The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1877.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 86, 13 April 1877, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1877.

We have received from the Government Printer a batch of Parliamentary Papers, including amongst others a. return showing " the number of Educational reserves, General and Provincial, throughout the colon}-, the acreage of each reserve, and, if leased or open for sale, upon what terms." It onlyneeds a very cursory glance at this document to understand %hy the funds for "educational purposes are at so. low an ebb. in Nelson,while in Otago and " Canterbury the chest is. in a plethoric condition, the majority of the reserves in the. former place being to all appearauces almost worthless, as out of a long listrbccupyiug nearly six pages but eighteen have beep let, the annual revenue thus de-_ rjyed being only; £6 H 9s 9d, to; which one reserve alone in- .the nAmuri contributes £515 JOs. In Canterbury, on -the other band, Although the-ac^ual, number of block's of land set apart. forHhfe purpose i is very little, if at;alV;,lareer than' in Nelson 1 , nearly.:" every one-is let, those which are not 'yielding any. revenue tielng; marked exceptions. Most ;of.the;reserves in thai-province arej agricultural a!nd- pastoral -lajids, in blocks ; rangingfrom thirty and forty. -to tens of thousands ,of .acres^ the largest being 61, 000, acres, yielding; a rent of ■££ 10 pej: annum. "This latter, it-should'be mentioned,^is for a' special puripoae, namely> for the endowment of a School |of, Agriculture, The other blocks are all let L at~a good rental, varying fronvTone shilling 't*6"lss per acre per annum, for instance there is one of .1280 acres let for 14 years, for the first seven r it 6s >8d and for the balance of the term ait lls- per acre'- per annum. -In Otago theaeserves do not appear to be quite so valuable ; as 'in Canterbur3-, but they are more numerous and the large majority of them are leased at fair rates, the aggregate amount of which must be very considerable. It is possible that the day may come when thej Nelson reserves will be largely increased invvaluejj large proportion of them -.being, sections in townships in various parts of • the province, as, for instance, Collingwood, Westpott, Ahaura, Reefton, Black's^ Point. Cobden, Hector, Bulwer, &c. Of the geographical pbsltidn.lof these two last-named townships, we are compelled to confess our ighoranc'e, but.the.others are situatedin districts which at any time may be raised into importance by means of that mighty, .lever-r , gold. At present, -however, the total revenue derived ! from this source is represented; by the ridiculously- small sum 'of £6 Hi, The.. wonder is how our educational .has, ..been so successfully worked,- seeing that, with this trfling. excep-. tion, the whole, cost. has. been defrayed/ by' dipping into the pockets of the people year by : year;, j~ Auckland is. worse -off in this , respect than Nelson, ,the province being far i larger and more populous, consequently re- : quiring more schools, while the the revenue derived from reserves is 0n1y.£j729. The number; of blocks set apart is nearly, four times as large as in Nelson but, as here, they do not appear to have any present value. Under all the circumstances Nelson may congratulate herself upon having hitherto administered so successfully a system, which in itself is generally admitted to be so excellent. If the European news which reaches us by cable to-day is to be relied upon it is clear that war is imminent. On the other hand it must be remembered that the telegrams referring to the Eastern question have of late been very conflcting, and occasionally contradictory. * 'it \vill:be sejeh by the date that the message referred to was dispatched from London so late as yesterday. .Tire next sitting of the Supreme Court will be held in the Provincial Hall on Monday next, when his Honor the Chief Justice ■.will-, be the. presiding Judge.. ..The only criminal case set down for triaiis ,'that of a man charged with stealing money from the -Albion Hotel at .the Port. There are no civil-cases. : , „ A In the District Court this morning, before his ,Honor. Judge Broad, the following wills I were proved:— ln re Richard Funnell, late of Lower Moutere, farmer, deceased. Mr Acton Adams applied for probate on behalf of the .widow.., The .personalty was sworn under • £100/ Probate was granted as prated.— In re Thomas Tidd, late'' of Stoke; ;.publican, , deceased. Mr Bunny, on behalf of Elizabeth : Tiddthe widow, applied- for probate, the per-sonalty-being sworn under £100. Application granted. —The Court then adjourned. ; ■ ••'■ :i Tr will be seen by advertisement that Dr •Schwarzbach, who has been very successful 1 elsewhere in his treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, and throat, is about to visit Nelson,,' where he may be'corisrilted from the 19th to the 27th inst, at the premises in Hardy-street connected with Panama House. ! ■Mit. Mabin reports the sale; by auction today of the right to collect tolls at the Sub-! urbau South gate for one year for £410, being £10 in excess of the amount paid last -year- . „,,,.. ;., Those ,who have been -in the habit of ; travelling t uo and down the Port road may remember' that a barge wns'-foi 1 a long time lying off Auckland Point.' ' This has lately beeu removed to the Albion Wliarf, where, under the .superintendence of Mr Brown the manager of the Anchor Foundry, she has been , fitted with; a. winch, derrick, scoop, and other appliances necessary to convert ,:her,iuto a dredger, in which capacity, she will ,, be used iii clearing rouud't'hc Albion Wharf, where the, water. has, shallowed considerably ,-. since, the'jcomuiencement pf : the 'reclamation .works.. •. ' ''••■. i