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Southland Times, Issue 1565, 19 April 1872, Page 2

According to a contemporary, the Council of the New Zealand University have decided that no undergraduate shall be admitted to a degree till he ha.? kept nine terms ; or, if a student of th"> Otago University, till he has kept three year's terras. £70 scholarships are only to bj awarded for 85 per cent., of marks in any one branch of stu ly. No scholarship is to bo awarded for less than 50 percent, of marks. The scholarships are to be hell by successful candidates for one year, bat on proving satisfactory progress, they may be held for two and three years. The following paragraph appoirs in The Engineer of Docember 20ih, JB7l : — Vgents hivo arrived in London from South Walos to secure the services of one thousand men in the construction of a railway in New Z -aland. Tho men required are skilled mechanics and steady laborers, such as masons, bricklayers, carpenters, engineers, wheelwrights, platelayers, and excavators. They will have their fares paid ou-. to New Znland, and their wages will go on from the date of sailing, and other privileges. This will probably relieve to some extent the^eriously depressed state of the London building trade. The time of departure will be about six weeks hence. Cyrus Haley has been found guilty of shooting with intent to kill, and"sentenced to penal servitude for life. The following particulars of his past career may interest our readers : — " While a sergeant in an engineer corps in India, he conceived a violent hatred for tho Adjutant of the Regiment, and robbed the military chest, afterwards burying it, in order to throw suspicion on the Adjutant. He failed' to do so, and was sentenced to four years' impr isonment. He was sent to Portland Gaol, England, where he obtained the remission of a part of his sentence on condition that he showed where the military chest was concealed. He performed this condition, and 10,000 rupees (£1000) were thus recqvered. He then entered tho service of the Bombay and Baroda Railway Company, and soon had 20,000 rupees (£2000) at his credit, leading to the supposition that he had kept back a part of the contents of the military chest. He was afterwards in receipt of 545 rupees a month (£654 a year) and filled several responsible offices. Having lost > money, however, he went to England, where his last feat was that of forcing a gentleman to sign a cheque by holding a pistol at his head. He then came to New Zealand. He handed eight certificates of character to Judge Arney, none being of later date than 1565. They show his real name to be John Cyrus Haley. He sent for Mr Rusaell and expressed regret for his conduct towards that gentleman. It is thought th it ho has an eye to throwing the authorities off their guard, and then escaping from gaol." The Southern Cross says : — lt not utifrequently happens that those who wish to drive hard bargains quite overreach themselves. In trying to make a big haul, to " do the thing handsomely," they defeat the object they have in view. A case of this kind has lately occurred with the Auckland briekmakers. Several months ago bricks were bein^ sold in Auckland at a price per thousand which left a handsome profit to tho makers of them. But tho works on the Auckland and Waikato railway were resumed, and it was considered that, as the Messrs Brogden would require a very large number of bricks to build the walls and roof of the tunnel through the Domain, and that firm being strangers in tho place, a fine chance was presented of getting a " big" prico for tho bricks required for that and other works along tho railway line. Ou tho representatives of thii firm applying for a list of prices, &c , they were surprised to find the extraordinary increase of price which had taken place, although do extensive buildings in brick were being erected in Auckland or the neighborhood. It has frequently been asserted that that firm are regardless of the expense incurred, so long as the works are conducted under the percentage agreement, but such is a mistake. When thay'Baw the extraordinary manner in which they were to be " done" in regard to the bricks, they hesitated to conclude a contract. The staff of engineers which the Messrs Brogden employ are experienced men — men who have labored at their profession under many foreign climes — and who are not likely to be readily deceived as to the cost of the production, under any circumstances, of any number of bricks. They know that to construct and erect the necessary brickmaking machinery, and thus produce their own bricks, they could be made at a very much less coat than the prico asked, and it was at fi-st intended to pursue this course. On m mature reflection it was considered that euch a step "might be looked upon as too groat an interference with local trade. They thereupon ascertained the cost of obtaining the requisite quantity of dressed scoria stones for the sides of the tunnel, and found that it would be less than the extraordinary price which was being asked for the brick*. This course was approved of by the Resident Engineer, and, instead of the whole tunnel being built in brick work, only the roof •will be so built. The result will be that barely one-third of the number of bricks will be used in the construction of tho tunnel that would have been the case had the price asked been moderate. It is such attempts at extortion that cause contracts for material and plant to go elsewhere, and thus an injury is done to the trade and prosperity of the city through the greed of the few.