The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1870.

Southland Times, Issue 1273, 1 July 1870, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, JULY 1, 1870.

We hare to acknowledge receipt of a batch of parliamentary papers, as ■well as of the first number of Hdtuard for the session. The annual revision of the Wallace electoral roll took place last week. A preliminary Court was held at the Mataura Bridge on Monday, the 20 thy and attended by a considerable number of squatters and settlers. The proceedings were merely formal, and the Court was adjourned to Wednesday, the 22nd, at the Court House, Switeer's. On that day it was duly held by the Revising Officer (H. M'Culloch, Esq., R.M.), and attended by a large number of miners and others. Nearly 200 new claims were put in, and 130 objections lodged. Mr Gooday, solicitor, appeared for the claimants, and the Registration Officer (0. Rous Marten, Eb0,.,) in support of the objections. The proceedings lasted many hours, indeed until long after dark, very lengthy arguments taking place as to several of the names. Most of the claimants were Cross-examined by the Registration Officer, who elicited from one that he had bought his but for £1, and given it away gratis. He was expunged. The evidence was very voluminous, but generally to the point, and well given. Ultimately, 103 names were struck off the roll, and the other 27 allowed to remain on satisfactory proof being produced. The utmost order and good humor prevailed in spite of the large number of votes struck off. Two immense turnips have been " on view" at the shop door of Messrs Cooper and Co., seedsmen, during the past few days. They are both of the " Aberdeen yellow " variety, one a greentop, the other purple. The former weighs 33, and the latter 251bs, and both were grown in the West Waikivi district, by Messrs Knipe and Rankin respectively, and as we are assured they are only a little bulkier than the general average of the fields they represent, it is another proof of the powers of our soil with regard to the growth of root crops. Mr George Cotterell made his first .acquaintance with an Invercargill audience last evening. This gentleman has earned quite a colonial reputation in bis particular line within the past year or so, having commenced, we believe, his professional career in Nelson about that length of time ago. Since then, his reputation as a dramatist, humorist, improvisatore, mimic, delineator, musician, &c, has grown immensely, showing that he had precisely the kind of capital to start with in that business— undoubted talent and resource in himself. Although Mr Cotterell had not taken the precaution to herald, in flaming letters, his arrival a fortnight beforehand, as is the custom nowadays with "artists" doing the provinces, he was greeted on his first appearance by a good house. His entertainment is of that class aptly termed " Drawing-room," and i 3 entitled " Table talk and unframed pictures." The programme embraced some score or so of characters widely different, and yet, bo versatile are the actor's talents, each was pourtrayed with remarkable fidelity to the ideal, and with a care and minuteness which betokened either great study, or wonderful facility of comprehension and expression on the part of the performei I—probably1 — probably a combination of the whole. It would take a large space to describe all the meritorious portions of the entertainment, or the rapidity with which one impersonation gave place to another. Indeed, Mr Cotterell's power of changing in a second his entire identity, face, voirej «md person, is something marvellous, andmtltb seen to be realisod. The performance, with conic variation of programme, is to be repeated to-night and on Monday evening. "Wanted a Deputy Superintendent. Necessary qualification — a sufficient amount of patriotism to discharge the onerous duties of the office free, gratis, and for nothing." The difficulty of finding a candidate willing to " take it at that," says rumor, is the cause of the delay in the departure of His Honor of Southland to attend his legislative duties in "Wellington. Will nobody volunteer to accept the Aonorable position? The New Caledonian Moniteur states that Mr Cruickshank has been appointed British ViceConsul in that island, with special instructions with regard to the 80-called immigrants from others of the Pacifio Islands to Fiji, and other fields of labor. In his letter of instructions, Earl Clarendon writes thus to Mr Cruickshank : — A serious question has also arisen in regard to ' operations undertaken in the Pacific Islands for procuring immigrants to be conveyed to other quarters, such, for instance, as the Fiji Islands ; and from the information which has reached this country it is evident that, owing to the unscrupulous conduct of persons engaged in such operations, and to the absence of any effective control, proceedings have been set on foot on an increasing scale, which has given to the operations in question a character differing but little from that of a slave trade. The attention of Her Majesty's Government has, in consequence, been given to the subject, and the British, Colonial, and naval authorities have been instructed to use their beßt endeavors to watch the proceedings, and to check and punish illegal enterprises. The matter must therefore receive your attention, and you will carefully watoh any proceedings of a suspicious nature, and warn any British subjects concerned against embarking in undertakings of doubtful legality. You will also avail yourself of any opportunities which may present themselves for communicating freely on the matter with Her Majesty's Colonial and naval authorities. The quantity of timber now being shipped from Hokitika, is described by a local paper as "aometbing enormous." j

Pursuant to advertisement, a meeting was held in the Council Hall on Tuesday evening last, for promoting the establishment of a Reading Room and Library. His Honor the Superintendent, who presided on the occasion, opened the business by expressing bis satisfaction that steps were taken for filling up such a great gap in our social life as the want of a reading room in a community occasioned. Ha intimated, as a matter" that might hare some influence on the movement, the existence of a reserve for educational purposes in Tay street, which would probably be available in case of the formation of the society, contemplated, and its being considered desiraW^.. to build a reading-room and lecture-hall. He called upon Mr Thomas Perkins to advise the meeting of the plan which had been prepared". Mr Perkins submitted a proposal for starting in the first instance a reading-room and public library, to be ultimately extended to carry out the design of an Athen»um proper. He estimated that the immediate outlay for the furnishing of & reading-room would be £50, which he proposed to raise by subscription. Its maintenance he aesumed at £150 per annum, to be covered by members' subscriptions at £1 Is each. The cost of a public library for reference' and circulation he laid down as £250, the whole not necessarily to be incurred at the outset. He suggested that as a public institution, it Bhould be under the patronage and presidency of his Honor the Superintendent for the timo being, and should be under the management of a committee to be elected annually. Mr Lumsden preferred the establishment of a more limited scheme, and moved the appointment of a provisional committee. The Key. A. H. Stobo supported Mr Lumsden'B view of the matter, and suggested the addition to the programme of a refreehment-room and amusements. Ultimately, on the motion of Mr C. D. Irvine, the following gentlemen were elected a provisional committee, with power to add to their number: — Messrs Irvine, Baker, Dickenßon, Butts, Gilniour, Montagu, Lumsden, Porter, Henderson, and Perkins, three to form a quorum. Large mounds of gravel, carted from the reserve on the banks of the Puni creek, have, during the past fortnight, been accumulating on the margins of Dee-street, where they are being "aquaredup" and left to drain, preparatory to tneir being transferred as "metal" to the sidewalks. The said side-walks need repairing badly enough in all conscience, but it is perhaps fortunate that the operation of " gravelling" them has been thus far delayed. A coating of the gritty, sticky slush — which the gravel is when taken from the pit — on the top of the gratingß would ' not have been pleasant for pedestrians during the late wet weather. It would be wise we think to wait a month longer yet, so as to give the material a chance to "set," instead of being rußhed off by the rain into the gutters. The nineteenth half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Insurance Company was held at Auckland on the 15th ult., when the report and balance-sheet were unanimously adopted ; the retiring auditors — Messrs Fraser and Warner — were re-elected ; and a vote of thanks was passed to the directors, officers, and agents of the company. A dividend at the rate of 10 per cent, was declared, £5,000 was placed to the reserve fund, and £6,079 16s 5d was carried forward to the Jjfofifc and loss account. As an evidence of the state of some of the roads in the Tokomairiro district, a correspondent of a contemporary Bays he the other day overheard the following conversation : — " A. to B. — • Did you see anything of my team of bullocks up the road there ?' B. f No, but I saw some horns moving about amongst the mud.' A. ' Oh, it's all right then, you didn't see the flag ?' B. ' No, what flag ?' A. ' The puncher sometimes has to erect a flagstaff with a red flag on the bullock's horns to let him know whereabouts they are ; so long as the home are visible there is no danger.' " Let every farmer, says an agricultural journal, prepare good shelter for his stock, for every man who has paid attention to this matter knows that stock which has warm shelter will winter with one-third less feed than is required to winter stock that is exposed to the rain and storms. It is said that the General &overnm«nt intend to introduce a Bill during the session for the purpose of establishing Torrens's system of Registration of Titles, and that the Bill is safe to pass. With respect to the New Zealand Commissioners, a correspondent writes to the Wanganui Chronicle, from London, as follows : — " After all, Featherston haß not done any good. His first interview with Lord Granville was decisive. Featherston made a capital and elaborate speech, telling the Secretary for the Colonies all about New Zealand's wrongs, and what was wanted to set them right. To the intense astonishment of the Doctor, Lord Granville, at the conclusion of the speech, alapped him on the back in a jocular manner, and said, ' Look here old man, its no use jawing. We won't give you any troops, and we won't give you any money. But look here, as you and Bell have come all the way from New Zealand to see me on this business, I'll do all I can to make you as comfortable as possible. You can have a snug dinner at the club. I'll get you presented to the Queen, and everything considered, you'll have a good time of it.' It seems that Dr Featberston philosophically acquiesced in this. He did get presented to the Queen, and being dressed in fall Court suit remarked to a friend, in leaving the precincts of the palace, ' Well, I don't know whether I looked like a fool or not in that ridiculous costume, but I felt awfully like one.' " A petition for presentation to the General Assembly is being numerously signed in Hokitika : the prayer of the petitioners is that some restrictions may be placed upon the present system of granting hotel licenses to mere shells of buildings, and also that licenses may not be granted to unmarried women. The following extract from a private letter by a gentleman long resident in Ofcago, and connected with the grain trade, and now in San Francisco, has been placed at the disposal of a contemporary by a business firm in Dunedin. We BUBpect the seoret of the reason why California ia able to export grain largely, in spite of high priced labor, whilst New Zealand is not, is to be found in the greater number of laborsaving machines which agriculturists in the former country make uf»e of, and some of which are unsuitable to our damper climate : — " lam 6orry»to learn by your letter that business is so dull. Strange, that with the resources of Otago it Bhould not be more prosperous. Here in California, where 30 to 35 bushels to the acre, with high-priced labor, is the rule, they are sending a stream of shipping to Europe with grain j while you, who can average 50 to 60 bushels, with your wool,' gold, flax, and fine grazing country, aeem proßtrate. It seems to me you only require a liberal land system, with means of transit, to become the finest colony in the world. California is not to compare with it."