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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4546, 15 October 1875, Page 2

A rbtoen has been published of the quantity and value of gold exported from New Zealand from the Ist of April, 1857, to the 30th of September, 1875. The total thus exported was 7,875,6760z5., of a value of. £30,673,834. The quantities and values from the different centres of export were:—From Auckland, 986,7500z5., value £3,520,782,; Wellington, 80ozs., value £l2O ; Picton, 44,2370z5., value £171,660 ; Nelson, Westport, and Greymouth, 1,464,6430z5., value £5,813,323 ; Greymouth and Hokitika, 1,940,2600z5., value £7,668,398 ; Dunodin and Invercargill, 3,439,756, value £13,498,551. The total quantity exported during the quarter ended 30th September, 1875, was 99,0640z5., value £391,425. Of this Auckland exported

26,5590z5., value £100,535; Picton, 4680z5., yalue £1870; Nelson,' Westport, and Greymouth, 24,0620z5., value £96,751 ; Greymouth and Hokitika, 16,2800z5., value £65,129; and Dunedin and Invercargill, 31,6950z5., value £127,140. The places to which this was exported were Great Britain, 42,8770z5. ; New South Wales, 3516 ozs. ; Victoria, 52,1290z5.; China, 5410z5.; and to other parts, loz. The return of the quantity and value of gold exported from the several provinces of New Zealand, for the quarter ended 30th September, 1874, was 86,7530z5., value £349,494. This shows an increase for the quarter just expired. The figures stand : Quarter Ended 30th September, 1575. Auckland 26,559 ounces £100,535 Marlborough .. .. 468 „ 1,870 Nelson 24,062 „ 96,751 Westland 16,280 „ 05,129 Otago 31,695 „ 127,110 Total .. 90,064 £391,425 Quarter Ended 30th September, 1874, Auckland 19,414 ounces £79,823 Marlborough .. .. 658 „ 2,590 Nelson 20,435 „ 81,695 Westland 19,734 „ 78,933 Otago 26,542 „ 100,453 Total .. 86,783 £319,494 The Registrar-General's report on the vital statistics of the boroughs of Auckland, Thames, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Hokitika shows the deaths during the month of September to have been 126, and the births 274. There were 21 deaths and 61 births in Wellington ; 26 deaths and 38 births, at Auekland ; 9 deaths and 23 births, at the Thames; 8 deaths and 15 births, at Nelson; 27 deaths and 52 births, at Christchurch ; 27 deaths and 78 births, at Dunedin; and 8 deaths and 7 births, at Hokitika. The highest deathrate was at Christchurch, 2"53 per 1000 ; the lowest at the Thames, I'oß per 1000. The deaths were 2 fewer in number than the deaths in August. Of the deaths, males contributed 81 ; females, 45. 40 of the deaths were of children under 5 years of age, being 3175 per cent, of the whole number ; 27 of these were of children under 1, year of, age. There were 15 deaths of persons of 65 years of age and over, viz., 9 males and 6 females. The oldest male was 78; he died at Wellington. The oldest female was 80; she died at Dunedin. The deaths from zymotic diseases were 25 in September to •19 in August. Among the causes of death in this class there was an increase in the number of cases of typhoid fever from 5 to 8 ; and, there were 3 deaths from alcoholism. The deaths from constitutional diseases were by 3 less numerous than in August; and the deaths from local diseases showed a decrease of 8" in number. In the last class there was a marked difference between the number of deaths from diseases of the respiratory system in the two months, the number having been 33 in August, and 22 in September. The .mortality last month compared favorably with that in September 1874, when, with a less populatioa, the number of deaths was only 5 less than in September 1875. There was a larger mortality in September 1874, from zymotic diseases (33) than in September 1875 (25). Influenza caused 12 deaths in the former period, but does not appear among the causes of death in September 1875.

Considerable objections have hitherto been taken, particularly in the country districts, to the mode in which the various local school committees have been nominated by the Education Board, instead of being elected by the settlers themselves'; and we are now glad to leam that the Board, at their late meeting, decided that for the future every school district shall elect its own committee, to consist of not less than three or more than five members, to be elected by the parents of children attending each school and by the ratepayers residing within three miles of the school, no one to have the right of exercising a vote for more than one school within each educational district. The Board have also decided that the committee shall have a voice in the appointment of their respective teachers, out of a list to be supplied by the Board, and subject to their final approval. The whole of the rules and regulations of the Board have been codified, and are now being printed in pamphlet form for circulation, and as soon as this is done steps will bfl taken for holding the elections for local committees in each school district.

A few days since we had a leader on the report of the Foreign Loans Committee of the British House of Commons. In it we stated that the report had disclosed swindles on the part of English Stock Exchange rings, besides which those of local interest were trifling. We also pointed out that Sir Julius Vogel, by acting independently of the English Stock Exchange rings, had raised the last New Zealand loan without swindling borrower or lender. Our leader was intended for our subscribers and general readers, who are people of some intelligence, but seems to have fallen into the hands of some amiable gentleman who cannot understand English when it is written, and cannot write it when he tries to do so. Under the circumstances, we are'sorry that we travelled into a subject beyond his comprehension. There are people whose range of vision is limited to the ends of their noses, and who suffer from the fact that the limit to their vision has never gone far from home. These gentlemea can readily apprehend the profits to be derived from a contract for the removal of nightsoil, or the gain to be obtained by filching official information, but the affairs of the world at large possess no possible interest for them. We should have reflected before presenting for their possible criticism such a subject as the report of the Committee on Foreign Loans. We should have confined ourselves to such little incidents as the procuring of false testimony, the subjection to insult, the imperviousness to contempt which form the lessons that lives passed in a limited sphere of bad practices alone can learn. There would then at least have been no fear of our being mistaken or misunderstood. We should, of course, have been treated to similar abuse, but we should have had the satisfaction of knowing that our critic understood his subject thoroughly, and was writing from actual experience. Fully aware of this, we never intend to offend again. We never again intend to go beyond the depths of our critic's information. We shall content ourselves by inviting discussion on questions which even the veriest pothouse politician can fathom, and which can therefore bo no puzzle to gentlemen whose education in the world's affairs has commenced, perhaps, in punching bullocks, and terminated in a Provincial Council.

There is an institution common in Europe, and also in America, which might with great advantage be generally introduced into New Zealand. We allude to the convenient and comfortable street tramway. It is a positive matter of surprise that so useful an invention should never have found stout sponsors in this country. In London, two great systems are in full operation, one in the north connecting Highgato, Islington, &c, with the City-road, and one in the south connecting the various southern suburbs together, and with the various bridges. Street tramways are also to be seen in many continental cities, where they succeed well, and meet with general approval. The country, however, for street tramways is America, There every backwoods township, as soon as it imagines it is emerging into cityhood, though no larger than an English village, vindicates its dignity by the construction of a street tramway, while the large towns are pervaded by a network of lines passing along all the principal thoroughfares, and even extending into the country. By rendering conveyance convenient, cheap, and certain, they enable people to live at a greater distance from their places of business than they otherwise would, relieve the congestion of population in the centre of the town, and finally raise the value of outlying land. Why then should we in Wellington not have tramways ? Few would deny the utility of a line from the railway-station, or a little beyond, to the extreme end of Te Aro, with cars running at reasonable intervals. Such a line would bo of the greatest convenience to an immense number of people, by enabling them to go to and from their business expeditiously and comfortably at a low cost. The line might be single, with: occasionally short sidings, to enable cars to pass, and if the rails

were constructed as they are in England they would not be in the way of traffic. Such a line would pass near all the principal hotels, the banks, arid the whole business quarter of the town, and might easily be extended; and if such lines can be made to pay in a small town in America, with a population of under 4000, as is the case, surely in Wellington they could be made profitable undertakings.