The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1872.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 109, 7 May 1872, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1872.

City Rifles. — A special general meeting of this corps will be held at the Drill Shed, this evening, at 7 o'clock. ■

Wesleyan Chuech Choir. — A special practice of this choir is called for to-night at 8 o'clock, and a full attendance is requested. Flax. — Mr. Barnes, whose flax-dressing machine was displayed at the Agricultural Show at Richmond, has forwarded a. beautiful sample of the fibre as prepared by him to our office where it may now be seen. San Francisco Mail. —No tidings have yet reached us of the arrival of the mail at Auckland. The Taranaki left the Manukau on her Southern v trip at 7 o'clock this morning, so that we cannot now look , for our letters and papers before the return of the Phosbe, which sailed from here for the North last night. Should her movements prove too hurried for the Nebraska, which was due at Auckland yesterday fortnight, we shall have to fall back upon the Wellington, which leaves here with the outgoing mail on Monday next. Salmon Ova. — The General Assembly having voted £500, and further aid to the extent of £400 having been guaranteed by various Acclimatisation Societies for the purpose of importing salmon ova, the Colonial Secretary has addressed a leterto the Agent-General in England requesting hire, after consulting Mr. Frank Buckland, Dr. Youl, and other authorities as to the best method of transmitting the ova, to forward them from home as soon as practicable. The Government propose to confine the experiment of hatching the ova to one locality, and have selected the Makarewa Ponds in Southland as best adapted for the purpose. Last Night's Council. — The Notice Paper for last night contained but little of interest. The Towns Improvement Bill was read the second time, and the Council then went into Committee upon it, but shortly resnmed, as it was deemed advisable to postpone its consideration uutil the Board of Works, which will hold a special meeting this afternoon, had been afforded an opportunity of expressing their opinion upou the various clauses. On the motion of Mr. Tarrant, it was resolved that the Superintendent be requested to send the Inspector of Public Works to the Lower Moutere as early as possible to report on the destruction of the trunk line of roads by the late floods. Mr. Donne brought up the reply of the Select Committee appointed to draw up the reply to the opening address of bis Honor the Superintendent. The Council then adjourned until this evening at 5 o'clock. Citt Election. — A letter was received by the Phoebe from Mr. Alfred Saunders, stating that he purposed leaving Lyttelton by the Albion, which may be expected here to-morrow, and that he hoped shortly after his arrival to address the electors. We observe that the Colonist this morning indulges in a little mild banter with reference to the advertisement of the lectures to be given by Mr. Saundere, and the diagrams and portraits by which they are to be illustrated. At the meeting of electors, we should not be surprised if Mr: Saunders devoted some portion of his time to the dissection of a living subject which, possibly, will not give rise to so much jocularity on the part of i he editor of the Colonist. The Perseverance Mine. — A correspondent sends us the following : — The work that has been and is now going on is as follows : — An inclined shaft or tunnel has been driven for a distance of 250 feet, more or lees, with a slope or gradient of one in five, at which depth the gold-bearing reef has been struck, with a thickness of 8 feet, or thereabouts : from thence they have started at right angles southward following the reef, which carries very promising stone throughout. Another work which has been very well executed is the winze worked by a horse for drawing the quartz and mullock out of the drive. By the last mail Mr. H. E. Curtis arrived, and since then fresh hands have been put on to get ten tons of the galena (lead ore) which shows prominently in one of the drives — this, I believe, is to be sent home to test its intrinsic value. But to return to the gold work ; after they have driven far enough to cut the old workings they will begin to slope out, that is, work the ground out to the face from whence they started, this will take place in about 4 weeks, more or less, when of course, a good many more hands will be required to get out stuff to feed the machine, which will then commence crushing. Next week I will write a few lines about the Decimal and any other place that might be worth describing. "^m'HE Schooner Ocean Bird. — The steamers Lyttelton and Charles Edward were employed the whole of yesterday in towing the Ocean Bird down the Bay, and after a slow journey, during which the pace did not exceed two miles an hour, they safely arrived in harbor last night, the masts of the unfortunate schooner having struck the ground in crossing the bar, and again inside the harbor; on which latter occasion they snapped off and floated

alongside the vessel which was shortly after moored alongside the Government wharf, where efforts have been made during the whole of this morning to right her. It is said that thero were between three and four hundred pounds in gold and notes on board when the boat left Lyttelton, whether or not this is correct will doubtless be proved when access is obtained to the interior of the vessel. The cargo of the Ocean Bir>3, 33 tons register, when she left Lyttelton on the 17th ulf., comprised 25 kegs, 42 sacks malt, 117 sacks bran, and 356 sacks oats. Since the above was in type, the boat has been righted, and is now being pumped out. The cabin, which has been partially baled out, has been entered, but as yet there are no signs of any of the crew. The foremast, bowsprit, and bulwarks on the port side are gone, but whether this was done since she was taken in tow, or prior to her capsizing, is not known. Provincial Council. — Mr. Collins has given notice that he will move on Wednesday evening : — " That this Council desires to place on record its entire disapproval of the recent interference of Ministers in the expenditure of that portion of the Public Works Fund allotted to this province, and to express its conviction that the plan recommended by his Honor the Superintendent would have been much more to the advantage of all the interests of the province." An animated discussion will probably take place upon this resolution, as the We3t Const members will no doubt support the action taken by the General Government whereby that portion of the vote that was to have been expended in opening up the whole of the Buller Valley will be laid out in their own immediate districts, whereas those who would desire to see the whole of the goldfields in the central part of the province benefitted, as was clearly the intention of the Legislature in voting the money, may be expected to take Mr. Collins view of the question. The Superintendent has no doubt whatever that it was intended that a portion of the £24,000 should be laid out in the Upper Buller, and he puts the matter very clearly in a telegram on the subject to the Hon. W. Reeves from which the following is an extract : — "I think the wording of the Act is opposed to your opinion thas it was the intention of the Assembly that the expenditure of the £24,000 should be confined to the Electoral Districts of the Grey and Buller. That was the wish of the members for those districts, but as result of compromise with them and with their consent, the clause was framed so as to include that portion of the Buller Valley which is outside the narrow limits of the Electoral district. I think tho intention of the Assembly was in accordance with the words of the Act, namely, that the money should be applicable to that part of the goldfields south of a specified boundary." In a previous letter to the Colonial Secretary he gave most satisfactory reasous why the expenditure of the money should not be confined to the Electoral Districts of the Grey and Buller. He says : — " The roads in the Upper Buller district on the soulh^bank of the river between the Hope and the Lyell, upon which I have herein advised the expenditure of £6000, will open up a very considerable quantity of land, much of it of very superior quality, for occupation, while it will at the same time improve the connection between the upper part of the Buller Valley with the Ports of Nelson and Westport. Goldmining operations in that district are also gradually increasing, and will undoubtedly be greatly encouraged by the construction of the proposed road." In addition to the evidence of the Superintendent as to the object for which the money was voted, we shall also have in to-morrow night's debate the testimony of Mr. Shephard, who clearly understood at the time that the Upper Buller was to have its share of the expenditure. The Railway Sheds at Lyttelton and Christchurch are fuil to overflowing with accumulated consignments of corn, wool, flax, and other produce; and the greatest activity prevails in making shipments. The harbor at present contains more seagoing vessels than have been there together for some years, and the general trade of the usually quiet port has received a decided impetus. A similar activity in the produce trade prevails at Timaru, and the grain is being shipped in excellent condition.

His Honor the Superintendent congratulated the Council that though, upon the whole, there had been no startling or spasmodic advancement, yet there had been a steady growth in the settlement of the province. The number of additional agricultural holdings taken up during the year was 647, exclusive of town and village occupation. The number of immigrants brought out during the year was 4092. of whom 527 were adults. The number of emigrants was 1508, leaving a balance in favor of immigration of 2584. The value of provincial produce exported during the year from Dunedin was very large, amounting to £1,990,000, which was irrespective of exports to other provinces, and making allowance for the proportion raised in Canterbury gave a rate per head according to population double that of Victoria. £147,000 worth had been shipped to the United States. The duty on gold shipped during the year amounted to £21,415 16s. 4d., against £19,069 2s. 9d. for the previous year. The gold escorted for the year ended 31st March last amounted to 156,0260z5., being 104ozs. below the quantity for the previous year.' The continued drought was the cause of the decrease. The speech recommends thai pending the establishment of a mint, an assay and melting department, in connection with the School of Mines at the University, be established ; miners bringing gold there to be assayed and melted, the Government making arrangements for having the gold minted in Melbourne or Sydney. The Superintendent is of opinion that no colonial action on the subject of education will be likely to improve or extend the means of education more than the province is capable of doing and is actually accomplishing, aud therefore asks the Council's concurrence in deprecating and resisting interference with the provincial system. The speech states that last year £23,059 was spent on education, and recommends improving the school administration, by a thorough system of inspection and raising the standard of qualification. The province is congratulated on the successful establishment of the University, the dock, and the Californian mail service. ' With respect to the latter, the speech states that under the new arrangement, the proportion of the subsidy payable by New Zealand will be much less than before; that Port Chalmers will be the New Zealand terminus of the outward bound mails, which will be carried through to San Francisco without transhipment. The Port Chalmers line will be opened in July. The speech recommends bonuses for discoveries of goldfields, and for the manufacture of paper. The following reference is made to the colonial works : — lt is to be feared that so far as this province is concerned, the Colonial Legislature made a mistake in not leaving the practical administration of the matters in question to the Provincial Government If there is one thing more essential than another to secure the success of public works and immigration, it is local administration. It is, however, expedient that there should be only one national borrowing power in the Colony, and that such power should be exercised only on behalf of such Provinces and districts as are in a position to employ loans advantageously, the administration of the loan being left very much to themselves. It is much to be regretted that this principle did not commend : itself to the Legislature, and that instead of the creation of entirely new and distinct machinery, the Legislature did not make use of that already existing.; Bills have been prepared with the object of forming Shire Councils., and J securing to Municipalities and Shire Councils the whole of the publicans', auctioneers', and other license fees levied within their respective boundaries, on condition that the main road, when formed within such boundaries, be maintained by them. The provincial revenue from all sources during the year has been £286,236, and the expenditure £245,000. The cash expended on roads and bridges has been £82,000, £1600 less than the amount voted. As the means of expenditure entirely depend upon the extent of the sale of waste lands, the speech recommends voting beyond the actual requirements, it being distinctly understood that, the expenditure is to be contingent, on , the land sales. In view of the reduced work devolving on the provinces, it is recommended that a staff be adopted proportionate to the diminished functions — not by reducing salaries, but the number. As an indication of the beneficial results of the railways, ifc is mentioned that the comparative traffic returns on the. Bluff and .^inton railways show that for the months of. February and March, 1872, the passenger traffic was nearly double that of the same months in 1871, notwithstanding the small population, while .the rgojods, trafec was nearly trebled,. had also increased from £700 ~ to "£so, notwithstanding;, the considerably reduced scale of charges -jjiiriag the latter period.

The Queenslander says : — lt would almost seem as though the French could outdo ub in the construction of lidit railways for agricultural purposes. There is now upon our (able a diagram taken from a French journal, illustrating a light railway used upon beet-root plantations. It. shows a train of small trucks, each with its basket of roots, and one man is pushing eight of the trucks before him ioto the boiling-house. By hooking the back part of each truck to the front of the oue coming immediately behiud, two wheels are made to answer for each ; f.ho last truck only having four wheels. The contrivance is neat, compact, and looks serviceable. A Poet has forwarded to the Chicago Republican an Epic on the burning of Chicago. Tt openeth thus — " That night a woman, at the hour of nine, Went to a barn to milk a cow ; and when The beast kicked o'er the lamp as savage lcine Will sometimes <10, it lit some straw and boards of pine."