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Southland Times, Issue 1560, 5 April 1872, Page 2

The flooding of the Bay of Islands coal mines has thrown seventy men out of employment. A liquor analyst is employed in Victoria, who visits all the public houses, notes the quality of their drink, and reports accordingly to the Board of Health. ; A Canterbury paper says it is stated on good authority that a requisition is on the tapis requesting Mr E. J. Wakofield to resign his seat for Christchurch East in the General Assembly. It is reported that Mr J. H. Harris intends to become a candidate for the seat in the Provincial Council expected to be rendered vacant by the resignation of the member for Port Chalmers. It is expected that the prooosed alterations in the rules of the Southland Building, Land, and Investment Society will be placed before the public in the course of a few days. A toll-keeper in Auckland wished to collect a fee for the passage of a threshing machine, but the Bench of Magistrates at Otahuhu decided it waa an " implement of husbandry," and therefore exempt. Mr Booth and Kopa, says the Wanganui Herald of the 23rd, are negotiating for the purchase of two blocks of land in the Manawatu district, containing 40,000 acres and 20,000 acres respectively. Kepa is understood to be one of the owners. The first general meeting of the members of the Auckland Permanent Co-operative Building and Investment Society has been heli in Auckland, at which there were 680 shares subscribed for. As each share is for £20, the above number represents £13,600. The total receipts of the Provincial Government of Auckland for the quarter ending December 31, 1871, from all sources, amounted to £22,319 8s 3d, and the expenditure to £35,204 12s 4d, thus reducing the balance ia the Bank, and in the treasurer's hands, brought forward last quarter, from £42,372 18a 9J to £29,487 14s Bd, at which it now stands. An entertainment is announced to be given iv the Theatre Royal this evening for the joint benefit of Miss Dolly Green ani Mr J. Small, when a new programme will be introduced, including some of the choicest selections from the repertoire of those highly popular artistes. As this will be positively the last appearance, the Theatre will no doubt be the point of attraction tc-night. We believe the troupe intend giving an entertainment at Riverton on the evening 3of Monday and Tuesday next. A painful piece of intelligence (says -the Wellington Independent) readies us from Dunedin. Poor Mr St. John Brani^an, on account of whose affliction so much sympathy was evoked, we now learn, has had a relapse, and attended with symptoms which preclude all idea of a restoration to his faculties. His condition was such as to necessitate his being placed under restraint, and it is even thought that his physical organisation will not long outlive the loss of reason. The New Zealand Gazette of March 23 contains the agricultural statistics of the County of Westland. The number of holdings was 18 1 ; land broken up but not under crop, 215 acres j in wheat, nil j in oats, 7 acres, estimated to yield 245 bushels j in barley, 1 acre, estimated to yield 20 bushels ; in hay, 119 acres, estimated to yield 224 tons ; in permanent artificial grass, 1336 aores ; in potatoes, 218 acres, estimated to yield 947 tons ; in other crops, 95 acres ; total number of acres under crop, 1938. A correspondent of a contemporary writes as follows : — Tue reason why Australian wool is rising in prica in the London market is the decrease of the home growth from 165,000,0 J01bs in 1868 to 145,00 >,0 JOlbs in 187 L, say equal to 60,000 bales. Another reason is the decrease in the American growth from 177,000,0001bs in 1868 to 146,000,0001bs in 1871, say equal to 100,000 bales ; total decrease for England and America, 160,000 bales, There must also be a decrease in the French yield of wool on account of the sheop slaughtered during the "war. The agricultural statistics of Ha-vke's Bay are published in the Kew Zealand Gazette of March 23. The number of holdings was 350 ; land broken up but not under crop, 2446 acres ; in wheat, 615 acres, / eatimated to yield 10,554 bushels ; in oats, 660 acres, estimated to yield 14,536 bushels ; in barley, 252 acres, estimated to yield 525J bushels ; iv hay, 1440 acres, estimated to yield 1831 tons ; in permanent artificial grass, 70,230 acres ; in potatoes, 236 acres, estimated to yield 789 tons ; in other crops, 90 acres ; total number of acres under crop, 72,324; in hand of last year's crop, 656 bushels wheat, 1757 bushels oats, 35 L bushels barley. The following has been handed to us for publication : — The Rev. James Kirkland, Convener of Missions, has been to Tuapeka, baptising other two Chinese converts, converted through the instrumenta ity of Paul Ah Chin, at present laboring as Presbyterian missionary in that locality. A few months ago other three Chinese converts were baptised, making five in all within the comparatively short period of Paul's labors among hia countrymen in Otago. A strong feeling has for some time been manifesting itself among the friends of Missions, in tho direction of an additional missionary to the Chinese : what therefore is better calculated to prompt that leeling into practical ahapa than the above information P It is to be hoped the Committee of Missions may soon hare several such Chinese missionaries on the various gohifiel Is of our province.

At the general meeting of the Artillery Company of volunteers, held last evening in the drillahed, the following non-commissioned officers were elected : Messrs E. D. Butts and A. Brown, sergeants ; L. B. Sangster, J. J. Cuff, B. Wesney, and H. Brown corporals. We understand that there is some likelihood of Mr John M'Pherson, of the firm of M'Pheraon & Co., being a passenger, "with his family, per the Christian M'Ausland, Yesterday Mr M'Pherson resigned his trusteeship of the endowment of land granted to the Southland Acclimatisation Society. The children of St. John's Church of England Sunday School, were gathered together last evening by Mr George Baker to an exhibition of the magic lantern, in the school room of the church. About fifty views were presented," comprising scripture incidents, natural scenery, and humorous pieces. It is almost unnecessary to add that the young folks were" highly delighted. It is proposed by the Provincial Q-overnment .' of Wellington that the municipal corporation of Wanganui should take over the" bridge in that . town. The bridge cost £32,000, the interest and ■ •inking fund upon which amount to £2,003 per annum. Although the present receipts are said to amount to £2,300 a-year, the corporation does not seem to be tempted by the proposition. In the Resident Magistrate's Court, Riverton, on Wednesday, Kee Chang was brought up before Mr EL. M'Culloch, R. M., and formally charged with soiling spurious gold. The accused did not, we understand, deny having sold the cakes of amalgam, but alleged that its spurious character was wholly the result of accident ; the baser portion of the metal having got infused into the cakes during the process of amalgamation. The prisoner was fully committed to take his trial on each of the preferred charges. A small quantity of beef, preserve I by a new process, has been received from Switzerland. The preserver, (says the " Geelong A Iverfciser,") is Mr Joseph Stamm, the principal of a seminary at Thurganvie, a canton in Switzerland, and a gentleman who for many years made chemistry a favorite study; The process is said to be both simple and inexpensive. What it is has not been explained, but it is stated that to preserve beef by it no expensive plant is, required as in the case of our Australian meat factories. The beef comes out as a steak, and all that is required is to soak it in water ani then grill it. The meat is fresh and sweet. The monthly meeting of the Committee of the Athenaeum, was held on Tuesday last, the president and Messrs Fredric, Gilmour, Lumsden, and Perkins being present. A letter was submitted by the secretary, received from Mr Hislop, Inspector of Schools, intimating his willingness to deliver two lectures on behalf of tlie Athen£Biim. The secretary was directed to reply with thanks, and fixing the dates of delivery at 16th and 23rd instants. Instructions were also issu?d for the acceptance of aa offer for lease of the Society's reserve in tho Campbelltown Hundred at a nominal rent fop one year. The question of the infc.oJucfion to the Reading Room of a leading Irish journal was diaemsei. but allowed to stand over until nest meeting. The other business was simply routine. The Municipal Council met last night. Present — Tho Mayor (Mr Wood), and Councillors Ghirthwaite, Blackwood, Pratt, Luois lon, Jaggers, and G-oodwillie. The report of the Public Works Committee, held over from last meeting, was brought up for consideration. Clauses 1 and 2 of the report were expunged, and the remainder adopted. The Clerk reporte I that £552 2s had been collected as rates to date. A report from the Finance Committee was read, and ordered to be published in terms of the Act. A sum of £50 was voted as part payment for the repair of the Jetty. Mr Christie's tender for 1-horse team, 11s, and 2-horses, 143 per day, was accepted. George Clark's tender for repair of the_ Dee street footpath, £61 8s 2d, was accepted. The Mayor was requested to attend the proposed conference of Mayors at Dunedin. The Council adjourned at 11.30 p.m. The following news from, the diamond fields at the Cape of Good Hope, is published in the Eastern Provinces Herald, of date Ist December: — " A miner, Mr Edward Welsh, ha 3 been fortunate enough to unearth a diamond weighing fifty carats. A small diamond has been found in one of the reaches of the Orange River in Nainaqnaland. A public sale was announced by an auctioneer of Grahamstown of diamonds to the value of £25,000. They included " gems of the first water." The Dutch boers were said to be bagging handsome fortunes at the diamond fields, from £3000 to £6300 having been the results of their claims, which were not worked out. Two Nataliana had returned to Maritzburg with 120 diamonds weighing 336fc carats, the result of six months' work. A young man named Jones from Maritzburg had also returned, bringing a gem which weighed 113 carats, for which he asked a very large price. The " West Coast Times,*' after mentioning the great desirability of periodically removing the gold-wardens, says that the matter has already been brought under the notice of the Government by the report of the Otago Mining Commission, and by other means, and very probably some remecly for the evil will be applied in the ensuing tession. No representations have, however, been yet made in respecc to the desirability of effecting a similar periodical change of Resident Magistrates. Yet there is quite as much — if not more — to urge in favor of such a course in their case. They cannot possibly avoid becoming closely intimate with a section of the community where they are located, and the consequence is that when their decisions favor their intimate friends, they are charged with partiality, and a disregard of their high and sacred duty to judge evenly between man and man. It must be admitted, too, that even unconsciously the Magistrate will be inclined to place more reliance upon the statements of his intimate acquaintance — particularly if he be influential — than upon those of an unknown anJ inferior person. Without being aware of it, he enters upon the hearing of a ease with a prejudice for one siie, and the chances are very poor indeed for the other. The only remedy for this is tho removal of Resident Magistrates from one district to another, so as to remove at the samo time even the breath of suspicion on the administration of justice. We have been requested to direct attention to the sale of Brahma j?oofcra poultry to be held tomorrow by Air Afacrorii in his yards. The fowls are said to be a very superior lot. '