Talk of the Week.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 229, 29 January 1876, Page 13

Talk of the Week.

During the last quarter of 1875, 7,955,2950z5. of gold, valued at £30,984,786, was exported from the colony. Otago heads the list of producing districts, exporting 3,465,7010z5., valued at £13,602,266 ; Westland comes next with 1,958,5480z5., valued at £7,741,549 ; Nelson returns 1,486,6960z5., value £5,091,557 ; Auckland, 1,000,0830z5., value £3,567,634. During 1575, 355,3220z5., valued at £1,407,770 was exported, as against 376,3380z5., valued at £1,505,331, in 1874.

We are indebted to the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs for the following extract from the report of Capt. J. B. Greig, coast-waiter at Stewart's Island, for the quarter ended 31st December, 1875, which will be found very interesting :—" Nothing of importance has taken place within the district during the quarter, the only new settlers being a few men who had originally been brought over to work at the saw mill, but are now settling down to other work, and are making clearings and homesteads for themselves in the bush. For all that, the general welfare of the whole population is progressing steadily onward. The tinning of fish at Half Moon Bay is still in operation, and I believe will be continued, although the difficulty of getting into working order an enterprise of the kind, particularly in maintaining the exact supply, of fish required, in an isolated place like this, in which labor is scarce, and where nearly every man has found employment of his own originating, which he is loth to give up, is much greater than would at first sight appear. One thing in favor of the work is this, it is producing a variety of tinned fish, which in point of quality must ensure ready sale, and, so far as I can learn, at remunerative prices. The closing of the oyster season on the 31st of October showed it to have been a most money-making one to all engaged in this quarter. The price and the demand kept up to the end,

and the oyster bed itself proved quite equal ' to the calls made on it. In fact, it would almost appear as if the quantity of. oysters on it were increasing, when one looks at the facility with which they are now obtained, for I have known over nine hundred dozen to be taken up this last seasion by two men and a boy in a day and a half, although that might be accounted for on the supposition that the fishermen are now becoming better practised to their 'work. The real oyster-producing power of this bed will, however, in all probability, soon be tested, for appearances already show that the trade will be more vigorously prosecuted next season than it has been hitherto. Already there are four vessels on the whaling ground— i.e., the vicinity of the Solanders, which seems to be a great resort of the sperm whales. One of these vessels is the Chance, of Invercargill ; the other three are American. Two of the Americans have brought into Port William three sperm whales, equal to twenty-one tuns of oil ; and the Chance is here at present trying out the blubber of a sperm whale which she killed and cut up outside (about eight tuns). The vessels all report having seen many whales, and should fine weather prevail the whaliDg business here will 2Jrobably be unusually successful for some months to come.—The sawmill at Half Moon Bay is still at work, having cut during the last twelvemonth about 500,000 superficial feet of timber, mostly red pine, a great portion of which has been used within the district.

Accokding to the Timaru Herald, the recently returned provincialise member- for Waitaki are disqualified:—"Mr. Shrimski because he is under contract with the Government to do certain auctioneering business for them, and Mr. Hisloj) because he is Crown Solicitor. Under the Disqualification Act, certainly, the tenure of a post of profit such as that of Crown Solicitor effectually debars a man from holding a seat in Parliament, and so does the fact of being in any way concerned in a Government contract. During the last session we saw Mr. Montgomery obliged to seek re-election at Akaroa, through being engaged, though without his knowledge, in a Government contract. Any one, indeed, thus situated, who takes his seat in Parliament, is liable to very heavy penalties, which, however, were, we believe, remitted in Mr. Montgomery's case, in view of his manifest innocence of improper intention. If the circumstances of the Oamaru case are as they are stated, there seems to be no doubt whatever that Mr. Steward and Mr. O'Meagher are duly elected." " So far," continues the Herald, "as the political views which we entertain are concerned, as well as our estimate of the personal qualifications of the candidates, we should heartily welcome such a result; but on broader grounds we could not but regard it as a matter for great regret that the deliberate and emphatically expressed choice of a large constituency should be made of no avail through an accidental technicality. We should sincerely like to see Mr. Steward and Mr. O'Meagher——especially the latter -in the House; but we should wish them to arrive there by the election of a majority of the voters, not by the disqualification of more popular candidates."