The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1241, 29 April 1870, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 1870.

The committee of the Acclimatisation Society held a meeting on the forenoon of Friday last, 22nd inst. There were present — ;Messrs Gilmour (in the chair), M' Arthur, Shearer, Conyers, His Honor the Superintendent, and Butts (hon. sec.) Minutes of former meeting having been read and confirmed, the secretary intimated that he had forwarded £7 each to the Canterbury and Auckland societies for a supply of pheasants. About a dozen small packeta of Californian tree seeds, kindly supplied by the Otago Society, were on the table. It was agreed to distribute them to persons willing to undertake their cultivation, but in the meantime they are to be retained until the opinion of Dr Mueller, of the Melbourne Botanical gardens, be had as to the proper method of planting them, what soils would be adapted to their growth, and. whether they would bear removal after attaining some size. The meeting approved of the secretary's having written thanking the Otago committee for the seeds. Messrs Fielder, Conyers, M' Arthur, Gilmour, and Butts were appointed a committee to consider the best means of" populariz ing the Society and increasing its resources, and to report at a subsequent meeting. The general meeting of members having lapsed on the previous evening through non-attendance, it was arranged to call another in a fortnight. Notice was given of one or two proposed alterations in the rules, and it was announced that the six members of committee who should retire this year, in accordance with the rules, were Messrs' Menzies, Taylor, Wood, M'Arthur, Butts, and Crouch, who would, however, be eligible for re-election. The Cromwell Guardian publishes the following'communication from Alexandra: — The town has of late undergone a vast improvement by the erection of some really creditable buildings. In particular, the residence of our worthy Mayor, Mr Robert Findlay, is deserving of special note. Both as regards architectural design and stability it will compare favorably with any similar erection in the Province. Judging from the outward appearance it presents, the fact would hardly be credited that it is composed of stuff excavated from the ground on which it stands. By the ingenious application of soraelkind of composition, our townsman, Mr'M'Ewan, has succeeded in producing a building material which combines the strength of granite with the smooth surface of marble. The following are a few of ite peculiarities :— By exposure it becomes hard enough to resist impressions dealt by the blow of a sledge hammer. It likewise -bids defiance to the weather, either hot or cold. Another great advantage it commands over ordinary building material is its fire-resisting qualities, so that all will admit that it deserves to obtain a place, however humble, amongst the scientific attainments of the day. There is now on view (says the Daily Times) at the' shop of Mr Hißlop, jeweller, Princes street, a presentation made by residents in Southland to Mr T. K. Weldon, the Commissioner of Police. It is a clock with a case of solid black marble inlaid with green marble, 23 inches in height and 20 inches wide at the base, and has a remarkably neat appearance: A silver plate let into the case bears the following inscription :— " Presented to T.-K. Weldon, Esq., Commissioner of Police, Southland, on the occasion of his leaving the province for Otago, as a token of the esteem he has gained during his 7 years' residence in the province, as an efficient public officer and a gentleman." • The Cromwell Coal Pit has been disposed of at auction for the sum of £710, Mr James Nicholas Ireing the purchaser. The Wellington Independent of the 19th inst. says : — Kemp's Wangahuis yesterday afternoon performed a war dance 'at the Mount Cook barracks. About 150 warriors, stripped to the kilt, and got up in the most approved war fashion, were-the performers, and the audience consisted of a large number of ladies and gentlemen. The dance was decidedly the best done thing of the kind •which has been seen in Wellington for a long time past, and it was entirely free from the highly objectionable features which too often characterise performances of this kind. At a given signal, the performers, each fully armed, rushed from the barracthouseo. and in serried order, rushed towards the spectators, many of the ladies becoming apparently rather frightened at their approach. The same manoeuvre was repeated several -times, and then the extraordinary gesticulations of the war dance were begun and kept up in wonderful time for a long period. Altogether the exhibition was one well worth I seeing, and it seemed to be heartily enjoyed by those present. That .usually querulous journal, the Southland News, has for some time past been showing other signs of decaying vitality. The latest development is a peculiar fondness for retailing weak jokes and stale news. As an instance of the latter, we would just refer to its issue of the 20th April, wherein a telegram is published, duly heralded " from our own correspondent " at HoMtika, bearing date the 19th of March, 0.50 p.m.! "One month for a telegraphic message to come from Hokitika ! This is altogether too bad. It would seem as if the correspondent in question had, been having a joke at the expense of our too-confiding contemporary, from his attempt to make the poor old News appear to be so far behind the times. Another instance occurs in Wednesday's paper, when our . ancient friend gravely informs his readers that the rich finds of gold at the Nevis turn out to be " what is termed, in digger's phraseology, { a patch!'" Seeing that the full particulars of the "find," and its patchy nature, were made public more than a week previously, this tendency of the paper in question seems to have become chronic, and it must have the effect of causing a sudden falling off in our friend's list of patrons. Our contemporary seems to have a peculiar affection for the " stiffish paper" issued, for some tim a from this office, and makes a most considerate offer to his friends in this frosty weather. As our "exchanges" must have been terribly mutilated by the ; application of our contemporary's scissors, we fear that they would be. rejected as being too " airy" for forming under-coverlets j in which case, in order that his -philanthrophic desire may not be thwarted, and as we have still a supply on hand, we will freely allow him to purchase at a reasonable rate, for cash, whatever quantity may be required. Moral — " Those who live in glass houses should never be the first to cast stones."

The Auckland Weekly Herald is greatly pleased to hear that the lease for twenty one years of a piece of land at Mechanics' Bay, has been promised by his Honor the Superintendent as a site for a woollen manufactory ; and that the projector has written by the Wonga Wonga, to America, for the plant, which is expected to be in full working order by the end of the year. The Timaru Herald reports very satisfactory results of boiling down sheep. Of 5000, 2500 were old ewes, which yielded thirteen pounds of tallow each, besides* the .skin ; 1500 v wethers produced seventeen pounds of tallow per head, and a lot of half-breds gave twenty-two pounds each. Chinese grass, the commercial value of which for mixing with silk, is- £80 per ton, haß been "experimentally introduced in Victoria. In California, attention is being directed to the cultivation of a species of thistle called the Ramie, which is a more valuable product than cotton. It is considered suitable for New Zealand. The stajlings (says the Oamaru Times) are likely to be a great acquisition to the farmers. A couple who have young under the roof of our office are continually carrying insects and grubs to their clamorous brood ; the old birds making at least 30 strips an hour, each time with insect food. . The case, Birchall v. Forde, referred to in our last, was for the recovery of £3 10s, for service of two mares by thehorse of plaintiff. The-cor-rectness of the claim was not disputed, but payment of portion was refused on the ground that a guarantee had been given in the case of one of the mares, for which the charge was £2 10s, the other £1 defendant said he was quite willing to pay now. Mr- Birchall stated in his evidence that it was customary in the district for all moneys for the service, of entires to be paid within the advertised time, no exception being made in cases where guarantees had been given ; the understanding between the parties being simply that the money should be refunded in case the mare had no foaL Defendant denied knowledge of any such custom, and declined to pay nntil satisfied that the mare guaranteed was in foal. His Worship said there was no guarantee in the case, unless on the assumption that payment was not to be made until the conditions were fulfilled ; that, in fact, no money was due until the mare was shown to be in foal. He referred to the fact that owners of. sire, horses were frequently mere visitors to a district, and were prepayment obligatory, except by special agreement, they might give any number of guarantees, get their money, and go, leaving the other parties, who were generally fixed residents, no redress. Judgment would be for the £1, plaintiff to pay costs. ._ . . - The Westport Times says that a shoe-black " most religiously" prosecutes his vocation there every Sunday morning. The Secretary of the Nelson Acclimatisation Society has made an arrangement to obtain from Melbourne twenty brace of hares. The short voyage of a week between the two ports via the West Coast, will warrant the expectation that the animals, with ordinary care, will reach Nelson safely ; and with such a number to breed from, the whole province may very-quickly be stocked; The Moke Creek copper lode has recently attracted the attention of different parties, and has been visited by them. The Wakatip Mail believes that one party, the representative of a company, thinks very well of the prospect, . and hopes to see so valuable a resource worked one of these days. Wo less than three feet of show" feTTat Pern. broke, Lake Wanaka, a few days ago, but was speedily melted away by the warm weather which succeeded the snowstorm. • ■."■■' A flax-mill will shortly be erected at Mokareta, Mataura, by Mr James Maben. ' During the month of March, a quarter of a million bushels of grain have passed over the railway into Lyttelton for shipment to England and the neighboring colonies. Even at the present extremely low prices, this represents, a value of about £35,000. Unless the weather seriously interferes with the traffic, it is expected that the present rate of transport on the railway will continue for the next two months. There is some, chance yet (says the Tuapeka Times of the 21st inst.) of the Clutha railway being carried out on the Government guarantee. We are informed that a letter was found amongst the papers of the late Mr Paterson, engineer, containing the tender of a . capitalist, who was prepared to undertake the work on the terms offered by the Government. Mr Paterson's untimely aud accidental death just happening at the time, accounts for the tender not having been, lodged. We learn this tender is likely to come under the consideration of the Provincial Council. The Kakanui correspondent of the Otago Times mentions that a small lot of about 200 broken-mouthed ewes which had been running on Mr Reid's land at Ellerslie, near Oamaru, were boiled down at the New Zealand Meat Preserving- Company's place the other day, and realised 16 Jibs of tallow per head. Some old ewes boiled down by Mr Teschemaker, from the station at Otematataj and in very poor condition, having travelled over sixty miles, only realised per head. A course of public lectures " or something of that sort," has often been stated a most desirable means of " winter evening recreation," and the want thereof frequently deplored aar an unmistakeable evidence of excessive ".dearth of talent " in town. Happily the stigma will no longer attach, for, it will be observed by : advertisement, arrangements have been made by the local "Mutual Improvement Society" to supply the "great want." - Five lectures, by gentlemen whose platform qualifications need not now to be eulogised, on topics which should furnish the desired constituents of a profitable evening's entertainment — instruction and amusement — are already announced, while a sixth — the second-by Mr Calder, is also promised, although the subject has .not yet been given. Under these circumstances it is unnecessary, we should think, to bespeak popular support for the lectures. The charge for admission has been made so 'moderate that none need be excluded. The first, by Mr Stobo, takes place on Monday evening in the Presbyterian Church. ...... ..._ _......_„._ Mr Ludlam, the celebrated flockmaster in the Hutt, recently sent 320 sheep to" Major Edwards' boiling-down establishment at Porirua. Their average weight was 1401bs ; one stag ram weighed the enormous amount of 1881bs. The result of the boiling, in this case, was a net price of 25s for every sheep.

The losses from bad weather in harvesting I crops, and the poor prices, coupled with the lowprices for fat cattle (says the Bruce Standard), induce our settlers to ask what kind of farming will pay ? There is still a good demand for cheese, and we feel persuaded if attention was given to produce a good article, that this, branch of farming would be found comparatively profitable. There seems small reason to hope that' there will be any great rise in the price of beef, ■ so as to encourage our farmers^to; cultivate crops j for feeding purposes. Under the presenfcfiiroumstances, it become^ -all the more necessary that greater attention be given to the breeding of only the better kinds of * cattle. The same quantity of land required to keep one bullock of akbad breed, ever hungry, and. ever lanky and lean, .-will snpport two of a good kind, having 1 fattening propensities. We take the following from the Otago Times of the 21st inst. Our contemporary has fallen , into a slight error in .connecting the settlers of Wintonwith the petition referred > to. „ We presume that the document in question was got up by those in the ' Wyndham ' district -.—Yesterday afternoon, a deputation, consisting of Messrs Driver, Brunton, and Douglas, waited upon his Honor the Superintendent for the purpose of presenting a petition from the settlers in the Winton district, praying for the construction of a bridge over the Mataura, at Menzies's Ferry. His Honor said the subject of the petition was bronght under his notice by Mr Brunton, so far back as November last. He had mentioned it to the Executive, and a sum for the work would probably be placed on the Estimates. Mr Driver said it was calculated the bridge would cost from • £2500 to £3000. His Honor remarked that the estimate in possession of the Government was £2500. Mr Brunton observed that since he had sent in this estimate, a higher flood than had ever been previously known had- occurred, and in order to prevent the bridge being injured by the recurrence of such a flood, it would be better to expend another £500. upon it. His Honor said the only question in his mind was whether the district would not be more benefited if the £3000 were expended in rendering the river navigable, so that a small steamer could go up to the town. Mr Driver questioned- if there was sufficient trade to support a small Bteamer. ■ Mr" Douglas remarked that the bridge would tend to develope the resources of the district by opening up communication between the two banks of the river. After some further conversation, the deputation thanked his Honor and withdrew. -A correspondent of th» Sydney Morning Herald, who has made the passage to England via Brindisi, has furnished that journal with some, interesting- particulars relative to a certain part of the cargo from Suez to Italy. He . cays: — "There are 600 cases of silkworms' eggs, each weighing about 1001 b. The eggs are on cards,. 10,000 on each, and there are 200 cards an each case — the germs' of 4,000,000, or in all 2,040,000,000 caterpillars to regenerate and supply the failing or perished stocks of France and Italy, Japan being the source of supply. This consignment was worth about £60,000. The total amount paid by Europe for eggs to Japan, where a healthy variety exists, was £800,000 in 1869!"