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Southland Times, Issue 887, 24 January 1868, Page 2

We lenrn that the favorite little schooner Danzig, which has established a regular trade between this port and Dunedin, has recently changed hands, the firm of Messrs Cochran, Granger and Blackwood ■ haying become her • owners. i -■■--■■-.. '. We call attention to an advertisement in oar : other columns relative io an adjourned meeting of the subscribers to the Hospital. The meeting was .adjourned on Monday evening, 6th. inst-., inconsequence of noh-attindance- of those whose names are already on the list. We trust that they will make it a point to be present next Monday evening, and would intimate what we believe to be the case, that anyone feeling desirous of taking part in the proceedings at the ensuing meeting can do so by paviag the subscription, one guinea, to the Treasurer or Secretary, before the meeting takes place. It is to be hoped that the interest hitherto manifested in so beneficial an institution .will not , now be allowed to subside, but rather that the subscribers' roll may be largely augmented. The Nelson Examiner of the 4th inst.; says:— 4 "The company which undertook to work the coal at the Grey have fonnd it necessary to sot ab ut working it earnest;, or their lease will bj forfeitei in a few weeks. It is found that without a railway from the mine to Cobdeii, at the mouth of the river, the quantity of coal the company is required to raise cannot be delivered. The Government is willing to grant some grace if the railway is set about at once, and pushed forward with reaeonaole haste. According to the report of the engineer sejit down from Melbourne to examine the mine, if a railway were laid down coal could bo put on board ship, at (Jobden, at 9s a ton, and afford a handsome profit." The Argux says: — "The dissolution is decreed. Sis Excellency has succumbed to (he charm of woven paces, or : whatever else it is in Mr Higinborham that enables him to enthral the wills of G-overnora. We are consequently on the eve of a general election, in which a totally improper issue will be put before the electors. The constituencies of the Lower House will be asked to decide whether the Upper House has a right to exercise the power conferred upon it in express words by the Constitution. The Ministry having

"shown their contempt for tho law, which requires the assent of Hie Upper Ho^se to tho Appropriation Bill for tha year, by presenting the bill in RUoh a shape that ib 'could not possibly receive the aasent of thafe llouso, now eaU upon the oountry to say that they were right in Jim law. Wo maintain that Una is ah unconstitutional course, and quite unprecedented. The Ministry were bound to keep the Appropriation BUI clear of political onattter,- so as not to endanger th« funds for tlie^ublic iervic«\ *,They had it in their power to make the grant fo Sir tDharies Darling a Government measures, if ~ they considered It of sufficient importance, and to tale the sense of the country upon it if necessary } nnd no doubt an expression of opinion on tho part of the \ country would hare Had the usual effect. But thej have no right to adopt a, lawlefc? opurse and then appea^ to a portion of the people, however large, to declare that they may be lawless- if they like. We trust that the electors will display greater moderation than their leaders j that they will discrimi- ■ nate between the general policy of the Ministry, of which they niay approve, awUheir oonduct in this particular 1 matter ;' and that they will tell those gentlemen that they must fight their political battle's within the limits, of the Constitution. In a country like this, where every man is, or expects tote, v man of property, it ia suicidal policy to encourage political violence and contempt 1 for law." : ; .. . -; t ■■•.;■."■_■■ •'"' ■■■■■ The European Times is responsible for the following : — " A new machine is now in use for cutting hair. The sensation produced by its revolutions round tjhe head i 3 said to be very agreeable, and the rapidity with which it cuts the hair is one of its recommendations to notice." Tho machine is so constructed as to enable the operator, by turning a screw, to adjust the cutting blade, so as to take ofi just; the quantity of hair desired." ;■ / We learn; from .. Northern advices that His Excellency will not vacate office in favor of his. successor until his Royal Bigness has left those shores. - The despatches forwarded to His Excellency by the last Panama Mail are, we believe, to this effect, and the intelligence will no doubt be as acceptable to Sir George Grey as it will be to •the people -of this colony. The Home Government, we arc informed, have adopted this change in regard to the immediate recall of Sir George, consequent upon the action of tho General Assembly when last in session in resenting the affront cast upon the Governor. .Sir George Bowen is expected to arrive in the colony by the ' Eakaia,' on the Bth inst. ; , but. to get over the difficulty of having two Governors at one and the same timej tne commission appointing Sir George Bowen Governor will not be sent out until the May mail. The originally projected tour through the interior of the country, with visits to the most remarkable places in the lake districts, . will now in all probability be carried out; and tho Prince, under the guidance oCSir George Grey, will have the advantage of inspecting the: many remarkable and beautiful places in that highly: interesting tract of country. . r The Havtke's Bay Serald states that Mr Cox f of Canterbury, has leased from tho natives a large sheep run in the neighborhood of the' .Taupo Lake. Colonel Whitmore has also leased a run in the same locality. Other gentlemen are about doing the fame. j "~ , ;, ; The Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 25 th Nov., 1867, says :— The Now .Zealand Government has obtained permission- from tha ; authorities of* the Biver Tweed to take a certain number of salmon, for the purpose of extracting, the spawn ; and the Chief Constable of Berwickshire has expressed his readiness Jko afford every assistance in forwarding the object of the colonial authorities. Mr Youl,.their -agent in the matter, is negotiating for the necessary tonnage to convey the precious freight to the Antipodes, and the London brokers have promised him to have a ship ready- to sail between the 28th December and sth January, 1868, — the time the spawning fish will be most probably obtained. The space occupied by.: the icehouse, the tanks, pipes,, and other apparatus for drawing the water jfrom tho melted ice, will be considerable ; and the boxes themselves, containing wet moss for packing the spawn, will take up a great deal of room. The [ reply of the authorities of the Tyne has not yet been received. Tho Argns states that amongst the compliments paid by tbe Duke of Edinburgh previous to his departure from Victoria, Mr Hoskins has received a letter from tho Hbn Eliot Torko, authorising him, on behalf of Prince Alfred, to) alter the . name of the Haymarket to that of "The Duke of Edinburgh Theatre." ' ■ One of the most extraordinary and atrocious crimes' that has tret been recorded, is the murder of the Clermont (Queensland) Gold Escort. It . wHI be remembered that sometime since, three' policemen that formed the escort, were found shot dead, ma Bolitary-place, the driver being found sitting on the box, having been shot from behind. Mr Commissioner Griffen, officer in charge, was the first to give information, and when the .police went to the spot, tho men were found dead, and the gold gone. Fora time this sod tragedy was; shrouded in mystery. Suspicion was' at length attached to the Commissioner, as the perpetrator of the horrid deed. He • was arrested, and the evidence collected leaves but little doubt as to his -guilt. He has been committed to take his trial on the charge of wilful murder. ■ .. An Australian paper says : — ". It is alleged ■ that carbonic acid has recently been successfully used for the extermination of mosquitoes and flies. A small piece of cloth, saturated with the acid, was hang up in a room; an I in two hours the flies had entirely disappeared. In the evening the acid was tried in the kitchen, wheve the mosquitoes were very troublesome, with like success*" ■ The Otago Daily Times contains the following expressions of good will to the people of South* land, in the annexed extracts, taken from a 1 jading article in that journal, of tho 20th inst,. on the wreck of the General Grant :— But we are glad to chronicle .the kindness they met with on board tho Amhcrst, and the hearty welcome they received in Southland. The people ofJnvercargili are distinguished by the kindness they display on such occasions. In tins instance they loudly cheered the poor castaways as they alighted from the railway carriages, and with the -utmost hospitality entertained -them. Not content Trilh this, they at once initiated a movement for rescuing the crew of the boat, winch, ia January, 1367, left the Islani for New Zealand, and who it is possible, may not .have perished, but hare found shelter and. jtmprisonmant, at^he Campbell Islands. The Southland people,, with a generosity that does them credit, at once arranged that the Amherst should proceed on

the search—ami she la to leave >o-i^om>w. Since the movement ;jw»s first »tartßd,'tKe fro* vincial Government, as will be observed by a telegram, in another column, have accepted the whole ri'spinsihiJity of the expedition. If the search is 16 bo thorough 1 and conclusive, a steamer must undertake it srlth a "sufficiently junnerou* crew. We strongly plead that^bofore it k too late, attention should bo directed to the matter. If the Chamber of Commerce would memorialise Hie General Government or the Solicitor-General, no doubt instant' arrangements would be" made either for despatching one of Her Majesty 1 * vessels or a chartered steamer. We understand that on ani after the lat February pro*, the opening and closing of the Post Office, theflesfmtch of mails and other post : office business will be regulated by Telegraph, or Wellington time, which as we before remarked is forty .minutes in advance of Inveivargill time. We feel convinced the arrangement is a bad one, and will be the cause of much vexation, annoy- i ance and loss to the mercantile community, at least until it has been a considerable time in operation. . ' ; ' , : A Gazette published on the 31st ult. contains a code of regulations relating to Government employes, issued nnder the" Civil' Services Act The Secretary for Crown Lands, the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the TJnder-Secretary- for Native Affair, the Director of the Geological Survey, and the Inspector of Public Schools, are appointed a Central Board of Examiners to examine candidates for the Civil Service ; and are also to act as a Local Board for Wellington. Local Boards are. also appointed for the other capital towns of the colony. The Daily Times,' 16th January, says :— " We . understand it is in contemplation to despatch a 'steamer, without delay,, to the Auckland Islands, to. the scene of the wreck of the General Grant,' with the object ol recovering some of the cargo of that ill-fated vessel, She took, with her from Melbourne over 25000z of gold, besides other valuable freight. Apart from the commercial prospect, a vessel ought to he sent, without delay, to explore the Islands. It" is within, the bounds of possibility that of the sixty persons supposed to have perished, some may have scrambled up the cliffs; and besides, there is an other" vessel which, not Jong ago, left Melbourne, homeward bound, and has never been heard of. During past years there have been other vessels similarly lost — the Madagascar/for instance, with v a very, valuable freight. A thorough examination of the Islands may be the means of revealing thesecret j of the fate of several vessels, though only from those lost lately may it be hoped to find survivors; J Fres^ supplies 'of provisions, and of live stock, j should be sent down, and a permanent station should be established there." j The most prominent of the public works going i on in 1 Sydney at the precent time arc those decora? five structures intended to give the city such a fe-tive aspect as will in some degree make external ; appearances harmonise with the heartfelt jubila- i tion with which 11.R.H the Duke of Edinburgh ! will be welcomed. Several triumphial arches, some of them on a large scale and exceedingly ornate in stjle, are -being erected at the salient points Of_tlw streets through which the procession is to passT ATalr^e^pavilion7--to» I -iLh c j n 2^ constructed in Hyde Park, to be used as a ball room. The building will bo sufficiently capacious to accommodate 5,000 attendants. • Anew Italian Opera Company, arrived from Lima per mail steamer Mataura, intend giving a series of operas in Sydney. . Tha prima donna is Signora Ida Vitali. The late Governor of New South Wales, Sir John Young, who left Sydney on the 24th ult., for England, previous to his departure was entertained at dinner by the members of the Australian, Union, and Victoria clubs. Mr Thos, Lee; of Woodlands, Bathurst, N.S.W. has sheared his alpacas, with the following results as to the: weight, of fleece^— One wether gßve lllbs., one ; dif to /gave 91bs., two wethers gave eacb.7ilbs. f one ewe gave 3£lbs one ditto gave silbs., two ewes ; gave each 41b5.,. one rain gave B*lbs. ;.',....-:,' : .[...'' /"' ."■'" :• '•" ' ' ■ - : ' The Sydney Morning Herald of the 21st December, has the following report of the harvest ■prospects of New South Wajes : — "The drought this iyear threatens to be more than usually severe, and already its withering effects have been felt in all parts of the colony. There is not a 'district in which the oppressive heat and the dryness of the atmosphere 'during the past few weeks have not made havoc to a more or less extent among the, crops. In many places wheat growers talk of abandoning their ' crops, -which*! they say are hardly enough* to defray the erponses of reaping. Owins to the prevalence of rust in the South Australian wheat, however, there will be a large demand for grain here, and a consequent increase in price. In this way no doubt the damage caused by failing crops may be to some extent; compensated. The los 3 "of half his wheat will not be very ruinous to the farmer if he can readily obtain double price for the other half. In dome few places the drought has been broken by occasional showers, and in these places, until lately, the agriculturists were in extasies at the prospect of a bountiful harvest. Within the past fortnight, however, rust has appeared in the wheat there, and on many farms there will not be a single acre of grain worth reaping." The Herald (Auckland), 11th January, says : — " The meeting of the Waikato natives which has been so much talked about will, we believe, come off to-morrow, when the ultimate decision as to whether it shall be peac^£or war wiU be given. Of the result of the meeting there can be no doubt. The natives are as anxious for peace as wo are, and are as thoroughly tired of the war as can be. We trust that the conclusion to live at peace with the pakeha will be followed by a thorough return to the feelings of confidence and goodwill, which/in the early days of the colony, characterised the relations .between the people of the two races, that it will be followed up by the return of the Maoris to the cultivation of their land, the breeding of cattle, and other industrious pursuits If the natives only knew their own interests they would engage largely in these occui pations. They possess the bulk of the land, and of course tho most fertile aud suitable portions, nor do they need the money necessary to do so,' for in the .sale, of land they cannot use they have the means, and more than the means of utilising that which they- need desire to hold. The native land owners indeed . might, if they were only rightly advised and so minded, become' the most influential and important personages in the colony."