The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3927, 30 July 1881, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1881.

The following is the substauce of the report of the Under Secretary for Goldfields, and which has been laid on the table of the House of Kepresentatives. The document is of interest to our readers, and contains a great deal of information of consequence to residents on goldfields. It commences by stating that during the past year there has been more than usual activity, and this has been •most prominently displayed in the prospecting of new country and in the increased area of proved auriferous ground which has thereby become known. At Te Aroha and Coromandel, in Auckland province, Mahaka in Hawkes Bay.Terawhati, in Wellington, Mount Arthur in Felson, and the head of Lake Wakatipu in Otago, are localities in which more or less has been done in the discovery and testing of auriferous quartz veins. As frequently happens in quartz mining, there were at first|in most of these cases greater expectations than subsequent experience has yet realised There has been an increase in the yield of gold in 1880 over 1879, as shown in the following table :—The total yield of 1879 was 287,4640z5, valued at £1,148,108 ; and in 1880 305,5480z5, valued at £1,227,252. A comparison of the quarters ended 31st March, 1880 and 1881, show on the other hand a very great falling off for the first quarter of the current year. As explained in former reports the only criterion we have of the yield of gold is in the quantity passed at the custom house for export ; this, of course, takes no account of what is used.up.in-the colony, which may be taken to vary from 10,000 to 20,0000zs a year. The decrease during the first three months of this year is 28.6610z5. The total yield from 1857 to the 30th June 1881 is 9,659,2660zs valued at £37,810,653. The number of miners on 31st March 1881 was JL5.063 and as the number 12 months before that was 14,409, the mean number for the year will be 14,736. The gold exported for the same period was valued at £1,111,276. In striking the average earning per man it will be found that this is £75 8s for the twelve months. For the three preceding similar periods going back, the average earnings per man were respectively £81 2s, and £75 10s, and £97 10s, or for the four years. 31st March, 1877, to 31st March, 1881, at an average of £82 7s 6d per man. In Victoria, the average for the four years ended 31st December, 1880, is £80 15s per man. The various fees paid aniouul to an average contribution per miner of about £3 a year, or a total of £49,000 for | the year. Fully two thirds of the year's return of gold was obtained from alluvial. Upwards of 50,000 miles of water races have been constructed by miners at an estimated cost of £800,000. This is exclusive of Government races and dams valued at £450,000. The returns from quartz and cement mining for the year ended 31st March last show 80,455 tons of quartz crushed, and the total receipts from quartz and cement is 144,478 ounces.

Me Watebhouse, in the Legislative Council, has introduced a bill entitled " The Adoption of Children Act." The bill provides that any child under the age of twelve years who has been deserted by its parents; or any child with the consent of its patents' certified lo before a Besident Magistrate, may be adopted by any respectable person after the Magistrate has taken such evidence, upon oath, as he requires to satisfy himself of the bona fides of the transaction. If the applicant in search of a spn or daughter be a married person, no order legalising the proposed adoption can be made without the mutual consent of husband and wife. When these conditions, however, are fulfilled, the Magistrate may issue an order legalising the proposed adoption ; and the Act then provides that " the adopted child shall, for all purposes, mil, criminal, and otherwise howsoever, be deemed in law to be the child, born in lawful wedlock of its adopted parent: Provided always that such adopted child shall not by such adoption acquire any right, title, or interest whatsoever in any property whatsoever, which would devolve on any child of its adopted parent by virtue of any deed, docutrent, or instrument whatsoever prior to the date of sub order, unless it be expressly so stated in such deed, document, or instrument."

The Mayor received yesterday the follow ing telegram from Sir George Q-rey :—" Your members have just seeu the Premier. H> seems anxious do to all that is necessary, but a full report has not yet been received from the Engineer. If you have further difficulty before the report reaches the Government, telegraph us.—o-. Gbby." The Wangarei Advocate says : —Mr W. H. Smeaton lately appointed to the High School intends giving a lecture on Thomas Hood, and remarks—"From a paper on the same subject written by Mr Nmeaton for the February number of the " Victorian Review," we discover that the Head Master of the local High School is a brilliant ess yist and an enthusiastic admirer of Hood—the poet of the " hornyhanded sons of the hummer and the loom." The Government have stated that the Redistribution of Seats Bill would be introduced at once, and any amendments as to the undesirability of increasing tbe number of members would be considered at the second reading, or in committee. Thebe was no business at tbe R.M. Court this morning. The amendment of the divorce laws, promised by the Government last session, is before the Judicature Commission, with a view of providing the neeessery machinery for giving effect to such amendment. Thk race for the Goodwood Cup, 2i miles, was run yesterday, and resulted as follows : —Dee, 1; Barry, 2 ; Nottingham, 3. Those " good old times " when cabs, free beer, sovereigns, andj " sandwich men " were potential influences in deciding the fate of the rulers of the nation, are fast passing away. Members of the legislature find that to protect the body politic from corruption means protection to themselves from extortion. To this caure, more than to any disposition to look severely upon electioneering peccadillos of which they have all been more or less guilty in past campaigns, the country no r'oubt owes the severe form in which the Corrupt Practices Bill hus emerged from committee of the House. — Star. The report prepared for the annual meeting of the Waiotahi Company sets forth that 2,473 tons of quartz had been broken out and crushed at the Company's battery, for the gi»od payable return of 3,8402-ozs of retorted gold. This is the result of twelve months' operations in the mine, and is a marked improvement ov. r last years yield. About 460 feet of drives have been put in and 6'JO fathoms stoped out during the year on the different lodea.—The statemei-t of nccounts showed: Receipts to June 301,h, £11,14-7 7s 4d, and ezpenditure, £10,020 19s Bd, leaving a balance of £1,126 11s Bd.

The Star says :—The only Auckland member who spoke yesterday was Dr Wallis. He spoke well, but out of sheer fun, kept both parties in suspense as to how he would ?ote. The whips of the Opposition, and his personal friends had, however, no doubt, and had him on their lists as a safe vote for the party with which he has always loyally, though sometime eccentrically, worked. We were shown yesterday by Mr John Wilson gome ripe strawberries grown at h s residence, Tararu. The Works Committee of the Borough Council were engaged this morning in determining the question of deepening and straightening the Karaka Creek. The Cora* mittee resolved to recommend that the creek be straightened from Mackay street to tbe Beach. . . Me Aicken, County Engineer, notifies that water will be in the County mains on Monday morning, and we understand that already tbe Queen of Beauty pump has been started, as the reservoir is sufficiently supplied to keep the turbine going. This is very satisfactory, and is creditable lo Mr Aicken, who has displayed great promptness in getting repaired the damages to the race. We trust that it will be many a day before another accident of so serious a character happens to Jhe large race, for great inconvenience has been experienced from want of the watpr as a motive power during these last ten days. Mb Leydon has returned from Auckland wirira large assortment of goods, which he ■will offer for sale at an.early date. -■*•■■■ The Naval Brigade assemble for church parade to-morrow morning. St. George's Cadets are also warned by advertisement for parade for a similar purpose. Mrs Alexandbr announces her farewell ball for Monday next. We understand that fresh informations have beeu laid by the Collector of Customs against Mr Ehrenfried for alleged breaches of the Beer Duty Act. We hope that the prosecutors will not in this instanca turn persecutors, for no less than five or six informations are said to be laid

A QPADEILLE Assembly in connection with the Hide angers is about to be held in the Volunteer Hall, Shortland. Tuesday next is the opening night.

Me Dbivbb writes to the Dunedin Press indignantly denying the allegations that his action is in any way attributable to the Government refusing to purchase the Waitnea Plains line. Such an assertion, he says, is ungenerous and unmanly. The Company has no wish to sell. The money borrowed from the Government is amply secured, aud the interest at 7 per cent, has been faithfully paid. As to the position, he says : "Were I in Wellington I would record my vote with the Opposition; and further, it' I believed my vote would carry Mr Orinoud'a amendment I would go to Wellington to do so. I have not asked for a pair, because I do not care to give a vote without having first given my reasons. It is well-known by those with whom I have discussed the question, that I have for a long time been dissatisfied with the actim of the Government in regard to important public matters. I cannot consent to take the course adopted by a large section of the House, namely, to express disapproval of almost every action of the Government, yet voting wiiu them. What will be the result of such a course? simply the withdrawal (as heretofore) of all their bills and ihe colony allowed to drift, drift, drift. It ia not the men I object to, they are all personal friends of my own, and for whom I entertain the highest-regard, but I believe them to be too weak to conceive measures for the well-being of the Colony, and without political courage enough to carry through the House such as ape absolutely necessary. Further, Ido not consider this portion of l.lio Colony at present or likely to be adequately represented in the Government, and I think when the expenditure of the paßt year's vote is ascertained this will ba plainly seen.

Ik a late issue we suggested to the Irishmen of the field, the idea of forming a branch of the Land League on the Thames, similar in character to that formed in Dunedin, Invercargill, and other place. We understand that steps are being taken in Wellington to form a branch of the Land League in that city.

Amebican workmen have been prompt to Bei#e upon thp " JJoycottjng '•' mode of fringing their employers to tepms. It ja stated (bjjat numerous brewers- and bakers who had quarrelled with their men have been compelled to yiejd under the pressure of " Boycotting." An order was issued from »H t&e trade unions, forbi iding any members to purchase beer or bread lroin the maikecl men. In one case a bakei 1. who emplojed nearly one hundred hands, the " bosß " not only " threw up the sponge," but found it expedient to expend a few thousand dollars- in publishing a long statement, signed by his men, testifying to hi* guud oauducl uuii

honorable nature, and vouching for his general tractability. This ia turning the tables with a vengeance. And it must be remembered that the condition of trade and labor is by no meana bad now in New York. If therefore this sort of terror am is successful in good times, what nuy we expect to see of the result of Boycotting when another tide of depression shall set m. Verily it would seem as though labor is destined to have the stronger arm, and capital the weaker.