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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 246, 25 April 1866, Page 2

Prince Alfred has been advanced to the rank of full captain in the royal navy. His royal higness, having been but lieutenant, Has thus passed over one intermediate step, that of commander.

A meeting of' those interested in the construe-. t o n of a bridge over the Puni Creek, to Cononstreet, and formation, of a pathway to the- southern portion of the town/Will *c held at the Provincial Hotel, this evening, at : yrom'our advertising columns ifcVjvfll \T>VsG<m that the Wakatip Annual Races will take place oh Thursday and Friday next, the 26th and 27th April. We understand that some good horses have been entered, and good sport may be expected. It is with regret we have to record a fatal boat accident which occurred last week. The particulars as far as we have ascertained are aB follows :— " A boat left Invercargill for the.purpose ef ,pro-, ceeding to Stewart's Island, containing jfre or six men. At the time they left, the storm, had abated, but when mid-way on the journey the wind again freshened into a gale; and the boat was in imminent clanger of being swamped. - A man named Brass, in an attempt to ease the boat, became entangled in the sail and was flung by'the force of the wind into the sea.. He was seen for a time battling vigorously with the raging billows, but the parties in the boat were unable, to afford any assistance, and he sank, and was seen no more. . We wonld remind our readers that the time for revising the Electorol" Lists is close at hand. There can be no doubt the list requires revision. Many parties who have long been absent from' the Province, and others who are dead, and some: who are disqualified still appear. . It s is highly desirable that all such should be expunged. To effect this a public movement .. should be made, not a party movement, and a, committee formed impartially constructed for ; the purpose of perfecting the roll by purging it of all the spurious elements it contains. It is to be hoped that this matter will be taken up in earnest. The following is the state of H. M. gaol for the week ending, Tuesday, the 24th current; Sentenced to penal servitude, 7 males ; sentenced to hard labor, 11 males, and .1 female ; lunatics, 5 males, 1 female; committed , for trial, 3 males s on remand from E. M. Court, 1 male • total, 27 males, and 2 females : received during the week, 1 male ; discharged during the week, 1 male ; increase for the week, 2 males. From a Eiverton correspondent we learn that a gentlemen, who has visited the Paihia workings, has brought into that township three pounds weight of gold which he purchased on the ground. He reports that those working on the beach are doing well, notwithstanding that some of the claims have been rendered unworkable by the recent high tides. We think that there is now sufficient evidence of the gold-producing capabili-/ ties of the Riverton district to justify the Government in proclaiming it a goldfield. The success whicb appears to attend individual labor gives a guarantee that if leases of ground could be obtained, and capital united with labor secured, the result would be the advancement of the Province, that it has goldfields is an established fact. A correspondent of the Lyttelfon Times, 13th April, makes public a cure of the disease in trees which more or less prevails throughout the whole, colony. The writer says:— "l commend to your intelligent correspondent Mr Swale a cure for the American Blight which has I believe never yet been made public here. A Wellington gentleman, who had it from a gardener at the Hutt Valley, assured me he had found it very successful, and that the second year after applying the remedy to four very badly blighted apple trees, they yielded a remarkably fine crop of fruit. He had uncovered the roots to some distance from the stem and filled in the space with about haif a sack or more of sawdust, covering it over with earth. Two"or three years ago some trees at Christchurch were treated in a somewhat similar manner with malt dust. When the roots were uncovered some months after, they were found free from blight, whereever there was any malt dust left about them. It did not occur to me to enquire whether the sawdust had been obtained from any one particular sort of New Zealand forest tree, which might have properties especially j disagreeable to the insect. I have for some three years past found a couple of winter paintings of soft soap and sulphur, laid on with a common paint brush, from the smallest twig end down to the main stem sufficient to keep my trees in a perfectly healthy state above ground, and as free from blight as one may expect to be alongside of neighbours, who never do anything for then- trees covered with the insect all the year round." \ From our files of the Wakatip Mail we learn; that the district is flourishing. A municipal ■ Council is in course of formation, a considerable quantity of land, under the new leasing regulations is being brought under cultivation, and the mining interesfris prosperous. The Mail of the 14th says :— " The daily discovery of reefs as recorded by us seem to attract great attention in the metropolitan districts, and were our means of communication, enhanced and promoted as they should be, we should soon see a large and stationary population established here. Shares in every department of mining industry are at a premium and general prosperity seems the order of the day. The Criterion Quartz Mining Company have lately tried some. fresh prospects with excellent results and- confident predictions are hazarded for future s access. The plant of the Scandinavian Company has arrived in the colony, and is now in course of carriage to its final destination. At Maori and Arthur's Points mining affairs seem in an equally satisfactory state with the rest ol the district. The Sobarton Mercwy, of the 4th April, says : « A spawning time is near at hand: the Salmon Commissioners desire to have it known, that salmon trout ova can be had by persons who are ready to receive it in all parts of the colony when the spawning' time arrives, but that respect must be had to priority of application." , The Daily Times, 19th April, publishes the following extract from a letter received by the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, from the Colonial Secretary's Ofllce, Judicial Branch, under date 19th April, 1866 :— " I have to remark, in reference to the third resolution of the Chamber of Commerce (passed at the special meeting attended by Mr Paterson), that the Gbvernmentewould feel obliged if the Chamber would obtain, and forward to the (Government from the Merchants, Bankers, and Lawyers referred to, any suggestions with respect to the' working or amendment of the existing law (the Debtors and Creditors Acts), which they are of opinion should be submitted for consideration of the Legislature." In the Otago Provincial Gazette of the 13th April, Mr Thompson, Chief Inspector of Sheep, states :-—" That the total number of sheep in the Province is, 1,^44,721 j showing an increase ore* ttieatee3t9flftßtyew, v

The New Zealand Herald of the 6th kit" jives the following account of Mr M'Mulan'a process for prewiring flax:—" The great flax problem is at last: solved j and in the presence of his Honor the Superintendent, . the representatives af the press; and several other gentlemen who were invited by his Honor to attend, Mr M'HiUan yesterday -went through the process o^ cleansing a quantity of the raw material. The operation, as we stated in our issue of Wednesday, is both a simple and inexpensive one. Over a fire was a large pot three parts full of boiling water, into which Mr M'Millan threw a quantity of cowdung, together with a bundle of the leaves of the flax, or phormium tenax, boiling them together, for the space of two and a-half hours. At the end of that time the stalks or leaves were taken out, .and when rubbed ' between the hands the green outer covering and gummy substance at once separated from the fibres, leaving the fibres themselves definitely and regularly unravelled from one another in one continuous lock of the entire length of the stajk. The long hank of fibre, perfectly regular and unbroken, is then hung in the sun and becomes partially bleached. The fibres may after this process be multiplied in number and fineness to any desired extent by scutching. One«ofthe long coarse fibrei into which the flax separates, ai.ter the process of boiling in cowdung, may, by machinery, be multiplied to as many fibres as would leave the coarsest as fine as floss silk. It is not as a mere rough material for the manufacture of cordage that the phormium tenax will now be sought, but for weaving into the finer linens and cloth. In the present scarcity of such material, which we know to prevail in the manufacturing districts at home, the flax prepared by Mr M'Mulan's process will readily sell by the hundreds of thousands of tons for from £50 to £70 per ton. So great is the demand for material that all we can produce in New Zealand will not sensibly affect the market. In. their present attempt to fcsep up a supply of raw material for the mamJacture of cloth, the English importers are eagerly buying up jute and other inferior material. It may be thought by some that to make this a really valuable export, it will be necessary for us in Zealand to reduce the raw material, before exporting it, to the fall degree of fineness that may be necessary, for the more delicate kinds of' fabrics for the manufacture of which ifc is so > eminently fitted, Such, however, is not the case. This after work can be more inexpensively and very much better done at home, with ajl jthe appliances of machinery to' be met with there, than it could possibly be done here— for some time at least — and the difference of ita value to the exporter will qnly be the cost of such work per ton; lessj in fact, if done at home than if done by himself here. The grand object is to free the flax from the gimv and vegetable matter — to separate the waste or drgss, and retain only that which may afterwards be worked up with but a small per centago of waste.' ' This Mr M'Millan's process effects." [ The Lyttelton Times, 13th April, says : — " It is mow generally understood that 'the Panama Mail ; Service will commence in the month of June, and I; that the first boat from this Bide of the ocean will Heave Sydney on the 15th of the month, and Wellington on the 22nd. From the other side, the . mail which leaves Southampton on the 2nd of June will be forwarded, by. a boat to be ready io j leave on the 24th from Panama for Wellington, j where it may be expected to arrrive about 20th of July." ■■_■■■■ The Qeelong Advertiser 6th April, thus comments upon the progress of industrial enterprise in the Western District. It says : — " One of the most business-like undertakings presented to the public of Greelong for some years 'iß the Woolen and Cloth Factory. Silently and earnestly the project was initiated, and to the present time lias progressed in a sure manner, steadily, as most things do, when permanency and success are the ends in view. The company's share list is now pretty well filled up, and in a short time [ shares will be at a premium. . The site of the factory is the old police paddock, South G-eelong > j where ground was granted to the new enterprise by [the Government. Instructions ,|for the i purchase of machinery requisite for cloth works , h&ve been forwarded, and negotiations entered upon for the securing of competent hands and skilful superintendence. ' The factory is growing rapidly under the hands of the builders. The structure, is 111 leet long by 25 feet in breadth, and 15 feet in the clear. It is built of bluestone, the walls being two sect thick. Detached from the main building is the engine-house and massive chimney built of brick. The factory is nowready for roofing, and will be ready for the reception of machinery by the time the shipments are due of the requisite stock. It is a piece of massive work, constructed apparently with great strength, sufficient according to appearance to bear the weight of another story that will be requisite when the company gets into thorough working order. Thus far everything has gone well with, the enterprise, and .we hope to be present when the first end of cloth is made, or the first piece of tweed presented to emulous competition."