The Invercargill Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1863.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 61, 9 June 1863, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 1863.

Of the four gentlemen spoken of as eligible for the vacant seat in the Provincial Council, we have no hesitation whatever in naming Mr. S. Beaven as the coming man. It is of the utmost importance, at the present juncture of affairs, that the Province should have the benefit of the best of whatever talent is available. An enormous quantity of work will fall to the lot of the Provincial Council during the course of the next twelve months, and on the measures which may be adopted depends, in no small degree, the future prosperity of Southland. Mr. Beaven is so well known to our readers thai it seems almost a work of supererogation to brin°" his candidature so prominently forward, but we are well aware that electors sometimes take queer fancies ! into their heads, and the best man does not always head the poll. There is not the least fear of any Southland constituency disgracing itself so deeply as to elect a man of the M'Andrew stamp — as has just been done at Port Chalmers — the electors have too much good sense to make any such mistaken, even supposing the candidates were not thoroughly respectable, which, in the present instance, they certainly are; but, at the same time, it is by no means improbable that personal considerations may get votes for a man who is not fairly entitled to them by his abilities. Without wishing to say one unpleasant thing against any of the gentlemen who are spoken of as likely to come forward for the "Waihopai district, we consider Mr. Beaven to be the best qualified for the honor of election in an immeasurable degree. A thoroughly business man, and a successful man, who has identified himself with every movement which has been made to forward the interests of the settlement, we believe he would be a decided acquisition to the Council. Mr. Beaven's address (which we publish in another column) deals too much in generalities to be quite satisfactory ; j but its tone is good, and on one im- i portant particular — that of the " An" nual Value to Let" — he is very explicit, and his views coincide with those held by the great body of the agriculturists. It may be that Mr. Beaven will only have to walk over the course — we have heard as much hinted in some quarters — but in case Messrs. Foshack, Lind, or M< Arthur should decide to come forward, we call upon the Waihopai electors to place Mr. Beaven where he is justly entitled to be— at the head of the poll.

Owing to great pressure upon our space, we are obliged to hold over several artic les of local interest, at present in type. A gentleman residing in Tay-street (south side) furnishes the following particulars regarding the earthquake which was felt in town on Friday night. Alive to the importance of exact time, he says the first sensations were felt at 26min. lOsec. past 10 p.m. and, in his opinion, the shock lasted about 15 seconds. As a curious fact in connection with the event, he states that the barometer during the two preceeding days remained at 30 deg. notwithstanding the changes in the weather. JThe instrument was not affected either by the rain of Wednesday, or the high winds which prevailed on Thursday. It will be seen that this account varies materially from Mr. Marten's, which will be found in another column. The watches of five gentlemen at the Prince of Wales Hotel give the time of the first oscillation as 10.24. We subjoin the account furnished by our Dunedin contemporary the Daily Times of the 6th inst. :- " There was an unmistakeable shock of earthquake last evening, a few minutes after half-past ten o'clock. There were, at least, eight distinct and sharp oscillations ; the sensation to anyone quietly seated writing being as though the chair was being slightly rocked. The direction of the oscillations, we fancy, was pretty nearly east and west. In some hotels, a great jingling of bottles and glasses was noticed, and even in the street we know that the movement of the ground was clearly felt and noted. We shall be glad to receive information as to the extent of country affected.'' The Daily Times of the 6th says :— " The importation of cattle is to be permitted from all the Queensland and Tasmanian ports and from Twofold Bay. The proclamation is ex- | pected to appear early in the ensuing week. We are not aware of the exact nature of the conditions, but probably they will be of the same character as recently stipulated in Southland, viz., that the cattle shall have been either bred in the district from which they are imported or have been depastured there six months." It is also stated in that journal, that his Honor the Superintendent has proclaimed Port Albert, Gipps Land, an infected district, and prohibited the importation of cattle from that port. The pilot accommodation at the Port of InvercaTgill has long been much admired — particularly at a distance— as shipmasters are generally frightened to put its efficiency to the test. An excellent proof of the value of signals was afforded to the captain of the Titania on Sunday last. The vessel made New River Heads about noon on that day, the captain knowing it to be flood tide. What was his astonishment, however, on fighting the pilot station, to find the " blue peter" flying— a signal which means " ebb tide; bar not fit to take ; keep to sea." This signal slightly strggcred Captain Jarvey, who knew that it was flood-tide at the time, and the bar being comparatively smooth, he J considered it perfectly safe to take, even j without a pilot. Notwithstanding this conviction, he was obliged to " put to sea," and after cruising about for an hour or two, be again run in. This time he found another flag, equally unintelligible, flying from, the signal-staff; but there being a strong westerly wind blowing, he considered it his safest course to run it. When he had oot pretty well up to the anchorage, a boat came alongside, and some of those on bo ird ma;lc the inquiry, "Do you want a pilot." The captain answered by pointing to his signal which was still flying, and on inquiring why a pilot did not board him at the proper place, he was informed by one of the boatmen " that he thought there was no pilot at the station!" C;m any of the "powers that be" inform us who is responsible in a case of this kind, or will some of our nautical friends tell us the meaning of flying a signal " ebb-tide" when there has been at least an hour's flood ? We will drop this subject for the present, merely suggesting that if more care is not taken at the Heads in future, some unfortunate shipmaster may hear the cry of " wolf," alias "ebb-tide," once too often. An advertisement in a late issue stated that the nonrin ation of candidates for representing the Waihopia district in the Provincial Council, would take place on Thursday, the 16th instant. This was a mistake, it should have been Tuesday, the 10th instant. We hope the error will not put " free and independent electors" to any inconvenience. We have had the pleasure of inspecting the j plans for Mr. Beaven's new building in Tay and Kelvin streets. The building will be three stories high, and on the first floor will be a number of offices, which we believe it is the intention of the proprietor to let. Mr. j Sanders is the architect, and Messrs. Hall and Maharg, the contractors. The Revising Officer, James Prendergast, \ Esq., sat yesterday at the Resident Magistrate's Court, for the purpose of deciding the validity of claims and objections of voters for the district of Wallace. Only a few names were struck off the roll. j 1 — — i n »■■■■ ■ I