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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 18, 9 January 1863, Page 2

Owing to sonic mismanagement, our Dunedin letter li is not reached us. From a fact which came to our notice during the week, we believe that Government mean to bestir thcr.iselve> ia the matter of the contemplated railway to the Bluff. The Australian Mutual Provident Society are going to give the people of Tnvcreargill the benefit cf their presence. At a, meeting of the Board, recently held in Sydney, it was determined to establish an agency of the institution in this piovince. Messrs. Mailing and Whittoii arc the gentlemen appointed. A meeting of the Joel:' I;.'1 ;.' Club was he)d at the Royal Hotel on Wednesday evening. Several new members were enrolled, and a sum of /jGO wns appropriated out of the funds of the club for the improvement of the race course. It was also agi eed to forward a petition to His Honor the Superintendent, "requesting that the ground now Pet apart as a race course be granted to the Southland Jockey Club." The alteration in the weights for the different events was finally settled. The Ofiifjn Diii/i/ 77w.^says: l< We take the following from Wilmrr and Smith's Eui-fipi an Tinh-p, of October 27th: — 'The colonial wool s.-iles are fixed to commence on Thursday, the 1 nth November. The first importations np to t he present date, since the beginning of the last sales, comprise •10,04.'? bales, viz.: — Sydney. 7-477; Victoiio, "7CG'"i ; Van Diemen's Land. 20-2?, ; Adi-bude. 204 fi ; New Zealand, 8000; Swan River. 70 ; and Cape of Good Hope, 21, CD") ; in addition to which there are about 8200 bales, sundry descriptions, chiefly Victoria nnd Svdncv, held over from former sales. Of secondhand wool there is likewise a considerable quantity, and, if offered on the present occasion, the • c ales may probably comprise between 05,000 and 70,000 bales.'" Among the arrivals by theTitania on Wed nesday, was ft fine singing bird, the property of one of the passengers. "Dickie," who is cross bred between a canary and a gold finch, underwent all the perils incidental to his tribe, in a voyage from the old country to this colony, and arrived at Dunedin in good order and condition. There two months were passed, in the course of -which he recovered his voice, which was unaccountably lost during the voynge, when another short, though rough journey, was taken to Invereargill which he readied in excellent health and spirits, The laws of nature forbid a continuation of his race, but it is to hoped he may long exercise his lungs, and delight the good folks here. We take the following from the Otar/o Daily Times of 3rdJamiary: — The programme for the New Zealand Champion Ilace Meeting to take place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, March 4th, Slli, and 6th, has now been finally settled by the Stewards. It embraces a great variety of events besides the LIOOO Champion llace, and the amount of money to be run for is very considerable. There will be for the first day, the Maiden Plate of 30 soys., the Champion Eacc, for LIOOO, with a sweepstakes of LIOO each added, the Dunedin Handicap of 75 soys. The Handicap Hurdle Race of 80 soys,, and the Hack Stakes of 20 soys. For the second day there will be the Otago Jockey Club Grand Handicap, a sweepstakes of 10 sovseach, with I.jO soys. added. The Ladies

Purse of 60 soys., the Publicans' Purse of 100 sots., the Selling Race of 60 soys., and the Handicap Trotting Race of 50 soys. For the third day the Handicap Steeplechase of 100 soys., the Town Plate of 125 soys., the Forced Handicap of 5 per cent from all winners, the Consolation Handicap of 40 soys. and the Hack Race of 25 soys. "When to these amounts is added the entrance money it will be seen that the amount to be run for will in the aggregate come to a very hand. some sum, enongh to attract good horses not only from the neighbouring Provinces but from other colonies. The nominations for the Champion Race, our readers will doubtless remember, closed on the Ist November. There are nine horses entered for the race." Yesterday evening, at the Prince of Wales, as a gentleman was about to get out of a dog cart in which he had been driving, the horse managed to jerk the bridle off its head, and, getting frightened, started full speed for the stables at the back of the hotel. The trap capsized and both shafts were broken, but we arc happy to say that the Jehu escaped with alight fall and a muddy coat. A great demonstration was made at Adelaide in favor of M'Kinlay, the successful Australian explorer, on the occasion of the Governor presenting him with £1000, voted by the Legislature, and a splendid piece of plate subscribed by a few friends. Our advertising columns give the information that two additional landing places for impoits have been decided on, viz., the north bank of the Puni Creek, between the Government fence and the terrace; and also on a part of the beach, extending a hundred yards on the south side of the jetty. It appears that no goods will be allowed to be landed at the above places except bricks, timber, or lime. The list might be considerably ex. tended with benefit to the public. The Melbourne Arr/its, of December 2ith < in an article reviewing the commercial transactions of Victoria for the year 1862, thus alludes to the falling off in the yield of gold : — " The returns of the produce of the goldfields this year show a falling off as compared with the previous } r ear more apparent than real. There lias been a falling off to some extent, but this can be readily explained away by the continued movement of the mining population tc and from New Zealand. It may be fair]} 1 - estimated that an average of 6000 miners have been withdrawn altogether, or kept in a state of unproductiveness since January last, and the effect of the withdrawal of so large a number lias not been inconsiderable on the total sum of production. With reference to these returns, it must also be remarked that many large parcels now find their way to the ports of shipment by private hands the railways and the safe condition of the highways offering every inducement. The approaching reduction in the export duty of fid per ounce, on the Ist proximo, has prevented any large parcels being cleared this month. The shipments last week amounted to 72GG ozs. only, bringing the total for the i year up to 1,955,609 ozs., including 293,348 ozj=. received from !se\v Zealand, and trans- | shipped in the bay. The shipments of I Victorian gold for the year amount to 1,GG2,---i S.jloz. The gross shipments for the | corresponding period of last year amounted j to 2,00.V.)21 ozs.