Untitled

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 252, 27 September 1865, Page 2

We are requested by the Secretary of the Wakatip Hospital to acknowledge, through Mr Warden Simpson, receipt of £1 from Robert Clements, miner, Upper Shotover. We regret we cannot find room for the memorial from the miners at the Arrow to his Honor the Superintendent, and which has been kindly furnished us by a correspondent. The latest accounts of Mr Pyke and his party is contained in the ' Oamaru Times' which says :—" We learn that the Pyke Exploring Expedition reached Cameron's Bush, on the Bth inst., 16 iniles from the head of Lake Wanaka, and 12 miles from the foot of the saddle. The pi.rty were in good health. The 1 West Coast Times' of the 14th instant contains a notice of the death of a gentleman well-known and long resident in Queenstown. It is the following" Died at Greyinouth, on the 13th instant, in the 29th year of his age, John Konstantin, eldest son of the late Alois Konstantin, Prince du Lubecki." The ' Melbourne ' Age' with its characteristic independence, gives the following advice, when speaking of the close »f the late dead-lock in the Victorian Parliament:—" We may state, for the information of Mr Fellows and the five banks, that they may remit the 100,000 ounces of gold by the London to pay their debts in because there is no immediate intention on the part of the Government to withdraw the balances and compel payment of the public debts here. Since the banks cannot pay both their debts at home and the public here, it is desirable, for the very same reasons which induced Mr Bramwell to come to the rescue, that our credit should be preserved abroad; and there the gold may go. We must be content, as heretofore, with the paper. The following notice to contractors appears in the • Advertising Sheet'" In future no tender will be received unless it contains, as a deposit, a marked cheque for an amount equal to 5 per cent of the amount of tender, when the tender is under £IOOO ; and 2£ per cent, when above that amount; which deposit shall be absolutely forfeited by the tenderer if he fails to execute the contract when his tender is accepted."

Let us take an example of the power of the squatters in South Australia —a colony whose liberal land laws once led to a revolution in the Victorian system. The following is worthy of remembrance even in the small, but comparatively wealthy province of Otago. The example is from Mr Goyder's examination before the Waste Lands Committee of South Australia. 11 Then you think 3,000,000 of acres is the full extent of unsold land available for agricultural purposes ?—Mr Goyder: Within the limits I have mentioned, yes; but it is quite possible some cereal, not yet known in the colony, might be found suitable for the higher latitudes, and in that case very much more land would be available. No doubt the Committee will recollect the time when the Gawler Plains were considered unfit for agriculture. Now the agricultural lands have been extending, until we have wheat crops at Mount Remarkable. We have still a great deal to learn, so far as the agricultural and pastoral resources of the colony are concerned. '1 he Government propose to offer for sale, within the next twelve months, 500,000 or 600,000 acres ; and we are told that they expect that, in consequence of such a large quantity of land being put up, the squatters will not be able to purchase it all, so a very large proportion of it will be left for agriculturists to take out at someihing like upset price. Ido not believe this will be the case with the first 500,000 or 600,000 acres ; but I think if it were continued for two or three ysars, farmers might have a considerable quantity to select from ; but 500,000 or 600,000 acres would all be bought up by the squatters." The following il run of luck" is recorded in 1 Bell's Life iu London' of 3rd May :— u A friend of Mr H. Morris having won a 'pony' (2 51) at whist just before the Metropolitan, Mr M. put it on the Planet for him, by which venture he landed 300/. Of these winnings 200/ was put on Gladiateur for the Two Thousand, producing 1,300/. A thousand of this sum was next invested on the Two Thousand winner for the Derby, and by this third consecutive venture, 6,500/ was landed, making the net gain between 8,000/ and 9,000/. The 4 Bendigo Advertiser' (Victoria) says that "at the district police court four persons were found guilty of double voting at the election of members fjT the Campaspe Roal Board on 10th August. The taking of evidence occupied nearly a whole day." One of the persons convicted, who had formerly been a member of the Board, received six months' imprisonment; and the other three were each sentenced to two months' imprisonment.