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Evening Star, Issue 3338, 31 October 1873, Page 2

Oats are now selling at nine shillings per bushel in Cromwell, aud are still reported on # , ' the rise. We are obliged to hold over our report of yesterday’s Waste Land board meeting, a portion of the Synod report, and other matter. There was a large sale of town property at Milton on Tuesday. The whole of it offered was sold at prices which averaged a little over L 77 an acre. It is proposed to prohibit the importation of opium into Victoria, on account of the disclosures that have been made of the extent to winch this drug is used for debauching young girls. “ Hospital Sunday ” is to be inaugurated in this Colony by the Rev. Mr Meimes at Tuapeka, who has announced his intention of devoting the collections of at least one Sunday service to the benefit of the local hospital. The number of births registered in Dunedin during the month of October was 101, and of deaths 57, the excess of births over deaths being 44, or at the rate of 79 per cent. The marriages for the same period vvere 21. We see by the Hokitika papers that Mr J. Lewis, articled clerk to Mr South, Crown Prosecutor for the county, has been admitted as a solicitor and barrister, hi r Lewis was articled to the late Mr J. A. J. Macgregor, when he practised iu this City. In Auckland, Inspector Reilly has lately been engaged in making tests of tlm various kinds of kerosene, and the result has been very unsatisfactory. It is stated that there is only one brand that has stood the test, the whole of the others having been condemned as dangerous. The blunders of the Anglo-Australian telegraphic agency arc becoming greater than those of any other similar organisation with which we have had to deal. We have repeatedly complained of the uselessness of some of the messages sent to us, but without effect; and to-day we have to pay for the transmission from Wellington ol Dunedin news. In the Victorian Parliament, on the 14th instant, the attention of the Chief .Secretary was drawn to the fact that leprosy was spreading in the Colony, the disease having in the first instance been imported from the Sandwich Islands. Mr Francis admitted the fact, but stated that all possible_ precautions against the spread of the disease had been taken. The trial of White v. M'Kellar has already reached its fourth day, and the examination of one of the plaintiffs is unconcluded. Mr John White’s examination in chief finished at 11 a. m., and his cross-ex-amination was continued until the Court rose. The trial will be continued to-morrow, the Court adjourning at 2.30 p.m. We are requested to explain that, by the rules of their Order, no dancing is permitted at any meeting of the Cood Templars, and that the quadrille parly at the Masonic Hall, at which only one member of the Fire Brigade was present, was a private invite. Our error arose through not being aware of the rules of the Order of Good Templars. A passenger by the Hydaspesto Auckland, who had his luggage and effects, to the value of LI,OOO, on board the B. P. Bouverie, was sadly alarmed when the report reached Auckland that the latter vessel was on fire. For a whole day he and his family were under the impression that they had lost their property, and they were greatly distressed. The battalion parade last night was very poorly attended, only 59 file being present. After the parade, commissions were handed to Oapt. Jack, Artillery ; Lieut. M‘Galium, and Bub-Lieut. Eustace, N.D. Cadets ; and the New Zea and War Medal presented to Corporal Bivers, N.D. Rifles, who served under Major Yon Tempskey, in the North Island. We are sorry to learn that Mr and Mrs Schmidt, who sonarrowly escaped being burnt to death by the fire in George street, have been so much injured as to render removal to the hospital necessary. They had found shelter in Krull’s Family Hotel, where they received every kindness, but were removed thence this morning. Mr Schmidt is considered to be iu a critical state. Mr Arthur Loxley, of Noreott Court, Herts, in a letter to the 'Times under date August 14, says :— “1 Avas this morning a witness to the work done by Mrs Elizabeth Loatherlund, aged 110 years, who reaped two sheaves of Avheat in a field belonging to Mr John Mead, of Tring, Herts. Her baptismal certificate may lie seen at Mr Tompkins’s, ironmonger, Tring.” We believe the Daily Times is very sorry for what it said about the Fire Brigade, but its apology aud .attempt at explanation remind one of a. clumsy dancer, in Ids anxiety to set matters right, setting his feet in the rent of a lady’s dress, which he has already contrived to tear, and making it worse. The Times had better have been content with saying it had made a blunder: everybody would have believed it, Strikes appear to be the order of the day in Christchurch. The jjyUehon Times of the 28th iust. reports two in one day : —“ Yesterday the carpenters and joiners of Christchurch struck Avork, in consequence of the masters having declined to grant an increase in the rate of wages amounting to Is per day. The wages hitherto paid have ranged from 9s to 11s per day. The journeymen bakers, also, having failed to obtain the increase of wages demanded from their employers, have struck work. The wages hitherto paid have ranged from L2 to L2 10s per Aveek, and the increase required is equal to about 27 per ceut.” The “ Funny Man,” iu the Melbourne Torcn and Country, furnishes the followin', information :—“ Good news for smokers of . he calumet of peace, also for iTotectionists. ft appears that the differential duty of Is imposed on tobaccoes a as acted so unfavorably on the celebrated brands of W. Cameron and Sons, of Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, that the head of the firm has visited Melbourne to see Avhat could be done to compete Avith the local manufacturers. The result is that Mr Cameron has resolved to move the machinery, &c., of one of his magnificent factories, and build

it upon a piece of land he has bought at North Melbourne. The erection of this manufactory will be a new era in the history of our progression, for hitherto our manufacturers have lacked the principal secrets of tobacco-making, and now we will have in our midst one of the greatest Virginian firms.”

Some attention has been called to the largeness of the investments pf the Australian Mutual Provident Society in Ncav Zealand at the present moment. These consist of the followinglnvestments in Ncav Zealand debentures at 28th February, 1873, L(is,23b' ; made about Huee months since, Ijioo 000 ; made last month, L20,U00; and under die Wellington (declaimed Lands Act. a few days ago, bl()0,o(J0. Total, 1285,230. This is a very large sum indeed, far in excess of the monies the company have received in this Colony ; and shews the confidence of the Association in acw Zealand securities.

The question of water-rights is becoming a serious one. The Maerewhenua dispute is unsettled; and hoav one has arisen at Ettrick, where Mr M‘l=ill, of Tokomairiro 1 , has erected a Hour mill, to work which he has applied for a water-race. This application is resisted by Mr J. P. Kitching, manager of Moa Flat run, on the ground that the Benger Burn creek takes its rise on Mr Clark’s property. The Bruce Herald remarks that when the Moa Elat block was disposed of, roads and Ayater- races were specially reserved, and it non remains to be seen Avhether the Government are prepared to take the bull by the horns and defend their rights in regard to those reserves.

it was stated in the course of the late debate in the Parliament of Viet Ha, on the Carl kidnapping case, by Mr Francis, the Chief Secretary, that it had been ascertained that by an Act of George TV., passed in 1820, jurisdiction is given to the Colonies of New South Wales and Tasmania over the Avhole of the waters of the Baeilic, and therefore both of those Colonies could punish such crimes as those of Avhich Mount and Morris Avere found guilty, in the same manner as though they Avere committed within their own respective boundaries. Victoria Avas then a portion of New .South Wales ; but since her separation the operation of the Act has not been extended to Victoria,

An Auckland paper writing of church parades says:—“ln the church parade of Volunteers which took place yesterday, wo failed to see anything imposing or to discern anythin.' edifying, or that which in the least was calculated to inspire devotional or religious feelings. The best that can he said of such things is that they encourage a false pride and a foolish conceit, the desire of indulging in which may possibly lead a number of men and youths to church, who never, for any other reason than a wish to exhibit their dress and show off their music, would attend a place of worship. If this be really all the result of church parades- -and we fail to see any other—then the question may pertinently be asked, why are they held at all, and what good purpose do they serve ? If there be nothing else to recommend them than custom, then it is one which in our opinion would be more honored in the breach than the observance.” Six of the New Zealand competitors at the Intercolonial dilie Match sailed by the Alhambra yesterday. Messrs liaise, Hunt, and M'Oedie from Wellington ; Messrs Chapman and Fox from Canterbury, and Cuuncr D. Held from here. 'the following from the “ Argus ” proves what great care is tak 'll in selecting the shots to represent Victoria at the approaching Intercolonial Match. Our champions will have to look to their laurels :—“ 'The preliminary practice beiugover, the match committee, after having carefully considered and compared the shooting of the several competitors at Sandridge, have selected the best twenty-eight men to take part in the dual practices. Twenty men from the country corps have been selected also, who will require to practise two or three times at Sandridge, in order to see what they can do compared with the town men. bides will be chosen, Melbourne v. Country, and if the country men can shoot as well at Sandridge as they do at their own ranges, there will be a fair sprinkling of them in the match team.” The Independent suggests to the Colonial Government the desirability of bringing in a Bill next session providing for the establishment of permanent paid fire police in the vatious municipalites, making it compulsoty for each Corporation to maintain a certain number of firemen with proper apparatus for extinguishing tires, in proportion to the population of the town or city. The matter lias already attracted the attention of the Victorian Legislature, and a Bill has been introduced, having for its object the formation of a Fire Board in M elbourne, to which the various Insurance Companies are willing to hand over 1.2,000 worth of plant and machinery, on the condition that the Government grant L2.0U0 additional. The Argus, in supporting the Bill, says “We do not wish in any way to disparage the services of the various volunteer companies throughout the country, but it is evident that a small body of trained men, always on the alert and ready to start at the first alarm, is worth a wilderness of amateurs, partially disciplined, difficult to summon, and under no obligation to turn out when called.” A scratch match is to take place to-morrow on the Citizens cricket ground, sides to be chosen on the ground. The annual entertainment in aid of the prize fund of the South Dunedin Bchool will be given in the schooihouse, on Wednesday evening next. The monthly meeting of the National Building Society, for the receipt of subscriptions, iko., will be held atMrC. lv. Chapman’s offices on Monday evening next, between six and eight o’eh iek.

We Avould remind the public that the share list of the Mosgicl Woollen Factory Company certainly closes to-morrow. The applications for si i ares are already very greatly in excess of the number to be allotted.