THE HUTT.

New Zealander, Volume 6, Issue 480, 20 November 1850, Page 3

THE HUTT.

The favourable weather recently set in has completely changed the appearance of the valley. Settlers a< c busily occupied in clearing and burning the timber off the land, and putting in crop* of such vegetables as are suitable (or the Culifornian market* The low price of timber at San Francisco put a itop to the sawing operation!, to which the fanner high prices there bad girennse; but a considerable number of the sawyers aie q ill occupied in splitting Totara into posts, rails ( and idlings for fencing, this wood having been found more durable thau any other used for these purposes in the di»trict, Twoomn ; buses run daily between Wellington and the Hutt They start from the Hutt Bridge every morning, Sunday excepted, between the hours of 8 and 9 o'clock, leaving Wellington at 4 in the afternoon* The fares are moderate, and the drivers civil. The read between Wellington and Petoni ii good, with the exception of two small portions where it requires widening, there being scarcely sufficient room for a single vehicle to pass. Between the Hutt Bridge and the Taiti the road is excellent, but appears in some places to have been washed by winter floods. Indeed, so great is the change produced by tins agency, that we should not be surprised if, in a year or two, the river weie to change its course across the road into the Waiwelu River. The mischiefs remlting from the fl>ods have been greatly aggravated by the wanton manner in which timber has been foiled and thrown into the river. Obstructions thus raised to the course of the stream have not only occasioned much heavier floods than would otherwise have occurred, but in many placet, has changed the course of the river. We have bten informed that the river in some parts is more than twice us wide as it was seven years ago ; i i other H, by the changes in its course, breaches have been made in the banks, and seveal acres of valuible land and on whith labour had b en expended now forms purl of its bed. Only sufficient wheat for homeconsump ion will be gtown in the llu t this seitson. The sfiiler-> state that, at the present rate of wages and market price of wheit, the cultivation of it for- sale will not remunerate them ; and that it is not probable they will be able to compete with the Muones in this article. Giound on which wheat, &o , has been grown for some years past, i< now laid down in grass, und there is every prospect of a good crop of buy, if care be taken to eradicate the docks A flour mill is now being erected at the Tditi,to be driven by a water wheel of 15 borne power. This will bs a great conveyance to the settlers in that district, to whom the cxpeuae of cart-ing the wheat required for

their own conmmption to the Bridge or Welucjßtou, and returning with the flour, has hitherto beeu » adn> ■iderable tax.— Wellington Independent.

I Sticri Coinage.— The last symbol of Sikh supremacy in tiie Punjab it about to pass away. The coinage of Runjeet Singh and his succeisori ii to be called in with the least practicable delay, to be assayed and melted dovrn at Lahore, and forwarded for recoinage to Cal» cutta or Bombay, as toon as a sufficient amoaat of Company's coin can be obtained to replace that about to be withdrawn from circulation. We suspect that, desirable as the alteration will be, some time muit elapse before a complete change cm take place, and that, unless a period be fixed within which only the Nanukshaie rupee is to be considered a legal tender, a considerable number wilt be retained by those who cling to the " ancient regime" with a lingering hope that Sikh supremacy may once more be in the ascend* ant,— Lahore Chronicle.