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Southland Times, Issue 662, 26 April 1867, Page 2

We learn from the •' West Coast Times" that the steamer Southland is now laying high and dry inside the spit at Hokitika. In steaming to the wharf, a course was steered a little too close to the south bank, and as she was passing a new inlet, recently made by a heavy freshet, a roller lifted her on to the tongue of land projecting into the river just there, and, being succeeded by several others in quick succession, she was washed up still; higher. At high water she lay nearly high and dry. There is a possibility that she will be got off. We request the attention of our readers to an alteration in Messrs, Surman & Crerar's advertisement of Auction Sale at Gummie's Bush tomorrow. 15 draught and saddle horses was, in previous issues, in error, made to read 75, &c. At tlio Ilosident Magist^-to'e Co_t?., W<->_n«R<"lay, a civil case, Mackintosh v. Laing, was heard. The statement of the plaintiff and his -tvife_went_ to prove that the latter some eighteen months ago gave lessons in music to defendants daughters, that the fees for said tuition were agreed upon and that after the teaching had been gone on with for a little over six months it was discontinued in consequence of defendant having taken umbrage at Mrs Mackintosh for engaging to play for a club (quadrille) whose meetings were held . at the Mechanics. The amount claimed was £12, and the plaintiff swore to having applied for payment in March, 1866, and subsequently, On the 4th"March, 1867, he, for the first time, rendered a formal account. The evidence of the defendant, his wife, and two daughters,: flatly contradicted the whole of the plaintiffs allegations with respect to the music lessions. Mr M'Culloch said it was a most painful case of opposing testimony. Judgment would be for the defendant with costs. In reply to Mrs Mackintosh who spoke of being prepared with other evidence, Mr M'Culloch said that under such circumstances a re-hearing would be granted. i We learn by private advices that Mr Crosbie Ward has beon appointed agent-general in London for New Zealand. He will proceed to England by the Panama mail steamer in May. The " Colombo Observer " of the 16th February has the following in reference to the extension and improvement of electric telegraph communication :— - " The old cable across the Paumben Channel has been found to be so faulty that it has been finally abandoned. The new cable is working well, and the lines have been so much improved that, with half the battery power formerly employed, messages aro now sent direct from Galle to Negapatam, a distance by wire of about 500 or 603 miles. The vast bulk of the messages despatched from Galle are for places beyond the Island ; and what with messages for India, Europe, and America, the receipts at the the Galle office on the arrival of the last China mail were -ft -thin a few pounds of £370. The msssages from China, Australia, &c, are increasing at such a rate that it is probable the collections at Galle will soon reach £3,000 per month." The report of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company has been issued in anticipation of the half-yearly meeting, which is to be held on Thursday next. 3?he total receipts during the half-year ended 28th February, 1867, were £35,260 19s 4d, against an expenditure of £39,786 0s Bd, showing a balance of £4525 Is 4d on the debit side of the account. The total loss on the half year was £6,458 0s lOd, made up as follows : — Repairs and Renewal Account, £1000 j bad debts, £757 0s 3d ; defalcations of late accountant, £175 16s 3d j loss on working account £4525 Is 4d. A " disgraceful flour fraud in Melbourne " is thus referred to by the South Australian Register of the 30th ult : — " Another most disgraceful fraud has just been detected in the Melbourne flour market. It appears that complaints had been made by some of the bakers at Hokitika, New Zealand, of the inferior quality of recent Melbourne shipments, being the well known Adelaide brand of W. Duffield and Co. This led to enquiry, a*"d one of the bags, which was consequently sent to Adelaide, has been found to bear a forged brand. The imitation is tolerably close, and is certainly such • as might well deceive a purchaser. What steps will be taken on the subject by Messrs Duflield and Co:, we are at present unable to say, but we heartily trust they may be such as will ensure severe punishment to the guilty party, whom, we understand, they have been able very clearly to identify. A later telegram from Sydney says that "it is authoritatively stated, and it appears to be the general wish here, that should Victoria not strictly adhere to the terms of the minutes signed at the Postal Conference, and the arrangements then entered into, the Governments of New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand will unite to maintain the mail services via Panama and Torres Straits, without regard to the other colonies. The Panama servioe would cost £110,000, and that via Torres Straits £45,000 per annum j and these two services, without any Imperial subsidy, would, therefore, only amount to £27,000 per annum in excess of what was agreed to at the. Postal Conference. It is felt that it would be much more reasonable to subsidise two separate lines than to pay a portion of the cost of a fortnightly service via Suez ; and this feeling is so strong, that no mail would be t made up here for the Suez route. The Panama and Torres Straits mails would embrace America, India, and Europe, independently of the Suez route altogether j and it is calculated that Viotoria must send her American correspondence through us, whioh would le equal to a partial subsidy. Taen egain, the Dutch and French Governments would subsidise us, on account of Java and Tahiti. We gather from the " San Francisco Bulletin* that the exports of gold irom California for the year terminating 31st December, 1866^ amounted to 44,365,668 dollars, making the total exports •jf treasure from, the Ist of January, 1,948 (tha

m^— —^n— aM»»___i» nwf iitb i ' ■__— _— i fta__________i year of the. gold discovery) the. enormous sum of 820,448,373 dollars. The export trade, exclusive of gold, for the year aggregates 17,281,848 dollars; over 2,000,000 dollars larger than it has ever been before. The proportion of Californian produce embraced m the ahover^figures is about 12,000,000 dollars, nearly 6,000,005 dollars of which amount was for flour and Wheats - The accompanying letterhas been forwarded to the Chairman of the Chamber^ of Commerce by Mr Reid, secretary of the Victorian Slupowners' Association : — "Sir,— By direction of the com mittee of the Victorian Shipowners' Association, I have the honor to "bring before you the wish of the association to co-operate with your chamber, in endeavoring to prevent the resolutions adopted by the late PostaL-Ooiiference_hei_g- ratified- bythe. Legislature. The committee , believe that if Melbourne is not made the Australian terminus of the company which conveys the English mail via Suez, our trade and commerce will suffer tothe^ extent of many hundreds of thousands of pounds per annum ; that the. premier position which the port of Melbourne now holds will be lost, and that the graving w as„sp_e^ia^prdjred„ to be constructed on the understanding- that when the present contract with the P. and O. Company terminated, Hobson's Bay was to be the depot of the mail steamers — wi'l be comparatively useless. The whole subject is of* such -vital importance to every one connected<with the shipping .trade of Victoria, and indeed to every inhabitant of the colony,, that our committee deem it most essential to bring their views before you, with the recommendation that the two committees shouldlneeTt6ge_ieV'as early" as possible to devise the be'st'-mearis of -'iducing Parliament to refuse to confirm thejwtion of the Postpl Conference. Requesting the favor of a reply, etc." The " Home News" has the following :— V The tenders for £300,000 of the Province of Canterbury (New Zealand) 6 per Cent. Loan -^ere ! opened at the Bank of New Zealand. The minimum was fixed at £92; and the total amount, applied for was but £4,900, of which only £3900 _was at or above the minimum. The 'Times' remarks that this apparently abortive- result seems to show the impolicy of the course pursued by the small local governments of the cblohy h_ pressing their loans individually on the London market, instead' of conducting all' their financial arrangements, so far as loans in this country are concerned, through and under the sanction of the general Government of New Zealand. That colonyha- not- authorised any loan since 1863, whatever amounts remain to be put forth being part of the sum' then voted by the G-eneral Assembly, and the present quotation of its debentures, is 103, but in the meanwhile we have had a Wellington 8 per cent, loan, an Otago 6 per cent, loan, and now a Canterbury 6 per cent. I loan, all offered at prices which, although quite high enough, or perhaps too high, looking at the purley limited, character -of the security, are far below those of the regular New Zealand bonds, and, of course, tend to depreciate the issues of the colony, especially among that portion of the public who are not aware of the existing distinctions. The sooner the system is brought to an end the better, since, if it -be encouraged, there will be similar applications -whenever •- money is over-abundant here from . every little colonial district or municipality that may feel the temptation of speculative- borrowing. The following letter has been called forth by the above strictures: — " Office ; of the New Zealand Government Agency, 3, Adelaide-place, King Wil-liam-street, Feb. 13. Sir, — Referring to your remarks in the ' Times ' of to-day upon New Zealand finance, I beg to observe(in order that misapprehension may not arise therefrom), that the. loans you mention — viz., the Wellington 8 per cent., the. Otago 6 per cent., and the Canterbury 6 per cent., were sanctioned by the Government of New Zealand in 1866 and 1862. Before 1865 the New Zealand government of the day had power tosanction the issue of loans by the provincial governments j but by an act passed in that year that power was then,vested in and restricted to the General Assembly. The Wellington loan of 1866, -recently issued to redeem the loan falling due on the Ist of January of this year, was' authorised by the Assembly. — I am, Sir, &c., — John Moebison." The tenders for £50,000 Province of " Welh'hgtbn, New Zeatandrs per cent, debentures, jat the Union Bank "of Australia : amounted to £182,500, of which those at and above the minimum of £106 were accepted ; the balance was taken up in' the room at that price.