BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 3616, 24 September 1874, Page 2

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Gbahamstown, Sept. 23. At the banquet last night to MrSheetan, the guest o! the evening, in reply to the toast of hie health, spoke for nearly an hour. Referring to the opposition offered to the Tftrious Waste Lands Acts in the Upper House, he sfid he was not inclined to go to extremes regarding the Upper House, which had given evidences of a sound conservative spirit. There was one question, however, in which they were always wrong, and in which they were so deeply interested that they were prevented from dealing with it fairly and justly, and that wastho question of the land. There were few members of the Upper House without very large estates, and some reckoned their properties by hundreds of thousands of acres. These men jealously scrutinised every measure which had for its object to enable the people to acquire land easily and settle down upon it. The Land Bill which was introduced from Auckland was, in the hands of such people,ln the position of a person who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of cer- , tain company, which he need not particularise. Referring to the representation he said he saw whenever a proposal was made to give another member to a North Island constituency it was met by the cry that the balance of power was in danger. He found the Southern goldfields members always came forward manfully and straightforwardly on the goldfields questions, and ths opposition to an alteration of the present representation came mainly from Wellington and Taranaki Those Provinces knew their case to be rotten, and if the House ordered an increase in the representation, it would be made at the expense of one or other of those Provinces. The claim of the Thames to additional representation was so just that the House could not any longer delay to recognise it. He though the Native Department viewed tho proposed railway from the Thame* to the Waikato with disfavor. The tactics of the Native Department were of the Arabian kind. For years past it had been content to let “ I dare nob, wait upon I would.” He believed the same department viewed with alarm .every advancing wave of civilisation, thus hastening the tiiqe when their services would no longer be required. He considered the veil of mystery about to be lifted at Ohinemuri, which was to be opened, and which, if not auriferous, contained hundreds ofithousands of acres which would profitably repay men tq settle down on it as.fanners.

. ADdfpA.Nl), September 23. There has been a very severe westerly gale blowing all day, and L 15,000 worth of damage has been done to ibe shipping at the wharf. The vessels Thames, East Lathian, Harriet Armitage, Nonpariel, and Mera have been damaged by grinding against the wharf. The gale is moderating.

Napieb, September 23. The Diocesan Synod met yesterday. The Bishop delivered a long address upon the affairs of the Church, and called attention- to the spreading of intemperance. He recommended the consideration of the subject to the earnest attention of the Synod.

Chbistchdbch, September 24 The * Lyttelton Times ’ this morning says that Mr C. 0. Bowen, R.M., Christchurch, has been offered a portfolio and a seat in the Upper House. The department offered to Mr Bowen is that of Minister of Justice.

The latest educational returns show that there are in the Province 73 schools, in the district 84 schools, with 117 male and 127 female tpachers, and 4,957 male mid 4,398 female scholars —the total number of BQiiolars beipg equal to one-sixtlf of the Vhole population <a the Province. ‘ 1 ■> LATEST CABLEGRAMS. [Per Victoriaat Auckland.) . _ ... , London, September 15. A Republican has been elected to the' National Assembly as the representative of Marne et Loire. President MacMahpn has been visiting the Northern Departments. When replying to ad address presented to him, ho expressed fits determination to pursue his mission with firmness. He would have regard to moderate men of all parties. 4 *. * T* . The _ Journal des X)chats ’ has been warned for having said that whoever was not republican was an hdherent of the Empire. German and Austrian Ambassadors have presented their credentials to Marshal Serrano as Chief of the Spanish Executive Government, and given expression to the cordial good wishes and assurance of their Governments; 1 M. Guizot, the eminent French statesman and historian, is dead.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS. m ri'i i. • i Sydney, September 17. Messrs Gilchnst, Watt, and Co., agents for the steamer Cypbrenes, have chartered her to the A.S.N. Co./and also offer the Maegregor and Mikado. The Oyphrenes has undergone a thorough refit during her stay in port. She has left for Newcastle to coal, and on her re* turn tnp will take cargo, Ac., for San FranCl6C °- She leaves with the mails for England on the 26th instant, and her substitution for the Gity of Adelaide is inevery sense advantageous. Mr Russell’s arrival from Auckland is anxiously looked for both in this Colony and in Victoria. The Mikado left San Francisco to date, as the 13th there is our 12th. “ , Mwdrne, September 17. Commodore Goodenough, reporting on the Yrotonan Naval Training system, approves efit. After strong opposition, the Tariff BilL increasmg the duties on some articles from ten to twenty per cent., was carried. The hurch Assembly has met. The Bishop reports that there are forty-two consecrated and 196 unconsecrated churches, with other buildings, making a total of 403 places of worship. Ink*'?- has-been Offered for Goldsborongb. lh® miners ale pecitiohing for‘a reduction of the <mtV on kerosene and candles, recently ifct greased by the'pew Laujjqestqn, September 16, j Sl xteen has been sentenced to death for rape on a woman of seventy. Three more failures in Launceston are reported. In the estate of White, Mills, and r direct are from L 12.000 to r iI’XXX’ . a ? d „« ®°“ tiD ? ent liabihties from L 25,000 to L 30,000, while the only available assets amount to about L 3.000. The firm is indebted to Peters, Barnard, and Co. L 34.000. fj>r acponpaodatjgn bills, * *