INTERPROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 98, 27 April 1877, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL.

New Plymouth, Thursday. At the banquet given to the Hon. Major Atkinson to-night (the Mayor in the cbair), the hon. gentleman in responding to the toast of the evening, after thanking them foe the cordial reception given him, said he should briefly foreshadow what the Ministerial policy and intentions of the Go.-ernmenfc were. The policy of the Government was to complete the establishment of local selfgovernment; to establish an efficient form of primary education; to promote the settlement of the waste lands; to cultivate a good understanding with the native race; to reduce the annual expenditure of the public works, but to continue to construct the main lines of railway until they were completed; to reduce the ordinary expenditure within the narrowest limits necessary for efficiency; to simplify the finance of the colony, and place ie on a souud basis for the future. He said she Municipal Corporations Act worked successfully, audithe Counties Act, with the experience gained, would be amended next session so as to make it effective and useful. He thanked the late Superintendents aud Executive Officers for the assistance given. He stated education would have to be secular, and would continue to be conducted by Boards and. Committees. That a Waste Lands Act would be introduced to enable small; capitalists to occupy land, atid give' facilities to persons to secure land on deferred payments'; also to assist in opening new bush country. The Government would also introduce an Act to give greater facilities for acquiring! native lands. In referring to fiuance, he regretted that the Customs revenue did not come up to the amount estimated. He spoke of the difficulties the Go-vernme-it had experienced, and of the reductions, made in the Civil Service; also of the loans negotiated with the Bank of New South Wales and the Bank of New Zealand, which would render it necessary for the Government to go Home for further loans for •at. least twelve months, and intimated that further arrangements had been made for anotber half-million, if Parliament rpproved of it. He believed that the railways in three or four years would give some returns for the expenditure on them. He then referred to matters of local interest, among which were the new harbor about to be commenced, the railway to Inglewood, which was to be opened by the lafc July, tbe new public buildings to be erected; and concluded by again thanking them for the honor done him. The hon. gentleman spoke only for ' twenty - five minutes. _„ _, Friday. Mr Courtney held his usual cattle sale yesterday. Store cows, £5 to £8 ss ; heifers, £6 15s to £8; three-year-old steers £6; fat cows, ; £8 10s; fat bullocks, £7 15s to £9; store ewes, 6s; small fa; sheep, 9s, Wanganui, Thursday. Judge Richmond, in passing sentence on Moffatt (who was committed for trial for supplying the natives with gunpowder), said: " If your offence were to be punished in proportion to the damage which it occasions the public, you ought to receive a heavy sentence. You are to be looked upon by all well judging persons as an enemy in this island. On _ one hand you have been strengthening against your fellow-countrymen a merciless foe, for a Maori victory, you well know, means massacre, sparing neither sex. On the other hand, you have been encouraging the disaffected in vain resistance to the advance of civilisation. You have been planning disaster for the European, but for the rrtive you have been preparing utter destruction. The evidence gives but a glimpse of your proceedings; enough, however, to disclose their dangerous, treasonable character. It is well for you that the time is one of pronounced peace, or you could expect, as you would deserve, nothing but the halter. I am going to pass upon you a most inadequate sentence, but it is the heaviest which is allowed by the extreme leniency of the law on the subject. The sentence of the Court is lhat you be imprisoned for two years with hard labor." Port Chalmers, Thursday. Arrived: Ship Barow Bantyre, 103 days from London. She brings twelve passengers, 800 to is of cargo, and five short-horn bulls for Mr Kitching of Moa Plat. Auckland, Thursday. The licensed victuallers will support Mr R. Graham's candidature for Auckland City West. • J Walker, the trance medium from Sydney, gave a private seance to members of the press last night. The subject was—" What is truth ?" The medium professed to be under the control of the spirit of the Rev Dr ...Stewart, who died iv 1805; and the lecture was discursive, pantheistic, speculative, and utterly deficient of anything tangible. To questions which were principally directed to the elucidation of some practical test, the medium gave general and evasive answers. The press hints that the whole affair is humbug. At a meeting of the Auckland branch of tho British aud Foreign Bible Society, the report showed a total issue of 2748 bibles, giviug an increase of 25 per cent over last year; collections, £176 19s; balance in hand, £2 3s. Friday. The thirty-first half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand was held to-day, Dr Campbell in the chair. The report and balance-sheet were unanimously adopted. The report was to the following effect: — The net profits on March 31, after making ample provision for every debt considered bad or doubtful, and for tho depreciation of Bank premises, furniture, &c, amount to £61,687, to which may be added the amount received as premium on shares issued to shareholders of the Fiji Banking Company, amounting to £17,500, and the balance of undivided profit ou Septembef 30 of £8635, makiug a total available for division of £87,822, the following appropriation of which is recommended: Dividend at the rate of ten per cent £30,259; bonus of 5s per share, £15,125; total for division, £54,375. Addition to the reserve fund, £25,000. Balance carried forward to next half-year, £8447. The Bank capital now stands at £725,000, and reserve fund £275,000, total one million. The dividend aud bonus will be payable at the Head Office, Aucklaud, on Monday, April 30th, and at the branches on receipt of advices. Wellington, Friday. Mr O'Shea reports produce prices as follows -.—Adelaide flour none- Colonial £15 to £15 lOs for best brands; oats, 3s to 3s 3d; bacon, lOd to Is; wheat, 3s to 4s ; hams and bacon, B.}d to 10d ; cheese, 7d to 7^d; potatoes, £4; maize, 5s 3d; pollard, £7 10s to £8. Dunedin, Friday. Ihe Macandrew Testimonial Committee met last night for the purpose of receiving progress reports from the collectors. The amount subscribed is uot made public. It is . intended to present the testimonial before the meeting of the Assembly. The race horse Right Bower has died from injuries received at the March meeting. The Harbor Board intends dispensing with two pilots, and having their services performed by the captain of the tug. Inveucaiigill, Friday. _ The Governor arrived at the railway station here yesterday evening. He was received by tho Mayor and Corporation, .who presented au address of welcome. In replying, his Excellency said— "l am most sensibly impressed with the reception you have given me as the representative of her Ma-

jesty on this my first visit to InvercargiU. I have not yet had time to become f anuliarized with tbe resources and characteristics of your district, but after seeing the splendid agricultural and pastoral country through which I have passed to-day I have no doubt that your progress in all that makes a people great and prosperous will be realised, and that with the soil and climate such as you possess you will have to blame yourselves if success does not crowu your efforts. Insufficiency of population appears to be your only want, but as I look round I see evidences that you have within yourselves power which will materially assist in supplying your deficiencies in this respect. I am certain that if people in England knew what a soil and climate you possess, and that you live under the same laws as themselves, they would be much less backward in coming to your shores." The Governor was loudly cheered, about 2000 persons being present. To-day is to be proclaimed a public holiday. The programme includes a procession in the day and torchlight by night, and a luncheon in the Public Hall.