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Evening Star, Issue 3632, 13 October 1874, Page 2

On dit that. Mr Thomas Birch will offer himself as a candidate for the representation of Mount Ida in the Provincial Council, in the place of Mr Oliver, who is about to leave Otago for England. A man in Blenheim, who is suffering from au ( attack of larrikinisra, advertises in the ‘ Express ’ that ha wants “ to purchase an old fashioned blunderbuss; one that will scatter shot will preferred.” Pergcant Major M‘Pfaerson, who for more than than twe.ve mouths has acted as drill instructor to the Invercargill Volunteers, was, on proceeding to Oamarn, where he is to be stationed in furure, presented by the :nvercargiil Volunteers with a gold albert chain and locket as a token of the companies’ appreciation of his abilities and skill as a drid instructor and of his estimable qualities as a man. The mysterious paragraph about a certain high official in Wellington, which has lately gone the rounds, receives elucidation at the hands of the Wellington correspondent of the ‘ Wanganui Ciiiomcle,’ who says : “It is stated that certain charges have recently been made t® the Governm nt against Mr W - E * Brown, relative to his conduct while formerly holding the pos.tkm of Curator of Ink state Estates. They arise out of dealings with the estate of the late Mr Shephard, of Wanganui.” A prisoner named John Hartley, convicted of horse stealing on two charges at the April session of the Supreme Court at Dunedin in 1872, and sentenced to four years’penal servitude, died in the Hospital last night. He suffered from heart disease when convicted, and by direction of Mr Justice Chapman was removed to the Hospital on the certificate of the Provincial burgeon. He was a native of Scotland, and had been troop Sergeant-major of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, serving under Lord Gough in the battles of Goojerat, Ailival, and Chillawallah. ' The relative value of the Tokomairiro and Kaitangata coals continues a moot point; but the owners of the Elliotvale mine make a suggestion which if adopted should go far to settle the present dispute. They offer themselves, and call upon other mine owners, to send a sample of their coals to be tested on a Government locomotive, and to stake L 25, which should go to the owner of the sample the engineers decide to be the best Apropos of the coalfields, we see by to-day’s • Bruce Herald ’ that Mr Bell, C. E., has gone over the recently surveyed branch l.ne to the Bruce Coal Comp my and Mr Mackay’s property. He did so under instructions rrom Messrs Brogden, who have been requested by the Coal Company to see if they could make terms for the construction of the line.

The Canterbury ‘ Press ’ of the 6th illustrates the working of Provincialism in the North Island thus “ (he inhabitants of the cities and suburbs, from their superior numbers, the greater activity and, energy which are characteristic of town lifej as well as from the f .cilities for combination and the pressure they were able to put on a Government always resident in their midst, drew t’.< themselves all political power, which they used with exclusive regard to their own interests. The towns and suburban districtwere fostered; the country districts were left out in the cold. The former monopolised all public exp ndiiure; the latter were neglected and starved. We may quote as a notable instance the expenditure of an Auckland Provincial loan of LdOO.OCO raised professedly for public, works necessary for the developnent of the Province. Out of the total half million no less tkau 11407,506 was spent in vucklaud itself, or in its immediate neighborhood ; while to the country districts was allotted only the infinitesimal pittance of LSQO.

The ‘ Bruce Herald ’ is not row so sanguine of an eurly opening of railway com munication with Tokomairiro as it was a few weeks ago. It says that the chances of the railway being opened from Tokomairiro to Dunedin. Within a reasonable, time, seem to be quite indefinite, and even so fa? as the seetinn between Tokomairiro and Waihola is concerned, the chances do not appear to be more distinct. The Chain Hills tunnel, despite continual reports as to its progress, is apparently likely to bo opened about the millennium, and the ridiculous substitution by the Government authorities of wood for iron in the upper structures of t* e Taieri and Waihola bridges, prevents their beinu finished, though the most difficult part of the work—sinking the pier cylinders—has been accomplished by Mr Watson in first rate time. Nearer T» korpairiro, too, the bridge over the south branch is delayed, because timber for the roadway part is not obtainable, and, altogether, fair promise is givpn ef a second winter coming and going before the trip to Dunedin is shortened in the least as to time. The permanent way of the line from Waiholais now laid to within two miles of Tokomairiro.

The Fire Brigade hsve received by the Christian M ‘Auslajid some valuable apparatus from the establishment of' e-hand,' Mason and Go,, engine-makers. London, The principal article is the leather smoke-jacket, to which are attached a self-acting whistle, glass eyes and ring to receive hose, and a galvanised iron ring to receive rope, with patent line and air-pump. With this jacket fitted on him, a fireman is enabled to enter a room full of smoke. If anything goss wrong the whistle sounds, and the firemen outsiae the building, by means of the rope attached to a book on tjie jacket, immediately pull him out. Hitherto, entering a building when full smoke would have been attended with great danger. The want of this j icket has been severely felt for a considerable time, and being the first imported into the Colony, Captain Wain intends to give it a trial on au early date. There have also been received 120 feet of the best hose ; 490 feet patent line, with spring hook fixed ; a plated silver helmet for Captain Wain, and four brass helmets for the officers. The latter are only test helmets, and should they be found preferable to the leather cues at present in use, odd supersede the latter.

The present Mayor ot Christchurch is a well-meaning but very wrong-headed and obstiaate individual. He would not take the office unless L3OO was voted to him for “ official expenses,” out of which during his term he entertained some of the burgesses at a dinner, and presented the City with a costly badge of office, to be wprn on public occasions by future Mayors. This was a kind of benevolence that did not go down with the bulk of the ratepayers, and some curious and uncomplimentary things were said concerning it, Is'ot many weeks ago the burgesses were called together, ou the eve of the municipal election, to heap the views of the candidates on matters municipal; and advantage was taken of the occasion by some of the speakers to give their ideas of the way the money had been made to go by the Mayor. An opportunity to make an explanation was asked by the Mayor, who presided, and refused, the meeting being extremely noisy ; and the course then taken so preyed upon his Worsbip : a mind that he re venged himself on the ratepayers by rei using to preside at the eiec ion • next day. The threatened deadlock was got over by the Superintendent of the Province and his Executive being hastily called together at an advanced hour of the night- rumor Siith the Provincial Solicitor had to be brought from a ball-room, and another member of the Government dragged out of hod and in Council appointing a Deputy- Keturnjng Officer. One of the newly-elected Coun-

cillors, who on tho hustings rowed to hare it out with the Mayor for his extraordinary conduct, lost no time in carrying out his threat, for at the first meeting of the Council ha attended he moved that the allowance of L3OO for the Mayor’s official expenses should be rescinded from the expiration of the present Mayoral year, i he matter was discussed on Tuesday last, and the resolution carried with only one dissenting voice. The present occu'unt of the office told tho Council that "If wanted a Mayor with a pudding head and plenty of money, they c mid, no doubt, find him ; but if they wanted a man with brairs and money too, they have some difficulty. in finding him ” The local papers a ;ree with the action ef the Council, and believe tr.ere will be no more difficulty in the future than there was in the past, for the present is the fi-sfc paid Major of Christchurch, in procuring citizens' willing to fill the office without salary. The Otago institute’s session for 1874 c'.osed last night. Papers were read by Capt. Hutton on the modification* in the capsule of mosses; aud by the Chairman from the M- - of Mr B S. Booth, “on the moa swamp at Hamilton ” Mr Booth is ef opinion that New Zealand was f irmerJy much warmer than at present; that the aceumulation of the tones in the swamp was contemporaneous with the period when frost and snow began to set in in this Colony ; that there bad been a warm spiing in existence where this pit containing the moa bones was, and that the moas had recourse to it for the purpose of seeking relief from the cold, an.l remained the-e until hunger put ‘an end to thoir sufferings On this supposition, be ac counted for the entire absence of egg shells, as the bird a would frequent the water in winter time,” which was not that of gestation. The moas did not incubate their own eggs : they were hatched by the warmth of the climate, which becoming too cold for that purpose the extinction of the moa followed. Papers ou the following subjects were also submitted, though not read :—“ Descriptions of Three New Tertiary Shells in the Otago Museum,” “ Descriptions of Two New Species of Crustacea,” both by Captain Hutton ; “ Com parison of the iVlarine|Shells of South Australia with those of sew Zealand,” by Mr VV. Peddnall. On the motion of i\lr Webb, a vote ot thanks was accorded to Captain Hutton for the services rendered by him as secretary to the Institute. A meeting of the Lodge Pioneer, 1.0. G.T., will be held this evening at 7.30. The attention of Volunteers is directed to the order in our advertising columns.