almost all sides. The Revenue op Victoria.—The revenue returns of the colony of Victoria for the three, six, and twelve months, ending the 3Uth of June last, are published in the Government Gazette. As compared with the corresponding periods of the pn ceding year, there is an increase on the quarter of L 118,554, on the six months of L 165,557, and on the year of L 229,78». Taking the returns L-r the vear there is a deficiency in the duties on spirits of L 127,824, but this, is, doubtless, partly accounted for by the alteration in the mode of collecting the duties, which came into effect towards the end of 1867. The new, or “all other duties,” exhibit an improvement of L 92.916, and the net result in this branch of the revenue is a comparative deficiency of a little over L 19,000, L 9240 of which is due to the abolition of the export duty on gold. Excise shows an increase of about L 9,000, and the territorial revenue an increase, of L 142.774, L73.26S of which is derived from the sale of laud by auction. Rents and selections shew an increase of L 54,215; and rents and licenses of L 33,729; but the amount received for pastoral occupation was L 25.088 less than in the preceding year The receipts from public works, ports and harbours, postage fees, fines, and miscellaneous items, all exhibit a considerable, improvement. Coming to the quarter endine the 30th of last month, we find there is a comparative improvement in every important item in the Custom’s department, the total increase amounting to LSB 920. Th' re is a decrease of some L 2,000 on excise, an increase of some L 47.000 in tho territorial revenue, sales by auction contributing L 19,000 of the amount ; and there is an improvement to a greater or less extent under all the other headings of revenue, making, as before stated, the not increase on the three months of LI 18,584.

Imperial Aid. —The following letter lias been addressed to an Auckland contemporary :—“Tu your paper of Wednesday, June 30th you call the attention of your readers to the fact of the British Govern mi nt refusing to send a single soldier to our assistance ; that being the case, 1 would ask what benefit we derive from our connection with England. I was in hopes that this subject would have been brought forward in tinHouse of Assembly, but I fear our members are too much taken up with looking after their own personal interest to trouble themselves about the general good. If we consider this matter attentively, we shall find that so far from our connection with England being a benefit to us, it is on the contrary, a source of great danger. England is making large reductions in her navy, and in the event of going to war with other nations, she will have quite enough to do to protect herself. Any nation that might happen to be at war with England would go out of her way to attack us for the purpose of insulting England. How would the banks and the people of Auckland like to bo called upon to pay in twenty-four hours a ruinous sum of money, or have their town knocked about their ears and the surrounding country ravaged? How would the Thames gold diggers like to have their claims laidunler contribution ? There is also theihimce of our good ships being o ptured on their way to Europe. England’s conduct to her colonists has, on the whole, been most unkind and unn dural; in fact, the management of her New Zealand affairs from their very commencement has been a disgrace to her as a nation. England can expect no gratitude from the colonies of New Zealand, for t e owe nearly all their trouble to the interference of the mother country, who now oeserts them in their time of trouble and danger, The sooner we draw up a lull statement of our ease, and make it known to all nations,

at the same time stating that we no longer desire to live under the British rule, the better it will be for us. The British public will find themselves, perhaps sooner than th y expect, without ships, colonies, or commerce, and with a good part of their working population going over to enrich America or Canada, which is about the same thing Whether it will do for us to ask America to help us in our war with the natives is a question which must be put off until our relations with England are disposed of. Unti that subject is settled, I see nothing hut ruin and disgrace before us. New Zealand can never prosper, while she allows a prejudiced, nd in regard to her affairs, ignorant colonial minister living in London to interfere between herself and a set of murdering cannibal savages. If our minis ; ers have any spirit in them they will refuse to notice despatches from England on native affairs. The colonial minister in Euuland wants to retain the pow r to interfere wi’hout being subject to responsibility or expense. The people of New Zealand have put off the consideration os these subjects till the last moment. The time, however, has come for us to put aside all other business and attend to this one subject alone. Immigration has ceased, our farms have gone out of cultivation, and land is ©f little or no value ; but the picture is too dark to look upon, and I will conclude my letter, knowing that more able pens than mine will be obliged to bring all these matters fully before the public, both of New Zealand and England.”

The Otago Political Association will meet to-night, in the Old Masonic Hall, uhen the “Otago Hundreds Regulations Bid,” now before the Assembly, will be cous dered. We hav.- been requested to state that the public will be admit ed.