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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 136, 31 May 1876, Page 2

The Superintendent of Canterbury is distributing seeds in the province, comprising Californian and' Indian pines, cedars, &c. The Otago Slate Company has about forty men workiag in the quarries near Otepopo. They can turn out 12,000 slates a week. Petty thieving is becoming a regular institution in Auckland. At the Police Court the other day it was elicited from a prisoner that a band had been formed to rob drunken sailors and marines. ■._..' At a dinner recently given by an hotel-keeper in the neighborhood of Napier to some of his friends, the chief item on the bill of fare was a black swan, cooked after the fashion of jugged hare, and pronounced by the guests to be a most excellent dish. Those who have not given' much attention to the subject would be astonished (says the N. Z. Times) at the amount of work being carried on in railway and other public undertakings just now in the district, beginning with the city of "Wellington and stretching on to Eeatherston, Mr M'Kirdy has an immense staff of men in his employment, and taking the total expenditure of the General Government for public works within the ; boundaries indicated, we shall not greatly err in setting it down at £10,000 a month. A very " old identity" has been visiting Oamaru, and the North Otago Times gratifies his wish to have his name in print. " Old Jack," as he is called in the district, is turned eightytwo, and has been in New Zealand or New Zealand waters, for over half a century — fifty-four years. He has visited the Aucklands and all the islands and rocks about New Zealand, and claims to have killed more whales and seals than any other man now living in the colony. He is still a healthy-looking, cheery old man, though his face is seamed with the wrinkles of a bard and adventurous life; and, we trust, he has many more than the three or four days he counts upon in store for him before he goes aloft. . The value of the imports of Fiji for the year 1875 was £109,726 10s 3d, : and the exports £15,690 6s 6d. An important gold discovery, says the Guardian, has evidently been made at Naseby, a hint of which was thrown out in a recent mysterious telegram sent to his Honor the Superintendent, ! and published in our columns. The Mount Ida Chronicle explains the matter in the following paragraph: — The extension of the Naseby Sludge Channel now in hand has proved what, toaceptical minds, has been considered •■ a debateable question. The contractors have already ripped up half W mile and five chains of the channel, the bottom of which is literally paved with gold. J The contract is coming through thVli tailings deposited during the last few J years from the Naseby workings./ <In ■ some places the tailings appear; to be seven or eight feet thick, before the surface of the solid ground is touched. It is a matter for the Inspecting Engineer to make sure, from the practical', view now afforded to him, that this half 1 mile or more of valuable ground which j is exposed is sufficiently deep to' enable j the gold to be got out. The Governi ment should feel gratified that, in spite j of the myriad of jeremiads sung in the j ears of its members, and of its own unI belief, the channel promises to be so re- ! productive. "We are not speaking of guess — of a supposition judged of from the top of a prospecting hole, and a i knowing shake of the head. Let those I who doubt go and see. Let them I borrow a tin dish, and with , Mr John Creighton's courteous permission, jump | down into the huge ditch, and test the quality of the ground. If they are not satisfied as to the future position of Naseby as a goldfield after walking for half a mile on gold, they must be unbelievers indeed. Every inch of the ground along the main gully is marked off in claims, but these claims can only be worked provided that the channel is kept deep enough. The work is progressing with great rapidity — while we write 130 men being employed. It is expected that the paving will begin next week. A splendid sample of white pedigree wheat (says a Victorian paper, the Tenterfield Star), the produce of imported seed, is now on view at our office. Good judges of the cereal jhave pronounced it to . be the best sample exhibited in the district for some years. A bushel (measured! weighed 711bs.

A We (Timaru Herald) learn that Mr |Cqr;,;has N sbld,.the 'Balmoral station, 'Mackenzie country, to Mr Gamack. jThe-property comprises 50,000 acres of jlanpjand:- 12,000 sheep, and the price i paid "was £11,000. \ There are 82 gas cooking and heating stoves at work in Hokitika. Coursing is becoming a favorite amusement in Southland. On a recent day four fine hares were killed. j Kt Thtitfeti Zealand Times of the 15fch inst/ mentions as a practical illustration of the late gale at Wellington that a goodly-sized ship's boat was blown right off the reclaimed land into the harbor. It cost the owner 5s salvage to have it restored to him. A new Town Hall, to cost £20,000, is to be erected in the Octagon, Dunedin. A lady school manager in a letter to the Times, on the schools of North Germany, says:— With us the children pay when they come to school ; here they pay when they do not come. A fine of one silver groschen is levied on every child who remains away without reasonable excuse or permission from the teacher. , This latter I saw readily and constantly given when the reason was one which would commend itself to any sensible person — for instance, a sick mother requiring for a time the services of an elder girl. Should the parents plead poverty as an excuse for non-payment of the fine, they must take it out in labor on the roads. I would commend to the notice of our educational magnates this system of payment of school fees for non-attend-ance, not for attendance at school. There seem to have been some shady transactions in connection with the late steeplechase at Wanganui. A writer in the Chronicle, to whom the editor refers as " a most respected contributor who is no mean authority on the subject oh which he writes," says: — Rumor, with its busy tongue, is again at work, and ugly and mysterious reports are in circulation about the racing on Saturday last, which are strongly suggestive of " ways that are dark, and tricks that are vain." If a true bill is found, which seems to be the verdict in the public mind, it is to be hoped that such scandals may soon be exposed, as the unravelling -will.;, do much towards purifying the turf of corrupt practices. I think the riders of Medora and Ireland will admit that the public are entitled to some explanation of what at present appears to be simply incomprehensible. ~ There will not be wanting those who will readily ascribe mercenary and vicious motives, where perhaps — I say ." perhaps "—the head and front of their, offending could be characterised by no worse features than a simple mistake which might have been made without any thought of deviation from the' paths of turf propriety. But there are others who will not judge so charitably, and who will reason together, the stern inexorable logic of facts being the beginning and the end thereof. I could say more, but refrain at present, and await the explanation, which will remove from the public a load of suspicion — now a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, but which may yet darken the horizon, obscuring previously unsullied reputations.

(.For continuation qf Newt see fourth page.')