OUR MONTHLY LETTER HOME.

Southland Times, Issue 1600, 2 July 1872, Page 3

OUR MONTHLY LETTER HOME.

The Waikouaiti election for the House of Representatives has resulted in the j return, by a large majority, of Sir David ■ Monro, the late Speaker. Sir David ia ; an opponent of the Yogel Ministry, and 1 objects to the scale on which it is pro- ■ posed to carry out the immigration and public works policy on borrowed money. He was opposed by no less than five rival candidates of various shades of opinion, but all supposed to be supporters of the 1 Ministry. The absence of anything like management in the conduct of this election, by the Ministerial party, is ascribed by some to the knowledge that the Waikouaiti constituency was sure to return an opposition member, and so was not worth contesting, and by others, to the feeling of security which is supposed to • prevail in the Ministerial camp, based on the well-known numerical superiority of \ the Government in the Assembly, and the absence of anything like cohesion, or common principles of action, on the part i of the so-called opposition. There have been rumors circulated by the opposition journals of the formation of a party hostile ( to the present Ministry, whose rallying , cry should be the Provincial administra- ? tion of the railway and imoiigrarion loans, in -which Mr Fitzherbert, Superin- [ tendent of Wellington, ia mentioned as ', likely to take a prominent place. There is not, however, the slightest probability of such a policy being adopted by the Assembly. The Provincial institutions of the colony are certainly dying hard, and may continue the struggle for existence for some years to come, but the day has gone by for extending their powers, or handing over to them the administration of the colonial funds. The parties in the Assembly may, in fact, be most correctly designated as the " ins" and the "outs." The "outs" do not object to the policy of the Ministry, and would be ready to adopt it if they had the opportunity ; but what grieves them to the heart is to see the incompetent and extravagant manner in which Mr Yogel and his friends deal with the public money, which they could manage so much better and more economically themselves. The " ins," on the other hand, are fully aware of the advantages of their position, and mean to retain it as long as possible, being troubled with no scruples as to their fitness to discharge its duties, and by no means above taking a leaf out of the book of the opposition, when the Assembly seems inclined to adopt any particular course not exactly included in the Ministerial programme. It is thought vary probable, therefore, that the present Ministry, with perhaps some slight modifications, will continue in power for some time longer. Several contracts for railways have been made with the Messrs Brogden, including the line from Invercargill to Mataura. The works have not yet been commenced, and it is not thought that much will be done till the spring sets in. The arrangements made by Mr Yogel with the Victorian Government for a joint mail service with this colony to San Francisco, may be said to be virtually at an end. The Duffy Ministry in Victoria, with whom the bargain was made, having been defeated, and public opinion in Melbourne having declared itself against the arrangement, as unjustly favoring New Zealand, it is not anticipated that their successors will recommend it for the sanction of Parliament. At the same time we hear that the American Congress have refused an expected subsidy to the line. The subject has been, however, favoi'ably considered by the Sydney Legislature, and as the importance of regular steam communication between the Australasian colonies and America is every day becoming better understood, it is hoped that some plan of joint action will yet be concerted, by which this mail route will be placed on a permanent footing for some years to come. A political meeting was held at Riverton on the 14th inst. for the purpose of obtaining a share of the proposed railway expenditure in the shape of a line from the port to the interior, which it was shown would be of great value to the agricultural settlers, who have extreme difficulty in getting their produce to market on account of the expense of carriage over the bad roads. At the close of the meeting, Mr M'Gillivray, M.H.R. for Eiverton, addressed his constituents, and reviewed the action of last session, and the present policy of the Government, in a sensible and practical speech. Two cases of small-pox have been reported, from Wellington and Auckland respectively. The Auckland case terminated fatally. The disease is said to have been introduced from America, by the Nebraska. In both cases the Government were able effectually to isolate the patients, and to adopt precautions which, it is hoped, will prove effectual to prevent the further spread of this much-dreaded maladp. Papers on the subject of vaccination and re-vaccination, prepared by the medical department of the Privy Council, have been extensively distributed throughout the country, and from the facilities afforded by the recent Vaccination Act of the General Assembly, the public are enabled to obtain without difficulty the protection which this operation is now ascertained to afford. The half-yearly session of the Supreme Court in Invercargill is now proceeding. The criminal business, just brought to a close, comprised an unusually long list of cases, though none of the offences were of a very serious kind. New Zealand certainly contrasts favorably with the other colonies of the Australasian group, in its comparative immunity from the more violent forms of crime. This may perhaps be partly due to the character of the country, which renders bushranging, as a systematic pursuit, an impossibility, and makes it exceedingly difficult for a criminal to escape the hands of justice for any length of time. The approaching election of Mayor and four Town Councillors for Invercargill

. is beginning to excite a little interest in local circles. The members of the Town , Council certainly deserve the thanks of , their fellow-citizens for the industry and [ perseverance with which they have , attended to their duties during the past year. The results of their labors are . now beginning to be agreeably apparent, I in various directions, and if the work of improvement proceeds as it has begun, Invercargill will soon compare favorably in respect of comfort and convenience , with any other town of similar popula- , tion in the colony. The weather for the last fortnight has been unusually severe. A heavy fall of snow in the middle of the month was succeeded by hard frosts, and though a thaw accompanied by heavy rain has since set in, the snow has not entirely disappeared from the ground in some places where it is sheltered from the sun's rays by trees or scrub. It may be mentioned, for the information of our home readers , that it is very unusual for snow to lie on the low ground for more than three days in any part of New Zealand, and that the late fall was quite exceptionally heavy. The frost too was unusually severe, ice strong enough for skating upon having been formed on many of the shallow waterholes. It is now ten years sinoo we had ice of similar thickness, and the memory of " the oldest inhabitant," reaching back in our case about fifteen yeara, has been appealed to as usual in such cases, but in vain, for any recollection of a storm of equal severity on this coast.