MISCELLANEOUS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume 357881, Issue 350, 7 June 1877, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

JOHN BROWS". As the Royal procession was wending . • Its way to St. Stephen's on Hie opening day a kilted Highlander reclining in one of the Royal carriages attracted the notice of the crowd. '"Hurray!" cried the many headed, "ere's John Brown!" • The Highlander thrust his head out of the window in a rage. " I'm not John Brown!" he cried; "I'm Cameron of Lochiel!"— World. FACTS AND FIGURES. The following are actual facts, and prove conclusively that there is not the least cause for fear as to the future prosperity of this Colony :—" In Victoria, the most thickly populated of all the Australasian colonies, in 1575, there were 1,126,891 acres in cultivation ; in South Australia there were 1.4-14,586 acres, in New South Wales, the oldest of the whole of the Colonies, there were 451,138 acres, in, Tasmania, 332,824 acres : while in New Zealand there were 2,377,402 acres. In 1875, there was an aggregate area in culfci- _ .vation in Victoria, "New South "Wales, . South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland, and "Western Australia, of ".480,297 acres; while in the same year New Zealand cultivated 2,377,402 acres, fully twothirds of the aggregate area of the other six. colonies. .New Zealand is increasing the area of cultivated land, her population, her commerce, and her wealth at a rate which is unprecedented. In the same year (1875) the imports of Australia and " Hew Zealand were valued at L47,272,83D — the exports from L 44,407,501, or a total of L 91,679,841 for the trade returns of the year. These are more like the figures of a werlthy empire than those of a few small cplonies scarcely forty years old, and only partially occupied by a handful of people. —The total imports of New Zealand during 1875 we find to have been L 8,029,172, and the exports L j,528.G27. THE REV. T. S. rORSAITTI. The Rev. T. S. Forsaith, of N;-w South Wales, has been preaching in the empire city to crowded comirecrations. • "The Rev. T. S. Forsaith":"'"' Yv\U. such is • life my dear boj-s. Tommy was a m"tableman in his tin.e in New Zealand before he took to tie pulpit. He was -'Native Protector," or "Protector of the Aborigines"—l forget the exact title, under the Imperial Government in the naviv j days of the Colcny. ami his r'i'o'ectorafe was marked by many outw.-ri and visible i signs of his influence over the native race. | Subsequently he took- to drapery and: white politics, was elected a member of j the House of Representatives, and on one occasion by a most txtraordinary > fluke became a member of the j\x.<_'cnti\e before responsible Govern muni was established. On some occasion, I forget f.Tithe moment what it was that brought it about, Tommy Forsaith had to be "sent for" to form a new Ministry, but he did not arrive at the House i- aJinour.ee what had been done- until long after -J:: hour of meeting. Bis apology "w.-.s that hj.; h;i-.l been home to put on a clean shirr, and hence the soubriquet of " the Oh.-'u .Shirt Ministry" which has attached to that - short-lived Executive ever sinoe : it did not exist forty-eight hours. A It: vthis my reverend friend was a newspaper editor, succeeding most admirably in bringin: the Dunedin Daily 2'eieymph to grief, ami ' thence he migrated to New South Wales, where he is a bright and shining light.— Grey River Argus. THE INTERIOR RAILWAY. In an article on the suggested railway to the interior, the Moxud Ida Chronicle writes as follows:—"So far it appears that the interior could be tapped most Bpeedily by the Oamaru route, because the first halting place, when a start is made from Duntroon or Ngapara, must be in the Maniototo Plain. When this plain is once tapped the traffic of the interior as far as Wanaka would be drawn to Oamaru, for it would lie the cheapest outlet for produce. The Maniototo, Ida Valley, and lower end of Manuherikia, would be at once in a position to grow wheat, giving a profit to the cultivator. The first h tilting place for the Outram route would be the base of the StrathTaieri. A very large area of country would be rendered payably productive, but the country above Kyeburn would not , be benefitted for many years after. The first stage of the Palmerstcui line would . be Waihemo, at which point; the Wailic-mo < hills, with their requisite L150.0G0, would be a barrier for many years to come. We have long held an opinion that the StrathTaieri, the Maniototo, Ida Valley, and Manuherikia, are very equal in value so far as agricultural capabilities go, except in this that the upper plains are much the greater in area—lda Valley alone being larger than the Strath ; so that, other ' things being equal, the railway that would strike, at the smallest expense, farthest into the interior plains ought to have the i strongest support. If the line is to be a 1 Government one, the Outram route will r have the best chance. It at once opens 1 Crown lands. It could most readily be E made by instalments, as the Treasury de- ° manded, and it would have the support in i: the Assembly of the Dunedin and Taieri I members, which means seven voces. As i-, against this, the Palmerston line lias only t, one friend, its member, 3lr. G. M'Lean, i and judging by the late meeting at Palmerston, even hj? appears to be mistrusted j t'. by his own people." ja