SATURDAYS NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3095, 20 January 1873, Page 3

SATURDAYS NEWS.

“Formosa,” on Saturday evening, drew the best bouse of the week, the pit and stabs bointr crowded, and the circle well tilled. The piece should run all the week. With regard to the Moeraki Railway, the North Otago 'rimes of yesterday says: Messrs Brogden and Sons are now having tested, by pits and borings, the strata in the deeper cuttings on the WaitakiMoeraki Railway. We learn by our Wellington telegrams that Messrs Brogden are likely to be contractors for the 1 ne ; but we presume by what is progressing that their tender has not yet been feut in. The first Chinese marriage in the Mount Ida District was solemnised at Naseby, on Saturday, and the Chronic’e informs us that the Court-house was tilled by an anxious crowd, who were attracted thither by the novelty of the proceeding. The happy bridegroom, with a desire to secure more firmly his treasure, was anxious that the certificate of marriage should authorise him, When he felt so inclined, to convey his newly-wedded wife to the Flowery 1 and. Tlie recent influx of population into Invercargill has caused house-room to become somewhat scarce in that town. Indeed, so pressing is the demand for accommodation for the new comers that it has been found necessary to “ organise” a committee to bunt tip empty tenements, and the local papers contajn advertisements urging the owners of vacant; buildings to disclose the whereabouts of their premises. The News remarks that it is not such a long time since a very different state of matters existed here with respect to house property, and the change must be gratifying to owners. The Chinese navvies at Tokomairiro appear to have been placed in an unfortunate position through the dispute as to who is their paymaster, and, pending its settlement, are next door to starving s indeed, but for the charity of the people of Mi ton they Would have been reduced to that point. Some thirty of these nun are camped outside the boundary of the township, and when visited by Sergeant Smyth on ■aturday were found to bo wholly dependent o :- the charity of the townspeople. Some members of the local Municipal Council arc raising money for them, and that body intend to give them a little work, ' 'mere was some pretty stormy weather at Mount Ida last week. The Chronicle s-ays; A thin coating of snow covered the mountains for scvd’al days, but it so: n disappeared before a scorching sun. Early on Tuesday morning the wind lashed itself into a perfect hurricane, forbidding any attempt to sleep, tbronght the incessant rattling and creaking of the iron roofs and bouses. At fie I’jgrq >t the gale was so violent, that one 6f Messrs Cobb and Co.’s coaches was carried away several hundred yards, winding its course through a number of waggons laden with wool, and fii ally precipitating itself over'a bank ten or twelve feet high, breaking the pole, smashing one of the wh els, and causing other damage. Great efforts had to bo made to drag the disabled vehicle from its position The damage to the gardens in the neighborhood is considerable. Dense clouds of dust swept over the town during the day, mulcting the performance of outside work anything but agreeable. In the afternoon the ■wind changed, and rain fell heavily for several hours, with occasional showers of had. ■ While at Queenstown, the Governor, Laly Bowen, and suite, accompanied by Mr Beetham, R.M., Messrs Hallenstein, and Malagban, made a trip to the Moke Saddle, and thence to the summit of Bon Lomond. On his return, Sir George expressed the highest admiration of the beauties and grandeur of the scenery. He compared Beu Lonsond to the renowned Rigid of the Alps, toad Lake Waka l ip to thp beautiful Lake Jdipepne, only that Leewards fhcifq mer the pamij on account, perhaps, of its greater extent. In fact, his Excellency was delighted with what he had already seen. According to the Mall, Sir George Bowen, who has travelled much, only ratifies the opinions and f -clings expressed by George Grey, sir WUliwnStawell, and o‘Uer competent judges

who have visited the district, when he bears testimony that scarcely more beautiful or grander scenery is to be witnessed in any part of the known world. He predicts for Lake Wakatip a fame and career similar to those at present enjoyed by the Swiss Lakes, and believes that, ere long, the former will be recognised as a resort for pleasure seekers from Melbourne and Sydney, in the same manner as the latter now are for those from London and Paris. Tourists from Meibom no could land at the Bluff, and proceed thence for forty miles by railway to Winton, and thence seventy miles by coach to Kingston, on Lake Wakatip, whence steamers run regularly to Queenstown and all portions of the Lake.

At the nomination for Waihopai, Mr Wood, who has been elected for the district, spoke as fo'loavs : “ With regard to the conduct of the Superintendent, he would say that if anyone wished to send him up to Dunedin for the purpose of supporting Mr Dona d Hcid, or for the purpose of censuring Mr Macan-irew for his late action, he was H-t prepared to go up for any such purpose. Me considered Mr Maoandrew and Mr i eid both to be good men in their places, and he thought it was a pity they could not pull better together. He considered the : uperintendent was justified in asking Mr Reid to icsign bis scat in (he Executive, when he accepted a seat in the Ministry. He was also justified when he offered to reinstate him, and Mr t cid should have accepted that offer. Personal feeling might have entered into the decision which Mr Reid arrived at, but men in llie positions of Mr a acandrew and Mr Reid should not allow personal feelings to influence their decisions on public questions. In so far as Mr Ho d refused to accept the offer of re instatement he was wrong. As far as he (Mr Wood) was yet informed, there was no blame to be attached to the Superintendent up.to that point, but then he ought to have called the Council lOgether at once The gentlemen whom lie now had fur his advisers might be eminently qualified for that position, or they might not. The representative! of the people should have been called together, and afforded the opportunity of pronouncing their verdict on the matter, which verdict the Superintendent, of course, would have had to accept. By not taking this course, the Superintendent had laid himself open to grave c nsure. Nevertheless, if he (Mr Wood) went up, he ‘would undertake to investigate the matter on its merits, and bring no party feeling to bear on the question If he found t ese gentlemen were not entitled to the confidence of the Council, he would be the first to help to put them out; but, if ho found that they were worthy of confidence, he would not be a party to putting them out merely on account of the way in which they had been put in. He would never go into any assembly pledged through thick and thin to support any man, or to pull down any man. He would like this question and all others, to be decided solely on their merits. He thought, however, that when the Council met, a measure should be framed with the view of preventing similar action on the part of the Superintendent for the future.”