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Southland Times, Issue 1613, 30 July 1872, Page 2

The Wellington, which was chartered by the Government to bring the English mail south from the Nebraska, having arrived at Poi't Chalmers yesterday forenoon, the letter portion of the mail may be expected to arrive ove.'land to-morrow niyht. We remind our readers that the electioa of four members of the Town Council takes place on Thursday, the candidates being Messsrs Pratt, Jaggers, Grarthwaite, Blackwood (retiring councillors), and Messrs Smith, Osborne and Porter. At the same time (he ratepayers will • be called on to choose two auditors, the candidates being Messrs Maerorie and Flemington (retiring auditors), and Messrs Perkins, Nutter, and Trew. A serious accident occurred last night on the North road. Mrs Stevens, wife of the Rev. A. Steven?, of Wallacetown, accompanied by her son, were returning home iv a bugu'V, when one of the front wheels came off, precipitating the occupants into the ditch by the side of the road. Mrs Stevens was at once carried to the house of the Rev. Mr Rishworth, and attended by Dr Monckton, who found that although severely shaken, she had not sustained any serious external injury. The lad, we understand, sprained his ankle badly. The dinner given to Mr M' Arthur, M.P.C. for Makarewa, at Winton, on Friday evening, appears to have been more of the character of a social and complimentary entertainment, than of a political meeting. No speeches of any political interest are reported. It is understood that Mr M' Arthur will take an early opportunity of addressing his constituents at a public meeting. The Wallacetown ploughing match, held on Friday last, took plara on a farm belonging to Mr Blaikie, late the property of Mr Hugh M'Lean. Although the weather was exceedingly favorable, the attendance, both of competitors and spectators, was by no means numerous, and the contest was confined to six single and one double furrow plough. The following is the prize list : — Single furrow ploughs — Ist prize, A. Christie ; 2nd do, J. Lindsay ; 3rd do, W. M'llwrick ; best break, A. Christie ; best finish, J. Lindsay ; best pair of horses, D. Noble. Double furrow plough — Prize, John Brown. The performance of this plough was so much admired, that the judges felt justified in awarding a prize, although there was no competition. The judges were Messrs Patterson, R. Hamilton, and James Wilson. A dinner at Mr Pelling's in the evening wound up tho praceedings. The half-yearly meeting of the Invercargill District of Oddfellows took place on Friday evening last, the 26th inst., at the Oddfellows' Hall, Tay-street. The chair was occupied by Brother George Goodwillie, Jfrov. G-.M. of the district. Delegates were present from the Riverton and local lodges, and a considerable number of members attended in the " gallery." The chairman, in opening the meeting, expressed the regret which he was sure was generally experienced in the loss to the district of the services ofthe late Brother Webster. Regarding the business of the meeting, the balance sheets of the different lodges were oa the table, and he thought it would be seen that it was absolutely necessary for the meeting to revert to tho original principle of an equal division of the contributions, and if it was found that the management fund could not overtake its expenses with the decreased revenue, the course adopted in some other lodges of charging the married members an additional fee for medical attendance would be worth adopting, and would amply make up the deficiency. A considerable amount of business of interest to tho district was then gone into, and the proceedings did not terminate until one o'clock on Saturday morning. Mr Joseph Rogers, of GHenquioch, requests us to intimate that he has resigned his appointment as a Director oi tho Nokomai Gold Mining Company. It is notified in the New Zealand G-izet(o of the 15th July that Dr Grigor has been appointed a certifying officer under the sixth section of the " Vaccination Act, 1871." A schooner which has been on the stocks at the New River for some tiino past, was successfully launched on the morning of Saturday last. She is the property of Mr Lewis Ackers, and the handiwork of Mr Dawson, shipbuilder. About a score of persons, besides the family of the owner, were present to witness the launch, which was exceedingly well managed, the vessel gliding in a graceful manner into her native element, and being christened, in the conventional styta, by Mr Ackers's youngest daughter, the " Mabel Jane." The vessel seems strong and staunch in every respect, and will no doubt prove a highly serviceable craft in either the coastal or sealing trades. Her dimensions are : — Length over all, 66ft. ; beam, 15ft. 3in. ; and depth of hold, 6ft. Bin. Her draught aft is 3ft. 2in., and forward, 2ft. sin. The preliminary prospectus of a new Fire and Marine Insurance Company, to bo called tho South British, appears in our advertising columns, from which it will be seen that Messrs H. J. Gibbs & Co. are prepared to receive applications for shares, and to furnish information regarding the new institution. It is stated that the shares applied for in Auckland and Wellington far exceed tha number for allocation iii theso places, and of the GOOD reserved for the province of Otago and Southland, applications for about 2900 have already been received in Dunedin, and there is little doubt that the demand will bo much beyond the number that can bo allocated. The institution is intended to be thoroughly local, each branch having two Directors, and a proportion of tho investments is to be made in each province where business is dono. Tho provisional directors for Ota^o are W. H. Reynolds, Esq., M.H.R., and John Davie, E^q., of Mossrs H'Laadress, Hepburn & Co., Duueiin. No less a sum than £41 was taken at the last meeting of the Thames Rifle Association for entries and sighting shots. A Bill is to be introduced into the Assembly for abolishing imprisonment for debt. Two Native members of the Legislative Council are to be appointed at an early date.

At a meeting of the County Council of Westl:m■', held on tho 19th, the Chairman submitted the following notice : — fi That the Council go into committee to consider the steps to be taken to effect a necessary change in the County administration. The Chairman accused members of a pre-determin.xtion to oppose the proposition. Members denounce.] such fir romance, and stigmatised the proposition as meaningless. A warm debate took place, m.'.mbe'r3 ad locating an extension of the County, and forcing the withdrawal of the resolution?, with directions to submit a scries of resolutions pointing out the requisite changes. The Council adopted resolutions requesting half- payment of salaries to Wardens, acting Magistrates, clerks, and bailiffs out of the Colonial revenue. The Hon. John Hall took his seat in the Legislative Council on the 23rd inst., and explained that there was not any disrespect intended by the Government in not having ■ appointed a representative in the Upper House ! earlier. It was owing to the distance of mem- | bers from the seat of Legislature. 1 The New Zealand Herald criticises Mr Sheehan's suggestion, on seconding the reply to the Governor's address, to hand over the administration of public works to Provincial Governments. It says that if ever provincialism was looked upon in Auckland with distrust and suspicion, it is so now ; that it is slowly dying ; and that 'all wish it dead and decently buried out of -,he way. An industry worthy of notice has been initiated by Highland settlers at Saddle Hill, near Dinedin, viz., the manufacture of hives. The only materials employed are tussac grass, the evei^handy flax, and a woo len bodkin. The grass is coiled, with strips of flax, into the shape of a cone, capable of containing 601 bof honey. From thß warmth and comfort the bees experience, they are much more active in culling honey. Persons who have used them affirm that one hire of this kind is worth three boxes, both for quantity and quality of honey. A man can make one a day with ease, and it sells for seven shillings. In a leading article on the small-pox, the Evening Post says: — "The number of Maoris who have been vaccinated is very small indeed ; their habits and mode of life are peculiarly adapted for fostering the growth of an epidemic, which, once it obtained a footing amongst them, would infallibly spread from end to end of the island, and too probably only ceasa when but a scattered remnant of" the aborigines was left." The members of the medical faculty in Dunedin are said to be besieged by persona desirous of being vaccinated. A burglary was committed lately at Temuka (Canterbury), when an iron safe, weighing about 2501b5, was removed from a store to a gully distant some 70 yards, and there broken open, the tools employed being a sledge hammer and cold chisels, which were procured from a neighboring foundry. The burglars muat have been sadly disappointed with their booty, as the cash abstracted only amounted to £2 4s 7d. The Church Gazette is the name of a monthly religious periodical which has just been started in Auckland, with a view to forming a record of events of interest to members of tho Church of England in New Zealand, and a means of communication between members of the Church throughout the diocese. Mr M. J. Malaghan has been elected Mayor of Queenstown. The "Vaccination Act, 1571," provides that " if the teacher of any school which is supported wholly or in part by grant, or from rates or any public funds, or by any endowments, whether colonial, provincial, or parochial, shall have reason to believe that any child attending such school has not been vaccinated, he shall give notice to the nearest public vaccinator, and such vaceinator shall examine the child, and i'", upon examination, he shall be of opinion that such child has not been successfully vaccinated, he shall thereupon vaccinate such child. Provi led that in the case of persons above the age of sixteen, the examination shall be conducted by a legally qualified medical practitioner, and the person, if necessary, be vaccinated by him." An Auckland paper saya : — " If farming does not pay in the Northern Island of New Zealand, as a general rule, we think sugar beet mi ght be cultivated with advantage. There is a large home demand for sugar and molasses for domestic use and manufacturing purposes, and we suggest to capitalists and farmers whether a joint stock company could not be formed here on a moderate scale, sufficient to meet the large and increasing home requirements." The Lyttelton Times of the 13th inst. reports that " the trout in the Acclimatisation gardens, Christchurch, are now spawning, and that portion of the gardens where the ponds are situated is closed to the public. Already a great number of eggs have been deposited by the fish, but as the latter are of the large river variety the total yield of spawn will not be equal to what would have resulted from the ordinary brook-trout. The large river trout only produce about 200 eggs per fish, whilst tho brook trout average quite 1000 each. There are from fifty to sixty trout in the garden?, but as the greater portion of these are male fishes, it ia not possible that more than about 5000 eggs will be spawned." In the House of Representatives the other day, in reply to a member, Mr Yogel said the Government intend to amend the Distillation Act, to enable publicans to brew upon their own premises, and to confer other privileges. The Rev. W. J. G-. Bluett has been duly elected a member of the Hou^e of Representatives for the Coleridge district (Canterbury). The Wakatip Mail of the 21th says : —The recovery of tho old Wakatip steamer, under tho careful management of Mr Price, is now almost accomplished. About one-half of her hull and engines are now above water, and it is probable that, by the end of t'ae week, she will be fairly afloat. As far as can bo seen, she is in good condition, and her timbers arc said to bo better than ever for the long submergence. Tne Pall Mill Gazette suggests an admirable punishment for drunkards. By the ancient law of France debtors wero sentence' l to wear in public a distinctive garment, under pain of imprisonment if found without it. If this plan were adopted for drunkards, it would promote the cause of temperance in a twofold manner, for, in addition to lessening the number of inebriates by making it penal for publicans to serve any one clothed in this " dyvour's habit," it would , decrease the number of low public-houses.

A privafe letter has been received by a gentleman in Auckland, stating that the Dominion of Canada have determined to send a Minister to New Zealand and Australia, for the purpose of obtaining information and statistics respecting the trade and resources of the colonies, with n. view to the establishment of a mail route to Europe by way of British Columbia. The Minister will be the Hon. S. L. Tilley, C.B. Minister of Marine and Customs for the Do minion, and he will bo empowered to nesrotiate with the respective Govern en ents of the various colonies for the establishment of a first-class mail and passenger service when the railway now in course of construction through Canada is eonpleted. The Hon. Mr Tilley writes to a relative that tho proposed service will be run in connection with the Cunard line of steamers from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and that he will visit British Columbia, in September next, and from ' thence he will proceed to Australia, and on to New Zealand. The northern railway, now being constructed through Canada, will shorten the overland journey by at least two days. A gentleman named Joseph lunsey, who lately died in Dublin, has left £3000 to the Auckland Orphan Home, and £5000 for the support of clergymen in Auckland.