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Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 80, 11 August 1863, Page 2

Some time since we alluded to an appointment which, it is said, the Otag./ G-Aernnicnt contemplated makiug. Mr Aylmers' name was mentioned; but our information was not obtained from that gentleman, either divectiy or indirectly. A meeting of influential inhabitants of Dcestivet took place on Saturday last at the Prince's Hotel, Mr C. S. Button in the chair. The sub. ject under discussion was the necessity of making the footpaths on both sides of Dee-street, commencing from Don-srreet, and running to Speystreet, fit for passenger traffic. It was unanimously agreed by the meeting that a deputation should be formed to wait on his Honor the Snperintendent and present a memorial on the subject, the deputation to consist of Messrs Bulton,'Si'yler Smith, and Ross. The deputation accordingly wa : t3(l upon his Honor, who informed them that he would entertain their views — in fact that the work was already in progress, and would bo completed in a month. Mr Thatcher, the well-kniwn comic singer ha 3 lookel in at Invercargill en pg,s - sant. We are informed that very liberal offers were made t > induce him to "pitch his tent" among 1 us, but he preferred going on to Victoria, and taking a holiday after his somewhat lengt hened Stay on thp. goldfieldsThere is no doubt that in spite of bad roads and rainy weather Thatcher would for a time draw very good houses in Invercargill. We are promised a series of concerts on his return irom Victoria, which will be in a month or two. State of the Gaol for the week ending 6th August, 1863 : — Sentenced to hard labor, 10 ; on remand, 1; debtors, 4; lunatics, 1; total of inmates, 16. Discharged during the week, 7. The Gazette announces the following appoint, monts to take effect from the Ist September next. To be Registrars of births, deaths, and marriages — Messrs. Christopher h\ do S. O'Toole for the district of Campbelltown ; Matthew Price, district of Invercargill; Benjamin Bailey, district of Rtverton. To be a Deputy Registrar — Charles Thomas Howard, district of Invercargill. On Saturday evening last the Princess' Music Hall in Dee -street was openedfor the first time, by the English Opera Company. The hall is large and well appointed, having at one end a raised stage, with side doors leading into the retiring rooms ; the decorations are simple but appropriate, and the great care taken in the construction of the building with regard to its acoustic properties, a point too often i neglected, renders this place of public amusement peculiarly well adapted for concerts &cIn connection with the Music Hall is a commodious Hotel, having smoking, coffee, and waiting rooms. The spirited proprietors, MMessr s Julius Rosen thai and Co., deserve liberal support for their endeavours to provide amusement during these long winter evenings. In reference to the remarks of a contemporary in a recent issue upon an article which appeared 'n our columns last Tuesday, we regret for his sake that the apostle of the Girvan weavers has found his cause so weak as to be unable to combat the arguments of this journal. The gram, matical '•' lubbers hole " through which he attempts to escape, is not the most digniliod mode ol retreat.

■-' The Ifew Zealand Gazette ot the 25tli ult., has a proclamation, proroguing; the .meeting o'l the General Assembly to the 27th August. The Half Way Islands, havo by the Collector of. Customs, been appointed a quarantine station for the port of Otago. A meeting of the Town Board was called for Wednesday, but owing to the non-attendance of a sufficient number of members to form a quorum, the meeting was adjourned, to the next day . On the intelligence of the arrival of the New Great Britain at the Bluff leaching town, Dr. M'Clure, the health officer, and Mr Inspector Weldon at once left for the Bluff to superintend quarantine arrangements, should they be found necessary. - i Cobb and Co.'s coach for the Bluff liroke down yesterday on the Invereargill side of the Moltomoko, an axle having been smashed.. By the | ingenuity of the driver the Mokoinoko was reached, and there an exehango of coach took place with the passengers from the Bluff, these last remaining till the damage was repaired by the blacksmith of the locality. Th c itfierrinon of S itm day last witnessed the experimental trip f ihe first locomotive, which lias ever snorted along a New Zealand tramway. Wooden rails were laid the length of the Jetty, and front one o'clock till five, the "Lady Barkly" was driven up and down sometimes at a speed of 25 miles an hour, with the most complete success by Mr J. R. Davies, the son of the projector of the Southland Railway scheme, recently placed before his Honor the Superintendent for acceptance. Crowds of spectators passed the afternoon at the Jetty in riding delightedly in the locomotive. The motion was found pleasant and quite free from that oscillation and concussion, which distinguish travelling on iron rails with the usual engine The Superintendent, the Railway Engineer, the Chief Surveyor, axid a number of Government officers were present, and \ having observed narrowly the action of the I engine, congratulated Mr Davies senr. upon the success of the experiment. The "Lady Barkly " differs from ordinary locomotives only in those particulars which are compelled by wooden j instead of iron rails. Tho carrying wheels have ] ; no flanges, nut are kept on the rails by means of guide wheels placed at an angle of 4o degrees. Each wheel of the engine — and the same may of course be said of the carriages to be used — acts upon its own axle, totally unconnected with the opposite wheel. Thus a certain amount of easy motion is induced. The engine weighs about eight tons, was manufactured at Ballarat by Messrs Hunt and Opie, and has been employed for the l ast two years to great satisfaction on aline at Green Hills, near the Melbourne and Geelong Railway. It is to be hoped that the extremely gratifying issue of Saturday's experiment will induce the Provincial Government to at once close with Mr Davies' offer to open up the Province with his wooden Railway. There can be no doubt that if there is to be a Southland Railway, wood is in the meantime preferable to iron ; Ist, because of its facilities of construction ; and 2nd, because of its economy. The mileage cost of an iron line for superstructure alone is estimated at £2200, and that of wood may be put down at £130, thus exhibiting a saving balance in favor of wood of £1740. The arrival of the New Great Britain from England, which ship has had several cases of small-pox on board, renders the following extract from the Canterbury Press peculiarly apposite: — " Is the Government going to bring in a Bill this session to doal with tho subject of Vaccination? With the small pox raping in England, with ships constantly arriving in the colony, with a ship already at Oago, in which the small-pox had existed, it is hopeless tn suppose we shall tang escape. There is plenty of time now for precautionary measures. It is just the time to show if a Government and a community arc foreseeing and enlightened, or slothful and prejudiced. Every man, woman and child in tlie country ought to be forced by law, under heavy panaltics, to proeuro a certificate from a competent medical practitioner that he or she has been effectively vaccinated. "Where there is doubt of a former vaccination, the operation should be repeated. Wo compel men to use remedies for the protection oi their pockets from loss by scab, we should compel them to use remedies against loss of liib by this dreadful scourge. Wo arc able to state on good authority that there is no want of vaccine matter in the Province, if properly preserved and transmitted, to carry out fully a law for compulsory vaccination." The Sydney Umpire tells, in the following paragr ipb, of great possible fortunes in silver and gold '■ A silver mine has been discovered near Broidv\ O >d, thirty miles square in extent. It is pronounced rich. Great excitement- about it. Three hundred Chinamen have been discovered wnrbfa^ a new gold field on the Dalegate Kivernear Bva-'d wood." In regard to the West Coast of Canterbury, the correspondent of a contemporary says : — " Five men came with Captain Dixon, from Canterbury , to try the diggings o n the Taramakau. They purpose staying the remainder of the winter here Af.r Frceth, who has a sheep station on the Grey] was a fellow passenger from Kelson with us. He was accompanied by his wife and family and a married couple, He purposes making it his future home. Mr Mackley and his wife are also living on the Grey, some eight or ten inile9 higher up the river than Mr Freeth. Mr Freeth's station is composed of two blocks of land, hoth on the southern side of the Mawahera-iti, the largest of which, and where his homestead will be, is on the eastern side of the Ahaura, the second ri\e running into the Grey on its northern side. Tlio natives have almost abandoned tho small creek they were working; or rather attempting to work when I last visited the Taramaknu. They manage to obtain a small quantity of gold by their crude and imperfect manner of working, but nothing to induce them to continue their labours. Captain Dison'a gold field remains in statu quo and promises well to continue to be abandoned to the end of time. A gold field on this Canterbury portion of the West Coast remains a thing yet to be found. Captain Buxton, to my great chagrin, was unable to land his cargo at the Ilokitiku river. Since the period of our leaving ilie coast the bar has shifted and the stream has been turned in two different directions by accumulation of large stones su^.k in the middle of the mouth of the river. J On Saturday night last, the Royal Princess j Concert Hall was opened with the English Opera Company. Madame Carandini was in excellent voice, and sang with great effect several of her well known pieces. Her best so >g was Katie's Letter. The trusting simplicity and the archness withal of the Irish girl, which are the pervading spirit of the ballad, were very nicely rendered. Mr Sherwin expressed, after the fashion of tenors, his desire to "Like a Soldier Fall/ v«ry melodiously. Mr Small was sot quite the laughable, amusing Small that he generally is, owing to his having met with a severe accident However, his woes as a truly " Unfortunate Man," and his most astonishing faces, produced great merriment. The state of his health prev ented him from giving the nigger monologue . "Or Any Odder Man," which used to convulse Weston's Music Hall. There was a Tory crowded, and tolerably orderly house.

The Southern Provinces of New Zealand are at present being looked to with no little.' interest >y the * inhabitants of the land, Wo die Citrgneii bluhen. The Daily Times of the „sth says :—- --" The Weserzeitung, one of the best German newspapers which is published in .Bremen, has on the 9th of April the following paragraph on emigration to the Southern Provinces of New Zealand."-^" The south of New Zealand has lately attracted the attention of intending emigrants from the northern portion of Germany to a consi r erable extent ; but our shipowners have at pre-sent-shown very little inclination to despatch some of their line tvessels to those ports. Those who have done 60, in several instances have been great losers, through the mismanagement ot their captains, who, although ihcy must have realised very handsome profits by the trade between "New Zealand and the Axistralian colonies, returned with their vessels burdened with heavj debts— as for instance has been tho case with tbe"Arrnin. J But [ the Senate, anxious to open a new field for theun.< ! dustrious German emigrant, and at tlie same time desiring to protect him from being misled by false statements, has requested a gentleman from here, who is an old resident in the Australian; colonies and "New Zealand, to report officially on the land of the Maories. We may expect that this report, will be a very useful one, inasmuch as this gentleman has not alono lectured on New Zealand, in Australia, but also has published in Germany a very clever and well written book, which contains a great deal of valuable information, on New Zealand, and which has enjoyed a large circulation. After the 14th of this month the escorts between the Dunstan and Lake and Dunedin will be run only fortnightly. In relation to the Coromandel diggings the correspondent of the Daily Southern Cross says — " About five claims have been taken up a-head of the prospecting claim on Morrises gully. Some uncertainty about the ownership of the land has prevented people as yet from setting in, in good earnest ; we nro informed, however, that the Commissioner Las applied at bead-quarters for information on that important point. The stone has been found cropping out in the gully known as Morrises, close on Kapanga township. The gully was being cleared. The stone is auriferous; but really good prospects have been obtained by other persons crushing. The formation of the stone gives it a very reef-like look, and it is ten to one that its looks will not prove deceptive. This coming week the matter will be tested further, and if it turns out like what it appears to be, Coromandel — nnd especially Knpnnga — people may be congratulated upon the discovery. A private company lias been formed to apply all possible preliminary tests, before mutters can be carried on, on sound n ining principles. The name of the company is the " Nihil Desperandum Company." The pleasing ilhuion that Spring had come at last, was yesterday dispelled by cold cutting winds, that chased ench other round every streetcorner, and showers of hail find rain, that seemed first to fight together for supremacy, and then unite against the common foe — the inhabitants of Invercnrgiil. We understand that tho Hillcnd Run has been sold to Mr P. L. Francis, by private contract. Terms or price not known. It appears that 75 men are wanted for the Wellington Colonial Defence Force. Those who are desirous of joining this semi-military force, should "PP' V *° the Commissioner of Police, Dunedin. :- As to New Zealand colonial defences, a Canterbury contemporary says :— " There is but ono consideration which can justify *.he expenditure of nny money in arms. It takes a long time to train a people to tho efficient uso of weapons of war. It takes iong habits of discipline to raakea large mob of unskilled and r*w levies as affective as a few fried and well armed men. If we believe that England is going to continue to defend us with its troops and ships for ever, and t nit our only task here is to make as much money as we can and clear out tlien it is foolish to waste our means on anything wliich is only valuable as securing the greatness* p irmanence, and stability of tho country. But some of us hold — whether they are tho most far seeing time alone will shew — that the time- is not so very far distant when New Zealand, to be defended at all, must defend itself, and that it i; not too soon to commence a system by which nil its inhabitants shall be trained to the task In the meantime the habit and duty of selfdefence is the element of all greatness and the sole insurance against destruction. That habit does not exist in this country. Tho 'whole tone of our ncwspiiper press throughout the colony — the debate- in our Council the other night, show t mr, with but few exceptions, the duty of selfdefence is not recognised in the colony as an essential element in the constitution of society. But the demand for arras rests on peculiar grounds. Arms cannot be got at a Koment's notice. Our arms must be imported or done without. And arms arc the principal part of soldiers. We would, in a moment of emergency, make ourselves into an army of some sort to defend our hearths and homes, but we conld not, nt any cost or by any sacrifice, obtain arms, should arms be suddenly wanted. It would be a very good thing to get on < or two batteries on the points in Lyttelton imrbor; but a battery is often taken by a couple of boats' crews of daring men. A rifleman in every window, and behind every rock round the landing place, would prove a barrier which no crew could pass. No one but a fool supposes that it is enough to get rifles ; wo must get men besides ; but this point must never be forgotten — t h.t men are here if they are wanted — the rifl:s are not."