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Southland Times, Issue 1616, 6 August 1872, Page 2

Mr Anthony Trollope arrived as was expected by the Albion on Saturday last, and started by . the early train on Monday morning for Winton, en route for Queenstown, accompanied by W. H. Pearson, Esq. We loam that the trout in the ponds at Wallacetown have commenced spawning. Last week the curator took from one hen fish, weighing about 21bs, over 2000 eggs, and as there are a large number in the ponds, we may expect a considerable addition to the finny tribe in our rivers this season. We understand that Mr Brogden's agent in Invercargill has received instructions to proceed with the construction of the Mataura railway without delay. An office in the large store in Tay street, belonging to Mr David Mitchell, has been secured for the use of the firm. From an advertisement in this day's paper, it will be seen that it is intended to commence operations at Edendale. The time for beginning work is a most fitting one, seeing that a large number of men will shortly be thrown out of employment through the closing fjr a period of the two meat preserving establish manta in- the district. An inquest was held at the hospital on Saturday on the body of a man named Simmons, who died there- on Wednesday night. In the absence of Dr Hodgkinson, Henry M'Culloch, Esq., R.M., acted as coroner. From the evidence it appeared that the deceased went to Morrison's accommodation-house at Benmore on the afternoon of Tuesday, 23rd July, and staid there that night. The next morning he seems to have given some trouble by disorderly conduct, and refused to leave the house. Morrison ultimately seized him by the collar, and threw him out from the dining-room door on to the gravel in front of the house, where he fell on his side. He was found on Thursday about 200 yards to the north-west of the hotel, in a partially paralysed condition, and removed to the hotel, and subsequently to the hospital, where he remained in a nearly unconscious state until his death. The inquest was adjourned till Monday next, to obtain further evidence. The police have since arrested Morrison on a charge of manslaughter, and he has been remanded till Monday, bail being refused. We are informed that Captain Thomson has had an interview with Messrs George Wood & Co., of Liverpool and London, who supply anchors for the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and that this eminent firm is disposed to consider the invention a valuable one, as remedying the most serious defects of former patents. At a meeting of the Town Council on Friday night, the following committees were appointed for the current year : — Public Works : Councillors Lumsden, Jaggers, and Q-arthwaite ; Finance : Councillors Pratt, Tapper, and Ross ; Reserves and Cemetery : Councillors Blackwood, Goodwillie, and Jaggers. It was resolved ,that the Surveyor should prepare a plan of drain in Yarrow-street, to include footpath from Doon to Deveron-street, thus forming a direct path to Deestreet. A special meeting was held yesterday afternoon to consider the subject of the Invercargill Special Rates Bill, introduced into the Assembly by Mr Bathgate. There were present the Mayor and Councillors Q-arthwaite, ,'Blackwood, Pratt, Lumsden, Goodwillie, and Rosa. The Bubject was discussed at some length. On the motion of Councillor Lumsdca, seconded by Councillor Garthwaite, the following resolution was adopted : — " That this Council has to express its surprise at the introduction by the Provincial Solicitor of a Bill in the Assembly for the purpose of levying a special rate on thlß town, for liqui dating the claim of Campbell & Robertson against the late Town Board, in the face of the fact that , the late Provincial Government of Southland

had agreed to take over the liability as a Provincial one, in consideration of the claim arising out of the construction of one of the main trunk roads passing through the town, but by some inadvertence the amount of the claim was omitted in the schedule of liabilities of the late province when the reunion was consummated ; and, further, in the face of tie fact that the Superintendent of the united Province gave the public of this town, beforo the formation of the munici-. pality, his guarantee on the part of the Government that the town would not be charged with the liability, and it was understood that the Provincial Government had already liquidated the claim." It was resolved that the above resolution 1 bo forwarded to the Superintendent bv telegraph, and that he should be requested to furnish copies to the following members of Assembly : — The Hon. Messrs Taylor, Nurse, Holmes, and Menzies, and Messrs Macandrew, { Webster, M'G-Ulivray, Calder, Bell, Mervyn, Reid, and Bathgafce. At the meeting of the District Land Board on Friday there were present Msssrs Pearson, Baker, and M' Arthur. The following applications were granted : — James Millar, 50 acres, Forest Hill Hundred ; 64 acre3, do ;40 acres, do ; George Webster and Richard Gibbs, 1670 acres, Hokanui District ; 330 acres, do, under the Oreti Railway Contract. An application by William Fraser for "a steam sawinill license over 300 acres of timber in the Otatara Bush was granted, on. Mr Fraser complying with the Timber Regulations, and paying deposit of £50 ; one hundred acres to be cut over at a time, the balance being reserved under the Regulations. Mr Fraser applied to have the license fee for his steam sawmill at Seaward Bush charged only from Ist January, 1872, instead of from Ist July, 1871, on the ground that he had not cut timber on the land during 1871, The Commissioner of Crown Lands explained that all the steam sawmill licenses in Seaward Bush were in a similar position, no timber having been allowed to be cut till the survey was completed, which was not till tha end of 1871. The license fee was charged from Ist January, as requested. On the application of Mr Cowan, it was resolved to request the Superintendent to reserve section 2, block 6, Elbow Township, for a public pound. la regard to the petition of Mr Roche, and certain residents in the neighborhood of Athol, to reserve two sections from sale on account of their containing timber, the Commissioner of Crown Lands stated that he had been informed by Mr Wade, solicitor for the petitioners, that he haJ received instructions to take no further steps in the matter. It was resolved that the petition could not be complied with, as the land had been sold to Mr Rogers, and it was not now in the power of the Board to deal with it. It was resolved that the bush opposite the greatest bend of the Eyre Creek be withdrawn from sale. Messrs Richardson and Geisow appeared to complain that they could not get payment for surveys effected by them, although the money had been deposited by the purchasers of land, owing to the money having been paid over to the Provincial Treasury, in conformity with instructions lately issued. It was resolved that the Commissioner of Crown Lands should call the attention of the Provincial Government to the delay. Mr J. E. Stevens, formerly teacher at the Bluff, has been duly appointed to the mastership of the main school at Clyde. Books have been ordered for the public libraries in Otago to the value of about £2000. The first consignment is expected to arrive in about four months. The form of the County Government has been discussed in the County Council of Westland, when it was resolved that the County Chairman be ex officio a member of the Council, and that both the members of the Council and the Chairman bo elective, their term of office being three years. It was also resolved that the constitution of the Road Boards be changed, each district being divided into wards to secure equal representation ; no rate exceediug Is ia the £, or several special rates exceeding Is in the £, to be levied in one year without the consent of the Council. Appeals to be settled before the Resident Magistrate or two Justices of the Peace. The district of Oamaru (says the local paper) can justly boast of its fruitful and rich soil, and may therefore be more independent of manures than places where the soil ib naturally les9 fertile. But the persistent repetition of grain-growing will sooner or later affect its productiveness. It does surprise us that no übo is made of the kelp or seaweed which is strewn so abundantly on the beach. Experience has taught us the marked benefits to be derived from its application to grass lands as a top-dressing, and as manure for grain crops. In some places in Scotland the rent is enhanced by £L per acre where farms are within reach of this saline manure. The Accountant in Bankruptcy publishes his fourth annual report in the New Zealand Gazette of the 15th ult. The total number of bankruptcies which have occurred during the year 1870-71 is 493, as against 715 the preceding year, a decrease for the year of 222, or over 31 per cent. The total number is composed of 94, cases, Auckland ; 90, Canterbury; 21, Nelson; 131, Otago and Southland ; 51, Wellington ; 20, Taranaki and Hawke's Bay ; 186, Westland. The total number of bankruptcies for four years has been 2022, or an average of over 500 per annum. In the year ending November, 1870, hotel-keepers aad publicans, storekeepers, farmers and settlers, and miners, supplied over three-eighths of the total number, or 198 out of 493 cases. A bag of wheat was exchanged for a bag of coal in Oamaru the other day. The Resident Magistrate at the Thames, in order to put a stop to constant breaches of the Publicans' Act, has expressed his determination to increase the penalties in those cases in geometrical proportion, until the maximum penalty is •reached, and said, if the publicans at the Thames could stand that, then they must be doing a better business than he thought. From Cape of Good Hope papers lately received in Melbourne, matters at the diamond fields are represented asbecoming every day moredisorderly^ Robberies were frequent and daring, and calls on the Government for protection were urgently advanced. Business was said to be overdone, the briskest trade which was carried on being in guns, which realised from £6 to £7 apiece. From 50 to 60 were being sold daily, but as a parcel ot 3,000 was expected feo arrive hourly, it was belie red the price would soon fall.

The appointments of Messrs Birch and Seaton as Immigration Agents were made on the recommendation of His Honor the Superintendent of Otago. The Customs revenue collected at the ports of Inveroargill and Bluff Harbor during the quarter: ended the 30th June last, amounted to £5757 ; for the corresponding quarter of last year the amount was £6012. ... The total amount collected! for the financial year which ended on the" 30th June, was £20,862. For the port of Riverton N the amounts were : — Quarter ended 30th June, £1162 ; corresponding quarter last year, £1816 ; total for financial year, £5278. The Customs revenue collected in the colony for the quarter ended 30th June last, amounted to £202,899; for the corresponding quarter of last year the amount was £183,601. The total for the financial year ended 30th June amounts to £775,891. ( During the quarter ended 30th June last there were 136,606 gallonß of spirits cleared at the different Custom hou9ea in the colony, the duty on which amounted to £77,862. The ale and beer passed during the same period amounted to 30,4,4,0 gallons, yielding a duty of £3659. Of wines the quantity cleared was 38,455 gallons, the duty on which added to the revenue the sum of £7691. The gold exported from New Zealand for the half year ended 30th June last was 287,672 ounces, of the value of £1,110,200. For the corresponding period of last year the returns are .—Exported, 355,0600z5., value, £1,352,698. Otago retains the premier position among the provinces as the largest producer, and a comparison with the corresponding period of laßt year shows an increase in the yield during the first part of the present year representing a value of £60,224. At the meeting of the Otago Waste Land Board, held in Danedin on the 31st ult., Mr T. E. Robertson applied for permission to burn the vegetation on some rough country adjoining his holding in Mokoreta Hundred, when permission was granted to him at his own risk. The Curator of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, from experiments made by him, is sanguine that he will be able to transmit ova in a healthy state to any part of the world, by post . In the House of Representatives on the 3')th ult., in Committee, the Drawbacks Bill was amended by ale, porter, and beer in bulk being included in the first schedule of goods on which no drawback is allowed ; and also by allowing all the articles in the schedules to be exported the same as if in the original packages, if opsned and repacked in the presence of a Customs ofßcer. Drawback is also to be allowed at the discretion of the Governor, on goods manufactured in the Colony from materials on which duty has been paid. In reply to the statement that the report published in the Otago Daily Times of a debate in CongreßS on the question of subsidising Webb's San Francisco line ia a fabrication, that journal says : — Should it turn out upon enquiry that no such debate as that reported by us ever occurred, we shall take the earliest opportunity of expressing our regret that we had unwittingly been the medium of presenting to our readers statements regarding Mr Webb's steamers which havo not been made. In the meantime, our readers will agree with us that the report of the debate which we published bears on its face evidence of its genuineness. The schooner Aurora was totally wrecked while endeavoring to come out of Catlin's River, bound to Oamaru, with a cargo of timber. According to the Lyttelton Times, a movement is on foot in the General Assembly, having for its object the removal of the seat of Government from Wellington to C'uristchurch, and it is said that there is a strong probability of the measure being carried. Although the second reading of the Permissive Bill was carried in the House of Representatives by a majority of two, it i* stated that several of those who voted for the second reading did so with a view to excising the permissive clauses in committee. Sir J. Crncroft Wilson has been returned unopposed to the Assembly as representative of the Hoathcote district (Canterbury).

A general meeting of shareholders in the Old Wukiitipii Deep Sinking Company is convened for this evening, at 8 o'clock, at the Prince of Wales Hotel.