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Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1600, 7 August 1874, Page 315

Mrs Buchanan, wife of Mr T. Buchanan, manager of the Bank of Australasia, died suddenly in Wellington on Wednesday, the sth inst. A lettter received from Messrs Turnbull and Co.’s London agent states that it has been computed that there are now* one million more sheep in Great Britain than there were two years ago. It is reported that Mr J. S. Macfarlane is not inclined to submit quietly to his defeat at the late election for Waitemata, but is trying to upset the election of tho successful candidate, Mr Von der Heyde, on the ground that ho has only been naturalized in South -Australia. Tho objection is a petty one. and we hope that Mr Macfarlane’s endeavors will prove ineffectual.

It is said that a deputation of Nelson members waited on Saturday upon tho Minister of Public Works, regarding tho construction of the railway between Foxhill and the West Coast, and that the result was not satisfactory to the deputation, as the estimated cost of the lino is £BOOO per mile. The Times suggests that another line may bo found from Foxhill to Tophousc, and by way of Taradalc into Amuri and Canterbury. A survey of the line is likely to bo made. In the Auckland City Council on Monday last, Captain Daldy made a strong speech on the irregularities of revenues in various provinces, and the inability of Auckland to provide proper means of Government, although contributing a quarter of a million of Customs revenue. Ho moved that the police protection of tho city is insufficient to prevent crime, and that a telegram bo sent to the Superintendent requesting him to bring the matter under the notice of the General Government. The motion was carried unanimously.

The writer of some clever and elaborate “Political Portaits”in tho Otago Daily Times mourns over a typographical errorin his speech of Major Richardson, ho is made to say :—“ This habit, carried into private life, is rather enjoyed by his friends, all of whom—and there are many —cannot fail to like and honor the hearty and genial old soldier, who is as ready for any fun at three-score, as lie ever was when a youthful cub.” Instead of the uncompliinentary title with which the sentence concludes, the author’s copy roads : “ youthful sub.” Under the heading of “ Waikato Land jobbery,” Mr Troupe writes thus to the New Zealand Herald“ While the swamp mentioned by the Hon. Mr Waterhouse was still unsold, a gentleman well known in tho colony and a director of several leading public companies, acting on behalf of certain English capitalists and himself, instituted inquiries concerning the swamp in question, with the intention of purchasing it at the upset price of 5s per acre; providing, of course, that it was not run up to a higher figure. Upon appyling at the Land Office for information as to when the land would be ready for sale, he was informed that the regulations required that it should first be surveyed to ascertain the exact acreage, previous to being put up to auction. This appeared perfectly reasonable, and the intending purchaser was in the act of explaining the delay to his English friends, when to his amazement he learned shortly afterwards that the land bad been disposed of privately at 3s Gd per acre, and without being surveyed to ascertain the area, as required by tho Act. For obvious reasons I withhold the gentleman’s name at present, but I have his permission to add that in the event of a select committee being appointed to investigate all the recent land transactions of the Government, he will be quite prepared to come forward and substantiate the foregoing statement. For my own satisfaction I have also beon in communication with a gentleman of largo experience as a land valuator, a resident in tho colony for over thirty years, and in the Waikato district for the last ten years, and who knows tho block in question well. He considers the swamp portion in its natural state to bo worth today 10s per acre, and further estimates tho dry land at from 15,000 to 20,000 acres. When we hear Mr Vogel, in his financial statement, alluding to the condition of tho Auckland province as lamentable,” and when, almost in the same breath, that gentleman proposes to seize our last available asset in the shape of kauri forests for general Government purposes, the question naturally suggests itself, how long 70,000 British subjects are going to permit themselves to be ignored and ruined by taxation for the benefit of a few ? Mr Vogel also taunted Auckland with not having a staple in-., dustry. I challenge him to deny ’that Ohincmuri could not have been opene’d three years ago, and could bo even now within a month, did not a certain cloud hang over it like an evil genius—as it has ever hung over every enterprise in this province—to blast and wither it for its own covetous ends."

' An Otago country paper reports that in the local Resident Magistrates. Court, one Hugh Richardson, “a precarious youth apparently 14 or 15 years of age,” was charged under the Master and Servants Act, with leaving the service of his employer without notice.