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Southland Times, Issue 1321, 14 October 1870, Page 2

We understand that the resignation by A. M'Neill, Esq., of his seat as a member of the Southland Provincial Council, was received

by W. Wood, Esq., on the 7th inst., th© letter being dated 4th October. We understand that the Reception Committee have succeeded in getting the railway lessees to consent to run a special train to the Bluff oh the day of the Superintendent's arrival, thn return fere being fixed at 3s ; children under 12 years, free. Senator Cole, in his speech on r the Australian Mail Subsidy Bill, informed Congress that " the proposition is now pending to establish an American steamship line between our Pacific Coast and Australia, by way of the Sandwich and Fiji Islands, and perhaps by New Zealand." The re«union of the two Provinces, says the Evening Star (Duuedin), took-place-to-day, and in Dunedin excited but little attention. The royal standard floated over the Government buildings during the day in honor of the event. From the latest published Government statistics we learn that on the 30th June the estimated population of Victoria was — male 9, 405,637 ; females, 317,716 ; total, 723,353. The increase during the preceding quarter was 7159. A meeting of the Reception Committee was held yesterday afternoon in the Prince of Wales Hotel. It was arranged that the lunch should take place at 2 p.m. on the day of the Superintendent's arrival, a sub committee being appointed to carry out necessary details. The intention of presenting an address was abandoned. A man named Hammond, formerly Collector of Customs at the* Bluff, expired suddenly in the Timaru Hospital a short time since. It appears he burst a blood vessel on the lungs some days ago, and was taken to the hospital, where he was progressing favorably. The hemorrhage having ceased, he got out of bed, although strict instructions had been given that he was not to move, and pulled up one of the blinds. The exertion brought on a fit of coughing, anJ — the bleeiiug returning — he was dead in a few minutes. The explanation of the difference in the weather enjoyed in Southland and the West Coast this winter, as compared with that experienced on the eastern coast of New Zealand and Australia, ig said to be found in the fact that most of the wet weather has come from the north-east. In every casein which floods, occurred -in Australia this winter, the wind was from the eastern sea-boar A, and the same was the case in Otago. This will also explain the statement that the weather at Martin's Bay during the past few months has been drier than in Dunedin. On Wednesday, 12th inst., at the Resident Magistrate's Court, a bnshman, who had, it appeared, just finished one of his periodical " lambing down " processes, was placed in the box, charged with drunkenness. Being the second conviction, a fine of 10s was inflicted, and paid,, after an ineffectual whimpering appeal, that " It might be overlooked this once, and it never would 1 occur again." Mr Boyd, owner of section 3S, block XT., Jacob's River, applied for an order for the erection of a boundary fence against the owner of section 37, same hundred, which was unoccupied, the owner being an absentee. ' His Worship gave the order for the erection of the fence, specifying its nature. Williams v. Perkins was a case wherein Mr R. B. Williams, Land and Commission Agent, sued Mr Thos. Perkins, Accountant and Commission Agent, for damages to the extent of £100, for an alleged breach of agreement, relative to the lease of a certain farm; for which defendant was agent. The evidence inj the case was very lengthy.ani not of" grave" importance, save to the parties, and was, briefly, to the following effect : — On 29th June last, defendant offered plaintiff the lease, in writing, of the farm in question — Flint's Bush, the property of Capt. Howell — for seven years, at a specified rental. Plaintiff subsequently made an offer to lease it for ten years, stipulating that the first offer should be kept open until the owner's consent or refusal to the extension could be obtained. In due time he (plaintiff) was informed that Capt. Howell would not lease for ten years, and he then closed with the original offer, first verbally, and afterwards in writing, and subsequently took steps to force completion of the contract. Mr Perkins's version of the matter was that though he was agent he had not power to close the transaction without reference to tha principal ; that in effect, if not in express words,* he had said so to plaintiff repeatedly ; and that when he had informed plaintiff of Capt. Howell's refusal to grant a ten years' lease, he had also stated that he could not now grant him a lease at all, owing to Capt. Howell's having, in the interim, been in treaty with another party, and that it was now to be. let by tender. It was after this statement had been made (as was admitted by plaintiff in cross'examination), defendant said, that Mr Williams said that he would close for the seven years. Mr Harvey appeared,for plaintiff, and Mr Macdonald for defendant. His Worship reserved judgment. Mr Journeaux, from Wellington, attended by . invitation the last meeting of the Canterbury Flax Association, to afford information as to his mode of preparing flax. A very excellent sample was exhibited in the room. Mr Journeaux stated that he bad effected an improvement on the process referred to in the report of the Flax Commissioners. His process was one of fermen-" tation, with subsequent washing in cold water, but no chemicals whatever were used. He had endeavored to bring his process to the greatest perfection, and be believed that he had succeeded in attaining the best process for preparing flax that had yet been discovered. He might say that he had found that stripping machines destroyed the best or finest part of the leaf. One ton of fibre equal to the sample on the table could be procured from five tons of nice green leaf by his process, and he could bring it out as fine as if it had been Maori-scraped. The leaf had to undergo a certain milling, which was done instantaneously. About £14 would be the maximum cost of bringing a ton of fibre to the stage of the sample produced ; but he had little doubt that he could produce it at a cost of £12. The correspondent of a contemporary supplies the following from Fiji : — Native products are plentiful this season, imported provisions tolerably cheap, and trade rather brisk. Good prices are obtainable for clean samples of Sea Island cotton. Traders offer 12 to 14 cents per lb, in seed. Good ginned samples fetah as high as 62J to 75 cents. i Oif is largely, exported at Daku and other, places in Fiji. It is made by machinery. Cocoanuts aud bread-fruit are very plentiful on all the | Windward lelands. Meat is "in scarce supply*. "One of your large sheep stations, or rather the sheep thereon, would be very acceptable. Sheep |

are selling at from £1 to £1 5s per head, and are scarce at that price. Some of the settlers are going in for ploughing, so that probably there will soon be a demand for plough-horses and bullocks, as I have no doubt that this mode of cultivation will be found to pay» Indian corn is cultivated rather extensively, but very little is exported, as there is at present no regular market for it. The sixth anniversary soiree of the Invereargill Band of Hope came off very successfully on Tuesday evening, 11th inst. The meeting was held in the [Temperance" Hall, Esk-street, which, duly -decorated with teetotal mottoes, was fully crowded with juveniles, amongst whom a few aiults also contrived to find a place. The platform was. occupied by Mr Crouch, chairman, the Rovr. Stobo, Clark, and. Wood, and Mr J. Woodward, each of whom suitably addressed the children in turn. After tea — which was excellent, and enjoyed by the youngsters with great gusto — and the singing of a hymn, Mr Bonthron, the secretary, read a report of the society's position and progress during the past year. The document was most comprehensive, and, although regretting that the expansion of the Band during last year had scarcely been in proportion to previous years, was generally encouraging, and spoke hopefully of their prospects. One circumstance to which the report referred as particularly pleasing to the conductors of the society, was the fact that a large number of those who had joined its original ranks as, lads, had now grown up to manhood true to their principles, and had stepped forward to their proper place in the adult society — "The Sons of Temperance." The speeches, which were all adapted to children, and consequently brief, were interspersed with the singing of some temperance songs, in which the children acquitted themselves very creditably. Shortly before ten, the meeting was closed with a short prayer by Mr Stobo, and the little ones separated, enjoyment beaming from their rosy countenances. It would not do to omit mention of a song of his own composing, sung during the evening by Willie Sttel, 5.N.8., original in every respect, and highly aipreciated by the audience. A meeting of the Southland Flax Association was helj in the Government Buildings on the evening of the 10th inst. There was a fair attendance of members, although not so good as could te desired. Mr Buchanan, the hon. sec, read a letter from Mr Bird, hon. Secretary of the Canterbury Flax Association, containing some useful information, and enclosing a copy of the rules adopted by that association, as also a report of their quarterly meeting. The letter was couched in a very cordial spirit, and elicited expressions of warm gratification from the members present. In reference to prises of £30 for the best, and £10 for the second b«st, R<unol«» of dressed flax, of not less than 3 cwt., offered by the Canterbury Association, it was moved " That a telegram should be forwarded by the hon. see. fo? information on the point, with a view to enabling members of this Association to nomnete for them if they were competent to do so." (A. rjply to this has since been received to the effect that the competition is confined to Canterbury.) Hv : . Mitchell proposed, and Mi* J. Shearer seconded, " That a deputation, consisting of Messrs Blacklock, Mitchell, and Buchanan, b« *ppointed to wait on Mr M ican Ircw to ask him to consent to his appointment as Pr«si/tant. of the Association." The motion was carried unanimously. . It was moved by Mr Blaoklook. and seconded ; .by Mr Mitchell, that, the following gentlemen, viz., Messrs Wad*, i^ingsland, and the mover, bo appointed a', sub-eommirtee to frame tula 9 for . ths Association, ani tp> report, to a mpMtin? to be h*ld on M^siiav^^hn inst., at 7 p.m." Oirria-1. Proposed by Mr James Shearer seconded by Mr Hay " that the annual subscription of members of this Association be fixed at haF-a-guihea." Carried. After some conversation as to the" desirability of naming the Association, " The Otago Flax Association," seeing that it is the first of the kind in the now extended province, the meeting separated. The following are perhaps the most important and suggestive para graphs of Mr Bird's letter. On the subject of carrying the manufacture of -flax in the colony beyond the merely rudimentary process as yet accomplished on any scale, he says j— "l 'am quite of opinion that a rope or twine man n. factory, as also the manufacture o f sacks and bagging, is what we require In the colony. If an inexhaustible supply of flax could be depended on, and three or four Dundee jute hecklers an! weavers were imported to start a manufactory of these and other articles, I have not the least doubt but that in a very few years both demand and supply would be considerable, as well as the opening out of a permanent industry. 1 am convinced that something of a tangible and practical nature must ere long be taken in hand. With reference to your enquiry as to what, process is found in Canterbury to produce the Best flax, many manufacturers prefer the boiling process, and then passing it through heavy rollers, which disintegrates (he fibre ; others, again, prefer the stripping machines. A sample bale of flax, prepared by Booth's machine, was forwarded to me from Dunedin, but the quality of fibre produced by it was very indifferent. lam told it is far from satisfactory in its results." At the meeting of the. Association to be held in the Government Buildings on Monday evening, 17th, at 7.30, very important communications will be submitted. We have been requested to urge the attendance of all members. . The Timaru Herald states that the Boilingdown and Meat-preserving Establishment at th» Wasbdyke is rapidly being prepired for the operations of next season. Five tinsmiths are busy making the tins for preserved meat, and have already completed some 15,000 in number. A cargo of timber is also shortly expected for the making of cases to pack the meat in, and we believe that a cargo will be used monthly when the establishment is in full working order. Altogether the establishment will employ a very considerable number of hands, and will be the means of adding largely to the exports of the district. • The Tasmanian'bred menho sheep lately bited by Mr H. W. Blomfield at the Agricultural Society's Exhibition in Sydney, have returned to Melbourne, on their way back to Tasmania. The high quality of these sheep was noticed in The Argus on their passage to Sydney, and it seems that our neighbors entertain fully as good an opinion of them, as no less than £500 was offered for one ram, named " King Billy," and £300 for a son of his — both offers being refused. For 11 rams ofl he same"bfeeo!~ > over £700 was paid l)y New South Wales flock-owners, The stud rams

will be exhibited at the wool stores of Messrs Clouah and Co. for a few days prior to being shipped for Launceston. About 50 rams of the same breed were sold at Kirk's Bazaar, and realised prices ranging from £6 to £12 each, the whole beings purchased, for "New; South Wales breeders. , - ..; 1 - „'.!. The following supplies a pattern^for the ball committee in.re. the Superintendental reception scheme : — Some curious-devices "to amu*e the Viceroy ware .resorted to at : M.^Oppenheitn'B splendid, ball. * New figures X ere indented for the after-supper cotillon. Largesealed envelopes were distributed among the ladies, who, opening them, found grotesque head-dresses inside, with which they were expected to crown their partners*- Crackera containing pieces of fancy costume were also pulled, between the figures 6f one of the dances, and the gentlemen had to wear the finery which fell to their share. In what wis called the steeplechase dance the ladies received fans bearing, the names of weltknown race-horses, and the gentlemen cards similarly inscribed. At a signal, the music struck up, and each gentleman hastened to discover the lady on whose fan was written the same name as on his card. Another fantastic novelty was the distribution of hoop 3 among the gentlemen, one to each six. The six advanced to a lady, carrying their hoop between them, and on touching a spring it suddenly imprisoned the one destined to be the lady's partner. Both the Oriental and native visitors are said to have been much amused, by these performances. A meeting of the newly-elected : office-bearers of the Southland Agricultural and Pastoral Association took place in the Prince of Wales Hotel on the evening of Wednesday last. Present— Messrs R. Hamilton (in the chair), M'Leod, Kingswell, Morton, Sutton, Johnston, Elliot, Weir, Vallance, A. Smith, Coupland, Warnock, Dunlop, and A. J. Smyth. A committee, consisting of Messrs Smyth, Cochran, and Weir, was elected to make arrangements for striking the medals conformably to the resolution adopted at the general meeting. The prize list of last year was adopted, with a few unimportant alterations. I Judges were appointed for the various classesj>f exhibits, after which the meeting adjonrned for a fortnight. "'".'. '"'.'.'. ' . In our advertising columns will be found a statement of the conditions of immigration to Otago, which now apply to this district. The officer at Dunedin writes that arrangements are pending by which it is expeefe'i a payment of £5 will secure a passage from . Glasgow to Port Chalmers. The communication further states that in the -event of there being a sufficient number 'of immigrants de'siroiis of lan ling at the Bluff to warrant -the ship calling there first, arrangements will be made accordingly. In 'any case, the writer says that there in all probability be a Government steam service established between Port Chalmers, Bluff .Harbor, and Riverton, by which, for a small additional sum, immigrants can be conveyed to either of these places. - .