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Southland Times, Issue 914, 11 March 1868, Page 2

It wiU be seen by advertisement elsewhere that an extensive sale of superior household furniture takes place this day, at the Exchange Hotel, Don-street. The sale wiU begin at 2 o'clock. Mr H. E. Osborne is the Auctioneer. We direct attention to an advertisement in our other columns, caUing a meeting at Mrs Cowper's store, Tay-street, on Friday evening next, for the purpose of organising a Beries of penny readings for the ensuing winter. It is to be hoped that those taking the initiative steps may meet with support Biifficient to make the movement successful. Serious fears begin to be entertained for tho shfetyof the s.s. Waihopai, which left Dunedin some eight or ten days ago and has not yet made her appearance. The heavy gales which have of lato prevaUed would certainly prove most perilous to her if she encountered them at sea, but it is probable that she may be riding them out in the friendly shelter of the Nuggets. At a meeting of the InvercargiU Educational * Committee, held on Saturday last, it was resolved to nominate Mr J. Gr. Smith to the charge of the central PubUc School, and request the Educational Board to confirm the appointment. Tho question of the desirability of establishing a girls school, was discussed, and it was determined to apply to the Board to feraut a subsidy of £50. towards carrying out this object. In our advertising columns will be found the balance sheet of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association. It is gratifying to see that this Society haa been as successful financiaUy as it was practically. It is seldom, if ever, that we have found any other association, in the older provinces, or even in Australia, after its maiden show, publishing so satisfactory a Btate-, ment. It is evidence of tho steady progress the province is making in agricultural and pastoral settlement, and that Southland possesses a band of men in earnest, who, when once entering upon a pubhc work, wiU leave no efiorfc wanting to make it a success. The first show was a complete success. The s.s. Southland did not leave the Bluff for the scene of the wreck of the General Grant until Monday last. She had heen some days ready for sea, and the detention in port, we understand, • arose from the continued indisposition of the ( chief diver, whose service* are indispensible j

to the success of the object for which the vessel had been put on the berth for the Auckland Islands, viz: — to recover as much as possible of the gold and other valuables contained inthe sunken ship, of the whereabouts of which, Mr Teer, who accompanies the expedition, is cognisant. It is to be hoped that the diver's iU-health may not prevent the carrying out of the project of the enterprising owners of the Southland. Our Bluff correspondent under date 10th inst.** says : — During the continuan ce of westerly weather which has prevaded at this port for the last ten days, the trade between this and River-, ton, by water carriage, has been at a complete, stand stiU, the vessels engaged in the trade being wind bound here, and have been at the lower anchorage waiting a change of wind for several days. The J. Paxton put to sea on the 7th, and it is rumored that she, along with the p.s. Southland, has taken shelter in some of the harbors of Stewa r t's Island. Yesterday a heavy gale from the westward , I blew with great violence, carrying the sand in clouds, the bay was one unbroken sheet of white foam. Very Uttle rain feU. The ketch, Kate, left the anchorage and came to the wharf this morning, to wait for better weather. From the " Daily Times," 3rd inst., we learn j that a deputation from the Friendly Societies had an interview with his Honor the Superintendent of Otago, solic-ting that in making out the programme for the Duke of Edinburgh's proceedings during his visit, a day might be Bet apart for a j loyal demonstration by the members of the Societies. In reply to the deputation His i Honor said that when in WeUington he had had a conversation with the Governor on the subject, and from what he could gather as to the arrangements made, the Duke was not expected to be more than three days in Dunedin, and probably seven days in the country — ten days altogether ; and his ExceUency seemed desirous of impressing on his mind very forcibly the inexpediency of going to any great expense. His ExceUency seemed to think that the Duke would take it as a greater compliment if he were let alone as much as possible. A new Provincial Executive had not been formed in Canterbury up to the 2nd instant. The "Press" of the 29th Feb. reports:— "ln the Provincial CouncU yesterday morning Mr Montgomery announced that he had not yet succeeded in forming a Government, and moved the adjournment of the Houso tiU Tuesday next, to aUowhim further time for his arrangements, which was acceded to." A correspondent ofthe " Pall Mall Gazette" teUs a story of a gipsy family having arrived " not long ago" at a vUlage in Perthshire, bringing with them a sick babe, '* which attracted the attention of a kindly person who holds an official position in that district." Help was given, and they went on their way ; but soon after a younger portion of the .same famUy returned, and on being asked about the sick chUd — " It wadna get weU," replied the eldest of tiie chUdren, a girl, " and my faither jist took and slewed it." This tale is given as " iUustrative, of a mode of Ufe which is pursued among the mountains of the North," and it is not unlikely that some future Buckle may transfer it to his pages when depicting the manners ofthe Scottish people in the year 1867. We suspect, however, that the " Pall MaU" correspondent has been awfully imposed upon, for it so happens that the story i 3 as old as the hiUs. The version current in the days of our great-grand-i fathers was to the eftect that a Highlander and his wife came to the Lowlands to the shearing, or, in other words, to assist at the harvest, having with them a peevish and Ul-thriven bairn. Next year they returned, but without the child, and it was inquired after, Flora repUed' in quite a matter of course way — " Oh, Tonald thought it wad never grow to be a pody an' he jist slew it.' A gentleman who has recently returned from the Queensland diggings, has supplied the "Grey River Argus," with a lengthened and minute description of the district in which the gold is ! being found. It reads as though great care had been taken to give a faithful account of what is doing there, and the prospects of those who may purpose going. The foUowing is an extract from the letter : — " Having given every friendly aid to those that are going, I trust I shaU be permitted to give one parting word of advice. It is simply that given by ' Punch ' to a man about to get married — 'Don't.' 'Far-away hUls are green,' is a good old adage, and never was saying so true as in thiß present case. I have just come from among those hills ; I have gazed on them closely with these eyes, and I would say to far-away gazers that if there is any *• greenness ' it is not in the hiUs. That Queensland is a golden country I most devoutly beUeve j that this very district of the Mary wiU be yet a gold-field is very probable ; but that there haß been anything a 9 yet to prove it so, or anything to attract gold seekers from a distance, is a statement that few Queenslanders would make. There have been telegrams pubhshed, and then contradicted; finds of gold reported, but the. finders not discovered yet; nuggets described in the various forms of so many ounces, so many pennyweights, and so many pounds, and then they were lost to sight. Before leaving Queensland, I had it from several most intelligent business men who "had "gone purposely to calmly weigh and consider probabUities and prospects, that while at that time there were about four thousand people on the ground, there were not, they honestly beUeved ODe hundred making their tucker; that large numbers had hurried to the diggings without any means, and that great destitution was imminent. The people of Queensland are hopeful about the diggings, but they are watching in silence. There is no enthusiasm on the subject there. The following piece of information for miners is taken from the "Otago DaUy Times." : — A short whUe back, we published a paragraph, extracted from a Homo or American paper, representing that cyanide of potassium had been found to act as an efficient substitute for sodium, j in admixture with- quicksUver, for amalgamating j purposes. We are informed that Dr Hector has . instituted some experiments, and finds that tbe cyanide of potassium acts as represented. The fact is most important, since the substitute is nearly seventy-five per cent cheaper than sodium. The expense of the sodium amalgam has stood in the way of its popular use, although experiments in California and tbe Pacific States have proved its value, especiaUy where iron pyrites is present in the quartz. Iron pyrites is plentiful in Otago, and the potassium amalgam may be found very useful in treating quartz aad ores containing sulphur, from which the gold would otherwise be unobtainable, excepting with sodium amalgam.

The " Sydney Morning Herald," in commenting up on the probable benefits to arise from the visit of Prince Alfred to New South Wales, says : — " Port Jackson is the only port in the Southern, hemisphere where a frigate of the size of the Galatea could be docked. Some five years hence, when the great Government dock at WaUiamstown is completed, Victoria wiU babble to offer accommodation equal to that now furnished by Port Jackson, but at present -vessels of the largest class must come on to Sydney for repairs to the huU. The Galatea, after being sufficiently.Ughtened was duly taken into Cockatoo dock, where the necessary cleaning and overhaul wih be given. In this, as in many other respects, the visit of Prince Alfred wiU help to bring the resources of these colonies into note, and this enlarged reputation may have substantial results." The Victorian elections are terminated, the MinisteriaUats numbering fifty-seven supporters, and the Opposition twenty-one. From the Mcli bourne papers we learn that during the time these I elections were coing on the greatest possible cxi eitement prevailed. In every district class feeling • ran high. On the whole, however, they passed off quietly. Now that the M'CuUoch Ministry has been sent back stronger than ever to their posts, their poUcy endorsed by the country, the war between the CouucU and the Assembly must be decided. The CouncU, if it stiU persists in maintaining the obstructive uttitude it has taken up, will most probably lead to a revolution that wih sweep away the Upper House altogether. The extent of the telegraph works in the AustraUan colonies, executed during tha last twelve years, are deserving of record, as evidence of the activity displayed, and the vast amount of country that has been encircled by the electric wire during so short a period. The foUowing statement is taken from authenticated reports ; published in the various newspapers in Victoria. — " At the end of 1866 New Sooth Wales had 2624 nnles, upon which during the year 138,175 messages had been sent ; Victoria, 2fi3l mUeßj its messages 256,380 ; Queensland, 1131 nules, its messages, 47,697 ; South Australia, 855 nules, messages 112,344. The reason of South Aus- . tralia having so many messages in proportion to its nuleage is that St. -George's Sound is on the direct course of the **•"•"*' steamers to and from Suez. It is, therefore, the first Australian land | touched at on the outward passage, and the last on the homeward." j