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Southland Times, Issue 1631, 10 September 1872, Page 2

At the celebration of the turning the first sod of tks InvercargUl and Mataura railway, on Friday last, Mr Mussen, photographer, took a couple of views of the scene, which we believe have proved very successful, and will form an interesting souvenir of the event. The result of the inquest held on the body of Mi James Eccles, at the Mataura Bridge, referred to in our last issue, went to show that the deceased had been rendered unconscious from injuries received by his horse falling in a swamp and rolling upon him, and that death ensued in consequence of the subsequent exposure in the severe weather, the snow lying to a considerable depth on the ground at the time. The Education Committee mot last evening W. consider the applications for the various appointments in connection with the Invercargill Grammar School. Eight members of committee were present, Mr T. M. Macdonald presiding. Sixty-nine applications were opened, namely, forty»three for the head mastership, seventeen for the second, and nine for the office of mißtre»». The applications were partially consideredi and the committee adjourned until to-morrow evening. j Considerable attention was attracted by the i tasteful manner in which the wheelbarrow and spade used at the turning of the sod on Friday were finished. "We learn that they were the handiwork of Mr D. A. Smith, of Deveron-street. We understand that all the proprietors, with only one exceptioa, through whose land the Invercargill and Mataura railway passes , have agreed with Mr Calcutt, the Government agent , for the sale of the necessary ground. The polling for the election of members of the Waikiwi subdivision of the Makarewa Road Board, came off on Friday, 6th inst., and resulted in the return of Messrs Toshack, M' Arthur, and M'lror. Siity-one electors recorded their votes. The champagne used at the ceremony on Friday, was, we understand, suppliel by Mr L. Hume, of the Southland Club, and Mr H. Mayo, of the Albion Hotel, as their contribution towards the celebration. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, in Pearson v. Keith, the plaintiff, as Commissioner of Crown Lands, proceedfld under the 12th section of the Crown Lands Act, 1862, against the defendant, a settler in the Winton district, for unlawful intrusion upon section 1, block 2, East Winton. Mr Macdonald appeared for plaintiff and Mr Harvey for defendant. The facts on the part of the plaintiff appeared to be these — that defendant had engaged a man named Kernahan (possessing a license to cut timber) to cut for him a number of posts and rails, and that he had pointed out to him the ground in question as that from which they were to be cut. During the cutting (as appeared from the cross-examination) a neighbor of defendant, who, it was hinted, had quarreled with him, made application to purchas e the section, and the Commissioner of Crown Lands being advised of the cutting process going on, gave such instructions to the constable at Winton as resulted in the seizure and branding of several hundred Manuka rails. On defendant's application to the plaintiff as Commissioner, he | was allowed to retain such of the timber as had | been cut upon the roadway bounding the section, but plaintiff's witness seemed to prove that he had removed also that which had been out en i seized on the section itself. The evidence showed that evidently the cutting of the timber on the ■ection had not been by many instances confined to the present. The neighbor who had applied to purchase the section had forfeited his deposit on the ground that the land was now worthless to him. Three witnesses were heard on the part of the plaintiff, and the further hearing was adjourned for a week. Cronin v. Peters was a claim by plaintiff for wages, £9 145, being for 19£ days* work and 3% days' overtime as a punter in defendant's employ at Long Bush. Mr Wade appeared for plaintiff. Defendant denied the debt, alleging that plaintiff was engaged at £1 per week and hia livin-j, and that he had been settled with. In »upport of the defence, a wit* ness named Muir wa» called to prove that plaintiff was not an expert at painting. The Resident Magistrate held that plaintiff was not entitled to full wages, and gave judgment for £8 10a, being at the rate of 7s per day, allowing the overtime, and subject to a deduction of £1 163 for plaintiff's board. Costs, £1 14s. A police constable in Christchurch has been sentenced to one month's imprisonment for violently assaulting a man named Hayes, with his baton, when arresting him. A number of gentlemen in Dunedin have subscribed their names for the formation of a "Bowling and Quoitiug Club. 1 The balance-sheet for the quarter ended 30th | June last is published in the Provincial Government Gazette of the 4th inst. The revenue during the quarter amounted to £65,943 7s 9d, of I which Southland contributed £7670 0s lid, as pastoral rents. The expenditure is set down lat £82,813 7s 2d, summarised as follows :— Superintendent and Executive Council, £920 2s sd ; Provincial Council, £2020 7s 7d ; Provincial Secretary and Treasurer and Secretary for Lands, £18,824 15s lOd ; Secretary for Goldfields and Road and ,Works Department, £2388 16s 31 ; Provincial Secretary and Treasurer and Treasurer and Secretary for Lands General, £46,615 2s lOd ; Secretary for Goldfieldi and Roads and Works, £L2,044 2s 3d. The total European population of the Colony on the 31st December last is estimated at 266,986, comprising 156,431 males and 110,555 females. The total number of vessels upon the register of the Colony, on the 31st December, 1871, was — Steam vessels, 59, of a tonnage of 5529 tons ; sailing vessels, 312, of a tonnage of 21,658 tons. The shares of the South British Insurance i Company are quoted in Auckland at 20s.

A private letter received in Dunedin, and published by the Star, under date Kilmarnock, June sth, from a gentlemen well acquainted with the district, savs : — " I had a call from a gentleman who has come home from Otago, to endeavor to obtain immigrants. They will be bad to find just now, as wages for every description of work are nearly double what they were when you left. Country girls cannot be hired ; their wages are. from £16 to £20 a year. One who was living with ua, and was obliged to leave without notice, we onlv paid £14 to, but we cannot get any one to supply her place, I think those in Otago who want servants must be very badly off if they are no better than those now here." I In moving the second reading of the Protection of Animals Bill in the Legislative Council, the Hon. Mr Farmer is reported to have said : — " Clause 5 of the Bill provided that 'no person shall hunt, take, or kill any fur seal, excepfc during the months of June, July, August, and September in each year, under a penalty of twenty pounds for each seal so hunted, taken, or killed.' I That provision was prepared on the recommendation of Mr Surman, of Riverton, who fitted out a sealing expedition every year, and who gave the number of seals obtained for the year 1870 aa 450 ;in 1871, 900 ; and to March, 1872, 1300. That gentleman recommended that the season for killing seals should be restricted from June 1 to September 30." The ship Hydaspes, which sailed from London for Otago on the 22nd June, brings 161 immigrants. Barbor, late Chief Postmaster at Hokitika, convicted of embezzlement, has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labor. Some of the navvies who have recently arrived in Auckland for Messrs Brogden and Sons refuse to work at the rates paid in England, and want the rates of pay currant in that part of the colony. The following notice appears in the New Zealand Gazette of August 22 :— His Excellenoy the Governor directs it to ba notified for general information, that, in consequence of no application having been made in response to the notification inserted in th© New Zealand Quzette od the 29th November, 1870 (Volume for 1870, page 614), the last Naval Cadetßhip intended for New Zealand lapsed. The next nomination for this colony will be in 1874, and must be notified to the Secretary of State for the Colonies during the first quarter of that year. (See Despatch from the Colonial Office of August 26, 1870, in the Gazette quoted above.) Timely notice is a-^ain given that all applications for the nomination of 1874 should be addressed to the Colonial Secretary, at Wellington, on or before the Ist October, 1873. His Excellency the Governor will select the best qualified candidate among the applicants according to the result of a competitive examination. The subjects of examination, the conditions of age, and all other necessary information, will be found in the New Zealand Gazette for 1870, pages 118, 375, 409, and 614. The certificates of birth, education, sound health, &c, required by the Admiralty Regulations muat accompaay each application. During the year 1871, there were 2642 deaths in the Colony, and of this number nearly one half was children under five years of age.