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Southland Times, Issue 1522, 12 January 1872, Page 2

John Sperry, Esq., has been appointed Superintendent-Collector under the " Census Act Amendment Act, 1869," for the province of Otago. The members of the Auckland Provincial Council have, by a division of eleven to two, declined to vote a payment of 15s a day for all members during the session. The s.s. Wellington, with the English mails via San Francisco on board, left Lyttelton yesterday at 1.50 p.m., and should arrive at Port Chalmers early this morning. The Southland portion will in all probability be transhipped on board the Albion, expected in at the Bluff to-morrow (Saturday) morning. Attention is directed to the fact that the anniversary services in connection with the Wesleyan Sabbath School take place on Sunday firstj when two sermons wll be preached by the Rev. Mr Isit, of Balclutha« Hymns selected for the occasion will be snug by Che children.

The sum of two hundred and fifty pounds has been voted by ihe Provincial Council of Auckland for the purpose of boring for water on the artesian principle, with the view of ascertaining whether the city of Auckland can be supplied with pure water by this plan. At the sale of funds of the Southland Building, Land, and Investment Society, held on the evening of Wednesday la3t, a total sum of £1600 was disposed of at an average premium of £2 15s per share, the maximum price realised being £3 2s, and the minimum £2 10s. Mr Haughton, Under Secretary for the Goldfields, was a passenger to.. Dunedin by the Kangitoto. He will make a complete tour of the goldfields of this province, in the course of which he will visit the various Wardens' Courts in connection with the special arrangements which are to be made for water supply. Next week an alteration takes place in the days of departure of the overland mail to Dunedin. Instead of leaving Invercargill on Monday and Thursday mornings, and arriving on Tuesday and Friday evenings as heretofore, mails will be despatched on Tuesday and Friday mornings, the inward mail arriving on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. In Wellington the other day the Australian Mutual Provident Society had a friendly information laid against it for carrying on business without a license under the amended Stamp Act. The Magistrate decided that as the Society was a mutual one, with no nominal capital, it was impossible to assess any duty, and a license was therefore unnecessary. The following gentlemen have been elected members of the Bchool committee for Long Bush for the ensuing year : — Messrs A. Ross, John A. Mitchell, John Milne, Malcolm M'Phee, Robert Hamilton, D. Eeidie, James M'Kay, Angus M'Kay, and John M'lntyre. Mr Eoss was re-elected clerk and treasurer. The late committee deserve great praise for the improvements which they have effected, and for the active interest they have taken in the educational well-being of the district. Prom all parts of the Southland district the reports to hand as to the condition of the late-sown crops are of the same unsatisfactory character. The long continuance of cold high winds has had the effect of preventing the usual growth, and the consequence is they will be short in the straw and light in the yield of grain. It is only in highly favored localities that anything like an average return is anticipated. It is satisfactory to learn that the early-sown crops in the vicinity of Winton give promise of a good yield. Messrs G. F. Martin and Co. received per the Rangitoto, on Wednesday last, a consignment of pure bred Hampshire Downs from the well-known flocks of Mr John Morgan, of Wanganui, the original importer of the breed from the home country. Three rams, selected from the same flocks, are to follow in a a few days. Both as regards weight of carcase and quality of wool, this class of sheep is now taking a leading place in the pastoral exhibitions of Great Britain. They are very suitable for crossing with the Leicester, and otherwise well worthy the attention of flockowners desirous of improving the quality of their stock. It having come to the knowledge of the Government that certain infringements of the Stamp Act have taken place, the following notice has been issued: — "There being reason to suppose that persons are in the habit of giving ! and accepting unstamped receipts as acquittances for moneys paid by cheque, under the belief that the stamp by the cheque exonerates the receipt , from liability to Btauip duty, the public are cautioned against the adoption of this practice. Such receipts are inadmissible as evidence of the I payment of money until properly stamped, and every person signing or causing the signature of any such receipt, is liable to a penalty of ten pounds for each offence." The committee appointed to endeavor to bring about a better understanding in the First Church, Dunedin, having failed in the task allotted to them, the following resolution was carried at the last meeting of the Presbytery : — " The Presbytery finding that the congregation of the First Church is in a thoroughly diaorganised state, and that there is no prospect of peace and prosperity being restored under the present pastor and office-bearers, resolve, as the only course open to them, to refer the matter to the Synod for their advice and decision, and, meanwhile, to appoint a committee to verify the signatures to the two memorials by the communion roll and the seat-rent book." What is believed to be an important discovery (says the Otago Times) has been recently made on Islay Station, near the Mataura, in the discovery of a seam of coal, which is said in every sense to be equal to the best English coal, giving forth a strong glow and caking in the same manner as the home coal. Our informant, who saw it burning, tells us that from the bituminous matter it exhibits when burning, it contains gas. As the coal is near the surface, and only partially explored, the extent of the seam cannot be ascertained. It is within eight miles of the line of the Southern Trunk Railway, and should it prove equal to present appearances, there is no doubt an important discovery has been made. We have requested that a specimen be sent us, in order to be submitted to Professor Black, who has kindly consented to analyse it. ' Our Riverton correspondent writes : — The election of a new school committee for the town and district of Riverton took place (as per advertisement) at the school housa on Monday last. There were fourteen candidates proposed. The following gentlemen were elected : — Messrs T. Daniel (M.P.C.), G-eo. Reid, James Robinson, Q-. O. Cassels, and James Ireland, of Riverton ; Messrs J. Petchell, J;P., Benjamin Baney, and E. Simpson, senr., of South Riverton ; and Mr J. R. Stuck, Otiti Bush. As the former secretary merely made a verbal report, it could not be adopted by the meeting. It appeared that the school had now 62 children on thebookß, being an incre ase of 33 since last quarter. The attendance that day (Monday) the first day of the quarter, waß 39, seven being new entries. The financial department seemed hardly as prosperous. There are many pressing wants, which it is hoped will receive the attention of the committee, and that past neglect on the part of our Southland friends will be compensated by the kind attention of our present Government. i A committee meeting was afterwards beld, when ilr G. Reid accepted the office of chairman and i convener of meetings, and Mr Wardrop that of ' minute secretary.

The Hon. Treasurer to the Hospital desires to acknowledge through our columns the receipt of the contents of the undernoted boxes in town, viz., J. Stock & Co, 8s 7d ; Bank of New Zealand, 2s 8d ; Hare Pratt & Co, 10a Id ; Matheson & Smith, 8s ; Cocbran & Blackwood, 14s lOd ; total, £2 4s> 2il. Also a donation of £2 from J. M. and W. Pagan, per J. Stock and Co. "Small Tradesman" wi-ites — Sir, — Are you aware of the fact that the salaries of the railway employes, at all events those of the laborers, are something like three months in arrears, and that during the gay and festive season just closed, some of the men were unable to scrape as much ready cash together as would pay for a fi^ of tobacco. In order, however, that my disinterested motives may not be misunderstood, I may as well inform you at once that my chief object in directing attention t}s'vhe iact, is that I have got two or three of tK, e to town cm my . slate to a tune I don't at all relisl^j. Wiafc makes me the more annoyed, is that those highly ornamental I members of the service who push their fortunes I under shelter of the Government Buildings, Dee- : street, are paid to date, while my clients, the railway navvies, are left out in the cold — financially as well as physically. The local volunters are elsewhere notified that the District Adjutant will superintend the firing for choice of representatives at the colonial prize firing on Wednesday and Thursday next at 5 a.m., and will visit Riverton for the same purpose on Friday and Saturday, The Invercargill company will parade for inspection on Wednesday evening, when it is expected the members | will muster strong, and to enable them to do so, employers are requested to allow their employed to leave an hour or so earlier oa that evening, i The cadets as well as the Band will be on the ground. Volunteers should not lose the opportunity of attending the preliminary parades so as to put in a good appearance on the occasion. Our Campbelltown correspondent writes : — A meeting of heads of families, for the purpose of electing a school committee, took place in the school-room here on the Bth inst. The retiring committee, comprising Messrs J. Waddel (chairman), C. F. O'Toole (treasurer), Tucker, Warren, and De Smidt, brought up a report which stated that when elected, there were 39 children on the roll, and a balance to their credit of £1 9a 4<l. The number on the roll at the close of the holidays was 53, with a credit balance of £49, and since elected the committee had reduced the fees 22£ per cent. On the motion that the report be adopted, it was lost by a majority of one. Some considerable time elapsed before a chairman could be found to conduct the election ; eventually Mr J. O. Hunter consented to fill the position, and when proceeding with the nomination of committee-men, it was found that only three persons in the room, viz., Messrs William Horrobin, William Anglem, and James Spencer, would consent to act. Under those circumstances it was resolved to ask the Superintendent to call another meeting at some future time. The committee of the Southland Acclimatisation Society held their usual monthly meeting on Wednesday, 10th inst., at the Athenaeum Rooms. Six members of committee were present. It appeared from the report of the Hon. Secretary that one hundred cf the brown trout, fit for removal, had been disposed of by sale to Mr Henry Hill, that about fifty had been deposited in the Tumut creek, the remainder being available for the Makarewa. A proposal from Mr Frank Buckland in England was considered to make an experimental shipment of salmon ova on a new plan, namely that of packing the ova in wet moss in a tin case placed in another case, the space between the two cases being filled with sawdust. | Fifty pounds was directed to be remitted to defray the cost of the experiment. The annual meeting under the Educational Ordinance for the district of Waikiwi was held on Monday evening last at the house of Mr Bain. The retiring committee presented their report for the past year, consisting chiefly of the record of long, tedious, and repeated correspondence with the Educational Board without any practical result. The Educational wants of this district have been without doubt wholly ignored by the Board during the past year, and this fact is all the more painful on the account of the sumber of children in the district capable of receiving and anxious for instruction. It has been ascertained that an average attendance of at least 70 children might be safely reckoned on immediately on the erection of a public school under an efficient master. The following gentlemen were elected a committee for the current year : — Messrs M' Arthur, Bain, Toshack, Horman, Perkins, Longuet, Townshend, Grant, and Knipe. Some discussion arose as to the propriety of commencing a school in a temporary building, pending the erection of a school-house. The newly-elected committee having met at the termination of the public meeting, elected Mr D. M' Arthur permanent chairman, and Mr Longuet clerk, and passed a resolution for transmission to the Board to the effect that to meet the wants of the district it was necessary that temporary provision should be made, and asking that a teacher's salary on the scale of a main school should be granted, that the committee might at once be able to make their arrangements. A sub-committee was appointed to confer with Mr Wm. Wood on the subject of site of the proposed school house. A Greymouthian at Gulgong gives the following account of bis experience at the diggings there : — " Of all my numerous acquaintances from the Coast and elsewhere, I only know two on gold j these are Harry Mace and ' Old Donald.' There is an immense population, but the Happy Valley and Black Lead are the only leads that have turned out well. There has been nothing fresh for some months, and I would not advise anyone to come here now. Where there is one on gold, there are five hundred doing nothing. None of the outside claims have turned out well. Bill Paul, who used to keep the Canadian Hotel at the Grey, is in the prospecting claim, on the Canadian. There was great talk of it at one time. They had thirty feet of washdirt, but I don't think it washed up to expectations. No other claims on that lead got any gold, although they have been working for months. Some of the claims in the Happy Valley will pay £10,000 or £12,000 a manrather tall work. The prospectors' claim barely gives wages, and the prospectors' claim on the Black Lead did not pay at all. The claims above the prospectors are no good, and there only eleven claims below before it goes into the Black Lead, which is shepherded by fifty or Bixty on to private property. I was on Moonlight fourteen weeks, and sank seven duffera. It is as hard to get a job as a golden hole. I don'fc see the slightest show ol getting anything to do at present."