Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 756, 27 January 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

The Otago and Southland Mining Journal gives the following estimate, as received from the Chinese interpreter, of the number of Chinese ip the various districts of the province :—rQueenstown, 350 ; Arrowtown, 70; Nevis, 300; Bendigo Gully, 40; Cromwell,; 60; Bannockburn, 300; Dunstarr Creek, 30 ; Mount Ida, 250 ; Blacks, 50 ; Macrae's, 150; Waipori, 450 ; Waitabuna, 150, Lawrence, 300; Beaumont, 40; Switzers, 20; including Dunedin, 80; total, 2,640. These; are of course all majes, as the number; of Chinese women in the province may; as yet be represented by a single figure. Oar contemporary adds: —We confess we receive this statement with some surprise, as we did not think the numher could be so large. Our informant,; however, is in a position to know the facts, and we must accept the above as correct, unless from local information the figures can be shown to be incorrect. Our informant calculates the average earnings of his country-! men at from 30s to £2 per week—we presume while actually at but as all are not working at one time, the average on the whole must be much less. Even at <£l per week on the above number, it would give over 1,400 ozs. per fortnight as the product of our Chinese population, or more than a fifth of our entire gold produce as shewn by the escorts. Either there must be a great deal of hoarding going on amongst them, or else, if the above figures are correct, the yield for our European population must be less than was imagined. Some time since we quoted a para (jraph from the Taranaki Herald stating that the natives attributed the disappearance of the native bircjs to the bees. We then expressed a doubt as to the correctness of the native story, and the following paragraph from the Wanganui Chronicle bears .)Ut our opinion : —" Speaking of birds reminds us that a settler of large ex perience, and one who has had ample opportunity for drawing his deductions, exception to the reasons fur the disappearance of native birds which we quoted in our last, as being fanciful and even incorrect. The only native plants according to this gentleman (none other than indigenous plants apply] in which native birds seek honey are the toi-toi and the flax, and it must be ponsidered a curious fact in natural history that the common honey bee —the only species [though of different varieties) in this .country —is powerless to extract the nectar from these plants which only yield their treasures to pertain busli birds. The elaborate theory of our pontemporary, to account for the rapid decrease of native birds, wonld thus be purely imaginative. It is not at all unlikely that the humble bee, which has not yet been acclimatized in New Zealand, would with its well-known powers succeed in extracting the honey even from the toi-toi, but this remains to be proved, But what of the disappearance of the native birds?" The Aucklaud Morning Advertiser, of the 4th inst. says : —-Those who visited the Cynodrome last ni 6 dit were highly amused by a striking case of mutual astonishment exhibited by a member of the human family and one of the lower order of animal creation. During the time that one of the monkeys was performing on the tight-rope a Maori dressed in native attire, with a flaxen cloak on his shoulders, entered the pavilion, and to make a short cut to a seat crossed the ring. The monkey saw him, and he gazed with astonishment on the monkey. The latter stood transfixed—-balance-pole in hand. It was an affecting .and in-

teresting sight—one lord of the forest, or wild man of the woods, gazing awestricken on the other. Jn the breast >f the noble savage the " man-and-a-brother" sentiment seemed rising, -for he glanced at the burlesque on humanity with a certain affectionite interest which was tuuching. The uidience roared with laughter, especially as the monkey during the rest if the performance continued to gaze with unaffected surprise at the peculiarly clotned Maori, who sat seriously returning the stare with a look of doubt and amazement. It was evidently the ftrst inoiikey Ije had ever seen. I It appears (says the Evening Post) that it is not alone in the old countries where poverty and wealth walk side by side. A correspondent of the Thames Advertiser writes stating that " there are on the Thames gold-field an innumerable number both in poverty and distress, unable to get a loaf of bread." This correspondent suggests that a poor box should be placed in every place of worship, so that the clergy might have some funds to distribute to the poor in their visits. A tangj. was recently held at JCai* tawa over the remains of a young man who had died there, the son of Aperahauia te fteiroa. There was, says the Thames Advertiser, a large assembly of natives, and a number of Europeans were present. Extensive preparations had been made for the visitors. Two oxen were killed, besides eight large pigs. We understand that the feast, besides the above, consisted of two tons of potatoes, one ton biscuits, about one ton of dried eels, and 30 ten-gallon kegs of rum. Tiie " Annals of the Propagation of the Faith " states that Monsignop Pompallier, worn out by the labors of an apostleship of thirty-three years in New Zealand, has begged the Sovereign Pontiff to allow him to retire from the duties of the episcopal see of Auckland, His Holinesss has just conferred on the venerable bishop the r.itle of Archbishop of Atuasia, in partibus. The Be v. James M'Donald, Vicar-General of Consignor Pompallier, has been appointed to administer the diocese of Auckland, • A few days ago we mentioned that the Thames •' Mining Journal" had ceased to exist; by the last trip of the s.s. Rangatira from Southern Ports we received a copy of another paper of the same description. The first number of •* The Qtago and Southland Mining Journal" was published on the Bjh inst., and is a very creditable production. It consists of twelve foolscap pages, with four paged " farmer's Supplement," devoted to agricultural matters. We wish it every success. We have also to acknowledge a copy oi " The Cromwell Guardian, and Northern Gold-fields Reporter," one of the numerous country papers in the province of ptago, and which has been established some two months. The tide of the Waikouaiti Herald has been extended to " The Waikouaiti and Shag Valley Herald." The Auckland Evening Star, Jail. 11, says : —Last/night the Queen-st. Wharf was the scene of a little incid-s ent, rather startling, but not in the circumstances very perilous. A cutter was lying at the wharf about to leave foi the Thames, laden among other things with several cases of sulphuric acid, when by some accident one of, the parboys burst and trje corrosive fluid streamed over the deck and side of the vessel into the sea. Fearing a conflagration, thig skipper poured a quantity of water on the deck, when of course a dense volume of smoke went curling up, giving the impression that the craft was on fire. A crowd soon collected, an 4 though visions of petroleum and nitro-giycerine produced, perhaps, a little caution, the offending case was speedily landed on the wharf. Of course, it was likely to do as muchq'amage to the planking of the wharf as to the plankiugof the deck, but that, we presume, was nobody's business. The Auckland Evening Star, 11th January, observes from the Thames papers tjjat his Honor the Superintendent at Auckland believes in the virtue of " wearing out" rather than " rusting out" and we fancy that by this time the wild party on our goldfields who so vigorously opposed his election, have learned that the gods have been propitious \o them in spite of themselves, and that enemies,

-of November last Lave been theii best friends. It must -have been with .considerable impatience Mr Gillies was awaiting the unravelling of red tape; it would almost appear as if be had been standing with his staff in his hand, and his shoes on his feet; for scarcely had he been clothed with the mantle of delegated authority, when pausing but far a moment to issue a proclamation, repealing and amending the obnoxious and odious leasing clauses, he is found within Hie space of an hour on hoard the steamer, bearing him away to the-scene o;f his labors; and there, in visiting mines, inspect ing tranjwnys, receiving deputations, and wandering around creeks and gullies with unpronouncflble names, he appears to be devoting his .every moment, and energy, to acquiring a knowledge of the details of duty, and jn rectifying the wrongs of the past. We congratulate the people of the Thames on the victory that was fought and won for them elsewhere; and believe that -the gloom so long shrouding their prospects will be -speedily dissipated before the determined energy of their new Superintendent. The Grey Eiver Argus has to re cord another melancholy case of drowning in a tributary of tiie Grey Rivernear Langdou’s Ferry, on Thursday morning last. Mr John Byrne, store keeper. Duffer’s Gully, was travelling to town with 80ozs of gold on his saddle, in company with a young man. The small stream referred to is usually very shallow, hut the late fresh had deepened it so that a torrent was running through it; however, the young man crossed safely, but Byrne, when in the current, tried to turn his horse back, when both were swept .away and drowned. The body of the horse came ashore, and the gold was found on the saddle, but the body of Byrue was not found up to last night.' A Greymouth contemporary says that the recent race-meeting at Hokitika was a complete failure. Some butchers’ horses attempted to run, and some packers’ horses tried to get out of a walk, but did not succeed. Very little gate money was taken and few people were on the grand stand. There was a sprinkling of people in ,the outside ring, bets did not go beyond half-crowns, Iflule money was spent at the booths because there was little to spend. Poor Westland | Some fine paintings in water-colors, executed by Mr J. Carter, of Dunedin, says the Otago Daily Times, are about to be despatched to the forthcoming Art Exhibition at Christchurch. They chiefly represent foliage and flowers, and are remarkably tiue to nature. Mr Carter was formerly Master of the School of Design, at Somerset House, Rondon.