The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1867.

Southland Times, Issue 635, 22 February 1867, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1867.

It will bo seen from our advertising columns that a meeting is convenod of the members of the Hospital Committee, to be held at the Government buildings this evening, at 5 o'clock. A programme has been arranged for a grand provincial steeplechase at Christchuroh, which ib proposed^tp, ba run on the Queen's birthday. A prize of £250, in addition to a sweepstake of 10 soys., forms the chief attraction. The election for the seat in the Hou«e of Representatives, vacated by Mr FitzGerald, has terminated in favor of J_tr Travers by alarge majority of votes. . A meeting of the Itorticultural and Florieultural "Society was held on Wednesday evening at Colyer's Princess Hotel, Dee-street. The position of the society was stated to be good — the avattable funds more than trebling the amount in hand last season. Several names were 'added to the committee, and from the spirit manifested there is every probabiUty of the show proving a success. Judges were appointed, prizes arranged, and a committee meeting fixed to take place last evening at 7.30. It was arranged tbat the show should take place on the 12th prox. Mr Cochran (of the firm of Cochran, Granger & Blackwood) undertakes the duties of secretary. We call attention to Mr Todd's Sale of- Cattle at Wallacetown, this Say. We understand the mob, comprising 160 head, ib really a very fine one. Mr Todd will also seU to-morrow,-; in his sale-rooms, Dee-street, a misceUaneous lot of saw mttl plant, now standing on the CUnton estate, together with timber and other articles. We remind our readers of the performances at the Theatre Royal to-night. The programme is an entirely new one, and should afford three hours thoroughly enjoyable amusement to the audience. Selections from Macbeth' will be given by Miss Juno and Mr C. Searle. The Duel in the Dark, which foUows, wttl no doubt exercise the risible faculties of the spectators. A proclamation in the General Government Gazette, announces that Parliament is further prorogued to Monday, the 29th April, when it is ordered to meet in WeUington. In all probability there will be a further prorogation from that date, and the real time of meeting wi". not be nuttt the month of June. Another fire is reported at Auckland, by which it would appear that Messrs Matthews and Barclay's workshops, in the market reserve, were totaUy destroyed by fire on the night of the 7th inst., and an adjoining dwelling-house, the property of Mr Samuel Cochrane, and occupied by Mr George Element, painter, had a very narrow escape. The workshops were insured in the Auckland Insurance Company's office. More Imperial troops have been ordered home, if there is any foundation for the foUowing paragraphs, which appear in the Southern Cross : — " We. understand that orders have been received to prepare H.M. 57th Regiment for embarkation to England without delay, and it is therefore probable that the ships Electric and Maori will be taken up for their transport. Three companies of the regiment are at present doing duty in Auckland garrison, and orders have been issued for the speedy concentration of the remainder, prior to their departure, which will probably be in the beginning of April." " Orders have been given to prepare for the embarkation of the 12th Regiment immediately after the departure of the 67th. The 57th Regiment is to be concentrated at Auckland by the 15th March, 1867. General Chute has issued orders to the effect that the whole of the posts beyond the Queer's Redoubt, in the Waikato, are to be abandoned by the Imperial troops." The last Panama Mail forwarded contained, in all, 32 newspapers !. A striking Ulustration of the baneful effect of the new postal regulations, which, by putting a prohibitory tax upon the transmission of newspapers, virtually annihttate a powerful immigration agency, and gives the first blow to the efficiency of the Panama route. It is the most deplorably shortsighted poUcy we ever heard of, " so says the Hawke's Bay Herald of the 2nd instant. We {Wellington Advertiser) must, however, explain that the Government has been forced into this " short-sighted poUcy " by the action of the Panama RaUway Company who oharge them at the rate of threepence per newspaper for every one sent across the Isthmus. As an example of the enormous charges made by this Company we may mention that the book packages sent home by Government by this route in the first steamer cost something like £180 for postage, and those by the second about £250. The Government consequently Bince then sent all such packages — of which a large number are forwarded by each __ail containing voluminous documents for the Home Government — by the Suez route, and receives blue books, &c, from home by the same route. We beUeve that as soon a3 ever the heavy postage on newspapers across the Isthmus of Panama is reduced, a corresponding reduction in the postal charges wttl be made here. On the Ist instant, says the West Coast Times, the following return of population was furnished to us from the Okarita District : — In Okarita town and vicinity there were 210 persons ; Long Beach, 350; Gillespie's, 100 j Hunt's Beach, 20 j and in Bruce Bay and Haast River, 120 ; thus making a total of 800 persons. Our readers wttl, however, not be surprised to learn that with the exception of the last-named locaUty, on immense fatting-off has occurred, every other place being in a perfect state of collapse — all faces being set for the new rush, which, with the hundreds conveyed from Hokitika and the north, must now present a busy aspect indeed. Previous to the late rush, we hear that many parties of diggers had returned from the northern goldfields, bo it may safely be presumed that Okarita is not quite worked out yet. On the Long Beach alone we are informad that there was an increase of 50 miners in the fortnight preceding the Haast river exodus. Ground supposed to have been exhausted, was taken up in extended claims, and found to pay well — one claim paying as much as : 620 per man per week. Prospecting was being rigorously prosecuted in the back country, one party having carried a shaft down about thirty feet, finding every indication of gold ; but we shall not be much surprised if we hear 'that enterprise has been abandoned, and all tijje projectors Tamoaed to the Haast,