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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 29, 3 February 1873, Page 2

During the month of December last, 12,773 acres of waste land were sold in the province of Wellington. It is reported in Wanganui that the schooner Maid of Otago, on her way from that port to Dunedin, has been wrecked fifty miles north of tbat port, all hands, however, being saved. The Ketch Fawn, from Havelock to Patea, with a cargo of timber, in attempting to enter the Patea River, on Monday morning, the 13fch inst, was wrecked on the beach. The Venerable Archdeacon Harper is about to leave All Saints' Church, Hokitika, greatly to the regret of his parishioners and of the community generally.. He is to take charge of the

parish of St. Michael and All Angela, Christchnreh. .Thb Auckland Herald; in speaking of the weather of late, says that terrific thunderstorms had occurred in the Middle Islands, and that " the Wairau plains in the province of Marlborough were ignited in several places by the lightning." We had not heard of this before. Gold Export. — During the year 1872, 445,3700zb of gold, valued at £1,731,261, were exported from the colony, compared with 730,0290z5, worth £2,787,520, exported during 1871; The largest portion of the decrease is due to the falling off from, the Thames, which only yielded 104,8900zs in 1872, while in 1871, the returns from it were 330,3260zb, more than three times as much. The total quantity of the precious metal exported from New Zealand from the let of April, 1857, to the 31st December, 1872, was 6,718,2480ze, valued at £26,084,260. We understand tbat the Government have given positive instructions to the Agent-General not to renew the contract with Messrs. Shaw, Savill & Co., which expires in March, nor to enter into any lengthened contract with any other firm, but to make arrangements for single vessels as they are required. The newly-formed shipping companies at Canterbury, Auckland, and Otago, have all made application to the Government for freight and passengers, and have been referred to Dr. Featherston who is instructed to make arrangements with them if possible, keeping in view, of course, the requirements of the public service. Shipping is still required for about 17,000 tons of railway material, so that all three companies will have a chance of finding profitable employment for their vessels. — Post. Thb incompleteness of our criminal law was exemplified at the Thames recently. A woman was charged at the Police Court with pawning a coat which had been left in her charge, for which she got 3s. Her defence was, that the owner of the coat owed her some money, and that she had intended to redeem the pledge. If the woman had stolen the coat, she would probably have been imprisoned in Shortland Gaol for about a month ; bat, having pawned the coat without the leave of the owner, it appears that the law makes it imperative that she should be sent to tbe Supreme Court. She will consequently have to remain three months in gaol at the country's expense, the witnesses will have to be sent to Auckland and paid for their attendance, the Crown Prosecutor will be paid for the case, and all for pawning a coat worth 35.! The Chatham Islands. — The Auckland Herald says : — Captain Chapman of H.M.S. Dido, now in port, bas lately returned from a cruise to the Chatham Islands. . Arriving there, he invited the settlers, and aborigines of both races, conquerors and conquered, to the ship to witness ball • practice, and having thus sufficiently impressed the natives with the irresistible character of his armament, he addressed them in a few words, in which praise was skilfully blended with an implied threat. The aborigines were made aware that the Queen of England cared for, and looked after, her subjects, however few and weak, at the remotest corner of the earth; and the intimation tbat Captain Chapman and the Dido would drop round occasionally to see bow the two races were getting on together in the Chatham Islands, must bave had a great moral effect. The reply of the Maori chief was shrewd and plucky. There was no evidence of fear; but there was a whole volume of sagacity in bis reply, that there was no use in tbe two races quarrelling, as " they both lived in a pannikin." The Province or Auckland. — The Herald, in alluding to the resources of the Province of Auokland, says :— Coal, iron, lime, flax, gum, and last, though not least, quicksilver abound in tbe northern sections of the Province of Auckland, and these, combined with its valuable timber, unrivalled water system , and semitropical climate, render it, under judicious and energetic administration, one of the most desirable places for settlement in the colony. The bays and rivers abound with fisb,'[and a coast fishery has been successfully established in the neighbourhood of Wangarei. A great error has been committed in endeavouring to settle a purely agricultural population in circumstances so unfavourable to agriculture as exist in the North. What is wanted is a class of men who can utilise the great natural resources of the northern districts, leaving the open, lands of the South tq produce the corn which the North might require. In addition to all this, we have, both 'North and South, .well-defined auriferous deposits. The Thames and Coromandel goldfields are too well known now to require any special mention ; and we are-happy to find that these aire about to be extended by purohase. We may, therefore, expect considerable speculation iv gold-mining during the current yew ;

and should the Hon Mr McLean succeed in opening Tubua to gold prospectors,: a very extensive " rush " to this province may be anticipated. But these things are signs to our rulers that population is wanted. We require millions, where we number only hundreds of thousands. Instead of a population of 300,000. at the utmost, New Zealand should have a population of three millions. Less than tbat* will not suffice to develop its great natural resources; and we contend that under a proper system very considerable progress might be made within the next four or five years towards attaining that result. There is room for three millions of people, four times told, and to spare. At present every industry is paralysed for want of labor; and the amount employers are compelled to pay in this province to save their hay and crops is simply prohibitory of further enterprise. What might yield a profit with labor at reasonable rates turns out an actual loss to the agriculturist. The telegraphic items which have appeared from time to time within the last few days relative to the hostilities between Russia and Khiva are of much less importance to us in Australia tban they are to readers in India, but (they cannot be wholly indifferent to any British subjects. The onward march of Russia, in its work of subjugating the Tartarian tribes of Central Asia, has for some time threatened the rule of the Khan of Khiva, who recently applied to the Viceroy of India for assistance. In former generations this would have been given, but now it was sternly refused-. The idea of resisting tbe conquering march of Russia in Central Asia has for some time been abandoned by Indian rulers and British statesmen. The more recent policy is to allow Russia uninterfered witb, to reduce, and to annex, and to civilise as much of Central Asia as it can. Of course, Russian progress in this work seems to point to a day when the great Muscovite empire will have carried its frontier forward to the border of our own magnificent dominion in the East, or at least to the broad neutral land which the new English andßussian policy tacitlyrecognises between the two empires. Should Muscovite territorial ambition still be unsatisfied, and should it desire to include India within the ring-fence of a rule which would then comprise nearly half of the civilised world, tbe time wili then have come when England must fight, and fight to the last, for her own. But, say tbe defenders of the new policy, it is better, if this battle must be fought, to wait to fight it till the enemy approaches our border, where we should bave all our resources well at hand. It is better so than wasting men and money in the irritating and complex work of resisting Russian aggression step by step while it is still far away from our borders, and while it is engaged in the good work of reducing wretchedly misgoverned barbarous tribes to order and civilisation. In pursuance of this view, aid has been refused to the Khivans, and we now see that, despairing of procuring help from outside, the Khan has summoned all the auxiliary tribes over which he had influence, and has taken the offensive by despatching an army of 9000 men to attack the Russian forts on the Emba. The result of the struggle will be interesting but hardly doubtful. — Austra lasian. Advertisement. — " To the drapery trade. — Wanted, a young man to be partly outdoor and partly behind the counter." — Wbat will be the result when the door slams ? It is stated that last year's profits derived from several large colleries in the Sheffield district exceed £100,000 each, while the rate for the last quarter is even greatly in excess of tbat amount. During the year 1871 more than 328,000,000 persons, exclusive of season ticket holders, travelled over the railroads of England and Wales. Out of tbe whole number only six persons were killed by causes beyond their own control. A Greenhorn, who was on board a steamboat for the first time, fell through the hatchway and down into the. hold, when, being unhurt, he loudly expressed his surprise; ," Well, if the darned thing ain't holler ! " A New Method of testing one's sobriety is suggested by the New York Mail. If he can distinctly pronounce "veterinary surgeon" he may consider himself as sober as a Judge. The test is ■infallible. Bass and Company, whose name, like that of other celebrated English brewers, has been frequently taken in vain in the colony* have made formal application to register their trade mark under the Act of : 1866. 4 , The art of word coining has reached a high state of perfection In America. The latest novelty, is found in the ChicagojTimes.y The reporfcof the fire^in'-lßostbn'' is. headed in large type " Boston Chica> goed," . , ■ ■