TELEGRAPHIC.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1845, 21 November 1884, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC.

(United Pkess Association.) ( Auckland, Friday. • The Government have agreed to pay in full the claims of consignees of apples destroyed in consequence of the Codlin Moth Proclamation. A man named Payne has been found drowne.d in the Kaukapakapu creek. Invercargill, Friday. The Orepuki Coal and Shale Co., have, at 155 feet, bottomed on coal and shale. The coal is of good quality and the shale is rich in oil. Oaharu, Friday. The twenty-first annual show of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association was held yesterday and was a great success, the exhibits being more numerous than on previous years and of a better quality. The exhibits of Ayrshirea was the finest over exhibited in the colony,

HOW OPIUM IS SiIQKED. . The smoker lies curled up, • with, his head resting on a batiiboo or earthenware pillow about five inches high, Near him stands an opium lamp, the flame of which ia protooted by a glass shade low enough for the point of the flame to project above the top of the smoker takes a wire and dips it into a little box containing prepared opium, A small quantity udheresJoJhe point of the.wire, which is then held over,the flames of the lamp until the heat has swollen it to about ten times its original size. This is rolled over on the flat side of the clay bowl, the opium all the, time adhering to the wire. When it .has ■beeii rolled to a soft solid mass it is again applied to the lamp, and this alternate lolling'and roasting is kept up for at least ten minutes, by which time it is in tho shape of a pill, . The aperture in the pipe is so small that it can only receive the smallest quantity and the most careful manipulation is needed to transfer the tiny boll of opium from one end of the wire to the bowl of the pipe. The point of the wire in inserted into the hole of the pipe and worked found until the soft opium forms into a conical shaped ring around the wire. By twirlling the wire the drug is gradually detached from it, leaving a hole through the opium about as large as the hole of the pipe bowl, with which it communicates. The pipe is how ready and the bowl is held over the lamp, so that the opium comes in contact with the flame- A spluttering noise ensues as the smoker sucks at his pips. After each successive draw he ejects from nose and mouth a volume of smoke, the very, smell of which is enough to turn a horse's stomach, By the end of the fourth or fifth whiff the pipe is empty, The smoker scoops up another dose of opium, rolls it into a pill and repeats the operation with the same patience as before, and smokes away until the pipe falls from his hands and he is lost in dreamland, If tobacco smoking were only half the trouble tobacconists would soon have to shut up shop. • THE PORT OF KELUNG. The 'Economiste Francais' gives the following description of the port of Kelung, which may be read with interest just now:—lt is situated rather to tho South-east of tho point of Siao-Ki, the northern extremity of the island of Formosa, almost at the foot of the last spurs of the high mountain chain which divides this island (of 90,000,000 acres) into two regions, both as distinct from each other in regard to their population as to their topographical character. One is the region of tho plains, colonised and cultivated by nearly three million persons of Chinese origin j the other is the mountain region, thinly inhabited by warlike tribes and by aborigines who have a mortal hatred for all newcomers. The climate of this part of Formosa is very rainy, the mean annual rainfall at Keluug being about 10ft. The island of Formosa belongs, from an administrative point of view, to the Chinese province of b'u-Kien. The port of Keluug is very largo but difficult of access, being protected, three miles to seaward, by the island of the same name, is very steep and rises to a height of 580 ft. above the level of tho sea, and nearer the coast by another island of similar conformation. There are several reefs at the bar of the harbor, and the town itself can only be reached at high tide, and then in small boats. The town consists of two or three hundred very poor houses, or rather, wooden huts, so construeted that the upper part of the facade projects far enough forward into the street to form a sort of open arcade which protects the pavement and ground from the sun. There are about 3000 inhabitants, nearly all of Chinese origm In the neighbourhood of the town there are several coal mines, which the Chinese work in very primitive fashion, labor in thera beiug generally suspended during the rainy season, According to an English engineer, the Kelung mines are capable of a daily output of 300 tons a day for a century. The trade of ICelung is of some importance, especially as regards coal, rice, oil, and camphor, the imports consisting almost entirely of cotton stuffs and opium.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF TAXES.

A return has been presented showing the amount of customs, stamps, land, property tax, beer duty, and territorial revenue contributed by each Provincial District for the year ending March 31, 1884. The following are the totals Otago £792,049 Auckland 524,001 Canterbury ... ... 497,558 Wellington 367,789 Hawke's Bay ... 110,970 Nelson ... ... 103,549 Westland ... ... 60,546 Taranaki 49,745 Marlborough ... 29,561 Otago heads the list in respect to each item of revenue, Auckland comes second in customs, Wellington third, and Canterbury fourth, In stamps, Canterbury is second, Auckland third, and Wellington fourth. -In property tax, Canterbury holds second place, Wellington third and Auckland fourth. In beer tax, Auckland follows next to Otago, Canterbury being a close third, and Wellington a bad fourth, In territorial revenue, Canterbury >ccupies second position, Nelson third, and Marlborough fourth. A note explains that tha figures given for customs duties and beer tax represent the amounts collected at the ports in each Provincial District. They do not represent the contribution of the respective districts to the rovenue, because duty-paid goods are largely exported from one district to another tor consumption, tho foreign import trade the colony being practically centred in the four ports, of which the chief one is the Provincial District of Otago, The duty from stamps and praperty tax can only be stated ap. proximately.

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