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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4236, 17 October 1874, Page 2

The rules and regulations for the prize firing to take place at the Thames in 1875 were issued in the Government Gazette yesterday ; also some for district prizes, all offered by the General Government. These have been printed, in pamphlet form, at the Government office. They come, of course, from the Colonial Defence Office, and have been approved by Sir Donald McLean. There are colonial, district, and special prizes, and general rules are given. A plea of ignorance of these, it is expressly stated, will not be entertained, so it will be well for intending competitors to become acquainted with them. There are, it appears, three descriptions of rifle that may be used—the Enfield of any length, the converted Snider, and a breach or muzzle-loading Snider furnished by the Government. An appendix shows that this is a perfectly fair arrangement. At 200, 500, and COO yards the converted Snider was tried with the muzzle-loading Enfield, by experienced marksmen from ten districts in the colony. Any position was allowed, and the competitors fired eight shots each at Wimbledon targets. The muzzleloaders were new, and the converted Sniders partially worn. The result was that 640 points were obtained by the use of the Enfields, and 604 by the use of the Sniders, and the estimate of the authorities was that had both arms been in a like condition there would have been " little or no difference in their relative merits for accuracy." The general, rules for the use of the competitors declare what description of weapon may be used ; what must be the pull of the trigger ; that no magnifying sights or wind or sun screenß will be allowed; that sights may be blackened, and rifles cleaned ; that a bull's eye will score four, a centre three, and an outer two ; and that the firing for Government prizes must be superintended, if possible, by a Field Officer. " Should a competitor be absent when it is his turn to shoot a shot will be fired in the air, which the marker will score as a miss, in order that the accuracy and uniformity of .the figures may be maintained." The colonial prizes will be competed for by representatives from cavalry volunteers and the mounted portion of the Armed Constabulary, and, should the Cavalry Champion Belt be won two years in succession, or in three years with an interval, it will become the absolute property of the winner. This is accompanied by a silver medal, and £2O ; and the second highest aggregate scorer receives £lO. Other prizes are also offered, including the Champion Belt, to be worn by the winner until next competition, entitling him to the receipt of £SO and a gold medal. The Militia, the adult Volunteers excepting the cavalry, and the Armed ConstabuUu-y ma y compete. The second highest aggregate scorer will be entitled to £35 and a silver medal, the third to £3O and a medal, and the fourth to £25 and a medal. There will be a North and South Island Challenge Cup, and ten new Snider rifles will be presented to the winning team. The cup will be held by the highest. scorer until the next competition; and should he hold it-for two years in succession it will be his absolute property. The highest scorer in each team will receive £5, and Armed Constabulary representatives will be deemed to belong to the North Island. There will be an All Comers' Match, district prizes for cavalry, militia, artillery, engineer, rifle, and Native "Volunteers. For Wellington there are thirteen prizes under this heading, amounting to £3l, and eleven amounting to £2O. For the Hutt and Porirua there are ten, of the aggregate value of £25, and six of the value of £l2. For Masterton and Greytown there are six worth £l2, and three worth £C. For Kangitikei there are six representing £l4, and four representing £lO. There are also prizes for cadets, and special prizes for artillery and naval Volunteers, and for Native contingents.

Wb perceive by a return from the Chief Judge of the Auckland Native Land Court, issued on the authority of the Hon. the Native Minister, that during tho year ending June 30, 1874, the Judges sat 133 days in Auckland, and the assessors 196. In Wellington the Judges sat 129 days, and the assessors 145. In Hawke's Bay both Judges and assessors sat 41 days. In Auckland there were, during the period aforesaid, 560 claims pending as to land, in Wellington 154, in Hawke's Bay 71, in Taranaki 2, in Nelson 39, in Marlborough 32, in Canterbury 8, in Otago 23, and in Southland 14. In Auckland 239 claims to land were received, in Wellington 102, in Hawke's Bay 4, and in Canterbury 17. The cases disposed of amounted to 190 in Auckland, 83 in Wellington, and 70 in. Hawke's Bay. In Auckland 239 claims were adjourned, in Wellington 86, and 1 in Hawke's Bay. In Auckland there were 370 claims pending, 87 in Wellington, 4 in Hawke's Bay, 2 in Taranaki, 39 in Nelson, 30 in Marlborough, 24 in Canterbury, 23 in Otago, and 9 in Southland. Certificates had not been issued, in consequence of alterations in plans, for 8287 acres in Auckland, and for 4474 acres in Wellington. In Auckland, cer-

tificates were issued for 208,608 acres, in Wellington for 263,534, and in Hawke's Bay for 4848. Interlocutory orders under clauses 27 and 71 of the Act of 1565, were issued for 7000 acres in the Province of Auckland, and for 90,642 in that of Wellington. The total number of acres to which titles had been ordered by the Court was 253,896 acre 3 in Auckland, 358,651 acres in Wellington, and 4848 in Hawke's Bay. Ifor interpreters there were 37 licenses issued in Auckland, 9 in Wellington, 1 in Hawke's Bay, 1 in Taranaki, and 1 in Nelson. The numbers are given of. the testamentary orders applied for and issued, the orders in sub-division, the reheariugs, and the fees demanded and received.

Mn. J. Woodward, Public Trustee, recently reported to the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer his balance-sheet for the year 1873-4, as approved by Dr. Knight, the Commissioner of Audit. The sums received were on various accounts. In June, 1873, there was a cash balance of £34 in hand. The cash received on account of properties voluntarily placed in the office amounted to £4024; and on behalf of Intestate Estates, there had been £29,430 received, either as a balance transferred from the Treasury, or a receipt over the counter. The money received on account of Heal Estates was £1852; for Lunatics' Estates, £5287; for expenses, £1054; and as interest on investments, £4lo—altogether a total of £42,094. On account of properties voluntarily placed in the office, there was £1844 paid ; £7603 to claimants of Intestate Estates; and to the Treasury of sums unclaimed for six years, £3969. To claimants of Real Estate, £B6 was paid; on account of Imnatics' Estates, £2225 ; and £20,064, less a discount of £S39, was invested in Debentures of the New Zealand Government. There was paid, for expenses, the sum of £839. There was interest added to the current account, amounting to £409, and the cash in the Bank of New Zealand, on June 30th, was £5052, making the total of £42,094. Incidental receipts and expenses amounting to £1054 respectively, were shewn.

THE name of George F. Train is almost as well known in the Southern hemisphere as it is in America, where it has figured in the newspapers perhaps more than that of any other public man during the last few years. lie was amongst the earliest arrivals in Victoria on the discovery of the goldfields, and was successful as a merchant. To his enterprise Melbourne owes the only rice-mill it possessed for many years ; and the building—a massive bluestone one—cost a very large sum, and was long the pride of the city. Not satisfied with the opportunities which Victoria presented, Mr. G. F. Train soon realised his property and returned to America, where his career—his railway speculations, his towns built on the prairie and in the desert, his advocacy of the Woodhull freelove doctrine, and his persistent candidature for the Presidency, his imprisonment in England, and his subsequent adventures in America form a romance as remarkable as any of Dumas' creation. He has now, we see, subsided into comparative private life. He has withdrawn from the contest for the Presidency; he refuses to take part in polities, or meddle with newspapers, which he regards as " the abominable thing ;" and contents himself with watching the current of events. Mr. Train himself has a curious and characteristic theory for this great change. He has given up the use of animal food, has become a vegetarian, and to thi3 he attributes "the present coolness of his brain, and the calm content that has taken the place of his old restless ambition to rule and reform the country." How would this treatment suit some members who sit in opposition in the Assembly ? Vegetarianism, however, has given him a new theory as to the immediate future of his country. " The beginning of the end," he says, "is to be the panic of 1874, which is to occur between September and November, and will be of greater extent than the panics of 3837, 1847, 1857,1867, and 1873 combined." "Our financial edifice is likened by the ex-presidential candidate," says the New York Herald, "to a five-story building, the ground story being the first mortgage, the next the second mortgage, the next the third mortgage, the next the furniture, the next the wife's dower, and the roof outstanding bills. When the panic comes, it must knock away all the structure except the ground floor or first mortgage, and as this will be immediately destroyed by legislation, our property necessarily falls to pieces like a house built of cards." Is the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse also a vegetarian ?

America has long been the great field for quack doctors, and it has inundated Europe with " bogus" diplomas to medical men, as well as to clergymen, and incapables who desired to be "doctors of laws and literature," and who were willing to pay for the fravid. We notice, how-. ever, that the subject has attracted attention, and that an effort is about to be made to suppress the nuisance, so far as medical diplomas are involved. In a late number of a leading New York journal we find the following note : —" An Act of the Legislature provides fully for the suppression of quack doctors of medicine, and recent occurrences have directed the attention of the Board of Health to the importance of enforcing ifc. A quack doctor is nothing but a murderer in disguise, and more dangerous, in truth, than an ordinary assassin. The one kills purposely ; the other kills in an ignorant effort to cure." The English law is somewhat strict on the subject, but in some of the colonies —and perhaps we may include New Zealand—it has not been so strictly enforced as it should be.