THE Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2006, 9 October 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1869.

Erratum. A typographical error was made yesterday in our notice and advertisement of the land declared open for application in Shag Valley. Applications will be received on Wednesday, the twentieth of this month, at the Land Office. Appointment.— Mr Y. Pyke has received the appointment of Returning Officer, for Manuherikia, the goldfields, and goldfields towns, for the election of members of the House of Representatives and Provincial Council. Ball.—The Citizens Cricket Club ball took place at the new Post office ball last evening, and turned out a most enjoyable affair. The company, which consisted of forty-five couples, was just large enough to prevent inconvenience from crowding. Dancing was kept up to the strains of M. Fleury’s band until an early Lour this morning. Concert. —Last evening a concert was given at the Kaikorai Drill-shed, in aid of the Mechanics’ Institute there. Several well-known gentlemen amateurs assisted, consistidg of Messrs Brown (conductor), Towsey, Tully, Smith, Cavalier, and Francis. The concert was very well attended, and passed off with great success. On Dit.—Wo are informed that Captain Hutchison, who is now in Sydney, has purchased the clipper barque, Union, for the purpose of putting her in the trade between this port and Newcastle, in the coal trade, to run in connection with other ships of the firm. The vessel is on the letter, and lately arrived with a large cargo of tea from China, in splendid order.

Artillery Prize Firing. —By tins Mail have been received the scores made by the No. 2 Company of the Honorable Artillery Company, London, in the Rifle Match sliot by them against the Dunedin V olunteor Artillery Corps. The result iis a victory for the Dunedin men by 91 points. We regret the return reached ns too late to give the separate scores this evening. Gaol Return. —The following is the state of Her Majesty’s gaol, Dunedin, for the week ending Oct. 9 : Awaiting trial, 3 men, 1 woman; under remand, 0 men, 0 women ; penal servitude, 26 men, 0 women ; hard labor, 53 men, 15 women ; imprisonment, 0 men, 0 women ; in default of bail, 0 men, 0 women ; debtors, 3 men, 0 women ; total, 85 men, 16 women. Received during the week, lOjhnen, 7 woman; discharged, 16 men, 2 women. The Colonial Forces. —Amongst the Parliamentary papers recently received is a return shewing the strength of the forces. From it we learn that on June 15, 1869, there were on pay 1342 armed constabulary, 767 militia and volunteers, and 757 natives ; and that on September 16, the number on pay was 1008 armed constabulary, 413 militia and volunteers, and 478 natives. The decrease in the forces since the 15th June lost has been 966.

New Publication. — A collection of humorous ballads and satirical poems, entitled “Flights among the Flax,” has boon published by Tom Tallfem. Some of these poetic flights have already appeared in the pages of the Evening Star,_ but the little work before us contains additional matter, now for the first time brought to light, of perhaps greater merit and full of rich racy humor, 'the book, embodying incidents of a local character, will he read with great interest. We trust that it will command a ready sale, and be as extensively read as it deserves.

Magisterial. — ln the Resident Magistrate’s Court this morning, the following persons were sentenced to the lines and periods of imprisonment attached to their names for drunkenness :—M. M‘Neale, 10s or 24 hours ; Annie Hill, 20s or 48 hours; Katie Brown, L 5 or 14 days ; M. J. Gibbs, L 3 or 10 days ; George M'Cardloy, 10s or 24 hours ; Poter Fisher, 10s or 24 hours ; Alexander Pitman, 10s or 24 hours ; D. Montoith, 10s or 24 horns. The Benevolent Institute and Mr Talbot.— The Secretary of the Benevolent Institute has addressed the following note to Mr Talbot, in the sentiments of which the people of Dunedin will fully coincide : “I have the honor, by direction of the Committee of the above Institution, to tender you their very sincere thanks for your extremely kind and generous offer to devote your services, on Monday evening next, to the advancement of the Institution. They feel that it is impossible for them to convey to you their full appreciation of the very charitable motives which have induced you, thus unasked, to assist in relieving the sufferings of the poor and destitute of a communitv to which you are necessarily an entire stranger, and ’they trust you receive bitants of the City that your great kindness so well deserves. — l am, &c., James A. Webb, Secretary.”

Petition.—The following petition is being circulated in the Tokomairiro districtTo the honorable members of General Assembly of New Zealand. —The petition of the undersigned, freeholders in the Province of Otago, humbly sheweth : That by the recent legislation of the General Assembly in an Act entitled the Hundreds Regulations Act, your memorialists observe that the pastoral lessee is entitled on the declaration into Hundreds of a portion or the whole of his run, to compensation, at a maximum rate of 2s 6d and Is Cd per acre respectively, together with compensation for improvements, including fencing, draining, ploughing, and laying down in grass. Your memorialists have laid out considerable sums in similar improvements on their freehold estates, which properties they are now anxious to dispose of to Government, on even more favorable terms than those granted by the Act to the pastoral lessee, viz., only compensation for improvements, and your memorialists do not ask for any repayment of the original purchase money or any compensation whatever for extinguishing their title over the unimproved portions of their freehold estates, for which Ihey have annually paid 2s per acre rent, being the interest at 10 per cent, on LI per aero purchase money or about lo£ times more than the rate at which the pastoral lands are occupied. Your memorialists believe that by these means a sufficiency of land will be available for a description of emigrant having the command of capital, without the State going to the expense of granting assisted passages to an inferior class. By the adoption of such a measure, the interests of the runholders will be conserved, and their leases may be rendered indefeasabfe while a great boon would be conferred upon the disappointed, deluded, dejected, and betrayed freeholders of this Province, and terminate for ever the discord which has hitherto existed between the agricultural and pastoral interests, by sweeping away the necessity for the proclamation of new'Hundrecls. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.”

East Taieri. —A correspondent of the Bruce Standard writes The want of rain is beginning to affect the crops to a serious degree ; they a * e new losing their fresh appearance, the grass is getting dried up, and all growth seems stopped. 1 here are many fields which were all ploughed and ready to receive the seed, but owing to the wet state of the ground when ploughed, it has got as dry and hard as stone, and no harrows can make impression thereon until rain conics, therefore the fields must remain unsown, and, from present appearances, that period promises to be distant. It is, as the old proverb says, “ an ill wind that blows nobody good,” for this dry season has enabled many farmers in swampy ground to put in crops which in ordinary seasons they cannot do. The Governor and the Commddoue. —The following paragraph is taken from the Southern Gross: —We observe our contemporary is attributing some importance to an article which appeared in the Wellington evening paper about tho Governor. _ The paper in, question loses no opportunity of attacking his Excellency. The present subject of attack is the allegation that the Covornor, by 'evading his fair share of the responsibility in connection with tlio orders to the Himalaya to leave without the troops, has brought the Commodore into trouble. It is sufficient to say that the accusation is

groundless, that his Excellency was prepared to accept a full share of responsibility, that the Commodore was aware _ of it, and was contented to act as he did with a full knowledge of the same. The departmental rules, which required something in the shape of a reprimand to bo administered to the Commodore, will not stand in the way of a full recognition by the Lords of the Admiralty, that Commodore Lambert, in having shown himself ready to act in an emergency, has proved himself a smart officer whose services are more to be relied upon than those of officers who have no notion of discretion or judgment, or of doing anything without precise orders.

Arrival of the Taranaki at Wellington.—The s.s. Taranaki, after being submerged for upwards of thirteen months in Queen Charlotte’s Sound, in from fifteen to seventeen fathoms of water, was towed into this harbor yesterday afternoon by the s.s. Lady Bird. The various ships in harbor displayed their colors, and a perfect crowd of people wended their way to see the ship, and to give her a right hearty welcome. She came round the point at 4.30 p m., and at 5.30 p.m. the Lady Bird ran alongside the Queen’s Wharf. The Taranaki was warped up to the wharf shortly afterwards, and was greeted with three heaity cheers. A perfect rush then took place, and her decks were soon crowded. The vessel certainly looks a perfect wreck, but nothing else could have been expected, Her lower masts and bowsprit are standing, and are perfectly sound, and some sails were used on the passage across the Straits. All her top sides are covered with barnacles, but her bottom, which had been coated with Peacock’s patent paint, is quite free from them. All the machinery is uninjured, including the steam winch which has been used for coaling, and the donkey-engine for pumping the vessel during her passage across the Straits. The poop deck is mostly destroyed by the worms, but the lower decks, the cabin fittings, and all the teak work about the ship are perfectly sound. The ca' go does not appear so much damaged as was at first anticipated. We are glad to have the opportunity of chronicling her arrival in this harbour bfore the departure of the mail. The raising of the ss. Taranaki is a feat of wffiich our local engineers may well bo proud. It has been accomplished under the greatest difficulties, and with none but the most scant and rude mechanical appliances at command. The Taranaki was wrecked in the month of August, 1868, ’ and settled stern foremost down an almost perpendicular bank into 17| fathoms of water. From this position she has been raised by means of forty-four screws, supported on enormous pontoons, her head being fastened to the shore by strong cables. The rise and fall of the tide was only two feet six inches and often much less. The plan adopted appears to have been to raise the stern of the Taranaki by means of the screws and then to get a purchase on the head ropes and pull the bows little by little up the bank. A month of patient labor (has been rewarded by the return yesterday of the long submerged vassel to Wellington harbor. The names of the gentlemen who directed the are Messrs Charles Seacer and E. Thirkell of this city, ana w enterprising ingenuity is chiefly due the success which has attended the undertaking.— IVefliny ton Independent.