PROVINCIAL MEMS.

Southland Times, Issue 672, 20 May 1867, Page 4

PROVINCIAL MEMS.

The i'Hobart Town Mercury" of the 19th ult., reports " that on two lUiys previously Sir Alderman Crisp and a small party of gentlemen -were fishing at the mouth of the jordon, near the Old Beach, when they observed « "fine salmon, weighing about 71b. or' Sib., disporting itself close in shore. At first thsy doubted the character of the fish, but when enabled to obtain a second and full view of- it they were fully satisfied as to its identity." The " Lyttelton Times" reports that during three weeks, a number of persons professing the Mormon religion, have established a meetinghouse in Ohoka road, Kaiapoi, where they have on each Sunday expounded the principles of their belief to large congregations, who appear to be led more by curiosity than anything else to attend. We (" New Zealand Advertiser ") understand that the Inspectors in Bankruptcy who have recently met in Wellington to report upon the Debtors' and Creditors' Acts have recommended several material alterations in the regulations at present in existence. : Specimens of the auriferous quartz taken from the reef lately discovered at the Waimangaroa, about 12 miles ; from the Buller, have been received in Greyniouth. The Argus says : — " Competent judges do not consider the sample as indicative of a good generally payable stone. AYe are informed that capital has already been subscribed and machinery ordered to work the reef. Up to the date -of 'our letter (14th instant) the new rush at the Orawaiti had not been attended by any positive result, beyond the sinking of the prospecting claim, the prospects of which were good. A large stream of population was setting at Westport." The " Evening Star " of the 24th ult., says : — " Major Croker, (Warden of Tuapeka) and Messrs Thompson and Borton, Gold Receivers, have been dismissed, for refusing to recognise the orders of the Provincial Government in preferensc to -those of the Agent of the G-eneral Government.- Mr Mackay, at Waitahuna, has not seceded. — ' Among the faithless faithful only he ' remains." The "Canterbury Press," speaking of the tunnel on the proposed railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton, says -.—The official report of progress at the tunnel up to March 81 shows that of the estimated length of 2S3S yards, 2795 yards had been driven. As there remained only forty-three yards at the . end of last month, we may fairly hope that both, ends of the driving may meet by the middle of May at the latest. It will be in the recollection of our readers says the "Kelson Evening Mail," that at the time of the discovery of the Maungatapu murders, the Government gave orders that all boxes and other luggage arriving at this port from Australia should be searched on landing. This order was issued in consequence of information which had been received by the police, to the effect that a large quantity of firearms and other murderous instruments would be forwarded from Melbourne to the miscreant Sullivan, at Nelson, to be employed in carrying out the nefarious projects of the horrible gang with which he was connected. It appears from a paragraph in the Christchurch " Evening Mail " of the 18th instant, that a box has been lying at the New Zealand Company's stores, Lyttelton, for some months past, addressed to " Thoma3 Sullivan," and that, not being claimed, directions had been given that it should be opened, when thd contents were fonnd to be revolvers, swords, and masks, which were handed over to the police. This statement first appeared in the Wellington " Evening Post " of the 13th inst., and, in consequence, enquiries were made at the Company's office at Lyttelton, and the Christchurch " Evening Mail " Touches for its correctness. The trade of Greymouth, like that of Hokitika has lately been rather dull, in consequence of the rush of miners to the Buller and its neighborhood. The "Argus" of the 2nd inst. says.— " The quays of Greymouth, which have for some time back presented an almost deserted appearance recovered somewhat their old bustling character yesterday, through the almost simultaneous arrival of several vessels irom Melbourne and the coast ports. The local trade is* however, very dull, and the stores and other places of business cannot boast of a redundancy of custom. Still, our business men keep up their spirits wonderfjiHj, «v..cl express faith in &» ultimate funeral improvement. ' The Grey's right yet' is a common phrase, as commonly accompanied by anathemas on the Canterbury Government, and a wish that the Grey district had the good fortune of being a dependency of Nelson. Everywhere one hears the sanieexpi'essionof dissatisfaction, and what is more significant, the opinion is gaining ground that there is a considerable quantity of humbug in the professed anxiety of the Government in behalf of Westland. Our Customs' returns of the last two days show a very satisfactory result, a more than usually large quantity of good 3 having been cleared for home consumption. The amount of revenue collected yesterday was about £50 in excess of that collected on any previous day since the opening of the Custom-house at this port — viz., £1,073 Bs." The following telegram was received from Wellington by the " Dunedin Star" on the 28th ult. : — " The " Advertiser," the Government organ, says j that Mr Bradshaw has not been appointed Minister for Mines at a salary of one thousand pounds per annum. Ec is simply an agent for the Government at six hundred a-year,. and none of the nowers of the Governor are delegated to him. Your prompt action in Otago has told well. Stafford's organ closes thus:— 'The Dunedin people suppose rightly that the appointment was not given to the Superintendent, because the holder of that office was Maeandrew. But Jet the Dunedin people remember this, that though they may be led away into making choice of a chief Magistrate with such antecedents as their present Superintendent, the General Gprernment of the colony are not bound to repose that confidence in him which they have done. The Otago people made their choice, and must take the conse quencis. They must not expect to see any of thepowers ordinarily delegated by the Governor to Superintendents given to Maeandrew, and must expect that the other parts of the colony will endorse the decision of the Government on this point. We do not intend to rake up old complaints, made with too good a foundation against Macandrew, but we may say that more recent investigations have only tended to confirm the opinion of the Government, that where the delegation of power is ; necessary, it is wiser to give it to some other person.'" . I Noticing the recent, marriage of the daughter of the Superintendent of Marlborough, the " Express," comments on it in the following jubilant language :—" Few things" have lingered in our mind longer than a marriage in the venerable pile of St. George's, Hanover Square, London, under whose dome, the flower of England's matchless daughters have for centuries, { for better, for -worse,' entered tho holy bonds of matrimony with her brave and gallant sons. We never witness' the ceremony, in however humble a form, without emotion ; the beautiful service of the Church, which falls upon tb c ear like ' music from the spheres ;' the dreams of sanguine youth ; the fears and hopes of mellow age ; the tears of relatives — the mingling sighs of forsaken or hopinghearts — grouped together in solemn stillness , awaken reflections that may be felt, but cannot be uttered, on the past, the present, and the future, which flash across the mind instantaneously, but which last for life. We could not help indulging these thoughts, as we looked on the 6olemn ceremony which united the. beautiful and accomplished daughter of His Honor the Superintendent to the man of her choice, Hugh Duckworth, Esq., which took place on Saturday last, in the Church of the Nativity, Blenheim, which, wag crowded on the. occasion with friends and neighbors, nmay of whom had knows the. blooming bride' from ohildhood. \ A sumptuous 1 dqjeimer ' followed at the residence of His Honor at ftetkerneld,' *wtecb. r -was ; attended bjr a goodly number of guests. ' lUe happy pair, who Jeave to-day for Hoton, "'^a route* hv England by .the Matoaka, wU be followed with, tho heartiest Wishes for hessth» hAp-pinesg, £&& psesg^yifcy by all \?U$ 3gn.Qi? tJigK,'^. '

Speaking of the late Postal Conference at Melbourne, tho " Argus " of tho 27th ult says.^ — "A very. sei"ious effort Avill bo made, aiier the re-assembling of tho two Houses, to prevent the country becoming pledged to tho scheme of the Conference, which would bind all parties for the next five years. It is sincerely to be hoped that the home Government will not assent to the scheme submitted to it by the Conference. Unquestionably, whatever view a majority in Parliament may take, public opinion in Victoria is decidedly opposed to the plan adopted by the delegates without; opportunity having been afforded to the public to criticise the arrangement." We understand that the miners in the Arrow and Queenstown districts have pronounced unmistakeably in favor of the change made in the management of the Goldfields. Mr C. E. Haughton, M.P.C., M.H.R., is also said to have espoused tho General Government cause ; and at a meeting of Goldfields Wardens held on Saturday, a similar course was resolved on. Mr Bradshaw attempted | to go up country on Monday, but the ferrymen at the Teviot refused to allow him to cross. If Messrs Hughes and Brown attempt to take possession of the Government buildings at Wakatip, we fancy they will find themselves mistaken. A frightful disease has lately broken out ainone sheep in the neighborhood of Albury, in New South Wales. The « Argus " says :— " The fearful Cumberland" disease amongst sheep is causing the greatest uneasiness at Albury, and the necessity of adot>trag some general preventive measures with respect to this plague is urged by the local press. The "Albury Banner" thus states the matter as it has up to the present time developed itself:— ' A large flock of sheep was lately brought some seventy or eighty miles beyond Wagga Wagga, near Bland Creek, and which was being driven into Albury by Mr Richard Kelly. He died on the road suddenly, and his death (the weather being extremely hot) was attributed to sunstroke. His relations went out and took charge of the sheep. Between Wagga Wasga and Albury, it is stated some thirty sheep^died, and that pigs who ate the flesh also died soon afterwards. That his widow, who helped to bring down the sheep, took some to Beeehworth, where more died, and more pigs were poisoned, and that Mrs Kelly died there. Some of the sheep were sold in Albury, and some of these also died. Mr Layton, the other day, in skinning one, got inoculated with the "virus," and died a terrible death after much suffering. At Wa<jga Wagga, a shepherd who had been bleeding" one of these- sheep was -taken to the hospital, and he died within twenty-four hours, and* yesterday we learned that a butcher in Beeehworrti had been attacked under similar circumstances, and that, if not dead, his life is despaired of. Nor is this all. It is reported to us that on a station not far from Albury 3heep have been dying by twenties and thirties every night. Ihey are fat,* and appear to be healthy, and exhibit no disease, but in ten or twenty minutes, after staggering, fall dead. The result is that the whole popuiatinn are alarmed. People will no more think of buying and eating mutton than they would think of eating arsenic or swallowing strychniue." The "Southern Cross" of the 2nd inst. has the following interesting article under the heading of "A New Indnstry for New Zealand " :— " Our readers will have perused with pleasure, we doubt not, an advertisement which appeared in your issue yesterday from Messrs Mandeno and Smith, of the Mount Eden Factory, to the effect that men were wanted to make from 150 to 200 dozen American brooms. On making inquiries, we discovered that the raw material of manufacture was grown in the province, and not imported. This gave the matter an additional interest, and we readily accepted an invitation by Mr Wren, of Eemuera, to visit his grounds, where the broom com was still standing. Yesterday we had the satisfaction of inspecting the first crop of American millet, or broom corn, grown in any quantity in tins colony. The field is not far from town, being close under Mount St John, and adjoins the road. It was subsoiled and double-ploughea by Mr Wren early in the spring, and sowed by hand, the ground being thoroughly pulverised. The rows are more than twelve inches apart, which enabled the cultivator to be kept at work during the earlier stages of the growth of the plant. The crop well repaid the labor bestowed upon it, for now that the brooiu corn is ripe, it averages twelve feet in height. The ground is free from weeds, and may be easily prepared for another crop in season. Eour years ago Mr Wren obtained a small parcel of American millet seed — not a cupful — which he planted for the purpose of raising seed; He succeeded, and the result of his persevering experiment is the splendid crop of two and a-half acres which we saw yesterday. The acclimatization of the American millet is now accomplished, and a new source- of employment and wealth opened up to the country. Thanks to Mr Wren, there is now as much seed saved as would stock the whole country ; and if the brooms which Messrs Mandeno and Smith purpose making from Mr Wren's crop at Eemuera meet with a ready sale in Auckland, there will be every encouragement to settlers to grow it in lar^e qnantities for export. And here we may mention the fact that the " Australasian," in a recent issue, called the attention of. Victorians to the advantage to be derived from growing the American millet, and supplying the Australian markets with brooms to the exclusion of brooms of American manufacture. We thus start at least on equal terms with the Victorians, and we trust we may keep pace with them. The crop i 3 cut by men armed with bill-hooks. It i.s arranged in bundles, after which the heads are cut off, with about twelve inches of the stem, and passed to the hackles, at which two little fellows are employed drawing them rapidly through the hackle-tins, thus removing the seed, which is carefully preserved. The stems are bound up in bundles and put aside for future use, either to be chaffed for cattle feed or utilised in some other way. Mr Wren thinks that the fibre which the stem contains might be pulped and converted into paper. He proposes sending a parcel to the Sydney paper-mill, with the view of testing this ; and if it should turn out to be available as a material for the manufacture of paper, another advautage will have been gained. At all events, Mr Wren has demonstrated that there is no necessity for importing at least one article of foreign manufacture, the material for which we cau grow equally well at home and manufacture also. He deserves every credit for his enterprise, and ought to receive some mark of approval at the hands of the Acclimatization Society. Last Saturday we suggested the advisability of bestowing a medal upon gentlemen -who distinguished themselves by adding to the animal or vegetable wealth of the country, and this is a case in point. However that may be, the country settlers ought to be grateful to him for enabling them to procure seed, and grow a crop which ■will pay by careful cultivation, and provide use^ ful employment for leisure hours in the bush. 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 service would cost £110,000, and that via Torres Straits £45,000 per annum ; and these two services, without any Impex ial 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 coat of a fortnightly service via Suez } and this feeling is so. strong, that no iaail would be made up here for tho Sues route,; : The. -Panama and Torres Straits mails. would embrace America, India> and Europe, independently of the Suez routs alto.gsth.er $ and it is calculated that Yietorift jauat send hor American correspondence through U3> whjoli would *pc ecpi.ai to a partial subsidy ; Thea Egain, t's# Bftispb, and lysneK GfOfesnuietttg would Bs}ssH.\s.()a $ss*uss oC Jav&wsSi WM\

The accompanying letter has been forwarded to the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce by Mr Reid'," secretary of the Victorian Shipowners' j Association : — ." Sir, — By direction of the com mittce of the Victorian Shipowners' Association, I have the honor to bring before you the wish, of the association to co-operata with your chamber in. endeavoring to prevent the resolutions adopted by the late Postal Conference being ratified by the Legislature. The committee believe that if Melbourne is not made the Australian terminus of the company which convoys tho English mail via Suez,"our trade and commerce will suffer to the I 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 dock— r which was specially ordered 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 — will be comparatively useless. The whole subject is of such vital importance to every ©ne connected with the shipping, trade of Victoria, and indeed to every inhabitant of the colony, that • our committee j deem it most essential to bring their views before j } you, with the recommendation that the two com- I mittees should meet together as early as possible to devise the best means of inducing Parliament to refuse to confirm the action of the Postal Conference. Requesting the favor of a reply, etc." The " Melbourne Herald" of 27th ult. says : — " The new Post-office building, which has so long been in course of erection, is now rapidly approaching completion, and will very shortly be ready for occupation. Mr Samuel Amess, the contractor, will have altogether finished his work in about a fortnight from this time, but the Postoffice officials will bo delayed from completely occupying the building for about three months, owing to the contract for the fittings not yet having been taken. Already there is about £2,000 worth of the most expensive description of furniture within the building, the presses, tables, &c, all being constructed of the finest polished cedar from New South Wales ; and yet we are told that it will require something like £4,000 more for providing fittings alone. The building as it stands has cost about £130,000 or £140,000, and any one who takes the trouble of going over the placs will very soon see how all this money has b )en spent. In every part of the edifice immense walls, 3ffc. thick, have been erected, literally supporting nothing, and of no earthly use at all. ■Indeed,. so great has been the waste of material, that a large and handsome building could well be erected from the surplus work, . without in the slightest degree destroying the appearance or affecting the strength of the present Post-office structure. The building has also been most awkwardly designed, so far as the interior portion is concerned, and but very little, if any, additional room will be given to the clerks over what they at present possess. The whole of the ground floor has been taken up with a large hall, where the letters are to be sorted, and the mails received and dispatched. It is so constructed that a complete system of official surveillance can be established over those engaged at their duties in the hall. It is probable that thiß part of the building may be occupied by what is called the " working staff' in about a fortnight. A corridor runs around three sides of the hall,, and upstairs are suites of good-sized, lofty, and well-ventilated rooms, winch are to be occupied by the clerical staff of the various departments in the office. The rooms of the Postmaster- General, the secretary, and principal officials, are approached by the principal staircase from the front, and are all large, Avell-lighted apartments. There is a bathroom, lavatories, and other luxuries. Indeed, throughout the whole arrangements everything has been carried out in the most expensive manner. Around the arcades, which extend along the two street fronts of the building, tessellated pavement has been laid down, costing about £2 2s per yard. With the large traffic which must always prevail around the building, such a description of pavement probably will not last very long. The private boxes are just within the entrance fronting Bourk-street, and the delivery-windows and receiving-boxes are under the arcade fronting Elizabeth street. A flight of stone steps lead up to the approaches j and so- sooii v as the jmvement is laid down along the pathway, the unsightly boarding will be removed, and the premises left exposed to the public view." . The antecedents of the busbranging families of Clarkes and Connells, are thus reported by the "Sydney Mail :" — " The following particulars respecting the Clarkes and Connells, whose deeds of violence and robbery have made them the terror of the Southern Districts, will be read with interest. John Clarke, the father of the outlawed bushranger, was a twice convicted felon, and was engaged in the respectable occupation of flogging convicts at Moreton Bay before he came to settle in the Jingera District. He married a woman named Conhell, who had four brothers. One of them, Michael Connell, is now under committal for trial for harbouring bushrangers, and for being accessary to the murder of and party. Another, John Connell, is now serving a sentence of ten years in Darlinghurst gaol" for -mail robbery, having previously served a sentence of five years for highway robbery. The wife of this man is in Darlinghurst gaol under sentence for. receiving stolen property. The third, Patrick Connell, a bushranger, was shot dead by the police, and the fourth, Thomas Connell, has just had a' sentence of death passed on him at the recent sitting of the Central Criminal Court, for taking part in a highway robbery and wounding, commuted by the Executive Council into imprisonment for- life without hope of remission. With regard to the three sons of John. Clarke, Tommy is now an outlaw, and his brother John form 3 one of his gang, and will also we hear be shortly outlawed. The° remaining male member of the family, James Clarke, is serving a sentence of ten years on the roads tor highway robbery. Old John Olarke, the father, died, as everybody knows, in Groulburn gaol while under . committal for the murder of Billy Noonang, an aboriginal." A recent number of the " Charleston Argus " is responsible for the following : — " A poor fellowput on board one of the steamers at Fox's for conveyance to the Grey hospital died soon after the vessel started. The cabin was - crowded,, but the ladies' cabin had no occupants, and the corpse was therefore placed there and decently covered with blankets, &c. A certain storekeeper, a passenger by that vessel, had been sacrificing pretty freely at the shvino of Bacchus, and did not come down to sesk a resting place till late, when all the available space was taken up. After some consider.; felon, knowing probably that the ladies cabin was unoccupied, he went in there, and aaw whajfe he supposed to be a sleeping man with pleftiy of blankets. Consequently he at once twined in with the supposed sleeper, and remailed all night in bed with the corpse. His horror on waking in the morning may be imagined, particularly as pwicg tp.J'ne libations he had swallowed on the previous night; his nerves were not in the best possible order. rpiie "New Zealand . Advertiser," Bth inst. says: — "Tho attempt, made by Mr Johns Manager of the Bank of Auckland, to leave that town by the mail steamer for Sydney, will be in j the recollection of our" readers, and afterwards that a rumor was current of his having come down the coast by one of the steamers. We understand now that a warrant has been issued for his apprehension on a charge of perjury, and that one object of the visit which Mr Whitaker, late Superintendent of Auokland, is making to Wellington, is; if possible, to procure hi& capture. It is generally supposed, however, that Johns landed in Nelson, from, the Airedale on her last trip from the Manukau, aud then took a passage in the Rangitoto for Melbourne. Tho warrant that baa been issued for his apprehension is a most vague document, containing neither place hqv date of the commitment of the offence, The «• Now Zealand. Herald" (AuoMaad) sa^s t — ''A oorreapoadent writing to us fram W&ogfcrei, informs us that soma of tho "Wotep'u settlers, vrhea fishing about three miles on B^sui r £aU, : dwoovored & ettn&eft roofed This i*oofe h&% from J2 to 15 feat -ojf- wto*' ovs? it at low tide* while th§ foundings &U sound i% gif a ?(j Mfeo?^ $S9A l?^a ff#, &i$ saeH %%m $&&?