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Southland Times, Issue 1669, 29 November 1872, Page 2

The advantages of haying a resident member of the Executive amongst us are already becoming perceptible. In rep'y to communications a Idressed to bis colleagues by Mf M"Arthur, we learn that information has boen received that ii futurs all tenders for local works will b; advertised in the local papers, in time to give the contractors resident in the district the opportunity o' competing. We are also informed that instructions have been given for the immediite preparation of the specifications of tho bridge orer the Jfataura at Monziea Ferry. The olfactory nerves of those whose business has led them to the railway BUtion lately have been regaled with ac'ioic ■■ c irapoun 1 of perfumes arising from a quantity of bone-mai u~e sent down from the Winton meat w >rks. We suppose the railway station is withi-i the jurisdiction of the Inspector of Nuis-a -io.;*, and all who are acquainted with the odoriferous qualities of this useful though unpleasant sub*tanee will agree with us that his attention cannot too soon ba directed to the matter. A depot at a short distance from the town would bo the proper receptacle for such prolucts. The cry for rain has now become general. Yesterday the streets of Invercargill wore swept by a north-west wind, which raised clouds of dust, making locomotion anything but agreeable. Gardens look parched, ani the crops in the farming districts are reported to be suffering from the long -continued drought. The time -honored custom of representatives . meeting their constituents has alroady been observed in different parts of the Colony since the Assembly rose. As yet there is no sign of any of the Southland members following bo laudaDle an example. Surely the events of the session were sufficiently interesting to furnish the materials for an address. The Illustrated New Zealand Herald for this month contains a view of the Gorge of tho Arrow Rirer, a number of views of Brisbane, Queensland, a full-page engraving of Govett's Leap, near Blackheath, N.8.W., and several illustrations of departments at the International Exhibition now being held in Melbourne. The most attractive feature of the present number, however, is a full length engraving of Mr H. M. Stanley, ths discoverer of Dr Livingstone, in his African costume. Our Campbelitown correspondent, writing yesterday, says : — An inquest was held to-day, before the Coroner (Dr Monckton), on the holies of two children, of the name of Davis, who were drowned in the Mataura on Sunday last. It appears that four chil Iren of the family were playing on the bank of the river, when one of thstn, aged two and a half years, fell iv. The eldest of the four, a girl thirteen years' old, immediately jumped into the river to rescue her brother, but was carried away by the current, and both were drowned. The body of the girl was not recovered till the evening of Tuesday last, that of the boy being found next morning, and they were brought here laat night by Constable Sullivan. On these facts being elicitel before the jury (of whom Major Martin was foreman), a verdict of " accidentally drowned" was returned. A meeting of the Invercargill District Road Board was held yesterday in the Council Hall, a quorum being secured on this occasion by the presence of sir members, Mr Butts (c-hairman) and Messrs Brown, Q-ilmour, Hare, Smith, and Waddel. Four tenders for the office of valuer were received, and the choice of the Board fell upon Mr Longuet, who offered to make the valuation for the sum of £40, the condition being imposed that the work should be completed Within 70 days from the time of acceptance. It was resolved that the chairman be requested to call a meeting of the Board as aoon as the valuation was completed. At the meeting of the Town Council last night the members present were the Mayor and Councillors G-oodwillie, Jaggers, Lumsden, Pratt, Blackwood, and Garthwaite. The evening was t c hielly spent in the consideration of the engineer's

report, and it was resolved that the plan 9 and specifications for various works should be prepared and submitted to tho Council at its next meeting. It was resolved that the engineer be instructed to lay down 21 feet of each kind of drain recommended by hi n, for tho inspection of tho. Council. The tende" of Mr T. J. Thompson i for; the removal of the sandbank at the jetty, and the' planking of a resisting wall at the end of the T, £63, irai accepted. At the meeting on Tuesday of the Southland Waste Land Board the - Commissioner of Crown Lands and Vfr M' Arthur were the only members present. Miles Coulston's application for 30 acres in the Oreti Hundred was granted. 1120 acres in the Hotanui district, applied for by Peter M'Kellar on the 19th insf., were withdrawn from sale under tho Bluff Jetty contract. On the application of John Cowie, it was resolved that section 23, block 4, Winton Hundred, temporarily reserved from sale, should be advertised open for sale on Monday, sth January next. John Christie, who recently escaped from the Invercargill Q-aol, has been removed, under warrant of His Honor the Superintendent, to i the Dunedin ©aol. j The long continued fine weather seems to have i had the effect of ripening fruit this season at an unusually early period. We hare received a sample of cherries from Mr Gregg, fruiterer, grown by Mr Benjamin Bain, of Lindwood, perfectly ripened, and as we can testify from experiment, of an excellent sort. Gharries, considered to be early, were taken from the same tree l&sfc year exactly three weeks later in the season. We have also seen a few strawberries from the garden of W. H. Pearson, Esq., which are fully ripe, and very fine specimens of that delightful fruit. i The quarterly meeting of the Western Dis- < trict Farmers' Club was held on the 15th inst., when the President, Mr John M 'ln tyre, occupied the chair. The hon. secretary reported that the building in which the meeting was held, along with an acre of land, had been purchased for the use of the Club, from Edward Robeon, the price paid being £17 10s. A vote of thanks to Mr T. Daniel, M.P.C., for procuring a supply of parliamentary papers and proceedings of the Provincial Council, was passed. A similar vote was accorded to Mr C. Basstian, M.P.C., for presenting the Club with a bag of Ramsdale Norway oats. The hon. secretary was authorised to Communicate with the Otago Agricultural Association, requesting to be furnished with full information regarding the Bhow of barley at which the prizes given by the Dunedin maltsters are to be awarded. At the request of the chairman, Mr James Reid presented Mr John Cumming, the hon. secretary and treasurer, with a handsome saddle and bridle, as a recognition of the many valuable services which that gentleman had rendered to the Club since its formation. In the course of his remarks, Mr Reid sai 1 it was a matter for regret that so few farmers took an interest in the Club. Tho benefits to bo derived ! from that and kindred societies, every intelligent I agriculturist would admit, were considerable, and the Western District Farmers' Club, insignificant as some might think it, had been the means of doing good in the district. Mr Gumming, in acknowledging the compliment which ha I been paid him, said that his duties had been rendered light and pleasant by the harmony with which the office-bearers had worked together, and to that he attributed the aucceas of the Club. The trustees for the surplus money of the late Waianiwa Ploughing Association, handed over the money in their charge to the Club. The debate on ploughing had to be postponed, in consequence of the absence of Mr W. A. Lyon. In the course of conversation on the subject, it was stated that about 30 year 3 ago, the high, cut I was introduced in the north of ScotlanJ by the [ Highland and Agricultural S »ciefcy, by which it: underwont a severe tes 1 ; for five or six years, until it was fully provei that the yieli of grain was deficient, both in quantity and quality, ani consequently it has beeu rejected there ever since. It was also stated that the high cut was the best for clayey land, that it gave a better corner for harrowing in any land, and allowed the seed to be covered in deeper. There seemel to be a difficulty in knowing where the line should be drawn; but there was no difference of opinion that the high cut system had been carried to excess at the ploughing matches of late. A new morning paper for Du.ne*lin is annouuced. It is to be called " The Morni ng Star, 1 ' and is to bo published in connection with the paper which now enjoys a wide circulation under the name of " The Evening Star." An extensive fire oecur-ed in Hiijh street, Christchursh, on Monday evening, by which it ie estimated that property to th.) value of £LO,OOO has been destroyed. A large part of the loss was caused by the hasty removal of goods. The new hospital at Oamaru is to be officially opened to-morrow. The cultivation of oysters is being vigorously prosecuted at Akaroa. A two-storey hotel in Westport, with furniture and fittings standing within, haa been successfully removed to another situation in the town. An exhibition of mineral, industrial, and other products of the West Coast is to be held in Hokitika during the Christmas holidays . At the inquest on the body of Murdoch M'Lean, who was found drowno I in the Wußhdyke Creek, the jury returned an open verdict. It is said there is little doubt that M'Lean met his death by his own act. It would appear that he attached a piece of pig iron, weighing 72 lbs, to his neck with flax, and waded with the iron upon his shoulder into the deep water where his body was found. In the case of tho body found in a creek near Mount Horrible, it was identified as that of a man named George Blackall. At the inquest the jury were dissatisfied with tho meJioal testimony, and the body was ordered to be exhumed fo* examination by two doctors. The Provincial Council of Canterbury was opened on the 22nd instant. The Superintendent, in his speech, said that the expert of wool from the Province during the past year amounted to £666,195, as against £293,932 during the previous year. The export of grain from the Province during tb.3 past year was £133,9J4, while the total for the whole Ooloay was only £179,469. The land sales during the past year amounted to £170,000, the greater portion being for bona, fide occupation. The railway returns for the past year showed tli9 total receipts to have been £60,000, and total expenditure £40,000.

At the Colonial Prize Firing for 1873, there are to be four classes of prizes — Colonial, General, District, and Special. The representatives are allotted as follows : — Auckland, 5 ; Wairoa and Waiuku, 2 j Waikato, 2 ; Thames, 3 ; Ta"Uranga and Opotiki, 1 ; White Cliffs, New Plymouth, and Egmont, 2 j Wanganui, Patea, and Rangitikei, 2 ; Hutt and Wellington, 2 ; Woirarapa, .2 ; Napier, Wairoa, and. Poverty Bay, 2; Nelson and Marlborougli,"lj-Canter-bury, 3 ; Otago and Southland, 7 ; Westland, I j Armed Constabulary, 3. A correspondent of the Westport Times gives the following account of the present appearance of G-reymouth : — lt is now over five years since I was in Greymouth before, and I was greatly surprised to see such an improvement in the town, considering th-? fires and floods the people there have had to contend with. What a contrast from the time when old Reuben first planted his fo?t on shore, no house to place his stores in — till he built one — and all around nothing but dense bush, with the exception of a bit of clearing the Maoris had. Many a sco-e of pigeons and ka-kas I hare shot along what they call Eiahmond Quay, and Boundary.street, an;l the back of Mawhera Quay, the once impenetrable bush, looking so dense, so thick, that it was thought almost impossible to penetrate it. You may guess how I stared to see those handsome villas with their well laid out gardens dotted here and there, and thea walking slowly along the tramway, noting everything as T passed, I turned my head to the right, what is that I see ? can my eyes believe P — lt is surely a gasometer ! I had not seen such for many years, therefore my astonishment. Great credit is due to the inhabitants for their energy in this and other improvements. The town at night has a cheerful aspect from the numerous -gas lights burning in every street and dwelling. On the whole Greymouth is tha moat lively town I have been in lately on the Coast, and I have visited nearly all within the last threo months . The Borough Council of Hokitika have passed the following motion : — " That a deputation be appointed to wait on the County Chairman aaking him to give hia co-operation with this Council for the purpose of inviting the Hon Julius Yogel to visit Westland during the recess." The trout hatched from the ova received a few weeks since from Southland (says the Nelson Examiner) have been placed in the Wairoa. j Unfortunately, only a very Bmall percentage of the ova proved good, the time of hatching being too close at hand when it was received, bo that | about two dozen fish were all that were obtained. If these thrive well, they will in a few years stock both the Wai-iti and Wairoa rivers. Dr Hector is expected to visit Greymouth for the purpose of examining the extension of the coal field to. the south of the Q-ray River, where coal has lately been found cropping out in various places. The Dunstan Times of the 15th inst. says : — On Saturday last Mr Hislop, Inspector of Schools, officially examined the scholars attending the Clyde School. He expressed himself as being highly pleased with the efficiency of the various classes, as aUo with the system of teaching adopted by the teaehei", Mr Stevens (for.i erly of Campbelltown) under whose tuition he said the children could not but improve. The Hon. E. Richardson, Minister of Public Works, is at present on an official visit to Otago. The Lyttelton Times says : — " Tke doctors of Christchurch say that they h:ive been and are overworked, nnd that Christchurch and its neighi borhood is decidedly les* healthy than it used to be." Strong opposition is Baid to be manifested in Auckian i to the proposed education tax— not to the tax in itself, but as indicating the commencement of direct taxation. The opposition protest against special taxation while the other Provinces pay the charges iov education from their land i'und, and they prefer the throwing of everything on the Geueral Government.