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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 176, 30 July 1867, Page 2

We observe that a system of competitive examination amongst candidates for promotion as subaltern and non-commissioned officers in the Volunteer service has been introduced in Victoria, and has already been productive of very beneficial results. The anxiety for promotion in the service is evidently very great, and the interposition of so stout an obstacle as a stiff examination does not appear to exercise one jot's influence. lv the middle of the present mouth examinations were to be held at the Old Exhibition Building, in Melbourne, and in convenient places near the headquaners of every corps throughout the country, in order to ascertain the proficiency of the competitors for promotion as subaltern and non-commissioued officers, and we are told that the number of the competitors who had seat in their names for examination was no less thau 373. We could wish that a similar system were adopted amongst the various Volunteer Corps organised in this colony, for it is obvious that otherwise it will be difficult to replace the officers who are constantly dropping out of their career of regular regimental duty ; and it must be also remembered that, in. case of war and

active service, it would be far easier td manufacture civilian soldiers of the rank and file than to make good officers capable of leading them. The introduction of these competitive examinations would, moreover, put an end to imputations of undue favoritism in the nominations to such appointments, which have occasionally, whether reasonably or not, found utterance in this community. The following gentlemen have been appointed by his Honor the Superintendent Trustees for the management of the Nelson Public Cemetery : — George Williams, M.D., W. C. Hodgson, R. Burn, R. Pollock, and S. Kingdon, Esquires. We may mention, apropos to this subject, that we have received a communication from a correspondent complaining in bitter terms of the unseemly jolting to which the bodies of persons on their way to interment at the cemetery are subjected, by reason of the present state of the road leading thither. Our correspondent states that this is caused by the deep and abrupt openings in the culverts which occur at short intervals along the road, and suggests that a result so indecent and painful to the feelings of survivors might be in great measure obviated by laying open these culverts, and thus rendering the shock to the vehicles less violent. "yLHis Honor the Superintendent has appoiuted C. Hunter Brown, Esq., as his nominee, to be a member of the Management Committee of the Hospital, in conjunction with J. W. Barnicoat, Esq. and D. Rough, Esq., who were appointed by the Provincial Council, in compliance with a suggestion in the Superintendent's address at the opening of the late session. William Adams, Esq., of this city, has been returned without opposition for the vacant seat for the district of Picton in the General Assembly, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr Arthur Beaucharop. His Honor the Superintendent took his passage by the Claud Hamiltou. which left this morning at 5 o'clock, for Wellington, in order to take part in the deliberations of the General Assembly. We understand that our new Postmaster, Mr Sydney J. Dick, arrived by the Claud Hamilton on Suuday last, and has enentered the duties of his office. It was announced during Divine Service at Christ Church on Sunday morning, by the Rev. G. H. Johustone, Commissary of the Diocese, that the Bishop of Nelson will hold a confirmation shortly after his arrival here, which may be expected in September next. •jC The following intelligence relative to the much vaunted Waite's Pakihis, from our Westport contemporary, may be interesting to many of our readers : — lt may not be generally kuown amongst the mining community that the Pakihis, on which a large proportion of work is now being carried on, is held under lease by Mr R. Waite, and hence their name. He holds two blocks, one of 3,000 and the other of 6,000 acres, on each of which, according to the Waste Lauds Regulations, he is entitled to pre-emptive rights of 80 acres each. These rights he has exercised, and has been granted two sections where he chooses to pick them out. We believe that they are already being surveyed, and how the disposal of that quantity of land will affect the population now settled there remains to be seen. He proposes to cufc each section into building allotments, and iv fact, thereby create two townships. Should the digging prospects prove as good as expected the speculation will be a most profitable one without doubt. The Grey River Argus gives the following sketch of some of the provisions of the Municipal Bill introduced into the General Assembly by the Government : — The Local Government Bill — such is its name — consists of 391 clauses. It is framed very much after the fashion of the Victorian Act. Upon the petition of not less than ten inhabitants of any present road district the Governor may bring such district under the provisions of this Act. These districts may afterwards be divided on the petition of 20 ratepayers into two or three subdivisions. In the same way, upon petition, several districts may be united. Few districts, outside the present road districts, may be constituted upon the petition of not less than ten persons liable to be rated. Such districts to have areas of not less than a certain number of miles — 40 we believe — aud property of not less than £5000 annual rateable value. The Governor may, with or without a petition, constitute auy single or united district, possessing an area of not less thau 60

Square miles, into a county. The government of counties is to be similar to that of districts, excepting that the Chairman of the Board is to be called, iv the case of a county, President of the County Council, and the members of the Board are to be called Councillors. The revenues of both districts aud counties are to consist of rates, supplemented by grants voted by the Assembly. For the first few years the Assembly gives £2 for every £l collected from rates; during the second five years £ 1 for every £l ; and during the third five years 10s in the pound. There is an addition to be given — a proportion of the lands sold within the district ; the proportion to vary according to the quantity of land saleable within the district at the time of passing the Act. A correspondent of the Sydney Empire, ■writing from Liverpool plains, says that a new enterprise has been set ou foot there — boiliug down horses for the oil; the bones are then crushed aud the hides saved. As horses have been sold iv Yass for 6d per head, and at Goulburn for 2s 6d, it is very probable this may pay, aud so we should turn to profitable account the worthless portion of this stock. It is stated (Maryborough Chronicle) positively in well-informed circles iv Brisbane that a despatch was received from the Plome Government by the last mail, to the effect that the Imperial Government will not object to the establishment of the northern territory of Queenslaud into a separate colony as a Crown colony — that is, with a constitution similar to that of New South Wales before the era of responsible government; one feature of which is, the legislative body is composed of one-third Government nominees, the remainder elected by the people. The experiment made with Queensland of starting a colony fully equipped with responsible government, does not seem to have encouraged the Imperial authorities to repeat it, and the northern colonists will be just as well pleased that this is the case. If what we write be indeed the truth, we may, sooner than we supposed, see the separation of the northern districts " un fait accompli." A correspondent of the Times states that at the Kew Year's reception at the White House, a solitary negro ventured into the room, aud was as courteously received, and had his hand as heartily shaken by the President, as auy of his white companions. M. Janin tells us in the Debats that the first attempt at a. Universal Exhibition was made under Nero, more than IS centuries ago, and which is thus alluded to by Seneca, in one of his letters : — I was present the other day at the solemn exhibition of the riches of Rome where I saw marvellous chefs d'ocuvre; there were also exquisite cloths, hangings and costumes, which had come from even beyond the limits of the Roman frontiers, etc. It appears that the Lords of the Admiralty have made a determined onslaught on the adoption of the Dundreary style of whiskers in the Navy, the following circular, dated "Admiralty, May 15, 1867," haviug been posted at the various royal dockyards in the kingdom: — Sir — I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you that they desire to draw the attention of com-manders-in-chief and senior officers to a custom which appears to be somewhat prevalent in the fleet, of officers wearing whiskers of such inordinate size and length as to resemble beards, which latter are prohibited by the printed instructions. The regulations of the naval service require that any such irregular habit should be prevented, and that officers should be permitted only to wear the same length of whiskers as the seamen and marines under their divisional superintendence. — I am, sir, etc., Henry G. Lennox.