PROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 49, 26 February 1874, Page 2

PROVINCIAL.

Dunedin, February 25. . "^-A, commission of inquiry will be held on .. boardijie eteatner Mongol tomorrow, for the ;ef ascertaining the cause of the disease .whicTl-Wboke out on board, and whether the people Buffering f i om fever were sent on board in such a condition in England. A portion of the New Zenlsnd Press recommend that the murderer Sulivan be conveyed to one of tho South. Sra Is'ands, and his departure be kept a profound secret. » Post Chalmebs, February 25. The ships Chris' ain M'Aus'aad, and Zealandia; aud the barque Elizabeth Graham have sailed lor London. The quarantined immigrants ex Mongol are progressing favorably. . . Wellington, February 26. There^are forty-two en'ries for seven events at the Wellington races. ■ . The -Mongol is coming up the harbor. She Kill be' detained here three da> c. • ...;.-, Rbefton, February 26. .. The Break-o'-Day claim at the Lyell has yielded 816 ounces of amalgam, equal, bto.bably, to 400 ounces of melted gold, iram 51 , tonß.of stone. They will continue o/ushing .':for fourteen day if I

districts." In the 13th section it is laid down that " every person who shall desire to obtain a publican's license or bush license, or the renewal of one, under this Act, shall on or before the first Tuesday in the month of March in any year cause to be delivered to the clerk of the Resident Magiatruto of the district a notice in writing signed by him accompanied by a certificate signed by at least ten householders of the district." Con* sidering that the Act was passed in the last session of the Assembly, say in October last, it would not have been unreasonable to expect that the Governor might, without auy great inconvenience to himself, hare proclaimed the districts in accordance with the terms of the Act on some earlier date than the 25th of February. This was the more necessary that there are many outlying districts, between which and the centres of population communication is neither frequent or easy, whore the above mentioned applications have to be made, the day appointed for lodging them being the 3rd of March. But perhaps His Excellency's mind and the minds of his Ministers have for the last three months been so fully occupied by the consideration of which would be the most fitting day for calling the Parliament together that they have not been, at liberty to bestow any attention upon the petty details of so insignificant a measure as the Licensing Act. Having delayed the proclamation as long as could be possibly done with any regard to common decency, it might have been expected that when made it would at least appear in a workable form, but such is not the case, for it has- been prepared thoughtlessly and without any knowledge of the surrounding circumstances. For instance, two of the proclaimed districts are the electoral districts of Waimea West and Suburban North. The Act provides that the applications for licenses shall be lodged with "the clerk of the Resident Magistrate of the district." Now, as in the two districts referred to there is do such officer as Resident Magistrate's clerk, nor any building recognised as a Court House, it is simply impossible that the present publicans or those who may desire to obtain new licenses can conform with the requirements of the law. Here is bungling indeed, The Legislature after much discussion passes an Act, and the first step taken by the Executive to bring it into operation places it beyond the power of those whom it specially affects to comply with its provisions. In the district of Waimea Weßt tEere are 1 either three or four licensed houses, in that of Suburban North one, and unless the blunders |of the Executive are speedily rectified the owners of them must be prepared to put up their shutters so soon'as their present licenses have expired.

Nelson Institute. — The annual general meeting of members will be held at the Institute to-morrow evening at half-past seven, for the purpose of receivipg the report and balance sheef, and appointing offices for the ensuing year. : Honey.— Our old friend Biggs has shown us some beautiful specimens of honey, the produce of his army of little workers during the past summer. Being in glass hives the whole of the rich looking comb with its honey-laden cells can be seen at a glance. Bis bees have provided the old gentleman with a goodly Jtore of honey, which he is prepared^™ dispose of to the public for a trifling pecuniary consideration. District Prize Firing. — The competition for the district prizes of this district will take place during the next week. The firing is arranged in two sets. In the first set ten prizes to the value of £28, from £6 downwards; in the second set there are nine prizes of the value of £17. The highest scorer in the first set in each province will be entitled to a silver medal; but no person who has won a General Government prize since December 31,1871, will be permitted to compete for the second set. The Colonial Firjng at Napier. — The firing for the Colonial prizes will commence on Tuesday the ]Oth proximo. Arrangements have been made with the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company for the conveyance of competitors to and from Napier and the several ports, Representatives will embark in the b.s. Taranaki at Manukau on the 2ad of March, those from New Plymouth on the 3rd, from Nelson and Weetland on the 4th, from Picton on the sth, and at Wellingtons on the 7th of March. The Company have agreed to take extra representatives (paying their own fares) at the same rate as that charged to the Government. Nelson will £send three Representatives, two of them at the Government expense. jßy their splendid shooting lately no doubt they will give good accounts of themselves as marksmen. We trust that they will not return as others have done on former occasions. Nelson and West Coast Railway. — The 'Lyell Argus ' of the 2Jst insfc. says : — Messrs Rochfort and Hall, the gentlemen who have charge of the survey of the main trunk line of railway between Nelson and Canterbury arrived at Lyell on Tuesday last. The survey has been finished as far as the . Owen, and Mr Rochfort has proceeded to Christy's, from which place he will personally superintend the survey towards Reefton, Mr Hall taking charge of the line between the Owen and .Chriaiy's. We are in a position to state that the line will be brought down the southern bank of theßuller, and tin station will probably be placed on the

piece of ground at present resorved for the use of the proprietor of the punt. Mr Eochfort is favorably impressed with the appearance of the country, which does not present any exceptional difficulties in the way of railway construction. 3n fact, there are only about ten miles of bad oountry between Nelson and Lyell. A great deal of judgment has been shown by the engineers in their selection of the route, and a great saving will result from itß adoption. Fire Clay. — The 'West port Times' of the 20th inst. says: — " Recently Mr T Field sent up to Nelson for kiln burning a sample of bricks, made from the fire-cloy and fire-stone obtained from the lapd held by the North Ngakawhao Coal Company, on the north bauk of the Ngakawhao river. The bricks were returned per Wallace yesterday, properly burnt and really good articles. Some are made from ihe fire-clay, some from the fire-stone, and some from an admixture of the two, but wilh all tho burning have been successful. It is now proposed to send up some bags of the clay for lining furnaces at the foundries and thus fully to test its useful qualities. If found suitable for such purpose there will at once be a ready demand in Nelson, the English fire-clay used in Moutray's foundry costing £5 per ton. There should be a good brick-making industry soon started at the Ngakawhao. The clay both for fire and building bricks is found there in unlimited quantities. The coal is close to [hand aud every facility exists for constructing sheds and brick-yards." The Lyell Beefs. — Tho following concerning the reefs in this district is supplied by the mining reporter of the ' Argus ': — Lyell Creek. — Work has been suspended for tho present in the William Tell tunnel. The leader still remains much abcut the same, and the Company deem it advisable to commence a new tunnel starting from Carrol and Cairns' tramway, and proceeding in the direction of the Lyell Creek shaft. The tunnel is expected to be 300 feet, and the object is to intersect the leader now being so successfully worked by Caaroll and Cairns. Oriental. — Tbis party are still driving in the new tunnel, and they are daily - expecting to strike the leader which is known to be overhead. Monte Christo. —A new tunnel has been commenced 150 feet below the one just driven at the north end of the claim. The tunnel has been commenced where several leaders crop out to the surface. Maruia. — Eeally rich stone is now being obtained from this claim. About 150 tons tograss. They will start crushing immediately the Break-o'Day have done with the machine, when they will be able to put through 300 tons. Break o'Day.-— Stone is still being procured from both blocks as rapidly as possible, and forwarded to the machine. The result of the crushing may with safety be predicted as over eight ounces per ton. The new leader is improving as the tunnel proceeds into the hill. It is very well defined and has every appearance of ultimately rivelling the one now being worked. The Kaeamea. — It is so seldom that we receive any tidings from this district, which with the present means of communication, is altogether out-of-the way, that the following information furnished by a correspondent of the ' Westporfc Times ' will prove interesting to many of our readers. If those who are resident in far distant parts of the province wduld more frequently communicate with the newspapers, whether in Nelson or on the Coast, they would confer a benefit not only on themselves but on the community generally, since it is by such means alone that the wants of the outlying districts are made known. For our own part, recognising as we do the necessity of opening up every part of the country which is likely to add to the common welfare we shall be only too well pleased to give publicity to all such communications. The extract to which we have referred ia as follows: — Mining matters are progressing here in the usual quietly prosperous style, our greatest trouble being that we are cut off from the rest of the world. It is only by chance that we have heard that the Nelson Government has at last consented to spend a small sum in subsidising a steam boat to call at the rivers along the coast. We shall listen anxiously for the first sound of the whistle, and any visitors coming up from Westport will get a .hearty welcome. A steamer calling here two or. three times a month would soon make a trade. We already grow here far more vegetables and crops than are needed for local use, and with any market for produce many Karamea men would go in for small farming. The land here is splendid, grows anything from Bpuds to maize. We have coal, too, in abundance, and steamers calling could always depend on getting their bnnkers filled. Sometime since a promise was made that one of the Nelson boats should call htra and give the coal a proper trial, but she has never shown up yet. The population here has fallen off a little during the last few months, the Mokihinui reef attracting a few, and others going to more civilised localities. There is but one store open here now, Mr Castle's, and he having gone to a great expense in building and getting a stock in, would be loth to leave, but there is very little encouragement for pioneers either in trade or mining, to open up an out of the way place, and get no assistance or recognition by the Government. If they would but make an attempt at improving the track between this place

and Mokihioui we should be better satisfied. The Kynnersley Testimonial — At a public meeting recently held at Westport, the Mayor in the chair, a resolution waa adopted to the effect that it was due to the memory of the late Mr Kynnersley that his connection with the Nelson South-west Goldfields should be commemorated by some public memorial, but since this we are sorry to find that a correspondence has sprung up in the local papers finding fault with the constitution of the Committee, and the form which the memorial ia to take. We quote the following from the speech made by Dr Giles in moving the resolution above referred to, as reported by the • Westport Times ': — " Referring in eulogistic terms to the personal qualities of Mr Kynnerssly which endeared him to all who knew him, the speaker said *uch qualities were not easy to enumerate to those who did not know him, and to those who did present laudation was unnecessary. He had most of the qualities that helped to make a man popular, most of those which men have whom the world calls great. He was generous, noble, and brave (as a naval officer, he perhaps had not many opportunities of showing this latter quality, but those who knew him best and had to -some extent fathomed his mind knew that he did possess all the attributes of cool and dauntless courage). For hip, the speaker's part, he could but say that if his country ever needed dauntless courage, coorvheads, and administrative skill, he hoped she might find many such as Mr Kynnersley. To say also that Mr Kynnersley was a true and generous friend was saying too little. All who knew him ,knew that if once a friend he was always a friend, and even his opponents — he would not say enemies, for he had none— mnst admit that he was most generous in his opposition, taking no advantage to damage or gain a point. Above all — his best trait — he was a just man at heart, and bore no malice. Such was the man whose character and memory — faintly and inadequately pictured at the best, they had met that night to revere. Taken away from -them in the full flußh of manhood, at itieNearly age of 34 years, at a time when his friends and the public mi»ht have expected that, if he hud been spared for other yeais of active endeavours, his memory would have been honored by* a memorial national in character and- splendid in design. To those present,^ to tho people of the goldfields who knew him best, it was left to do the little that they could, and to hand down to posterity a token slight in itself but earnest of respect and esteem. Nothing elaborate in statuary could be expected, but the design in his opinion should be artistic and graceful, and might bear some reference, either by inscription or device, to all leading places in the goldflelds wherewith Mr Kynnersley had been connected. Some might argue that monuments were idle and pretentious things and of no use, but in this he did not agree. Monumental records should not be disparaged. True they were not at all times artistic or even appropriate, but in his opinion a town abounding in monuments indicated a community whose aspirations extended beyond the passing day, and who did not eat aud drink merely to live for the present, but who, reverencing the past, forged links of honor connecting them with the future. In such a form what was worth recording waa handed down to posterity, and the' present generation became lifted above the so called utilitarian habits of the time and made their mark in history. In this instance tho people of the goldfields would be doing justice to their own sentiments while doing honor to the memory of one they all esteemed." The gold exported from Otago since its first discovery in that province is valued at twelve and a half millions of pounds. The * Westport Times ' stands up manfully for local productions. It says: — " Sending beer from Westport to Nelson is somewhat akin to sending coals to Newcastle, but it has been done, and satisfactorily. A parcel of Stewart's ale in bottles sont up by eteamcr has been sampled by Nelson, experts and declared exceedingly good, and an agreeable change of beverage from the somewhat heavy Nelson brews." \ -

Ist 2nd 3rd 4 th Match Match Match Match Tls." Fvt Crossman 49 53 43 53 198 SergtJ.A.Burn 50 47 46 53 196 PvtC: Moore 52 52 37 47 188 Corpl D. Burns 40 44 41 39 164 Pvt Godfrey 44 40 38 38. 160 Lieut D. Burn 37 42 33 41 153