Interprobincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 764, 24 February 1870, Page 3

Interprobincial Items.

Steps are being taken at the Thames fo fotni * Tent in connection with the Inde pendent Order of Rechabites. Tho Wanganui Herald says that the reason for Colonel Fraser s arrest was hi?, allowing Te Kooti to pass the district of Tauranga. A cattle dealer, named Robert Ralston; disappeared from Cromwell, recently, under circumstances which point to the conclusion that iie has been drowned, and his body carried down the river. The establishment of a new industry in a colony is a thing most worthy of record and encouragement ; and our renders generally will be glad to learn that there is :» probability of a glass manufactory being .established in or near the city of Auckland in a short time. A Hokitika paper of the Bth February says:—Mr Herman Meyer is making pre parations to commence the manufticturoand cultivation of flax on a large sc.de. He has leased a large block of land, has purchased another, and has bought the machinery of the Gold Land steamer. Be proceeds to Christchurch by this morning's coach, for the purpose of obtaining other machinery, and us ho never does anything by halves, he intends to visit Otago and Auckland, to be certain that has all the latest improvements at his command. A fire which at one time threatened to be of a serious nature, broke oat at Town on the 2nd Feb., at midnight. From what we (West Coa?t Times) have .been able to learn of the occurrence it appears that the fire was discovered at O'JbLeef's Hotel, by a brother of the proprietor, who was returning home at the above hour. There were four houses in ail including O'Keefs Hotel, from which nothing was SRved. Reed's Hotel was among the number, hut Mr Reed succeeded in saving the greater part of hi* furniture and a piano. The third was Johnston's, (a bootmaker's store), and the fourth, which was pulled down, was the pr uuses occupied by Mr Bennet as a livery stable. With the ex ception of O'Ket-f's, the greater part of the furniture and clothes were saved. The damage to the buil lings alone is roughl) estimated at from £SOO to £6OO. The total quantity of alcoholic liquors on which duty was paid in New Zealand during the quarter ending 31st December, 1869, was 275,809 gallons, the amount o» revenue raised on which was £97/119. At the *ame rate the amount consumed per head of the European population of the colony during the year would be 4.624 gallons, representing a revenue per head of £1 Ms. As, however, it is well known that, notwithstandii g the prohibitive law, a amount of liquor is drunk by the Mauri race, these figures n.u4 he regarded a» considerably above the nnwk. In con iteetion with this subject, we ma}- mention that from a return lately laid befor l the House of Commons, on the motion of t':ir W. Colebrooke, we find 'hat the quantity of spirits consumed in Great .Britain and Irel 'lid —so far as it can be estimated from the Customs returns —during the year "J8' : 8, was 29 407,460 gallons, or less than lit illon per head of the population. The quantity consumed in New Zealand during the same year, a-* al<o shown by the Cus turns return.-', was 552,910 gallons, or rather more than 2£ talons per head of the l£uropean population. A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, writing from Shag Valley, Wai kouaiti, says: —"The weather here has been very unfavorable for harve-it operations this last ten days—in fact, 1 may say that Bcarcely a favorable day has been experienced sinew the harvest commenced. On the niaht of the 26th, and morning of the 27th ult., it blew a perfect tempest from the north-east, accompanied by an exceedingly hot wind. Many an uneasy head lay in the valley that night. Hundreds of acres stood dead ripe, and there were few who did not expect to see at least the half on the ground in the morning. Great was their joy, however, when in the morning they discovered that the damage was slight after all. Small patches here and there were pretty bad, but as a general thing not more than three bushels of grain per acre over the ripe paddock wt re lost. Night alone saved it ; had it been as it generally ia through the day with a bright burning sun, at least one half would have been lost. Harvest operations are now pretty general over the whole valley, and some magnificent crops are being reaped. The oat crop in particular, both for quantity and quality, excels any former year. 60 bushels per acre over whole paddocks, it is confidently asserted, will be no uncom* raon thing this year. The wheat crop, taken as a whole, is considered light. It has fallen off considerably in acreage this year, partly from the limited extent of good land, and partly from the old land getting full of oats. The yield will be very email, and will not run mora than 25 bushels, although the sample is considered very good. There is an undoubted tendency among the farmers, through the want of clean ground, to sow a smaller breadth of wheat, and unless the system of farming is greatly altered for the better, the production of wheat in any quantity in a few years will be a thing of the past The quantity of barley sown is larger by one half than in any former year ; but the yjeld will not be nearly so good as was expected. Caterpillars have caused great ravages in some paddocks of oats, and on nearly all the barley. Harvest hands are ve*y scarce. Something like £2 per week is the general rate of wages paid for bauds of any description. Good workmen can command even higher wages than this, but fchey are few and far between.,

The G-ourlny Family were performing I in Taranaki at latest dates. I Owing to the exertions of several young; men a ..Gymnasium is about to be established in Wellington The Otago Government have set aside 100,000 acres of land at Preservation Inlet, West Coast, as a site for a settlement. The ground is being rapidly taken up. We learn from the Nelson papers that on the evening of the 14fch February, Mr R. Morton, of the firm of Francis, Morton and Co., fell down dead in a fit of apoplexy. The first part of a novel entitled " The White Slave," translated from the German by Mr J. Goldstucker, Charleston, and printed by Reid and Co., Westpost, has been issued from th* press. The subject of education is attracting attention in Auckland. The Superinten dent has expressed himself in favor of a system of secular education, and he lias in coasequence been assailed by those who favor sectarian teaching. The Provincial Government of Canterbury have accepted a tender at £57 for keeping the river Avon clear of water cresduring the next twelve months. If that stream were near London, what would not a contractor pay for the privilege ? The miners in the neighborhood of Mount Ida, Otago, have knocked off work through the Water Company refusing to revise their charges The prices at present charged for water, the miners B;ate, leaves I hem nothing to live upon. The Circular Saw Company have re duced the freight on stock shipped from Wellington to Auckland in their steamers, to £2 per head for cattle and 2s 6d for sheep. This is a reduction of over 100 cer cent., and leaves a good margin of profit for the stock-owner.' Twenty-five head left Otaraia station on Monday last for shipment at Wellington. The Otago Daily Times says that Messrs Burns and Graham are about to resign their seats in the House of Representatives, as they intend visiting Europe. Mr Cargill has already gone, and the Times points attention to the fact that Messrs Yogel, uaughton, Bradshaw, and O'Neill, who nominally represent Otago, are actually resident in Auckland—their interests iden tified with that province—and calls upon them to resign. Wo learn from the local journal that "a project Of opening the Wairarapa lake for navigation, and consequently getting their traffic to Wellington at a cheaper rate, is mooted by the settlers of the valley, arid it is proposed to call a meeting of the residents to r.ise funds to defray the expenses of a competent engineer, who would estimate the cost of keeping the lake open for a certain time in the year and report generally upon the scheme." Tiie Evening Post is of opinion that it is quite feasible to adopt some federation of the Provinces for the purposes of imtni gration. Canterbury does not like to pay :he passages of immigrants who almost immediately find their way to the gold-fields of Otago, nor would Wellington and Napier care about expending funds to popu late Auckland; but if immigration were managed by the Colony as a whole on a properly adjusted system, these inequalities woifd not prevail. The people of Hokitika cannot be vein liberal in their patronaga of cabs, judging \hy the following from a Hokitika corres pondent of the Greymouth Evening Star. He says:—"Quite a sensation occurred here last' week. A cab was imported to ■be run in our streets. It was brought over by a Melbourne enterprising cabman. He took a look at the town, nad a pint of al J (the greater part of which he threw on the floor), and then ordered his cab to be re-shipped without being unpacked, and he has gone away." Ttie Nelson Evening Mail says that the St. Jidda, with Captain Johnson, the Marine Surveyor, on board, arrived at Nelson the other day, from the Spit, where she had landed several cases containing the lighting apparatus for the new lighthouse. We learn that the tower and buildings will be completed in a fortnight, but that if; will be some time, probably three months, before the lantern and apparatus will be fixed and ready lor lighting. The three new lighthouses, namely, at Nugget Island, Cape Cambell, and the Spit, will all be completed about the same time. Petty robberies, and attempts at robberies, are becoming rife at the Thames. Only the other night (says the Shortland Times), a gentleman of Our acquaintance was thrice aroused by some person attempting to open his bedroom window. Twice the thief decamped upon hearing some one stirring inside. The third time he was almost cauy;ht—the gentleman having armed himself with a heavy whip, and stood with his hand upon the door-latch waiting for the would-be-thief's approach. The latter came, and again assayed to open the window, but quickly turned rail and ran, pursued in hoc haste by the owner of the house, who had quietly opened the door and rushed forth. The thief, how ever, managed to escape. The resident of a house in the same locality, near the new Church of England, being awakened in the night by the movement of some person in his bedroom, he sprang out of the bed, and was met by a man with a loaded revolver in his hand, who coolly levelled the weapon, and then "backed astern " out of the window, carrying with him a valuable watch and chain. Another party —one of the Shortland milkmen—was disturbed the other night by some person attempting to break into is house. He seized a tomahawk, and chased the man some distance, when suddenly he was faced by three men, who dared him to come on."

I The Auckland Acclimatisation Seeietv have succeeded in importing u few rooks from .England. The proprietor of tke flax mills at Wainuiomata charges a bonus of £IOO for anyone wi.-hing to employ his patent for preparing flax, together with a royalty of £SO per annum. During the hot weather which prevailed at the beginning of this month, the thermometer at Oamura at one time registered 95 degrees ia (he shade, and 130 degrees in the sun. The Taranaki Herald states that accounts from the country districts in that province are to the effect that the wheat crops will be heavier this season than many previous years—as much as 40 bushels to the acre are spoken of. The oat wops, also, are looking well. A discussion took place recently in the Auckland Provincial Council on a motion by Mir Cavletou that the Superintendent should be empowered to sit in the Council, and take part in the debates, but retiring often as the Speaker should put the question. The motion was lost by a majority of 16. Sixty pounds weight of stone, from a reef eight feet wide, on the claim ol Maurice O'Brien and party, ac on being crushed in a berdan and tested on tlio 11th inst. by Mr Tatt-on, produced gold in the proportion of 5 ounces 9 dwts. 17 grains to the ton ol 2000 pounds. In the stone itself no gold was visible to the naked eye. We (Poison Mail) are sorry to hear of the death of Mr Peter Laing, an old Nelson settler, who on Sunday, Feb. 13, was found lying quite dead in a pool of water near the house of his son-in-law, Mr Keill, with who n he was staying at Dovedale. It is supposed the old man had fallen into the pool and had not sufficient strength to struggle out of it. We regret to hear that Mr J. C. Eichmond, who is now in kelson, has been ilaid up with sickness resembling cholera. |We are told that whilst out wi.lking he was suddenly attacked, and so bad was he that he took advance of Mr Kdwards' carriage, that was parsing, to be conveyed to his home. The illness is not serious we hope, and truit that the next steamer will bring word that he is again convaieocent. The Canterbury Pre3S says that a fie, which resulted in the loss of property to the value of upwards of £3OO, took place on the night of the 14th inst., at the farm . f Mr Cuvlett, nenr Ri carton Church. Shortly before 12 o'clock the outbuildings and stockyard were discovered to bo in flames, but the fire had go! s?o firm a hold that all efforts to save anything were unavailing. The buildings, togeher with farm implements, and some oaten straw, were totally destroyed. With the probability that is now constantly before us of a collision at the Upper Thames between the diggers and the ivitives, it would be well perhaps (says the Thames Times) to make some preparation to meet the evil day when it arrives. There are, it is true, a certain number of volunteers ready for action, and who, we are sure, would do good service if ever called upon to act in defence of their race ami homes. But, at the game time, is it not possible to provide still further for the crisis that seeems imminent ? An idea has been broached of utilising ti.e services of old soldiers at the ThameM by enrolling a veteran corps of one hundred men, to be armed with a more efficient weapon than the c'umsy Enfield. This idea originated with Captains Massey and Globs, both of whom are prepared to take action upon it, and are confideut that such a corps might be raised, providing sufficient inducement is given by the Gove'runient. The manner in which Te Kooti procures supplies of arms and ammunition is easily explained according to the following statement made by a correspondent of one of the Auckland papers under date the 9th inst. : —" I saw a crowd on the other side of the Court Housa this afternoon, and I went, to see what had happened, and to my surprise I found one of the principal chiefs here (Te Moananui) and several natives had in their possession one doublebarrelled gun, lOlbs shot, one box caps, one powder-flask, one double shot-flask. The chief told me that hi had got the licence from M? Puekey. At this time the police were present, and thev gave over the above-mentioned articles to the natives. The police then went to the gunsmith's to see if the same was correct, and to my surprise found that such was the case." If such a state of affairs is allowed to go on at the present time, we shall have to take up arms and defend ourselves." The Daily Southern Cross says that Mv O'Keilly, Inspector of Weights and Measures at Auckland, has lately sent up to the Superintendent a report of his proceedings, which contains some very interesting facts. In Parnell he detected some very flan-ant violations of the law on the part of two butchers. Each had three separate charges brought against him, and both were convicted, the penalty in each case being £5 for the first charge, and £1 for the second and third. The butchers had also to pay costs, while their scales and weights were forfeited. One of those butchers it seems was a sort of genius in his way. Not content merely with light weights, it appears, according to Mr O'ileilly, that ''the scales used by him, and seized by me on the occasion referred to, were &o constructed as to weigh as the owner liked, and I believe he used them to his own advantage." While we condemn the commercial depravity of this butcher, we cannot avoid paying a tribute of admiration to his ingenuity,