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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 126, 28 May 1874, Page 2

§ays the Westport Times : — The first tidings of " retrenchment/ coming from the Provincial Council are possibly but the notes preliminary to sweeping reductions in the cost of provincial institutions. There is said to be a strong party in the Council bent on retrenchment and, moreover, the necessities of the province compel them to action. The danger is that new found zeal will drift into extremes, and that expediency will not be tempered by discretion. A symptom of this tendency is already given by the reduction proposed in the salaries of goldfields officials. It is easier to cut off a good slice from an official income than. to find officers willing to perform the duties for decreased pay. We hold strongly to the opinion that thereduction of the number of officials rather than a reduction in the pay to individuals would be more just economy than compelling the present staff of provincial servants to each accept a beggarly stipend. Take for instance the three goldflelds Wardens, whose salaries: are to be reduced each by £100.^ Would it not be better to dispense with one of them and extend the boundaries of the districts over which the others have control? Tbe entire business of the Westport, Charleston, and Lyell districts could be well performed .by one officer without overtaxing his' energies, 1 -and the affairs of the Inangahua and Grey Valley could be very well attended to by another. And so also with regard to tbe office duties of Warden's Clerks, and receivers of revenue, and also Bailiffs of the Courts. Under such arrangement the two Wardens and their subordinates would find full employment for their hours of office duty, which .at present they cannot, except in make believe business, and might retain their present salaries. The only men affected would be the juniors iv the service who would be called upon to retire; but this would be but in accordance with a recognised rule in commercial affairs, and would entail no real hardship on men averse to eating the bread of idleness. The same rule will apply in the regulation of all other departments, from the Executive downward. Ifc will be better to have the affairs of the Province administered by actively employed officers, earning fairly liberal salaries, than by an excess of ill-paid and hence discontented place holders. The Superintendent of Westland in his address at the opening of the Provincial Council, expressed an opinion that an. outlay of £35,000 on the Mikonui Water Race would yield a revenue of at leaßt £8,000 per annum. We take the following from the Inangahua Herald ot the '-i'9th inst.: — The Just-in -Time mine continues its favorable indication. The reef continues well defined, with every appearance of permanency, and is two feet in thick-

neß3, carrying fairly payable gold. About a month will elapse before crushing will be resumed. — We are glad to learn that in the Ajax mine good stone has been struck in the shaft going down from (ho low level tit a depth of fifty feet. There are now two feet of Btooe, and with every indication of making. It is felt certain that it ia the Golden Fleece run. Shareholders will also learn with much satisfaction that the indications towards ihe Band of Hope have become most encouraging. Stone was struck in the middle-level tunnel, which thickened from eight inches to eighteen inches, and is carrying very fair gold. Rather an uncommon experiment, which proved wholly successful, writes the Ararat Advertiser, was tried a short time ago upon a patient in one of the hospitals in this district. A young boy who had run away from home to avoid a flogging, slept on the night of his departure at a bush fire which he had made, and in consequence of the rolling of one of the logs during his sleep, a very ugly wound was sustained on the back part of bia leg. He was admitted to the hospital, and after a time it was found needful to graft some skin on to the wounded part, otherwise it was suspected that tbe slow healing of the wound without such assistance would render the lad a cripple. Accordingly, some pieces of ekin were cut off the sound leg and also taken from a number of tho other patients in the s.rao ward; all of these with the exception of one or two, threw out healthy granulations, and hy this means the wound waa healed satisfactorily. The American ludiaus are known to he excellent runners, being almost able to match tho swiftest horses. The bull-frog of American swamps is also well known for its surprising power oi leaping, often compassing three yards at one leap. Tn order to make a trial of its powers some Swedes laid a wager with a young Indian that he could not overtake a full grown bull-frog, provided it had two lenps in advance. They caught one in a pond, and carried it into a field at some distance, where applying a burning faggot to its tail, the irritated animal bounded across the field towards the pond as fast as it could, the Indian following with all his might. The race was however no match; the frog had regained the pond before the Indian was within many yards of it.