The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1866.

Southland Times, Volume VI, Issue 495, 15 June 1866, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 1866.

We have to acknowledge- from the RegistrarGeneral, with thanks, the receipt of the statistics of New Zealand for 1864, including the census for the same period. The work is very valuable as a permanent record of the progress of the colony, and reflects great credit on the compilers. The operations of the " Land Registry Act, 1860," has been extended to tlie Province of Otago. Registration under this Act commenced on the Ist June. Alfred William Smith is tho District Registrar. The Petition to the General Government calling for a Commission to Inquire into the Railway Expenditure and financial condition of Southland, will be forwarded by . Mr. Wood M.H.R., to Mr Dillon Bell, M.H.R., for presentation to the House of Representatives. A party arrived from Riverton yesterday (Thursday), bringing two large parcels of gold, obtained from the Longwood Range : it is coarae, and mixed with quartz. From its appearance •it would indioate that the spot from wbioh it waa obtained is not far distant from a gold bearing quartz-reef, It is Ueavy) ?ough, and bujws no signs, of boing wctter-wom, Should a quarta-r^ef bq found in this digU'lot Us $lWß.efcW (M $ goldilglg

The Fencing Ordinance, which was recently passed by the Provincial Council, does not appear to be understood by the settlers. We have been frequently asked what is a " sufficient fence." The only answer we can give is the following extract from the Fencing Ordinance in question. It is as follows : — Sufficient fence, for great cattle and horses only — a post and rail fence, at least four feet in height, of substantial material, and firmly erected, with no greater distance between the rails than twelve inches, and the posts not more than eight feet six inches asunder, sunk twenty-seven inches in the giound, posts at least twenty-one inches in circumference rails not less than eighteen inches. — For Great and Small Cattle — A substantial upright paliug fence, at least four feet high ; a substantial wire fence a least four feet in height, having not less than six wires, posts two feet in ground, and not more than eight feet asunder, or five wires and top rail ; a substantial iron hurdle, at least four feet high ; a rubble wall or stone dyke, at least four feet high ; a close and sufficient fence of hawthorn or gorse, at least four feet high ; any combination of fences of the above kind, at least four feet in height ; a ditch, six feet wide at the surface, by four feet deep ; a ditch, thirty inches^ wide, by twenty -four inches deep, with bank eighteen inches high, aud four wires, or three wires and top rail or two wooden rails put up same as No. 1. — For Sheep Only. — A post and rail wire fence, of a height not less than three feet six inches up to the height of eighteen inches from the ground, no space between the wire or rails to exceed six inches, from eighteen inches to twenty-six inches, no space to exceed eight inches asunder, from twenty- six inches and upwards no space to exceed ten inches. A meeting of the committee to decide upon the best pamphlet on on the advantages of Southland as a field for emigration, was held at the Government Buildings. The members of the committee present were — Messrs. Pearson, Macarthur, Lumsden, Etngsland, and Dalrymple (Chairman.) The Chairman stated that the object of the meeting was to award the prize of 3550 to the successful competitor. He therefore begged to intimate that the committee had decided upon giving the prize to the gentleman who wrote the essay, signed " Live and Let Live." After a pause of some time, no one appearing to come forward to claimthe prize, it was decided by the committee to adjourn till a future day, and also to advertise in the Dunedin papers that the award had been made in favor of the essay "Live and Let Live." The sale of the Government timber in the Heddon Bush is postponed until Wednesday, the 20th June. Who has the control of the streets ? The late stormy weather has rendered many of the streets impassible for drays, and in. many parts the side drains, that were formed at great cost, have become so dilapidated, that unless some repairs to the wooden portions are made soon, they will be entirely destroyed j and, for the main part they will be filled up with filth, and rendered useless. Surely funds can be found to keep two men during the winter months for tb'.s purpose. If the Town Board is dead, surely public enterprise might do this. From recent advices from the Pai'ii digg'ngs, we learn that mining is steadily progressing, and the results ottained are most satisfactory, but our informant at the same time mentions that caution should be exercised in inducing miners i to leave old settled goldfields for the Paihi, as the accommodation for a large number of miners is | very indifferent, especially during the winter. We believe that Mr. Weldon, of the police brought some parcels of gold into town recently. From the information received, we are led to believe that it would be premature to declare the Paihi a goldfield, until more reliable information as to its permanent richness, can be obtained. Tenders for the supply of bread for the gaol and hospital will be received at the office of the Superintendent until noon on Wednesday, the ISth of June ; also, for the washing required for the Provincial Hospital, the work to be done on the premises. The dispute between Mr Barton and Mr Russell) we learn from Otago papers, is not yet ended. Mr Russell has obtained an attachment of the Supreme Court against Mr Barton for refusing certain deeds oc documents asserted to be illegibly retained by him. Tenders for the supply of boots, &c., for the prisoners, will bo received until noon on Tuesday, the 19th June. From, our Wellington papers we learn that the Cabinet has not yet been completed ; the appointment of Treasurer not having been declared; It is stated that the Auckland members have called a meeting to decide the course desirable for them to follow during the next session of the Assembly. A reply has been received from the Colonial Secretary of State (Mr. Cardwcll) to the Auckland Separation Petition, to the effect that her Majesty will not be advised to sanction the dismemberment of the colony. The Black Watch, Wishart, commander, arrived at the jetty yesterday, having made a splendid run across. She has a largo miscellaneous cargo. She brings papers to the sth June. Our Bluff correspondent, under date 14th June, writes: — The Post-office and Customs Departments at the Bluff has hitherto been combined and conducted by Mr O'Tool as Post master and Subcollector of Customs — an arrangement that suited very well when our shipping trade was small ; but we are informed that lately it has almost been quits impracticable for our Sub-collector to do the work of both departments. We are, therefore, glad to notice the arrival of Mr Harris to take charge of the Post-offices. The two departments will now be quite distinct, although for a short time they will be conducted in the same building. A memorial (our Bluff correspondent writes) to His Honor the Superintendent is being signed hero praying that the Government will re-con-sider the matter of altering the site for the Railway Station. It appears that the Station is to be erected at the extreme end of the line and beyond the town boundary, that it is also to front tlio harbour. We have previously called uttention to thi proposed alteration, bufc at the time we wore under the impression that the station would still front the main street, and certainly never thought that it was intended to be erected beyond .the town boundary, we quite agree with the momorial, that, tho station should, if as all ppasible, be witbin thp fawn j juijij^ gt R^t^r jK www wss to %wt fts Nil

The following memorial was adopted at the late meeting of the Chamber of Commerce :— " Invercargill, 12th June, 1866.— Sir,— I have the honor, on behalf of the Invercargill Chamber of Commerce, to lay before you the following resolutions adopted at a meeting of the Chamber held this day (Thursday) : — This Chamber views with deep concern and regret the proposed change with reference to the arrival and departure of the Northern Bteamers at the Bluff. Hitherto the steamers have left the Bluff northward three times in each month, viz., on the 2nd, 12th, and 22nd of the month ; and by I the proposed new arrangement there will be only two monthly steamers, viz., on the 16th and 28th. The Chamber would respectfully urge upon the General Government, that instead of the number of steamers arriving at the Bluff being reduced, that all the mail steamers which leave Auckland for the Southern Provinces should extend their voyage to it 3 proper terminus at the Bluff ; that Southland and the v Lake districts might receive the full share of all the benefits derivable from the steam mail service of the colony. The Chamber would make this" appeal the more earnestly, impressed as they are with the fact that the Province of Southland is just emerging from a crisis, and any action on the part of the Government having for its end the diminution of the frequency of opportunities of communication with the Northern Provinces would materially retard its recovery to political and commercial prosperity. By the present arrangement, the Southland mail to Europe via Panama would require to leave the Bluif by the steamer on the 28th. The Chamber would respectfully suggest that it would be very desirable that it should be so arranged that one steamer would leave the Bluff on the 2nd or 3rd of the monih, so as to be in time for the mail steamer leaving Wellington for Panama on the Bth, thereby affording opportunity of reply by the outgoing steamer. — I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient servant, (Signed) Hejtdebsojt Law, Chairman, Invercargill Chamber of Commerce. The Postmaster General, Wellington." The Railway Engineer and the Chief Surveyor who for some time have been employed in surveying the line of railway f^om Winton to the Lake, returned last evening (Thursday). The result of their labours are as yet unknown. It is stated that the Government shortly intend to remove the lunatics from the prison where they have hitherto remained, to the hospital. This course should have been adopted long ago j it would have been the means, in a great measure, of preventing the popular outcry against the management of the gaol and hospital. With the object of learning the treatment lunatics receive in the Asylum in Dunedin, Dr Monckton, the Provincial Surgeon, proceeds to Otago by the next steamer. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce has passed the following resolution relative to the ' withdrawal by the Government of the commission allowed to vendors of postage stamps : — " That in the opinion of this Chamber, the withdrawal of the allowance hitherto made to branch postoffices and others, on the postage stamps sold by them, is detrimental to the public convenience." On the same subject, the Lyltelton Times, in a recent issue, says : — " The General Government has the happy knack of inventing irksome penny economies. An order has been received, withdrawing the usual allowance of five per cent, made to shopkeepers who accommodate the public by selling postage stamps. Consequently the shopkeepers will give up selling stamps when they get nothing by it, and the public will have the. trouble ef trudging to the Post-office to supply themselves. We have no means of ascertaining the amount thus saved, but it must be trifling. We know that £10 was all that was received from this source during the past year at a shop in a. good business situation in Christchurch. Suppose £100 a year to have been given up by Government in allowing stamps to be sold at Chvjetchurch, the amount is nothing to the iucon/enience that will be occasioned by forcing people in all parts of the town to go to one spot to supply themselves with stamps." The following admirable passage quoted by Mr Travers (says a Canterbury paper), on Tuesday evening, is from the Times article on Mr Berkeley's speech, not from tha speech itself, as stated in the reports:— " ( A man who, closing his ears and mind to reason, attaches himself to a sect or a clique, or rides a hobby from one year's end to another, a review or newspaper which is established to promote certain political views, and to be the organ of a certain party, is content to stick to a local political leader, to defend him through thick and thin, and to defy any one to show that in the course of a whole generation it has ever said a word that could be construed into disapprobation. But the world sets little value on this servile consistency. The politician who never was known on any occasion, small or great, to vote against his s party ; the newspaper which may be relied on to puff regularly every man on its own side, and to -find nothing but knavery and folly in the utterances of the other, may have their merits, and they occasionally., have their reward. But their opinions cannot influence any reasonable being, for the essence of political influence is the formation of independent judgments. A newspaper, above all, can never be a real guide or index of public opinion if it is possible to predict what it will say by knowing whom it is speaking of." Fresh legislation is called for by the Lytlelton Times to meet the increase of scab in sheep in the Province of Canterbury. It say : — " In spite of all the sheep ordinances and scab prevention or- ! dinancea that have been passed, amended, repealed and renewed during the last ten years, and in spite of increased fines and fresh inspectors, the chance of scab boing eradicated from the Province seems even more remote than it was three years ago. At about that time the disease seemed likely to succumb to the active measures that were supposed to be taken against it, and it was believed that Canterbury might soon be able to say with Adelaide that not a single scabby sheep could be found within the borders. These hopes have unfortunately proved to be without foundation, and the scab appeara to be on the increase in the Northern and^Middle districts of the Pro* vince," Wo observe from, the Otaga Provincial Government Gtaxetltt that; the Mount Ha QyMr fields boundary haa been « extended, Vfo wwlw* Stand, thftt this (Ugfritf & «l<n?ty h Hfc Hfrpjjf

"We understand that Mr Blacklock, the Provincial Treasurer, is shortly about to proceed to 'Dunedin on business connected with the Provinc ial Government. The Nen Zealand Herald, speaking of the new postal subsidies, says : — " Mr. Stafford's assertion that he would save nearly £300,000 per annum to i the colony, bids fair te be made good. Piece by ! piece the expenses of the several departments ara being cut down with a wise economy, which, without impairing tho efficiency of the public service, merely lop 3 off the superficial cojt ia which a reckless Ministry has involved the country. The postal subsidies for the carriage of the inter-colo-nial and inter-provincial mails, will, under Mr. Stafford's rule, cost the country just £37,428 less than they cost us under that of Mr. Weld. It was understood that the tenders, to be accepted at all, must be reasonable, and the consequence is that they were so. The services are to commence on the first of June, and the following are the accepted tenders : — lntercolonial — Sydney and Auckland— P.KZ. and A.R.M. Company, £475 per month ; Otago and Melbourne — O.S.S. Company, £400 per month. Inter-provincial — one East and one West Coast — N.Z.S.N". Company £300 per month each ; one East and one West — Coast — P.N.Z. and A.R.M. Company, £300 per month. The amount paid for the late service was to the P.N.Z. Ann A.R.M. Company, £46,918 per annum; to-the N.Z.S.N. Company, £16,410 per annum j total, £63,328. Under the new arrangement, the former company Trill receive £13,900 per annum ; the latter, £7,200 per annum ; and the O.S"S. Company, £4,800 per annum ; a tota of only £25,900 for the years's subsidies." The OJcarita Times has been enlarged and improved, and now appears under the title of the Westland Observer and OJcarita Times. . The Civil Service Commission, which we have previously alluded to, has become a reality. The New Zealand Government Gazette of the 30th June, has a notification of the following appointments. It says : — " Charles Knight, William Gisborne, William Seed, and James Spence, Esqs. have been appointed Commissioners to inquire into the state of the Civil Service. Their duties are to enquire generally into the clerical strength and efficiency of the several departments of the public service j and especially as to the number, age of admission, rules of advancement and promotion, and remuneration of the several clerks and high officers of the said departments : And to report such improvements in the organization of the same, byway of consolidation or otherwise as may, in their opinion, promote efficiency and economy. Also, to enquire and report on the subject of retiring and other allowances and pensions ; and, especially, whether the same should be provided by a contribution from the clerks, in the nature of a Benefit Society ; and, if so, whether the said contribution should be compulsory, or only voluntary. Also, to inquire and report as to the manner in which an income tax might be raised, and the most effective and economical mode of raising the same, and especially what proportion the cost of collection would probably bear to the gross amount of tax collected." A correspondent of the Southern Cross, writing from Opotiki on 23rd of April, gives anything but a promising account of the value of the confiscated lands at Opotiki to the Government, whether of the Colony or the Province of Auckland. He says : — " The Opotiki flat is a splendid piece of land, comprising about 12,000 acres, bounded on the north and east by the Otara' River, aud on the West by the Waioeka River. A commercial township and a military township are being laid off by Mr. Gwynneth, the District Surveyor. The remainder of the flat is to be laid off in 50-acre lots for military settlers, as also the high table land on the east of the Otara River and on the west of the Waioeka River. A large tract of land on the west of the Waioeka River (2000 acres) is claimed by the sons of the late J. A. Wilson, who attained aright to it whilst acting as missionary. It is yet unknown whetber tho Government intend retaining it under the confiscation Act, and compensating the claiments. for it at its value prior to the Opotiki expedition, or allowing the claiments to retain it. If so, they will be extremely lucky, as it is- some of the finest land in the district. A large number of native claims have also sprung up for the land on the flat, but with what chonce of proving them it is not yet known. It will be a great pity if the 1 Government, through the Native Land Court, or by any other means, are compelled either to compensate or give up land on accoune of these claims, many of them, or indeed, I may say all of thejn, being made by the relations of rebels who have been fighting against us j but such is the feeling in the Native Land Court, that it is much to be feared the Opotiki flat will be rather an expensive acquisition. The Opotiki expedition for the pay of officers- and men alone, from tho 16th August, 1865, to the 31st March, 1866, has cost the Government the handsome sum of £22,164, exclusive of the cost of the Commissariat Department, clothing, shoes, transport, and ammunition ; and if compensation is to be added, the land will be dearly purchased, especially if large European, as well as native claims, have to be entertained.