Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 3058, 6 December 1872, Page 2

The annual meeting of the Diocesan Synod of the Church of England takes place on the 11th instant.

The tender of Messrs Mills and Guthrie of L 2250 has been accepted by the General Government for the conveyance to the Waitaki Bridge of bridge plant imported in the ships Bulwark and Palmerston. The Resident Magistrate’s Court was adjourned immediately after being opened this morning, as it was necessary for Mr Strode to attend a meeting of the Board of Health, of which he is chairman. The cases were appointed to be heard next Friday, A miner named Bruce, while engaged in splitting rock in the Colleen Bawu Claim, Garrick Range, one day last week, was severely injured by the rebound of a steel gad he was using at the time. The gad struck him in the right eye, and it is believed he will be permanently deprived of its sight.

They do things expeditiously in Melbourne. The Suez steamer, the Behar, cast anchor in Hobson’s Bay on the 21st ult.; her mails were large, but notwithstanding this the letter portion, as also the packages via Brindisi, were all placed on board the Government steam tug George Rennie in less than eight minutes after the Behar dropped her anchor, and were delivered at the General Post Office, Melbourne, within forty minutes from that time.

A well-known and notorious character named Corfitz Cromiuist, a native of Sweden, well known to the Police and Gaol officials of New Zealand and Victoria, and who was the first prisoner arrested in the Fiji Islands, has been obtaining money under pretences in the Western District of New South Wales, under the assumed name of Edward Maurice, and was sentenced to seven years’ penal servitude. The Dunstan Jockey Club have issued a programme for their annual meeting, which is to be held on Feb, 6 and 7. The total stakes are L 430. The Tuapeka J.C. will have two days’ racing, and offer L 420 in prizes. The following is a list of the races decided upon, subject, however, to revision, by a sub-committee appointed :—First Day : Maiden Plate, 35 sovs. ; Lawrence Handicap, 70 sovs. ; Hack Race, 20 sovs. ; Handicap Hurdle Race, 50 sovs. Second Day: Flying Handicap, 40 sovs, ; Tuapeka Jockey Club Handicap, 100 sovs. ; Hack Hurdle Race, 25 sovs. ; Consolation Handicap, 30 sovs.

Mr James Crombie, the Cromwell delegate at the Alining Conference, conveyed with him to Lawrence a memorial, signed by 130 electors in the Cromwell district, csjjhng upon Mr Hickey, ALP. C., to resign, which he duly delivered. On Wednesday, fie telegraphed to the Alayor of Cromwell “ Tfave seen Hickey. He declines to resign, apd says he will meet his constituents before next session. He blames the Municipal Council for any omission.” The A ryns says the result was not unexpected, and that the announcement will not create much astonishment ; and observes: “We have no doubt his constituents will accord him a very warm rec.epAioif should he fulfil his promise of meeting them; v u t wc don’t think he has sufficient moral courage t,q (jq so. Time will tell.”

It is a fact beyond question ip tbjis Colony the amount of business transacted by the electric wire is proportionately larger than that obtaining in other countries. During the three or four weeks the electric communication between England and Australia has been established, the receipts for direct messages from this Colony have amounted to LI3O, exclusive of Government messages, which probably will have reached half that sum* As iu all probability this

business represents a mutual transmission of messages, the revenue of the new line, as far as New Zealand is concerned, amounts to L4OO a month, or L4BOO a-year, This atfords some idea of the probable remunerative nature of the proposed cable between New Zealand and Australia. The Independent suggests if a uniform rate of say half-a-crown a word, instead of twenty shillings as at present, were charged, it is highly probable that a much larger revenue would be derived, and that it would be a fitting occasion during the forthcoming Postal Conference to propose that the several Governments of the Australasian Colonics should give a pro redo, subsidy to the main telegraphic wire, and that such a reduction should be made in the tariff as would create a large and universal use of the wires.

The condition of the industrial classes in the old country, and on the Continent of Europe, will have great interest for the Colonies, and, in his last despatches, Mr Childers, the Agent-General for Vietoiii, announced that lie intends forwarding to the Colony reports on the condition of the industrial classes of England and other countries, together with the purchasing power of money in those countries. A private letter (says the Ape) received by the mail gives the following on the state of matters in the West of England; lixed income finds that, in six mouths, its purchasin'.: power has decreased just one half; coals, that used to be 16s to 18> per ton, are now selling at from 3ds to 35s per ton ; beef is selling at Is per lb ; all sorts of clothing have advanced from 31) to 50 per cent. The only tiling that has not advanced is house rent, and that still remains moderate. The middle classes feel tho excessive pressure of things very much.” There have been some extensive bush fires in Southland. A fire kindled for private convenience in the bush, near the north road, was fanned by a brisk N.W. wind into full blaze, and spread with amazing rapidity. Sawmills, and even the railway line were in great danger; but when the danger was at its height, the rain fell. Bat for that, the township of Clinton must have been destroyed. The T i wttt remarks : Never was the advent of rain more earnestly looked or more ardently prayed for by the inhabitants of any locality than was the case on I riday in this apparently doomed suburb. The recital of dangers, removals, and losses will present a formidable page; the remembrance by the parties immediately concerned will in all probability never wear out. The actual sufferers by demolition of houses are Messrs Taylor, Stevens.m, and M‘Master; Mr Lawson’s fence being partly destroyed, but the house saved. The calamity, in reference to the first-mentioned of the sufferers. is perhaps the most considerable, extending as it does to the destruction of their all. The loss and damage by partial ignition and removal is almost universally spread. The dwelling-house of Mr J. it. Cnthbertson was on fire at three different times. The residence of the Rev. Mr Stobo was also in great danger, and the humbler dwellings around, though not scatheless, have escaped as by a miracle. At Edcndale the 2Stb ult. was a regular “Black Thursday.” The lire there is supposed to have originated through some person carelessly dropping a lighted match in the bush along the railway line. No less than GOO cords of firewood were burnt in a few hours. The men in the cutting—who were employed tilling up the waggons—were compelled to stop work, and many of them narrowly escaped losing their tents, along with the articles which they contained. The poor woodsplitters —who did not square or stack up their firewood—will be heavy losers, and the contractors must also suffer severely. The Daily Time a and Witness Company arc going to erect new premises on the section of ground at the corner of Rattray, Bond, and Crawford streets, and adjoining Messrs Dalgetty, Rattray, and Co.’s warehouse. The building, which though not possessing any architectural features requiring notice, will be very substantial; will be two storied, of brick, and to Rattray street will have a frontege of Sift., and to Crawford and Bond streets of 43ft. The newspapers will occupy the whole of the premises, with the exception of the Bond street part, where Messrs Mnitb and Anderson, solicitors, will have their offices. The entrance to the new Times' office will be from Rattray street. A passage, 6ft. wide, traverses the ground floor, on which will be situated to the right of the passage the counting room and offices, 23ft. Gin. by 18ft, ; and on the left the publishing room, 21ft. Gin. by 14 feet, Immediately at the rear of the publishing room, and facing Crawford street, will be the machine room, 2Gft. by 21ft, Gin. ; and behind it the damping room, lift. Gin. by 6ft., and the engine room, lift. 6m. by 10ft, Gin. On the upper floor will be the composing room, 40 x 22, and the jobbing room, 56ft. Gin. by 22ft., whioh will be lighted by five windows from Crawford street, and four from Rattray street, besides sunlights ip the rpof. Then facing Rattray street will be the manager’s, reporters’, sub editor’s, and editor’s room. On the basement story will be cellarage and storeroom. That part of the premises which will be occupied by Messrs. Smith and Anderson, is to comprise watting room, four large offices, anteroom, lavatory, and other conveniences, and both establishments will bo provided with strong rooms. The offices on the ground floor in Rattray street will be lighted by nine windows, and those in Crawford and Bond streets, by five. The architects are Messrs Mason and Wales ; the builder Mr James Gore, whose tender was L 2695, and who undertakes to finish the building by the end of February next. The pirns originally drawn by the architects provided for a three-storied building, part of which was designed for a hotel. Had that design, which involved the expenditure of about L6OOO, been adopted, the Daily Times would have been housed in premh-e* almost palatial in their character, and the city would have possessed a building which for elegance of appearance would have been unequalled in the Colony, The Belfast Newsletter, one of the most widely circulated and most influential journals in the north of Ireland, makes, in a recent issue, the following favorable comments upon the present state of New Zealand : “By the last mail we have received tiles of New Zealand papers, to the date of the 12th June last. They give more cheering accounts of the conditions and prospects of the Colony than any that have reached us for some years. . . . As the New Zealand Herald cxpn-sses it, ‘ The Native difficulty is nowhere ; and New Zealand is, as a whole, looking up well for the future.’” The same journal publishes in another column the following practical and sensible letter, written by the wife of a settler at Waitakerei, near Auckland, to her friends in Ulster “This is, as far as 1 know, one of the best countries in the world for a working man to get on in, for if he saves a little money, and has plenty of l/rass in his face, there is no fear put he will goon be a yenlleinan. Those are the people who d,o \yelj h.eye. Only two classes are wanted—the working class and the wealthy. The first by saving a little, the latter by being able to purchase land and stock it, will treble what they could make at home. These are the two classes that are required. Wc have had clergymen’s sous, barristers’ sons, cstated geutlemeu’s sons working for us, and the men who came from the bogs of Old Ireland were preferable ; for one did not know how to work, the other did —so this may give you an idea of the glass of persons that are required. In this beautiful country the climate is lovely; no snow in' tb,e Nprtji, the trees always green, shedding their leaves imperceptibly, like your evergreens af home. Th t e cattle are not housed. We never thipk of such a thing. They find their food and shelter. This gives you an idea of the mildness of the climate. The land only requires labor to make it fer tile. You cannot got the working men here for less that} five or eix shillings a day, and

in a new couhtry yon cannot afford so much; so, if you could persuade the small farmers to come out here, in a few years they would be independent, and be their own landlords. I could name hundreds who landed without a penny, but are now independent. Soma of them, self-taught men, are new rulers of the country, have scats in the Provincial Council, and are the law-makers of the country. The servant girls dress better than most of your tine ladies at home. I forgot to mention our mines of gold, coal, and iron. There is no doubt it promises to be a most advantageous country fo•* the two classes I have mentioned. All must work here, less or more. No shopkeepers are wanted—no clerks of any kind—too many of them here already. This description of persons gather gum, or turn to any menial employment they can get. A good shoemaker is a good trade. \on mention about the preserved meat not being so well-flavoured as that at home ; neither beef, mutton, nor pork, has the flavor of home meat. It cannot be expected—it is too new a country. The land is not sufficiently cultivated. In most case* it is the natural food cattle have to Jive on, so you form your conclusions outhe subject. This is a great country for ‘ ups and downs.’ There is much uncertainty about the goldfields ; today you may not be worth a shilling, tomorrow worth thousands. It is not settled, like home. People here are constantly moving about; and when they make money they are anxious to return to their native home.” —The same paper publishes an extract from the Evenin' / Post , of May 27, which speaks in complimentary terms of the management of the Dunedin gaoi, which is represented to be the most efficient establishment of its kind in the Colony, and as rapidly assuming the character of a Colonial prison. Mr Caldwell, the governor, is a native of K-'lls, in the county Antrim, —and concludes its general observations by congratulating him on his able and successful administration of the affairs of the Otago prison, hoping it will receive su • able recognition in the proper quarter.

A meeting of the committee of the Canary and Poultry Association will be held at the Bull and Mouth Hotel on Monday evening at 8 o’clock.