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Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 234, 26 July 1865, Page 2

We have nothing later from the reefs at Skipper's to report, except to state that Miller. Pinkerton and Company have again struck rich stone, and that all parties are busily engaged opening up ground. The reefs have been much visited, and several shares have changed hands in claims that require to be prospected before the reef is discovered.

The Escort from Queenstown on Monday took down 944 ounces, against 717 ounces on the previous occasion. One of the banks did not forward any gold. We have not heard what the Arrow escort was.

Another change has taken place, we are in. formed, in reference to the movement of the Warden at Maori Point. Mr Anderson is to go to the Nevis, and Mr Simpson will do duty as Resident Magistrate and Warden at the following places Maori Point, Upper Shotover, Cardrona, Twelve-mile (Lake), and Upper Nevis. We do not add any &cs for the intermediate places, as these wo have named are sufficient to overtax the energies and powers of any single officer; indeed from the long distances of the places apart, we doubt if the duties can be satisfactorily performed by one Warden. It will be observed, Mr Simpson will have to pass through the Arrow to perform these duties, at which place as well as at Queenstown permanent Wardens will be kept.

The Queenstown School Committe held a meeting last night and sat until a late hour. The question of levying a rate was discussed and after examining into the state of the finances and finding that the voluntary system pressed very heavily upon the " willing horses " the committee decided upon recommending the issuing of a rate. A fuller report will given in our next.

A petition is being numerously signed, calling upon the Government to at onee make a road to Skippers. The memorial recommends that the road after leaving Maori Point should follow th e same side of the river on to Packer's Point and there cross the Shotover by a bridge and thus avoid the several difficult terraces on the other side.

It is rumored that the prospectus of a Trust Association will shortly be laid before the public, and that it will present some very attractive features of a sound nature, that have been carefully considered.

It was raining in Queenstown nearly all yesterday, and snowing on the ranges.

A meeting of the Queenstown Improvement Committee will take place on Thursday evening, to arrange for the handing over of their powers to the public, so that a new body may be elected.

The shareholders in the Arrow Reef had a meeting at Richmond's New Orleans Hotel, on the 25th inst. An application has been put in to be allowed to erect a dam, and the meeting adjourned to the 9th proximo, to then decide upon plans to be pursued in reference to the class of machinery to be obtained for working the reef. The greatest confidence was expressed in the payable character of the reef.

An error crept into a late report concerning the purchase of the Arthur's Point bridge. The names of Dohey and Ryan was substituted for that of Dohey and Bond. Mr Ryan has no connection with the bridge.

We have to acknowledge the courtesy of Messrs Driver, M'Lean, and Co. in forwarding us their reports, but from some cause or another they invariably reach us the succeeding mail after that which brings these interesting reports in the columns of the metropolitan Press. Valuable as they are we cannot publish old news, and we make this remark because other reports are similarly situated. If posted in time we shall be happy to give them room and meet the requirements of our subscribers in this district.

Mr Borton, the Gold Receiver at the Arrow, in consequence of reductions in that district, is to be removed to Hamilton.

Constable Patrick Gantly has been appointed Gaoler at Queenstown, in the place of William Donne resigned.

Mr Haughton, wrote to the Government when in town upon the neglected state of the cemeter'es of places enumerated in the following reply given to his letter :—" Provincial Secretary's Office, Dunedin, 17th July.— Sir,—l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th inst, bringing under notice the state of the cemeteries at Queenstown, Frankton, Arrowtown, and Cromwell, and urging the expenditure of a sufficient sum for their enclosure. In reply I have the honor to state that, in the absence of an appropriation by the Provincial Council, the Government have no funds at their disposal which they could devote to the purpose of fencing the cemeteries referred to.—l remain, &c.—Thomas Dick, Provincial Secretary.—To C. E. Haughton, M.H.A., Dunedin." If anything should induce the Government to expend a little money upon the Upper Shotover track to Skipper's, it would be the fact of th 9 numerous auriferous reefs now opened up; but how can we expect so much from a Government that can make and break promises so freely as that of the Province of Otago, and which will always obtain an unenviable notoriety for faithlessness ? The only result we anticipate, judging from the past is, that these discoveries wilj harden the hearts of our rulers against doing their duty towards this goldfield.

The ' Home News' announces that a charade it gave as original last December—but which, t>y the way, bad already appeared iu other papers—has been interpreted by several of its correspondents, and 11 all are correct." The solution to the riddle is "Cod." Turning to the slang dictionary a vulgar verb, past participle, will be found, " Codded—deceived, fooled, humbugged." We imagine that, either the public have been the object of such a little game as that of being " codded," or else the ' Home News' has been most wofully so.

The largest public meeting ever assembled in Dunedin was one held at the Princess Theatre on the subject of the Mayoralty. Mr Bathgate was chairman, and in the course of a long address m ,de the following remarks, though he forgot to add that all that had been done was by illgotten means plundered from the goldfields and up-country districts. It was certainly a candid statement, but to gloat over the misery and ruin that has been effected by such a policy was not what we expected from an eminent banking authority, whose vocation must have led him to study the commonest principles of political economy. The rallying cry is, therefore, still Dunedin! Dunedin! and nothing more. He said: —"The present was a time of depression, but what else could they expect when they thought of what they had been doing for the last three years. They had been spending money for the improvement of this city, and he believed that during the past two years little short of a million sterling had been spent in building up this town. He believed in the future prosperity of this great and beautiful city. (Loud laughter.) No doubt a very great deal remained to be done for the town, and on their choice of men to fill the offices of Mayor and Councillors depended its future prosperity."

We take the following gratifying intelligence from the ' Southland Times.' We should be glad to see similar works established here:— " When Mr J. R. Davies' foundry was unfortunately destroyed by fire, a subject of regret with the general public was the deprivation likely to ensue of an establishment capable of executing works in connection with our railways, &c. We are in a position to state that a considerable portion of the machinery saved has been found to be comparatively uninjured, and that by careful re-construction it has been placed in working order."

The Adelaide 'Register' says: —"We hear that Sir George Grey, Governor of New Zealand, is not unlikely to visit his old seat of Government in South Australia ou his going to England." The Dunedin correspondent of the' Waikouaiti Herald' remarks that, at the nomination for the Superintendency, "Mr Grant, who evidently intended to be proposed as a candidate, was taken most fearfully aback by finding that he was not qualified as an elector. He left the hustings in a most awful huff, expressing his disgust at the trickery, as he called it, that had been practised, and vowing vengeance on corrupt officials, Jew's Harps, and the rest of the vile mechanism .that a diabolical ingenuity had invented to frustrate his patriotic purposes." The ' Waikouaiti Herald' says "It will no doubt be highly gratifying to the subscribers to the Waikouaiti Athenseum to learn that Mr Hislop notifies, through that exceedingly interesting and much sought after journal, the Government ' Advertising Sheet,' to the following effect—' Library and School Committees, and Secretaries of Mechanics Institutes or Athenseums are informed that a large supply of Books for Public Libraries is on board the ship Caribou now due, and that a complete list of the books is in course of preparation.' The Caribou having now arrived, we may very shortly expect the new books so long looked for." The Auckland 'Herald' is answerable for the following remarkable paragraph:—" The Weld Government, which thinks nothing of entering into the expenses of a Panama postal service, at a cost to the colony of at least £60,000 per annum —which does not grudge a paltry £20,000 to connect Wellington with the Middle Island by means of a submarine telegraph—which has added to the Ministerial benches and to the cost of the colony two more Ministers, Messrs Richmond and Mantell, than any other Government required to perform the public business —which flaunts its vulgar insolence in the face of the Imperial insults the troops, and impudently proposes with an empty exchequer and 1500 constables; to do more than the General and army and the colonial forces have been able to effect—this parody of Government is actually, we learn, brought to such a pitch of humiliation, that it is unable to pay the salaries of its officials." According to the following paragraph, taken from the Dunedin ' Daily Times,' the Governor has refused to assent to the measure passed by the Provincial Council relieving the Clapcott. Cargill Ministry from the responsibilities of their action in interfering with the Land Tax" The Appropriation Act of Otago, No 2, disallowed by the Governor, was passed to enable the Provincial Government to repay to persons buying land on the terms of the Proclamation remitting the improvement tax, the amount of their purchase with interest at the rate of 12± per cent per annum.

The following is a portion of the ' Daily Times' report of a Mayoralty meeting" Mr Barnes— Are you in favor of borrowing a loan—(laughter) —to finish the city—(laughter)—l mean to finish the improvements of the footpaths, as far as they go. (Loud laughter.) Excuse me, you know I wasn't brought up with any great or high learning. Are you in favor of borrowing money to finish the improvements already part finished in the city." The following paragraph from the ' Southland Times' has reference to the sale of the surplus electric telegraphic apparatus. It reflects little credit upon the action of the Otago Government. A telegraph to the goldfields would be invaluable and a most paying speculation, besides looking at the probable effect it would have in biassing the movements of miners during the ensuing summer campaign" The surplus plant in the possession of the Province on the completion of the line, has, we learn, been purchased by the Canterbury Government, who intend as soon as possible to establish electric communication between the capital of that province and Hokitika, their West Coast goldfield. The promptitude displayed in thus attaching their remote territory is worthy of all praise." Anent the contest for the Superintendency, the 1 Evening Star' has the following:—" As we anticipated the contest for the Superintendency will be confined to two candidates. Mr Clapcott has this day retired. The result will probably not be much affected by this, but it will reduce the electors to a more definite choice. Mr Dick, we are informed, leaves town to-morrow morning to meet the up-country electors, and will address the first section of them at Tokomairiro at two o'clock to-morrow." According to the 1 Southland Times,' that province is likely to be favored with another goldfield. It says :—" The probability of rich auriferous deposits being found in the Riverton district has been more than hinted at by persons qualified to judge of the geological indications. We are informed upon reliable authority that a party of six left Riverton on Monday last with the intention of prospecting the Longwood Ranges, near the Puri-puri-kino Creek, at a distance of some ten miles from the township. They appear to have undertaken the expedition on the faith of a report of a Maori having found coarse gold in the locality last summer. We state the fact as a matter of public interest only, and not with any desire to create a rush. If a payable goldfield is found there will be no difficulty in getting miners."