The Oamaru Times. AND WAITAKI REPORTER. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1864.

North Otago Times, Volume I, Issue 8, 14 April 1864, Page 4

The Oamaru Times. AND WAITAKI REPORTER. THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1864.

If historical ability of the first-class stamp were a commodity purchaseable in the open market, it would be well worth the while of the people of Otago in particular, and the colony in general, to pay almost any sum to the writer who should supply them with a complete and impartial history of their Province and Colony since their foundation. The person qualified to undertake such a work would require to have been resident in the colony for the whole of the period comprised in his narrative. He must have had a personal and intimate acquaintance with all our leading politicians during that time. He would need to be a keen observer, and a sound judge of motives as well as men. It would be indispensable that he should understand the Native question in all its ramifications and developments, and in all its practical bearings on other questions and the prosperity of the colony. It would be equally indispensable that he should have a clear apprehension of the value of political designations as applied to enfranchised colonial communities. He must be able to differentuate (to use a mathematical phrase) between the democracy of an old aristocratic country and the democracy of a new country , where equality of conditions is the irreversible law of society. To crown all, his one great object must be to declare the whole truth irrespective of theory or party coalition. He must, in a word, be a man without grot diets, political or commercial, and sternly just. A History of New Zealand from such " a pen," would be worth all the books that have ever been written about the Colony put together. The great service that would be rendered by a work of the kind we speak of, would be the effectual silnecing of the whole tribe of systematic slanderers and raaligners of the Colony, but especially of this Province, in the English press. An appeal to the authentic and undeniably impartial history would at once extinguish falsehood and put gainsayers to shame. Able writers in British morning papers would no longer have an excuse for writing about New I Zealand aftairs in a strain of studied mis-

representation and disenditable ignorance. Such a book would be for us what Lord Macaulay's History is for all Englishmen, or what Mr. Kinglake's book is for Frenchmen who wish to know once for all the true origin and the real authors of the coup d'etat of 1852. Another great service would be rendered by the circulation of such a book in England would be the putting before the British community the simple facts of the case, so that before writers of slashing articles ventured to pronounce dogmatic, contemptuous, or even unfavorable judgment on men or events in the golden Province of Otago or the Colony, they would be obliged to acquaint themselves with them, By this means, they would be driven to choose one of two courses — either to disgrace their columns with a display of ignorance and falsehood, or to state the naked truth. No really well-in-formed Editor would disgrace his columns knowingly by stating untruth. And in this case no English journalist could have any great motive for partisanship, and must on the whole desire to get truthful and honest articles supplied to him than the reverse. What else, then, only blank ignorance could have caused the present misrepresentations of Colonial affairs in the English press ? Nothing ! Some of our enthusiastic colonists may think that this question is a light one, and that these things cannot hurt the Colony much. But unquestionably they are wrong. No plainer instance of the truth of this could be found than in the history of the Debentures pushed into the English money market by this Province some time since. " Had the Government of Otago," as the Daily Telegraph recently observed, " represented to British capitalists the resources and wealth of this Province, in a plain and mualy manner, an unlimited amount of capital would thus have been attracted to our shores." It is not too late yet, and in no matter could the Colony or Province prove more nobly true to itself than by offering such a prize as would induce the bookworms of the Colony to produce such a work.

Last week a Liserißing Meeting wns held at the Court Houße, Timaru, when Mr. Allen was granted an hotel lisence for his house in the government township it being the first lisence granted in that locality. v *On the 21at of April, 1862, while a person named E. Griffiths in the employ of Mr. Lock hart, was crossing cattle over the Waitaki River, about a mile and a-half above Low and Bruces ferry, the horse instead of striking out sank, and when it came to the surface Griffiths was absent, a search was immediately made but without success. On the 6th of April, instant, while a j Maori named Billy Blue was crossing the river he found on the Canterbury side the skeleton of a man, with one foot inßide a boot] which has since been identified by some of the servants on the station, (Mr Lockharts) as the property of Griffith's, and worn by him when drowned. It is therefore supposed that the skeleton fouud is his. It will be brought into town for interment during the week. We learn by a correspondent from Akaroa of a serious case of stabbing there on the 31st ult. It seems that an altercation took place between Mr Crlynan, of Akaroa, and a person named Melbourne, steward of the p.s. Greelong, during which Melbourne used a knife and inflicted a deep wound on Mr Grlynan in the neck. Melbourne was promptly apprehended, and brought before the Resident Magistrate, when evidence was produced showing that the Avound inflicted was two and a-half inches in depth and about, an inch in breadth, and that, if the knife had penetrated a little farther, it would certainly have proved fatal. The accused was fully committed to take his trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court at Christchurch. The following is an extract from a Government return relative to tho number of public schools in New Zealand : — Auckland, 55 ; Canterbury, 37 ', Nelson, 23; Otago,2l; Wellington, 13 ; Marlborourgh, o ; Hawke'i Bny, 2 ; and Southland, 2. Total, 158.

An alteration has been effected in the following Post Office, regulations which took effect from the 9th ultimo : — Clause 58 — The original clause in the Regulations of the Ist April, 1862, is cancelled, and the following substituted in lieu thereof: — Should any letter, opened as above provided, be found to contain coin, notes, or other valuable property, such property will not be enclosed on the letter being re-sealed, but will be kept separate j but if unclaimed for the space of three months, all such coin and noteß will be paid into the Colonial Treasury to the credit of a fund to be opened for the purpose, to be called the " Postal Unclaimed Property Fund," and valua. ble property of all other descriptions will be transmitted to the Postmaster-General. Subclause 54 — Every letter or packet advertised as unclaimed, which shall be claimed and delivered after such advertisment, shall be chargeable with an extra fee of twopence. Regulation, No. 84 — Late inter-provincial letters shall be received at each Post Office iintil twenty minutes previous to the hour for dispatch of the mail, and for each such late letter an aditional fee of sixpence over and above the ordinary postage rate shall be paid in postage stamps affixed to the letter. On all inter-provincial letters posted in the receiving boxes on board mail stoamers, tha abovementioned letter fee of sixpence over and above the ordinary postage rate shall be paid in postage stamps affixed to the letter, otherwise a double late fee will be chargeable on delivery. A memorial from the residents of Waikouaiti to the Chief Postmaster, praying for the establishment of a daily mail between that place and Dunedin is being prepared* A goodly number of Signatures have been obtained. We are requested to draw attention to a notice in our advertising columns stating that the first of a monthly series of cattle sales at Oamaru, will be held at Messrs Dansey and Pattersons yards this day week the 21st instant by Mr J .Y. Ward. Next Tuesday, the 19th current, will be Liscensing day at the Court House, Oamaru. A hundred and forty-three applications for rural hinds have been sent in between the 14th and 31st of march. The largest claim was for 3000 acres at Manugatua. The total amount applied for was 6800 acres. All applications will be decided at the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands tbi« day. We beg to call attention to an advertismen 1 in another column of a public meeting, to held at Baker's Hotel, on Saturday afternoon next, to to consider what further means should be adopted to prevent the spread of pleuro-piieu-ruonia beyond the boundaries of the district now proclaimed infected. This is a question of deep interest to all stock-holders, and especially as efforts are being made at head quarters to have the Proclamation now in force annulled. A moßt distressing case of Suicide occured in Wellington on the morning of the 3rd instant. The Indepenhant of the sth instant has the following : — A man named Alfred Green Berry, committed suicide at his house in Kent Terrace, early on Sunday morning, by shooting himself with a pistol. The deceased had it appears been for come weeks in rather low spirits, and had at times drank freely. His wife had been absent from home with his permission, for three months, and returned a fortnight ago. On Saturday evening he had been drinking, and went home rather excited. He wished to take away the pillows on which his wife's head rested, and on her refusing he took down a pistol from the wall, loaded it, sat down on the floor, put it to his head, and fired it, the ball passing through his neck. From the evidence given at the Coroner's inquest it would appear that there was a tendency to insanity in the unfortunate man, and the Jury returned a verdict to that effect." The Press, of the 6th instant, says : — •' Some of the inhabitants of Christchurh were thrown into a state of excitment by the report that gold had been discovered in the artesian well now being sunk in front of the City Hotel. The rumour appears to be not without foundation, We ourselves saw several pieces of clay out of which were extracted many specks of the precious metal which stood the test of the strongest nitric acid, and, unless it was the prank of some old hand at prospecting, who, for the sake of taking a rise out of some of us, had " salted " the earth, it may be put down as a bone fide discovery. The gold was a fine scaley gold and was brought up in a stiff greasy blue clay. On the above discovery we find in the Editorial remarks the following: — A plan is in preparation by which the mud in which the precious ore is deposited, will be regularly discharged by the artesian springs, so that we shall only have to apply a bucket to the spout to get as mucb gold as we want. There will be no rush, no discomfort, all will be conducted in the most polite way consistent with the manners and habits of the centre of civilisation in New Zealand. It may appear wonderful to the mind of the Australian digger, but at this moment, notwithstanding the great discovery announced in another column, Christchurch is calm. A slightly triumphant twinkle in the shop windows is all that denoton its conciousncbs of the great event."