The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 21, 19 July 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1864.

His Honob's speech," on opening the Seventh Session of the Provincial Council, would he amusing ; : as- an instance, either that Dr. Mekzees is ignorant of the importance of the; occasion, or determined to trifle with it, were it not a matter of too grave moment for the interests of the Province, which anxiously looked for it as an ' exponent of a position of no little difficulty, and, one which, up to the present, had bead 'carefully concealed from^the ;publid. Ifr was: trustingly heiieved*, . , as_7 very 7 .likely, "to contain' some indication ,; of 7a ';.means of; extri-. cation from. . our , present embarrassments, hut we never read a speech" which' contained absolutely so little,, and that little of so

r~~: ; ..■;-.■;■••■ } 1 imsatisfaetory a character. There is not the slightest indication of a desire to vacate Supposition which the ' unitedvoice ;,of the people of the Province, the Press throughout New Zealand, the terms on which the General Government accorded us the assistance, and,* above all, his own speech,? show hith;tp" be utterly unfit' to hold. ' 'We '-cannot gather from his speech any clear and definite statement of our finances,; or: how it came about that they- became disordered. There is not a word of explanationas tp the misappropriation of the Railway Loans, and no line of policy is marked out' by which we may hope to Obtain' a speedy 'relief. ■In; the opening; lines -'of his speech, His Honor seeks to repudiate any acknowledgment of the necessity for calling together the Provincial, Council at the present time. He states, " I have been advised to summon you to meet in Council at this time, in order that you may be furnished with full information upon circumstances which have" occurred since your last meeting." He sees no necessity himself, and does his, utmost to render the meeting futile for any useful purpose, by affording as little information as possible. The entire blame 'of the present position is thrown upon the G-eneral Government, for its disallowance of the loan for £120,000, "to cover liabilities on account of the general expenditure *of the Province ; " — in other words, the reckless expenditure in excess of revenue. No mention is made of that expenditure being continued in defiance of the almost certainty of the loan being disallowed, or, if allowed, being unnegotiable. No explanation is afforded, and no excuse vouchsafed. The whole tenor of this part of the address is to the effect that the G-eneral Government is to blame for all our difficulties, and that everything had been done, which could have been done, ~by him to avert tho catastrophe. Even the purpose for which the temporary assistance of tho General Government, to the extent of £15,000 per month, for three months, had been given, is not mentioned ; while, by the credit taken to meet outstanding liabilities of this sum one is led to believe that the whole of it is untouched, instead of one third of it being already spent. His Honor then descants on the railways, characterising them as eminently reproductive works, which, after two or three years, are likely to yield a surplus revenue, and that consequently, any charge for these loans will be merely of a transient nature. All other information is doubtless correct, if the railways were only finished, hut we cannot gather from His Honor's speech in what way this much to be desired object is to be attained. It is true we are informed that the sum of the loans is to be expended on tho railways, hut unfortunately it happens that they are already expended on other works, and a feasible means of replacing this money does not; appear, unless the wild j>ropositions which succeed are to effect it. His Honor finishes this part of the subject by stating that " a temporary embarrassment, however, has occurred, and from a coincidence of causes, which could scarcely have been anticipated." The confession that it was unanticipated shows His Honor's utter incapacity as a financier. To relieve, however, this embarrassment, caused, according to his own statement, by the refusal of the General Government to sanction a loan for £120,000, His Honor purposes appealing to the General Assembly to pass an act authorising the raising of loans, not merely for liquidating past liabilities, but to enable us to incur others on a grander scale. " The height of folly can no further go." If this is the only scheme the genius of Dr. Menzies can devise for us, as a means of extrication from pur financial difficulties, the sooner he vacates his position, tlie more likely is the Province to recover a healthy tone. We are not allowed to borrow a small sum, so we will demand permission to borrow a large one. If our credit is not sufficiently good to obtain £120,000, we will go in for a million. In very truth we are in sad straits with this " Old man of the Sea " to dominate over us. No hint is given of any intention on His Honor's part to call assistance to his Council board.. It is merely stated that the Executive has resigned, and that the Provincial Treasurer holds office until his successor's appointment, a piece of information by no means startling, from its novelty. The whole affair winds up with a few remarks on the spread of disease amongst cattle, and that the deliberations of the Council will result in the restoration of commercial prosperity— a consummation most devoutly to be desired, although the attainment of it under His Honor's regime seems to be rather more than doubtful. -

Up to the hour of our going to press, we have had no intelligence of the arrival of the English Mail, now past due, at the Bluff, but it is now hourly expected. In another column we give the statements of the revenue and expenditure accounts of the Province, for the quarter ending 30th June last. As regards the assets and habihties, we observe an ' apparent discrepancy in the stimulation of the " assets to 30th June, 1864," which are stated by the Provincial Treasurer as follows : — General revenue account, £15,976 17s. 6d. ; B. H. and I. Railway account, £181,251, Is. 7d. ; Oreti Railway account, £110,000— total; £342,143 Is. Id. 70wr summation of these three items amounts -to £307,227 19s. Id,, or. £34,915 25.. Od. less than is stated in the official document now before us. It will be, doubtless, very gratifying to Learn; that the amount of assets, as stated by the Provincial Treasurer, . is correct, but at the same .time it would be satisfactory to the public to know, (and, we doubt not Mr. Tarlton will seize ' the earliest opportunity of , acquainting us) how such p. statement could have .been ■laid before the public. The.aiatura! inference to ; be drawn is, that if the are really' so much more, than is " shown, the '7expendithi^. side of.. r yf the "account iihu'at be correßpondmgly.increased J . -But how P ;• ; jThis ; also requires explanation.* We shall be glad to" hear "tKat7'a. mere clericalor typical error has led to the misleading" nature of the statement before u».

We are requested to intimate that tho sittings of the Supreme Court will be held to-morrow, and until further notice, in tho Resident Magistrate's Court-room, at ten o'clock. This notice is," very necessary, as even up to, and at the adjournment of the Court, yesterday evening, it was understood and intimated that there would be no (change./ ,- ■* ' \ ' ■-. ; \ • , C\ \ / Intelligence from the Lakes is confirmatory of the richness of the copper lode recently "discovered at Moke Creek, and pieces- of several ounces in weight are not uncommonly found amongst the debris of tho creeki '■'>''■'■ ' - v ; From our Dunedin files we learn that the last escort conveyed to town a total of 12,602 ozs., 7 dwts.. of gold from the, various goldfields. The- ; following, are the 'quantities:- — Queenstown, 3007 ozs. 15 dwts. ; Arrow, 1098 ozs. 10 dwts. ; Dunstan, 1831 ozs.' lo dwts. j Manuherikia, 1322 ozs/ 10 dwts. ; Mount Ida, 1096 ozs. ; Mount Benger,' 425 ozs. 10 dwts. ; Hamilton's, 1693 ozs. ; Tuapeka, 1642 ozs. 2 dwts. ; Waitahuna, 277 ozs.' ; Woolshed, 208 ozb. 10 dwts. Tho hew church recently erected for tho Rev. C. Searle, in Leet-street, was opened on Sunday last, in the presence of a large congregation. The services are according to the liturgy and formula of the Church of England. The reverend Mr. Searle officiated both in the morning and in the evening, and on each occasion the church was quite filled. For his opening sermon, the rev. gentleman chose for his text that passage in Ephesians, chapter hi, verse 8, " Unto me, who amless than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach amongst tlie Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." To-morrow evening a tea-meeting will be held in the church in celebration of the opening event. Tea will be on tho tables at half-past five o'clock. A meetmg of sheep-owners, which was numerously attended, took place on the 12th inst., at tho Elbow Accommodation House, Orcti, for tlie purpose of taking into consideration the necessity of an alteration being made in the existing Sheep Ordinance. Mr. Wentworth occupied the chair and after discussing the question, the meeting passed a series of resolutions, which were transmitted to tho members of the Council for the distiict, Messrs. Cowan and Rogers, with the request that they should bring the matter before tho Council, at the present Session, and have the resolutions embodied in the Ordinance. Amongst the resolutions, is the following : — "That the Sheep Inspector should, in future, have the power to defer granting a travelling certificate to newlyimported sheep, for a period of fourteen days ; and another resolution is to the effect — that a Chief Inspector, at an increased salary, be appointed. A joint stock company has been launched for the working of the Arrow quartz reef, under favorable auspices. The Provincial Government Gazette, published yesterday, contains a detailed statement of the revenue and expenditure of the Province for the quarter ending 30th June last. The revenuo amounts to £117,612 3s. 4d., including the following — " Refund — Bluff Harbor and Invercargill Railway," £80/101 2s. 6d ; Voucher No. 5,093 to meet promissory note, £10,000. ■ The expenditure for the period amounts to £69,561 16s. 10d., besides £8,231 ss. of unauthorised expenditure. We observe that our townsman, Dr. John Field Deck, has been appointed, by His Excellency the Governor, to be a coroner in the district of Southland. A notification, also, appears in the New Zealand Gazette of 15th June last, that His Excellency has considered it expedient to "revoke and make void " the appointment of Dr. M'Clure. Dr. M'Clure, we understand, is presently an inmate of the Dunedin Hospital. Mr. Hately, the Government sheep inspector has presented a return of the sheep and cattle landed at the Bluff and New River Harbors from October, 1863, to May, 1864, to the Superintendent, which shows that during that period the total numbers imported were as follows : — Sheep, 75,103 ,• cattle, 3,189. The election of Thomas Swale, Esq., as member of the Provincial Council for the Waihopai district, is duly certified in the Government Gazette, of Ilth inst. The following despatch from Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies is published in the New Zealand Gazette : — " Downing Street, 26th April, 1864. Sir,— l have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 21, of the sth February, transmitting a memorial from the citizens of Auckland, praying the Queen will be pleased to interpose her royal authority to prevent the removal of the Seat of the Government of New Zealand from that town. This memorial has been laid before the Queen, and Her Majesty was pleased to receive it very graciously. — I have, &c, Edwabd Cabdweil.-— Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., &c., &c. The Otago Daily Times, of the sth instant, has a leading article of two columns in length regarding the demand by the New Zealand Corporation for an apology for an alleged libellous article, with reference to that Banking Company's dealings with the Gas Company. The reply to the demand meets with firm resistance, and proceeds to justify the action of the journal upon public grounds. On the subject of the Queensland Loan, the Journal of Commerce has the following : — " The original loan contracted by the colony was j £123,800, and that of 1863 amounted to £707,4-36, making a total of £831,236. The first loan was raised in the colonies, and £62,000 worth of debentures, bearing interest 6 per cent., were sold at £105, and the remainder from £104 to , £105. Of the loan of 1863, £400,000 of debentures have been forwarded to England for realisation. Of these £200,000 were offered for sale on the 4th March in London. Information was received by the March mail that tenders had been sent in for' £313,000, of which £24,000 were sold at and above the limit, namely, £107 9.3. 2d. Tha average bf the whole tender was, £105 10s. gross, at a period when the money market was in a most nfavbrable condition. The loan was negotiated, ; through the Union Bank, as the financial agents " for the colony, and the limit fixed by them, at theinstance of the Government, was^£lo6, exclusive of interest at date of sale." j The (Queensland Journal oj 'Commerce, of ißth\ June, says: — " H.M.S.S. ; Salamander is shortly' anticipated, having [been r sent out by the AdnuV ralty to proceed to Cape- York, to be the means of fbunding, the, new settlement of Port, Albany. , Houses have been already constructed at Brisbane, Tor shipment to- the above. Northern" district; and appointments ' are .made, by the, Government for certain officials'to embark, in the Salamander. She has not yet "arrived in "Sydney, where she is to call for fuel and provisions."