Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1119, 13 September 1871, Page 2

The European and American mails via San Francisco will be due in Auckland to-morrow. The Hawke's Bay portion will, it is expected, arrive here by the s.s. Keera on or about Sunday next, 17th inst. We have to tender our acknowledg ments to the Government for the abstract of Mr Yogel's financial statement telegraphed to us last night, and which occupies nearly five columns of this evening's paper. The formation of a Volunteer Fire Brigade in Auckland is strongly urged by the local press. An important decision was recently given by Judge Chapman, at Dunedin, in the case of Tyson v. Herbert. Jt decides that in case of withdrawal of civil actions by plaiqtiifs, tjie defend ants are entitled to all their costs, notwithstanding notice of withdrawal having been given previous to the hearing. A remarkably striking instance of ingenuity is now presented in the Bureau of the .Navy Steam Department, San Francisco. It is a sextant, constructed by Assistant Engineer Herhchelmain, on Ocean Island, with a piece of a steam gauge, the mirrors being fixed in brass desk locks, and the other portions made of scraps of zinc anc( brass. It was intended for u>e in the second boat about to be despatched to Honolulu for assistance, by the crew of the wrecked steamer Saginaw. It has been tested and found accurate, hut the arrival of aid prevented fortunately any need for its practical use. A. Poet says:—"Qh, she was fair, but sorrow came and left its traces there." What became of the remainder of the harness he does not state.

The Bruce Herald understands that there is a livelihood of the Key. Dr. Begg, of Edinburgh, paying a visit to the members of his family resident in Otago. Hopes are entertained in Sydney that the diggings in New Caledonia will yet turn up trumps. Pearl-fishing is now a large and creasingly important industry on the coast of Western Australia. The telegraph between China and London is working well. ludian coal is attracting much attention in all the presidencies. A Mutual Clothing Club, on the cooperative principle, has been established at Fitzroy, KS.W, British Columbia was formally annexed to Canada on June 20. An Alpine lake, hitherto unknown, has been discovered by some explorers in the Upper Shotover, Otago. One of the explorers, after describing the difficulties of the country through which they passed, says :—"Here we were rewarded with the fir*t glimpse of a deep blue lake, completely filling the hollow in the mountains. This lake, which I have named Lochnagar, seems to be about three miles in length, and one mile and a quarter in width, and with its picturesque surroundings of jagged peaks, clad to the water's edge with snow, forms a scene sublime, but deso late in the extreme. The creek which flows in at the head emerges from a field of snow and ice, and falls over a precipice to the level of the lake, the prospect at the upper end of the valley being bounded by a fine peak, which I have named Mount Cunningham. At the date of our visit it was impossible to penetrate further without the aid of a boat, the shores of the lake being apparently inaccessible towards the head. At the point where the surplus water makes the exit from the lake, there ha\e been immense slips on the mountains, and the falls on the creek must be well woithy of a visit, as it makes a descent of at least 500 feet iri a mile." The Sacramento Record says a-> follows : —Americans are a money-loving and a money making people. Does it ever strike any of them how much it costs to make money ? For example ; the lust of wealth so over-rides every other consideration in this country that fraud in trade is the rule instead of the exception. We poison all our provisions with adulterations. We poison even our drugs with cheaper material. We sell shoddy for wool. We sell Veneering for solid wood. We make abominable messes and call it whisky. We make horrible rolls of nastiness and call them cigars. We build wretched shells of bad brick and bad mortar and green wood and call them houses. We rob and cheat each other all round and in every trade and business, and we are all so bent on making money that we have no time or inclination to protest against even the most palpable frauds, but console ourselves when we discover that we have been imposed upon by going forth and swindling somebody else. We pay a very heavy price for our national idiosyncracy. We kill each other quicker than is at all necessary. We pay two or three prices for very inferior articles, as a rule- We spend much money and get very little in return, and we are rapidly destroying our national sense of honesty and integrity. In those benighted and slavish countries which are mled by monarchs they contrive to live a deal cheaper and a good deal beter than we can. There, fraud is regarded as criminal, and the impostor, when detected, is punished .severely. There, tricks of trade are looked upon as swindles, and are treated as such. There, honest weights and measures are used. There, woe betide the contractor or architect who shall put up a house in American fashion. There, commercial transac tions are based upon fair dealing, and the merchant and trader who should be caught in an openly dishonest scheme, ostracized, if not proceeded against legally. But those are old fogy countries, the people of which know nothing about liberty; who have no Fourth of July, or Wall street, an# who do not recognise the fact that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (which means money) entitles every man to cheat his neighbors and bars redress.