NEW ZEALAND.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2465, 1 March 1882, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

I.FBB PBBSS ASSOCIATION.J AUCKLAND, February 28. Homeward BoundMr Bathbonc, the proprietor of the " Observer," is a passenger for England. He has compromised the libel case of Weston's, the bookmaker. Aid from Disloyal Colonists. The_ proceeds of Mr Croft's lecture in aid of the evicted Irish tenantry is to be tent to Mies Parnell. Subscriptions are solicited throughout the district for the same object. A Very Interesting Item of Hews. Mr Joseph Ivess has seized the plant of the " Cambridge Mail." The Diamond Drill. The committee of tbe Thames Deep Level Tribute Company, with Mr Bain, president of the Sandhurst School of Mines, interviewed Dr. Hector as to the testing of the Thames mines with the new diamond rock borer. He agreed to the request of the deputation. WELLINGTON, February 28. Retrenchment Mr E. Q. Fountain, Under-Secretary for Justice, to-day retired from the Civil Service, owing to the reductions resulting from the reorganisation by which the Justice Department will in future be attached to the Colonial Secretary's Department. The Constabulary. The 200 armed constables who are to be removed from Opunake are being transferred to the vVaikato, as it is believed tbey can be more usefully employed in road making, &c, there than on the West Coast. The Stella has been ordered to convey them from Opunake to Mannkau, with all their equipments. She will have to make two trips, and is expected to leave Opunake to-morrow evening with the first lot. Vital Statistics. During the present month eighty-two births, twenty-seven deaths, and nineteen marriages were registered in the city. GEBYMOUTH, February 28. Customs Revenue. The amoant of cu'toms duties collected in February was .£2388; that for the corresponding month in 1831 was £3456. Gold duty, £571; beer duty, excite, £46. OAMAEU, February 28. Singular Death. A child, twenty months old, the son of the Eev. Mr Clover, fell into a water-closet to-day and was suffocated. DUNEDIN, February 28. Customs Revenue. The Customs revenue collected at Dunedin for February is .£33,235 ; for January it was £38,014; and for February last year it was £29.636. [fbom thb cobbbspondbnt of thb " PBBSS."J WELLINGTON, February 28. The Department of Justice is abolished from to-night as a separate department. On and after tomorrow all Justine business will be conducted in tbe Colonial Secretary's office, under Mr G. S. Cooper, Under-Secretary for the Colony, as permanent head. When I say " permanent " I only use the term in its official sense, because he will only take charge of the Justice division tentatively until he finds whether he can continue to manage it without detriment to his other duties. No difficulty is, however, anticipated in this respect, and the arrangsment will probably be a lasting one. Mr R. G. Fountain, Under-Secretary for Justice, retires to-night from office, after being twenty. two years in the Government service. He will receive full compensation allowance, but not a pension, as, notwithstanding the length of his service, he has not attained the age at which a pension could legally be awarded him. I am in a position to say that the Government greatly regret to lose his services, as he is admittedly an able and valuable officer, who has worked well and efficiently, but under the re-arrangements there remains little for him to do as a highly paid chief officer, and I understand he prefers retiring on his allowance to taking any subordinate position. Other changes will be made in the personnel of that branch of service, and the cost generally will be materially reduced, although, of course, not to the extent of £30,000, as reported, which I pointed out at the time was an obvious exaggeration. I hear that the other departments of service will come nuder review when Ministers reassemble, in order to ascertain whether any further retrenchment is practicable, and some is tolerably certain to be carried out. Just now Mr Dick is regularly "running the Government," being Governor and Ministry all in one, erery man of his colleagues, as well as the Queen's representative, being absent from the seat of Government. This, however, will not last long The Premier is now on his way overland, and will come on hence to Wellington by the s.s. Eotomahana, arriving here on Sunday next. An attempt was made to obtain in Australia a I successor to Dr. Skae as inspector of lunatic asylums, it being believed that a suitable man

oonld be secured there. This, however, proved not to be the case, and I believe a new in-pecter Wl shortly be imported from home. The property tax is coming in well. Ihe total amount of the first instalment of the property tax received at the variouß offices throughout the colony np to last night was .£55.000. The penalty of 10 per cent, will be rigidly enforced in regard to all first instalments not paid by to-morrow, when the seoond instalment bocomeß doe.

Ab seme surprise was created by the telegraphic announcement that 200 of the Armed Constabulary were about to be removed from Opnnake to Waikato, I may explain that these are to be transferred to Waikato because there is no longer anything for them to do on the West Coast, while in the Noith mnch needs doing in the way of opening np the Like conntry by roads, it was decided yesterday, therefore, to send np 200 Armed Constabulary, and they will leave Opunake to-morrow evening if the Government steamer can be thero in timeIt was at first intended to send up the Hinernoa, but it appears her steam pipes are oat of order, and would take a week to repair, so the Stella, which somewhere np North, has bean telegraphed for, and ordered to go at once to Opunake It is expected that the telegram will catch her to-night either at Mauukau Heads or Kaipara, and that sho will be able to make Opunake. to-morrow evening. She will have to make two trips with the Constabulary, as she cannot accommodate more than 100 at one time. They will be landed at Onehunga and conveyed thenca by rail to the Waikato, together with all their tents and camp equipage. They will then be sot to work immediately at the Rotorua road, in order to provide a means of access to the colonial sanatorium, which is already being visited by numbers of visitors.