Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 1168, 31 May 1869, Page 2

We understand that' up to late on Saturday evening no Executive had been formed. The names of several gentlemen were mentioned as likely to be " sent for." Amongst the number we may mention those of Messrs Blacklock, ■"Dalrymple, Clerke, and Dr Monckton. A very extensive sale of cattle is advertised — see our other columns — to take place at Tapanui on the 14th of June. The herd is the property of the Mesass M'Kellar, and will be submitted to publio competition by Messrs Wright, Stephenson and Co., of Dunedin. Mr H. E. Osborne, Auctioneer, will sell this day at noon, at his rooms, Esk-street, on account of Mr R. C. Spencer, that oentral town section, immediately in rear of the Exchange Building, and facing the Railway Station. Air Peter Grant, of Kiverton, successor to Mr Surman, hold* his maiden auction sale at Q-ummies' Bush, on Wednesday, 2nd June, when he will pass a flock «f fat weddera under the hammer. We are requested to call attention to an alteration in the advertisement calling the meeting for this evening regarding the Penny Readings ; instead of 8 o'clock, the meeting will take place at 7 prompt. This change has been considered advisable in order to allow of the attendance of those taking an interest in the movement, but who may also be conneoted with the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society, which meets the same evening, at the hour first fixed upon. The tunnel on the Lyttelton and Gbrietchurch Railway has been examined by an engineer, and reported to be in an unsafe state for traffic. In the course of his opening address to the Provincial Council, the Superintendent said : — " The returns from the railway have, up to the present time, been in excess of the amount they were estimated to yield. The gross income of the year was estimated at £39,350, and the actual income for the past four months has amounted to £17,280, or £4164 more than one third part of the estimate for the year. But this period includes the greater part of the wool season, and an important portion of the grain season, and the present income will not be maintained during the winter months. It is reasonable, however, forming a calculation upon the relative income for the different months of last year, to anticipate an pxcoss of the estimated amount of receipts over the whole year j but, on the other hand, there will be expenditure necessary in the tunnel which was not previously contemplated, and which will more than absorb any such excess. The stores paid for in last year, and consumed during the present year, and a per contagefor depreciation, are not taken into account in the above observations. At Wellington, on April 24, the steward of the s.s. Bangitoto was fined £5 10s for having in his possession ten boxes of cigars.

A most commodious and conveniently situated hall for public meetings, &c, will in the course of a few clays be ready for the usa of our townpeople. Mr Tulloch lias had the entire upper storey of the Exchange Building reconstructed, the main portion or transept with one of the wings,' forming a hall, which, for dimensions and .accoustic properties is probably unequalled in New Zealand. The entire interior length is 66 feet, and the breadth 33 feet, while the height from the floor to the crown of the arch, forming the roof, is 22 feet. Allowing for the space to be occupied by the platform or stage, Ihe room should still seat comfortably about 400 persons. The other wing of the building at the head of the stairs, by which the hall is reached, is divided into three comfortable apartments which will be available as cloak-rooms. The hall will be opened on Wednesday, 9th June, on which evening the Loyal St. George celebrate in it their first anniversary. Should its presumed superiority as a place on which either to speak f or sing be found correct it will no doubt become the favorite place of public resort. The Superintendent of Nelson, in opening the session of the Provincial Council, made the following remarks : — As soon as the actual state of things became apparent to me, I reduced the expenditure upon the public works, so far as was consistent with engagements already entered into to a point within the diaiinished means at my disposal, and devoted my attention to all practicable reductions in the departmental expenditure of the province. By the estimates which will be submitted to you, you will find that the reductions which have been made effect a saving to ' the extent of between £12,000 and £13,000 in the annual expenditure of the province in salaries and contingencies. In making so sweeping a retrenchment I hare performed a difficult and extremely unpleasant duty. I ask for your support and encouragement in a task which I have endeavoured to execute with as little inconvenience to the public, and as little hardship to individuals as under the circumstances was possible. The principle upon which I have mainly effected thU large in our expenditure has been that which invariably guides commercial establishments in a similar position, namely, the reduction in the number of officers employed, and not the reduction, of the salaries of those whose services cannot be dispensed with and whose work is in many cases largely increased. When the estimates for the current year, which are now in course of preparation, are placed before you, jou will see that I have abolished the formal distinction of " departments" in the provincial service, and have classed them- in groups under distinctive headings. Each officer will be required to give his service in any way in which they can be made efficiently available, an arrangement which, although only occasionally practicable, will probably prove use • ful with a staff so greatly duniniahed. The following, from the ' Bruce Standard ' of , the 22ud hist., is as applicable to this locality at to that to which it refers : — " A correspondent sa i East Taieri informs us that as late as last week there were still to be seen standing exposed to all the wintry weather several acres of oats, wheat, and barley, in different parts of the Taieri Piain. This should stimulate prompt energy in preparing the land for next season's crops, so that early sowing and seasonable harvesting may be the rule and not the exception. Over and above the comfort of farmers having crops put early under ' thack and rape,' there is the large per centage of more abundant yields from early ploughing and sowing to commend the use of prompt efforts to keep ahead in field work." An Otago contemporary says : — " Mr W. J. Steward, editor of the ' Oamaru Times/ was presented on Thursday, the 13th inst., with the prize awarded for the poem in welcome of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, by his Worship the Mayor of Dunedin. Mr Birch, in a graceful speech, complimented Mr Steward on his pro duction, and stated that the allusions in the poem to his royal parents had been highly appreciated by the Duke. Copies of the poem had been printed on satin and furnished to the Prince, who had expreseed a wish to send them homo to his friends ; and 500 copies had been printed for distribution by the Caledonian Society. Mr Steward made a very eloquent reply, concluding as follows : — ' He had before now seen in the thronged streets of a crowded city an humble plant struggle into existence, and spreading its tiny blossoms, amid the rush of hurrying humanity. To the utilitarian that j flower was a weed, and a weed only, its beauty ! unobserved, and itself a tiring of nought ; but that little plant, weed though it might be termed, was fresh from the hand of the Great Creator, and had a right to spread its fair petals and to waft its sweetness upon the pir, be the city ever so busy, the streets ever so thronged — (applause) ; and while he as a poet might rank but as that little weed, yet, if he could beautify but in the smallest degree even an out-of-the-way corner, he would endeavor to do it, let the critics say what they might. Be it as it might, though his productions might please none other, they gave him pleasure in their composition, and at least on this one occasion they had produced for him the pleasure of having to return thanks to Mr Birch, as the President of the Caledonian Society for his gift, and more for his kindly remarks, and to all present for their evident sympathy and cordial good feeliug.' — (Loud oheers)." The Anglican Synod at Adelaide has passed the following resolution almo3t unanimously : — " That in the opinioi of this Synod it is of the highest importance to the unity and well-being of the Church of England, that, tho Bishop be earnestly requested to use his influence for the correction and prevention af such evils as are known by the term ' Ritualistic,' or ' Romanising,' in keeping within the tenor of his lordship's address at the opening of the Synod, and that all the ceremonies of the Church be strictly carried out in accordance with the directions of the Common Prayer book." Coal it said to hare been found within a mile and a half of Milton, Tokomairiro, which has been pronounced by his Honor the Superintendent of Otago to be suporior to any yet found in the Colony, except that at Presarvation Inlet. The deposit from which the sample submitted to his Honor was taken is desoribed as being an extensive one and it is said that a company will shortly be formed to work it. — Goal has also lately been found near Oamaru. The library for tho use of Members of tho' General Assembly has received an addition of 100 volumes, including a number of new and standard works;

At the present moment, when lads of all ages are going about with guns, the following, from the ' Daily Times' of 26th, maybe useful a 9 a caution : — ;" A sad story comes from Qt&popp. On Saturday last, a lad named James Pollock, son of a farmer named William Pollock^ once well known in business here, went, to a neighbour named Hugh Carson, and borrowed a doublebarrelled gun, with which he went shooting in the Taieri bush. Not returning to his home at night, a search was instituted, and maintained all through the night and the next day, till at nearly dark his dead body was found with the hea t riddled with shot, and the brains protruding. Both barrels of his gun was empty, and it was apparent that death must have been instantaneous. The boy was only thirteen • years old, and this incident should be a lesson to parents not to trust children of such tender age with dangerous death- dealing playthings." Advices received in Sydney from the Gulf of Carpentaria are to the effect that heavy floods had seriously interfered with the settlerfl, and had compelled the abandonment of some of the stations. Fears were entertained of the safety of the settlers on the Flinders and Cloucurry. In March, Mrs Case (Miss Grace Egerton) and Mr Case was concluding^ a successful season in India. At Bombay and Poona, they had been particularly well recoived. They were to sail for China on the 19th of March, from Bombay. A dejeuner to the Roman Catholic bishops and ecclesiastics of Australia was giveu on the 27th ult., in Melbourne. The Hon. John O'Shanassy occupied the chair, aud the company, which included most of the loading Roman Catholics of Melbourne, numbered about 200 . Some typographical errors appeared in Friday's issue. In the leader occurs the following — "soldiers who havo seen fifty years service." It should have read — " soldiers who have seen five years service," and in the commercial article, the sense is altered by the substitution of the word " sleepers " for " rails."