THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 284, 17 November 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17.

There is a silence more eloquent than word-, and such we may esteem the blank intimation of the Duke of Newcastle to the Governors of the various colonies, of the intention of the American President to issue letters of Marque. Had he expressed his thoughts in words, it is likely he might have said that the Colonies in the event of war with America, had more to fear from privateers, than from any other source. The sensation excited last year, when war. with America seemed probable, must still be within the recollection of our readers. Too late it was then discerned, that most of the sea port towns of the Australasian Colonies, were entirely at the mercy of a hostile ship. The danger was indeed imminent. England was in earnest and meant war, but the American Government honestly and wisely admitted that it was in the wrong, and satisfied the demands made upon it. Had it adapted another course, the first intimation New Zealand or Australia would have received of the war would probably been by a visit from a steamer from California ,which place would have been b\ telegraph placed in immediate possession of the information of the commencement of hostilities. In thirty days a vessel could have come down from California, and the first news of the war would have been a foretaste of its bitter consequences. Such were the feelings at the time ; and they were by no means unreasonable. The only security against the danger feared was, that perhaps no vessel of war could have been spared from the Pacific station; and that it would have taken some time to fit out privateers, so that probably the Australias might have been left to themselveauntil England could have taken some measures to protect them. But this source of' security is about to be put an end to. The privateers fitted out against the Confederate states would be immediately available in case of war with a European power.

It may be said that we have no reason to expect hostilities with America. Suppose, for the sake of argument, we admit as much, it still remains a question whether with every prospect of peace, English colonies should be content to remain exposed to so much danger, in case by any unforeseen fatality, war should brealc out. To be prepared for war, England and England's colonies have been taught to believe is the best guarantee for the continuation of peace. ■We should thus demur to the laisser ulfcr policy; if England and . Amcricn were really such good friends, that by tv.i possibility could a cause of war between thent be conceived But how much'stronger does the argument become when it is considered that several causes may arise to produce war be-

tween the two countries, and that the feeling between them is the reverse of friendly. Although the Americans decided to ceucede to England's demands on the occasion already referred to, the concession u-;isiiia:le with anything bnt a good grace. They immedia'ely withdrew from taking any part in that peace-typical celebration, the Great Exhibition, and to judge by the tone of the public press their feelings against England are in the last degree bitter. In the event of peace with the Confederates, the Federals will scarcely know what to do with their immense army, and despite their wish, they may find themselves committed to hostile expeditions against the Canadians. Rumor .ascribes to the Northern Cabinet the intention" to aid the Mexicans against the French, an event which is likely enough to draw France's ally, England, into a war. Lastly, the introduction of privateers, if not openly opposed by England, is sure to produce numerous causes of quarrel regarding lawless attacks upon ships sailing under her fla«- that these licensed Pirates may be expected to make. "Far then, from the relations between England and America being of a friendly nature, there are many circumstances that point to a possibility of a rup'ure. Even the very issuing of Letters of Marque, is mo «t likely to be dictated by a wish to annoy England, seeing that it is utterly uncalled for as an adjunct to the war with the Confederates who are singularly deficient in either merchant or armed ships.

It is now to be asked whether the Colonies allowed the use of their oun revenues and permitted to exercise self-government, are not bound to do something towards self-protection Admitting that it is difficult to define how much assistance they should look for from the Imperial authorities in case -ofwar; it can scarcely be said that they should not be liable for the expense of the works necessary to place them in a condition of ordinary defence. Tr;i p certain of the colonies, command importai t positions, which it is strategically of importance to the Home Government to maintain, and the expense of doing so i s j lu ,tly made an £inperial charge. But the fortifications necessary to protect the chief towns of the distant colonies are of another nature, and it would -neither be just nor possible for England to defray the cost of them. Conscious of this, the colony of Vcitoria has voted sufficient money to defend the capital town, Melbourne. In Sydney, we believe, the same has been done, whilst in addition, these colonies have the advantage of a licet of Her Majesty's vessels stationed upon their coasts. When war was apprehended last year, the Commodore concentrated all the | vessels on the Australian station, leaving New Zealand quite defenceless, and the °Home Government, in reply to a complaint of Sir George G-re/sjnstiiied the course. We thus see "N Te\v Zealand has more than ordinary cause to look after its own self defence. Standing as this colony does so conveniently in the track of vessels from California to Australia, it is fr> be expected that privateers on their route would, as a matter of course, pay a visit to one of its ports. Of these, Otago would in all ■likelihood receive the preference, seeing that the largest amount of contribution could be gained there. The consideration now obtrudes itself, are not the authorities culpably remiss | in permitting Dunedin to remain in its present defenceless condition. Since the gold disco- | reries a large amount of treasure is always deI posited in tiie city, and if the gold fields progress as they promise to do, Dunedin may offer las tempting a prize to the cupidity of a prii vateer as Melbourne itself.

The expense of placing Ofcago, or rath»r Dunedin, in a stats of defence, would be luite trifling. The danger, be it remembered, U an attack by sea, not of one by lan J. Vessels could not come near enough to the boaeh to ••Jo any considerable da nagj by shelling the town. They might just succeed in touching it, but they could intercalate on any precision. tf the entry to the Head* wore'prolsjt-i, Dunedin woaid be practically sife fro-n anything that, in the citegx-y of chaases, is likely to be brought against it. Four Armstrong guns, we have been a^urel by a cjil-.-petent authority, woull anply pro teat the entrance; and, seeing h ow inconsiderable the expense would be in proportion to the security obtained, we ctrmot too strongly urge thiir being ordered from home without delay. The manning of them might be left to pensioners of whom there are a great number in the Northern Island fully competent to the Lisle, *nd who coull eisiiy 112 i.-iduc-jJ to make Otago their domicile. We cannot too strongly urge the Provincial Council to vote the nezts<ary funds during the coning s^slin; anl the authorities should, in the meanwhile, without delay, write In.na and inquire the particulars of cost, and of the time required to execute the order.

The s,s. Queen, from the Northern Provinces, arrived in port yesterday afternoon, bringing later papers from the Nbrth Ports. The news is generally unimportant, the main feature being the visit of H. M. S, Harrier to Lyttleton harbour for the purpose of purchasing a small steamer, "ihe Avon," for navigating the Wnikutp river: Events up North seem to be tending fast towards war, but nothing definite is known of the Governor's intentions.

We publish elsewhere two letters, the one from Dr.Hulme, Provincial Surgeon, and the other from Dr. Ilocken, on the subject of the late alleged case of Asiatic cholera.

" The Colleen Bawn," that master-piece of Dion Boucicault, which seems to possess a vitality to which no other "sensation drama-" can Jay claim, was admirably reproduced at the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening. Miles n;i poppaleen Eily O'Connor, Danny Mann, arid ■Tfardrcss Cregan, were, as before, played by Mr and Mrs Holt, Mr Wolfe, and Mr Ryan Mr Wolfe wa« especially good. Miss Harriet Gordon played Anne Chute in really .first-rate style." She was perfect in the power of freeing herself of the Irish brogue, except when excited or out of temper; and as her brogue was just that of an educated Irish woman, the, effect was all that could bo desired. Mr/Hydas was good as the sailor•■ foyer, Kyrle Daly. The drama was very well « mounted;" and' Miles took the •' header" after Eily so liaturally, that there was an encbrs,' and the curtuiu again rose to .show him .clinging to the rock with his inter23tu)<r burden;, Tiu* buVlpsquo of-MasaniuHo» concluded the performances. rti? )U i Cn Ba™ Sto be i'epeated"nightly " until turther notice.". • ' . ° f

OI the female immigrants by the Scvilla, we are ivjqae-si.jd to stu.ee that ivkhid seventy have - been uh-eaiy engaged, and'that thoi-e are still : about tifiy ready I v accept si-'uali.j.i.-; in--respire--tabi-j <\t;;iili<,H. i >an\'i.-i reiuirhig ik\sl-class do-m-jsi.io :;;_'i"/.-ui!:,s ara requeued to make early application at the Immigration Barracks. W'; pub'i'rih elsewhere, a communicated article o:t tii; Lancashire Relief Fund, to which we vi")'..'!U »iu--:.rt attention. It is true that a sub-Bcripr-ioa i»a.s been raised in Otago for this object, that £000 have already been sent to England ; arid that a further sura of aoout £100 is to be remitted by this mail, but the writer it will be seer', very properly, takes no account of this insignificuifc subscription, tlio amount of which is totally unworthy of the wealth and importance of the Province. " The Poor of London," and " Puss in Boots," were repeated at the Princess's Theatre on Saturday evening, to a good house. Both pieces were capitally played, all the imperfections before noticed as applying to the burlesque having disappeared. Tills evening, "The Cricket on the Ilnsrlli" is to bo produced, with Miss Emma lv.-.vi;k: us Tilly Slow boy—a part in which, at the Melbourne Princess's, she produced what a French critic would call " a profound sensation." Cuttcn and Vogel v. Moses, Gordon v. Murray, arid M.-ndoza v. Coleman, are the cases in order for to-f]jiy'is .silting oi the Supreme Court. The first is likely to be settled, by a verdict being consented to by the defeudaut. The morning concert which was to have taken place on Saturday afternoon at the Princess' Theatre, unfortunately proved a failure. At the time announced for its commencement there were so lew of the public present, that it was decided not to give the entertainment, but to return thy money receive;!. Mr Loder came forward, and in a brief speech intimated the decision of the management, stating at the same time that he presumed the smallness of the attendance was duo to the entertainment not having been sufficiently advertised. We have been favored with a sight of two private letters just received from miners at work, the on;; at the Dunstan and the other at the Umbrella Gully mines. The one writing from the Dunstan stutos that he and his mates have taken 41 oz out of their claim, and are still working at if,. They had had to .pay a great deal of money away for provisions, which had, at the date of writing (Nov. 10), become much cheaper. The j»ai ty had purchased a 200lb. bag of flour for .£9. They had refused to sell their cradle for £5. They found the only inconvenience to be the violence of the wind,- but this they h.'id managed to escape by building a rough stone wall to shelter their tent. They had seen some \ci-y fine .specimens of gold from the Kawaraii, some of the pieces of gold being laruc ami rugged, and not at all water- worn. In the other letter from a miner at Umbrella Gully, near the Nevi.-j Stream, ami about 22 miles from the Dunstan, in a South Westerly direction ; the writer stated that after an unsuccessful journey to the Xokomai, himself and his mates had set in at Umbrella Gully, and were getting about 25;! a-day per man. They found provisions very do;u\ everything being about Gd or 9d per 1b dearer than at the Dunstan. There were several good small rushes about, at some of which men were making from 203 to GOs each per day. The writer had a very high opinion of the Nevis district as a gold-bearing region, there being gold for twenty-mile.l! up the Nevis stream. The following are his quotations of prices in Umbrella Gully:—Flour, 10.1 per lb (a weelc back 15d to lSd); sugar, 2-,; coffee, 3s Gd ; tea. ss, very bad ; candles, .°>rf ; soap, 3s ; oatmeal, Is 9d ; salt, 3s ; long-handled shovels, 20s each; picks and tin buckets nob to be had ; long pick candles, 6s each, very scarce. This letter was dated November 7, On Saturday at noon, John Gillies, Esq,, sheriff attended at the Court House, for the purpose of proceeding with the election of a member of. the House of Representatives for the " electoral district of the City of Dune-din," in accordance with a writ received by him from His Excellency the Governor. In consequence of the published opinions ihivt no election for the "district of the city" could lie valid, there were only three or four persons present. The Sheriff read the writ and the advertisement, and in virtue thereof, called upon any electors present to nominate a qualified person as member, If the interpretation of the law was as represented, then by the Representation Act of i-'epiomber, the district of the city had become cxiinct ; and any one now elected could not take his seat. At the time he published the notice for the election lie had not received a copy of the new act ; and even if he had he could not have acted otherwise, for he must make some return to the writ. He expressed no opinion whatever as to the law. After a pause, Mr John Graham (" Red-coat") asked an unimportant question. The Sheriff answered it; and twice demanded whether any elector had any nomination to make. Mr Graham begged to propose Mr James Paterson, than whom he was convinced they could find no more fitting person to represent them. From Mr Paterson's long connexion with the colony he knew all its wants, and how to provide for their. Mr Win. Blair seconded the nomination, .No other candidate being proposed, the Sheriff declared James Paterscn, Esq., duly elected, and the proceedings terminated. Henry Howorth, Esq., coroner, held an inquest on Saturday morning, at the Victorian Hotel, Octagon, on the body of Stephen Breen, who (as stated on Saturday) died from ir.juries caused by a fall of earth, at the excavations in the Octagon. Several witnesses were examined. From their statements, it appeared that early on Thursday morning, the deceased was at work, undermining a block of soil, which was from seven feet to eight feet high, and about seven feet in width. Chambers had been cut on each side, and the dece.^ed had already completed the underminings ready for the driving of wedges from the surface, bo as to topple over the mass from a depth of two feet. One of the workers, James Henry, saw that the defendant, while getting out one of the pillars which had supported the block, was working in the wrongjjposition, and called to him to turn his body. He was in the act of doing so •when the block fell. Part of it struck him on the left leg, and knocked him down, and the upper portion, which had by this time fallen, rolled over his body. He was immediately extricated, and taken to the hospital, close at hand. Dr Yafcp, the resident-surgeon, said that, when admitted, the deceased was in a state of great depression. He complained of pain 3in the back and side, and there was a large bruise on the lower part of his belly. There were no limbs broken. Stimulants were administered, but the deceased remained in the same state of suffering until be die-i, about eight o'clock on Friday

•men;]■'•.&■. On a post-mortem examination, he (the wi .*') ibiiuil that the bladder was ruptured, the bones of the pelvis fractured, and the intestines HiU'-h bruised. Death resulted from the shock to the sy&tetn. The jury returned a verdict of " accidental death."

We observe by advertisements which appear elsewhere that the Government of Southlaud is inviting tenders for the running of a monthly mail steamer from Melbourne to bring on the English mail. A special meeting of Justices of the Peace, for the transfer of publicans' licenses, will he held on the 2nd of December, at 11 a.m. The " General Government Gazette" contains an order in Council establishing the Chief Marine Board of New Zealand, and appointing Charles Sharp, Esq., master warden, and the following gentlemen as wardens of the Board. The Hon. Reader Wood, Robert Joliason, Esq., Thomas Robertson, Esq., Robert Greaves, Esq., and W. C. Daldy, Esq. Mr Greaves is appointed treasurer to the Board, The naturalisation of Joseph Delmas, native of France, and at present a farmer in the Waikouaiti district, is proclaimed in the " General Government Gazette." It is notified in the " General Government Gazette " that the branch post office at Wetherstone's has ceased to be a money order office. In the same '* Gazette " is mentioned the appoint ment of Mr Neil M'JLeod to be postmaster at Goodwood in this province. The Volunteer Fire Brigade are to turn out this evening, for special practice with, the new engine. The Provincial Government of Taranaki, offers through our columns a premium of L4O for the host set of plans for new Government Ofliees, and L2O for the second best. Yesterday afternoon a party of two ladies and two gentlemen were proceeding up Maelagganstrcet in a buggy, when the horse got restive, and, notwithstanding the driver's exertions, backed the vehicle into the wide and deep ditch opposite the Australasian Hotel. The party were speedily extricated from their awkward position, fortunately more frightened than hurt, the only damage done being to the ladies' crinolines. Notice is given in the " General Government Gazette that an application has been made by Charles Martin, in accordance witli '• The Patents Act, 1860," for the issue to him of Letters Patent granting to him. the exclusive use and right to manufacture an alloy or alloys of titanium and iron. And notice is given that any person or persons who may wish to prefer any objections to the granting of such letters patent, are required, within four months to forward to Charles Knight, of Auckland, Esquire, M.D. (being the person appointed for that purpose under the provisions of the said Act) a statement in writing setting forth the grounds of such objections subscribed with his, her or their proper name or names and address. A serious disease appears to have made its appearance amongst the sheep flocks of Wellington. Mr M;Gregor, the sheep inspector for the West Coast, writes to the '• Wanganui Chronicle" as follows :—" When on my tour through the flocks on the west side of the Wanganui river, my attention has been arrested on the appearance of what I took to be the scab, the wool rising in small tufts over the sides and backs, the animal biting itself and tearing off the wool in. a most furious manner. On examination, I found small, hard, salient points or pustules of a green and yellowish color, from which I then and there concluded that it was the scab, and would have gone almost any length to prove it. Four or five weeks having elapsed, I visited the same flock, and to ray astonishment found the sheep not so like being scabby as when I previously saw them. Having examined them the second time, I found the pustules were not united and become a large patch of crust or scab; but were smaller, with a small concrete on the top —having almost disappeared and the wool growing as before. I could not see any distinction between this appearance (whether as regards color or the hardness of the pustules,) and the appearance of common scab; and I am therefore at a loss to say what it may be. I have not met with it in flocks that had gone through a dipping for scab. It seems to be more prevalent in spring and in good and healthy conditioned flocks." The proposed exhibition of New Zealand productions, to be held in connection with the bazaar in aid of the building fund of the Episcopal Church, is likely to be well supported, in the matter of contributions, from the neighboring Provinces. The " Lyttelton Times," in reference to the exhibition says :—" It is almost a pity that the notice is so short, but we trust that something may yet be done to represent Canterbury. The worthy President of the Philosophical Institute will no doubt avail himself of this opportunity to forward specimens representing the mineral products of the Province to some extent, and we may state that the committee will gladly receive and take care of any specimens of indus' trial art or natural curiosities that may be intrusted to their care. In its Summary for England, the " New Zealand Advertiser, (Wellington) under the head of Otago, pays the following tribute to the foremost position-held by this Province:—"This Province has shot now far ahead of all others. Its population will soon be equal to that of the whole North Island. Its gold fields are as pro- | ductive as any in the world, and the last escort brought down nearly 16,000 ozs. It has a firstrate Superintendent in the person of Major Richardson, who was th-j most popular of all the members during the last session of the General Assembly. Before its conclusion he resigned his seat, finding that he had enough to do to attend to the affairs of his own Province. At Dunejdin, two daily papers are published, though a few years ago it could not support a single A'eekly one, and the Times has a paid correspondent in every considerable place througliought the colony.