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Southland Times, Issue 1307, 13 September 1870, Page 2

A large still for the distillery erecting in Auckland has been received from Sydney. ! A company is about to be formed in Auckland to import pure-bred cattle into that province. The. manufacture of paper is shortly to be undertaken in Auckland, a company to erect a paper mill being in course of formation. We learn from the Q-rey mouth Star that the annexation of the Grey district to Nelson will take place on the Ist January next. Tfhree steam ploughs have been imported into Otago, by the Delhi, which arrived from Liverpool on the 2nd inst. A roan bull calf, aged 1% months, was sold at Melbourne in the early part of last month for £200. The Australasian says " that it is the highest price yet obtained for any Colonial bred bull of this age." By proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette, sections 1 and 2, block 1, Jamestown, Martin's Bay, have been reserved as sites for public buildings or other purposes of the General Government of New Zealand. . It is notified in the Colonial Gazette, by the Secretary to the Defence Office, that His Excellency the Governor haa been pleased to accept the services of the "Invercargill Light Horse Volunteers "from the 13th July last. One thousand brown trout ova, and about a hundred sea or salmon trout, have been imported by the Ot^go Acclimatisation Society from Tasmania. They are reported to have arrived in good condition, and to have been safely deposited in the hatching boxes. ■;■ It is reported that a boat, suitable for the navigation of the Molyneux, is to be built near the Pomahaka Btation. The engine recently used in working the Company's steam plough has been purchased for the motive power. The timber will be rafted down from the Tuapeka mouth. At the ordinary monthly meeting of the Otago Waste Land Board, held at Dunediu on the Ist inst., the plan of the township of Kinloch, at the head of Lake Wakatip, was approved of, and it waa resolved that the sections should be put up for sale by auction at the usual upsot prices. We have been requested by the Treasurer to the Provincial Hospital to acknowledge the receipt of £6 12s from the.Lancashire Bellringers, being the proceeds of the entertainment given by them on Friday evening last, in aid of the institution. A Waikivi correspondent writes : — An egg of very large dimensions was lately produced by a hen — a cross between the Spanish and Dorking — the property of Mr R. M'llwrick, settler here. Its largest circumference was B£, and its lesser measured- 7£. inches. ' '. It weighed precisely 4£ ounces. 1 We are informed that the alterations in the tariff, embodied in. the financial scheme of the Government, have been disallowed by the Assembly. The tariff as it stood at the beginnin g of the session is again in operation, and the excess paid since Ist July last will now be refunded on application at the Custom-house. The Bellringers' midday performance on Saturday last was well patronised by those for whose special convenience it was given — the juvenile portion of the community.. The youngsters enjoyed the bells and singing immensely, putting in the applause with quite as much discrimination ■as their seniors, but the negro sketch, at the conclusion, was undoubtedly the best relished item in the, programme. A preliminary meeting of the Invercargill Light Horse Brigade took place in the Council Chamber on the evening of Friday last. The chairman, Captain Harvey, read a letter announcing the Governor's acceptance of the services of the corps. Twenty members were

tlieu sworn in, after which the following were elected officers : — Messrs W. 11. Pearson, captain ; F. W. Wade, lieutenant; R. B. Williams, cornet ; and A. F. Slonckton, assistant surgeon. The telegraph construction party, recently arrived from the North, started from the Post Office yesterday morning for Rirerton via Wallacetown, chaining and pegging out the line as they went, and should reach their destination in a couple of days. If poles are supplied anything promptly, a few creeks should see the southernmost town in New Zealand connected by wire with the other centres of population and commerce throughout the colony. We extract the following in reference to the New Zealand hemp rope from a circular issued by Q-arnock, Bibby and Co., Swan Rope Works, Liverpool ; — This new description of rope is increasing in favor. We have had several very satisfactory reports of its wearing ; and as it is now the cheapest rope in the market, we recommend any who have not used it to give it a trial ; but as the quality varies, so the greatest care is necessary in selecting _tne hemp. The strong fibre makes the best rope, and this we can work by machinery. The Provincial Government of Auckland have receired advices from Messrs Ridgway and Sons respecting the road steamer ordered some time ago. It appears that the description of engine ordered was a 10-horse power, at a cost of £750. Mr Thomson, it appears, has "- given up manufacturing engines of this description, but the nearest approach to it is a 12- horse power, at a cost of £800. This description of engine has therefore been ordered for the Provincial Government, but in consequence of pressure of work, it will be three months before it can ba completed. From our Auckland files we learn that Francis Innes, Deputy Assistant Commissary General, has been .charged with embezzling £50. The Crown Prosecutor in opening the case said that by the 70th clause of the Larceny .'Act, embezzling moneys of her Majesty by a person in her service in New Zealand was felony. .The charge was nominally for £50, but he would show that in January, 1869, there was a deficiency of £1000, j and in June, of £500. Evidence was given shewing that the books, were not correct, and the prisoner was committed for trial, Messrs Lyell, sen., and Dv Moulin becoming bail in the sum .of £750 each. The weather at the Wakatipu has of late set in very cold, and there appears to be almost a return of winter. The roads are drying up, and locomotion has become easier. The crops promise well for the next, season, and happily for the farmers, local demands are largely increasing. Some very fine gardens (says the local correspondent of the Dunstan Times) have been laid down about the neighborhood of the Arrow, and we shall be in a position to supply ourselves with nursery stock instead of importing it from Dunedin. Floriculture and arboriculture have not been forgotten, as visitors to the Lakes will acknowledge this coming summer. In the course of a lecture on " Natural History," delivered at Wellington, Dr Hector pointed out the predominance of varieties of fish in the New Zealand fauna. He stated that the varieties are much more numerous than is generally supposed* numbering close on 140 kinds, specimens of which might be gathered in the course of a year. He thought that the most valuable kinds were those which do not frequent the bays and inlets, but, being gregarious like the most prized varieties of fish in Europe, will be found on banks, and should therefore be sought for in a more systematic manner than at present employed. He did not know the exact description of fish that visited the shores of Cook's Straits in such numbers a few years a?o, but thinks they may have been herring. The fish found at present in the harbor, and commonly known as herring, he says are mullet. The Nelson Colonist publishes the population and number of members in certain Australian Colonies and New Zealand. Victoria, with a population of about 800,000, has only thirty members in the Upper House, and' sixty in the Lower ; New South Wales, with a popidation of 500,000, twenty-one members in the Upper House; and seventy-two in the Lower ; South Australia, with some 200,000 inhabitants, hasbburt r eighteen members in the Upper, and .thirty-six in the Lower ; while New Zealand, with 250,000 of a population, has fifty members in the Legislative Council, and seventy, six in the House of Representatives. Taking mere population as the basis, New Zealand has upwards of four to one compared with nearly three to one .in comparison with New South Wales, and considerably above that proportion when we ; take South Australia into account. . . In a report to the head of his department, Mr W: Gray says : — '^During my stay in California I endeavored td. obtain a collection of animals, birds, plants, and seeds suitable', to the climate of this colony, but, unfortunately, it happened to be the close of the season, and I failed to obtain any, although I offered high prices for both animals and birds. I have, however, left instructions to ■forward, when the proper season arrives, 200 mountain quail, 100 pin-tailed grouse, 20 or 30 hares, and a hive of humble bees, the latter for distributing the pollen '6f the red clover to enable it to seed, which, lam led to understand, it has not yet done in New Zealand. Being midsummer, the season was also unfavorable for bringing treei or plants. I have, however, fbrought a few of several varieties, which were represented to me as good and useful sorts; these, with an assortment of . garden seeds, I have handed to Dr Hector for distribution. Among the seeds are those of the various vegetables used iv California. Some of them, such as the different varieties of the cabbage, are common here, but, being inexpensive, and an occasional change of seed being desirable, besides, the blight, which is so common here being unknown in California, I thought the introduction of healthy seeds into the colony would be useful." ; At the Resident Magistrate's Court ou Friday, 9fch instant, Mr K. Rose sued Weiss & Cook for £14 10s 2d, goods sold and delivered. Mr Cook admitted the claim, but pleaded inability to 'pay, saying ■ that - owing- - to reports affecting his pecuniary position, his, school, had been seriously reduced, and he had thereby been unable to fulfil ; an agreement with Mr Rose and other creditors : to pay a given sum per week, hence, he supposed,; this action j— judgment for plaintiff. O'Shan-

uassy v. Bell, £5 4s, wages due; Shanks v. same, £4 11s 6d, wage 3 due ; Mitchell & Go. v. same, £4 16s, gooJs supplied ; Stock & Co. v. same, £39 12s 9J, do; Graham t. same, £4 2s, material and labor, were a series of claims against the same defendant, Walter Bell, contractor. Mr Wade, for the defendant, admitted the claim in each case, and stated that his client, who had been unfortunate with a recent contract, had that day filed a deed of "arrangement for the benefit of his creditors, in accordance with the provisions of " The Bankruptcy Act, 1837," which had been agreed to by a majority of the creditors, representing three-fourths of the amount of liabilities. His Worship gave judgment for plaintiff in each case, with coats, with the understanding that counsel should be heard further before judgment was issued. 0. IS". Baggott v. the New Zealand Meat Preserving Company, ' was a claim arising out of a dispute relative to the fulfilment of a contract for the building of a stockyard at the Company's works, Long Bush. The particulars of the claim were as folio ws :— Building the stockyard, 61 panels at £1, £61 ; fourteen days' detention of self and man, £7 ; sixteen days' horse hire, £4. Total, £72, reduced to £41 10s by cash paid on account. Payment of the balance was refused on the ground that the yard had not been erected according to agreement, a verbal one, the specification being that it should be the beat in Southland, and that it should be completed in about five weeks from the time of commencement. Defendants alleged that the workmanship was inferior, the posts yielding to the pressure of cattle, and the cap rails being fixed differently to what was intended : also, that instead of having the work finished in five or six weeks, plaintiff had not completed it in nine or ten. Plaintiff's story was that he had built the yard as he understood it was to be built ; that any delay which, had occurred was beyond his control — due to the difficulty of finding suitable timber, and bad weather ; that he had intentionally , avoided binding himself to any particular day for completion, knowing the difficulties in the way. The claim for fourteen days' detention had" arisen through, defendants having driven a mob of wild cattle into the yard before the interior division was finished, and keeping it so occupied during the time stated. Very voluminous evidence was given on both sides, judgment being, ultimately eiven for plaintiff for £29 Os 6d, the amount sued for — less the claim of £7 for detention— and £4 9s Id as a set-off, admitted, for meat supplied. Mr Wade appeared for theplaintiff, and, Mr Macdonald for the defendants.