The Evening Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4225, 11 September 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1876.

The papers read by Mr Bla.tr at meetings of the Otago Institute are worthy of more than a passing notice. They are valuable on many grounds : they point out how the Institute may be made practically useful to the Province, and they afford reliable data for the guidance of builders, contractors, and investors. Much as has been attempted in times past by geological surveys of the country, but little of real value has been elicited through the money spent in that direction. The general features of the country and the indications of rich mineral deposits have been described. Such and such districts have been from time to time specified as likely t© contain certain ores and minerals. These general markings out are not altogether useless, but they are of too vague a character to lead to profitable investment of capital. Too much is left to be done by those whose knowledge of science is not sufficient to enable them to judge of the value of the material, even if discovered, in consequence of geological predictions. Gold alone pronounces its own value ; other minerals and products requite more or tess labor to prepare them for a market. Very frequently this preparation involves considerable outlay of capital, and those who are prepared to develop new industries verv P^ be informed whether they will be justified in expecting remunerative returns for money invested. Invest! StSS "° f geierMob^ 11 dedQcti <>M of Sore general observers. Compared with the disf they resemble the careful of tkemicroscope; fnw • r atoms , of our vast mineral and forest niches, and tell of the uses to which b . e , put » what they are adapted, and where they will be useless. This is an eminently practical method of dealing with such materials.. Mr Blair does not indulge m mere analogies ; he discards the imagining of purely practical men, and is not satisfied with less than experience or the severest chemical and mechanical tests in estimating the strength and adaptability of tbe mater--1 . which be has examined and descnbed. We do not undervalue the labors and' investigations of savans who confine their attention to fossil remain a or speculative geology. Each observer has a speciality, and very probably if everyone could give an account of phenomena that have occasionally come under his notice, much that is valuable would be found lying at our doors that we pay very heavily to others for. It is quite evident that so far as building materials in Otago are concerned there would be no occasion to go out of tbe Province for anything, were skill and labor available to utilise what we possess. Seats of manufacture, however, are not easily changed, and however strange it may sound, there is a strong and wealthy class, who fancy themselves interested in opposing manufacturing industrial development. This has been felt severely by almost everyone who has endeavored to open up some new line of business. The struggle has to be overcome between the imported and the Colonially manufactured article. The woollen goods of Mosgiel were very unwillingly brought into Colonial consumption; the earthenware of Tokomairiro has its battle to fight and its reputation to establish j Home-made slops have been preferred to .Colonial manufacture: r for years British beers threw Otago I. manufactures into the shade, and the slate quarries of Otago are slowly winning their way to a leading position. Much must no doubt he attributed to the imperfections of the earliest products and something to the difficulty of obtaining properly skilled artizans. Nobody will give so good a price for a rough Colonial article as for a highly finished Home manufacture, and unluckily the crude form in which the early products of our mines, looms, and quarries presented themselves in the market, bore testimony to the imperfect mercantile and manufacturing knowledge of those who so confidingly entered upon those new enterprises. It never seems to have entered their beads that to secure a market they must supply an equally saleable article to the imported on, at least, equal terms. But the disadvantages under which their first fruits appeared were eagerly taken hold of by importers whose interest lay in continuing to supply the market with foreign produce, and even of some of those very materials, the value of which Mr Blair so ably points out, Otago continues to import large quantities, although capable of supplying them more cheaply and of better quality. The value of papers like those of Mr Blair is incalculable. There is danger of their being buried in the archives of the Institute, and of being merely bound up among its printed volumes. Comparatively few will then see them, and of those few scarcely one to whom they will be practically useful unless attention should be specially directed to them. It would, therefore, be of great advantage if they were re-printed in a cheap form and distributed widely through the Province and at Home, This is, perhaps, beyond the functions of the Institute to do, but would be a very proper work for the Provincial Government or the Immigration Department of tbe General Government to perform.

Mr Haughton was forwarded to Wellington to-day in charge of Detective Farrell. At a public meeting held in Caversham Hall on Saturday evening, it was decided to form a local Total Abstinence Society. ?®The Harbor Board have determined to send their Secretary (Mr Gillies) to Wellington to wati hj their interests in respect to wharves and quays reserves. The only business at the Port Chalmers Police Court this morning was the bearing of a charge against a seaman named Richard Parker, who was fined 10s for being drunk on the railway platform yesterday. On the Order Paper appears the following notice by Mr Murray, which will doubtless load to a lengthened discussion without any practical result That, except in the ease of a change of Government, it is not desirable that any member of this House should become a member of the Executive Council till after he has sought and obtained re-election. That the Government should take immediate steps to give effect to the above resolution.” The statement that Mr and Mrs Hall were going to join the burlesque company in Christchurch receives a contradiction from Mr Hall himself.—Mr Medcalfo writes to “Prompter” that the reeond Do Mimic a •season in Wellington promises to be even more successful than the first. The reduction of prices to (is, 4s, and 2s has taken well, and will he repeated for the rest of the I tour ’ n the 14th inst. Madame appears in [ Christchurch at the Music Hall, for the use of which she has arranged with Mr Sheppcr.son, but there is no foundation for the .statement that she appears in conjunction | with his company.— Tue Simonsons appear | 'o the same hall about; the end of this or the | beginning of ’.ext mouth. It is not itnpro- ) babb; that these airangcmeuts may result in the burlesque company coming to Dunedin 1 sooner than was anticipated.

The well-known draught entire Wallace, for which Mr Taylor, his owner, lately refused ftft omt of L4OO, died yesterday. The business transacted in the Magistrate s Court this morning possessed no public interest, and was confined to one application.

The Mount Ida * Chronicle ’ devotes the best part of a column to a defence of Mr W, L. Rees, whom it considers one of the purest members of the Assembly. cs attendance at the Poultry Show on Saturday evening was very large, the Drillshed being crowded from seven o’clock till the close of the Show. Shortly after ten o clock the art union was drawn, the winning numbers in which will be found elsewhere.

The committee whom Sir George Grey has nominated to inquire into the cost of Sir Julius Vogel’s mission to England consists of himself, Messrs Rees, Rolleston, Stevens, Lusk, Andrew, and the Premier. The con stitution of the committee is likely to lead to some discussion.

Mr Chamberlain, in the Legislative Counthe other day, in speaking to a motion referring to the better preservation of New Zealand fisheries, was awfully funny. He Said “ They had a fisherman whose name was Pyke, the angler, and he would be very happy to show the Council a picture of the angler. He would finish by saying, now that he was upon his soles and perched upon his plaice, that he would not flounder any further, or carp at the honorable gentlemen; and hje ' would further add that at some future time he would hope to be able to pilot fish Bills more successfully.”

Three Bills bearing upon finance have just been distributed. The New Zealand Loan Act, 1876, authorises the raising of a loan of L 2,000,000, a sum of L 1,250,000 being for carrying out public works and immigration, L 750.000 for defraying Provincial liabilities. The annual charge for interest is not to exceed 6 per cent, inclusive of sinking fund, &c. The Governor in Council may appoint agents for raising and managing loans. Pending the raising of the loan short dated debentures may be issued. The other Bill is intituled “The Treasury Bills Extended Currency Act, 1876,” clause 2 of which is as follows:—“ In order to provide for the payment of the principal moneys to any of the Treasury Bills issued under the authority of the Provincial Public Works Advances Act, 1874, and under The Provincial Appropriations Extension Act, 1875, the Colonial Treasurer may order the preparation and issue of a like amount of Treasury Bills. ” The currency of the Bills is not to extend beyond Ist November, 1882, and they are to be at a rate of interest not higher than six per cent. The third Bill is to give effect to Sir J, Vogel’s arrangement with the Bank of England for the inscription of New Zealand stock.

The Queen’s company opened at the Prin cess’s on Saturday night, and the audience which assembled—the largest in point of numbers which has been seen within the building—shewed conclusively that “ Little Nell’’ has succeeded in pleasing the public taste. “The Female Detective,” the piece chosen for representation, has a resemblance to “No Name,” with even greater faults in point of construction, and its object is to enable the heroine to assume several disguises to hunt down a villain named Mallison, and to satisfy her “natural curiosity.” Nell assumed four characters, and introduced some new songs, which were encored. A brace of polished card-sharpers were represented by Messrs Giddens and Hooper; the former taking part in a comic sketch, and provoking much merriment by his Teutonic eccentricities. Mrs Hill’s performance of the confiding wife was a most satisfactory one; and Miss Hill made a pleasing Una. Mr Keogh was Detective Tracy, and Mr Clinton the villain. A tableau, caused by the apparition of the murdered Stella, terminated the second act; but its effect was spoiled by the unaccountable spell before the falling of the curtain. The final scene was also marred by the oddity of Mr Clinton’s leap, which we believe was necessitated by some disarrangement of the “set.” The same programme will be presented, tonight.

By advertisement it will be seen {that the residents of Eothe ay and Ravensboume mee-to-nignt to discuss the question of school accommodation in their district.