New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 8, 1850.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 497, 8 May 1850, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, May 8, 1850.

The Sydney papers received by the Shepherdess are to the 20th April, -containing English intelligence to the 29th December. The Sydney Herald contains several notices relating to the proposed exhibition of all nations, which is to be held in London in February, 1851 ; and advises that samples of the wool, salt beef, wines, and other products of that colony, should be sent for exhibition. It is certain that the different colonies of Great Britain will severally contribute the productions peculiar to their soil or climate which are, or are likely to become, articles of export. In this general competition New Zealand ought to bear her part, and we hope the suggestions we threw out in a recent number relating to this subject will be acted upon. Considering the length of the voyage to England there is not much time to spare, and if anything is to be done, it will be necessary forthwith to commence making such arrangements as will ensure the timely arrival in England of the different samples forwarded from this colony.

On Monday evening the boat which has for some time past been building for the Local Government, for the service of the Wanganui river, was launched in rhe immediate neighbourhood of Messrs. Hickson & Co.'s wharf, Te Aro. She is built whaleboat-fashion for greater safety in taking the bar, and is capable of carrying 25 tons. She appears to be very strongly put together and is well adapted for her proposed employment.

From the following paragraph it would ap • pear that the rumours of legal changes in New Zealand, so frequently repeated of late in the Australian papers, have ended in the appointment of Mr. Sydney Stephen as Judge of Otago. As, from the very limited amount of business in the Courts of New Zealand, the offices of the two Judges now acting may be almost regarded as sinecures, the appointment of another Judge at £800 a-year (more than one-fourth of the amount of revenue collected at Otago) with still less to do, is a very serious piece of extravagance which, if there be any truth in the report of the speedy introduction of local steam communication between the different settlements of New Zealand, is also wholly unnecessary ; since, in event of steam, one Judge will be more than sufficient for the requirements of the Southern Province for many years to come :—: — New Jddgeship. — Mr. Sydney Stephen has been appointed Judge of .Otago, New Zealand, with a salary of £800 per annum. Mr. Stephen, who practised at the bar in Sydney for many years, is now resident at Melbourne ; he is a son of the late Mr. Justice Stephen, and brother to Chief Justice Sir Alfred Stephen. — Sydney Herald.

We have been favoured with the following extract from a letter from San Francisco, dated February 2, 1850, received by a gentleman in this town. The writer's first impressions appear to be of a much more favourable character than those of the great majority of "persons who have recently arrived at the El Dorado :—: — "We have been here a fortnight, after a fair and pleasant voyage, and find ourselves agreeably deceived in our expectations. San Francisco is certainly a most extraordinary place, but as respects California all is extraordinary. All accounts respecting the quantity of gold are correct, and moreover more and more continues to be found ; order and decorum exists here as much as in Sydney, and the principle of meum and tuum better

understood — there is no drunkenness in thfe streets, but there is plenty of gambling in the houses appropriated for the purpose ; they are, however, principally supported by the Spaniards and Mexicans."

Pbogbammb of the performance of the Band of the 65th. Regt., at Thorndon Flat, on Wednesday, May Bth :—: — 1. Overture — Les Diamans de lal . . Couronne f Auber 2. Selection — La Figlia del B.eeei-1 _ ..... mento f ... f^onntzetti 3. Standard Bearer Quadrilles Jullien 4. Caratina— Tutto c' Sciolto— So- 1 „ „. . nambula \Bellint 5. Pas dcs Fleurs Waltz MaretzcJc 6. Song — " Yes, let me like a soldier "1 r^ „ fall-Maritana } Wallace 7. Geschwind March Walch 8. German Polka Koenig.