PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 200, 30 November 1871, Page 6

PROVINCIAL AND GENERAL.

Writing of the mineral ,weaith"-of I Queensland, a contemporary, §»p.: — ' That curious, pitchy (looking, .ochre, from the banks of the Burdek'in River (of poor IJeichardt) jet t tbe Rayejaswoo'a diggings is turning out wonderfully. 250 tons of it from the " Blaefc Jack" Reef yielded 1075 ozs. of gol<i, and yet there ,is not, a spefcjt of. it visible in the bituminous-lQQking lumps which <jfo duty for quartz at this r place. It need hardly, be paid that; the ore^is much richer, than the foregoing yield wbuld- imply, as; the waste of gold by the ordinary machine • is, with' such a matrix, enormous. G-ympie needs no praise ; her steady average of four ounces to the .tpij for nearly 40,000 tons, crushed between 1868 and 1871, speaks for itself, The copper lodes of Kilkiran and Moijnt Perry, the Kroobit, and other affiueiiis of the Dawson River, show first-rate prospects, the width of the lode and show of specimens reminding one of early Burra .Burra days. The Peak .Downs, mine alone is turning out a princely yield annually. The number of names on the Provincial Council rolls for the following districts for the last electoral year and the present are respectively jis follows : —Mount Ida, 292, 349; Tuapeka, 872, 1067; Waitahuna, 146, 185'; Matau, 199, 269; Milton, 164, 241. There are thus in three districts 2559 voters as compared with 2020 during the previous year, being an increase Of 539. Up to the present, we have ascertained that there are on the rolls for twenty-three Provincial electoral districts 11,732 names, which, as compared witb 9664 names on the roll the' previous year, shows an increase for these districts of 2068 voters.

Pocket pencil lights have just been patented. They are made of' German siiv'er. On rubbing the point it ignites and bums with a steady flame. A slight turn of the screw extinguishes it. When again wanted, the screw is turned the reverse way, and the point again rubbed or pressed on a hard substance. A new We is supplied when required at any time in a similar manner to the leads of patent pencils. The sermon trade in England, according to a writer in " St. Paul's," is very extensive, though not strikingly remunerative to the poor authors. The average price of original (?) sermons is noted at one shilling and threepence to one shilling and sixpence, postage paid.

A rush has taken place on shares in Tookey's claim, which is reported to have struck the Caledonian lead. They are now- selling at £44. The steamer Comerang, which had been chartered by a number of speculators, left suddenly. /They are supposed to have gone to Sydney to buy Tookey's i ( shares in Melbourne.

During the examination of a witness at an inquest recently held at the Thames, one „of the Government, officials made himself conspicuous by his cross-questions. He, however, met his match in a witness. The following is reported by the "Thames Advertiser" as- having taken place on the occasion referred : — Question : "Do you believe, to the best of your.knowledge, on your oath, that your wife was sober when she went td bed. last night ?" Witness : " Can I decline to answer that question, your Worship ?" Coroner: "You cannot decline." Witness : "To the best of my. belief and knowledge, on my oath, she was sober. She might have .bad! a glass or two. She was as sober as most Government officials are when, they perform their duty." Mr. Bullen called the attention of the Court to the remark. The Court, we presume, looked trrave and shook its beid,\, and Mr. Bullen foolisli, we suppose, after this unexpected reply. The London " Spectator ". says that the first train has passed through the Mont Cenis tunnel — passing from Italy to the north side of the Alps in forty minutes — certainly the longest and rapidest subterranean journey ever yet made; The highest temperature of the carriages is said to have been 25 deg. Centigrade; »(«.&, 7" deg. Fahrenheit). There was a good deal of anxiety as to the return journey, lest the steam let off in the tunnel might have been still hanging there in clouds. But two hours later, when the train returned (in 55 minutes) to the Italian side, there was no trace of the vapour which had escaped on the first journey. After thus successfully boring the Alps at their very base, the busy human mole will hardly fail to push bis scientific burrow under the Channel itself.

Mr. Warwick Weston has furnished the Auckland papers with certain returns relative to the goldSelds,. .the moral of which deserves notice. They a statement of every ounce of gbld reported as having been yielded from the crushiugs of every claim at the Thames and Coroniandel during the period between the -Ist; January and the 30th September of: the present year, namely, an aggregate of 285,020 ozs. IS dwta. They also contain a statement of gvery ounce of gold pur* chased by th§ banks during the same period — namely, 387,154. ozs. 8 dwts. ' — and fc comparison of the results is ['m. the highest degree instructive. . From the returns it appears that no Sless aquantity than 62,133 ostf » dwfs. [haVe fceejy purchased during t&6 iffye, jpfcjch. I\are never been xefP" r jtej[W •ffiegjflg fcbroijg!^ A,J?atteßy,j rßut'%.3feebr ßut'%.3feebo xaakeg &p -rfowance ■ . > iV

of tailings and small specimens .erpshed at private batteries, for which no returns may possibly hare been made. For such yield there is allowed what must be regarded as a liberal margin, viz.. 30,000 ozs. in nine month's— and still there remain 31,133 ozs. unaccounted for. The " Herald " asks :—: — Where has this gold come from ? It has been purchased, and has passed jthrough the Banks, but so . far as we ,can find, it has never passed through .the batteries. Here we have upwards of. 30,000 ozs. over the origin of which £here hangs a heavy cloud of mystery. That it has been secretely extracted "from quartz is manifest.; but whence came the quartz ? If it came legitimately from the claims it must have 'parsed through the batteries, and have been entered in their returns. If' it came to light in other ways, we should no longer wonder that so many claims have been un profitably worked.

Mr. Warden Pyke reports, for the quarter ending on September 30th^ as follows : — Very little worthy of special comment has occurred during the past quarter. The most_ important, events have been the opening up and testing of. quartz reefs at Conroys and the Carrie k Ranges. Iversen and party have erected a very compact little machine on their reef, and have had several successful crushings, which may be regarded as the prelude to ifurther investigation of the ranges abutting on Conroy's, Butcher's, and Blackman's G-ullies — all on the west bank of the Clutha River.' At' the Carrick Ranges a small rush has set in. y^ery payable lodes and veins have been cut by several of the reefing companies — notably by the " Star of the East," the "Heart of Oak," the "Royal Standard," the "Elizabeth," and others. Excellent results obtained from repeated crushings demonstrate the richness of those workings, fii fact the entire face of the mountain would appear to be seamed with veins of auriferous stone. At Bendigo the reefing interest is just now languishing, owing to the disappointments experienced by some of the most promising companies. In fact the tide is there at ebb, to flow again probably more strongly than ever hereafter. There is nothing new to report in. the way of alluvial mining. From an Invercargill telegram we observe that owing to the excessive railway charges for goods, teams are competing successfully in the transit of wool to BluiF Harbour, the freight being one-half less than by railway.

The following account of the wreck of the Ahuriri, given by a passenger, we clip from the " Evening Star " : — This vessel on her way from Oamaru to Dunedin struck on a reef abreast of the Tumai Estate, near Waikouaiti, at $j p.m. on Wednesday, the 22nd inst. It was low tide at the time ; a heavy sea was rolling with a strong head wind blowing, and Captain McKinnon hugged the .. shore for shelter and smooth water. The crew numbered 13 hands, and there were 12 passengers. Half an hour after the vessel struck the passengers were landed safe, and great credit is due to the chief officer and men for the daring and courage displayed by them in the management of the boat. The vessel was loaded with wool. There were on board a lot of pigs, besides three valuable racehorses belonging to Mr. Wilmar, of Christchurch. The whole of the cargo, passengers' luggage, &l\, were lost. The live stock, with the exception of one racehorse (which we hear has since died) and seven pigs, were drowned. Captain McKinnon states that the chart in his possession gave no intimation of the existence of this reef. The vessel rapidly filled and sank, the tops of the masts only being now visible. It is the opinion of many that the steamer was too close in shore.

Clause 79 of the Permissive Bill introduced during the last session of the- Assembly, provides that every husband, wife, widow, child, orphan, guardian, employer, or other person who- shall be injured in person, property, oi* means of support, or in con sequence of the intoxication, habitual or otherwise, of any person, shall have a right of action against the person who may have sold liquor to the person by whose act the plaintiff shall have been injured, under the influence of wuich liquor the injury may reasonably be presumed to have been inflicted, and may sue for damages in respect thereof in any Court of competent jurisdiction. Any judgment for damages in such action, against the keeper of any licensed pnblic-house, , shall be a lien ovt the house iti "whinh the liquor was sold, and may be levied thereon by .sale oivofcherwise, or an order of :.the Court in which, such damages were recovered. - '

The Grlenhuntly, a deeply laden clipper barque, arrived at the Heads from Liverpool last Thursday morning after a fide passage of 87 days, and was towed up to the Port anchorage on the flood tide. She brings, be.sides a heavy cai;go, 19 second cabin passengers, all L of have enjoyed good health jjb#oughout the passage. •

' Kereru and Kereopa, the murderers of the Rev, Mr. Volltne^ of Opotiki, have been captured by. Ropafca. Among the peculiar titles to newspapers in India, are the " Ambrosial Laaf of the >farkefc," the "Fragrant Dew ot tfUT.^ey/ fap M Rays of the Mprpmg," $c U fteqJaub,Bjrd; of Gfood tQmei),*' aii(Fiss " Inner <O;ate of ?fon^

Pr. Bailey, a, Sydney Roman, Catholic prie.st, has been convicted, of "illegally marrying minors,' and was , sentenced to' sis .months' imprisonment, and ordered to pay a; fi^e of ££0.

The other day a buxom, young woman was in the. at the police-court, Melbourne, giving evidence in charge of felony. '.' I believe you" are a social evil 1 " delicately inquired the police-officer. "Oh! no sir, I'm'reformed ; I'm living wjth a ,CHinaman."' /The bench seemed to doubt tie reformation. '

The same party of min'el'S at the Greenstone who picked lip, a few days ago, a nugget weighing over ,<f7ozij have fossicked out another in their claim weighing 20oz<?. They endeavoured to keep their good fortune " dark," fearing-the inconvenience of a rush, but it was impossible to conceal it for any prolonged time, and the news spread, the dreaded rush has taken place. Claims have been pegged off in the locality, much to the disgust of the miners on* the' spot, and also of those who have erected buildings and planted gardens. The invasion will no doubt be very inconvenient., but should any good results follow, the inconvenience will be amply compensated for by the increased prosperity of. the district. " West Coast Times.,'

From the corrected returns of the last United States census, which was taken in the middle of last- year, it appears that the aggregate population amounts to 38,555,983, which is less by at least a million and a-haif than most persons expected. This falling off in the anticipated increase' is doubfleas chiefly owing to the late civil war, in which half-a-million of combatants are said to have perished on the field of battle or in the hospital. The war also kept away many emigrants who would otherwise have sought their fortunes in the States. The "New York Tribune " asserts that but for the war of secession, the Ninth Census (IB7tf) would have shown the forty millions expected of it. Of the total number. 5,556,166 are returned as foreigners. It also appears that 33,586,!)89 are "white;" 5,880,009 are coloured; 25.731 are Indians; ancL 63,254 Chinese.

A home paper says : — We understand that Messrs. Caird and Co., Grrecnock, have been instructed by Messrs. In man to build for their Liverpool and American line a screwsteamer of about 430 feet over all, and about 430 feet keel and fore-rake, -ii feet breadth of beam, 36 feet depth of hold, while the gross tonnage of the ship will be about 4800 tons. The vessel is to be supplied with the builders compound engines of 750 horse-power. She will be full-rigged, and it is expected she will attain a speed of 16' knots an hour. The steamer will be the largest merchant vessel afloat, excepting the -Great Eastern, the latter being about lEO feet longer than the proposed new steamer. Messrs. Caird, we understand, have been exclusively selected by the Inman Company to build this vessel, and as a~ carte blanche has been given to the builders to produce one of the best ships possible, it is anticipated the steamer will command considerable attention.

The " Wanganui Chronicle," writes as follows, on the subject ot taxes : — We begin to think that there i* nothing in this world which may not be subject to a tax through the ex,igencies of an insolvent government. One of the latest financial schemes in Paris is a tax of five francs upon each and every cat, and of one franc upon each bird kept in a cage. Considering that these creatures are the special domestic favourites of lone and single women of an uncertain age, we cannot help seeing in this new extortion positive evidence that the- tender chivalry so often attended to Frenchmen is no more than a melancholy myth. Thank Fortune, although twopenny receipts are bad enough, we hav'ut yet come to cats and canary birds.