Untitled

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2530, 27 March 1871, Page 2

Telegraphic. —There is every reason to hope that the telegraph line will be completed to Naseby and the office open for business within six weeks from this date. Mr Goodfellow of Dunedin is the successful tenderer for the erection of the offices. Quartz Crushing. —We are glad to say that the Cromwell reefs are turning out well. A first crushing of 130 tons at the Alta yielded about 90 ozs. ; and, as the reef is worked very economically, this affords a dividend of about 10s per share weekly to the shareholders, as about 110 tons can be crushed weekly. Floral.— A fine specimen of the Magnolia gramlijlora, grown by Mr E. Lambton, is being exhibited at Mr Allan’s, Cutting, Princes street. The plant is common enough to us all; but the flower, which may be seen in full bloom, is, we believe, very rare in the Colony. It attracts, as it is only natural to suppose, a large number of visitors. Accidents. —The Mount Ida district is a fearful place for accidents. Scarcely a mail arrives without bringing intelligence of some poor fellow cither losing life or limb, That to hand yesterday tells of a fa L al accident, and three serious opes of bodily injury. On Thursday afternoon last, the youngest daughter of Mr John Cogan, of Naseby, was reported to he missing. Groat r nxiety was naturally created, and an immediate search set on foot. About S p.m. the Tody of the child was discovered about a mile and a half down the race of the Dead Level; it is presumed it must have fallen in somewhere about Brookes’s store, where it was last seen alive. —Two men, named Peter Talbot and Terence Ryan, were engaged iu removing an

obstacle at the mouth of the tunnel in which toy were work in 2, when the water rushed in with great rapidity, carrying the men to the mouth of the claim, a distance of about 31)0 yards. Talbot came into collision with the props supporting the roof, and had his arms severely lacerated, while his bodv was much contused. Ryan was but slightly injured.—A man named Frederick King was severely injured by an eartlifall while working in Creighton’s tail-race on Monday last.

New Zealand’s Millstone. Mr W. Colenso, of Hawke’s Bay, when recently addressing a meeting of electors as a candidate for a scat in the Provincial Council, is reported to have said What is the midstone that is hanging round the neck of this province ? There is a puzzle for you ; cm anybody answer if? Here is half-a-crown for the man who will answer it. I tell you what it is. It is the tens of thousands of pounds that go out of the place as interest. I see no prospect of improvement while this goes on. The very life-blond of the province fs b ing drained by it. Waiting for a rise in wool is, it seems to me, something bke waiting for a river to flo w out to sea before attempting to cross it. W hen I cons-u.-.-r all the nations that have gone in for slwcpfarming lately, it seems to me that a still further fall is much more likely than a rise. In Cl iua it is now being extensively introduced. The people there work for a few copcks a day. A copek is something less than an American cent. How is it possible that sheepfarmers here can compete with them there 1 I should rejo ce to see a rise in the price of won! or flax, but in spite of the improbability {of this, there is hope for the country from the development of its great resources. Allow mo to read a passage that L wrote on this subject f.mr-and thirty years ago:—“ Her (New Zealand’s) natural productions--her lishovieq he’’ metals, her timber, her flax, her pork, and her barks for dyeing and tanning-—will, doubtless, prove an inexhaustible mine of wealth ; but, ere these ran be available, the spirit of l abour and industry, of energy and alacrity, must be infuse! into her present occupiers ; contentment and unity must dwell among us, and self denial be extensively practised.” These words are applicable now as they were then ; and these virtues arc, after all, easily practised in a country where food is so cheap as it is here. The Flying Squadron.—Many of those who visited the Flying Squadron when it was in Lyttelton Harbor at the beginning (it JS7O, ami especially those who went on b >ayd the Phoebe, will remember Bandmaster Haynes and Ifis interesting “log” of the voyage. H.e writes to us from 12. Park street, Soutbsea, Portsmouth, a? follows, on January 19 The Squadron arrived home safe, and I have completed the ‘ Log’ with all its deia Is, and I have forwarded one to you for your information. It is patronised by the whole of ihe Admiralty, both in and out of office, also the Honorab'e VV. E. Gladstone. A copy has been forwarded, through Admiral Hornby and Colonel Biddulph, to Her Map sty, and accepted. It has become a general favorite amongst the public here, I should be most happy ig forward a few on to your sweet little island, ijf you thought -they would be saleable. Let me know the best way to send them. H not, remember me to all inquiring friends, with my best wishes for their future welfare. All the Squadron is paid off—four at Plymouth and two at Portsmouth. The Bristol is to be commissioned again for the Australian station. W,c are all very busy at home, both tfie Aripy and Navy. The Volunteers are becoming %% proficient in their duty as the Regulars. Tim topic gf the day is the war between Franco and Prussia. and nothing goes down unless you can speak of the Frogs and .‘■ausages struggling for victory. The popular feeling is for the smaller food, but for our own part we have no desire for either. We still have powder, and men with British pluck to be lookers-on, or show them an example as required.”

TifE quarterly meeting of the Pioneer Lodge, A 1.0.0.F,, No, 1, will be held at the rooms, to-morrow (Tuesday) evening, at eight o’clock. A concert in aid of the North ija.st Valley School Prize Fund will take place in the North Dunedin Drillslied, to-morrow (Wednesday) evening, at eight o’clock.