The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1874.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 37, 12 February 1874, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1874.

7 ~y- „' "**"—— " , ' "** t The Alhambra was to leave Wellington this afternoon, will arrive by to-morrow morning's tide, and sail asain in the afternoon for the South and Melbourne with tbe English mail. Order of Good Templars — We are requested to state that Mr Mackune D. D. R. W. G. T. of tbe Independent Order of Good Templars, is expected to arrive by the Alhambra from Welton to-morrow. Special Settlements. — We publish to-day an interesting communication from Mr Vogel to the Superintendent of Wellington on the subject of special settlements. We call attention to it as being particularly applicable to tbe circumstances under which such settlements wo : uld be formed in this province. It is quite probable that many valuable ; suggestions might be made on the subject by settlers who are accustomed to bush life. If any such do occur to any of our readers we shall be happy to hear from them, and to give publication ; to. their, ideas. .A contributor of occasional notes of travel tp the 'Lyttelton Times,' gives the following rather gloomy description of the Tasmanian capital, Hobart Town: — Here are wharves and docks, at which probably all the vessels now in all the ports of the Australian colonies could lie without inconvenient crowding; and monstrous warehouses as vacant as the ; wharves, and everywhere evidences of : great expectations unfulfilled,- of vast labor and expense rendered futile by stress df circumstances, with, as far as I can judge, little probability of any considerable improvement for many I years to come. The large proportion of the trade of the colony is in the hands i of Melbourne house*?, and the direct im- ■ portations from England are shamefully ; small. Melbourne travellers are to be seen in all the hotels, and on all • tbe , coaches, and many of the houses in Flinders Lane owe their magnitude and wealth to the despised sister colony of Tasmania. Nor do I see any immediate prospect of this state of affairs being altered -. The Hobart Town merchants are, in the main, wealthy old settlers, who care but little for the eager excitei ment and keen competition which would . ! be involved in beating off their shre«vd i and energetic Victorian competitors, ; and their sons go over to the enemy every.year, and are to be found in Mel- : ! bourne offices and stores. Ia addition : j to tbis export of youthful vigor and ' intellect, the Tasmanians send to Victbria large quantities of fruit and timber, and from Launceston wheat and oat* 5 , the wheat mainly, I fancy, for transhipi ment to Europe. The timber trade of Hobart Town-made the fortunes of many in the early days of the Victorian : gold-fever, and it is once more reviving after years of sad depression, and I am , told the demand has of late grown larger than the supply. Most of the timber near the coast has been ÜBed up : or destroyed,' and labor is becoming ; scarce and dear again. This latter ; arises partly from the demand for good '. hands for bush-work, and partly from i the number of men employed on the Tasmanian main railway from Hobart ' m ■*• 1-* j ■ a *, I Town to Launceston, which is being | constructed under the auspices of an I English company, with Captain Andley j Coote as managing director, the Colonial ! Crovernment, having guaranteed a cer- ; tain interest of, I believe, 5 per cent. ' upon the outlay up to a fixed amount. j We are told that railways 'make traffic, but I. fancy this one will, have to make a great deal before the 5 per cent, will j be earned. .•---.