SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Otago Daily Times, 18 June 1862, Page 4

SUMMARY FOR EUROPE.

Perhaps the not least noticeable event of the month is the fact that in our columns today we publish the news brought by the English mail of this month, so that, to-day letters will go back by return mail. The course of post between Otago and London will thus be brought within four months. Only once before has this occurred—the illfated Oscar on one occasion brought down the mails in time to.answer them by return mail steamer. The past month has not been marked by any striking incident. The weather has been rather severe, and mining operations have suffered in consequence. Business has shown an answering depression in the falling off to some extent of the upcountry trade. Still, confidence in the general stability of the Province .is by no" means abated; public works on a large scale are being carried on, and private enterprise is directing itself into a variety of channels, with an energy which, while it bespeaks confidence, is far from the objectionable feature of speculative excitement. Dunedin grows up as if under the wand of an enchanter : the whole character of its streets and buildings shows a marked change for the better. Although, owing to the rough weather, the gold fields show a considerable decrease in their yield, yet there is no reason to doubt either their, permanence or richness. On the' contrary, recent events tend to show that payable gold fields exist in several parts of the Province. Putting on one side rumors, which, with the exhibition of doubtful specimens, are very plentiful, we have the ascertained fact that the gold fields of the Tuapeka district extend over a very large area, and that in the north of the province there is reason to suppose the existence of very extensive auriferous deposits. The Highlay gold field, although owing to the season, very slenderly tested, promises to become in the spring, a very large gold producing district, and even through the winter is likely to maintain a small population who will "eke out- a living in the intervals between the snow storms which frequently visit the high ground on which the diggings are situated. . We proceed to place under their different classifications the several leading events of the month. . ■ POLITICAL. Of local politics there is little to be said. The Province has had to deplore the loss of one of its earliest founders and pioneers, Mr. Charles Henry Kettle who, at th c time of his death fulfilled the office of Provincial Auditor. Mr. Kettle was in the prime of life,' and his death is universally regretted. Earnest, faithful, and energetic in the discharge of his duties, Mr. Kettle was one of those most calculated to promote the progress of a young colony. In our notice referring to his death in our issue of the 9th instant, ocenrred the following tribute to his memory, coupled with a. passing allusion to what, there is too much reason to fear, the fever to which he fell a victim owed its origin—the defective sanitary condition of the city : —" Another gap is created in the country—another of the links that bind to the present the associations of the past, is broken—a useful life is stilled. Mr. Kettle—one of the earliest pioneers of the settlement of Otago, and the founder of its capital, Dunedin—has passed away from amongst us; —he is dead. In the prime of life, in the mature possession of the faculties thatmake man most valued and valuable to bis kind, his career of usefulness has been brought to an abrupt and premature conclusion. Not to the dead, but for the.dead, should sorrow be given. Man may ask no happier.fate than the quiet, peaceful translation to another world, after a life worthily spent in object 3 not all selfish. To pass through existence fulfilling the duties of one's allotted sphere, to meet, when ' life's fitful fever' is drawing to a close, in the presence of loving and sorrowing friends, the doom that waits on all mortality, is,a fate that the best and wisest of us may not grieve to share. And so, over the living more than the dead, is the sombre shadow of sorrowing recollection thrown; and if that life, so nobly, because so faithfully spent, should have passed away as a warning to the proud heedless city that owed to him its birth —if to the very town he created he owed the.cause of his death; the sorrow should be intensified; and the warning should ring out loud and strong —' in the midst of life we are in death!'"

The vacancy caused by Mr. Kettle's death in the office of auditor is proposed by the Government to be filled up by the appointment of Mr. Livingstone. The Superintendent has been elected to the seat in the House of "Representatives, rendered vacant by Mr. M'Glashan's resignation. Mr. Paterson was also nominated. The election was a very tame affair, neither.candidate displaying any interest in gain his election. His Honor secured a majority of nine votes. Mr. Kettle's decease leaves another vacancy in the House of Representatives to be filled up. The movement in favor of Separation is gaining ground. The Committee of the Separation,