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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 56, 24 July 1862, Page 3

The troops have now returned to winter quarters, having first completed the great military road with which the name of General General Cameron will ever be honourably identified—from Drury to beyond Pokcnoe. This road is one of the first grand instalments not only for the defence of Auckland, but for compelling the preservation of peace throughout the entire of Northern New Zealand. It requires hut the subsidiary arrangements to be effected, and the same results as (hose which the military roads in the highlands of Scotland and Ireland achieved will here be as happily accomplished. Detachments have been stationed at the several posts to keep the road in good order; and a stockade, with a garrison comprising detachments of the several regiments, has been constructed in a commanding position, near the village of Ilavelock, and close by the landiim place on the upper and lower bends" of the Wa£ kato. The 40th Regiment and Royal Artillery are in ganison in Auckland, and have just been joined by their wives and families who arrived in the Merchant Prince, from Melbourne, on the 30th. The head-quarters of the 11th, 65th, and 70th, with part of the detachment of the 12th, are in camp at Otahuhu. The camp has been much improved, and we learn from officers of experience that the quarters will bear favourable comparison with those at the Currah of Rildare. Lieutenant-General Oameron, G.D., Commander of the Forces, is installed as Governor during the absence of Sir George Grev, who has proceeded to Wellington to open the "General Assembly, which, according to arrangement, is to be in session there this year. Gold Exi>< >rts. —The total amount of gold exported from Now Zealand, from April Ist, 1857 to March 31st, 1862 was £1,575,512. Of (his Dunedin contributed £1.393.600.— Dai1y Southern Cross, June 13. M Ai.KiNG ix Water.— The Paris correspondent of the Standard says “ The military preparations of the French Government are going on with great activity. Experiments are just now being tried at \ inccnnes, with a view ot introducing common rifled howitzers as mortars, by fixing them at a sharp angle, by which contrivance small shells may be thrown some six thousand metres. Rut these experiments excite but little attention in comparison with a new invention which has been tried with perfect success, and by which a foot soldier in heavy marching order is enabled to watTc on the water without sinking. It consists of a pair ol India rubber boots and trousers, all of one piece, which are filled with air a little below the waist, and heavily weighted at the feet. With these trousers on, a detachment has frequently v-FOtciC-Ci tiie j«tce3 Oi Vincennes, where the water is about fifteen feet deep, firing their muskets, and loading as they went. The men sink about two feet, the water barely reaching the tops of their thighs, and appear not to have any difficulty in keeping their balance and moving along. The experiment is to be repeated in presence of the Emperor, ami there is not the least doulit of its being adopted for the army. The inventor is a manufacturer of Douai, and I hear that he offered his invention to the British Government some time ago, but was laughed at, and even refused a trial.”