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Southland Times, Issue 1649, 18 October 1872, Page 2

Our readers ■will be pleasxl to lenrn that, through the exertions of iff Jan.es Shund, the Acting Secretary for Public Work* (who his boou on a visit to Southland for the purpose of arranging the matter), the Provincial Government hr.s ewpptvil the ten-er of Mr Jur.tft'h Sykes, of InvercargiU, ior the exteiision an! repaiP3 to the BluiF wharf, end i! is expects ! that some benefit from ih<3 new works will be do rive i during the approaching wool scuon, a* tiio Government, with that o!j ct in view, h.ts pi. iced every facility in connection wit'i the railway at t-lie disposal of the contractor. Mr Edwin Cuthbc-rt, who has occupied the position of clerk and drau^ht-iitian in the iiAnd Transfer office: here siuco the in-iu^a^a'i on of the system, proceeds by the Alhambra to Wellington i in order to enter upon an appointment which ho has received in the Public Works service of t'lo Colony. During the tvne hi ii.vj b^en resident in Inrercargdl. iir Cutiibart has gainod t!ie esteem and respect of a large circle of triends, who will be pleased to leavti that ho has now obtained an opportunity of practising his profession a 9 a Civil Engineer, the sphere of his future employment being one of the prajjetei railway lines iv the province of Wellington. The Southland N T e?T3 has taken exception to our publishing som-j extracts from tha Taraniki Herald, entitled "Me lieal Flints tor Country Settlers," of which the News seems to claim exclusive possession, wa do nob know on what grounds. One of the extnct3 referred to had been selected by as and appeared in the Weekly Tlmrrg on 1-ifch S->pteaa!>er la.st, somo days btsfoi'S the first appearance of any portion of the articles iv question in the News. A-* for the fears which our contemporary expresses, that wo may assimilate 100 closely to his ta9te and style, we beg to reassure him. There is nothing that we could regard as a greater misfortune, an t we have reason to^believo that our readers agrea with us in thinking so. A very beautiful aurora austra 7 is was observed last night about half-pasb nine o'clock. Notwithstanding the light of the full moon in a cl.nnsky, the brilliancy of the display was quite unusual, the whole southern portion of the henvons being covered with coruscations of white and rose colored light, rising in wave-like pulsations nearly to the zenith. After a few minutes, however, the aurora faded almost entirely away. At the meeting of tha Town Cjunoil last night, all the members were present, with the exception of the Mayor aud Councillor K033. Tho following tenders ior leasing pi.tijns of tha town belt were accepted: — John ilill, £t, for block in G-ala-street, between Dje aad Doverou-streots ; John W. Kainds, £2 12s corner block, Gala and Door\ streets. It was resolved that the remaining blocks be submitted to public competition by auction in a fortuight, and that applications ba received up to the 2-lth inaK for any of the carlo wmenti S3ctiou3. The Council then went into committee on the question of appointing a surveyor, with the result of electing Mr Dawson, on condition that he b 'comes a provincial authorised surveyor within three mouths from date. At the meeting of the Southland Waste Land Board on Tuesday, the only members present were the Commissioner of Crown Lauds and Mr M 'Arthur. Tho application of James Allan for 150 acres, Forest Hill Hundred, was granted. The application of G-eor^e Brown to be allowed to purchase, a 9 rural lancl, certain laad within ■ ihe boundaries of the township of Wallacotown, ' >vas deferred for further eousiJeratioa.

We understand that the District Road Engineer, Mr Bews, is of opinion that the £500 voted at the last session of the Provincial Council to open up a good dray track from Winton to WVey's Buah, will be amply sufficient for the purpose. The working sections for sixteen miles of the extension of the Winton-Kingston railway w?re placed in the h-inds of the Stafford Ministry by th" 1 Engineer, and will of course remain at the disposal of their successors should they feel inclined to prosecute tho work. The ship May QiL-pn, which sailed froai London on the 29ih July, will bring 85£ statute adults tc Port Chiliners; and the ship Palmerston, which left Hamburg on the 2yth July, also for Port Chalmers, hx:l 228 emigrants on board, of the following nationalities : — Danes, 70 ; Norwegians, 50 ; Germans, 108. They comprise married cou ile3, with their children, equal ti 147 stutute adults ; single wotneu, 49 ; and single men, 32. , Bank notes to the amount, of £33 were recently j found in two rat holes at CorotnunJel. | The Rockhampton Argus says that a teaspoon- , ful of salt thrown into a tin of kerosene will effectually prevent the oil from taking li^ht. Our contemporary sayß it has practically proved that such is the case, and strongly urges those who burn kerosene to adopt this very simple safeguard. „„____„„.„_ 1 ~ rr^ r