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Southland Times, Issue 1233, 5 April 1870, Page 2

Thursday first, being the Presbyterian fast day, .will be observed as a holidaj. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday, Ist., a suit involving £260 6s was heard by consent of parties. The amount was stated by the plaintiffs, Calder, Blacklock and Co., as balance of account current, and was admitted by defendant, W.-f. J. Edwards, Felhnonger. Judgment was accordingly given for plaintiff's, with coats. On Mqnday, two inebriates were mulct in sundry penalies for offences committed the previous day. > One was fined 10s for drunkenness, 20s for riding on the gratings, and 40s for assaulting the arresting" constable, in default twelve days' imprisonment. ; The '"other unfortunate, who seemed much ashamed of his plight, and who had been remarkably docile in his cups, was fined 5s for being drunk, and 20s for riding on the footpath. A civil case, Reese v. Robson, for £2 19s 6d, was given for plaintiff with costs. Mr J. C. Pownall, proprietor of the Manawatu flax mills in the Wellington province, writes a long letter to Messrs Johnston and Co., of Wellington, on the alleged liability of flax to spontaneous combustion. The letter has been' published, and the following is an extract from it : — I shall conclude with the description of a practical test upon a bale of flax at this mill, and a few observations upon a very important point —coloring matter. A bale of flax was put up in our hydraulic press, purposely damp, so much so, that you could feel the moisture freely through it It was then stowed away for three summer months amidst 100 other bales, opened in the presence of Mr Collins, our manager (who agrees vith me, and like myself has had great experience, having been for many years with Messrs Noble and Co., London), and many others. It was found as cool as if packed in an ice-house ; the damp still there, the fibre positively improved from its extreme glassy appearance. Flax Inspectors and others should Dot be led away by appearances to condemn fibre from its bluey-green. It is green to the eye only. If fibre is dried artificially after coming from the machines, it will surely dry a pale green j or again, if dried upon wires, and not turned upon them, the surface exposed to the sun's rays and thje chlorine of the atmosphere, will be white or nearly bo, the under part, though equally dry, will be green. Thus the color is set or dyed into it, and is afterwards very difficult of removal. Witness the Russian hemp, nearly all green from the coldness of that climate ; and lastly, I trust that those gentlemen who do inspect the flax for shipping will not confound the cool and fresh feel of it with imaginary dampness, for in that condition only is the flax in the proper state for shipment. The Wakatip Mail, concluding an article on the Fox Ministry, says : — The money is gone — the Colony is bankrupt ! Ministers have sued at the Jhrone of British grace, and found Lord Ghranville inexorable. Why, Messrs Fox, Yogel, and M'Lean, could you not let the burden rest upon other shoulders able to bear it ? You have completely changed -a policy, and however anxious to give you credit for your good in"teritibns, we now assert you have not fulfilled your pretentions, or done the Colony the good you promised. We will deal more in detail hereafter ; in the meantime Cromwell's edict is applicable — "You are no Parliament! Begone! give way to honester men!" A point of some interest was decided yesterday (says the West Coast Times) by the Resident Magistrate, on an application of Mr. Harry Mace, ?of the firm of Mace and Dixon. It seems that a few weeks since Mr Mace became bail for a person who had been ordered by the Bench to find sureties of the peace for six months. Until very lately everything went smoothly, but on Saturday the principal party to the bond began to show decided symptoms of a relapse into evil, not to say violent, courses. Mr Mace applied, therefore, to be released from his engagement, alleging as a reason that he feared that at any moment he might be called on to stump up the amount in which he was held bound. The magistrate told him that he did not think the Bench had any , power to release him, and on reference to an authority, informed the applicant that even in case of the death of the latter it was very doubtful whether the matter would be comfortably ended, for it seemed that until the term of the bond expired, the executors of the surety would, in like manner and amount, be bound ! Mr Mace thought this climax rather too cruel, and expressed himself to the effect that some time would probably elapse before he put himself in a like fix. Solomon, when he wrote, "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it," may have had a prophetic eye on the British Constitution and the New Zealand Justice of the Peace Act. It will be observed (says the Bruce Herald) from the letter of our Balclutha correspondent, that Mr Dawbin, who accompanied the salmon ova from Britain, and has since been in charge of the Waiwera salmon ponds, has now left this province for Victoria. We are therefore led to presume that the Provincial Government have no immediate intention of further prosecuting the salmon acclimatisation experiment for the present. John Oreagh, solicitor, Dunedin, a young man in the employment of Mr G-eorge Cook, was on the 28th ult. brought up in custody on the charge of embezzling, on or about the Bth June last, the sum of £114 Is, received from a Mr G-eorge Frier. He has been committed to take bis trial at the Supreme Court. . The strike at the Hogburn is now altogether at an end, the miners on Surface Hill having resumed work. The price charged for water in that ilocality is 50s, and in the other portions of the district 40s per Hogburn head.

A pair of starlings are now busy building their nest behind the sign-board of the Oamaru Time* Office. Mr John Graham announces in the Otago Daily Times that he is a candidate for the representation of Caversham in the General Assembly, in the following characteristic mannnr: — " (Jentlemen, I intend to solicit your suffrages at the coming election. lam opposed to the Hundreds Act, will not get drank, nor sell my constituents for a place in the Yogel Ministry." ~ '. The New Zealand Gazette of the 23rd inst. contains the following notifications : — Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to issue the final authority for the appointment of Colonel Whitmore to be a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. — Her Majesty has . also approved of the retention, within New Zealand, of the title of Honorable by the members of the late Ministry, viz., Messrs E. W. Stafford, W. Fitzherbert, J. Hall, J. 0. Richmond, and Colonel T. M. Haultain. In his despatch announcing Her Majesty's pleasure on I this point, Earl Granville says :— " In conveying ' Her Majostvfs decision, 1 have much pleasure in placing on record my appreciation of the services rendered to the colony by Mr Stafford during a. long and distinguished political career ; and by Mr Fitzherbert, in the able and judicious conduct of his recent negotiations with the Government of this country, respecting the adjustment; of the Imperial and Colonial claims arising out of the war in New Zealand." , An English paper says :— " The troops now stationed in British North America will be withdrawn during the present year. At Halifax alone a garrison will be retained at Imperial cost. A. proposal has, however, been sent to all the Colonies to allow Imperial troops to remain in each, provided all the' contingent expenses are defrayed by the Colonial Exchequer." Among the cargo of the ship City of Auckland, which sailed from Auckland for London a few days ago, were several ton 9of quartz and tailings. These are to be tested in England for the purpose of ascertaining as exactly as possible the value of the quartz, as well as the character of the machinery in use at the Thames. The result of the experiment is awaited with considerable interest both in Auckland and at the Thames. A singular accident (says the Oamaru Times) happene} to a hawker named Heelee last Wednesday night. He had left his waggon, loaded with drapery and clothing, standing outside some building 3on Messrs Reii and Bathgate's premises, while ne went inside to ply his vocation. The vehicle was covered with a tarred cloth, and the lamps were burning. From some cause or other, the horse, which was tied to the wheel, became frightened, and overturned the waggon, which with its- contents was in a few moments in a blaze. Th<» progress of the fire was so rapid that little could be done to save the goods, first attention being directed to the _ removal of the blazing vehicle, which was within a few yards of a quantity of hay, whence, had it ignited, the fire must have spread to the buildings and done great damage. The greater part of the goods was destroyed, and the body of tha waggon burnt to a cinder. Unfortunately, too, a box, in which was a pocket-book containing some £48 in money, was also burnt, though as good part of the money was in the shape of cheques , the owner will be able to obtain repayment of the amounts represented. Mr Charles Hatfield, of the Royal Hotel, Wellington, in a letter to the Independent gives the following as a probable explanation of the recent discovery by Captain Beats on of the skeleton of a female and of the skull of a horse at the Auckland Islands : — " About six years since a ship named the Burmah sailed from London, bound for Lyttelton, containing a quantity of live stock, including some thoroughbred horses, under the charge of my brother. She was spoken by some New Zealand vessel within two days' sail oi her destined port, but was not afterwards heard of. Is it not possible she might have been driven on to the Auckland Isles, and that some of the crew and stock got on shore, where they eventually perished — first, perhaps, living upon the animal the skeleton of whose head has been discovered ?" It is said that when the King natives received intelligence of the departure of the last of the troops, they said it was now a case of " Maori against Maori." — With reference to this, the Auckland Evening Star remarks:— So far from the war being orer it has assumed a more hideous phase than ever. It is " Maoris against Maoris." Te Kooti is evidently bent on revenge against those natives who have fought on our side, and the massacre already heard of is, it must be feared, but the prelude to others. The Government are evidently unprepared for the grave crisis which has arisen, and, judging by the past, the colonists have no confidence in their ability to prove equal to the occasion. The prospect is indeed but a gloomy one. The Dvmstan Times of the 25th ulfc learns that a most cowardly assault was committed on a party of Chinese miners, at Moonlight Creek, in the Wakatip district, by a lot of Euopean ruffians, who not only Bet fire to one of their huts, but hurled down large masses of atone on to the roof of another. Several Chinamen were hurt— one severely. The poor celestials were too much frightened at the time to be able to identify their cowardly assailants. An old resident at the Arrow, writing to a friend in Queehstown from the Thame* goldfield, gives the following as his opinion of the native difficulty. After expressing his disappointment with the goldfields, the writer says :— " A matter that also disgusts me is the Maori fakement. Oh ! if some of your Otago Press gentlemen were bere for a few months, your eyeß would be opened; or, as the natives would say, "Sight has come to my eyes." Well, these savages are sucking this place to rights— miners' rights, licenses, land sales— all finds its way to the natives. And the wretches are actually laughing at us ! Separation is the only salvation of the South. Extermination or exclusion to a defiuite part of the Island of every native who will not recognise British rule and laws — whether Hauhaus or Friendlies — is the only remedy for the North ; and it must inevitably come. Our greatest curse, after all, is the Pakeha- Maori and Philo-MaorL These reptiles are the real bottom of cunning of the Maori. They initiate or sow the seeds of discontent, and ought to be transported the country and their estates confiscated. I say and believe that the whites who can speak Maori, and are interested with them, are our worst enemies ; and depend upon it the Maori War will be a millstone to our prosperity until we punish and destroy every rebel native or pakeha native. Notwithstanding all that is said to the contrary, there are men in Auckland, covertly assisting the King natives against the European to serve their own ends by obtaining land. It is notorious, and an easily-proven fact.' His Honor the Superintendent of Otago, in reply to a recent deputation which waited upon him, said the Government had r<ceived a letter from the Chief Secretary of Victoria, who had recommended a competent mining surveyor, and they were in correspondence to secure his services to report on the auriferous resources of that Province. _____^ «_m_