THE PROVINCES.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 167, 18 December 1874, Page 4

THE PROVINCES.

AUCKLAND

The following letter appears in the Southern Cross :—" To the Editor : Sir From information I have received I fear that the late William McCann did not cometo his death by drowning, but from a blow inflicted by a native. A party whose name I am not at liberty to use at present, but who understands the native language, overheard two or three of them conversing, when it transpired that McCann had taken the wrong canoe, and the owner had given him a blow on the head which there is now little doubt caused his death. During the last thirteen years three of our people have met their death at the hands of the natives, but through want of a little energy the murderers have been allowed to abscond to the King country and there gloat over their evil deeds. I trust that this matter will be seen to with as little delay as possible. I shall be most happy to give up the name of the individual who overheard the conversation to any Government officer.—l am, &c, E. Hamlin. Waiuku, December sth, 1874."

We {Southern, Cross) have been shown by the Hon H. Charnberlin a piece of ironstone, taken from the beach in the neighborhood of Raglan. It is very solid, and judging by appearance would be likely to. yield a large per centage of iron. Mr Cbamberlin intends to forward it to the Colonial Museum laboratory for chemical analysis, and states that a very large quantity of similar ore can be found in the Raglan district. In the immediate neighborhood of where the iron ore is found, coal and limestone have been found in considerable abundance, thus providing the raw materials for the establishment of an extensive and important industry. The coal deposits all along the west coast of this province south of Raglan, are of the most extensive character, and limestone is found cropping out in scores of places. Along the beach and running inland are large beds of iron ore, and strewn on the beach is a vast quantity of magnetic iron sand. The materials for the manufacture of iron in the district are very abundant ; water carriage is at hand, and nothing is wanting for the starting of an extensive iron manufactory but the necessary capital and enterprise amongst the settlers. There are several excellent harbors in the district in which vessels could load, and thus convey the manufactured iron to the market where it was wanted. It is to be hoped that Mr Charnberlin will take the matter in hand with energy, and see if the manufacture of iron can be successfully started in this province. We {New Zealand Herald) notice by advertisement in another column that the Bay of Islands Coal Company will, on and from the Ist of January next, further reduce the price of coal at their mines to 12s. Mr Passmore, the superintending engineei of Government railways, has (siiys a Northern contemporary) ended his scheme of economy by discharging the Auckland Btationmftßter, whose salary is £3OO, and

appointing an inexperienced ticket clerk to the head charge of the railways open in the province, at a salary of £l5O a-year, with a clerk at £SO allowed. Great dissatisfaction is expressed with this system of economy, in which the newspapers participate fully, as he desires free advertising in exchange for carrying newspaper parcels, except the evening paper, which has no circulation it need care about. The other journals cannot see it. WELLINGTON. In arranging the programme for next year's races, the Jockey Club intend, we learn, says the Post, to have a Town Plate of 100 sovs, a Provincial Plate of 150 sovs, and probably a Ladies' Purse of 75 or 100 sovs, the entries for which events will be confined to horses the bona fide property of residents in the province. Land in Masterton, says the Post, is becoming very valuable. A town acre, which was originally bought for £7, has been cut up into building allotments and sold a few days since at the rate of £IOOO per acre. In the Court of Appeal yesterday, says the Post of the 9th, the Attorney-General and Mr Gordon Ailan having concluded their arguments for the Crown in the case of Regina v Dodd (late mate of the American barque Oneco, convicted of the manslaughter of a seaman), the Court, without calling on Mr Stout to reply, decided unanimously that the conviction must be quashed on the ground contended by Mr Stout, viz, that the case did not come properly within the jurisdiction of a New Zealand Court. The prisoner, therefore, will be at liberty, and escape the due punishment of his crime, simply because our Courts have no power to take cognizance of it. It is a pity that Dodd's extradition was not claimed. Two thousand wethers were sold last week for £2OOO, says the Wairarajm Stayidavd. This price must certainly prove satisfactory to the sheep farmers, whatever it may do to the butchers and consumers. It shows the necessity of breeding those sheep that will produce not only the most wool, but the most mutton. But we also learn that those which will produce the most of the one will also produce the most of the other. The pure-bred Lincolns, the property of a large sheep farmer down the Valley, have produced scoured fleeces averaging 121 b each, which is a greater weight, we understand, than has ever before been attained for scoured fleeces, unless in exceptional cases. A correspondent, writing from Petoni (the Hutt) on the 28th ultimo, states, says the Times, that in 1852 there were living at that place, and within sixty chains of the sea, fifty-three persons (exclusive of Maoris). This year the number is 108. During those twenty-two years only five persons have pied. One was killed accidentally; one was drowned; one (an aged person) died after a surgical operation ; and the other two were upwards of eighty years of age when they became the victims of death's •' fell shaft." Our correspondent thinks that, from these facts, Petoni may fairly challenge the world on the score of healthiness.

WESTLAND. A somewhat curious quarrel, or disigreement, has occurred, says the New Zealand Times, between the Rev William Hogg, who has lately been pastor of the Presbyterian Churches of Stafford and Ross, in Westland, and the managing committee of the church there. Some three months ago the committee became dissatisfied with Mr Hogg, paid up his salary and all claims upon them, and acquiesced in his resignation of the charge, which was laid before the Presbytery of Westland, but appears not as yet to have been dealt with by them. The committee have since had under their consideration the propriety of selling or letting the church buildings for educational purposes. Mr Hogg, however, has not been denuded of his charge, and remains in the manse, and on the 18th ult. he addressed a very strong letter to the chairman of the Ross school committee, asserting that the committee of the church "darenot " sell the building, and that if it were leased by the School Board for educational purposes, he would, with the help of the Presbytery, eject the Board by legal process. The Rev Mr Kirkland, of Hokitika, on the 17th November, also wrote a letter. It was addressed to one of the members of the church, and in it Mr Kirkland said : —" What the Presbytery may do I know not; but as Mr Hogg is minister of Ross, and yet in full possession of the manse, it is his privilege to let it and appropriate the proceeds, if the Presbytery permit him. The committee is perhaps forgetting that there is no change in the position of affairs as between them and the minister of Ross Presbyterian Church. Please inform them that all such changes in the use of our ecclesiastical property must receive the sanction of the Presbytery." The committee, as soon as those letters had been received, adopted certain resolutions, the first of which was that they regarded the church, manse, and premises as theirs, "' the buildings never having been vested in trustees, or given over by them for the use or benefit of any ecclesiastical body whatever, nor had they power to do so, inasmuch as the land is yet Crown property, and never was gazetted as a church reserve." The second asserted that " the church, manse, and premises being in the full possession of the committee, they deemed it right to let them to the school committee for a weekly rental;" the third, " that, as since the Rev William Hogg left Ross (being paid in full all his demands by the committee), he has written to the chairman of the school committee threatening that body, under pain of legal ejectment, against renting the church, manse, and premises, and in the same letter has dared the Presbyterian committee to let the same, instead of first communicating on the subject as a Christian and a minister, with the congregation of which he still claims the charge, it is the opinion of this meeting that the Presbytery of Westland be communicated with, and requested to accept the Rev William Hogg's resignation at once, aud thus sever all connection between this congregation and Mr Hogg, as it; is not the intention of the committee to ask Mr Hogg to return, owing to his arbitrary action in this matter; and, further, that his resignation being allowed to lie on the table of the Presbytery was acquiesced in by the delegates sent from the congregation, on condition that Mr Hogg should make fresh arrangements with the committee as to periodic visits to Ross, and that as nearly three months have elapsed since the committee paid Mr Hos'g off, during which time Mr Hogg has not in any way placed himself in communication with the committee, they consider themselves released, and do not intend to ask his services in future. A copy of this resolution to be forwarded to the Presbytery." This is how the matter stands—the minister and those who should be " his people" iu thorough and unchristian disagreement,

OTAGO. The Guardian states:—That very important work, the Waitaki Bridge, is rapidly approaching completion. A recent visitor states that a few days ago the last cylinder was being sunk on the Canterbury side, and all that remained to be donefwas the fixing of the girders. Those also, he says, who cross the bridge, even in its present incomplete state, are called upon to pay toll. As, however, the money collected is put aside as an accident fund, no person would feel disposed to refuse to subscribe, though our correspondent thinks that a charge of 2s, for being permitted to scramble over a few planks in different places, is rather an excessive toll.

Henry Compton Higgins, aged twenty-five years, was drowned in the Taieri River. Deceased and another man were sailing up the river, from the beach towards the bridge, when a squall or gust of wind caught the boat and caused her to capsize. Higgins sank and was drowned, but his companion succeeded in gaining the shore. The body of the deceased was recovered, and an inquest was held on Tuesday, when a verdict of Accidental death was returned.

At a meeting of the Council of the Acclimatisation Society, it was stated that 7250 trout eggs had been forwarded to different places during the past winter, and that 4706 young trout had been liberated within the last month in various streams in the province Last year the society liberated 2200. Mr Deans further reported that during 1874 9025 young California trees had been distributed* by the Society among its members, besides a large quantity of tree seeds. Last year 8650 trees of the same kind were distributed. Up to the present time seventeen licenses for brown-trout fishing had been taken out at the Provincial Treasury, and it was stated that, although it was not provided by the Salmon and Trout Act, 1867, that the license fees should go to the society, as is the case as regards game licenses, it was probable that the Provincial Government would not retain the money as an item of provincial revenue. A discussion of an interesting nature took place regarding the opening of the season for trout fishing. It was stated that one member of the society succeeded in taking, one afternoon, a large basket of twenty fish, weighing 131 b, all of them having been caught with the fly. The largest fish yet taken by the rod weighed upwards of 31b, and was captured last week by Mr R. M. Robertson. It was also stated that great difference of opinion exists among those who have been successful in securing specimens of the brown trout in Otago as regards their edible qualities. Some have reported them as being coarse and muddy in flavor, while others say that the fish are equal in flavor to the finest brown trout at home.