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Southland Times, Issue 1622, 20 August 1872, Page 2

We remind our readers that the excursion train for the Winton ploughing match leaves the Invercargill station at half-past ten o'clock' this morning. H the weather continues as favor* fc able as yesterday, the excursion ought to prove an enjoyable one for those residents of the town who can spare a day for a holiday. Amongst other improvements which require the attention of the municipal authorities, we would suggest the formation of a footpath on the" west side of Clyde Btreet, as far as the Custom House. The amount of foot traffic, we think, warrants the necessary outlay. On Friday evening the various Volunteer corps of Invercargill, Artillery, Rifles, and Cadets, held a meeting in the Drill-shed, for the purpose of presenting Sergeant- Maj or Paxton with an address aud testimonial on the occasion of his leaving for Dunedin. The address, elegantly engrossed on parchment by Volunteer J. J. Cuff, and signed by the officers of the various corps, was as follows : — " Invercargill, August 16. To Sergeant-Major Paxton. Dear Sir, — Wej the, undersigned members of Invercargill Volunteer Corps, desire to express our deep regret at your removal from this district, and to make known to you the esteem and respect we have for you as an officer, a comrade, and a private citizen. We therefore cannot allow you to leave us, even though your absence may be temporary, without requesting your acceptance of this, as a slight but heartfelt expression of our feelings towards you, and sincerely trust that wherever your professional duties may call you, God will protect and prosper both you and yours." The Cadets also presented an address. Captain Wade, on behalf of the Artillery and Rifles, then presented' Sergeant-Major Paxton with a handsome watch and gold Albert chain, with greenstone pendant. A handsome cameo brooch, for Mrs Paxton, was then handed to Mr Paxton by Captain Dalglieshand Lieut. Fraser, of the Cadets, presented a gold pencil caae. Mr Paxton repliedin appropriate'^* terms, and the meeting closed with cheers foe"* * the Queen, Mr Paxton, and the officers. The ewellery was purchased from Messrs M. and J. Hyams. A complimentary tea meeting was given in th e vestry of the Presbyterian Church last night to Mr George Weaven, one of the Sabbath School teachers, who is about to leave the colony for Victoria. Mr Weaven was presented by his fellow-teachers with a handsome copy of Eadie's Biblical Cyclopedia.

The roadway in the Popotunoa Gorge was so completely covered with snow on Wednesday and < Thursday last week that it was impossible to * guess where the track lay. This accounts for the \ delay in the delivery of the Dunedin mail. < Afc the Pesident Magistrate's Court yesterday, ! John Burke was charged with being drunk and disorderly in Doe-street at 10 o'clock on Sunday ' morning. Fined 10s, or 24 hours' imprisonment. ' Allen v. M'lntyre and M'lntyre v. Allen were postponed till Friday, the counsel for one of the ■ parties being absent. M'Chesney v. Keene, " claim for £1 6s, was admitted by defendant, who ' pleaded inability to pay. Judgment for plaintiff, with costs, 9s. Ludlain t. Irvine was a claim for £i 19s cab hire Judgment for plaintiff with costs. Swale v. Stewart, claim for £10 15s, was dismissed on the ground that the defendant had [ received his discharge in bankruptcy. A settler in the neighborhood of Winton, named Michael Clear, attempted to commit , suicide on Thursday night, by cutting his throat . with a razor. The unhappy man seems to have gone to the edge of a creek, tied two heavy weights to his body, and cut his throat in the expectation of falling into the water. Instead of that he fell upon the bank, and the night being clear, and snow on the ground, he was seen by a . settler going home. He was conveyed to the Hospital by a special train, and attended to by . Dr. Grigor, and it is understood that he is likely to recover. A Long Bush correspondent sends the following : — The third of the series of popular entertainments came off in the school-room here on the evening of Friday, 9th. As regards numbers, the excellence of the performances, and the harmonious spirit which prevailed, this certainly has claim to be pronounced the most successful entertainment of the season — indeed it is considered by the residents as the best which has ever been given here. Aa a proof of the attractiveness of these assemblies, parties were present, notwithstanding the bad state of the roads, from considerable distances — Roslin Plains, Myross Bush, Mona Bush, One Tree Point, &c. Mr John G. Smith, who presided, opened the proceedings of the evening by reading an original prologue, which contained several happy and racy local allusions, and which were readily understood and received with repeated cheers. In the course of the evening Mr James M'K^rcher read "The One-legged Goose," and " He is a Gentleman for all that ;" Mr Ross, a chapter from Artemus Ward ; Mr Edgar, "The Bumpkin's Courtship," and Mr J. G. Smith, "Two Views of Matrimony," viz., " Hood's Bachelor's Dream," and " The Siege of Wensburg," and selections from Dean Ramsay^ the wit and humor ot which contributed not a little to the amusement of the evening. The whole of the readings were most effectively given, and the various readers received their due meed of praise in the applause with which they were greeted by the audience. " Napoleon's Speech to the Grand Army" was recited by Mr Richards in capitai style, considering this was his first appearance on any stage. " Last May a braw Wooer," was sung by Mr Andrew Christie ; " Provide for a Rainy Day," and " Walking in the Zoo," by Mr Chalmers ; an original Irish parody on " Father, come Home," by Mr Edgar, a comic song by Mr Wray, " The Slave Ship" and "The Bold Musqueteer," by Mr Cronan j ' Hard Times come again no More," and ' Johnnie comes Marching Home" by the school choir, all of which met with a most flattering and cordial reception. By way of an epilogue, Mr Smith read a number of verses composed for the occasion, entitled " Don't meddle with others' affairs," which was received with hearty applause. It is but justice to say that Mr Smith's exertions in the cause of popular entertainments are much and deservedly appreciated by the public— which is amply evidenced by the large attendance, and by the readiness with which the amateur performers proffer their services. A most agreeable and rational evening's entertainment was brought to a close by the whole audience joining right heartily in singing the Queen's Anthem. The next meeting was announced to take place on the 6th of September. The Invercargill Reserves Management Ordinance, 1872, passed at the last session of the Provincial Council, has received the Governor's assent. The Ordinance provides for the transfer of the Municipal and Recreation reserves to the Corporation. The Wellington correspondent of the West Coast Times says : — Tbe Hon. Mr Waterhouse, perhaps the abiest man in the Legislative Council, has given notice of motion to the effect that that body should be made elective. Recent elevations to that Chamber, notably that of Mr Lahman, have created dissatisfaction and distrust, and there are rumora of threatened resignations. The Lords are a very prying set of fellows, and whenever a new member is sent up to them, they set about inquiring who he is, what he is, what he was, what phase of tbe social or political world he represents. Does he represent property ? Does he represent high moral principles or intellectual culture ? Such are some of the impertinent queries indulged in by M.L.C.'s. The answers to these queries do not -appear to have been satisfactory in Mr Lahman' s case. Satisfactory arrangements have been come to between Mr Brogden and those of his navvies who were inclined to be obstreperous when they arrired. All the men have agreed at Picton to work 53 hours a week, being nine hours a day, and eight hours on Saturday. The remuneration is fixed at 6s per day for first-class men, and 5s for those who are inferior. A number of diggers, it is said, have made application at Mr Brogden's Picton office for employment at the same rate. On the last licensing day at Auckland, about £3000 was paid by publicans into the Provincial Treasury. Tho troubles of traders in Westport, through the sea encroachments, may be estimated from the fact that a local tobacconist advertises himself as "on the wallabi track," appealing to his to " look for the house on wheels." Manukau Rewarewa, the principal chief on the Arapaua River, Kaipara district, died lately, as is supposed, of apoplexy. He was a man of great authority and influence among his people, and was always a friend to the pakeha. He was never christened, and stuck to one native custom to the last, viz., polygamy, leu ing some five widows to mourn his loss. The celebrated Queenstown mining case, Eager v. Grace, is estimated to have yielded £2000 to the lawyers. [

t^mmmmmmmm — —— — — — ■— — —»«« The Oamaru Times says *. — Of all the novel expedients to which the good people of this place had to resort during the coal famine, tho following seems the most amusing. When fuel of any sort was not to be obtained for love or money it is not surprising that the head of a household should exercise his wits in discovering means to avoid the necessity of eating raw meat, but wo must confess tbe genius or the daring of that man must have been great who could propose to his better half the burning of the cradle. This was, however, proposed and assented to by an estimable couple in this town, who seem by no means shut out from the hope of a<»ain requiring this indispensable and cheering piece of domestic furniture. A writer in tho Grey River Argus says : — Some years ago, I crossed over from the Big River, a tributary of the Grey that joins the main river near the Little Grey, and followed down a stream that joins with the Inangahua below Fern Flat : and in the bed of that stream i I saw a coal seam which may not inaptly be » designated as magnificent. For many yards I j passeJ between two perpendicular walls of the glittering mineral. As far as I could reach up to displace the overhanging mosses it reached, and as far as the water would permit me to sink, I found no change. I could mention many other places where coal outcrops in the Grey Valley. In short, our coal supply is almost inexhaustible. Mr James Payne, of Greymouth, who, with other gentlemen, has been interesting himself in the matter of introducing salmon and trout ova to the rivers of the West Coast, recently addressed a letter on the subject to Dr Hector, and received the following reply : — " In reply to your letter of the 20th ult., I beg to inform you that I understand Government have determined that all the ova by the first shipment is to be sent to the Makarewa Ponds, in Southland, and I suppose the young fish, when reared, will be afterwards distributed to various parts of the Colony. I have not the control of the arrangements, but will be very glad to do anything in my power to assist in securing a supply of the fish for the Grey River, which I think will be one of the best adapted streams in the Colony for the purpose." In connection with bis Insular Separation resolutions, Mr Reynolds proposes that Akaroa (Canterbury) should be the seat of government for the Middle Island. Plummer, who escaped from the gang of prisoners at work near Hillside, Dunedin, was captured by Detective Farrell in that city on the evening of Tuesday last, 13th inst. He had been staying at the Rainbow Hotel since the previous i Saturday night, and several till robberies whioh had been perpetrated during the evenings be was at liberty were clearly traced to him. When arrested Plummer wore a pepper and salt color coat, new dark colored trousers, a scarf and collar, a waistcoat (supposed to be the one stolen from the Cricket Ground pavilion), a shirt, and I elastic-sided boots. He wore the prison inside \ flannel, and a piece of flannel had been aewn over the prison brand on it. He wore a soft light-colored felt hat, which was quite new. Plummer relates with great gusto how he passed men whom he knew to be police in disguise in the public thoroughfares, but so completely was he made up that they never detected him. The Tuapeka correspondent of the Bruce Herald writes as follows t — A meeting was held in the Commercial Hotel the other evening, in referenco to the railway to Tuapeka. The petition, neatly engrossed, was read to the meeting. The number of signatures to the same could not be ascertained, as returns from Teviot and other places had not been received. The sum of £82 was subscribed to bear the expenses of a deputation to Wellington. It is proposed to Bend the present and ex-mayor on the mission. Your late, and our present, member, J. C. Brown, is now doing his utmost, concentrating the whole of his power for the purpose of accomplishing the object. It is reported that in log-rolling he has done a stroke iu our favor. More power to him, 1 say. In noticing the arrival of Mr Anthony Trollope in Lawrence, the Tuapeka Times says :— "Mr Pearson must have been able to furnish Mr Trollope with valuable information regarding the goldfieldß, as he has never before visited them. However the fact that he has existed for a number of years in that lively village, Invercargill, without loeing possession of his faculties, j renders him peculiarly fitted to pilot a stranger through any country under tho sun." This is certainly a brilliant specimen of that better feeling towards Southland which was predicted bv the originators of the movement as the natural outcome of the-reuniou with Otago. The Wellington correspondent of an Otago paper reckons up Mr Fitzherbert, the Superintendent of Wellington, as follows :— ln fact, as 1 wrote of him when be was contesting the Superintendency, people admire his ability, but no one trusts him. Only the other day, two members were discussing his career. One recalled Mr Fitzherbert's many changes of partj and opinion, ending by saying that Mr F. had been very inconsistent. Not at all, replied the other, Mr Fitzherbert has lived not one life but many, and each has been consistent with itself He does not change his opinions, but when those he holds become inconvenient, he simply wipes them out and starts on a fresh career in the most consistent manner, with a bran new set of opinions. Clever as he undoubtedly is, I doubt if the House would again tolerate him as a Minister. Our old friend Mr A. J. Smyth has been appointed Messrs Brogden and Sons' agent for the province of Otago'. Mr Smyth has just returned to Dunedin from Wellington, with instructions to proceed with the contract of the firm on the Clutha line immediately. It is said that work on the Mataura line will be commenced in a few days. The average cost of the 187 miles of railway already contracted for with Messrs Brogden and Sons, notwithstanding the rise in the price of iron, is only £4808 per mile. .At the last meeting of the Queenstown Municipal Council, it was unanimously resolved that the Chief Poetxnaater, Dunedin, be written to, setting forth the disadvantages the Wakatip district suffers in consequenoe of there being no contract for the conveyance of mails between Kingston and Queenstown, and urging the necessity of entering into such a contract at once ; also, that a telegram be forwarded to the member for the district on the subject. Hunt's claim at Reefton (West Coast) has yielded 800 ozs of gold from 400 tons of stone. A run in Hawke's Bav, containing 7>>oo acres, with 4500 sheep, has been sold lor £13,000.

The Lyttelton Times says:— A piece of cloth manufactured from the fleeces ( of the^-Ango» goats introduced into Canterbury by the Abwimatisation Society some years ago, has been received from England, where the fleeces were sent to be made-up, and may now be seen at th* shop of Messrs Hobbs and Son, Colombo-street. The following remarks on the fleeces— most of which were only from half-bred animals— are made by Sir Titus Salt and Sons, Saltaire, near Bradford, Yorkshire, who have made up the cloth :— " The sample sent is deficient in lustre to that grown in Asia Minor. We would advise you not to cross the Angora goat with any other breed, or you. will thereby affect the lustre of ite hair — commonly known as mohair — which is brighter than any other wool or hair. The beat mohair from the Angora district of Asia Minor has for some years fetched frofli 3s to 4s perlb." In addition to the value of the fleece of, the Angora goat, which annually yields about as niuoH as a sheep, it should also be noted that the flesh of the animal is far superior to that of the ordinary goat, to which the Angora is also superior for milking purposes. The goats, it will be remembered, were all sold by the society some years ago, and dispersed about the provinoe, but since the receipt of the eloth, they have all been bought up by the Curator of the society, __e Johnson, and the httle flock has been liberated on the Port hills. The Angora wool makes the strongest and most durable of cloth. The Waikato Times says:— "A new phase iu the life of medical men is being developed in this district. We were rather surprised whilst taking our ' constitutional ' to meet one of the disciples of Esculapius driving a heifer. He was armed with a stock-whip in one hand and a tortois* • shell lancet in the other. We hailed him, but could only extract the exclamation, "Do yon want to be vaccinated ?"' Mr Justice Johnston said in opening the criminal sitting of the Supreme Court in Napier that he would deeply regret the abolition of Grand Juries in a colony like this. It is reported, according to the Sylney Morning Herald, that "no fewer than 70 murders have been committed in the course of a 'labor' cruise among the islands of the South Pacific. It is said that tlie practice pursued was to induce the natives of the different; islands visite 1 to go on board the vessel under various pretexts, and then to drive them down the hatchways by force of arms." In the New South "Wales Assembly the other day, Mr Garrett called Mr Partes, a "traitor,"" and Mr Parkea retaliated by calling Mr Garrett a, a *• liar and scoundrel." According to section 34 of the Otago Roada Ordinance, 1871, the Board of every district Uto hold its first meeting on the third Wednesday after the first election or appointment of mem« bers of the Board, or as soon after as conveniently may be, at noon, the members of the Board fixing the place of meeting. Messrs Matheson and Smith have been appointed agents in Southland for the Norwich Union Fire and Life Insurance Company. The regular monthly meeting of member* of the Southern Cross Lodge of Freemasons take* place to-morrow night.