Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 776, 7 April 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER. [FEOM OTTK OWN COEEESPONDENT.I March 28. CosiiIEECIALLY speaking, things are very dull ; politically, ditto 5 but turning to the judicial departments the dullness disappears. The lawyers are on the whole pretty fully employed, and his Honor the Chief Justice holds no sinecure. It is generally admitted that the colonists of New Zealand are very prone to litigation, and Aucklauders at any rate do not hold the character without at least plausib'e, if not good and sufficient, reasons why. Several cases of insolvencies are now before the public, most of them for small amounts, tut two or three are rather of the big-fish class. The worst feature in our lawsuits is the great amount, of contradictory testimony given. An attempt has been made to get up something like a ragged school, but it is not yet sufficiently matured to be regarded ,;S an accomplished fact. What is needed is a kind of reformatory, to which neglected and vagrant children could be sent by order of the magistrates, and where they would be fed, clothed, and educated, by which term I do not mean what is often intended when the word is used, teaching

the in Latin and French, Geometry and Algebra, but " the three R.'s," and, what is of move imporiance to the community to work—an industrial school in fact as in name. Another point should not be neglected : not only should the youug Arabs (as they are termed) be sent to this establishment and kept there until able

and fit to maintain themselves, but their parents, where such exist, should be compelled to pay towards their maintenance. Of native news we have nothing of con sequence more than you have learned before this. Te Kooti's movements are nowlikelier to be learnt ia Ahuriri than in Auckland.

You will probably have a visit from the p.s. Luna one of these days, as she is now in the possession of the Govern meat. It is easier to ask the question —What need have the Government of the fastest (and probably the most costly to keep) steamer in the colony ?—than to give a satisfactory answer. The passenger traffic between Auckland and Shortland is now very much less than it was nine months ago, so it may be assumed that the Luna could not be run profitably, and if the owners of the other boats could facilitate her purchase by the Government, so as to be removed out of the way, they would probably do. so. Our export of flax (muka) is increasing. That of kapia (kauri gum) is also considerable. Although the Kawakawa coal mines are being worked, we still import large quantities of coal from New South Wales. It is. to be regretted that v*a are likewise

indebted to other countries for the bulk of our flour and grain. We also import a deal of fruit from the South Sea Islands and from Sydney and Hobart Town. Politics are flat. His Honor the Superintendent was last week duly elected without opposition member of the General Assembly for the district of Mongonui. As two of the Auckland representatives have been provided with places, apparently bra' 'n' new, since last session, some of the Southern men will likewise have to be provided for in the same way, or there wi 1 be a little jealousy on the subject. If things continue as they are shaping, ere long the House will be divisible into two distinct wings, the paid and the unpaid. Retrenchment is of course quite out of the question. Until the colonists determine to stop the supplies, the Ministry of the day will find it " necessary " to spend all they can lay their hands on. A reduction of our taxes is not to be expected at present, but I consider it would be the first; practical step towards retrenchment. If each member of the Assembly is to be at liberty to go in for a billet, the Government of the day will eventually have to secure a majority by that means. If the colonists of New Zealand think such a state of affairs desirable, they have no need to trouble their heads about it, as it will come in due time. Supposing then that 35 out of seventy members have to be paid at rates varying from £I2OO down to £4OO yearly, £28,000 would have to be expended in that manner, in addition to all the ordinary permanent staff.

The sapporters of Provincialism, as they term themselves, but, more correctly, ihe Superintendents and their tails, have often complained of the strictness of the Acts bearing on illegal expenditure by Provincial Governments. Those Acts are a perfect farce j like some other enactments, they might be of some use if they were carried out, which is never done. From a public document, printed'by order of our Provincial Council, it appears that the Auditor lor Auckland allowed and sanctioned the payment of several sums of money, not merely unappropriated for the purpose, but in distinct opposition to the votes of the Council—sums which that body had distinctly refused to vote being thus paid. The ex-Superintendent was thus able to pay some of his friends handsomely at the public cost. To one he gave £SO more than his voted salary ; to another, £IOO more; to another, £451 odd; to another he advanced £247 (out'of Provincial funds) on his note of hand I One of his officials drew £95 from the

treasury on the pretence of paving a certain bill, and neither paid the bill nur refunded the money, until it was partly or wholly recouped by stopping his salary each month! Even - more questionable transactions than these could be cited.—l am not aware that either of the Auckland journals has commented on these facts, or, indeed, mentioned them ; but having been absent from the city, and practically from her journals, the greatest part of my time latterly, I cannot be positive on the subject.

One seat in the House of Representatives is supposed to be vacant, the hon. member [MCr Farnell] having left the colony; but whether he took the trouble to resign previous to his departure is not publicly known. There have been rumors of other vacancies through resignations, but theyare not properly authenticated.

March 29. The Star of the South is to leave here this evening for your port. The English Mail was delivered yesterday, having been brought down from SycN ney per p.s. Williams. The winding up business has commenced, although slowly, yet surely. A large number of our gold mining companies will have to undergo the process.

The following description of Cape Farewell Lighthouse is from a late Nelson paper: — The Lighthouse is an open framed hexagon, or six sided structure, one hundred feet in the clear height, exclusive of the lantern. The tower is built of the best blue gum of Tasmania; the two top stories are covered in. The top room holds the machinery, and is boarded with picked red pine, handsomely panelled and moulded, and varnished in the inside; the outside being planked and caulked like a ship's deck, in order to muke it perfectly weather tight. The second storey is similar, and is fitted for supply of oil, &c. The ascent to the top of the tower is by an outside staircase, broken at each storey with a landing, which renders the ascent comparati7ei^

easy ; the sides of the stairs and landing being protected with a handrail on eacl side. There is fixed a hexagon box, 8( feet long, in which descends the weight t< drive the machinery ; the box is strappec with iron tie bands and rods at each storey which pass through each of the six post; which form the angles of the tower thereby giving it great strength and com pactness. In order to secure a greatei visibility in foggy weather, the tower is painted alternately red and white in stories In order to secure the greatest possibk accuracy of workmanship, the tower was framed and built on the ground, and then taken asunder and raised, staging being erected about 50 feet from the ground, and from this the immense posts forming the tower were hoisted and built into their places. Some of these were over 60 feet long, and weighed about three tons. Great difficulty was experienced in rafting the timber to the site, which could only bt done of the spring tides, the highest tides being at night, and the ordinary tides not covering the immense fiats which extend from Bush End point, where the lighthouse is built. In close proximity to the tower is the dwelling and store house for the use of the lightkeepers. A jetty and store house have also been erected for landing stores. All around the dwelling house and tower the ground has been ashphalted to prevent Jthe drifting oi the sand. The lantern is now being fixed by Mr S. Wakefield, of Nelson. Taken as a whole the lighthouse is an imposing structure, well designed and thoroughly ' well proportioned, evidencing the great care take:: in the planting of it by the late Mr J. Balfour. The superintendence of it was entrusted to W. H. Hales, whose great experience well qualified him for the charge of such an important work. The Wanganui Chronicle mentions, as an instance of Maori progress, that Governor Hunia has convened a native meetm,? to be held in the Manawatu to consider certain questions about land, and has done so by printed handbill— probably the first tning of its kind in the colony. In the New Zealand Herald there is a letter Taurunga, March 24, iu which the following account is given of the alarming state of things in the neighborhood : Last night a large stack of hay belonging to Capt. Sturt, on the ro.id to the Gate i'a, and remote from any habitation, was burnt down. It is believed to have been the doing of Ilauhaus, a large number of Maoris having been seen hanging about the town suspiciously after dark. Two nights since a rocket or something similar was seen by the sentries on the Waiuvipu, ascending in the direction of the Gate Pa. The source and purport of the signal are quite unknown Opotiki is now completely invested by the Hauhau forces. Hemmed in by almost inaccees : ble mountains, approachable from the interior only by diffi cult and intricate passes, known only to the cannibal inhabitants of the mountains, its position will always be exposed till the mountaineers are exterminated. The road between this and Opotiki is stopped at Ohioa, the scene of the murder of Mr Bennet White. This has ever been a place of terror to travelers, passed at full gallop by mail troopers and soldiers, with arms at half cock and capped—the overhanging cliff giving terrible advantage to an attacking party. The passage is now barred, and Opotiki is in a state of actual blockade. A correspondent, writing to the Daily Southern Cross, says:—"lt is my duty to record a most distressing and tragic even; which took place here on the morning of Thursday, the 24th February. Edwavei Penney, sen., for many years a resident in Monganui, had lately sold the remainder of his property in the town, with the intention of removing to Auckland or Nelson. The proceeds of the sale, together with what other money he possessed, was according to his statement before his death placed in a certain chest in which he usually kept his money. Having occasion to visit this chest, two or three days previous, he missed his money from the place where he supposed he had last left it; his imme diate and constant belief was that he had been robbed, and this belief preyed natu rally on his mind. On Wednesday, his daughter states, he ate little or no food, and on the night of the same day, being unable to sleep, her father called her, at about 12 o'clock, to light a candle and give him a phial containing chlorody ne. He took a large dose of this and requested the girl to retire again to rest. She did so, and on rising next morning, about 5 o'clock, Bhe opened the back door of the cottage, and to her dismay saw her father suspended

by a fishing line to the Wall-plate of a skilling, which served as a kind of verandah The girl at once ran to the house of Mi Henderson, a neighbor, who hastened back with her and cut down the body of tlu unfortunate man, hut life had passed away, the body being stiff and coldStrange to relate, on search being made by the constable, in the presence of a witness, the money—upwards of £80 —was found in another chest, under a till. An inquest was held at the Court-house on the following day, and after the examination of witnesses, the jury returned a verdict to the effect that Edward Penney had committed suicide while in a state of temporary depression of spirits, caused by the supposed loss of his money. The deceased was a settler under the New Zealand Company."