LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 240, 5 September 1872, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

; H|obace Bastings; Esq. % has been gaset^ed f, Justice of the Peace for the colony. Mb. E. Webbee has been appointed Registrar of births, deaths, and marriages for Waipori. Letters of naturalisation have been issued to Thomas Chew, of the Chinese Camp, Tuapeka. Tjb^e Mayors of Alexandra, Clyde, and Cromwell have been appointed to (he commission of the peace. ; ,: i Thb ball to oelebrate the seventh anniversary of the li»yal PiottW?fedg^ M.Xl^tCf.O^.MakM place to-night, at the Commercial Assembly Rooms,

TE_lraitAi»Hic/--Tl; is proposed to open a telegraph office at Popotunoa shortly. Death from Suffocation. —At Na?eby .last week, a chill named Bottmg was found dead in its mother's srras, having been accidentally over!_i<L jf AYAU A Wellington contemporary hears that some important chants are likely to be made in naval affairs on the Australian station. The squadron is to be increased to ten vessels, the ■■arcissus (a 50enn frigate of the Sudji class), now .undergoing an overhaul at home, to be flagship. The command will be assumed by Admiral C-mpbell, who rec»tly took the Flying Squadron from the Cape of Good Hope to England. Commodore Stirling is to receive •n appointment in the Pacific Sunday Recreation ik Victoria. — In Ballarat there has been organised a Liberty Protection Association, which has adopted tho f>llow:ng programme .-—Strenuous opposition to th 1 Permissive Bill. Establishment of excise supervision over all licensed houses. To advocate Sunday travelling on railways— namely, one up and one down train between Ballarat, Sandhurst, and Melbourne, and vice., versa. To advocate tho opening of telegiaphic communication on Sundays, at certaiii hours. To advocate the opening of public libraries and museums on Sundays^ at certainhours. ' , ;' An Epicurean Prisoner.— A prisoner in the Keefton lockup has addressed to the Visiting Justice, Mr Broad, the following letter :-- "Dear sir, please send m« 1 galion of the best rum, 31b of white sugar, 3lbs of ootmeal, 21bs of mustard for potestaß, 1 pint of milk per day, 2 fresh eggs per day so soon as I receive this, 1 always will pray for your worship and be allways your umble servant and sinciar frend. James Bowles a prisoner a Reefton and i promise to do any thing for you after i have Done my time to his Excellency the right'Honerable sir Charles Bro^d Knight.", I Presbyterian. — On the Bth instant, a meeting of the Canterbury Presbytery wks held in Christchurch. Ihe Presbytery unanimously approved of the moderation bf a call for a pastor to the congregation at Hokitika., It was agreed to instruct the clerk to forward the call, with the tongngational reasoHs for translation, to .the Presbytery of Clutha, whereof the Kov. James Kirkland, to whom the call is is a member. The Presbytery further agreed to request and authorise the Rev. John Gow t> represent the Presbytery before the Prefebytery of Clutha, and urge the tr.snslatidn of Mr Kirkla-d. Statistical; — A reference to tKe birth and death tables iv the statistics of New Zealand for 1871 shows, that did the population of the colony depend upon the natural increase,- the disproportion of the sexes would soon right itself. During the year the excess of births over deaths showed an increase of 3,929 females as against 3.545 males ; and in the deaths for the same period a loss of 1.595 males !as against I.IOS females. Of these deaths 956 were of mfauts tinder one year of age ; 178 one and under two years ; 154 two and under five years, making a total of infant mortality under five years of age of 1,288, or 47.65 per cent, of all the deaths in the colony. . ( Shell Fishing.— ln the list of coast-, wise imports at NeUon, seventeen tons of Pawau shells are mentioned as haviag been entered at the Customs, brought from Kaikoura in *he schooner. P.carL As many readers may -wonder what kind of shells these are, and for what purpose, they are ih- • tended, it may interest them to learn that they bring a high pri6e in theliome marketr— ~ ' from L9O to LIOO a to_--being >sed for inlaying ' mother-of-pearl, papier-mache, and working up' into fancy goods of various descriptions. Bonghly computed, there ..are 9000 shells to the ton, which will give 153,000- shells for the cargo brought by the Pe_rl. ' ■"Which is Correct?— The DaUy Times has its "own correspondent" at Auckland, who, being an ardent Provincialist and strong Staffordite, neelecfe no opportunity of _h_sipgthe,Fpx Government, and is always endeavoring .to show that public opinion there runs .counter to the present -Ministry. His telegrams resp-ctuu? the re- ■ cent meetings in Auckland on, Provincialism may be instanced as a proof of this bias. 'Ihe other day he telegraphed that the Financial . Statement fell flat there. Another telegram ga y5; "The Financial Statement is everywhere favorably commented upon as unexpectedly satisfactory." We repeat— Which is correct? ■ i Post Office Savings Banks.— From the annual account of the business transacted at the Post Onice Savings Banks ,- of the Colony during 1871, it appears that there are twenty two banks open in this Province. The amount of 'deposits made was J_7 1,313, being LIO,OOO more than Canterbury* the second on the list and L 19 ,000 more "than Auckland, the next highest'; while the withd awals amounted t0'L61,361, against "Lot),2s3 in Canterbury, and L 52.777 in Auckland. ;.%here. remains to the credit of Otago depositors L 81.737, against L 77.638 in Canterbury, and L 35.798 in Auckland. We notice that since the commencement' of the Post Office Savings Bank system in the Colony in 1867, the total sum deposited amounted to LI, 108,4 ft 2s - CjRCULATION, OF NEWSPAPERS.— In ' 1871, 1 871,150 newspapers*, were circulated within and without . the Colony; the number the year previous being 1,622.728, 215 411 were sent to the United Kingdom against 245.062 in 1870 ; 87.770 to Australia against 87,562 in 1870 ; and 21,999, t0 other places against '17 113. Within the Colony the number was 1545,970, against 1,272,991 in 1871. In - ' Otago the newspapers despatched showed an , increase last year of 247 530 ; Auckland, a decrease of 40,000 ;. Westland, an increase :of 40,000 ;> Canterbury, of 11,080; Nelson ,r. «nd_H_wke's.Bay, 10,000 ; while Taranaki and Wellington remain about, the same. . . .The newspapers posted in Otago during the - . -lyear was 833,137- ; Auckland is next highet - :•* on the list, with 227, 121. .. • , r The Education Question in VieTpEiA.— An Education League has been ■ * formed in Melbourne, the aim bf which is :— "To secure secular,' compulsory,' nnd free education of the youth of the Colony. To ! nrge.th- passing of a Bill to amend the present Common Schools Act, embodying the following principles' as' the'basis of a public , " school system :— The whole scnemeof public education to be under .a Minister of fnstruction, who shall have a seat in the Cabinet, ,• a»d be responsible to Parliament ; -providing \. a thorough secular education for all the "' youth of the Colony ; making it compulsory that' every child between the ages of six and twelve years shall receive- an elementary secular "education"; provision in the public ' 'acbopls for instruction in higher branches : , - than those rendered compulsory ; the aboli- , ' 'tion of .all fees in the public schools ; placing public school teachers on the civil service list. -.. To secure the return of representatives .to ■/Parliament pledged to support the views of !,' the League. To foster in the public mind, *■ \ brm«aßS of lecture., public meetings, kc , * '' » wt-inrt/pft&tf ill tie object* of 'the/