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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 238, 6 April 1866, Page 2

We have recently received letters of complaint from the editors of Northern journals, and from subscribers! of the irregularity with which the Southland Times is received through the post. We cannot account for it ; ODe thing is certain, the fault is not with this office, and therefore must rest with the Post Office, at either the receipt or delivery branch. A gentleman in the Eiverton district, writes to vs :— " The last mail to Otautau did not bring me either Monday's or Saturday's paper. The mail for Otautau leaves Invercargill on Monday at half-past ten a.m., and I have often received Monday's paper on Monday evening. I believe the fault lies with the Post Office, and I shall feel greatly obliged if you will make enquiry. I would mention that we have only a fortnightly mail to this place, which makes a disappointment of this kind intolerable. I shall also request you to accompany- me to the Postmaster when I next come to town, for this must be cleared up if possible. On Wednesday evening a tea meeting, in connexion with the Bagged School, was held in the School-room, Dee-street. The gathering was of a most gratifying character. Nearly a hundred sat down to tea. In the evening a public meeting was held. Dr Menzies having been called to the chair, in a short speech, he pointed out the great good which similar institutions had worked in the home country, and encouraged the supporters of the Invercargill Bagged School to persevere in their efforts, and he felt assured that future success was certain. The Secretary and Treasurer read the report of progress since August last from which we learn that about £24 had been expended since that date, and last week they were indebted about £5. That the public had, since the resolution to get up the tea meeting, contributed the sum of £11 in cash, besides the provisions, and the proceeds of the tickets were estimated to realise close upon £14. The number of scholars had reached 57 on the books, but at the present time there was only 30, with an average attendance of 23. The school .was in a satisfactory state, and the children under good control of the present master, Mr Burns. He (Mr Ayton) regretted being about to leave the province. On a motion of the Bey. Mr j Shaw, seconded by the Eev. Mr Stobo, the j report was adopted. Much, interest, was j manifested in the success of the institution, and J after a very pleasant evening profitably spent, the meeting terminated. The nomination for candidates for the representation of Invercargill iv the Provincial Council, in the place ef T. M. Macdonald, Esq., will take place at the Court House at noon, this day. - The Daily Times 31st March says :— On the petition of fifty-nine householders, Queenstown has been proclaimed into a Municipality, under the style of " The Corporation of the ' Town of Queenstown," i» accordance with the provision of the Ordinance passed in the Provincial Council last session. The total area of the Municipality is 270 acres. It is divided into wards, the north and south. The necessary provisions of the " Otago Municipal Corporations Ordinance, 1865," are applied to it. . We take the following from the Creswick Advertiser : — " We regret to learn that the disease called blackleg has made its appearance on the Smeaton Plains. This epidemic is, if possible, worse than the dreaded pleuro-pneumonia, as it is certainly more sudden in its fatal effects. Mr Walter Baldwin, the herdsman, has lost four head of cattle by this visitation ; Mr Carr one, and Mr Bichardson one ; besides there are a few other sufferers. It is to be sincerely hoped that after the heavy loss that most cattle breeders and owners have suffered by the attacks of the pleuro, they will be spared any extensive spread of this more dangerous enemy to their prosperity." A correspondent at Port Chalmers, to the Daily Times, suggests that as telegraphic communication is now open from the Bluff to Nelson, the direction of the wind and the state of the weather should be given to the press for publication daily. He considers, that by this means many a vessel may be saved from shipwreck, and the lives of their crews and passengers preserved, as the weather North or South would enable seamen to judge whether or not it waß safe to put out to aea. The use of weather signals on the coast of England is becoming yearly more highly appreciated, and has already, proved of great service to shipping, and it would be equally advantageous here. The Bruce Herald states that the following petition is in course of signature, and lias been drawn up because of the reported existence of pleuro-pneumonia on the Southland Bank of , the Mataura. "To His Honor the Superintendent of ths Province of Ofcago. We the undersigned stock owners in the Waikuka, Tuturau, Wyndham, Toetoea, Euriwao, Warepa, G-lenoamaru, East and West "Clutha, Waipahi, Glenkonric, Pomahaka, and South Molyneus districts, respectfully pray that your Honpr wil] include the said

of 10th October last of His Honor the Superintendent 01 ,Otago, for the preventing the spread of the disease called pleuro-pneumonia, viz., for the following reasons: — 1. That there has not even been a suspicion of disease /from the Hirer Waikaka to the Coast, extending over twenty miles east of the Mataura Elver. 2. We. are well bounded to prevent the introduction of disease, and the district can be thoroughly kept free from disease if we are protected. 3. We believe that within the country so described there are at present a large number of cattle, in proportion to the extent of country, than in any other district of Otago. 4. The "case is similar, or even stronger and more urgent than the one brought before the Provincial Council for the Oamaru district by the hon. member Mr Grleeson." The Bruce Herald of the 29th instant, says : — "We are informed that an enterprising local merchant is about to embrace the opportunity offered by the regular weekly visits of the s.s. Tairoa to Port Molyneux to export therefrom carcases of meat for the Dunedin market, should that steamer not be capable of conveying live animals — the risk of crossing the Clutha Ferry being greatly against the overland transit. The number of fat stock now running ia the South Clutha district is very considerable, and probably this mode of getting them disposed of will be equally, if not more profitable, than sending the live animals to market. It is very generally, adopted now in the home country, carcase meat being thus conveyed to the London market from Aberdeen and other places, in order to save the loss ia weight of the cattle produced by the sea voyage or other mode of travelling. We wish the introducers of this new branch of local industry every success, and believe that it will shortly lead to a considerable trade being done with Dunedin in cattle and also in dairy producq." . Tenders for steam mail services between Auckland and Sydney, Port Chalmers, and Melbourne, and for InterrProvincial services on the East Coast, are called for by the General Government The tenders are to be addressed severally to Mr. GK Elliot Elliot, General Post-office, Wellington, and will be received until the 27th of April. " A resident at Breakfast Creek," says the Creswick Advertiser, " states that five personß in that locality have had a narrow escape from death by accidental poisoning. They had partaken of tea made with wat^r which had run off a new zinc roof, and were, soon after taken seriously ill ; the principal symptoms being violent vomiting and internal pain. Medical advice was, however, promptly obtained for them, and they were, with some difficulty, recovered. The physician attending the sufferers has no doubt that the partial poisoning was the direct consequence of the use of the water which had passed over the new zinc roofing." The Bruce Herald gives the following account of the prospects of the Canada Reef Company . — j "We believe we are at length justified in saying that the success of the Canada Reef Company is placed beyond the shadow of a doubt. We have from the first been particularly cautious in saving a word about this speculation that could be construed into an attempt to puff it in the market, being well aware of the disastrous results that have so often followed such attempts both in this Province and in Victoria, and we can therefore now more confidently assert our conviction of its being what miners term ' righteous,' that is, a good and payable speculation. The original level driven for the purpose of catching the reef at or about the old prospecting shaft is now 123£ feet in. Stone was struck at the exact point where it was intended to catch the vein, and from thence it has been followed the entire way, the reef gradually increasing in thickness, and constantly showing gold in payable quantities. Tbe tunnel is 5 feet in height, and at the top of th*, reef 4 feet, at the bottom. 41 feet thick, a very fair indication of its permanence ; it has also, as we have said, gradually thickened from where Hrst struck. The casting has also altered materially ; from hard green slate rock, it has changed to cement, in which, when broken up and washed, gold is found in considerable quantities.