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Evening Star, Issue 3465, 31 March 1874, Page 2

The Roxburgh inhabitants are petitioning the Government to have the township declared a Municipality. Two gentlemen from Southland visited Tuapeka last week for the purpose of obtaining land on which to settle, and (the local paper informs us) had to leave without attaining their object. The performance at the Queen’s Theatre, this evening, will be for the benefit of Mr South. A capital programme has been put forward, and the pantomime will be played for the last time. On the result of the championship being announced in Auckland, the Provincial Government telegraphed to Capt. Hamlin congratulating him on the “high honor” he had conferred on the Province. Forty-seven rank and file of the City Guards assembled at the Drill-shed last evening .for their annual inspection of arras. The company donned for the first time their new busbies, which resemble those worn by the Scotch Fusiliers. When the tunics (which are to supersede the garibaldis now in use), are served out, the Guards will have a dashing appearance. After the parade, the prices won in the late handicap matches were distributed. The Immigration Barracks are now nearly empty. By the Taranaki to-day there were forwarded to Wellington 17 souls, equal to 14 adults; New Plymouth, 3 souls, equal to *3 adults; to Auckland, 2 souls, equal in 2 adults ; to Canterbury, 23 souls, equal to 19 adults; to Nelson, 2 souls, equal to 2 adults: total, 47 souls, equal to 39£ adults. The Win. Davie, which may be expected in about ten days, will probably be the next immigration vessel. A young boy was being examined as a witness in the Resident Magistrate’s Court at Lawrence, last week. After answering several questions put to him by a member of the bar in a satisfactory manner, he was asked his age,

and replied ten years. The next question put to him was : “What are you, my lad?” “A son of my father, sir,” was the pert answer, much to the amusement of those assembled in the Courthouse. It is needless to say that the youngster’s parents hail from the Emerald Isle. The grain crops in the Blacks district this season are unexceptionally good, as much as sixty bushels to the acre having been reaped in places, and very little of the ground cropped realized less than forty bushels. The ‘ Bruce Herald’ regrets to learn that the crops in that district are turning out very poor in the threshing, Last year was by no means a good year for gram returns, but this year the threshing machine, we believe, proves the crops, as a whole, to be the lightest that have ever been grown here. The construction of the drainage channel at Waipori makes little progress, owing to the damage done by floods and the scarcity of labor. A correspondent of the ‘ Tuapeka rimes’ remarks:—“ One would imagine that the high rate of wages offered would be an inducement for any labor at present in the market unabsorbed; but, however, this does not appear to be the case. The number of hands engaged is about 70, although 150 more would readily be accepted by the contractor if procurable. ’ With reference to our Queenstown telegram yesterday, Mr T, L. Shepherd has requested us to state that Messrs Malaghan (of Queenstown) and Pritchard (of Arrowtown), when in

JJuuedin lately, mentioned, to him that Mr Clarke, one of the M.P.O.’s for the Lakes, was about to resign his seat, and asked him (Mr bhepherd) to allow himself to be placed in nomination; they at the same time guaranteeing to secure his return without his being under the necessity of leaving town. Mr Shepherd answered that if his services were of any use to the electors, they were at their disposal; but ho declined to make a personal canvass of the district, and here the matter stood. The case o£ the prisoner Spiers, late postmaster at Ross, at the Supreme Court, Hokitika, is another of those unfortunate illustratioas of underpaid government officials. The , -limes says that after a service of seven years in the employ of the Government with the responsibilities and labors connected with a Postoffice and Savings Bank, he is found to be earning a pittance of 16s per week, and has been tempted for pressing business purposes to make use of a portion of the monies entrusted to his care, resulting in his own imprisonment in a common gaol for three years, leaving a wife and .children to seek their maintenance for that term as best they are able. Between fifty and sixty of the trade answered the invitation to meet at the ( Hcrtek evening,, and form , aJourneymen Bootmakers’ Association, the ob

jects of which were stated to be “ to afford mutual assistance. ,to each other in their trade, to give employment do any stranger who may come among them, and also to bring about a good understanding between employers , and employed.” The following office-bearers were elected,:—Mr John Darney, chairman; Mr M‘Elhinu, vice-chairman; Mr Barnett Sinclair, treasurer; and Mr John Burt, secreA committee of management was also appointed to look after the interests of the society. The erection of the Railway Bridge over the Mataura river, at Gore (or Longford, as it is more commonly called), is being energetically pushed forward by the contractors, Messrs Calder and Bell. This bridge is 400 feet in length, with ten spans, each forty feet. The piers are built of a bastard stone, which is used for building purposes of all descriptions in the locality, and is found to be of a superior quality. It is procured from the banka of the Mataura river. The dimensions of the piers and abutments, of which there are eleven, are as follows :—23 feet 6 inches in length, 3 feet 6 inches in width, and 19 feet 6 inches in height. The ‘ Bruce Herald’ states that two abutments and six piers have already been completed, and the foundations of the »ther three are being laid, so that in the course of a month the contractors expect the masonry work will be completed. The wooden superstructure is principally of black pine, from the Tapanui bush, and is found to be of excellent quality. The Degree meeting of the Guiding Star Lodge, 1.0. G.T., is postponed. The attention of Volunteers is directed to the general order in another column.