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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 19, Issue 1473, 6 November 1872, Page 2

The Wellington Independent, 4th inst., says :—The Government have* commenced some departmental reformswhich, if likely to create a certain degree of dissatisfaction amongst a few will be calculated to satisfy the- House and country. The department under the charge of the Native Minister is. the first to feel the new besom. Theoffice of Inspector of Volunteers and;! Militia has been done away with. Col. Hatington is to receive half-pay to the end of the year during which time he will perforin such duties as may pertain to his position or he may be called upon to perform For the future, iiw 11 places where the armed constabulary, are available, the duties of drill' and' muskei ry instruction will be performed by ihe officers of volunteers; and where no armed constabulary are stationed' the Government will expect the honorary officers of militia and volunteers to perform the duties instead ; and if they do not choose to do so, they will ceaseto be allowed to hold rank any longer.. .Tim following appointments have been* dispensed with—Captain Humphries, now at Kelson ; Captain adjutant at Waikato;. and Captain Dawson, who resides in Auckland.

The Auckland Evening Star ha.* ranch pleasure in conveying the information that that journal is now given, to the world by steurcu We- quotefrom its issue of the 28th October : " Our machinery is not yet quite complete, but the machine whose province it is to produce this: paper is in full blast, and throws off the sheets with, a. rapidity that we believe will greatly conduce to the equanimity of expectant readers. For the two-past issues the, printing has been partially performed; by steam, but to-day's isjue and all succeeding is«ue*, will be wholly given: forth by that emblem, and. main. as;enk of modern progress, the steam engine." According to the Wellington lucledendent, there i- not the slightest truth, in the statement that the working hours of the civil servants are to beincreased. It is, however, the intonation ot the Government to institute a ; classification according to merit throughout the department of the Civil Service, to weed out all the drones and incapable.*, and to offer encouragement to* industry and ability by increasing remuneration of the really .deserving; offieet s. It is expected that such a course of regime will effect a great improvement in the Civil Service. The Otago Daily Times says that the meteor seen in Dunedin. on the night of the 23rd October was also seen at Lawrence, where, according to the local paper, "so light was it, the-shop signs; could, be distinctly read in the streets."

The Maoris living to the north of the city of Auckland predict that the coining summer will he an imusally dry one, and say the European settlers are a month too late with their crops. In Anxtralia, also, we observe from our 6-I*sß, a very hot sunwmu* i* prophesied.. We (Wellington.lndependent) under-, stand that the Government have, in. fulfilment of their promise to ihe House that ihey would appoint twogentlemen of the native race to. act as advisers to the Cabinet upon; native affairs nominated Wi Parala and Katene, and that they will at once be sworn-in to perform the duties required of them.

Ten 1 jrace of grouse were shipped on hoard the Queen Bee on her leaving London, for the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, but they all died on the voyage.

A gold watch and silver medal have been presented by the commercial travellers to Mr Galbraith, inspector of public-houses, at Adelaide, for the- improvements effected in the houses sincelie took olhce.

Cattle arc very fetching high prices in New South Wales, as much as £lo'a head being paid foi them to Sydney.

Grey town now supports two chimney sweeps, an uudoubted evidence of increasing prosperity. Tbe Canterbury Acclimatization Society is now in a position to distribute young trout at £lO per 100.

We find the following in the New Zealand Herald, 28th October :—"The tmccess which attended the Colonials in their match with the Scotch a fortnight ago emboldened thorn to challenge any other nationality, and to-day they encountered the Englishmen ; but these they beat easily, and the contest from the outset was greatly in favor of the Colonials, John Bull having no show whatever, although the betting during the week was almost equal, and the anticipation was that it would be a very close contest, yet the result of to-day proves it to be a hollow affair. A change of range took place this time, it being at Parawai, which was considered slightly in favor of the Englishmen, the bulk of whom belong to the Sbortland Volunteers; while two-thirds of the Colonials belong to the Naval Brigade, whose practice is at Timaru. In the morning the wind was very gusty, and blew across the range smartly, so that the average score is not so good as in the last match ; but Smith, of the Colonials, obtained the magnificent score of 65, while Gordon, of the same team also got 62." The ranges were 400, 500, and 600 yards, 7 shots at each. The highest score on the side of the English team was 59. The total scores were—Colonial, 775 ; English, 697; majority for Colonials, 78 points. Fifteen men competed on either side.

£3OO worth of messages were sent from Adelaide by the cable line on the 22nd ultimo.

A mining engineer, commissioned by the French Government is making a tour of inspection through New South Wales.

" Japanese paste" is the latest device for ruining the complexion of American belles. It is green when applied, but goon changes 1.0 a delicate rose.