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Southland Times, Issue 1553, 19 March 1872, Page 2

Kee Chang, who stands remanded. by tbeDunedin Bench to Invercargill, will be forwarded by thy) G-othenburg, which leaves Dunedin. for the Bluff to-night. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday a solitary case of drunkenness by a half caste was met by a fine of five shillings, which, in exception to the general rule, was promptly paid. At a meeting of the Committee of the Horticultural Society, held last night, it was resolved to pay the various awards made at the late, exhibition in full. The remainder of the business transacted was purely routine. St. Patrick's Day having fallen on Sunday; the 17th inst., was celebrated yesterday as a part holiday — the bank», lawyers' and public offices being closed. The day being beautiful, it was taken advantage of by a moderate number for excursion purposes. In the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, John MLaughlan, from Duaedin, was charged with wife desertion. Prisoner admitted that he . was the person referred to in the information. A telegram was produced from the Commissioner of Police, stating that the warrant had been cancelled, and the defendant was liberated. The outgoing portion of the English mail via San Francisco was despatched by special coach on Wednesday, leaving the Commercial Yards, Invercargill, at noon. It reached Balclutha the following morning at 7.30, thus completing tke journey thereto in the short space of 19J hours. Considering the road that had to be travelled during the night, the feat is one well worthy of bein g recorded. At the meeting of the Waste Lands Board on Friday, all the members of the Board being present (Mr Pearson, chairman) applications were receiyed from Edward William Alexander for 1000 acres, and 500 acres, being sections 53 and 54, Forest Hill Hundred. These applications were made under a free grant for work performed by Messrs Driver, MLean, and Co. under the Oreti Railway contract. We have repeatedly called attention to the necessity that exists for steps being taken by the Provincial Government to effect eomo timely repairs to the east road, in order to keep it viable during the winter season for the heavy traffic which passes over it. Unless something is done speedily, the present favorable opportunity for improving the worst pieces of the road will have slipped past, and the work will have ultimately to be executed at a greatly increased -cost, Verbum sap. A draft of 125 long woolled sheep (Leicesters and Lincolns), the progeny of a direct importation by a well-known Canterbury Btook-owner, arrived in Southland the end of last week. Ninety-one of the number were to the order of Mr A. M. Clark, of Mount linton, and the remaining thirty-four to that of Messrs C. Basstian, (Duni robin), and G-eorge Bell, (Waimea Plains). We learn from competent authority that this is one of the most valuable acquisitions to the ilocks of the ' district that has been made for aotne time past.

Very rich finds are said to have been made in the beach claims at Coromandel. Nine ITijians have arrived in Auckland for exhibition in Europe and America. The Otago Graving Dock was formally opened by His Honor the Superintendent on the 15th inst. The Rev. Mr Booker, Nonconformist Minister at Kaipara (Auckland), has been killed by the fall of a tree, which he and his son were cutting down. A correspondent of a Marlborough paper says that account sales received there show the expenses charged against flax shipped to England amount to £13 par ton. An old Maori, named Pipi, living in Wellington Province, has shot himself under rather peculiar circumstances. He was suffering from a kind of low fever, which baa carried off many Maoris about Otaki and the neighborhood, anf hearing that his malady was catching, ho shot i himself, in order to prevent it spreading among ' his people. The Balclutha correspondent of the Bruce Herald writes : — " In the spriDg of the present year, I announced in your columns that a quantity of tobacco seed had been left with me for distribution among parties willing to try the experiment of growing tobacco in Otago. I have only seen the result of one trial, which can be ssen by anyone who wishes to see fine healthy tobacco plants grown in the open air without any artificial aid whatever. Mr Charles Norman, cooper, of this town, is the grower, and I am convinced that a sight of his success will induce others to follow his example." The Philadelphia North American is confident that the whaling business is ruined in conBequence of the extraordinary rise in the petroleum trade. It says : — The fact is that the whale has had his day, and though the era in which he flourished was a great one in distant enterprise, it is by no means to be regretted that we have found a better and more permanent reliance. The whale fishery may struggle on a few years longer, but its inevitable doom is as sure as anything can well be in commerce. As for the trade based upon it in the Pacific, we must tax our ingenuity to substitute something else for it. A fire was discovered in the Empire Hotel, Dunedin, last Friday night. It broke out in a store-room containing candles and dust -cloths, and in four or five minutes from the time when the alarm was first given, the fl imes were rapidly bursting through the thin partitions and along the ceiling. When brought to bear on the locality of the fire, the powerful water supply speedily extinguished it. Considerable damage was done to the hotel by the action of the water, the injury to the building, stock, and furniture, being, however, fully covered by insurance. Mr Hugh Fraser, saddler, who occupies the adjoining premises, had his stock very much damaged through hasty removal and exposure to a great downpour of water. A special meeting of the General Road Board was held in Dunedin on the 14>lh inst , to take into consideration applications from the Teaneraki, Windsor, and Enfield Road Boards, for authority to borrow sums amounting to £24,000, for the construction of a light line of railway from Oamaru to the Waiareka Valley. There were present — His Honor the Superintendent (in the chair), and Messrs Reid, Bathgate, and Bradshaw. Two memorials and one letter, in objection, had been lodged. After discussion, it was resolved, " That the further consideration of the question be adjourned till this day month, with a view of enabling the ratepayers to signify their assent, in terms oi section 3 of the Otago Eoads Ordinance, 1865, Amendment Ordinance, 1870, and to enable the local Boards to rectify the technical objections which have been taken to their proceedings." At a meeting of the Council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, held on the 14th inst., the chairman read the following telegram from the Colonial Secretary : — " Re. vote £500, salmon ova. Government about to send orders for ova, but require £500 to be subscribed by Acclimatisation Societies in addition to vote. Southland guarantees £300 ; Christchurch, £100; Nelson does rot join. Will your Society contribute balance ? Communication to you in first instance accidentally overlooked. Government have decided as funds only enough for one experiment to confine hatching to Southland ponds, shipping to Port Chalmers by fast vessel. Reasons for selecting Makarewa pondß were — lower temperature of soa water j freedom from being rendered turbid by diggings ; favorable • nature of estuary, and number of suitable streams running into it. Reply in time for outgoing 'Frisco mail." In speaking on the subject, the chairman said he thought it would be better to communicate -with the Colonial Secretary, explaining to him that the Council Baw no reason why action Bhould be taken for a lew months, and that, conditional on the Society, which could not contribute out of its ordinary income, getting the subsidy from the Provincial Council, it wuuM be in a position to guarantee the amount. The chairman's suggestion was agreed to. The Otago Times of the 13th mat. says : — The formal release of the Maori prisoners confined in the Dunedin gaol took place yesterday at noon, when the Hon. Mr M'Lean (the Defence Minister), His Honor the Superintendent, and Lieut. Col. J. H. H. St. John, accompanied by Wiremu Tamihana Te Neke, of Waikanae, in Wellington, and Aperahama Tamitaporea, Waitotara (influential chiefs of the Ngatiawa and Ngaraura tribes), visited the gaol. After the customary tangi had been indulged in, the Defence Minister addressed the prisoners, telling them that the Government had resolved to restore their liberty, hoping that they would for the future abandon the evil courses that had, in the first instance, got them into trouble. They would be conveyed to the North Island in the course of a few days, and the Government would provide a Buitable dwelling-place for them away from their old haunts. The chief Taurua, addressing Mr M'Lean', promised that when ho reached the North Island, he would avoid having any intercourse with the Native chiefs ; and that they would all submit themselves to the guidance of the Government, and settle down wherever they were directed to. The prisoners had received intelligence from the North of the meeting between Mr M'Lean an I Wiremu Eingi at Taranaki, and they seemad to regard that event, which they alluded to several times, a3 a guarantee of peace for the future. i

We have been requested to Btate that the committee appointed to float the company for prospecting the Old Wakatipu flat, have met with considerable succes3 in their efforts. It is expected that the whole number of shares will be taken up in the course of a few days. We are glad to observe that the Railway Committee is still in existence. At no period were its services more urgently required than just now, for our information regarding the prospects of a speedy commencement being made in the matter of railway construction in the district is of the scantiest possible description. The 6th of the present month was the time fixed upon for some definite action being taken, and as a fortnight has elapseJ since then, it is evident that representations on the subject require to be made to head-quarters, in order to secure the pushing on of the work without any farther delay. A considerable interchange would seem to take place between the different part 3 of the colony in the matter of timber supply. We recently published an extract from a Wellington paper, in which it was somewhat vauntingly stated that telegraph poles were being sent from that province to Southland, notwithstanding the largo forests possessed by the latter. We had yesterday an opportunity of inspecting some splendid logs of black pine, which were in transit per railway from Mr Murdoch's mill at the Makarewa to the Bluff, there to be shipped per Maori for Dunedin. We believe they are supplied to the order of the contractor for the Dunedin and Clufcha railway, and ara to be used in the construction of some of the bridge 3 on the line. The same vessel was to take away a quantity of heavy timber (black pine), also shipped by Up AlurJoch, which is to beusod for the purpose of jetty repairs at Lyttelton. Our readera who take an interest in the work of acclimatisation , as carried on in Southland, may recollect that a quantity of lint seed, imported by the local Society from South Australia, was distributed to parties residing in the neighborhood, in the early part of last year. A very creditable sample of the produce, grown at the Waihopai (North Eoad) has been forwarded to U3. Both as regards length of fibre and general quality of texture, the Bample is a good one, and proves conclusively the adaptation of the soil and climate to its growth. In stating this result, it ought to be mentioned that it has been achieved in an exceptionally adverse season. The preparation of the sample is hardly up to the mark, a fact which ia not at all astonishing, considering that the process employed was ot the most primitive character. It has evidently been well steeped, but having been hand-scutched, it i 3 far from being as clean as it otherwise would have been. In the state in which it is produced, we have heard an estimate of £36 per ton placed upon it. With proper appliances, however, there is every appearance to indicate that a full market rate of from £50 to £60 would be realised. The other parties who received seed from the Society should make known the result of their experiment. Alluiing to the preference Bhown by the gentlemen who indulge in " nips" for the Hennessy brand, the Talhot Leader remarks that these " persons imagine when they see a cork freshly drawn from a bottle having the label> capsule, and cork of the well-known firm of James Honnessy & Co., tlu'y are in reality getting the genuine tap. What if we tell such persons that bulk brandy of inferior quality and flavor is made to pass in this town for Hennessy'a, and that, the fraud can ouly be detected by competent tasters of the liquid so sold ? The way ia which the affair 13 managed is simple. The cases, the straw envelopes, the capsules, the bottles themselves, and sometimes the corks (if not too much damaged) are bought up by the mixing spirit-sellers of the town, and the in* | ferior brandy is decorated up with borrowed plumes — the plumes of Hennessy. The labels Melbourne engravers turn out as neatly as ou the continent, and the corks are easily enough branded by the aid of the die sinker. In capsules bearing Henness\'a name small boys do a smart trade; collecting those not injured they can get Id each for them. Might this not be the case in Melbourne too ? " The Nelson Evening Mail remarks : — That this ia the case there can be no doubt. Hundreds of cases of this j spurious Hennessy are shipped to New Zealand ( and more particularly to the West Ooa st diggings. Melbourne papers hare bjen venting their spleen upon Haw Zealand, re. some damaged tea recently exported there. We have a spirituous Kolani for their cheering but not, inebriating Oliver in this vitriolic brandy.