Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 771, 21 March 1870, Page 3

Interprovincial Items.

Recording to the Lyttelton Times, a pri vate letter received in Dunedin from Auck land says that a circular is about to be seni by the Ministry to the various members o 1 the General Aesmbly, for the purpose 01 taking their opinion as to the removal ol the Seat of Government to Auckland.

The Evening News (Auckland) relates a startling case of sudden death, which oc curred at the Wynyard Pier at about 8 o'clock on the night of the 6th March, Our contemporary says man named EobertLouttit was sitting on the water-pipe which runs along the pier, as we are informed talking to a lady friend, when he was suddenly taken ill. The lady who was with him raised an alarm, which was heard by two boatmen, who hurried to the spot. Dr Nicholson was quickly in attendance, but life was extinct. An inquiry as to the cause of death was held before T. M. Philson, Esq., M.D., Coroner, and a respectable jury, at the Eoyal Hotel this aftornoon, when the evidence of a few witnesses having been taken, the jury returned a. verdict to the effect that the deceased had died by the visitation of God.

The following paragraph is from the Thames Advertiser, 10th March :—A gentleman recently returned from Ohinemuri states as the result of a careful examination of the district that there is no doubt whatever as to the richness of its reefs, and of the existence of alluvial gold in large quantities in the creeks. Our informant is a gentleman of long experience in mining matters, and from his examination of the Ohinemuri country he is most sanguine as to its capabilities of affording employment to a large population. He found two reefs, one about two feet in width, the other three, in both of which gold could be found, while in one it could be seen all through the stone. In one creek in which he worked for a few hours a day for three days, he succeeded in washing out with a tin dish more than an ounee in rough flaky gold of the best quality. Our informant has brought up several very fine reef specimens, and a quantity of alluvial gold.

A pparently Mr Fox is in favor of the Volunteer movement. In recently reply ing to a deputation of Hamilton settlers, he advised them to form themselves into a volunteer cai airy corps, and informed them that it was the intention of the Government in the next session of the Assembly to bring in a bill to increase the assistance given by the Government to local volunteer companies.

The Auckland papers report a tragical occurrence at the Bay of Islands. The following account is from the Evening Star, 9th March :—"A deplorable circumstance occurred at the Bay of Islands last week, showing the extreme folly of masters of whalers in employing natives to capture runaway seamen. It appears that on Friday last two seamen belonging to one of the whalers in port made their escape from the ship. On the following day the master, finding they were missing, engaged three Maoris to track them. The runaway sailors were soon caught, and one of them gave himself up, but the other, who was armed with a revolver, refused to be taken, and said he would fire upon the first man who attempted to capture him. One of the natives, named Ben Hamone made an attempt to capture him, when the sailor fired and shot him through the chest. Ho also fired another bullet, which penetrated his left side. The other two Maoris then followed up the sailor and succeeded in overtaking him. A desperate struggle ensued, and the sailor was eventually brought to the ground,,by a blow on the back of the back of the head by one of the Maoris, which rendered him senseless. He was then convened back to the ship. When the Coquette left the Bay Hamone was lying in a very precarious state, and it was not expected that he would recover.

A letter, headed " What is the use of a G-overnor ? " and signed "J. C. M'Leod," appears in the Thames Advertiser of the 10th inst. The writer says that the first duty of a Governor is to ascertain and report to his employers the real state of the country and people over which he is appointed to rule ; not to sail and ride about a distracted country as if he were only in tended for a public show. He concludes in these words: —" Governors ought to know as Well as others that they are only respected according to their merits, and that flattery and false adulation are only fast fleeting shadows,"

During the last eight months our forci have killed seventy-nine natives at a coi of £400,000, —each dead Hauhau havinj therefore, cost the colony as much mone as the Government are now offering fc the capture of Te Kooti. We (Canterbury Press) have much pie* sure in announcing that our printing m? chine this morning (March 9) was drive by coal obtained from the property of M M. B. Hart, at the Malvern hills, wh placed in our hands a hundredweight, ii order to test its heating power. The coa appears to be of excellent quality, and w have no doubt we will have to report ver favorably regarding it. Mr Gooch, proprietor of the Kaikoun boilng down estabMshment, was severeh scalded a few days ago, by incautiously raising the lid of the boiler before th< steam was allowed to escape by the valve Mr Gooch is injured about the face anc arms, and all over one side of his body and is now confined to bed, unable tc move, but his injuries, although severe, are not accounted dangerous. The following appears in the Evening Post, 14th March, under the heading ol " Ministerial Gossip " : —A private letter from Auckland mentions a rumor current in certain circles there that it is the intention of the Ministry when Parliament k called together immediately to dissolve and go to the country. If such is the case, great changes may be anticipated in the new Parliament.

The Thames Advertiser, March 9, says that "a memorial to the Government of Otago was taken about yesterday for signature, setting forth that the memorialists were unemployed miners on this field, who had been deluded here by ' the false representations of the Auckland press,' and praying that Government to provide for them the means of transit to the province of Otago, where they felt confident of success in their mining avocation. The memorial was numerously signed, but we noticed amongst the names those of several tradespeople resident on the field, who, we should think, entertain no intention of deserting the place. The petition was sent away by post, in a registered letter, by Mr Butler."

An Alexandra correspondent of the Evening Star explains the reason why the Waikato natives are quiet in the following remarks: —"His Excellency [during hi 9 recent visit to the interior] was, no doubt, pleased to find the district so quiet, and was likely informed, on ' reliable authority,' that there was not the slightest fear of Waikatos making any disturbance or interfering with the settlements. This is quite true as long as nothing occurs to disturb them j but I question if the real cause of their remaining so quiet is known, except only to a few. The Waikatos are short of ammunition—that is the secret. I think all the natives who went to the Raglan meeting from this district have returned. The number estimated to have been present at the meeting is from one to two thousand."

According to the Auckland Evening Star, the police force of that province is to be incorporated with the Armed Constabulary, in terms of a resolution passed during the recent session of the Provincial Council, which gave the Superintendent discretionary power to effect such an arrangement. The Star says :—" The police will be taken over by the General Government, and enrolled as Armed Constabulary, but the number and distribution of the force will still be subject to the will of the Provincial authorities, who will pay for the maintenance of the force at a rate to be agreed upon. The General Government will, in fact, supply police for the use of the Provincial Government, and the force will be organised by the officers of the Armed Constabularv."

Dr. Nicholson, the Auckland Provincial Secretary, does not appear to think that the Province has been benefited by the gold-fields. While recently visiting Coromanclel, accompanied by Mr C. O'Neill, the Engineer-in-Chief, a number of the settlers waited upon him to talk about the wants of the district. In replying, Dr. Nicholson said " that if there was a prospect of machinery paying it would soon be erected. He said that the outlying district had been literally starved in order to develop the gold-fields, andhe thought this was wrong. He agreed that a fair share of the funds should be expended at Coromandel, but he could not see why the goldfields had a special claim, although it was generally considered they had. He did not himself think that the gold-fields were as profitable an industry as flax growing and some others, although a few made fortunes. He believed the province would have been better without the gold-fields. [No, no.] That was his opinion."

ig The Auckland papers report that on the ,t 3rd inst. Mr Gilbert Mair had a conversaf? (ion with the wife of Rakuraku, who in y formed him that there was no doubt as to r Kereopa having been killed in the last fight, and that he had been buried at Tu- ,. munui. Te Muli To Kaka, one of the .'ringleaders in the murder of the "Rev. Mr t Volkner, was also killed in the same enP gagement. Te Kooti was deserted by the ■y Uriweras in the thickest of the fight, the , death of Kereopa having struck panic into 1 them. Te Kooti fled to Ahikereru, his » own force making for Horornanga Gorge. r The Ngatirangiwehiwehi, Kereopa's own people, sent a party often men to disinter t the body, which they heard had been • buried at the edge of the Turaunui bush. The following paragraph is from the Thames Advertiser, 9th March:—John Smith, who says he never did a day's work \ for the Government, or belonged to any party in 01 out of office, complains that as , a man with a large family he cannot obtain employment from the Government , after the distinct pledge of the Superinten- , dent that work should be found first for . personswith families. He says he applied on , Monday for work, but was told he could not have any until 300 had employment before * { him. We admit there must be great diili- 1 culty in singling out the men with large j families, but agree with the writer that ] something should first be done for them, \ It is, however, astonishing what large 1 families men will have when asked their i number under such circumstances, and I how many single men will not hesitate ] to tell you they have starving wives de- < pendent upon them. > Most people imagined that the gold dis- ' coveries in Otago chased the "Old Iden- ' tity" spirit quite out of that Province— ' once its head-quarters—but such, it seems, * is not the case. It yet lingers about some of the mountains in the interior, occasion- ' ally revealing itself to mortal ken. A rather surprising revelation of it has latply been made through the columns of k the Bruce Herald. That journal claims for a Mr John Sinclair, of the Tois Tois, , the honor of having been the first discoverer , of gold in Ol ago as far back as 1853, in opposition to the commonly allowed claim of Mr Gabriel Eead, who opened Gabriel's ] Gully some eight years later. The fuc's> as stated by the Herald, are to the follow- ] ing effect:—ln the year named Mr Sinclair, . who it seems came from some part oi ' Scotland where minerals exist, and const- ( quently knew all about gold mining, acci- \ dentally discovered some indications of < gold on the banks of the Tuapeka, which j he followed up, and eventually obtained s; 2ozs lOdwts of gold as the proceeds of two ] hours' work. " With this prospect (says ] our contemporary) he next morning set I: out for Dunedin, and at once called upon ' Mr J, H. Harris, whom he he requested ' to accompany him to his honor the Su- ] perintendent (Captain Cargill), and on ( obtaining an interview, and exhibiting the i prospect (Mr Macandrew happened also to be present in the room) Captain Cargill at once declared that if the discovery of < gold was once made known, it would ruin ' the Province for ever, as strangers would 1 rush the country, and carry off the benefits ; to the ruin of the settlers. Knowing that I Mr Sinclair, whom he accompanied to < Otago in the John Wickcliffe, was a free- 1 mason he strongly urged secrecy, which ! Mr Sinclair promised, and to which pro- • mise he proved faithful throughout. It now becomes us as a province to make Mr ] Sinclair some tangible presentation, which might be handed down to future generations, in commemoration of his valuable : discovery, and faithful adherence to his promise not to reveal the fact." Most of us have heard some queer stories abou the Old Identities, but few imagined that any journal now-a-days would come out with such an enunciation of their principles as this. That there were men in Otago ■ at the time mentioned idiots enough to , believe what Captain Cargill is reported to have said is well known, but that a i journal should be found bold enough to ' praise them and actually to propose a reward to a man for what, were it true, would have been treachery to his fellow- • settlers and his adopted country, is passing ' strange. A correspondent of the Dunedin j Star proposes that full length portraits of i these two worthies should be taken and • placed in the Otago Museum, with the ' following inscriptions: —No. 1. —" I am i the man who for seven long years kept .back the Province of Otago from making \ * a fair start' in its career of golden pros- [ perity." No. 2.—" And I am the editor [ who, in 1870, proposed he should be re-> warded for his ' faithful adherence' to such ' an egregious course of reprehensible folly."

3 THE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. [Auckland Evening Star J Things are pleasantly quiet now. > There is no war, no front, no expe S; ditions, no any thing—we were going • to say—but that unfortunately is s not exactly the case. There is still • the ruinous drain upon our resources going on; there is still Mr Brani- , gan's costly " demilitarised " force to , feed and pa} ; there is still the ever increasing bill for defence purposes which the assembly will be so appalled at when it is presented. We have got rid ot Te Kooti, at least for a little time, and the native expeditions that were to catch him are managed with such secrecy that nothing is ever heard of them. Even Tauranga correspondents have nothing to write about now, except the stereotyped story that the Piri rakaus are quiet and that Te Kooti's spies are awaiting orders from head quarters. However, the King party are not quite so well affected as some peace at any price prophets would have us believe. The latest story from Tauranga is that the King has issued an express order to the Piiirakai.s, forbidding all roads being cut, surveys made, or the leasing or selling of lands within Tauranga. A copy of the King's instructions has been forwarded to; the Civil Commissioner of this place intimating that if the road commenced under such favorable auspices is carried out, it will meet the opposition of Tawhiao, and the pro-; bability is that the next action of the King party will be—some of our men now engaged on the road will ; be waylaid and murdered in. the ( same way as Campbell, because he had dared to cross the boundary line. [ Now ihis sort of thing is continually ; repeating itself. The colonists, in fact, seem to be living on the suffranee of the King party, and Tawhiaos edicts alternately uplift us with hope or depress us with fear. This will always be the case, so long as a policy is adopte .1 towards the natives which simply excites their contempt. The present Government have shown vacillation, inconsistency, and pusillanimity. They have neither fairly tried a defensive policy, a fighting policy, or a peace policy. While on the defensive tack, they drifted into aggressive fighting, until the King party showed symptoms of displeasure, and then came an abandonment of hostilities and a resort to peace at any price. We have long ceased to understand their policy. Under their command the ship of State yaws about as if there were no man at the wheel, and unless some skilled man comes to the rescue she can scarcely escape the destruction which now appeals to be so imminent.

The present aspect of the war is )f the most unsatisfactory character. Che Ministry have made an utter )reak-down in their policy. It is idmitted that Te Kooti has escaped; hat the campaign has been abanloned, and that the Government ia\ e washed their hands of the busiiess altogether. The offer of the £5,000 reward for the capture of Te Kooti is a mere pretence to gull the public. The Arawas are too shrewd ;o kill Te Kooti by contract when ihey may again ere long get rations md pay for not killing him. The Ngatiporous again, will be influenced by similar considerations. We are bold "that there is no fear of the Fox Ministry incurring the wasteful ind extravagant expenditure of their predecessors." We humbly take leave to remind Mr Fox that his iction during the last eight months has proved him to be the most extravagant and incapable Minister with which this colony has ever been afflicted. Will our Middle Island contemporaries take note of the exact amount of work which Mr Fox has accomplished 1 He has spent nearly £400,000, —much of it illegally ; he has demilitarised the forces and rendered them useless for good; he has failed to secure Imperial aid, and needlessly subjected the colony to insult and contumely by begging for it; he has sent home two Commissioners on a useless errand, at a cost of £4,000 ; he has allowed Te Kooti to escape ; he has made us the laughing-stock of the native race; he Has left us a fresh

war to encounter with diminished ! means.. On the other side of tha account he can proudly point to A few Haubaus killed, and two whaleboats placed on the Taupo Lake 1