AUCKLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 59, 11 March 1870, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

We take from* the Wellington Post the following telegrams, bearing date March 6. The Southern Cross -authoritatively contradicts the rumored split in the Ministry. Tararu lighthouse burnt down. The inmates had a narrow escape. Two children were scorched. The Arawas refuse to follow Te Kooti on the terms offered, viz., £5,000 for his capture. Te Pohiha has gone to Maketu, to hold! a meeting of chiefs. Government intend following KootE with Ngatiporou. Kemp and Topia start from Ohiwa. Rations supplied by Government. No pay except in case of capture of Te KootL Crushings. — Long Drive, specimens, 6530z5. (shares rising) Una, 516 tons, gave 595 ozs,; Mount Pleasant, 61^- tons,. 24ozs. 13dwts. ; Dauntless and Sink to Rise, 85 tons, 2330zs ; Belfast, 56 tons, 119ozs; Mariners' Reef, 81 tons, 1260z5.j Poverty and Charleston, 37 tons, 83ozs.

Colonel Harrington has lately inspected the volunteers in the Wairarapa.. About 250 turned out. Mr. Comsiissioner Branigan, whoarrived from the North a day or to ago, is apparently about to wipe off the reproach of inaction which has been cast upon him. Preparations are now being made to send off about 70 of the new constabulary from Mount Cook Barracks to the Front, wherever that hazy region may at present lie. The men paraded yesterday morning,, without arms, and, whatever may be said about the system, it cannot be denied that the demilitarized looked well. They areall young, strong, healthy fellows, tolerably equal in height and size, aud certainly very clean and neat. The uniform is the old blue serge tunic and trousers, with buff" leather leggings and forage cap. The march of the last batch from Patene to Te Haroto, in elastic-side boots, and in whichso many gave iu, has appaiently not beenforgotten, for this lot is well shod. Looking at them, one could hardly help regretting that, instead of being soldiers, as they ought, they were only policemen, after all. — Post.

The Foot Rot has appeared in the flocks] of many oftherunholders in Hawke's Bay. J A man named William Tocker, when riding in from the Hutt to Wellington, ou Saturday evening last, was thrown from his horse near the toll-bar, and, falling on his head, was killed on the spot. The following "native intelligence" is given hy the Hawhes Bay Herald of the 4th: — Major Ropata, Ngatiporou chief, with 450 of his followers — said on all hands to be a splendid body of men — left Patutahi on Tuesday last, en route for WaikaremoaDa. They go on the principle of good pay if they take or otherwise give an account of Te Kooti and Kereopa, and none if they don't. They are perfectly satisfied with the arrangement, and are very sanguine of success. Not so bad as it seems. — The destitution at the Thames can hardly be so bad as some people represent it, else we should not hear of such nonsense a§ is brought before us in the following paragraph from the Thames Advertiser: — The novelty of a baby show will take place on Friday evening at the American Theatre, and the mothers of children who may wish to take part in the proceedings are requested to communicate with the lessees at the theatre. There are to be two prizes, the first value £5 and the second value £2. This is a rare opportunity for the mothersof fine children. The " roughs " of social life are the subject of articles in Melbourne papers. The Argus says : — " The colonial boy sees that the rough is paramount in his savage dominion, and he yearns for the period when he too shall possess the power of enlarging the scope of his operations. There is no hope, therefore, tbat the rough is in process of extinction. He bids fair to be an institution, like the bravo, the brigand, or the bushranger, but with none of the picturesqueness of these. He represents a difficult problem in sociology, and that man would be a real philanthropist who could devise a scheme for exterminating them." New Zealand Flax.— Mr. Pownall, proprietor of the Manawatu Flax Mills, has addressed a long letter to Messrs. Johnston and Co., on the subject of spontaneous conbustion of flax. He states that having had some twenty years' experience in the treatment of all shapes of fibre, and with it many opportunities of acquiring much practical information respecting it, he trusts that his opinion may be of service in setting the matter at rest. He argues that there is no proved instance on record of vegetable fibre firing from spontaneous combustion, or that it can be obtained otherwise than from the grease contained in the animal fibre. Jute and hemp, which are sent in such large quantities from India, are not found to be a dangerous cargo, nor is there any increase of freight or insurance upon it, why therefore should there be on flax ? He concludes his letter by giving a description of a practical test upon a bale of hemp at his mill, and a few observations upon a very important point — coloring matters. " A bale of hemp was put in our hydraulic press, purposely damp ; so much so that you could feel the moisture freely through it. It was then stowed away in the store for three summer months amidst 100 other bales ; opened in the presence of Mr. Collins, our manager, (who agrees with me, and like myself has had great experience, having been for many years with Messrs. Noble and Co., of London), and many others, it was found as cool as if packed in an ice house ; the damp still there ; the fibre itself positively improved from its extreme glossy appearance. Ship inspectors and others should not be led away by appearances to condemn fibre from its being green: it is green to the eye only. If fibre is dried artificially after coming from the machines, it will surely dry a false green j or again, if dried upon lines, and not turned upon them, the surface exposed to the sun's rays and the chlorine of the atmosphere, will be white, or nearly so — the under part, though equally dry, will be gieen. Thus the color is set or dyed into it, and is afterwards very difficult of removal; witness the Russian hemp, nearly all green from the coldness of that climate. Lastly, I trust those gentlemen who do inspect the hemp for shipping, will not confound the cool and "fresh feel of it with imaginary dampness, for in that condition only is the hemp in the proper state for shipment," A Texas paper likes an actress now perfoming there, and " the boys go to the theatre just to hear her sing and see her pile on the style. She wears a Grecian bend."