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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 290, 8 December 1868, Page 2

I ; : The firing for the Prize Rifles annually presented by the Provincial Govet nment for competition bythe members of the various "Volunteer Companies commeuced this morning at 10 o'clock, at the Murphy* . street Butts, the City liifles No. 1 beginning the contest. Agreeably with the construction put upou the regulations issued for the guidance of those taking part in the competition, the Volunteers found themselves unexpectedly obliged to fire iv a kneeling posiiiou at the first range, and tbe weather, iv consequence of the gusty state of the' wind, wus anything but pro* pitious. Not many spectators Wt-re present during the morning. Tbe following is a list of the competitors, with their respective scores, from which it will be seen that the three prize rifles fell to the lut of Privates Murrell aud Drew and Corporal Gully, who m de the highest scores:— Murrell 42, Drew 39, L. Gully 38, H. BMtchelor 3t>, Otterswn 32, C. Hill 33, G. Batchelor 29, G. Sinclair 22, Skoet 18, and Pauling 16. The Artillery Company will fire to morrow at t-e same hour. A Wellington telegram states that the Rakaia had arrived from Sydney, bringing tbe news that the Panama Company's -steamer Matanra had been seized in Sydney, and that a petition has been forwarded to the Court of Chancery hy creditors of the Panania Company, piayiug tbat an order may be isslied UtV the winding up of the Company. A I rge number of the shareholders of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company are stated to have ariived at a similar decision iv Wellington. From telegraphic information received this morning from Wellington, there seeraS to be a strong probability that the Rakaia will, like the Mataura at Sydney, ba seized to-day at Wellington to me«-»t the debts of the Panama Company. Those 1 of our readers who may be auxious to insure the speedy arrival of their letters at home, would do well to avail themselves of the opportunity offered by the departure of ihe Gothenburg to-morrow, of sending them via Suez. It seems high time that some arrange- . ment should be arrived at whereby lirnely notice may be given ofthe cutting off of water supply, whenever siwb a step is rendered necessary in order to lay supply pipes. The water was cut off both yesterday and to-day, and we have heard many " complaints . of the inconvenience and annoyance which have resulted from want of due notice being given of it. A barque was coming up the bay when we went to press, which was supposed to be the bumme»- Cloud, from Dunedin. to Newcastle, putting into this port for pro- . visions. A recent Order in Council, published io the Government Gazeite, directs that all passengerTessels, while lying alongside a wharf or jetty, must have a moveable gangway, with double side-Trails or standi ions, witb ropes rove taut through the sume,' the top rail uot- to be under 3 feet 3 iribhes highr -; ••■/.- When advertfng in a recent issue to the - prompt repair of the Emma's mftintopsfril

yard, we find that we were misinformed id stating that the work was done at Mr T. Freeman's yard, the repair having been effected by Mr R. B. Scott. The Wellington Evening Post of the 4th iustant says that the prize firing of 1869 will not be general, but prizes to the aniouut of £500 will be fired for in the North Island, at places to be hereafter specified, and a similar amouut for the Middle Island, fo be fired for at JDunedin. At the weekly meeting of the Taranaki Association held on Tuesday last, the chairman read an extract from a speech delivered by Sir William Denison (formerly Governor of New South Wales), atf the International Congress of Pi eh is tor ie Archaeology, held -a^ Norwich iv August last, in which Sir William said 'he might cite the covetousness of the whites ns the true cause ofthe Maori war; the occupiers of the North lalaud, ilesitiu^ to become rich like those occupying the South Islaud by keeping sheep, and to that end eudeavoriu'g to obtain possession of the laud of the Maoris. He thought the whiteman had behaved in a very dirty way towards the red man, and that had not improved his 'condition as he should have done.' It was proposed aud carried that this statement should be refuted at length, on behalf of the ipeoplcnf Tarauuki, and a committee was appointed to carry the same iuto effect. The Auckland Evening News saya thafc in the Candidates' Book of the Auckland •Club there appears, by a recent entry, the name of that despicable savage in arms against vs — Tito Kowaru, and the names ■at' Mr George Graham as his proposer, and -Mr James Mackay, jun., as his Seconder, the not wholly unsuggestive work of Borne practical joker. We find the following remarks on silk culture — supplying a hint that may be Valuable to those who are starting the same industry iv this -province — from an article entitled 'The ISew ludustry ' in the Sacramento Bee: — There is, we hear, an extensive atid evei -increasing desire 'in this" portion of the State to enter upon the culture of silk. Men who have lands suited to the production of the mulberry tree, aud others who have means to undertake auy new thing that offers to be remunerative, are inquiring iuto the business, and uot a few are already preparing for it. All the information from Europe and Asia, aud the successful experiments made in California, tend to but oae end — the pronunciation of the fact that sericull . ture iv this State cannot fail to be, at no ; distant day, oue of its most extensive and ?, most profitable industries. There are hun- ■\ dreds of men in the vicinity of this city .) eking out an existence for themselves and ; families by raising vegetables, which they .* bring into town at an early aud uuseason- ;-| «ble hour, and in all kindsof weather; | "whereas, if they were for a time to divide $ their attention between the silk culture land the raising of vegetables, they could soon, and without pecuniary embarrassment, work into the former, and pat themselves in a condition to make far more mouey with much less labor. These vege--1 table lands are, as experience proves, I peculiarly adapted to the giowth of th 9 m mulberry tree, aud those who own them g| could not perhaps put them to any Ose |j that would pay so well. It might not be fl advisable to purchase lands near ibis city | at high rates for the purpose of plau ting ;"1 these trees; but those who have alluvial •M soth and are cultivating it, could not do ff better tban devote a portion of it to such '-•I ig uses. || The Sydney Morning Herald considers . ||the quantity of wool manufactured in that S colony but as a drop taken from a bucket M of water, when compared with tbe quan-. |tity exported to be manufactured el.e---1 where; 'It- Is ail utterly ' uoapprecia-bie

proportion of the total amount produced. . But, as may be seen from our articles, the manufacture has been steadily increasing for some years past; whilst the reports from ali the factories visited go to show that their productions are so much iv demand that in no instance can the supply be kept up to meet the requirements of the maiket; and that, though repeated .additions bave been made to the machinery, more are still required, and iv most instances contem plated. I .if - i .~^n*i ■ ■ ■