Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 3645, 28 October 1874, Page 2

To-day’s ‘Gazette’ contains the new itegu lations for the management of forest plant a tions.

One of the new first-class carriages built on the American plan was med on the Port Chalmers line to-dwy for the tipst time. At the Port Chalmers Police Court *o-day, David tdtehie, who was yesterday fined for drunkenness, was now fined 20*, with the alternative of forty-eight hours’ imprisonment.

One of the Christchurch stock auctioneers has stated publicly that he should not bo surprised to me as much as 405 r alised for prime beef before Christmas. This prediction will nut give our new corners a lasting idea of itew Zealand as a land of plenty.

We have been given to understand that dismis'al of the official to whose negligence the accident on the Green Island Railway yesterday is said to have been attributable, did not follow upon the report of the occurrence to the general manager, but that a repoit of it was forwarded by Mr Conyers to the superintendent. Bat very few engagements were effected at the immigration Barracks to-day. At the Caversham depot..ten single girls were engaged as under :—Two nurse-girls at 4s per week ; three general servants at L3d per year, one do .at L 35, two at L4O, and two at L2G. -No married couples were employed ; but sixty souls, principally families, were to be sent to the country. . At Princes street de Ot three shepherds found employment at i-60 per year, and nine ploughmen at L 52. The remaining immigrants may be engaged to-morrow.

Eight of the City clergy decline, except in case.- of emergency, fo officiate at Sunday funerals, for three r- as ms—lirttiy, because they consider all their fe low-citizens should enj >y the weekly rest of the Sunday ; secondly, because .Sunday funeral i especial y deprive undertakers, their assistants, and .-.exions of that boon, and seriously inter ere with their attendance at church ; and, thirdly, because the duties of ministers on the Sunday are sufficiently onerous without the addition of funerals on that day.

There is now every hope of ultimate complete recovery of the girl Mary Hall, who was so murderously assaulted some months ago by the man Brennan. dhe is now, and h'.s been for the last ten days, able to walk about her room, asd up and down the stairs, without any support, apd also to enjoy an occasional promenade in the verand .hj ; and, notwithstanding (says the ‘Times’) the murderous maltreamenb which she received, there is now no reason to suppose that she will, aa formerly conjectured, remain a burden to herself, her friends, or the community,

Canterbury 1?9.3 no lack of money. From the puOiished balance sheet of the Province’s tr msactiona for the nine months ended June 30 last, we learn that the receipts were 1,023,700, of which L 193 000 was from ordinary account, and L 813.000 from land and works. The expenditure du iog the sine period was L 369.753, and wdth the balance carried forward of L 43,694 to ordinary account, L59.V257 to laud and works, and L.14,000 to the railway renewal fund, the credit bala-.ee of the Province on June 30 was L 1,023 700. The re venue returned by tne Cantn-bury railways during September was L 7.377, as against L5,2U5 for the same month last year.

The last batch of immi/ra ts rent to Invercargill were from Scot and ami whether (remarks the * News") lint was enough, or that their good name h<d pr. ceded them, it WvU d be difficult lo say, but cert da it is that they were nearly ail al ; ost before landing. The number fay hides six families and nine snylo m.u, and the Tarrack Master states that their a. pearar.ee and demeanor were in marked contrast with the squads he baa recently had to do with A few found unexpected friends and quarters m private bouses in town, aud I.wo or three were so independent of Government sustenance iu'thePa racks that they coked after themselves in the boarding hop es. A report was current in town last night that a tire had takm place in the Itaik .rai district, aud, information having been so conveyed to the police, Hub-Inspector Mallard immediately despatched Mounted-con-atanie ! ’ieon ascertained that thore had been no fire in the neighborhood nearer than Pine Hill, and on proceeding to the latter place he learnt that a settler named John Undersoil had been burning scrub during the evf-uiusj, but that had burnt itself out before his arrival, Wc hrve heard that a lire occurred at BJuerkiw last night, and did serious damage by destroying a large quantity of slacked timber, but cannot learn any particulais. While the Wanganui was lying at anchor in Vvaikawa on ■ uuday morning, on her downward trip, a steerage passenger named William tfinn jiang himself overboard. The Water was pretty rough, and on a boat being lowered it was with difficulty he could be got into it. After b. ing on "deck he tried to get overboard again, when Constable Geerii , who was on board, took him in clwrrge by direction of Captain Fraser. The man, who was evidently of unsound mind, averred that two of the passengers meant to do him an injury, and to escape the apprehended attack, he struggled s > much to get overboard that rec mrse to the handcuffs was necessary. On arrival of the steamer at the Bluff be was taken to town, and placed under restraint ponding an enquiry into his condition.

The Arrow Municipal Council at its last meeting adopted the following That, being of opinion that payable quartz reefs exist in the mountain ranges of ®tago, ami feeling that uo sufficient inducement has heretofore been offered to miners for the discovery of the same,' this Council is of opinion that with a view to encourage such discoveries the Government should be requested t > offer a bonus, eithtr in money or land, to any successful prospector finding new and payable reefs. That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Secretaries of the ivarious Mining Associations and Town Councils on the goldfields of < i tago, their co-operation in urging on the Government the desirability of aiding and encouraging the mining community in this direction, as this Council believes the result would be of great and permanent berefit to the Province.”

The following promotions and appointments of Volunteer Officers are published in the JSew Zealand Gazette : North Dunedin —R. Pollack to be Snb-LieuL-uaut. Prune —T. Nmaford to be Sub-Lieutenant. Waikouaiti B. Dasoent to be SubLieutenant. Fo. 1 Comnany, Clutba—J. AncUrson to be Captain, ‘Ensign MTnley to be Lieutenant, and J. Smaill to be SubLieutenant. A o. 2 'Company, { lutha—J. M‘Nttil to be Captain, and J, Sanderson to be Lieutenant. Queenstown— M. Malagban to be Captain, J. Woithington to be Lieutenant, D. Powell to be SubLieutenant, C. Scott to be Honorary Assistant Surgeon. Invercargill Ensign N. Ferguson to bo Lieutenant, Port Chalmers Naval—Lieutenant Goldie to be Captain, Sub-Lieutenant J. B. Taylor to le Lieutenant, G. Wilson to be Sub-Lieutenant Queenstown JCadeta— H. P. Mackiin to be

Cap : :ain. The following resignations have been gazetted: —lieutenant W. Conyers, luvercaigill Artillery ; Ensign J. P. .'chuiidt, llivertou ; Snb-Lieutenent VV. Popple well, Bruce.

What a pity the election campaign at the Lakes came to su di an inglorious termination ; otherwise we might have heard more of that evidently extraordinary incipient politician who owns to the peculiar nauu i f Birth. The proceedings at his tirst and only meeting, so far as his personal appearance was concerned, were of the raciest kind. His speech is said to be perfectly unrepo.table, even though the language could be accurately transcribed. This candidate said that ho “ went, in for the abol'shmerat o; liquors as doing away with Magistrates and ‘ fine him forty shillings and take him away.’ That the abolition of liquors would reduce taxation—but. that a little brandy might be useful in case of stomach ache.” dressed by a question whether he would allow a miner to .have a two gallon keg in his tent, Mr Birth fenced with the question, but said he would bring in a Bill to Dave liquors sold in quart bottles, so that the miner might have justice done him. He was against taxation, but was in favor of making roads. He understood the theory and pi action of road-making, as he had made one in two day . All this and a good deal more was delivered in sober earnestness, that was in itself quite unique, Mr Birth was awarded a ‘‘ vociferous” vote of thanks.

It seems that the statement which appeared in our press telegrams the other day, that all the birds sent to Hawaii’s ’*ay, per Quean Be had died on the voyage, with the exception of a pair of owls, was an exaggeration. although the mortality was vey great, a remnant of sixty, at any rue has reach the Province. We (‘ Lyttelton rimes’) give this on the authority of the Sup nutendeat of Hawke’s 8.,y. The buds consisted of rooks, partridges, thrushes, blackbirds, and skylarks, and wore shippe ’ by the Agent-General to the ord. r of the Provincial Government, The . two owls m question were a pair of the large woodowls obtained in the New Forest’ Hampshire, and present; d to the society by Ur Baler, The birds were co'leeted by Mr Maning Thatcher, and shipped under his supermtence. An experienced man was sent out in charge of them, and every, precaution taken to insure sue.-ess. Mr that cher, wo understand, recommended '.he use of open cabins, bis lust shipment to Xustralia by that mode having prove ia - reat success, i deck-home should, in future, be insisted on. Mr Orrno d’s telegram is as follows : - “ '.inly sixty birds arrived alive. Nearly all not caged died Birds require house on deck, not cab n. Pave wire I Feafcherston, who sends another lot this month. Owls alive and sent to bush.”

ibe ‘ North Otago rimes,’ in advocating an income and pivpo ty tax. admits that such a proposition would probably cost the life of uho Mm id try that had the temerity to bring it fir-.va-d, though its imposition is only aqu a ion of time. To provide against the inequ iiitie; of such a tax, it proposes the exemption of incomes up to i 2 0 a-ye r from iaxatioii altogether ; and with respect to inc mies over that amount, would levy the lax only upon the sum iu excess of i.2uo ayear, that proportion of every mm's income mo matter what the gross amount of his income m ghb be) going free of impo.it, and a scale of allowances on seme such plan as the following ; —Divide the amount of taxable income up to 1.60!) per annung that is tip to LIOO beyond the first 1/200. which should ee free of t.txat o i, into eight parts, and all w one part (m the case of an income of L6QJ a-year i-.OO) for a wife and fo? each child, Ire of taxation ! that is add to the untaxable part of the income (1V200) 1.50 for a wife and LSO for each child to be maintained out of the income until the entire L6OO was untaxable The effect would be this—to give two examples : —\ man with a wife and two children and an income of 1 400 wou’d pay the percentage re* pie-eating the tax on L2OO, less threeeighths of that amount —in other words, woul.d pay on Ll2s ; a man having a wife and four p'fildrea, and an income of LSOO a-year, would pay on ’L&OO,' less fiveeighths of that sum—that is, wogld pay the tax on Lll2 10s, and so on. Oeiuptions only to bo made on sums up to L6O), the excess of income over that amount iu all cases paying the full rate per cent. A land tax should re proceeded with in a similar spirit by allowing every man an untaxable homcCftead acreage, outside the limits of towns, of fifty acre?, taxing only the acreage held in excess of that amount. Then too, land ;beld by absentees, by nou-rrttideata in the Colony, unimproved and of equal class to adjoinin', improved lands, should be t ixed at the full valuation of the lands so adjoining. The effect; of this alone would work a vast change for the better, as it would necessarily cause the lauds to be parted with to resident owners or brought into cultivation.

The annual meeting of the JAieri Agricultural Society was held yesterday afternoon in the Driil-shed, Outram. Mr Donald Grant was chairman. The report which was rea I by the Secretary stated the Society was in a more prosperous position than it bad ever been. The income for the past year was L 372 13-', to which I 33 8> must be added for special prizes, making a total o' i-409 Is. The incr .-ase in tli - a;-.uud income Lvvaa attributable partly to a h:htr rate for Entries, which had added LSO, and the charge for admission to the yards, which realised L4O The number of entries had been 527, including 61 double entries, or M 36 exhibits After allu.lmg to Sir James Fergnsson's visit, the repo.-t stated that the annual ploughing match ha ! been the most successful that had been held for a number of years. There had been 31 entries—weight for double furrowed ploughs. The quality of the work was pronounced excellent. In consequence of the show having been held at those members who lived in the blast Taieri district considered themselves unfairly treated because it was not held rn their district, and proceeded to form another society, Desirous that no disruption shou’d take place, sub-committees appointed by thp ■Society and the diss ntients met, and the latter agreed that subject to holding the coming show in the vVest.Taieri and the annual meeting at Outram, they would recommend their principals to abandon the intention of holding a rival shew, leaving the meeting to decide where next year’s show shall be held. The committee also recommended that, in accordance with the usual practice, the present Vice-President, Mr Bhaw, shomd be appointed I’resident, and that Mr James t-hand, one of the committee, should be appointed Vice-President; and that the following retiring members of committee should be re-electe.l Messrs Pyrin Culling, Youug, Eobcrtson, and Findlaythat Mr Donald Grant should supply the place of Mr Shand; and that the following new members be added : Messrs J, Roberts Walter Greave, Bichard Kompshell, and John Shannon.” On the motion of Mr William Shaw, seconded by Mr James Sim, the report was adopted. A meeting of the Show Committee was held immediately afterwards • the newly-elected Vice-President in the chair. It was decided that the next annual show should be held at Outram on Wednesday, December 30. The committee then proceeded to revise the prize list and regu* 1 latious for the show. Having done this, and transacted other routine business, it adjourned also.

The annual meeting of the Imperial Building and Investment Society will be held in 'the lemperauce Hall, on Friday evening, at 7.30,

Wo are requested'to remind intending shareholders in the .southern Hold Company (Limited), that Saturday next i.s the day lixed for closing the share list. Wa have received from Mr A, R. Livingstone a neatly-printed card, showing the “Decisions of the Commissioner of Customs under the Customs Tariff Acts. ” The tables will ha of great use to mercantile houses.

Mr Charles Sykes, pianist, will give a vocal and instrumental concert at tlie Princess Theatre to-morrow (Thursday) evening. The programme, which speaks for itself, comprises songs, glee", Readings, and selections on the plant) by Mr bykes. An efficient; orchestra has been engaged, who will introduce each part of the entertainment by an overture. The second part consists of “ Re.niiiisccnccs of Robert Heller, by Mr Sj r kes. We hope to see a large attendance.