Local and General News.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 194, 18 September 1869, Page 3

Local and General News.

Both the Falcon and the Amateur, arrived at the Wharf from Wellington, on Thursday afternoon, with excellent cargoes. The Superintendent notifies that on and after October Ist the following tonnage dues will be charged upon all vessels moored alongside Picton Wharf, under 100 tons, 2d, per ton ; over 100 tons, Id, pet ton. At a meeting held at Featherston, a company with a capital of A‘so in fifty shares of £1 each was formed to engage men to prospect some of the quartz reefs that lie between the Waiohine river and the lake. All the shares are taken up. Racing.— Bell’s life in Melbourne, of the 23th ult says : —The business on the Melbourne Cup has been remarkably quiet this week the most noticeable thing being the further advance of the New Zealand colt (Mr. H. Redwood’s) Manuka, against whom there is very little good money to be had at 10 to 1. , Any higher, offer has been eagerly snapped- at during the last two days.— Press. , - , . Blenheim is determined not to be altogether I behind the age. We have heard much about bicycles, and this week we find that Mr. Falconer has imported oi e of the latest construction, as recently used on the Melbourne Race-course when Messrs. Finlay and Warnock competed for £25 ; in the final heat, Mr. Finlay did 2 miles in 11 minutes, 29A seconds. Picton Wharfs. —The sale of the lease for t three years of these wharfs took place yesterday, when an excited competition took place between I Messrs, Freeland, Lewis, and thet%te lessees, j Messrs. Philpots and Leary, -terminating in.favor i of the latter at £220 per annum ! Some ® our \ readers will recall the remarks we felt it oityiduty i to make three years ago, when the lease wassold for the ridiculous sum of £4O per annum. The Provincial Councils of Southland, naki, and Hawkes Bay are dissolved. ’ The latter is to meet to elect a Superintendents in place of Mr. M‘Lean on the 24th inst. With respect to our own Provincial Council, we arel? unable to add anything at present to what we" stated last week ; while the Government organ maintains a discreet silence, probably waiting to see which is likely to be the winning side. Flax, — A correspondent writing to the Hawke’s Bay Herald, says :—** The Sax should be cut in the winter months, when the top of the leaf droops, and feels soft to the touch. If cut in the summer, or when in flower, the fibre will have a red tinge, and be liable to become brittle, which is also the case if the flax be left long after being cut before the fibre is separated from the leaf. The root of tl e flax is said to be a good substitute for sarsaparilla.” The s.s. Taranaki. —Our correspondent, 3n>| der date of 6 p m., on Monday last, writes as \ follows.;—“ From the 23rd August to 6 p.m; on the 13th inst, the sunken vessel has been raised, by means of the screws alone, 56 feet, averaging about 3 feet per day She has been lifted altogether about 68 feet, and hauled in shore about 440 feeitA The top of the funnel is 8 feet above water, and bowsprit cap awash. The forecastle with every ropeupon it, is distinctly seen to-day, also the ship’s bell, &c. Unshipped two bridge boats’ davits this morning. To-morrow night the whole of the forecastle will be above water. At the end of the week the ship’s rail will be awash all round.”— Press.

Thk Ballot —ln the list of Acts passed by Assembly, published in our last, one to allow vote by ballot is wanting.. There is a strange history about this measure, if it could all be told. Ministers and particularly the Premier, professed themselves its warm .mipportera* ( yet when a defect was discovered in it after pissing both Houses, they resisted the. at tempts of its honest supporters with the most frivolous objections to get the measure amended. The truth is, the election for the Superintendents of Auckland and Otago must presently take place, and it did not suit the views of the present holders of these offices to have the ballot in operation nothin the next few months, and bo the bill was dropped. Ministers not daring to offend Mr. Alacaudraw and Mr. Williamson. — Examiner,

The Immigration Secretary notifies that in future all persons wishful to bring out friends from home to this Province must deposit half the passage money in advance. A private letter received by a gentleman in Christchurch, by last mail from England, states that Sir George Grey, with his niece, Miss Matthews, intended to return to New Zealand in August. This letter is dated May 23. The value of bags and sack-cloth imported into this colony during the year 1867 was ifc55,759, besides Is. 6d. per cubic foot paid as duty thereon As these could be as readily manufactured here from the flax, would it not be a very proper article on which to place a high prohibitive duty ? A Provincial Gazette published"this week contains a Proclamation declaring that the Picton and Havelock improvement Act is in full force ; notifications that A P. Seymour, Esq., is appointed a trustee for the Picton Cemetery, in the place of Captain Mellish ; and a decision in favor of Mills Bros, in respect of a Pastoral Lease in Pelorous Sound. We have received the nineteenth number of the illustrated New Zealand Herald, a monthly journal, published at Dunedin, which contains some very good engravings, depicting scenes both in Australia and this Colony, to the fidelity of some of which we can bear witness. The execution of these is very creditable to the office which produces them. A visit to the Purau reefs, Canterbury, resulted in the opinion that the discovery of payable gold is next to impossible. The rocks in which the supposed quartz is found were originally formed by a lava stream, and the same class may be found in every part of the peninsula. It is declared by the scientific geologists to be quite useless to look for gold in such a formation. Mr. Harney, for twenty-six years editor of the Louisville Democrat, in retiring from the editorial chair, says : “ The worst sin I have on my conscience is helping to make great men out of very small material. The editorial labour and wear and tear of conscience expended in this way are generally wasted. Small material does not cut up well in the making of great men.” The Grey River Argus says :—On Tuesday evening the creditors of the Borough Council, in connection with the Road board debt, met by invitation in the Town hall, when the following terms of payment were offered by the Finance Committee of the Council:—Bills at six and twelve months, bearing interest at the rate of 12 per cent, from the date of the bills ; with the understanding that should the Council become possessed of funds in the interval that the bills would be taken up. These terms were unanimously accepted by the creditors present.— Hokitika Star. We are informed, says the Christchurch Press, that a new ship is about to sail from the Old Country, commanded by Captain Rose, late of the Mermaid, and which will bring to our shores 280 Welsh immigrants, the larger proportion of whom are about to establish a flannel manufactory on the Heathcote, whilst the remainder will embark in farming pursuits. These new comers will, we believe, receive a hearty welcome on their arrival, commencing as will a new branch of industry, and thus affording valuable aid in developing the resources of the Province.” Flax. —Now that flax is attracting so much attention in New Zealand, the following extract from W, W. Tickle and Co’s Trade Review, of 11th June, may be of interest to some of our readers. The prices quoted will be considered very satisfactory : —Flax.—2oth May—497 bales and 50 bundles New Zealand offered, and 97 bales sold at £32 up to £3B 10s for dressed ; 4th to Ist class sea-damaged, at £26 10s to £3B ss, 2nd June —73 bales New Zealand sold chiefly at £3l 5s ; a few lots better quality, at 5s per ton. 3rd June—Of 180 bales New Zealand 104 sold at £3l 15s to £36 13s. 9th June -176 bales New Zealand sold, ordinary, £2B 10s to £3l 5s middling, £34 6s to £3B 10s ; good j£4o 155.—1 am &c„ — P. Foster. Boiling-Down.— TheWanganni correspondent of the Taranaki Herald says The price of fat stock, especially sheep, has fallen so low, that the melting pot is resorted to. I have been inr formed that a fat sheep will produce two-thirds of its dead weight of tallow. That is, a sheep of 90 lbs. will produce 60 lbs. of tallow ; but one that is only half fat, will only produce one-half the dead weight of the animal. The average re- ,, turn obtained in melting down fat sheep, is about f 7a to Bs. Legs of mutton sell at Is.’each, and kidneys at some equally low price. The bakers, too, have met the dull times by reducing the 2 lb loaf to 3£d. ; so that, as far as the price of food is concerned, the poor man has no reason to complain. The flax manafacture is successfully carried on here, and the planting of the beat varieties is being commenced. One individual is planting twenty acres this season. A man named Thomas Nutteville was killed on Thursday. whilst at work on the Mocking Bird Claim, Waiotahi creek. It appears that deceased and his mates, Pierce and Bradney, were at work putting a shot in the face of the drive. They attempted to fire it, but missed. At about nine o’clock they went to “gad” the stone over where the shot was, and it is supposed that some spark must have reached the powder, which immediately exploded, killing almost instantaneously the deceased, and inflicting serious injury on the other men. Dr. Lethbridge was promptly on the spot, but life was extinct. The other men are doing well. Deceased leaves a wife and two children, who are in Auckland. —Southern Cross. A curious calculation has been made of the weight in gold which each of the liberated Abyssinian captives has cost the country. Ten millions sterling, reduced to weight in sovereigns, represent: — . Tons cwt. or. lbs. oz. dra. 78 12 1 14 8 1 9-15ths. or, tor each of the sixty men, women, and chil dren released from the clutches of King Theodore, an expenditure in solid gold of Tons cwt. qr. lbs. oz. drs. 1 6 0 23 1 11.9-26ths. We have often heard of people who were worth their weight in gold, but the Abyssinian captives must be precious indeed to be worth, on an ave•rage a ton and a third of the precious metal I

N elson wants looking up, and attending to. The place must no longer be despised and must no longer be called Sleepy 'Hollow ; for it is very wide awake and progressing. In the first place it was offered the Province of Marlborough, and would not even have it for nothing. Then it has commenced the local manufacture of I’hiadelphia muffins at two-pence each, the enterprising manufacturer being a Mr. D. Grant, and his medium of announcement so gigantic an undertaliing being the Nelson Evening Mail. Another man, one J. James, Bridge-street, advertises (same medium again) three fryingpans for a shilling. Heavens, what are things coming to in Nelson. The man who can sell three frying-pans for a shilling, must be a genius or perhaps the very reverse —the latter conjecture is the most probable. Then again Nelson can boast of a living phenomenon who announces that he will turn, to order, among other things the following bed posts, table legs, chair legs, pinnacles, drops, belaying pins, berlin wool frames, boys’ tops, 'towel horses, gallipots, brewers’ bungs, cornice poles, map rollers, dollies, screws, pegs, ventilators, bosses, toothpicks, sofa feet, banisters, croquent seats, watch-stands, ring stands, umbrella stands, marlin-spikes, &c. These are a few, but only a very few of the handiworks Mr. Packer, of Hardy-street, Sleepy Hollow, announces bis ability to perform. He is resident next door to an establishment that sells on Saturday evenings from six to nine o’clock, “mutton pies, price threepence j” and not very far from the gentleman who advertises the following, which we extract from the Nelson Mail of the 13th inst. :—“ Notice ! The friends with whom my wife gossips will do well to advise her to go home and to attend to her baby, eight months old, whichsuffersmuchbyherneglect. W. R. Parmenter.” What a duck of a man must Mr. Parmenter appear in the eyes of the ladies—married ladies especially, and sweet and enduring must Mrs. Parmenter’s love be for such a lord and master. We should very much like to be within shoe-leather distance of this working-man in order to—talk to him.—Greymouth Star.

The late Defalcations in Westland.— The Westland County Council met last week. The meeting, says a correspondent of the Greymouth Star, was a most unsatisfactory one. The books of the County have been so badly kept, and the various expenditures and receipts are so muddled that nothing can be made of them. Mr. Lahman, who has been performing pro. tern., the duties of County Treasurer, in reply to Mr, Button’s demand for a complete statement of accountss, instead of a mere formal balance-sheet which had been prepared, said that if councillors wished to know, he could lay the books on the table for them to examine for themselves. The books, he said, had been kept in a wretched way. He would do the best he could to make them clear. But I tell you that neither Mr. Lahman nor anyone (except perhaps a highly professional accountant) will be able to make anything of them. My opinion is, that instead of attempting to elucidate what will never be elucidated, it will be better to draw a line through everything and begin again. The acting treasurer acknowledges that the financial half-year of the County Council commences with a debt of £IO,OOO, which, by the way, the estimates make no provision to liquidate. The estimated receipts for the half-year ending December next, are .£67,400. The expenditure, £53,542 —leaving a surplus of not quite £4,000 ; and that is always supposing that the estimated receipts come up to the mark, and that the expenditure does not exceed it. Down in the receipts, under the head of incidental, is £2,000, to be recovered on the late “defalcations,” is £2,000, a sum not likely to be recovered, as Mr, Lahman should know if he had read the security bond of the late County Treasurer. One of the county councillors, who is well up in figures, and has given considerable attention to details, gives the following rough and rather graphic estimate of the state of the County incomings and outgoings for the next six months : —‘ ‘ Receipts, instead of £57,400, will be £49,000, there or thereabouts —more or less, but most likely less. Expenditure—as much more as the County can obtain credit for. Assistance from the General Government, nil. Result—general dissatisfaction among the County creditors, and a public appeal for the annulment of the County of Westland Acty which many arenow askingfor.”— Examine >•.

Mr. Stafford and the Premier’s House.— A correspondent of the Hawke’s Bay Herald is oesponsible for the following queer story, which, however, we should think, is likely to have another side to it:—“A really unpardonable abuse of accidental circumstances is used by Mr. Stafford to retain his hold upon the official residence. The.facts of the case are as follows, and can be relied upon as accurate : A fortnight after Mr. Fox assumed office, finding no offer of moving out of the Prime Minister’s house was made by Mr. Stafford, Mr. Fox is said to have written to him to know when it would be convenient to move. To this no reply was made by the occupant. A month passed by, and an official intimation was sent requesting Mr. S. to turn out. This brought a reply of a most unexpected character. I should now tell you that Government House being rebuilding, his Excellency the Governor is residing in a-private residence lately rccupied by N. Levin, Esq. This residence was taken for the use of his Excellency by the late Government. The lease was, in the first instance, drawn out in the name of the Queen ; but, being objected to by the lessor, Mr. Stafford’s name was inserted, and the lease was accordingly made to Mr. Stafford, of course acting for the Government, who ave paid the rent. However, when Mr, Stafford was pressed the other day to give up the Ministerial residence, he declared that if the Government turned him out he would turn out the Governor, he claiming that the. Governor’s house was his, the lease being in his name 1 There the matter stands. Mr. Fox dares not to insist upon his rights, for no one doubts that, with the disregard of all proper consideration which ,ia the peculiar characteristic of the late Premier, he would carry out. his threat— take advantage of a position to which he has not the smallest equitable title, and insult the Governor. Thus, from the sheer audacity of his impudence, he is Hk ly to succeed in setting every one at defiance. The case is creating great attention here. It is needless to say that no other man in the country would have the cheek to act in this way, and considerable speculation exists even whether the individual in question will persist in continuing to,outrage all decency.”

We learn from Kaituna, that on Wednesday last, while at work at the mill, a tent belonging to Messrs. Sinclair and Logan took fire and was burnt down. All the valuables were saved with the exception of some clothing, bedding, &c. This firm are about to construct a machine for washing the flax in connection with their mill. We regret to learn that the new Wesleyan Chapel at Temuka was completely destroyed by fire on Thursday night. Nothing is known of the origin of the fire at present, but it is believed to be the work of an incendiary. It seems that the inhabitants of Temuka knew nothing of the fire until yesterday morning, when the only remains of the building were a few burning embers. The chapel was a short distance from the township, and the fire was consequently not heard. A man named Burke, was taken into custody, several pieces of candle were found on his person, similar to those left in the chapel. He had a mate with him who has disappeared. Burke states that he is a Fenian but he was much the worse for drink when taken into custody. The building, which was scarcely completely, was uninsured.-—Timaru Herald. On the 2nd August, last year, Mrs. Timothy Bradlee, of Turnbull County, Ohio, gave birth to eight children—three boys and five girls. They are living and all healthy, but are quite small. Mr. Bradlee’s family is increasing fast. He was married to Eunice Mowbry, who weighed 1731b5. on the day of her marriage. She has given birth to two pair of twins, and now to eight more—making twelve children in six years. It seems strange, but nevertheless is true, Mrs. Bradlee was a twin of three, her father and mother being both twins. Mrs. Bradlee has named her boys after noted and distinguished men—one after Hon. J. R. Giddings, who gave her a splendid gold medal; one after the Hon. Elijah Campbell, who gave her a deed of 50 acres of land ; and the other after James Johnston, who gave her a cow. Kaikoura,— Our Kaikoura contemporary, the Herald, contains but little local news. The only matter stirring up there seems to be a farewell supper, at the Caledonian Hotel, in honor of Messrs. Harris, Gray, and Phillips, who are leaving the district, of which they were styled staunch supporters by Mr. S. McAllister, the chairman. In a leading article, the writer goes in for a vigorous policy with respect to the Native difficulty, and strongly advocates the use of the Ghoorkas ; he says “we should have more hopes of a speedy termination to the war, could we see him (Mr. Cracroft Wilson) at the head of a regiment of these hardy Indian mountaineers, than by all or any of the other means likely to be adopted under British rule.”

The Oreymouth Star has the following, which appears to be based on an article which recently appeared in our columns, and may be taken as another view of the subject:—“ A poet has said “ the proper study of mankind is man.” Had the bard lived in these days, and in this portion of the world, he might have said, the proper study of mankind is—magistrates; for some of them are a study, or in the most modern language, they may be styled “perfect cures.” Here is a study in itself. At the Kaikoura—and this is a district in Marlborough, near Blenheim, the'town of floods and physical force, in connection with annexation to Nelson, lives a resident magistrate, and this is what came out of one of his judgments a few days ago. A constable, as collector of the local education rate, sued a Mr. W, for s£l, rate due 30th June last. Mr. B. as a J. P., appeared to defend the case. The constable as plaintiff, objected to this procedure, after eliciting that Mr. B. had no written authority'from defendant to act, and quoted clause 30 of the Resident Magistrates’ Act in support thereof. His worship, the resident magistrate, admitted that the objection was fatal, but as the gentleman was aJ. P, and a partner of defendant’s, he would hear what he had to say, “but not on oath !” The case proceeded without any further difficulty after this. Mr. B :—“ Produced, a receipt for payment of rate for the year 1868, from Mr. Home (late schoolmaster here), the Bench observed there was no form of receipt specified in the Act, the Board appeared to have been very careless in the matter, in not informing the collectors when the year began or ended, it was evident through the receipt being given for 1868 the defendant had not paid the rate for the present year. He would give judgment for the rate, plaintiff to pay the costs, £1 10s. The legal and learned magistrate admitted the plaintiff’s objection to be fatal; but as the gentleman who appeared for the defendant, was a justice of the peace, he would hear him, but not take his oath. The defendant was adjudged to pay the amount claimed, namely .£‘l, but the plaintiff was ordered to pay_ the costs, which was thirty shillings, by which decision he was tea shillings to the bad by bringing his case into Court. Who is this Dogberry the Government has appointed to be resident magistrate at the Kaikoura ?”