Untitled

Southland Times, Volume VII, Issue 534, 6 August 1866, Page 2

We are in receipt of later Northern papers, but the news is unimportant. The parliamentary information is exceedingly mild. The Separation question was stUl under debate in committee, and the proceedings in the House have been confined almost entirely to the asking of questions and the first reading of bills. Tho next Northern mail, i may be expected, will bring important news. The Separation question is, by consent, to be decided before any other important subject is taken up for discussion ; and although, by telegram, we lc-r-n that Mr Whitaker's Auckland resolutions have beon lost, it is understood that Otago has a variety of schemes to bring forward ; and in the event of aU falling to the ground, Mr Crosbie Ward wiU propose a final resolution, tbe nature of which has not yet transpired. We are requested to call attention to the advertisement of tho sailing of the Otago, for Melbourne, on the 10th August. This vessel was unavoidably detained at the North, which prevented her being at the Bluff at the time previously advertised. The Egmont will leave the Bluff, for Northern ports, on or about the 7th August. Tliere is a prospect that the trains will run regular between Invercargdl and the Bluff in a Tery shor! time. The engine has been plying for several days between the station here and the breakwater, taking at a trip sometimes as many as twelve trucks loaded with earth excavatedfrom the new goods shed. Through the courtesy of the assistant engineer we were permitted a ride on the engine on Friday afternoon, and were thus en ibled to witness the marked contrast between tha jostling over the wooden Oruti road, and ths firm, smooth way the wheels roll on tli3 irjnlins. It affords lis pleasure to bear testimony to the gentlemanly behaviour, extreme deli-ac-y, and obUging disposition evinced by Mr Simpson, the Resident Engineer, in affording every facility to inspect the Une to the representative of this journal. The " Australasian " of July 14 says : — By tbe Omar Paolia another of the grandsons of Louis PhiUipe, late king of the French, has arrived on a visit to Australia. The Due de Penthievre, which is the name of our illustrious young visitor, is the only son of the notorious Francois d'Orleans, Prince de Joinville, by his wife Francesna Braganza, second daughter of the first Emperor of BrazU, and is, therefore, first cousin of the unfortunate young prince who recently died at Sydney. The English papers appear to have bpen misinformed with regard to the intention of" the Prince de JoinvUle to accompany his son, who is attended only by a friend, tho Comte de Beiuv( i', or Beauvais — the reporters hive not yet decide! which — and his tutor, Captain Fauvel. The young Prince is a sailor by profession, having served in the United States navy during the late war. He is about twenty-one years of ace, and is described as a taU, handsome youth, "with features of a decided Bourbcn type" — whatever that may mean. It was the original intention of the duke," we believe, to join his cousin, the Prince de Conde, at Sydney, and after a stay of two or three months in Australia, the whole party were to proceed on a tour through Java, Cochin China, China, Japan, and home to England by way of San Francisco. Whether the inteUigence of the untimely death of his cousin, which met our young visitor on his arrival in Melbourne, vrill cause any alteration to be made in his plans, we are unable to say at present.

On Saturday evening, about eight o'olock, th fire- bell was heard, and groat excitement too* place, but fortunately the fire which caused the a larm was extinguished in a short time, and was so smaU that no particulars need be recorded. Again, the beU sounded its warning notes lastevening, and once more the people were all in motion and a large number were quickly on the spot. It, also, proved of small importance. A. chimney in the Princess Hotel took fire, and for a short time emited flames that threatened a fearful conflagration, but owing to the prompt action of the firemen and volunteers it was, as in the other instance, speedily extinguished. WecUpthe subjoined from "Lloyds Weekly Newspaper " 13th May :— " The Black Ball packet Young England has brought home from New South Wales a tremendous specimen of the saurian tribe, which, in the opinion of Australian savans, is more closely allied to the extinct reptUin. of the pre- Adamite era than any living animal yet discovered. It inhabited the unexplored interior of Queensland, near the source of the Fitzroy - river. The accounts related of the destruction caused by the monster upon the native population seemed perfectly incredible until the formidable jaws, armed with fangs of astonishing size, wero beheld. Added to this, its elvws are of prodigious power, and its invulnerable skin, rendered it most formidable. In the contest which ended in ita destruction one claw was torn off, but with this exception the body is in perfeect preservationThe Port Denison Times, 9th Juno says : — •' Fever is racing in the Maekensie river scrubs. Of twelve men employed on the new crossing at Bedford's public-house, one died a few days ago, and when our informant left, four othors were apparently on the threshold of the next world. Our Sub-inspector of Police and a constable returned from patrolling the road on Monday, both being severely, and the sub-inspector dangerously, afflicted with fever. Happi'y, the disease is seldom dangerous, unless when "aggravated by exposure, bad living, and impure water, but its effect upon the most robust constitution is always very distrersmg. We think the authorities would materiaUy diminish the virulence of fever by encouraging settlement on the land, which would soon place an abundant supply of fruit and vegetables within the reach of aU classes. But for the industry of John Chinaman, it is believed, our population would be annuaUy decimated by this, the only but evidently remediable scourge of Central Queensland." We extract the foUowing from a leading article in the " Daily Times," 29 July. While we cannot endorse the views of the writer as to the policy j of adopting a newspaper tax : it is fair that opposite views to our own should be placed before our readers. We think the fact that the cost of the Postal Service of New Zealand having been proved to be nearly three time 3as much as the revenue derived, is a sufficient answer to all who object to the penny postage duty on newspapers. It gayg. — "Though the Postmaster- General feels proud ofthe arrangements for communicaton with Panama, the mercantile interests and the pubhc may not feel quite so cock-a-hoop about them nor quite so weU satisfied as he, that by the abolition ofthe commission on the sale of postage stamps, many of the facUities for obtaining them have been withdrawn, and long journeys at great inconvenience and loss of time rendered necessaryOthers may fairly question the prosperity of the department, when is is proposed by the Government to impose a tax on the conveyance of newspapers. It is, in fact, very queationable whether the discouragement of communication and transmission of news consequent upon these arrangements wi 1 ! not far outweigh any revenue than I may be derived from their adoption. It has often | been argued, and with great reason, that even at a loss to the revenue every facihty should be given for correspondence. When Rowland HiU first proposed his penny postage scheme, it was estimated that the postal revenue would fall short ofthe expenditure by a miUion of money j but the social and commercial benefits anticipated were estimated at worth a far greater sacrifice. Little huckstering savings in postal arrangements, tend to defeat their professed object. True economy consists in giving a wise encouragement to the extension of postal facUities. At present the revenue falls very short of the expenditure ; the revenue amounting to £47,939 7s 9d, and tho cost t» £131,533 12s 4d. This is a natural consequence of a sparse population ; but looking at tha progressive increase of correspondence, the two may fairly be expected to approximate more nearly annually. A comparative return is appended to the Report of the number of letters and newspapers, received and transmitted through the Post Office daring the years 1863, 1834, aud 1865, from which it appears that there were received in those years respectively of letters, 1,689,945.-2,112,771 and 2,208,285. The letters transmitted during the same years, were 1,715,435,-2,120,849, and 2,235,188. The newspapers received numbered 1,474,134, — 1,831,482, and 1,809,583 ; and those transmitted were 1,923,542,-2,546,846, and 2,397,409. It wUI be observed that there was a decrease in the latter in 1865, as compared with 1864, and it wiU be remembered that an Order in CouncU imposing a penny tax was issued in December, 1864, and continued in force some months. How much that tax had to do with cheeking the transmission of information by means of the Press, cannot be estimated ; but tho coincidence is, to say the least of it, singular, if not significant." The effect, by anticipation, of , the proposed tax on transmission of newspapers hy post is Ulustrated by the foUowing from the " Bruce Herald," the proprietors of which had signified their intention of pubhshing twice instead of once a week . " "We had very closely calculated the additional expenses, which a second weekly issue would entail upon us, and had resolved, in a Überal spirit, to make our charge for subscriptions only a very Uttle over what it now is, so as to place our readers in possessing of the very improtant news which we may reasonably expect from aU parts of the world, as speedUy and as economically as possible ; but the inareased expense and inconvenience from this postage rate has induced us to postpone publishing twice a week. This accounts for our not appearing in our new form yesterday." Tne following item of iuteUigence respecting commercial transactions, we take from the "DaUy Times," lst August. It says :— " At a sitting in Banco yesterday, Mr. Justice Chapman delivered the judgment of the Court on the motion to make absolute a rule nisi for a new trial, the Commercial Bank of New Zealand (Limited) v. Dyer. The rule was discharged with costs. The judgment decides a new and important pomt — that Bankers with whom biUs are lodged for coUection have no right to sue the customer on such bnk.

The "DaUy Times," 31st July has the Mow. ing . — « We know that there are abundant grounds y for the many complaints that are constantly made as to the bad management or no management of the Electric Telegraph as a department of the G-eneral G-overnment Service ; and we know, too, that there are abundmt grounds for complaint on another subject -connected with telegraphy in New Zealand. Wo mean, the style in which news is " got up " for transmission by those who represent the " press agency." In the Southland " Daily News " of the 25th ult. we find the fol* owing: — "In the sittings in Banco * yesterday, the Judges granted a manlamus to Mr Strode compelling him to hear the case of perjury, RusseU v. Barton." The same message, substantially, appear in the " Lyttelton Times," of the 27th ; and no doubt it has also appeared in the Nelson papers, and wUI be repeated in the North Island. But the fact is that the Judges have not granted a mandamus. What was granted was a rule nisi caUing upon the Magistrate to show cause why a mandamus should not issue ; and that rule was granted only after a very expUcit statement by Mr Justice Richmond of " one of several doubts in his mind as ,to the rule bein-r hereafter made absolute." The whole of the observations _of Mr Justice Richmond showed that the tendency of his belief was to hold that the Magistrate was right in refnsing to hear the Information ; and the rule nisi was only granted after their Honors had taken time to consider Mr Srnythio's appUcation. — The telegram to which we have been referring is only one of many misstatements of fact which have been contained in messages from Dunedin; and more care should be taken by those responsible for the messages."