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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4957, 10 February 1877, Page 2

A return of lands sold and deposits received in the provincial district of Wellington, from the Ist to 31st January, shows that land to the value of £783 was. disposed of. During January the estates of George Frear, of Feilding, and Roger Cock, .deceased, were placed in'' the hands of the Public Trustee. 1 The value of the former was under £IOO, and the-latter‘uh'dOr 10. ■'' 1 ■ ' • j We hear that the “Jupp” mentioned in the telegram as having arrived in the Arawata, is Jupp, the English cricketer, and that he is at present in Christchurch. I - : j Orders in Council published in the Gazette assign jointly the judicial districts of Westland and Nelson to Chief Justice Prendergast and Mr. Justice Richmond, and Wellington district to Mr. Justice Richmond. ! It is stated that Mr. Gilligan has purchased from Mr. Redwood, the horses Songster and Stirabout. Lady of the" Lake, with which Mr.. Gilligan took the Maiden Plate yesterday, was a purchase' from Mr. Redwood ; and we hope that, the latest additions to his stable will jilace more'wins to his credit, ; The following tenders have been received by the Public Works Department for the construction of protective works at the Orari bridge, on the Bangitata to Temuka railway, viz.Accepted—Jones and Peters, Timaru, £2Bl. Declined—Silas Sibley, Timaru, £lB5 (refused to complete contract) ; ‘ W. H.'Barnes, Christchurch, £275 (informal); Wm. McGill, Timaru, £315 ; W. Armand and Co., Timaru, £561.; Thomas H. Parsons, Timaru, £BO9. ■ | At 9 o’clock his morning Selby, the English dricketer, meets J. G. Harris, in a fifty yards spin for £25 a side. Mr. Harris achieved a high reputation as a ,runner some, three or four years ago in Australia, ’ He proved* too much for all Victorians, and then tried conclusions With a Tasmanian champion named Collins, but beat him without the least trouble. He has not run for a considerable time past, and it altogether out of form, and we should think he has but little chance ■ ‘ The sheep inspector for; the Wellington District, Mr. T. 0. Richardsohi says in his annual report -‘.‘.Having only recently-been appointed inspector of the district, I am not able to; report: on’tire condition of all the flocks. There arej seven flocks in the neighborhood of Johnsonv'ille infected with scab ; but as the owners have dipped them several times since shearing and are putting up secure fences, I hope soon to report them flockowners'in the West Coast Districts who have neither sent return? noypaid assessments ■on their sheep for the last three' or fodr years, lintend visiting.their,neighborhood soon, and will endeavor to cblldct assessments in arrear.” The assessment return shows that there are 97,999 sheep in the district, on which the assessment amounts to £2Ol 3s. 3Jd.

We have received the “ New Zealand Jurist” fer January.

Dr. Smith, of Greytown, has been appointed a public vaccinator. Mr. S. T. Fitzherbert has been appointed Crown Prosecutor for Wanganui. The race between Selby and Donovan yesterday - moaning, was a hollow affair. Selby had the matter .all his own way, and Donovan gave up after travelling three-quarters of the distance. Mr. Mace saw fair play at the start, and Messrs. Murphy and; 'Bryce acted as An error •in a name m'our yesterday s report of the cricket match caused Lockett to receive a little credit [which was intended to be given to Kennedy.- ! It should have been stated that Kennedy was the” only man on the, Wellington side who showed steadiness of play by making a stand in both innings.

The carbine and rifle representatives fired another match yesterday morning. The scores were—Carbines : McCredie, 61 ; Bannister, 55 ; total, 116. Rifles : Mclntosh, 47 ; Ballinger, 52 ; total, 99. The carbines are now 29 points ahead. The last match of the series will take place this morning if the weather be fine enough. -

; We learn that Mr. Gurr, a gentleman from Adelaide, has been appointed to the charge of the Featherston school, and has arrived in the township. The hew teacher we (Masterton News) understand brings excellent testimonials, and as the school now contains about 100 pupils, we may again look forward to it attaining the high character which it attained under the charge of- Mr. Everiss.The places of amusement were well patronised last, evening. The Lingards played to a very good house, and the Pantascope was crowded. The gifts presented at • the latter entertainment form a great draw. Last evening several valuable prizes were obtained, one lady getting a gold watch. This afternoon there will be a matinee, and as the company leave next week, this will be the last entertainment of the sort. ■ ; We learn that tenders have been accepted by the N.Z.S.S. Company for compounding the engines 'of the Eangatira, the amount' being, weunderstand, somewhere about £4500. It is expected she will attain a high rate of speed from the additional power, and the increased size of the propeller, from 7ft. to 9ft. It is calculated shcwill reach a speed of over ten knots an hour,- and perform the journey to Napier in twenty hours. Mr. E. W. Mills.is .the contractor.

: -The Southland Times says:—ln an action between ' two parties, of whom one resides in Auckland and the other in a southern district, matters were amicably settled out of court, the, former agreeing to pay the law costs of the latter. The bill for these was sent up to Auckland, and was found to “ tot up ” to the respectable . .sum of £123 10s. Considering that the case had not been brought into court, dnd that therefore these-were- preliminary costs,.'th'at siim of £123 10s. may be : safely declared to be a respectable one. The Auckland party got the bill “ taxed,” and the-result was a reduction to the paltry fee of £8 10s.! The Otarjo Guardian says :—“ Within a week or so it is expected that the dredging operations at Maoandrew’s Bend-will be'so far finished as to leave a safe channel for vessels drawing 14ft. of water to' come up the harbor. This has been the place which presented the only difficulty in : the way of the Hawea and Taupo coming to the Rattray-street Wharf, so that before long we .may expect these steamers to come regularly to Dunedin.- The Board decided to complete the dredging, at Macandrew’s Bend at once, and then to fulfil- its promise to dredge for a fortnight at Port Chalmers before handing the plant to the contractor for the channel.” ; ■

1 It will be gratifying to the immigrants by the ship Leicester to leartfthat the, paper published weekly in manuscript, bh board during the voyage has,, been printed under the title of the Leicester Gazette.' We can fully believe from a perusal that it will be of especial inte-rest~tb“thA'pTsaeh‘geri;7an<r-sefve to Tceep in memory the various'incidents of the voyage. But standing on its .merits as a literary production it must be regarded-as a great success; it is brimful of fun, and' under the oircum T stances many professional newspaper meii would be proud of‘the little brochure. The weekly productions are enclosed in a neat cover,*and the whole, published a shilling, A limited number' have been printed, and Copies are on sale at this office. !

: A serious accident occurred at the Government Buildings yesterday afternoon. Hugh (lurry, a messenger, yyas ascending from the ground 'floor, in r the hydraulic press, -and it is supposed that when be' the Bgocnad, story*he attempted to get bfi,-not* Saving 'first stopped the lift, in consequence of which his legs got* jammed between the machine and the Woodwork of the floor. With some difficulty fie. was extricated, portion pf,the frame at the side had been broken away to allow of His release. Dr. Kemp,' who was quickly in attendance, did all he . could to alleviate the poor man’s sufferings. His" left thigh was found to be broken,' and his right leg also appeared unuch injured, although,- so great was the swelling, the exact nature of the injury could not be at once pronounced. Curry was subsequently taken to the Hospital and attended by Dr, Bradford.

I Sir John Richardson, Professor Black, find Mr. Pearson', Commissioner for ! Crown Lands in Southland, while on a trip in that province ikst week, had their attention, attracted! by stones 'and boulders: of a quartzoze description, being of a ;whitish grey color and as hard as whinstone, and the party proceeded to break some- of- themr - The -Tmes says- the result of this labor was the collection of 1 some of the fiiost beautiful fossils we have seen in the (joldny; 1 They have been' deposited in the museum of the Invercargill Athenaeum. Some of the fossils look wonderfully like the leaves of the native wild briar, which grows profusely :on 'hill 1 ‘ sides, beside Watercourses, 1 and ; frequently ; oyer . the trunks of-fallen trees Others resemble the thin'‘Wiry. I pretty green fern 1 which - may be found growing in any clump of; moss Lin Seaward Bush or on the slopes beyond Appleby on the Bluff-road. ■ A peculiarity of the' fossilsds that they are not only beautifully perfect! in themselyes, but they are distinctly impressed: on the stone formation under or over' them, as the cise may be. The same party of gentlemen brought several lizards to town, one of them being a green one six or seven inches in length; of a kind occasionally seen in the' riorthem ; ' parts of Otago, but never, so far as We know, met with in Southland. "

i Messrs. • Gilchrist, Watt, and Co. have received an intimation from the Pacific Mail Company that they accept the. proposal contained ill Mr. - Robertson's last letter on the subject. That proposal was that the subsidy should be reduced to £75,000, of which New South Wales should guarantee. £40,000 and New Zealand the balance, and that the boats should go from Sydney' to Honolulu via a p'ort in' New Zealand. 1 The Willingness on the part of the contractors to' adopt this proposal '(bbs'erves the Sydney Echo) simplifies matters somewhat; biit the'new service cannot be bom-' inenced forthwith, for, in the first place, 1 our Government will' not take any steps till the assent of'Parliament has been obtained, and the‘subject will probably hot be brought under discussion till certain returns which' have been asked for as to the cost and receipts of the Transpacific lines have been presented. When that is done, it will still be necessary to secure the adhesion of the New * Zealand Government. • That has not been yet obtained, and it is doubtful whether it will be obtainable ; for the terms laid down . by the Legislature, which is • not now in session, are not the same as those submitted by Mr. Robertson, and the Cabinet is not prepared to take the responsibility of going beyond, those terms. Even if New South Wales surrenders the demand for making the agrees to the further detention of the boats calling at Auckland, the Cabinet of Wellington is'only willing to contribute to the subsidy less than the amount stated by Mr. Robertson. We'are not without hope, however, that the outstanding difficulties will yet bo resolved. At any rate, the contractors have helped towards that result, by accepting the proposal of the New South Wales Government.

We understand that in the W ellington Country Districts, such as Jolmsonville and other places, the cut and standing grain has been a great deal injured by the rain. The Lyttelton Times, in reference to the crops in Canterbury says : -The heavy rains of the past few days have,done a deal of damage to crops in the Northern districts, and already fields of wheat which are cut and untied have shown signs of growing. Fortunately, fully three-fourths of the crops have been secured, and the damage is not general.

A few more lines about the frog. We hope the public are not getting weary of frog stories, but certainly we are. A correspondent writes to say—Mr. Baker’s lot, I daresay, have increased in the Karori district, and Mr. Someone- else’s at the Patent Slip, but I should scarcely think that either lot have got as far as Willis-street yet. Would it not rather appear that the little fellow might have found his way here by one of Messrs. Beck and Tonks’ traders from Hobarton, seeing that the yards of that firm are just opposite the drawing room widows where he was picked up? Only a few months: ago Mr. Guilford showed me a fine specimen which • he found in a bag of bark, imported from that quarter for the use of his tannery at Berhampore ; and why should not this one have come down in some of the bundles of shingles that are brought here ? The fire at Mr. Griffiths’ manufactory, which we briefly recorded yesterday, it seems did considerable damage, but it is matter for surprise that the fire was extinguished so speedily. The building in which the fire occurred is situated is the lane which runs past the Bank Hotel in Manners-street. It is of wood, with a corrugated iron roof, and being in close proximity to many other wooden buildings, it is undoubtedly one of the worst places in which a fire could occur. The building, which was stocked with biscuits and confectionery, was locked up about six o’clock on the previous evening, and so far as can be discovered no one was inside afterwards. The fire broke out : upstairs in the “ drying” room-—the room in which lollies are placed after they have. been moulded, and as the walls and floor of the room are of cement, it is difficult to ' imagine how it originated. The stock was insured.

f. A Gazette was issued yesterday containing— Orders in Council with reference to the judicial districts of Wellington, Nelson, and Westland ; appointment of G. W. Woon, Esq., to be Eegistrarof Births, Deaths, and Marriages, also Vaccination Inspector,'' for Wanganui ; acceptance of the resignation by -Joseph Giles, Esq., of his appointment, as rEesjdent-Magis-trate,' &c., for Wanganui; and; appointment of Edward Hardcastle in bis room ; appointment of M. F.- South, Esq., Deputy r Registrar Supreme Court at Hokitika; andG. W. Woon, Esq., Clerk ■ to . tlje. Resident; Magistrate’s Court, 1 Wanganui; appointment jof Mr." E. N. Keeling, of Palmerston, and Mr. A. A. Browne, of Wanganui, Certificated Accountants in Bankruptcy; appointment of Thursday, 15th, as first meeting. day of the Wanganui Harbor Board; railway returns; application °f C. E. N. Weston; -for registration of a trade mark; list of Crown grants lying at the office, Wellington, ready for being, issued; gold mining notices, &o. ~ ' 1 The Home correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes : —“ Reports of the failing health and probable retirement of Mr. Delane, the editor of The Times, have been circulated for fully a year past; but latterly they have assumed so positive and circumstantial i a form that it becomes necessary to notice them. It is doubt that Mr.; Delane’s health is seriously impaired, and that on this account Kis duties are. being.discharged by another;and as he is now 61 years of age, it is not unnatural to suppose he is seeking the rest which is impossible of attainment so long as he wields the thunderbolts of the Jupiter of Printing Housesquare, It is stated that Sir George Dasent, whd .for many years was Mr. Delahe’s'principal colleague, was asked to succeed him, but Sir George having lately got a snugberthas’a Civil Service Commissioner, and knowing the arduous nature of the post offered him, declined to be tempted. Mr. Leonard Courtney, one of the best.of the staff of leader-writers attached to The Times, has'been spoken of as the next 1 most likely man to fill the vacancy, but he is at pre--spot contesting the representation of Liskeard, and is, moreover, a Liberal of too decided, a type to be altogether suited for the editorship of such a political chameleon ,as The Times. Meanwhile Mr. Stebbing is conducting: the paper, but his efforts are far from giving satisfaction, and many complaints, are made of the doctrinaire character . the leading articles of The Times , have assumed, especially in respect of the Eastern question. It seems to be as difficult to get a really good editor for a leading '■ paper ! nowadays; as Napoleon found it to be to • get a; general : capable of commanding 100,000 men. Mr. Walter has just returned from the Philadelphia Exhibition, where he is said to have been'much in the company of Mr. Childs, the eneagetio proprietor 1 of the Philadelphia Ledger, and probably' the most fars'eeing newspaper man' in : America. I It ■ is rumored that Mr. Walter, acting on the advice of Mr.' Childs, intends to start a- penny evening paper in London, but for the truth of this I cannot vouch. I believe, however, that I am correct in stating that before long a penny weekly summary of news will be issued from The Times office.” ■ Wednesday’s issue of the Otago Daily Times contains a three column report of the floods in Otago. . It says :—The ra?n which set in steadily shortly before midnight on Sunday last, continued ’to pour down in torrents ■during Monday, and. Tuesday,- and .showed no signs of abatement "until after nightfall on, Tuesday. The rain was: accompanied with.little or no wind, and poured down with great steadiness from a dense mass of cloud which slowly drifted up from the' southward,' and seemed to touch the top of the hills surrounding the city. The effects of the downpour ■ were soon visible in town, the waterchannels in the streets rapidly assuming the appearance of mountain' torrents, choking the culverts, and flooding the- cellars and stores of those unfortunate citizens who occupy the low-lying parts'of* the city. , The Water of Leith, which is always a source of terror on such occasions,' rose rapidly, and, rushing along with fearful force, brought along with it an immense quantity Of timber—some of it consisting of pine trees of great size—which contributed largely to the work of destruction. On Tuesday morning intelligence came in from all quarters of the extent of the floods, and before: the afternoon was well advanced Dunedin was practically cut off from' communication with the;; country,, either by coach or railway. A more unfortunate time for such a visitation could scarcely be conceived, as farmers throughout: the- country were busily engaged in gathering in the harvest, and it is now too evident that the crops are almost utterly destroyed. Strange to say, the floods of 1863 also occurred about the sth and 6th of February, and although; we may congratulate ourselves upon the fact that on the present occasion no loss of life has to be recorded, yet it is to be feared that the destruction of property this-year will exceed anything which took place previously. It is of Course impossible to estimate the exact amount of damage done in the city and suburbs ; but it is certainly very extensive, and. owing to the great increase of population in Kensington, South Dunedin, and St. Kilda, much misery must be endured by many poor families who are but ill-prepared to cope with such a misfortune.

Respecting the Auckland Museum the '.Herald writes :—We understand that some additions of an attractive character are expected from Paris. Dr. Filhol, of the French Transit of Venus Expedition, remained in New Zealand for some time, and, having credentials from the Museum at Paris, arrangements were made with him for exchanging. We asked for skins of birds from Europe, Asia, and North America, which are always attractive, and as the Paris Museum has a number of collectors out, the curator will doubtless be able to send what is wanted. It will be interesting to know what we gave in exchange, as showing what we have to give, and what European collectors most wish to get. The Auckland Museum sent to Paris, by desire of Dr. Filhol, a large number of Maori skulls and a complete Maori

skeleton, and these will be of great interest at present to European savants. These skulls were mostly obtained from the caves in the volcanic hills of the Auckland district, which have been so prolific in this respect ; not from the caves at the Three Kings, which have been pretty well ransacked, were these specimens obtained, but from caves at Mount Wellington, in the hills by the Tamaki, and from caves on the Ellerslie racecourse. It has often been said that the bones were carted from the caves in the lava stream at the Three Kings in order to make bonedustfor manure, but we believe that to be a fable. They were taken by curiosity - hunters to satisfy the demands of science. It is rather curious that all our New Zealand museums and scientific men were .too late to secure a Maori head preserved in the old style. Our readers will remember the lively account given in “ Old New Zealand ” of the trade in heads in the early days, when slaves were tattooed up to the proper point and then decapitated, in order that, the head might be sold for exportation. That, however, is a “local industry” which is now extinct, and Dr. Haast, of the Canterbury Museum, had actually to send to Europe and purchase one. However, what we can give to Europe is not confined to Maori skulls. Mr. Murray, M.H.R., in addressing his constituents at Milton, said the colony now has sixty-three Provincial Councils instead of nine. He had just received a telegram from Christchurch, stating that her railway revenue to 31st December was only £209,000, so that the railway returns will probably be over estimated by £240,000. Thus, there would be a deficiency of £400,000 to be made up by the issue of Treasury bills or by selling land. The estimate of land revenue was £605,000, but the actual proceeds of sales in Otago and Canterbury were upwards of a million. On the point , that payments to road boards and munici-palities-could not be continued he was entirely in accord with Mr. Reid, but did not know how the latter joined the Ministry, and couldnot reconcile his strong views on this question with the entirely opposite .views on the part. of the Government. The valuation of last session, seemed to be a Parliamentary-step towards an income and property tax. Referring to native matters, he said that returns had been prepared of native expenditure which would astonish people. He hoped the Government would not carry out sweeping .-reductions of the constabulary. Referring to the - San Francisco service, he hoped they would try ■ and do away with what was neither more nor less than an incubus.-. Upon the .railway construction .he , spoke strongly, saying hi reference to:the, Glutha that l the late Minister of Railways and his assistants had.ignored theni express instructions of. Parliament,, because' the; people of Waitepuka dared to have} a -mind ;o£ I their own; as to' the’route the line ;should take,, and the works had .been -held back while the Canterbury lines were pushed ahead in all . , directions, because Mr. Richardson wished to make important the town.of Christchurch, and. enrich -the- merchants at the-expense- of- Dunedin. He had been on . reliable authority that a million’ of money, had.been wasted on permanent way and rolling stock alone, and nearly as much thrown away, by the manner in which the permanent wayj.wasj made.; Sir .Julios Vogel had done as he/ [Mr. Murray) expected—retired when he got thecolony into a mess. He regretted ; that ,-Afr. • Reid had joined the Ministry, and would rather have seen him wait till next. session, -take his-' proper position as leader, and turn out the present ■ Government. Sir George Grey tad not always , been in the right, but. ho fought earnestly and zealously for what he believed to be the people’s rights. A vote of, thanks was passed to Mr. Murray. About 109 were present. ■ ' Wehave been requested to state that in'consequence of to-day being a race day, Messrs. Beau- , champ, Campbell, and Co. will not hold their horse sale. ■ ' With Taequin’s Ravishing Strides, stealthy .but swift, disease advances in the feeble organisation,. Had the constitution ’ been fortified by seasonable in-, vigoration the attack might have been-warded off} Now, perhaps, medicinal, succor may be unavailing. Feeble invalid bo warned’in time. ; Thousands ■ perish Who might have been preserved by tonic treatment. Vitalise your-enfeebled-system and-live,-. Know that there is health, strength, and cheerfulness,in every bottle of XTdolpho Wolfe’s Schiedam. Aeomatio Schnapps.—[Advt.]