Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 690, 1 July 1867, Page 2

The meeting called to elicit the opinions of the members of the Waihopai District was a decided failure, as far as numbers were concerned. With the exception of tbe speech of Mr Wilson, in favor of railways, who was listened to with marked attention, and greeted with con- i | tinued applause, the whole affair was very i tame. A letter was read from Mr Clerke, pleading as an excuse his duties as a member of the Government. The speech — if such a tirade of abuse can be so called — of MrDalrymple created a good deal of disturbance, and was also the cause of some merriment. He made a hasty exit from the meeting. Pursuant to advertisement, the annual meeting of the members of the Southland Club and Exchange, was hold at the Southland Club, oh' Saturday last. The attendance was very small. Only some three or four gentlemen responded to the invitation, and iv consequence no business ■was transacted. The Secretary, Mr Jones, there - fore thought it expedient to adjourn tbe meeting until the following Thursday, in the expectation thftt a fuller attendance might be expected.

It will be. seen from. our advertising columns that the Philharmonic Society purpose giving the second Subscription Concert, at the Thsatre Koyal, on Thursday evening next. Among thV-few Institutions that have progressed in Invercargill, the Fire Brigade stands most prominent. It has had many difficulties to overcome, but by manly perseverance they have been surmounted. The new bell tower recently , erected, is a substantial structure, and a credit to the town. The bell that is now placed in the tower top is of large dimensions, and we believe, of great sound. -The new hose carriage is a most complete piece of mechinism — it is light, strong, and admirably adapted for the work for which it it is designed. The purchase of the bell, the hose-reel, and the erection of the tower have necessarily been costly, but we understand that such has been the economy of the Brigade, in the expenditure of the funds subscribed, that should the subscriptions of the previous year be continued the corps will be enabled to make further progress. The Captain of the Brigade (Mr. Eingsland) has thrown an amount of energy into the work he has undertaken, that is most praise- ' worthy. We understand that the bell is now hung ; he purposes during the ensuing week to sound a secret night alarm, with the object of proving to the citizens, the activity of the firemen, and familiarise them with the sound of the bell. From the late Duueiin papers, we learn that Mr Switzer, who was charged with having set fire to the premises occupied by tue Otago Boot and Shoe Company, of which he was Manager, bas been tried during the recent criminal sitting of the Supreme Court. The trial extended over two days, and the verdict was "not guilty." According to the " Oamaru Times," "accounts from the Upper Waitaki relate that the present winter is the severest that has been experienced for many yeai-s. Some of the streams are so frozen up, that at the crossing-places drays go over without making the slightest impression on the ice. The Molyneux too, we learn, is at present exceptionally low, but the banks are frozen so hard that the pick of the miner might as well be applied to piercing a bed of iron. Orders for-skates are to hand from the Waitaki, but we presume these articles are not kept in great supply ." With referenco to gold in Canada, the " New York Tribune " says : — " During the blasting of a huge rock in the Richardson gold mine at Medoc, on the 31st January, a rich vein of gold was discovered, which was far beyond the moat sanguine expectations. The rock taken out will yield not less than 12,000 dols. to the ton, and the dirt which minors call ' crevice dirt ' not les3 than 600,000 dols.. A company of gentlemen from Chicago have purchased the right to work the mine. They will commence operations in the apiing. The mine is covered at present by a large shed, which is guarded by five sentinels, who will permit no person on the property," Mr D. F. Main, Barrister, has been elected member of the Hou33 of Assembly, for Port Chalmers, in the place of Mr Thomas Dick , resigned. The commercial correspondent of the Melbourno Argus, writing from London on April 26th, makes the following reference to colonial securities : — " Transactions in Australian and New .Zealand securities, though dull, have presented a favourable contrast to most other stocks. Colonial G-overnment debentures have been less affected by the prevailing panic than almost anything dealt in. No fresh loans have at present been attempted, and it is fortunate, for they would assuredly have ended in failure. Of all the debentures on our market, those of Victoria, South Australia, and New Zealand, stand formost in rank, and those of the latter Q-oyernment will stand higher still when the Provincial Bonds are extinguished. The Southern Cross of the 17th inst., says : — It was lumored on Saturday last, that a goldfield had been discovered in the province — the locality being definitely fixed in this instance at Mercury Bay. We have been furnished with a very circumstantial account of the proceedings which resulted in two bushmen finding the precious metal; but it will be sufficient for the present to state that the men were on their way from Mercury Bay to Kennedy's Bay, and shortly after leaving the first-named district, in diggers' parlance " struck gold." The intelligence was quickly blazened about, and sawyers and bushmen were, stated to ba leaving Coromandel and other places for the purpose of testing whether a payable gold-field could be found. The two discoverers are said to have left for Auckland to make known the circumstances to His Honor the Superintendent, but we have been unable to glean auy intelligence of their arrival, and, in their absence, it will be well to accept the news for what it is worth. The Southern Gross says : — " Turning to the abstract of revenue and expenditure for the December quarter of 1856, one perceives at a glance the fallacy of the estimates on which the public services for the financial year of 1866-67 were based. Yesterday we alluded to the statistics in general terms, having only the Colonial Treasurer's quarterly statement of revenue before us ; by the fuller details, which the provincial accounts supply, wa find our position strengthened. Thus, the estimate of Customs three-eighths for the year 1867, was £55,300 ; the '■■ gross receipts at Auckland, on the December < quarter, 1836, were L 12,216, or at the rate par j annum of £9,539 less than the estimate for 1867. And every one knows that the Customs receipts at the ports of Auckland have fallen off steadily and very considerably since the beginining of October, 1866. Turning to the actual receipts for the past year, under the head of Customs, we find a glaring disproportion between the estimate for the yeai* and the actual receipts. Thus, the estimate for 186J was £61,800 ; the receipts were £56,895 15s 4d, or as near as may be, £5000 under the estimates. The provincial revenue last year amounted to £10,223 16s 3d. The total receipts under this head for the past year amounted to £7559 23a 2d, which doe 3 not promise a continuance of th^ large receipts stated above."