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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 205, 19 January 1866, Page 2

The contract for the completion of the Bluff line of railway has been accepted. The tenderers are Messrs Smyth, Hoyt and Co., of Dunedin (Cobb and C 0.,) for the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, payable in land. We con gratulate the province on the result. The well known enterprise and indomitable perseverance of Cobb and Co. is a sufficient guarantee that the work will now be carried on with spirit and energy. If further evidence is required it is to | be found in our advertising columns, where adverI tisements appear^f'or labor for the immediate commencement of two portions of the line. We hope they may have success, and be ready and willing to go in for the continuation of the line to Winton whenever the Government shall deem it politic to carry out that work. The firing for the Government prizes for the best shots among the Invercargill and Riverton Volunteer Riflemen was commenced yesterday morning. Twenty members, ten from each company have been selected, five of whom shot off j esterdaj . The shoot In j, notwithstanding ihe unfavorable state of the weather, was quite up to the average. Full particulars of the score will be given at the termination of the match. We understand that Mr. Justice Richmond will preside at the Session of the Supreme Court to be held on Monday next the 22nd instant. There are only two cases on the Calendar, one for murder, and one for an unnatural offence. A report has been spread upon what foundation we have nojconception, to the effect that the steam tug " Southland " had been disposed of by the Provincial Government to a firm in town, and that the representative of the General GoVern ment declines to sanction the sale." All we can ascertain is that no sale has been made and the report is false. The Provincial Government have resolved to lay the vessel up pending their decision as what is best to be done with her, finding that the late mode of employing her was not profitable. Our contemporary in his yesterday's issue, appears to have fallen into an error which we doubt uot he will feel grateful to us for correcting; In a paragraph upon the irregularity ot the arrival of the English Mail, he says : — " We shall the better appreciate ths luxury of regularity and despatch when it falls to our lot to enjoy it, which will probably be the case under, the P. and O. company." "Hope deferred maketh the heart sad," and we had imagined that it was the P. and . O. company, which had reduced " irregularity " to a science, and in our sadness we have not faith in our contemporary's hopings. It is possible that through the agency of a mesmeric messenger he may possess information of the companies return to its old love — regularity. Wo can scarcely thiuk this likely, still, we should be sorry to think our methodic friend could have penned the paragraph in ignorance of the past. His Honor Mr. Justice Gresson, (says the Canterbury Standard, accompanied by Mr Duncan, Crown Prosecutor, and escorted by some mounted troopers, left Christchurch yesterday morning en route for Hokitika, by the Otira^ Bealey route. His Honour goes to hold the first sitting of the Supreme Court at Hokitika, and we trust the party will reach their destination in safety aud in due time. We perceive from Northern papers" that Captain Wm. Blake Graham, has been appointed Adjutant and Quartermaster of Miiitia and Y«Uaiteejs in the. WaogaAui fl&Uitift Diatribe,

The Wakatipu Mail 6th Jan. has the following bit of information for our farmers for whose benefit we abstract it : — " We learn potatoes are very dear at the Dunstan and Nevis. At the latter place they are reported to be worth £34 per ton. Here they are worth only £2, to £3 per ton ; and for want of roads we can neither supply the Dunstan or the Nevis." One of the most important and useful enactements which ever eminated from the Ota^o Provincial Council, is that of the District muncipality Bill passed last session. A number of the upcountry townships are taking advantage of its provisions — Tokomrirow, Lawrence, Weatherstone and we believe the Clyde aro seeking them. The following short resume of the Act will give a fair idea of its character : — lt is now competent for not less than fifty householders resident within any townsliip, public or private, to petition for a Municipality, and the Superintendent is left no opition as to complying with the request. A large discretion is left to him as to the condi tions of constitution, but these are mere matters of detail. The fifty householders must be a majority of the householders in the township — with that reservation only, the boon of self-govern-ment is open to all those young communities which see before them prospects of advancement But they are not to be sent forth dowerless. A provision is made for subsidising them, and the fact that this is the case explains the necessity for withdrawing from the Superintendent and Executive the discretionary power of refusing the petitions. To give to the Government the right of granting or refusing money would not only be to place temptation in 'ts way, but often to allow a temporary tightness of the Provincial chest to interfere with the development of the up-country towns. The subsidy is to be at starting a some of money of not less than three nor more than five hundred pounds, at the discretion of the Government for the first two years, a further subsidy of two pounds is to be given for every one raised hy local rates, and for the next three years one pound for every pound raised. Further, The Superintendent is to have the power of endowing the municipalities with land. A provision is also introduced, by which two or more townships adjacent to each other may combine to form themselves into one innnicipalitp. The Ordinance does not apply to townships within five miles of Dunedin ; nofc that there is any objection to their becoming municipalities, but that the valuable nature of the property would make the question of boundaries so importaut that they require to be dealt with by a specific instead of by a general empowering Ordinance." We perceive from the Launceston Examiner that the Railway question has been creating intense interest. From what we can gleen, after nine years agitation the Governmen passed a bdl favorable to the formation of Rudways upon the opinions ofthe people having been expressed. It £** a novel enactment. The Government give a six per cent, guarantee, to a company but the districts through which the line would pass are ' required to give the Government a guarantee thai in the event of the company not proving a success they will pay the deficiency. But in order to obtain a distinct opinion, all the districts are polled, and that polling has just terminated — it created immense excitement in th* Northern Districts of Tasmania, and resulted in a great majority electing ia favor of a Had way on the terms. The votes taken were for the Radway 2,233 against it 561 being 1,110 more votes than the two thirJ.3 required by the act. The paper from wliich we quite speaking of the Tasmania Railway Bill says : — " The bili, however, passed and became law, and under ifc a company has been formed to construct the railway, one-fourth its cost being paid by the shareholders and empowered to borrow the remaining thrcefourths, by bond redeemable in thirty-five years, on which the 'Government guarantee interest at a rate of six per cent., taking a reguarantee from the districts for the repayment of interest should the Company fail. The promoters do not anticipate that a rate wiil ever be necessary, but under no circumstances can it be levied untd the radway is completed and has been at work twelve months ; and then the property in the different districts will be subjected to a special assessment, the annual value oA each being fixed in proportion the benefit it derives from the railway. And further, provision is made for the repayment o every farthing raised by rate from the first profits ofthe Company. But tho Government is not authorised to issue bonds until the owners of the property liable to be rated have expressed their ■willingness to incur that responsibility by a majority of two out of every three votes recorded, and it was to ascertain their sentiments on this question that the poll was taken yesterday. The scale of voting adopted gave every landholder assessed at £10 aud under £50 a year one vote, and one vote for each additional £50 up to £±50 which gives ten votes, the maximum number for any individual."-