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Southland Times, Issue 746, 6 November 1867, Page 2

There is now on view at the shop of Mr Louis Eodgers, Bookseller, Dee-street, a very unique specimen of the draughtsman art, executed with •wonderful effect and minuteness of detail. The subject of representation in the picture, (for such it really is) is a collection of newspapers, perodicals, letters, cards, dominoes &c, &c, which have apparently been arranged by the artist with jnst sufficient care to give to each the necessary prominence, without that degree of formality or regularity which, would impart an air of stiffne3 to the whole design. As an evidence of the merit of the drawing, we yesterday, while examining it, heard several amongst the number present give utterance to their doubts as to its reality, declaring " Its just the papers and | things pasted on," nor were their scepticisms removed until the work ha.d been subjected to the closest, and in some cases repeated, scrutiny. We understand that the drawing is tlie production of Mr H. 0. Wrigg, a young gentleman recently arrived from Auckland to fulfil an engagement in the Survey Office here, who has thus employed, during a few weeks, his spare evenings. We can only Bay that ia this single effort Mr Wrigg has shown himself possessed of such, an amount of talent , and- application as should speedily raise him to the top of his profession. At a meeting of the Waste Land Board on Monday, the sth mat., upwards of. 778 ftcrea were sola. There is a probability that Wm !«>$ fe* Jajid wUI |$U. grett£ ftegly,

It will be observed that the drapers hare agreed to close their respective places of business on Saturday, in honor of the birthday of the Prince of Wales. We see no reason why the other tradesmen and merchants should not follow suit, and, as is customary and becoming on the part of loyal subjects of the Queen, observe the anniversary of the birth of the heir apparent as a general holiday. On this occassion it falls oti an unfavorable day, but we presume few if any of the shopkeepers of Invercargill have found business so pressing of late as to make it a matter of much consequence whether they shut on a Saturday any more than any other day in the week. It is the general expressed wish that the Duke should be invited to visit this province, but no one appears to take the initiative steps to secure Mb visit. It is desirable that His Excellency Sir G-eorge Grey should be communicated with in order to ascertain how far he would aid the people of Southland, in inducing His Koyal Highness to accept their invitation if made. Suggestions have been made that His Honor the Superintendent should be solicitated to telegraph to the Q-overnor on this matter. We are authorised to state that the sitting of the Supreme Court is postponed to the 15th inst., not to the 21st inst., as erroreously stated. In our notice of the Morton Mains sheep having taken six Prizes, and the Cup, at the Pastoral and Agricultural Show, by a typographical error, " Oamaru" was substituted for " Timaru." The Oamaru Show does not take place until Thursday the 14th Nov. We understand that the Government hai given instructions for the requisite preliminaries being undertaken in connection with the formation and repair of the main lines of road in the Province, to the extent of £1000, or an equivalent in land, in accordance with the provisions of tb.9 Southland Waste Land Act. By an Act passed during the last session, the salaries of the speakers of both Houses have been fixed at £600 a year each ; Chairman of Committies of Upper House, £300 ; Chairman of Committies of Lower House £400 inclusive of all allowances. The clerk of the Legislative Council will recieve £40U a year ; Clerk of the House of £600 a year. In the Police Court on Monday, during the hearing of a larceny case, a slight approach to a " scene" took place. In the course of the examination of one of the witnesses, Mr Weldon, the Commissioner of Police, who conducted the prosecution, took occasion to ask — On what day did the robbery take place. The witness replied — I really don't know. Commissioner Weldon — Oh, sure you do now. Witness — I really can't say. Commissioner Weldon — Was it on a Sunday. Witness — Oh, no. Commissioner Weldon — Was it on a Saturday. Witness — No. Commissioner Weldon — Waa'lt on a Friday. Witness — I don't think so — I am not a good hand at dates — I am no scholar. Commissioner Weldon — Whisht! justyou hold your tongue now. Magistrate (testily) — Mr Weldon, do ask him at once whether it was during the early or latter part of the week. Commissioner Weldon — Oh, I'll fix itjust in one minute. (Looking smilingly at the witness) — Now what were you after saying ; you know you are a most intelligent man. lam surprised you don't give us the date. Witness— Thank you. Commissioner Weldon (insinuatingly) — When was it now. Witness — I couldn't possibly say. Again the witness was asked to state to the beat of his belief when the robbery took place, but it was no use. Mr Commissioner Weldon had to retire from the field, He could make nothing of the witness. The prisoner was, therefore, remanded. For some time past the limits of the business part of the town have been gradually contracting to something commensurate with the commercial I requirements of the Province ; and this without in any way dimininishing mercantile facilities, as it is infinitely preferable that the greater pertion of the principal houses should be situated within easy access of some generally recognised centre, than that they should be scattered indiscriminately over the extensive area comprised within the town boundary — to the great inconvenience of customers. The intersection of Dee and Esks streets has indisputably become the market cross of Invercargill, so that while extensive wharehouses and shops, unfortunately built on what were choice sites in the once populous but now deserted outskirts, may be seen going quietly to ruin, or standing in sleepy-looking gloom and idleness, their windows boarded up and their doorsteps grass-grown j the premises in the vicinity of the favorite focus have been slowly, but surely, undergoing a process of improvement which bespeaks, if not immediate and great activity, at least a remunerative trade and confidence in the future on the part of the general mercantile community. We have frequently had occasion to chronicle important alterations, enlargements, and improvements of premises; and we have again the satisfaction of alluding to a similar occurrence. We observe that the old iron store, formerley occupied by Messrs Brunton and Co., which has for years obtruded itself in all its native deformity on the notice of those passing along Dee-street, has just had a new and handsome front substituted for" its ugly gable end. Some time ago, this property was purchased by Mr Tapper, and he has now had it all internally re-arranged and fitted up as an ironmonger's warehouße, with, a,9 wa have already said, ft spacious and really elegaat front to Dee' Street, When the workman have finished, Mr Tapper's premises will constitute &a ornament to tkajj

We hare received communications complaining that nothing definite has beeu done -with, regard to procuring the uniform for the Invercargill Volunteers. "We understand that everything possible has been done by Captain Harvey to have the question determined, and that the delay entirely arises from the General Government haying under discussion the subject of. one .uniform for the whole of the Volunteer force of the Colony. Until a decision has been made th» officers of fhe corps can do nothing more than they hare already done. Sergeant Morton proceeds to Stewart's Island to arrest a man charged with haying committed a criminal assault. The question of a new penal Colony has been mooted in Victoria. The Melbourne Age concludes a leading article on the comparative cost, and the effectiveness for good, of keeping a convict at Pentridge, or employing him under a regulated system of out-of-gaol work, by saying, " The Government have it in contemplation to send a number of convicts to Portland, with a view to their employment in the construction of a breakwater and harbor of refuge. This would be a step in the right direction, and we .hope it will be taken; but why stop there P why not send the convicts out of the Colony altogether, and by their means extend the bounds of settlement more rapidly than by any other method? There is choice enough of new islands in the i Pacific wherein to try the experiment. If NewGuinea be too hot, there is a Siberia (Kerguelen's Land) in the Southern Ocean. If the undertaking be too onerous for a single Colony, let the maintenance of such a settlement be a federal concern, each Colony paying in exact proportion to the number of its criminals kept out of harm's way. If South Australia had sent a detachment of convicts to Adam Bay, where the new city of Palmerston was to have been laid out, the expedition weuld have proved a success. The great secret of the failure of such attempts at colonization lies in the fact that the settlers are all masters. Labor in wanted, and the most convenient and manageable of all kinds is the forced labor of convicts, by making use of which all the purposes of punishment and reformation are acj complished," There has jnst been completed and put in running order at the Government printing-office in Washington, one of the most wonderful pieces j of mechanism in the shape of a printing press that has ever been exhibited. The press is of the Bullock patent, and as an exhibition of some of its powers we will mention : — The press will priat in one hour 20,000 sheets of 65 pages of document matter. While doing this it feeds itself, the paper being in rolls-; wets the paper, cuts the sheets, folds them, and, by a dial connected to the press, keeps tally of the numbar of sheets printed. Only two men are required to have entire control of the press, thus doing away with the necessity of persons to supply it with sheets (or, as they are called, feeders). The invention is certainly a wonderful one, and has been visited by a large number of persons, who could not realise the power and utility of the machine. . Active preparations are being made in Victoria, for giving the Duke of Edinburgh a brilj liant reception. Notwithstanding the Ministerial crisis the arrangements are of a most gigantic character, and it is evident that in that colony it is taken for granted that His Royal Highness will go wherever he is invited. Public subscriptions are being raised in every district, which the Government supplement to a similar amount. What is New Zealand doing ? As far as Southland is concerned, nothing. Over 300 legs of mutton were disposed of at Messrs Lowe and M'Kenzie's establishment, ati Geelong, on Saturday, 26th October, at 2d per lb. The legs wer& obtained from the boiling-down establishment of Mr Lowe, at the breakwater.