Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 8, 10 January 1867, Page 2

A correspondent informs us we were in error in stating that miners vote under the Electoral Act. . We are aware that miners vote under "their miner' g

rights, which must be held six months previous to voting, and we followed the reading of the Elctoral Distr ; cts Act in stating that an electoral roll would have to be prepared. The fourth clause of the Act states : — " As soon as conveniently may be after the electoral roll of the said districts shall have been completed, the Superintendent shall issue warrants for the election of- tAvo members for the k Grey district, and one member for the Buller district, to serve in the present Provincial Council. If an electoral roll is not needed, aud the election is conducted under the Electoral Act of the General Government, so much the better, as little delay need then take place.

In the Resident Magistrate's Court, today, Captain J. V. Hall, of the Egmont, complained against Robert Anderson for travelling from Wellington to Nelson, without paying his fare. The offence was admitted. The captain said he thought the fare was £2. The defendant was fined £3, and ordered to pay the amount of the fare — in default, cue month's imprisonment. — George Reynolds, second Stewart of the Airedale, complained against D.WilsoD, the late second steward, for stealing a pair of trousers, on the 9th instant. The prisoner admitted taking the trousers, Avhen packing up his own clothes, but said it was by accident and without felonious intent. The Magistrate said as the prisoner had admitted taking the trousers, he should sentence him to one month's imprisonment with hard labor in Nelson gaol.

We have been favored with the following extract from a Letter from the Manager of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company to Messrs. Curtis, Brothers, agents, at Nelson. "Instructions have been issued that the s.s. 'Wellington' should be despatched from Port Chalmers on the 11th instant, for the Bluff, Hokitika, Nelson, and Wellington, and her dates have been so arranged that she should arrive in Wellington in time to tranship mails to the steamers going southward on that day with the mails for England via Suez. This arrangement gives her rather less time than might be desirable at some of the ports, but it was conceived it would be an advantage of some importance to the community of Nelson, aud that it would not be overlooked or forgotten, by them. Captain Renner has distinct instructions to be at Nelson by the 16th, and to leave again the same day, and not to enter the harbor if there is any fear that by so doing he would jeopardise the attainment of this object. Passengers may be booked through for Southern Ports, but boats for the North do not leave here till the 22nd and 23rd respectively. ' The Native Lands Act, 1866, is thus referred to by the Wanganui Times: — Our mode of legislating for the native race is arbitrary in the extreme. They are not represented in our legislature; they do not understand our language, and know nothing of the laws by which we propose to govern them: even when those laws are finally passed and ready to be enforced at the cannon's mouth or at the point of the bayonet, the natives know but little about them. * * * The land question is one upon which the native 'is particularly sensitive, and now, when he finds that, instead of being able to deal with his property as a free agent, his every act regarding it is subject to the control and approval of the Governor, he will naturally suppose that the Government have some deep laid scheme in view by which they intend to deprive him not only of the power over, but the possession of, his land. We earnestly hope that the Actjreferred to above will not be enforced, or that, should it be proclaimed and acted upon, action will be taken for its repeal during the next session of Parliament.

The Christmas holidays in Invercargill says the Times have not assumed a festive character. All has been stale, flat, and unprofitable. No public picnics have been organised, not the semblance of the joviality we were wont to see has been displayed, and scarcely a green leaf has decorated any public establishment. In fact our Christmas has been dull to a degree.