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Southland Times, Issue 1170, 24 November 1869, Page 2

The sailing of the Phoebe is postponed for an hour. She will therefore leave the Bluff to-day at half-past four.

The first of the open-air parades of the Invercargill Rifle Volunteers took place on the cricket ground on Friday evening last. The corps, under the command of Captain Harvey and Lieutenant G-iesow, went through a number of field evolutions. Previous to being dismissed, the commanding officer intimated to the company i his hope of a good attendance during the summer | months ; he would like to instruct them in battallion movements, but this could only be properly executed by a punctual attendance. The usual , monthly inspection of arms would be on the last Friday of the month. The ITatal Herald, alluding to the departure of a prospecting party, saya : — " Stalwart of frame and staunch of heart, those hardy Australians have gone forth upon their weary tramp to the far interior — those vast mysterious regions from which, ever and anon, age after age, vague rumors of golden stores have reached the outside world, It was, indeed, a spectacle to view those bronzed herculean explorers as they left our town. ' Bearded as parda, swearing strange oaths,' sunburnt and hardened by many a year of exposure and toil at ther wild, free and adventurous life j their sturdy limbs bespoke the enduring power, and the determined expresion of their swarthy features indicated the indomitable will, to execute the purpose *for which, to the number of thirty-five, they have departed. Such men as these have made the great Australian colonies what they are. Melbourne, twenty years ago, was but a dull, wretchedly forlorn abode like this, with scarce over 15,000 inhabitants. All its future greatness, all the vast commercial and industrial development of the country followed, as if by magic, the progress of the gold discoveries ; and such will surely be the case in Natal, should our prospectors be successful. Black, at first, and two New Zealanders — Dal ton and Jame3 — have come upon deep drives and shafts, and though none of these have yet been bottomed through the debris filling them, it is stated by the last report from there that, ' the deeper they go, the quartz, if anything, gets a little richer.' One of our firms (and a young one, too) transported thirteen diggers with all their tools, bedding, &c, to the Umzinto, free of charge." There is a very pretty quarrel now raging in America between the line and staff corps of the navy ; and a surgeon has published a volume of 240 pages in which the grievances of the staff are fully set forth. It is shown that, by a recent order adjusting the relative ranks of the staff and line, the former have heenmost unjustly degraded, the medical officers who served in the Mexican war being ranked with boys who entered the navy in 1861-62. The manufacture of tapioca has been commenced at the Fijis, where it is expected to became an important article of export. G-ood accounts have been received from the Fijia regarding the cotton crop, the planters being sanguine of retrieving their last year's 108868. The American whalers in the Group have also done exceedingly well ; so much 80 indeed, that the Fiji Times expresses its surprise that the merchants of Sydney and New Zealand do not make an effort to share their good fortune. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times compiles from the New Zealand Gazette the quantity of flax exported from the yarious ports of the colony, from June 30th, 1867, till the same period in 1869, as follows -.—Auckland, 1004, 19-20 th tons, valued at £17,809; Wanganui,' 1 do, £25; Wellington, 10 do, £255; Lyttelton.J 232* do, £4734 ; Duneiin, 178* do, £3913 ; Invercargill, 12* do, £366 ; Bluff Harbor, 8* do, j £262 ; giving a total for the time named of over 1447 tons, of the value of £27,364.

The Sruc* Sera 1 A says :— " We have no % doubt the prisoners in Pune-Un Gaol have hatted with delight the advent of their Maori brethren among them. It is well-known that, hitherto, prisoners have been denied the use of tobacco, but it having been deemed advisable to allow this luxury to the new arrivals, the same indulgence has been extended to the European prisoners.

The Dunttan Time* oi the 12th inst.,- gives the number of men engaged on the Bendigo Gully quartz reefs at about three hundred, and «aya that " quite a township is springing up in the vicinity of Colclough*s reef and close to Beer's hotel and store. There are hotels, stores, butchers, in fact buildings for every branch of trade to supply the wants of the miners in course of erection. In the deep sinking there are now three shafts bottoming in the lead, and the whole of them with excellent prospects."

We fOtago Daily Time*) understand that, at a recent meeting of the Executive, votes of various small sums, from £50 to £150, were passed in favor of the following gentlemen, for the purpose of prospecting for gold : — Mr Ash« croft, M.P.C., Mr J. L. Gillies, M.P.C. Mr J. O. Brown, M.P.C., and Mr Seaton, M.P.C. It is singular that the recipients of these stimulants should be members of the Provincial Council.

We recently announced that far the present the negotiations, with regard to the construction of the Nelson and Cobden Railway had been broken off. Since then the General Government has taken an interest in the matter, and has addressed tne following letter to the Superintendent of Nelson : — " Sir, — The Government hare observed with regret a statement in the Nelson newspaper* to the effect that the negotiations for the construction of the Nelson and West- Coast Railway, authorised by the Provincial Council of Nelson to be entered upon in England, have not been successful. It has occurred to the Colonial Government that the Commissioners who are about to be sent to England on behalf of the Colony, may be in a position to assist in promoting your railway. Recognising, as the Colonial Government do, its importance, both from a Provincial and also a Colonial point of view, the Government have great pleasure in offering to instruct the Commissioners, should you desire it, to ascertain whether anything could, be done in the matter. Should difficulties exist at present* it is probable that the Commissioners may be able to come to some arrangement by which, with the approval and aid of the General Assembly, such difficulties may be overcame. I have, Ac., W. Gisboenb." ' ' . ,

The reported discovery of a rich quarts reef hear Palmerston is thus referred to by the Oamaru Times: — Information reached us just before going to prests that a reef of quartz richly impregnated with gold was discovered daring the past week on Meadowbank, in, the occupation of the Hon. Dillon Bell, and the property of Mrs Eccles. The discoverer was Mr Harvey,' manager for Mr Bell, by whom the reef is described as 10ft thick. Gold is risible in, every portion of the stone. Specimens hare been sent to Dunedin, and persona acquainted with quart* reefing pronounce them to be equal. to anything obtained in Victoria. From what we can hear this discovery is only second in importance to that of the Crotn- • well reefs, and must give a great impetus to the progress of the Palmerston district, provided the lessee will permit the reef to be worked.' ; It is to be regretted that at the time of the discovery Mr Bell was just taking his departure for England, as without his consent there will be difficulty experienced in finding parties willing to invest money in developing the reef, seeing that they have no right of entry without permission of tha; ( i-ssee. Discoveries of gold multiplying have ' resulted in a strong faith in the future of Otago, as is evidenced by the fact that at the Government sale on Thursday last, of suburban lands in the neighborhood of Palmerston, land sold at as much as £13 13s per acre ; and we are told that the average price realised was nearly £8 per acre. Captain Carinichael, of the brigantine Hannah Broomfielcl, which arrived at Auckland a . few,-: days ago, from New Caledonia and Norfolk Island, informs the Southern Cross that, previous to hi 9 departure for Auckland, he fitted out a 7 prospecting party to search for gold in New, Caledonia, the French Government having given i them every encouragement and protection. In the event of their finding an auriferous reef, they are to have two miles on the supposed line. Captain Carmichael feels sanguine of success, and it is his intention to purchase the Hannah Broomfield to assist hi n in his search for the | precious metal. A brutal murder of a wife by her husband is reported from Lyttelton. The accused U a man named John Smyth, landlord of the Railway Hotel at that place. An inquest was held on the body of the murdered woman on Wednesday and Thursday last, and disclosed the most horrible ' cruelty. A Canterbury contemporary states that the body was one mass of bruises, with I wounds in the head. Tne woman had been sat upon, thrown down and stamped on the throat with heavy boots, and also bound hand and foot so tight that the cords almost cut into the flesh. She' had been gagged and dragged by the hair of her head — all ending in death. The cause of this act appears to have been, that the wife suspected the husband of unfaithfulness, and in consequence took to drink. One witness stated • | that he had known her for two years and a half, but had never seen her sober. Her husband had been repeatedly heard to threaten her, saying he, would " cure her or kill her," and the latter alternative he seems to have at length put into j effect. A man named Godfrey, cook at the same hotel, was arrested at the same time as his master for being accessory to the crime, but at the close of the inquest he was acquitted of the charge against him. The Coroner's jury, after a quarter of an hour's deliberation, returned a verdict of " wilful murder" against Smyth, who ' was then committed for trial. I The Otago Daily Time* of the 17th inst. Ba y ß ._A special meeting of the Provincial Council is to be convened on Wednesday, the Bth December next, at noon. The principal subject for its deliberation will be the Clutha Railway. We understand that some difference of opinion exists between His Honor and the Executive, with reference to certain proposals for the construction of the railway received from a local firm. t - ?; ' : ' 1 The Tararua made her last passage up to Melbourne from Wellington, including detention at Hokitika, in 6 days and 5 hours.