Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 761, 14 February 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

We are glad to learn from the Lyttelton Times that an experiment has recently been tried by Messrs Miles and Co. with the view of ascertaining whether New Zealand flax is subject to spontaneous com-combu.-tion. About 5 weeks ago a quan» tity of flux was thoroughly saturated with water, and then done up into a bale. The bale having been sewn up in coarse sack* ing, well tarred on the inside, was packed in a wooden case, and placed in Mr Jolm Ynderson's engiae-roora, so as to be subjected to the heat of the fires. On the 3Lst ulfc., the bale was opened in the presence of several gentlemen, among whom were the agents of the pricipal Insurance Companies. The flax was found to have dried considerably. The middle of the bale was decidedly warm, but there was no appearance of scorching or extreme heat. In some places the fibre had /commenced to rot from the action of the water. The result must be considered sa'isfactory, as it is certain that either wool or hay would have shown signs of firo under similar treatment. Since the departure of the detachment of the 18th Regiment from Taranaki, a sergeant and twelve men have been stationed at Marsland Hill for the defence of the town of New Plymouth. A motion of Mr Hurst's has been carried in the Provincial Council of Auckland, ro give a reward of £I,OOO for the successful establishment of a cloth manufactory in that Province. We observe from the Wellington and Wangar.ui papers that the native Miritana, who was, a short time ago, sentenced to a term of imprisonment by the magistrates of Waugunui for destroying some of the surveyors' work at the trigonometrical Nation at Rangitikei, or Manavvatu, has been ordered by the Governor to be discharged from jail and set at liberty. To the above folly, the Wellington Daily Advertiser refers in the following terms: — "This irjudioious step will, we should «;ine, tend to increase the odiuir with which his excellency is already regarded; but whether the responsibility of the act rests upon his Excellency's advisers, or whether it is an act of the Governor's (ex mero motuj, we know not, and we think that .it matters but very little, but it is .-carcely to be supposed that the Government should have advised such a course, After such a step as this, it would be almost impossible to say what his Excellency may or may not think proper to do. Ho might gi?e Te Kooti a carte blanche to surrender on what terms he pleased, and, alter the surrender, make him a native assessor, and load him with other honors and favors. What shall we have, or hear next, we wonder?" The Daily Southern Cross says that a certain wholesale hou?e in the Colony, finding that the demaud for the Nelson svveed was far in excess of the power of Mr Webley to supply with the limited means at his command, forwarded home a sampla of the tweed, with the order to imitate it to the best of their ability, and send out a arge quantity, as it was in great request in New Zealand. The order was completed, and much of the tweed no w sold as of Nelson manufacture is thus obtained and worn by the public in blissful ignorance of the deception. To the initiated who have compared the two kinds of goods, that produced by Mr Webley shows a decided superiority, and to those persons, the article is sold under the name of "imitation Nelson tweed." We take the following from the Evening Post: —Rumors that &n intention exists to hold the next session of Parliament at Auckland are spreading wider every day, The Defence Oilice is already on the move —one gentleman in that department has been in Auckland some time, and it is said a summons for another has arrived, who is to bring with him books and records sufficient at least to start a branch establishment. It is rumored that Major Heaphy, V.G, has received an appointment as Commissioner of Native Reserves, at a salary of £I,OOO a-year. The nature of the duties required to be fulfilled in this office ara not commonly known, as it is only newly created. A public meeting was held at Nelson on Wednesday evening, 2nd instant to con* sider the Wangapeka difficulty—Dr. Renwick in the chair, which, says the Examiner, " will be memorable as being the first occasion in Nelson where the good old English practice of giving a fair hearing to all sides, was departed from. The party wh.Q

sympathised with the views of those who called the meeting, mustered in considerable strength, and while they applauded to the echo all that was said favorable to their opinions, they barely to erated the .explanations given by the Superintendent, and refused to give a hearing to any other speaker unless, as one in the room remarked, 'he sided with the miners.' The unearthly sounds which greeted every speaker who attempted to give expression to opinions contrary to those entertained by the rowdy element and the inability of the chairman to maintain such order as would admit of fail- discussion, was a disgrace to Nelson as a community, and watbo regarded by the respectable portion of the meeting, whether favorable to the Government or otherwise." The whole of the business was confined to the discussion of the following resolution proposed by Mr Luckie: —"That this meeting, in view of the stagnation of trade and stoppage of both mining and commercial enterprise, caused by diflieuliies and disputes arising out of recent dealings with certain blocks of auriferous land at Wangapeka, has learned with deep regret the resolution arrived at by his Honor the Superintendent of the Province and his Executive Council, to the effect that no proclamation of an extended boundary of the Nelson Southwest Gold-fields shall be made until after the said auriferous land shall have been surveyed. The meeting respectfully requests hi? Honor the Superintendent to reconsider ti.ufc resolution, and, acting on the authority delegated by the Governor of New Zealand to himself alone, that he will be pleased to i.-suea proclamation declaring an extended boundary of the South-west Gold-fields to Mohicka Eiver, and 6uch other points as shall embrace the Buton, the Sherry, and other krtuwn auriferous districts, without makiug any reference in such proclamation to the said disputed land. This resolution was carried, only only one hand being held up against it. We (Wanganui Herald) learn that Mr Sub-Inspec'or Swindley may shortly be expected from Wellington, lie will proceed to Patea and condemn all horses which he considers unlit lor service. He is at the same time suthoris.d to buy horses iov the men of the Armed Constabulary. I\o mares are to be purchased, and no hoises under four years or over seven, they must stand at least sixteen hands high, and he perfectly sound. We fearthat no little difficulty will be found in getting horses of this description, as they are rarely to be found, and if got, the pric will be proportionally high.

SYMPATHY WITH REBELLION. [From the Evening Post.] One of the most shameless attempts at a vindication of Te KooH's crimes ever penned may bo found in the Auckland Evening Star, of the 29th uh. The fero cious cannibal, whose deeds hive placed him beyond the pale, not only of mercy, but of humanity itself, is described by a writer in that journal, on whom ;he mantle of Mr Greo'rge Graham must have descended, as an outlawed patriot chief, come from his mountain fastnesses, "attended by his wife, clinging to him in his despair with woman's faithfulness," and pictured standing besides Thompson's monument, pleading for mercy with the fearless pake ha (Mr Firth ) We are told that "there is something in the sight of a fallen leader worn out in fighting what he believes U> be the cause of his native country, and fighting according to the traditionary pria ciples of his forefathers, that appeals to the conqueror's pity. It may be wrong and unjustifiable, but, is akin to the feeling thai has invested Kosciusko's name with such v sorrowful interest; and how wrong soever * itma\ be, and however justice may demann the sternest penally, it is a feeling that somehow is irrepressible in every manly, breast." Was there ever a more wretched! attempt than this made to excite a mock sym. athy with crime and villany, and to degrade the purest and noblest feelings oi our nature? The names of great men in our days are sometimes very freely handled, hut who could have dreamed of such a degradation for the Polish hero as to find him ranked with Te Kooti? The writer in the Evening Star is upholding views which have ever been oui curse and our bane ; perpetuating the philo-Maori s irit, which has produced ruin at home : and loaded us with calumny abroad. Away with such sickly sentimentality. Let him turn from his fancy picture " by the monument," and paint another of Matawhero on that November morning, when Te Kooti, like an incarnate fit nd, in cold blood directed the massacre of me , women, and children, under circumstances of atro city it makes one shudder to think of. Let him read the evidence adduced at the ttials in Wellington, and then if he would dream of such an act of criminal cowardice as extending parden to Kooti, he is false to the jEßtincts of his race, false to the interests of his fellow-country inen, and unworthy pi the regard of honest men,

A SOMNOLENT ARMY. [Evening Post, Ist February.] What a bitter, though unintentional, satire on the conduct of the war our telegraphic correspondent furnished in the despatch] published by U 3 yesterday, when he said, " M'Donneli's troops overslept themselves!" Fancy an armed force, in front of the enemy, under engagement to support its allies at daylight in an attack on a fortified pa, sleeping so soundly (sentries and all, of course) that they forgot all about it! As it happened, the " oversleeping" was fortunate, and disconcerted Kooti's men, who had not calculated on such a contingency, but had Kooti remained in his works, and Kemp, counting on support, attacked him, the result might have been disastrous. One can see in fancy, Kemp, at prey dawn, attacking the pa, and fighting on, waiting for the help that never came, while M'Donnell's men were snoring it out quietly in their camp. Government certainly ought, in lieu of the Now Zealard Cross, to award these heroes the right of wearing a night-cap as a badge of honor.