Probincial Mems.

Southland Times, Issue 875, 3 January 1868, Page 3

Probincial Mems.

The following description of the trowel used by the Duke of Edinburgh in laying the foundation stone of the Melbourne Town Hall is given by the Argus : — " The Mayor then handed to the Prince j a beautiful gold trowel, which had been made for j the purpose by Mr W. Edwards, goldsmith, to the order of Messrs Brush and M'Donald, jewellers, Collins-street. The trowel was of gold twenty-two carats fine, or, in other words, of the same quality as sovereigns, and weighed nearly twenty-four ounces. The top of the handle was formed of a ducal coronet, enamelled in crimson, and decorated with strawberry-leaves. The coronet was set around with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, and its cushion was enamelled to represent ermine. The handle itself was r of laurel leaves and berries chased in gold, and round its base was a I row of pearls and turquoises. On the shank wera engraved the arms of the Prince, enamelled in proper colors, and on each side were the rose, thistle, and shamrock, embossed and chased. The rim surrounding the centre piece was enamelled to represent pearls, and also bore two circles of leaves. The centre itself was the representation of the Town Hall in high relief, embossed and chased. At the extreme end was the inscription "To be used by His Royal Highness Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, on laying the foundation-stone of the Town Hall, Melbourne, 1867." On the reverse side were engraved the corporation arms, embossed, and chased with the mast and yards of a ship rising behind and above them, and flanked on one side by an anchor, and on the other by a capstan. "Underneath were the names of the mayor, alderman and councillors, the town clerk, the architects, and the builders. The workmanship of the whole was excellent, and the instrument was a beautiful specimen of the goldsmith's and engraver's ert. The value of this / work of art, for such it may be called, is about £200. The Canterbury Press contains the following \ statement of receipts and expenditure for the quarter ending September 30 which has just been isssued by the Provincial Auditor. The expenditure under the Appropriation Act No. 2» which was, passed for the purpose of making provision, for the payment of liabilities which had already been incurred, amounted to £10,326 4s 6d. The sum disbursed under the head of ordinary, expenditure and immigration for the September quarter was £14,175 15s 6d, which exceeded the revenue under the Bame head by £3529 8s 2d, the balance against the account on September 30 being thus increased to £7,938 13s 7d. Under Land and Works, the receipts nclude a draft for £50,000 on the Bank of New Zealand at London, and the large balance of £42,926 6s Id is thus left in favor of this account at the end of the quarter, the current expenditure having been only £6,393 18s 6d, while the revenue amounted to £15,245 Is lOd, which would considerably diminish the deficiency of £15,924 17s 4d on June 30 last. In the Railway and Harbor works account, the expenditure has exceeded the revenue by £21,076 16s 6d, there having been a balance of £10,827 15s in favor of the account in June, while at the end of September there existed a deficiency of £10,247 Is 6d. The deficiency of £85,428 3s 9d on the West Canterbury goldfields account has been reduced to £80,007 13s, the revenue for the quarter having been £31,807 9s 4d, and the expenditure £26,388 18s 7d. The general balance against the province on September 30 amounted to £73,861 18s 6d, but the amount would have been much greater had not the draft for £50,000 on the Bank of New Zealand been obtained. We extract the folio whig from the Daily Times ; — " Preparations have been begun for'the erection of the spacious and handsome stone edifice for the ITirst Church of Otago, on the originally reserved site on Church Hill. Early in October we published a detailed description of the proposed building, from the plena prepared by Mr R. A. Lawson, architect. We then stated that the original designs had been somewhat modified'; and now we learn that it has been resolved to adhere almost exactly to those original designs. In every essential, the description published in October remains correct; but the effect of the building will be improved, and additional accommodation secured, by an extension of the transept. We may repeat that the. Church will be, in design, 13th century Gothic, the leading peculiarity of which is the use of geometrical floriated tracery in the heads of the windows. The building, upon plan, is 150 ft long ; of which 82ft. represents the length of the [ Church proper, the remainder being occupied by the tower, towards Moray place, and the ibrary, at the Bay end. The tower will be 24ft. square, and, including the spire and vane, the total height from the ground-line will be 175 ft., The church is to be built of Oamaru stone, with the basement externally of limestone from Pleasant Valley, and internally of bluestone. | The contractors for the work are Messrs D. and J. Hunter, who are now engaged in building the Manse, also on Church Hill. The amount of the contract is £14,000. < The Melbourne Herald had lately the following improbable story :— " Colonial statesmen must look to their laurels. Within the last few weeks the Right Hon W. E. Gladstone has become possessed of a large interest in the magnificent estate of Glenarmiston, the station of the Hon Neil Black, of whom the right honorable gentleman has been for many years a partner. It is rumored that in the event of Lord Stanley succeeding to the Premiership upon the retirement of the Earl of Derby, it is the intention of Mr Gladstone to pay a visit to his Victorian property, with the view of judging for himself the working of democratic institutions in these colonies, and that in that case he would be willing to enter our Legislative Assembly." The Taranate Herald s ay : — " We hear that it is contemplated to issue the crown grants for a,, j confiscated territory between Waitara . and i Urenui, returned to the friendly natives, free from all restriction ; so that the owners will be able I to sell, let, or lease these lands just aB they wish, without interference. On the other hand, we. understand that it is proposed to restrict the sale of the 10,000 acres of bush back at Mataitawa in the Puketapu block, concerning the purchase of which a resolution was passed at the last session of the Provincial Council. This block belongs to the same natives who own the land along the coasts If, therefore, they sell the whole of the latter, 'they will still have the other to fall back upon, and will not bs reduced to a state of poverty for want of a plaec "to cultivate ."

Our Hokitika oontompowtfy of 2>m 19, iayi) "The new official arrangement* connected with the introduction of the WetUand Bill are being rapidly organised. Mr Winter, the present Sub* Treasurer of the distriot, has received the responsible appointment of ' County Paymaster,' which will place him at the head of the financial depart ment of the district. No appointment could be announced more eminently calculated to give public satisfaction. Mr Winter has been a rery hard-working and faithful public servant since he has held office here ; and it may not be inoppor. tune to mention that during a recent session of the Provincial Council a resolution to augment his salary was proposed and seconded by the two members for Hokitika, and cordially acquiesced in by the Provincial Government. The motion was carried out of respeot to himself personally, j and in recognition of the services he had rendered to the public. We understand that sub-paymasters will be appointed throughout the county, who will be subordinate to Mr Winter as the head of ; the finance department. Mr Ollivier, the Pro- j I vincial Auditor, will, we believe, arrive in town about the 27th December, accompanying the Hon J. Hall. The special object of Mr Ollivier's visit is to pass the provincial accounts up to the end of the year, and adjust the balance sheet between Canterbury and Westland." A Melbourne paper of Deo 14, gives the latest details as follows : — "The Prince's visit up the country has been attended with the most glowing expressions of loyalty, and the most astonishing consumption of spirituous liquors ever known in j the colony. If we may judge from the reports j of the special correspondents of the daily journals, the townships on the line of road taken by the Prince and his suite have been all helplessly drunk for the last week. At Colac the intoxication has almost reached an heroic pitch. Publicans scorned to serve their customers, dances were danced on bar counters, glasses were broken with mad delight, fights were fought, songs were sung, and every one gave themselves up to the most reckless enjoyment and hideous drunken- ■ ness. This is not as it should be, nor as it has been in town. The Prince himself, it would seem, has been rather inclined to shirk addresses, and shire councils have made the astonishing dis- { covery that there are limits to his powers of en- I durance. On reaching Ballarat he received a tremendous reception, and in memory of the scenes in the country townships he has laid the foundation stone of a temperance-halL The city was splendidly decorated, and the reception was | in every way worthy of the loyalty and wealth of the metropolitan goldfield." We learn from the Westport papers that the line of telegraph from Greymouth to Westport has been laid out, and that the construction of the line will be proceeded with immediately. This will place Westport, Brighton, and Charleston in telegraphic communication with all existing, stations. The s.s. Gothenburg left Hokitika for Mel* bourne on Dec. 12th, with 14 saloo,n 142 steerage passengers and 80750z5. of gold ; the gold being contributed by the several banks as follows :— Bank of New South Wales, SOOOozs.; Union Bank, 19760z5. ; Bank of Zealand 3100ozs. She also secured 50 passengers and 800ozb. of gold at Greymouth. Her total freight and number of passengers being 16,0750z5. of gold and 192 passengers.