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The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1869.

-= 1 — ~ ' ,' We believe we are correct in stating that Hi a Honor has appointed Mr John Blacklock, Provincial Treasurer, and Dr Monckton has accepted a seat in the Executive. The Provincial Council has been further prorogued. At the sitting of the Waste Land Board, on Friday last, 600 acres were taken up by two applicants, making the total for the month of May, of about 8,000 acres. On Tuesday, Ist inst, another application for 300 acres was granted. A meeting of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society took place at tho Presbyterian Vestry Hall, on Monday evening last. The proceedings were opened by nominating a member as chairman. The Secretary, Mr Archibald Campbell, read the minutes of the previous meeting, which were duly confirmed. The Chairman then introduced Mr Wra. Fraser to the meeting, who read a capital paper on the Life and Writings of Robert Burns. The essayist traced succinctly the early life of the poet, his training, and touched briefly but graphically on all the important incidents of his varied career, arguing that what little was objectionable in his life was counterbalanced by his noble and magnanimous spirit; the reader concluded amidst well-merited applause. Messrs Smith, Findlay, Rose, Andrew Smith, Erskine, Porter, Dunlop, and others, spoke on the question. Messrs Porter and Dunlop ha /ing the previous evening given njtice to move an alteration in one of the rules of the society, an animated debate followed, causing several amendments to be submitted ; ultimately Mr Duuiop's amendment was carried as follows — " Intending members to be proposed by an existing member on one evening of meeting, and ballotted for the next." Throughout this discussion the chairman kept the meeting to the question, and submitted the amendments end motions although only verbally given in an excellent manner. Tae Rev. A. H. Sfcobo, the President of the Society, having at this point entered the room, made one or two explanations anl (suggestion*, and afterwards closed the meeting in the usual manner. A case which appeared in our columns early in April, in which Mr Kingswell sued a person of the name of M'Donald for damages incurred through the destruction of a number of plaintiff's sheep, by a dog alleged to be the property of defendant, came again before the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, Ist inst. After the hearing of evidence, the case was adjourned for a week, to allow of the defence producing a material witness. An accident of a severe nature occurred to Mr Thomas Douglas, currier, at Mr O'Hara's tanyard, on Monday last, whereby he lost two of the fingers of his left hand. He was engaged at the time feeding the bark mill, when, owing to his looking round for a moment, his hand was caught by the toothed rollers, and severely lacerated before the steam could be shot off. Surgical aid was at once procured, and everything dove to relieve the pain. It is feared that amputation at the wrist will yet have to be resorted to. By Davidson's boat, which arrived from Stew* arfb Island yesterday, Ist inst., we learn that on the 20th ult., an old man of the name of Walah, who has long been a resident on the island, and was much respected, left his home and proceeded to the bush to look after some cattle. He did not return but his absence was accounted for by his neighbors, on the supposition that he had gone on to Messrs Hay Bros. Saw Mills, some distance off, where his sons were at work. Three days afterwards, one of the sous came home, and it was then ascertained that the old man had not gone to the mill, but had evidently lost himself in the bush, or met with some accident disabling him from walking. A search was forthwith instituted, in which all the neighborhood joined, including the men from the Haw Mills, and the sergeant of police, stationed at Port William. All efforts to trace the lost man were, however, fruitless, no clue having been discovered up to the time our informant left. The country in the vicinity is said to be extremely rough, so that unless Walsh had the power of attracting attention to himself when any of the seekers came ne»r him, he might remain undiscovered for a long tixno and yet be within a very short distance of his own home. The newly-elected popular entertainments' committee met last evening, Ist inst, at the Government Buildings, Mr Perkins in the chair. After the dispatch of some busincs of a formal nature, Mr E. D. Butts was elected Treasurer, and Mr D. Macrorie, Secretary. It was also arranged that if possible the entertainment should take place on Friday week, the 11th inst., and that they Bhould be given weekLy thereafter. The question of where the meetings should be held was also considered," but not decided, pending certain enquiries. Immediately on this point being settled, the secretary is to invite the co-operation of ladies j,and gentlemen able to assist. No doubt the appeal of the committee in this respect will be heartily responded to.

Thoeeladieß and gentlemen who have consented | ■ to assist in the rendering of choruses, &c, at 1 the anniversary of tho Loyal St. 0-eorge's Lodge, : .are reminded that the next practice takes place ' this evening, at the Exchange Hall, Dee-street. Those who prefer perfecting themselves as marksmen under the shelter of a friendly roof, instead of in a dismal iuarsh exposed to fill the elements, have now the opportunity of doing so. Mr Mayo, of the Southern Cross Hotel, has jus? . fitted up a shooting alley, on a rather extensive scale. The tunnel, or tube, through which the ball passes in its rapid flight from the muzzle of the gun to the target, is about 90 feet long, a distance which affords, under the circumstances, sufficient opportunities for the display of skill. The " shooting irons," provided by the spirited proprietor, consists of two very hnndsome little Schneider rifles. The tnnnel was made by Mr Graham. It seems that the Pacific Railroad, now approaching completion, is something more than a , gigantic enterprise. It is also a stupendous job. j The eastern division of it is being constructed by ( seventy persons, constituting what is known as | the " Pacific Eailroad Ring." Its cost will not exceed £20,000,000 sterling, but the stock and bonds issued by the Ring will represent £64,000,000 sterling, and the passenger and goods traffic rates will be so adjusted as to pay a dividend of ten per cent, upon a capital upwards of two- thirds of which is fictitious ; while the company— or, in other words, the " ring" — receives a subsidy of £6000 a mile from the Government, besides a land grant of 12,800 acres a mile to say nothing of donations of real estate from the cities it passes, or of the million of dollars which are earned upon such sections of the line as are already opened, and which are applied for purposes of construction. What is the nature of this ring ? It is thus described in the last number of the ' North American Review' : — "The members of it are in Congress; they are the trustees for the bond-holders, they are stock-holders, they are contractors. In Washington they vote the subsidies, in New York they receive them, upon the plains they expend them, and on the Credit Mobilier they divide them. Ever shifting characters, they ar« ever übiquitous — now engineering a bill, and now a bridge — they receive money into one hand as a corporation, and pay it into the other as a contractor." When we come to investigate the origin of this " ring," we find it to have taken its rise in fraud and felony. Such, at least, is the account given of it by tho ablest and most | high-toned publication in the United States. " The paternity of this institution," observes the ' Review* just quoted from, " is currently supposed to be between General Duff Green and the irrepressible George Francis Train ; or rather to speak more exactly, some intelligent broker is supposed to have stolen from Green the charter under which the association was organised, and Train applied the stolen property to the purposes of Pacific railroad construction." Of all the " rings" which have been organised in the TTnitsd States for the spoliation of the public or the robbery of the revenue, the Pacific railroad " riag" appears to be the most ingenious, the most comprehensive, and the most efficient in its operations." As stockholders they own tho road, as mortgagees they have a lien upon it, as directors they contract for its construction, and as members of the Credit Mobilier they build it." As these seventy men will share among them upwards of £40,000,000 sterling the proceeds of bonds issued over and above tho sum actually disbursed or required for the construction of the line, they will eventually become one of the richest corporations in the world, and as the ' North American Review' justly remarks, "will surely hereafter constitute a source of corruption in the politics of the land, and a resistless power in its legislature." By the arrival of the Ida, form the South Sea Islands, at Sydney, the Polynesia Company have received despatches from Fiji up to the Ist April, containing reports from their agents, and the various island authorities, which, we understand, are satisfactory. The Alfred, the first of the Polynesia Line of Packets from Melbourne, arrived at Levuka, Ovalau, Fiji, on the 6th of March. The Polynesia Company's representatives were well received, and it is satisfactory to know that the difficulties heretofore existing between the Company and the British Consul have been set at rest by this timely arrival. King Thakombau is said to have been busily engaged clearing the lands of the Polynesia Company from native occupation, preparatory to its being taken up by the settlers of the Company. Mr Glenny, the Polynesia Company's representative, had visited King Thakombau at Bau, and was about to commence the surrey of the Compaay's property at Soya. He had not been able, however, to settle the shareholders of the company who held land warrants, by, reason of the time required in marking the boundaries. "It ii not often," says t^e ' Daylesford Mercury,' that we hear in this colony of a duel, but one was actually fought last Wednesday evening, at Wood's saw -mills, by two men named Charles Randall and John Broughton. Being both enamoured with the same lady fair, a quarrel arose, which it was resolvod to settle by moonlight, Messrs Jones and Phillips, Mr Wood's clerks, finding the foolish fellows determined to settle the dispute by an appeal to arms, agreed to act seconds. The belligerents were accordingly placed twelve paces apart, on an immense heap of sawdust, and care having been taken that the barrels should be leadless, the weapons were discharged. As neither was wounded, the duelists insisted upon a second and i third shot at each other. Previous to handing the pistols back for the last fire they were both loaded with red curraut jam, and some of the spectators seeing one of the combatants apparently bleeding from the forehead, exclaimed ' He's hit.' The wounded man, however declared he did not mind the injury, and would have insisted on a fourth shot, had not the seconds declared the ' honor' of both satisfied. Two holes had also been secretly bored through the hat of the other fire-eater, and for some time he believed that he hal a very narrow escape. Both men engaged iv the affair were all seriousness, and neither fliuched in the slightest degree. It was only after the hoax was fairly over they were made aware of the practicai joke that had been played at their expense." The following paragraph from the " Thames Advertiser," shows how great is the yuild of some of the claims on that field : — The rich yield of gold from this claim has for a long time been of

such an extent as to almost rival Hunt's in richness. The dividends have been m-ignificent a,ud frequent. It was but a fow days ago we informed our readers that £700 per share had been paid as the resalt of less, than tlv cc week's work ; and on Thursday, at a meeting of shareholders, a further dividend 6f £600 per share was declared. Our readers will not be surprised at those figures when we infornuthem of the result of a crushing at GoodalPs machine this week for the Golden Crown. One battery of five stampers engaged on the ordinary stone yielded 161 b weight of retorted gold up to Thursday. . The singlestamper crushed a parcel of six bags specimens with the following return: — First retort, 221 b weight of gold ; Becoud 14-ilb ; third 141 b. Since theu 241 bof amalgam had accumulated, and the tailings were in process of manipulation, from which the manager of the battery expected a return of 2oz to the ton. The return from this battery alone during the week amounts to between 60lb and 751 bof retorted gold : and we ] understand that the yield from this claim dnring | the last fortnight has reached something over j I7ooozs. The " Southern Cross " of the Bth 1 instant adds : — Yesterday the John Perm brought up from the Thames 3000 ounces of gold for deposit ii the Union Bank of Australia, being a number of parcels from crushings of various claims. We notice that the export of gold for the past month from the Thames has been 23,6220z3., of the value of £2 12s per oz., of £62,004 15s. The duty realise Iby the Government on this export is nearly £300 J. A late ' Argui' says : — Some time ago we copied from the ' Leeds Mercury 1 a statement with respect to the claimant of the lichborne estates, which certainty w.is not complimentary to him and his pretentions. We take from the same journal, however, the following contradictiou signed by Mr S. Harwood, of Leamington : — " I am astonished to see an extraordinary report, relative to the Tichborne case, in the ' Mercury.' It alleges that a brother of Sir Roger Tichborne has made some revelation to damage the baronet, and the rightful owner to his estates. I know him full well, and was with him to the eve of his sailing for South America in September to establish his interests in his property. I a:n a^ satisfied of his identity as I am of my own existence. No impostor would or could be recognised as he has been by every gentleman of Hampshire by every tenant of the Tichborne estates in existence fourteen years ago, when he first went abroad. He has no brother; his last surviving brother died two years since. Pray send me the paper containing the unfounded" and mischievous statement. I hope you will be now able to peremptorily contradict it." The Canterbury ' Provincial Gazette,' of the 2lst ult., contains the traffic returns for April. On the Lyttelton and Christcliurch line, the total amount received was £2698 3s 4d, as compared with £2780 9i 2d during the corresponding month last year. The number of passengers carried during the month was 20,163 ; the quantity of merchandise was 818 i tons, as compared with 1648 for the same month of last year; the quantity of grain carried was 74,712 bushels, compared with 140,275 bushels for the same m»nth of last year. The revenue of the Great South line for the month was £1482 2s, as compared with £1514 2s 3d for the corresponding month of last year. The grain carried amounted to 86,801 bushels, as compared with 142,433 bushels for the corresponding month of last year. ■

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST18690602.2.7

Bibliographic details
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Southland Times, Issue 1169, 2 June 1869, Page 2

Word count
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2,615

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1869. Southland Times, Issue 1169, 2 June 1869, Page 2

The Southland Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1869. Southland Times, Issue 1169, 2 June 1869, Page 2

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