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Southland Times, Issue 901, 17 February 1868, Page 2

It is Btated by the Wellington Independent that His Excellency the Governor will leave for Auckland durng the first week in March, for the purpose of receiving the Prince, who is expected to arrive there on the 20th of ,that month. The clergymen of the various denominations in Dunedin, held a meeting on Monday, the 10th instant, when it was resolved to appoint a day of humiliation and prayer, having reference to* the recent wrecks and- destruction of life and property, from floods and storms. A deputation waited on the following day on His Honor the Superintendent, and 'the Hon the SolicitorGeneral, requesting them to close the Government offices on the occasion. The request wa3 complied with, and the 20th inst., is appointed as the day. The fifth annual inter-provincial cricket match, between the Otago and Canterbury Clubs, took place on the Diinedin cricket ground, on Tuesday, the 11th inst. The attendance of spectators was numerous. The Ota;o team was iagain victoriona, beating the Canterbury men with nine wickets to spare. The score was :— Canterbury, Ist innings 46 ; 2nd innings, 56.— Total, 102. Otago, l»i innings, 86 ; 2nd innings, with, nine wick,eta U spare, 18.— Total, 104.

The following i» tfie scora of the Invorcar^iil Rifle Corps for the district prizes, ou Tueaday Ust t—

The following is the score of the Riverton Rifle Corps at the firing for the district prizes on ! Thursday last : — I

Messrs Clode and Robinson having scored equal again competei, whet Eobinson was declared the winner. It will thus be perceived that the Riverton Volunteers carried away all the prizes. Messrs M'Phee and Robinson scored the highest. A friendly match batween eight married and eight single men of the Invercargill Rifle Corps came off at their range on Friday morning, when the married squad proved victors. Five shots were fired at eaoh distance, three, four, and five hundred yards, the score being as follows ; — Mabbikd.

The Nelson Examiner informs us that Marlborough is, as a province, at her last gasp. The Provincial Government account is overdrawn by about £2000 j about £16)0 is due to the General Government as interest ; the proceeds of the last land sale have been impounded, and the Superintendant has gone to Wellington to make arrangements, " or, in other words, to hand over the long coveted Provincial Seal. The General Govern- J ment has now fairly to face the difficult question j of provincial extinction, and to devise some means by which the Government of Marlborough, not necessarily as a province, but as a district of the | the colony, may be carried on until the Genera I Assembly raeots. Aa far as Marlborough is concerned, this may perhaps not be difficult, for one good officer would probably be able to do all the work that is r^-qnieed ; but when Auckland also reaches the goal, the difficulty will be greatly increased, and some system will have to be inaugurated to meet that and similar contingencies. We should hardly think that the Government will care to undertake aa affair of such magnitude on their own responsibility, and without any expression of opinion from the House. If, therefore, the northern province gives up the battle in the j next month or two, we shall not be surprised if the House is summoned earlier than usual for the purpose of dealing with the complication." We learn that the population of the province, ! aocording to the last census, is estimated at about 7000 souls. We extract the following from the Timaru Rerald of the Bth inst : — " The accounts we publish to-day of the floods and gales in various parts of this and the neighboring Province, cxi ceed in +heir seriousness anything that the Colony, has ever before witnessed. A.t present, it is quite out of the power of anyone to estimate the damage done with anything liko accuracy. Perhaps the destruction of which we have alrea ly heard may ba put down between hilf a milliot and a million of money. Iv our own district, the loss has been variously calculated from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand pounds. Coming just at the present period, the floods have greatly crippled the Timaru district. With the heavy losses of sheep caused by the snow stjrm iv the spring, and the present low prioe of wool, the squatting interests were not df ths most flourishing nature. . Bat now they hive received a further blow, by tbe drowning of thousands of sheep The farmers, a month ago, were thought fco be likely to make up their losses of the previous year, aud confidence in their operations had been entirely restore i. Now, iv niue cases ou*/ of ten, they have no crops, and in mray instances no homes. The roads and bridges have likewise suffered severely, and much money must be expended on them before they are again in a condition to permit traffic to be resumed. The public appear so paralysed that thsy have as yet taken no action to make provision for the opening of dray communication. The Road Boards have no money to do the work, but a deputation from tha various Boards should imma iiately proceed to Christchurch and obtain from the Giverntnsnt funds to make temporary provisions for. carrying on the trade of the district. Scarcely oriia-half of the season's wool has reached towu, ani another bale cannot be brought in until repairs hava been effected. In Otago the Government his most energetically faced the difficulties of its position, md gangs oi men have been put to work in all parts of the Province, to open up communication again. We do not for a momeat doubt chit the Government of this Province would at onca take action were the matter represented to thiin. Indeed,- they should do so without any obrnautu»tion from the Bbal Boards at all. At whatjver cost, there cau be no doubt th^fc traffic naust be again opened."

' 'IhoNow Zealand »md Aup tralian cultivators have no greater enemy to contend with than the thistle. In Victoria tens of thousands of pounds are expended annually in trying to exterminate it, and a heavy penalty is inflicted on the owner of land on whiih this objectionable weed is allowed to seed. In Invercargill ahd the suburbs the Bpread of this pernicious plant is very rapid, and the number now flowering very great ; whole sections are literally covered with thistles, ani unless something is done before the seedpods are ripe enough to be* carried by the wind the c -untry will be soon deluged with this plant. Wliile on this subject, we may relate how the thistle first obtained a footing on Australian soil. A venerable son of Scotia in the early day? of the Port Phillip settlement, emigrated to that colony i after being located for a short time on a beautiful farm in the vicinity of Melbourne, the old gentlemen became melancholy and. discontented. He came to the conclusion that it was the absence of his fond loved, national thistle , that had affected his mind, and resolved to import j the seed. If the destructive effect of this act • could have been foreseen we think the people i would have forcibly exported the wild fanatic, who, by riding a hobby, has worked dire mischief. The owners of property on which the thistle is spreading should immediately take steps to destroy them. If this is not done at once, legislation will be required to compel landowners to clean their land. Mons. Vertelli, the * Australian Blondin,' will make his first appearance before an Invercargill audience, at the Theatre Royal, this evening. From the notices that have appeared in the Melbourne, South Australian, Tasmanian, and Otago journals, he would appear to be a master of his profession — to even surpass the original Blondin. The following extract is taken from the Melbourne Post. It says : — " Mons. Vertelli has lately been astounding the people of South Australia by his wonderful performance. On the 24th August he walked on a wire over the waterfall at Mount Softly. The wire was about one-third of an inch in thickness ; one end of it was affixed to a tree on the eastern bank of the fall just above where the stream is precipitated in the gully below, and it was then stretched across to a tree on the opposite bank, about twenty or thirty feet from the falls. The wire was quite one hundred feet in length, and thirty or forty feet high. Mons. Vertelli very deliberately walked across twice, and sat down when partly." Another colo nial journal, the Armedale Telegraph, gives a most favorable notice of the wonderful performance of this gentleman, from which we extract the following . — " M. Vertelli, the Australian Blondin, performed the hazardous feat of crossing the head of the falls (Danger Falls), about six hundred feet, on a wire rope. After adjusting preliminaries, he ascended the rope, and with apparently the greatest ease, self-reliance, and composure, walked along the cord, one-half-inch thick, amidst the breathless silence of those assembled, reaching the shore in perfect safety." Tho Mslboume and other journals speak in flattering terms of the performances of M. Vertelli. He is to be assisted by Mr R. B. Wotton, who will give so-.ne of his comic and ni&ger songs during the eeening. A General Government Gazette, issued on February 6th contains a proclamation by His Excellency, Sir G-eorge Bowen, declaring that he has taken the prescribed oaths as Governor of the colony before His Honor Mr Justice Johnston j and a notice th it he has bean oleas )i to appoint the several members of the Ministry to bo m •raters of t!u Executive Council. The same Gazette contains the following notices regirliu' a lovee and interviews with the Gbvernor *. — " Hi* Excellency the G-overnor will hold a levee in the C .amber of the Hou-e of Rapres entatives, on Saturday, tlie Bth instant, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Gentlei man attending tha levee will wear official dress, uniform, or eveni ng costume, and are requested to provide themsel ves with two car Js, with their names legibly written thereon; one card to be left oa the table at the entrance door, and the other to be given t> the private sacretary. No. 1 Company Welling on Rifle Volunteers and the Veteran Corps will furnish a guard of honor." "His Excellency the G-overnor directs it to be made known for general information that he will receive all persons wh. may wish to see him. on tWednesday and Saturday in every week, betwe-n the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. At th* same {me, His Excellency desi res that it may be clearly understood that public officers and gentlemen from the country, or any other persons wishing to communicate with him personally on business which will admit of no delay, will be received on any day, or at aay hour that he may happen.to be at: home. Lady Bowen will receive visitors every Wednesday, between 12 noon and 2 p.m. Itis understood that His Excellency the Governor will leave for Auckland during the first week in March, for the purpose of receiving the Prince, who is expected to arrive there on the 20th of that month. ____________________________________________________

300 400 500 Tl. Mr Gk Beese 16 11 10—37 „A. Brown '15 13 8—36 „0. Brown 16 9 10—35 „J. Dalgleißh 14 8 4—26 „J. Harvey 13 — B—2l „W. Fraser 5 7 9—21 „L. Moeller 14 4 o—lß „F. W. Wade 10 T o—l 7 SIHGLE. 300' 400 500 TL Mr F. Campbell 12 17 6—35 „S. Henderson 16 6 11—33 „F. Henderson... ... 12 13 3—28 „A. Dunlop 12 15 0—27 \ P Murphy 4 15 3—22 „— Bailey 10 11 o—2l „J. W Arthur ... ... 9 3 9— il „R. Taylor 7 7 o— l4.

FIRST CLASS. SECOND CLASS. \ M'Donald ... 25 Crisp 46 Wilson ... ... 32 Lee 31 Clulee ... ... 32 Mills 29 Bell ... ... 20 Aldred ... ... 20 Smith ... ... 34 Mackie ... .. c 23 Reed 30 Wliittington ... 5 Clode .. „40 M'Phee „ .. 48 Robinson 40

Ist Class 800 400 500 Tl. Captain Harvey ... ... 10 10 2-22 Lieutenant Geisow 7 2 0— 9 Ensign Wade ... ... 8 6 3—17 Sergeant Dunlop 12 0 4—16 Pr Frank Henderson ... 13 6 o—l9 „ John M' Arthur 11 10 0-21 „ Samuel Hendewon ... 14 7 2—23 Colin Brawn ... ... U U 5-27 „ James Robertson ..6 2 12—20 „ George Reese ... ... 17 '1 6-3 " Cowan Bayiey 7 10 3-20 „ John Dalgiiesh ... ... 13 3 B— 2t--2nd Class 800 400 500 Tl. Corporal M'Kellar ... ... 14 7 3—24 Pr. George Mitchell ... 4 x x— 4 „ Patrick Murphy... ... 13 5 6—24 i "w. Smith 0 0 2-2 M Edward Humphreys ... 8 0 2-lU „A. Brown ... ... 15 10 7—32 „ Frederick Worsley ... 8 0 o—B , James Taylor 14 8 0-22 „ Andrew M'Donald .... 0 6 o—6 ,T. Miller... U 7 2-20 „A. Sinclair ... ... 8 4 2—B „W. Fraser 6 4 o— lo „ Robert Taylor 17 0 o—l7 „ James Dunlop 8 4 o—l2 „ Frank Campbell 15 14 11-40