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Southland Times, Issue 642, 11 March 1867, Page 2

All question as to the intention of His Excellency to visit Southland may now be considered dissipated. The subjoined telegrams, received by the Provincial Government from the hon. Major Richardson, are explicit. On Friday evening he telegraphed, "We leave Dunedin by H.M.S. Brisk on Friday, 15th, and (D.V.) will be off the Bluff next day, and stay three days." A second telegram, confirming the above, was received on Saturday. It was as follows :— " You may expect His Excellency on Saturday, the 16th. The suite will consist of six or seven." The attendance at the Theatre Royal, on the occasion of Mr Saarle's benefit, last Friday evening was very numerous, and the performances "•enerally were most successful : indeed, we notice a most decided improvement, in the presence of a really good band, w nich lessoned the monotony usually observed between the pieces. Miss Juno contributed greatly towards the success of the evening's entertainment by her charming and truthful impersonation of the principal character iathe "Hunchback." Mr Searle, also, showed careful acting and appreciation of the finest parts of the author's conception. Indeed, seldom have we enjoyed a more entertaining evening's amusement. Several amateurs lent their assistance during the evening. It will be seen from our other columns, that the Theatre Royal' will be open this evening, instead of Tuesday evening, as hitherto. The programme is still up to the mark, and the performance will, no doubt, be likewise. We observe that, by particular desire, selections from "Macbeth" will be given by Miss Juno and Mr Searle, the other pieces being the " Dumb Belle " and a " Duel in the Dark." The customs revenue collected throughout the Colony of New Zealand during the year 1866 exceeded that of 1865 bj £114,00 J A meeting of gentlemen favorable to the establishment of 'an Acclimatization Societv was held on Friday in the Southland Clab. Dr Menzies in the chair. Mr Butler gave some information obtained from his recent visit to Tasmania in reference to the Salmon ova. The Chairman of the Salmon Commissioners said that it was necessary tnat preparations should at once be made for its reception and that the state of preparedness would influence the amount to be contributed. It was resolved to form an Acclimatization Society and a provisional committee was appointed to frame, rules, &c, to be submitted to a public meeting during the ensuing week. His Excellency is to be solicited to become patron. The Melbourne " Argus " of the 16th uit. says : " The ship Hohnsdale is rapidly discharging her cargo at the Sandridge pier. It is expected that the battery of Armstrong artillery, manufacture < expressly for the service of this colony will be debarked in the course of next week. The guns are twenty-four in number, throw a shell of eighty pounds, and weigh four tons each. They are at the bottom of the hold. Judging from the state of the cargo already removed, it is believed that the artillery will be found to bo in excellent condition." The Criminal Session of the Supreme C mrt, Dunedin, commenced on the lst inst., before Mr Justice Richmond. The calendar waa a light one. Charles Williams, for stealing a cheque at Hampden on the 19th January, was found guilty, the Judge concurring in the verdict. The prisoner was^ntenced to one year's imprisonment, with hard labor. T. V. Allowav pleaded guilty to forging and uttering cheques : sentence was deferred. Henry Adam was found guilty of ' assaulting and robbing Johu White, at Oamaru, and sentenced to six months' hard labor. The "Daily Times" has the fol'owing :— " A discovery has been made wliich promises to restore to the Otago municip.il bodies the fees and fines of w -ich it was supposed tliey were deprived by an Act passe I last session. It seems that this Act is informally worded. It professes to repeal clause 4 1st of the "Otago Municipal Councils Empowering Act, 1865," which clause gave the Corporations the ruht to the fees' and fines in question. But there is no such Act as tlie one d.-scribed. The word " Councils "is used instead of " Corporations." The Title of the Act, of which the ciause it was intended to repeal formed part, is thus wrongly described ; in other words, there is no such Act, and, therefore, no clause is repealed. The list clause remains, therefore, as it was, and the Corporations hive the right to the fees and fines of whicli, since the Ist of January, they have been deprived. It is likely they wid lose very little time in applying for a refund of the moneys which, but tor the supposed repeal, would have conic to them." Matters appear to be far from satisfactory in some parts of the Waikato.. The cbnvspon lent of the "Southern Cross," writing from Hamiton, sth February, says :— ' Since my last communication a marked change has taken place in the settlement. The majority of the settlers who enrolled in Melbourne have now fulfilled their full time of service— on the 2'ith of January last ; and the remainder of the men's time will expire between this and the 4th of March. Already some dozen families have abandoned the settlement, and before the end of March many more will have taken tlie same course, after nearly thive years' toil. Several hive sold their house, town acre, and farm section, for a less sum than wi 1 repay their expenses to the sister colonies. It i> s rauge that statesmen like Mr Stafford and many of our legislators could not devise some scheme whereby the tide of population could be prevented from leaving our shore". The only men doinj: well here at present are lawyers and%nd agents, charging som- thing like £4. for a conveyance. It would be a blessing if somo of our law reformers would introduce an Act like the Torrens' Act of South Australia, whereby conveyancing v ould be simplifitd and cheapened. There is one more subject, and I have done. When the men's time j expired upon the 26th of last nionth, the sohool j jnajt-'M-'^j'ag^'jngS^j'^

the first to leave the settlement. The conse- < quence is, there is no public school now open for the children to go to, numbering six or seven hundred. The ministers of the different sects resident here have been appealed to, but, like the ! rest, they seem panic-struck— powerless for good. Could not the Provincial Government do some-, thing in the matter ?" The "Oamaru Times" has the following: — " A novel method— one of the many ways no doubt— for the adulteration of. tea, has just been brought under our notice by a gentleman in this neighborhood. It consists in the admixture with the tea of black sand, or what appears to us to be small particles of colored quartz. From the additional weight whioh this heavy material will «»ive, the buyer is necessarily a sufferer in two ways— he pays, for the greater weight a price for a superior quality ; and he also suffers from in reality get ing a less quantity than he would were the article genuine. This is a matter which deserves to be investigated, and the cheat discovered and propeily punished. If merchants would assist, the fraud, we think, could without much difficulty be brought home to the guilty parties. We are in possession of the sand, which may be inspected at our office. Tho Dunedin Chamber of Commerce should have its attention directed to the matter." The "Sydney Morning Herald" of February 13, says *. — " We understand that it is finally arranged that the Postal Congress, to commence in M lbourne on 4th of March, will embrace the whole of the Australian colonies (Western Australia excepted) including New Zealand. The Congress will probably consist of twelve Ministers of the Crown, each of the six Colonies— namely, Victorh. South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Qneensland, and New Zealand— to be represented by two Ministers. The Colonial Secretary, Mr Parkes, and the Post-master-General, Mr Docker will represent New South Wales at the Congress. The object of the Congress will be consider the whole of the ocean mail services connected with the colonies, in order, if possible to form an Australian Ocean Postal system, in which the colonies shall participate, with the responsibility equally distributed amongst them." The "Press" reports that "considerable changes will be made in the location of Wesleyan ministers in New Zealand in the course of the next six weeks, pursu uit to the orders of the annual conference recently held in Launceston, Tasmania. The following ar* the appointments for the Southern district : — Christchurch — Thos Buddie, Alexander Reid, John B. Richardson, Rainsford Bevin ; John Aldred, supernumerary. Nelson — John Crump, Robert L. Vickers. Dunedin— Alfred R. Fitchett. Jam j s W. Wallis. Marlborough— Wm. Lee. Timaru— Geo. Quilty. Invercargill — Robert S. Bunn. Oamaru— William T. Mayne. Hokitika — Wm. Cannell. Greymouth — Joseph T. Shaw.