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Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2545, 14 April 1871, Page 2

Provincial Council.—lt is understood that the Provincial Council will he called together for transaction of business on the 22nd May.

Political. —Messrs E. B. Cargill and C. E, Baugh ton are appointed members of the Waste Land Board.

Scarlatina. —We learn that this dreaded disease has broken out in Christchurch, where two cases arc reported within the last few days. It is rumored that there are a couple of c.ases at Caversliam, Proposed Banquet.— The liberals (?) of Tuapoka propose asking their fellows to celebrate the return of liberal members to the Provincial Council by a monster banquet, to be held at Tuapeka on an early day. Several M.P.C.’s arc to he present. City Police Court. —The business transacted at this Court to-day was very light. James Ronau, for being drunk, was fined 10s, and Henry M. West was ordered to pay 7s Gd weekly towards the support of his illegitimate children. The Provincial Solicitorship.— We believe we arc correct in stating that our contemporary is misinformed in saying that any arrangements whatever have been made in regard to filling up this office, vacant through the resignation of the late Executive.

Apropos de Bottes. —The boll of the Post < 'ffico rang out the fire alarm at a few minutes after four o’clock this afternoon, in consequence of a quantity of straw and loose material in the boat-house at the old jetty, having been nncxplainably ignited. The application of a few buckets of water quenched the flames.

Inquest—Mr Hocken, City Coroner, held an inquiry to-day at the Lunatic Asylum touching the death of Arthur Henderson, aged 38 years, a shoemaker by trade, lately a resident of Tuapeka, and who has been an inmate of the Asylum for nearly six months The Jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony, that deceased died from exhaustion accompanied by acute mania.

Entertainment. | — The cntcrtaiumcnfc licit! last evening in ait! of the building fund of the Tiinity Wesleyan Cluircli was largely attended, and passed off very successfully. Tlie Rev. A. Reid occupied the cli air. The principal vocalists were Misses Waterhouse and Chapman (the last-men-tioned lady also presided at the piano) and Mr Marsdcn, while Or Burrowes and Mr Jago were the principal readers. An Itinerant Preacher.— One of this class is travelling through the country districts, and judging by his acts he is a fit object to be placed in the lunatic asylum. Last Sunday he preached at Cromwell, and in noticing the fact the Ar<jn» remarks that he is a very rough, eccentric, and my sterious character ; he lays claim to inspiration, sees visions, and has spiritual communications, whatever that may mean. His preachings, however, border closely on blasphemy. Yacht Pace. —The yacht match, which was not finished at Port Chalmers on Monday, will bo continued to-morrow in

Dunedin Bay ; the start to be made at halfpast I p.m. from a flagship off the end of the training wall. The course will be from this flagship round a buoy boat, moored at a distance of two miles in the direction of Port Chalmers, three times round, making a course of twelve miles. Tlic yachts entered arc—the Torment, Royal Alfred, Anonyma, Spray, and Gipsy.

Railway Extension. A Marlborough paper of a recent date has the following ;—Sir Charles Clifford ,i.?suied us the other'day, before leaving Blenheim, that he entertains every hope < f being enabled to form a company, when he reaches home, which will undertake the Bictou and Blenheim Railway. He also had a business terview on tlie subject with his Honor Mr Seymour, who has every confidence in tne prospect from Sir Charles Clifford s wellknown businesslike abilities. He assured ns that Dr Featheraton, the new AgcntOcucral, would also lend h's co-operation in every possible way to secure the same obj ct.

Public Houses. — A Hokitika paper states that the census returns indicate that there are at the present time no less than three hundred and thirty-two licensed public houses in the County of Westland. If all these houses wore held under the thirty pounds Realise, the amount of revenue derived directly from this source alone, wool I be L99GO, but as there are a consider ble number of “Conditional” and 1 Bush licenses included in the return, the figures will not quite come up to that amount. In the Totara Electoral district, there are 'fiftynine licensed public-houses, in the Hokitika district one hundred and seventy-one, and in that portion of the Grey Valley district which is included in the County there are no less than one hundred and two.

A Sensitive Frenchman. — A late number of the A i’</us lias the following: 41 It would appear from an extraordinary epistle we have received that some of the passages of Engli-h news we have printed have hurt the feelings of one of our Irench readers, who seems to love h'.s country well, but not very wisely. His letter, which is dated from' ‘ Kyneton,’ is addressed ‘to fhe Editor of the Anjux' ami runs as follows: —Sir, Caution, it appears that you Arc Inserting A great Deal of lies Abouth 1?) axi.ee, And I have to Inform you That I can Bring to Melbourne A army of Eleven Thousand Men, An if 1 Shall hearc Any more of your lies I Shall Bomb.de Every Street And Public Bui’dings in Melbourne Yon Can Make What you. Like Out of this, Lons Dmxoz (great caution,) My Hand is Death.” The Wakatip. —A elm tty correspondent supplies the following particulars i’egnrding Queenstown : —The yield of grain in the district has been a very good one ; and the season 1870 1 may be fairly looked upon as a highly remunerative one for the farmers. Without lo ing sight of the many equally good patches round about, mention may be made of Mr Reid’s crop, grown almost within the township, which has yielded fifty bushels per acre. The first show of the Wakatip Pastoral Society is fixed for the 20th inst., and over LIOO is to be given in prizes. In raining matters there is a healthy silence, which may be best accounted for by consulting the escort returns. At no period within the last few years has the yield of gold been more steady or remunerative. Stock is .-ft a ridiculously low price. Decent-looking hacks only fetch from L2 10s to LG. Cattle, too, arc extremely low—the commonage being overstocked with store cattle.

Telegraph Extension. —Our Pa tea telegram on Wednesday was, wc venture to say, understood by very few of our readers. It'told of the final step having been taken towards surveying the line of telegraph to Auckland—a work that has been delayed through the opposition of the Natives, through whose territory the line will pass. A month ago a large Native meeting was held at Pariaka, in Taranaki, when the question whether the telegraph was to he allowed to he extended over the land belonging to the tribe at Wharca was discu-sed. A favorable decision, brought about by the action of Te Whiti, having been arrived at, the Government lost no time in hurrying on with the work. As stated, the survey has been couple'el, the whole of the mate lal for the extension of the telegraph from Patca to New Plymouth lias been lauded in quantities to suit cartage, at different places between these two points. By the first week in May it is expected that the line will ho finished as far as Opnnako, a point half-way between Patea and New Plymouth.—Communication with Nasehy is all hut completed, and the station will he opened in about three weeks.

Land Transfer Act. We were witness at a most interesting sale this day, when the title consisted of a certificate under the Land Transfer Act. The auctioneer in mounting the rostrum, said :—Gentlemen, — There, arc, mi mndiions of rale. The title’ consists of a certificate of title under the “ Land Transfer Act;” which means an indefeasible title guaranteed by the Crown. There arc no expenses for conveyance, the pm chaser has only to go to the I and Transfer Office, and get a certificate of title on presenting the transfer signed by the vendor. We were sorry that the witty and talented auctioneer indulged in the following joke at the expense of the Profession. After the estate had reached the munificent sum of a thousand guineas, Mr Power said “ Gentlemen,— Consider there are no legal expenses. The lawyers arc entirely wiped out. The purchaser can have a transfer at a cost of 10s.” Wc know not whether the handsome sum of L 1065, which the property brought, was owing to the fact that there were no legal expenses to pay for the transfer, or that the most beautiful site in the Province commanded that sum, we arc unable to determine. Wc must, however, congratulate our spirited townsman, Mr W. J. M, Larnach, on acquiring one of the finest sites for a town residence in the Southern Hemisphere. The area, wo understood, to be 11 acres *2 roods.

The adjourned meeting of the Directors of tbe Caledonian Society will be held this evening, at 8 o’clock. The attention of Volunteers is directed to an advertisement containing general orders, which appears in another column.

By advertisement in another column, it is announced that the High School and Girls’ Provincial School Quarter will commence on Monday next, the 17th instant. Entrance examination at ten o’clock,