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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 476, 6 May 1867, Page 2

The Qov;:uxoe.—The N. Z. Advertiser, of the Ist May, says that His Excellency Sir George Grey embarked on board the Brisk on Monday afternoon and proceeeded to Tauranga, from which, it is expected, that he will go on to Auckland, ihero was no demonstration on His Excellency’s embarking b-yond the crew of the vessel manning yards.

New Zealand Steam Navigation’ Co. —The Adveitiser, April 2(3, says that “at the meeting of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company, held on Wednesday afternoon, no practical result was arrived at, us it was found that formal notice should Have been given of th- resolution prouosed by the Directors, that the affairs of the Company should be wound up. The meet* ing adjourned without re-electing the re* tiring interiors, and at the adjourned meeting held yesterday, a quorum was not in attendance, so that those gentlemen retain ollice lor the present.”

Heavy Floods and Lo s of Life os the West Coast —We take tW- following from the West Coast Times, 19ih April; —“ Tno accounts th it reached us last night tell tlie s une tale of ilsods and impassable rivers. The Teremakm and Aranurawere reported us exceedingly high, and the Grey e >aeh was, therefore, nut despatched —for although the latter stream could have been punted over, rite former was in too dangerous a state for even a vhaleb.'iit to !nm» crossed it. A shnilar conditio >of affairs existed south of Hokitika—the Ao-i coach being “stuck up” outlie Spit for iwo days, ami at the oilier end of Hie li.;o he lloss mai.man was compelled to delay ois departure for twenty four hours until the Tutara river had subsided a liuie. As i p tn. Tesler iav he left, and managed 10 reach the b.ach safely, and eventually Hokitika. We regret to say the Hood lias been attended by at least one fatal accident, as an unf riunato man was drow ,ed yesterday whilst attempting to ford the i’otara on foot, just where it joins with Donnelly’* creek. Several persons saw him washed away, but were unable to render tlie slightest asristunce, and the uoor fellow perished. The madman passed by shortly after, and being made aware of the catastrophe, searched for the body as he journeyed toward-) the sea-beach, but could see nothing of it.”

ritOTEcriVE Duties iy Aheeicl—The American correspondent of tlie .Loudon limes writes:—‘‘Fraud and swindles of various kinds continue 'o attract public attention, and at >evv York, which seem* to be the centre of these villanies, a Cou« gressional Investigation Commission is ousily at work exuminining into tiro corruptions that prevail so extensively. The heavy taxation in this country offers a premium to men to evade prying the Heavy duties levied on manufactured articles, and the entire revenue system seems to bo a mass of corruption. id rent as are tbs amounts of money nised by taxation, were the laws rigidly enforced fully ouo-half more would go into the Treasury. The Government pays an ‘inspector’ live Uolhrs a day to watch a manufacturing establishment and prevent evasions of tin revenue Jaws, and the manufacturer pays him ; wenty dollars a day not to see too much ; and as the Americans are a i eculiaily money-loving people, it is easy to discover which master the inspector serves. A long course of evasion of taxes follows ; then tne fraud is discovered, and the mai.uf.ictury seized. Distilleries, tobacco lactones, snuff mills, tanneries, and establishments of every conceivable character are captured by wholesale throughout the country for violating the tax laws, and the auioii itof bribery an corruption developed is tearful. Whisky, according to the amount made and sol 1 in the Umteu States, ought to pay four or live times as much revenue to the Government as it does. Hum is taxed two dollars a gallon, and one would expect that it cost something to manufacture, yet it sells at one dollar forty cents a gallon in the market, actually sixty cents less th.n the tax it is supposed to pay. T..e heavy duties, too, besides promoting I frauds, cause adulterations of all sorts to be made and sold, and the Yew York investigations show that one ■ di tillery ' in that city makes ‘ rare old Scotch whisky’ by the following recipe : —To 40 gallons common whi-ky add 30 gallons of water, -5 gallons of tincture of Cayenne pepper. 4 quarts tincture of pellitory, 2 ozs. acetic q'her, gallons strong lea, and 3 ozs. pulverizea charcoal. How the connoisseurs must smack their lips over this delectable compound ! When the New York Investigating Committee reports it will show to how very small an extent ‘ b ibery and fraud are unknown in America.’ ”