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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 908, 4 January 1871, Page 2

The Wellington correspondent of the Oamaru Times says:—Business is awfully quiet here—in fact it is at a standstill, and merchants are losing by insolvents every day. One told me a day or two ago that he never came down to the office now of a morning without discovering that be had lost another 4250. A terrible storm desolated Cuba in the middle of October. From 1000 to 2000 people were killed or drowned. 12,000 head of cattle were lost, and several vessels were wrecked, In Matanzas alone, over 400 houses were destroyed Among the most horrible features of this calamity was the uprooting and sweeping away of a cemetery, aqd the scattering of the corpses through %he adjacent country. The Wellington correspondent of the Westport Times,under a recent date, says: " The reform association is still working quietly. I understand that there is some talk of bringing forward tyfr Travers and Mr Gillon for Wellington at |he coming elections. It is impossible to say how matters would go. Mr Travers is not a popular man, though he has triec( hard to make himself so. IJis speeches on the San Francisco Mail Service or rather agajn,st \t ar§ §tijl remembered! "

The Wellington Independent, 27th uit., says:—A seaman named Samuel Hay ward, one of the crew of the Zingara, died rather suddenly yesterday. He had only shipped in Dunediu ahout a week ago. Yesterday he took suddenly ill, and the second officer got the poor fellow into a cab with the object of taking him to the hospital, but on the road up, about three o'clock in the afternoon, he expired. The following correspondence will illustrate the necessity of writing a legible hand:—From H. Greeley to M. B. Castle : " Dear Sir, —I am over-worked, and growing old. I shall be sixty next Feb. 3. On the whole, it seems I must decline to lecture henceforth, except in this immediate vicinity, if Ido at all. I cannot promise to visit Illinois on that errand certainly not now, —» Yours, Horace Greeley."—From M. B. Castle to H. Greeley : •' Dear Sir, —Your ceptance to lecture before our association next winter came to hand this morning, Your penmanship not being the plainest, it took some time to translate it; but we succeeded, and would say your time—3rd of February and terms entirely satisfactory. As you suggest, we may be able to get you other engagements in this immediate vicinity. If so, we will advise you. —Yours very respectfully, M. B. Castle " " Spectator" writes as follows to the Times:—"Since you did me the honor to insert my letter of the Bth inst, upon the French bombardment of Saarbruck, I take the liberty to call your attention to a most interesting and remarkable article in the Kolnische Zeitung of last Sunday, the 14th inst., written by Dr K. Hundeshagen, Professor of Theology at this University, and whom I have the pleasure of personally knowing. He therein reveals to the world the author of the poem, ' Die Wacht am Bhein,' which is in the mouth of every German at the present time. The author is no other than Max Sehneckenburger, who died in the year 1851. The poem was first produced in February, 1840, at Burgdurf, near Bern, by the author, who was an ironfounder, and it was set to music by G. Mendel in 1842. It is now the favorite song of the German troops, and the Queen of Prussia has conferred the dignity of Poet Laureate on the author, by having a medal struck and sent to General von Bittenfield, that he might forward it to the author when discovered." The following figures, gleaned from an authentic source, will show the preponderating maritime position of England :—England has a tonnage in sailing vessels of 6,993,153; in steam, 1,651,767, representing over 25,500 vessels of all kinds. America, which comes next, and is far ahead of all other countries, has only 2,400,607 tonnage in sailing vessels, and 513,792 in steam vessels. German tonnage is—sailing, 1,046,044 ; steam, 105,131. France has very little more tonnage than Germany, but has it distributed in more bottoms. Her figures are—sailing tonnage, 891,828; steam, 212,976, representing 4,968 sailing vessels, and 288 steam, while Germany is represented by 4,320 sailing and 127 steam vessels. The figures for Russia are—sailing vessels, 1,306; tonnage, 346,176 ; steam, 62 ; tonnage, 28,422. Glowing accounts regarding the richness of the reefs lately discovered in the Inangahau district, Upper Buller, are published in the West Coast papers. The Westport Times says; —"Mr A. Russell, who is intimately acquainted with the most payable claims on the Thames Goldfield, pronounces most unhesitatingly in favor of Inangahau reefs. On visiting Cooney's claim he was perfectly astonished at its unparalleled richness. The walls of the drive everywhere contained gold plainly visible, and, portions of the wall literally blamed with the metal,"