GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 373, 15 July 1874, Page 5

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

There are now only two immigrants, both females, in the Oamaru Barracks, all the men having been sent to Palmerston, where they are to be employed oa Government works.

Advices have been received of the sailing of the Mary Ball', from Glasgow, on the 7th May, with over four hundred passengers, equal to 3b'o4 adults, for Ota^o.

Amongst the list of youths belonging to Otago who have passed the Civil Service exammati ,n published in a late issue, we omitted tha name of James Edward Fulton, wbo° was educated at West Taieri, and by private tuition. This candidate passed the junior examination.

It may interest sporting men to know that Captain Machell, whose horse Heugney won the last Liverpool Grand National with a gentleman rider on his bask, is a brother of Captain Machell, aide-de-camp to Sir George Bo wen. Captain Machell won the National last year, aud is described as " a man, who, making racing a business, has honorably made a fortune by it."

Messrs Brogden and Sons have imported a cargo of railway sleepers from Paget Sound, Oregon. They are of red pine, and certainly inferior to some Je w Zealand timber easily procurable. We may instance totara, mabai, or birch. Mow is this justifiable with the decisions of the Waste Land Board of Invercargill ?

Mr Duncan, Canterbury's Immigration Agent at dome, appears to have fallen foul of an agent for Canada. Both were in a Scotch town on the same errand— the search for " heads " — and in order to convince a public meeting he was addressing of the superior 'attractions to the emigrant offered by New Zealand in general and Canterbury in particular, Mr Duncan boasted that hi* Province hsA produced oats weighing 501 bs to the bushel, and that; this grain beat Canada and California at the Vienna Exhibition ; te wnich the Canadian retorted that this " tiumpeter of New Zealand" torgot to mention the length of the passage to the latter pace ; the liability of death from disease in 80 long a voyage ; that a New Zealand emigrant ship had lately thirty or forty deaths on board ; and that taxation in Canada was LI per head, against Ll2 in New Zealand.

The saw-mills of Mr Trotter, at Pillan's Bush, are, according to the ' Bruce Herald,' in full swing, and are sawing 5,000 ft of railway sleepers a-day. The bank of the river is lined with these, ' tegether with miscellaneous timber of all kinks. The bush will soon be emptied ef all available wood.

We ( Wellington ' Tribune ') hear that some of the larger ratepayers in the Wairarapa decline to pay the education rate, preferring to let tbe law take its course. Mr Alexander of Wanganui also writes to us that Ms cuckoo clock will soon be sold again in tbe same fashion and for the same purpose. We regret that the Act should be ao unpopular, .but we can hardly wonder at it, considering the fact that the ratepayers have no-mana^e-ment or control over the scheols in their respective districts. " Hamlet," with the Prince omitted, would be nothing to it. The sham of nominated committees or cbmmitteea of advice, at which the Board attempts to play, is very properly treated by the people with contempt.

The 'Bruce Herald' says :— " Constable Baird, of Balclutha, arrested a man named L>. Agan for forgery, en a telegram from Christchurch, at the Waipake, on the evening of Thursday, the 2nd, and arrived at Balclutha in safety with his charge on the following day. Agan'a prompt arrest has saved the .publip from a recurrence of the swindles of Sutherland and Bruce Barkley, as we understand, a cheque -prepared and about to be given to a local storekeeper was found on his person at the time of arrest,

The demand for timber from this port, says the Hokitika • Star,.' is on the increase. One firm here has received one order from ChriHchurch for over one million feet of sawn timber, bet-ides several small orders.

The 'Soath Canterbury Times,' thus speaks ug for the safety of the porb of Timaru :- -" for a long while past the harbor of Timarii has borne but an indifferent name amongst shipowners, in regard to its security for vessels to ay for any length o&jtjime at anchor. The visit ef the a. a. Omeo here will, we trust, tend greatly fco dispel this illusion on the part of foreign shipowners. This vessel arrived ia the harbor from Port Chalmers on Thursday morning la^t, taking in a cargo of grain till a late hour tttafc evening. She liy snugly at anchor as c'dse to the bhore as consistent with safety, aiid remained till late on the followiug day. £(er commander, Captain Calder, whose experience on the .New Zealand coast entitle* .his opinions to be received witb some degree- of respect, has expressed himself as highly satisfied, both with the harbor and the alacrity with wtfjch his cargo was shipped from both our services, and we trust that now he has seen for himself what our shipping capabilities are, and also that the , cry agaiast our harbor has been bat a delusion and a snare, we may often see himself and his fins vessel calling in here for cargo. 1 * As was the case in the Colonies, Lord Newry is. the only member of the Uuke -of Edinburgh's suite who appears to be bad odor. While the Duke' himself, the Hon. j Elliot Yorke, and lastly and most recently (Japt. Haigh, have married most; advantageously, he of finds himself iv hot water, brought about thiiwise. On announcing; his intention to stand for the town from which he takes his title, he judiciously sent LIOO (double his usual donation) for distribution among the local charities. The priest and the parson, who are happily in excellent accord, met aud arranged a division according to the number of distressed persons of their respective creeds. The noble lord was rejected, and after his defeat wrote a peremptory letter, demanding a detailed statement of how the L6O (being the Catholic proportion of his gift) had been expended, and hinting that it had not reached the right persons. This detailed account, showing the appropriation ot every farthing, was sent to his lordsh p, with a cheque for L6O, the gift of a Catholic gentlemau of the town, who would not permit his poorer co-religioniats to accept money given grudgingly and with a purpose.

It must be a satisfaction to the ' GreymoHtb Star' to know that the Westland Provincial Council has been prorogued. In a receafc issue that paper aska : " When will the curtain fall on this miserable facer played by incompetent amateurs ? Is there no one in th« Council with sufficient honor and honesty to commence action with a view of petitioning the Governor in Council to wipe the Province of Westland off the political map of New Zealand? To what Province we may be annexed la a matter of secondary consideration. The present prayer of every right-thinking man in the r?oviuce of Westlaud should be : save us from ourselves, as represented by our present councillors."