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Southland Times, Issue 1634, 17 September 1872, Page 2

It will be observed that Mir Barr, the Provincial Engineer, declines to recommend the construction of a temporary crossing to enable the new Waihopai bridge to be placed on the direct tfoad line. The attention of the public was directed to the matter through our columns some considerable time before the work was commenced f and since then strenuous efforts have been made by several citizens to get the plans altered, but as it would now seem, without avail. We have continually had occasion to point out the disadvantages under which we hare labored since the Provincial administration was removed to Dunediu, and this is precisely one of those cases in which injustice is perpetratei on the ground-that W3 cannot easily bring pressure to bear on the Executive, on account of our remoteness from the seat of government. We are glad to observe that a public meeting to consider the matter is to be held this evening in the Council Hill. About half-past six o'clock yesterday evening, the ringing of the fire-bell caused some little excitement, and a large number of the brigade were promptly at their posts. The alarm, however, fortunately proved to b§ unfounded, originating apparently in the sudden blazing up of some scrub which -was being burned on the | northern outskirts of the town. A number of citizens waited on Mr Barr, the Provincial Engineer, at Mr Golyer's Hotel yesterday, in reference to thejgropo3e;l misplacement of the Waihopai bridge, it having been understood that the Government had, in view of the remonstrances ; la£ely" forwarded on the subject, referred tha question to his decision. Mr Barr stated in effect that the temporary crossing which would be require 1 ought not to be-of a less strength than to carry six tons, and would cost £200, which sum the Government were not prepared to give. It was argued on the contrary, that the contractors had offered to put up a t. inporary briJge for £70, and that there would be a considerable saving in .the approaches if the new bridge were kept on the road-line, instead of placed to one side. Mr Barr said that a bridge which could bo put up for £70 would not be strong enough to meet the requirements of the trafhV, and that the saving on the approaches would be very trifling. He would be prepared to recommend, however, ; that ii the new bridge when finished did not seem sufficient, any money that might remain over from the vote should be expended in widening it. In the meantime the work was to go on as at first designed. We have to acknowledge the courtesy of Mr A. J. Smyth in bringing us a copy of the Otago Daily Times of Saturday. The Railway- and Commemoraiion Committees met on Friday evening at the Council Hall, Mr H. T. Ross in the chair. No business was done, however, the members agreeing to adjourn till this evening. . . An up -country correspondent informs us that on one station in his ' neighborhood the loss of sheep ascertained as the result of the recent snow storm is 1500, besides a number of young horses and cattle. At the meeting of the Southland Waste Land Board, on Friday, 6th, there were present Messrs Pearson, Baker,.and M' Arthur. . The application of William Fraser, that a timber reserve should be granted to him in proportion . to the . horsepower of his engine, at at rate equivalent to. that granted to the other saw-mill engines in the Seaward Bush, was granted, to the extent of a reserve of 720 acres. The application of John M'Lean for a steam saw-mill license over 400 aerea in. the Seaward Bush,, after having been amended, so as to run north and south, and as nearly -as possible in the form of a square', the south-western ' corner to be 105 chains due east from the south-eastern corner of Mr Fraser's block, Was granted. 'The following estimate of the' horse-power of the various steam sawmill. ; engines in the Seaward Bush, was adopted on the report of Mr Conyers:— ilr W. Fraser, 18 horse-power ; Messrs Lockhart Brothers, io 1 horse-power ; Mr T. Brown, 11 horse-po war. From the last number of the Otago Provincial ! Government Gazette we learn that tenders are invited for the extension of the Bluff wharf. The following gentlemen have been nominated as candidates for the Orepuki subdivision of the Riverto'n Road Board : — Messrs Henry Rogers, 1 Henry Hirst, James Watson, John Simpson, and ' James Fitzgerald. The poll takes place on the 19th irist. ' At the meeting of the Otago Land Board, held in Dunedin on. the 11th inst., .Messrs Oakden and Booth applied to have run 39 A, the license for which would expire on the 24th February, 1874, assessed, with a view to a. new lease being offered for sale twelve months before the expiration of the license j the stated : being that they wanted time to move their sto^k oif in the event . of their- not -being the puroh-j.sijr3. It ..was rci solved that the run bo assessed as early a a

possible ; agricultural land, if any, to be ex- ) arained, with a view to exemption. In a like application from Mr Thomas C. Low, for run 350, a similar rpsolution was arrived at. The license for this run would expire on the 24th February, 1874. Mr Macandrew has given notice, ia the House of Representatives, of the following amendment on Mr - Reynolds'^ insular separation reeclutions : — " That in order to provide a more efficient and economical administration of the Government, it •is expedient that New Zealand ba constituted two Colonies, divided by Cook Strait. That provision be made for an equitable adjustment of tho annual charges arising out of the existing burdens of New Z ;nlu>uL also whereby the two Colonies shill bo subject to the same Customs taritf and confederate! for external purposes common to each. That a Bill to give effect to this resolution be prepared during the recess, and submitted to the Assembly next session." Increased attention is being given to flaxdressing in the Province of Nelson, owing to the favorable reports received from England., •-A number of new mills are being erected. A very large number of the miners at Reefton, according to the local correspondent of the Grey Eiver Argus, are leaving that district for the new rush to the Roper River, in Northern Australia. Mr Andrew M'Queen, M.A., formerly of Invercargill, has taken the degree of B.D. in the Free Church College, Glasgow. The two first blocks of concrete for the Oamaru sea 1 wall have been successfully laid. They consist of masses of 12ft. by 12ft. by 6ft, containing each about 70 tons weight of cement, enclosing blocks of hard volcanic rock. Mr Donald M'Lean, gave a dinner to the supporters of the late Government in Wellington on Tuesday, 10th. In the Assembly on the 10th, Mr J. E. Brown asked if Messrs Gillies, Fitzherbert, and Curtis had resigned their Superintendences. Mr Stafford replied that they would resign them either before or at the termination of the session, therein following Mr M/Lean's example in 1869. The House need be under no apprehension that Superintendents would be in the Government. The medium through whom Mr Macandrew learned from the spirits that New Zealand possesses more gold than iron, ia stated by the Wellington correap indent of the New Zealand Herald to be Mr James Smith, of Melbourne. The Waikouaiti Herald states that no less than three whales have been captured and towed into Waikouaiti Bay during the first week of September. The engaging of the German and Scandinavian immigrants, who recently arrived in Canterbury,was commenced in Christchurch on the sth inst. The Press of the following day says : — " Out of sixty-one single -women. fofty-tWO W6PB engage.!, eleven of these going to Titnaru. Twenty-three single men out of thirty-three found suitable employment, at fair rates of wages. Of the families, four were engaged, leaving forty-eight still for employment. Some of them will, no i doubt, find situations in the course of a few days, and no difficulty is anticipated in placing the single men and single women at present! remaining in barracks. The following rates of. wages were given to thoso engaged : — Married couples — farm laborers, £40 to £45 per annum, and found ; to receive a bonus of £10 if .remaining twelve months. Blacksmiths and carpenters, £45 and found ; to receive a bonus of £10 if remaining twelve months. Tailor, £52 per annum, and found. Single men— ploughmen and good farm laborers, £30 to £40 per annum ; laborers, £25, and found. Female servants — ! cooks, £30 ; general servants, £20 ; housenaaula, I £20 j nursemaids, £12 to £18. All those engaged seemed well satisfied with the rates of ! wages received, and all expressed themselves : pleased with the treatment received since their arrival." Anu mber of the remaining immigrants were engaged next day at the same rates. '18 -married men were eflgaged for railway .work at , 7s a day. . The Home News says : — Mr Birch, a gentleman very well known in Dunedin, has been ira proving a visit to his native country — he is a native of Fortrose — by telling the good people of Ross-shire all about the good things that await them in New Zealand. So great has been hia success that the local employers of labor complain of the number of servants of both sexes who have intimated their intention of not renewing their term of service at the end of the present term. Those who have been influenced by Mr Birch's description are, for the most part, admirably adapted for colonists. A telegram from Greymouth, published by ar contemporary, says : — Messrs White and O'Conor were burned in effigy on the 6th. There was a torchlight procession, with music, through the town. Groans were given for Messrs White and O'Conor, and cheers for the Fox Ministry and Mr Harrison. The Lyttelton Times of the 9th inst. says:— A decided case of somnambulism occurred in the house of Mr Clarke, saddler, <3ashel-street, early on. Saturday morning last. Mr Clarke employs a servant girl fifteen years of age, who sleeps in a room overlooking the back yard, the window being about eighteen feet from the ground. Ifc .is generally his cujtoin to rouse the girl between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, but re- ' ceiving no response to hia summons on Saturday, he ascended to her room, and was astonished to find it unfcenanted, with the window open. . He searched the house, but could find no traces of his servant, and on going to the outer doors found them all locked as they had been left the previous evening. Returning to the bedroom, he .could discover no disarrangement of clothing or any-> thing else, and looking out of the window, could ) see nothing by which the eighteen feet could have been descended. He then proceeded to the yard and there found the girl, seated upon a heap of firewood, with nothing on but her night-dress. Enquiries elicited the fact that she must have got up in her sleep some little time previous, the | i usual hour at which she was called,-and opening the window had jumped into the yard. By great good fortune • the dehcent was unattended with serious results, for no injuries were sustained, j except a little skin being grazed off the, left arm. J TWb is the first time that the girl has acted the part of a somnambulist, and it is' easy to under- • stand that she was very much frightened when awoke by theshock-oa-alighting in the .yard. . ; It is proposed to form : a joint stock company in Auckland for tho purpose of erecting n i ( Mdaouio Hall. I

The West Coa3t Times of the 2nd inst. says : — A. new rush set in last week to some ground on the southern side of the Hokitika Biver, near Ogilvie's Half-way House, the Inad being a continuation of the one styled tho Aylmer Lead. It is reported that several claims are paying from £10 to £20 a week per man, while others are on wash that only pays from £3 to £4 a week per man. There are about 400 men on the ground. I An attempt made in Oamaru to hold a Saturday open market for selling stock, was a failure, not a solitary hoof being sent forward. A short, but very necessary Bill, amending the Forest Trees Planting Encouragemeut Act, 1871, has come before the Assembly. It is as follows : — " Tho Forest Trees Planting EncouragomentAct, 1871. shall be construed and read as if the additional proviso following had been originally introduced at the end of the second section of. the said Act, that is to say, ' provided also, that if root crops are cultivated "amongst the forest trees planted in any. land, such land shall not, by reason only of such crops being cultivated, be deemed to be not devoted only to purposes of planting.' '.'.... . 4 . . . .' : The Waikouaiti Herald states on good authority that Sir David Monro was solicited to form one of the new Ministry, but, owing to indifferent health at the present time, he declined the honor. A Christchurch paper states that the Canterbury Board of Education has decided to sanction the drilling of girls in schools where parents or guardians do not object. In concluding an - article on the Agricultural Statistics of New Zealand, the Sydney Morning Herald says : — "ln agricultural machinery New Zealand is in advance of this Colony. "We look in vain for steam ploughs here, but they have 26 ; and for steam harrows, while they have 13. Of thrashing machines they have 745, and of reaping machines 1708. The value of laborsaving machinery ssems to be better understood than with us." An excellent sample of coarse scaly gold has been obtained: by'a party of miners from Burkes Creek, Inangahua (West Coast). The mode of working is ground- sluicing. Mr Fox, in speaking to Mr Curtis's motion regarding the inadvisability of hastily altering the Provincial boundaries, said: — "Let hon. members consider the terms on which these Provinces were formed when the Constitution Act was passed. It must be within the memory of many hon. members that Sir George Grey, with others who were not his responsible advisers, although acting as his Executivo, went into a room together, and with a map" arid apair of compasses ruled off the divisions that were to be Provinces. They had nothing to go by, little to guide them, and they took mountain ranges, rivers, and other hardly known features of the country as boundaries of the six Provinces which they constituted." _...-.-. - The fame of the Mudgee district for diaminds seems likely to be eclipsed. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, a dia nond, said to be the largest yet discovered in New South Wales, was found by Mr Creel, of the Fish River, on a freebol i belonging to Peter Lendster. The ground, which is reported to be highly auriferous, was beim* prospected ior gold, wiien,- at a depth of eight feet, the diamond was pinned out. Other smaller diamonds have since been found, and the whole district round Oberon is being prospected and taken up. In the creeks is a large quantity of a black substance which was at first taken for tin, but which has been proved by repeated. assays to contain no mineral of commercial value. The auriferous and diamond drift is said to bo derived from a layer overlying the granite, and under a capping of tertiary basalt. The diamond referred to has been inspected" by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, Professor Watt, Mr G- Al. Stephen, I'lrTremlow, and others, and by all pronounced to be a tr.uo d:am.qnd. It is an ootakeiron, and Weighs QVBV twelve and a half carats. The siim of £650 has bet-n offered for it, and refused. It ia stated that private advices received in Ballarat from Port Darwin mention t!iat 116.' Z. of gold were tak«n off the bottom of a. hole, at the goldfields there. The following figures, compiled from aG >- vernment return, show. tho sums, spent last year in each Province for educational and judicial purposes : —

Judicial, Excess of Provinces. Educational. Police, Judicial over and Prisons. Educational. Auckland ... £4,800 ..,£11,870 ... £7,070 Taranaki ... 200 ... 633 ... 433 Hawke'a Bay... 1,256 ... 2,1.44 ... BSB Wellington ... 774 ... 6,506 ... 5,732 Nelson ... 8,034 ... 8,883 ... 849 Marlborough... 912 ... 1,691 ... 779 Canterbury ... 12,235 ... 13,114 ... 82tf Westland ... 750 ... 10.683 ... 9,93 3 Otago ...... 20,917 ...27,583 ... 6,671 Totals ...£49,931 ..,£83,116 ...£33,185