GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 929, 20 February 1872, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

; la the town of Timaru alone, £lO6 has been subscribed for the relief of the Greymouth sufferers by the late flood. The number of inmates in the Dunedin Hospital, Lunatic Asylum, and Gaol, generally average within a few of 150 each, and all the three institutions are as full as they can hold ; extensive additions to the Asylom are in progress. '

Messrs Reynolds and Bathgate addressed the constituency at Dunedin on Feb. 14. The meeting was a large one, but the majority refused to express any opinion, although a resolution and an amendment were both proposed.

A trial crushing from the Portobello reef, Orago, yielded 22dwts to the ton.

The deepest shaft in Victoria is 910 feet in depth, and is being sunk 300 feet lower.

Sugar planting is rapidly increasing .in Queensland, where it is becoming a leading industry. . The Waikouaite brewery and cooperage was destroyed by fire on Sunday night. The labors of a Colonial Governor are recorded in the statistical summary of the Kegistrar-general of New South Wales, for the year ending 31st March last. During that period the Governor has written, 582 despatches to the Secretary of State, 407 messages or speeches to the Legislative Council, and 13,600 letters, notes, or memoranda on a host of topics, private or public; delivered 49 addresses on various subjects—religious, charitable, scientific, or literary; and held 170 interviews with as many different people. A number of skylarks were brought down by t'xe s.s. Wellington, for the Hon. John Hall, Curißtchurch, from Nelson. At a meeting held in the City Council Chambers, Cbristehurch the opinion generally expressed was,, that a by-law ■should be passed to the effect i that kjcenses should be Issued limiting the quantity of kerosene to be stored within _ the. city to. five cases or forty gallons 'each/license. " " ' .:'"

The following bird* ~have : arrived in Canterbury, in excellent condition:— 64 partridges, 43 thrushes,, 95 blackbirds, 60 goldfinches 50 rcdpolex, 4s quails,* rooks, 5 jackdaws, 31 .stardings, 10 hedge-Bparrowaj and from, the Zoological Moiety, London, 5 water. fowl. Homo of the birds were landed yesterday and the remainder will be Bont.to.tho gartlehs,to-day. The Itivertou correspondent of .the " Southland News " says :—•'• The feat of making, two dozen . horse-shoes within an hour, recently chronicled ?u the papers, has been successfully, accomplished by a local Yulean, within the past few days, and no noise made

about it. Que of our Ri verton bll smiths turned out the stated numS finished in A. thoroughly worktnanß manner, in 62 minutes. The facfl the work having beeu performed ■ asserted can be verified by creditifl Witnesses, while its quality may hefl spected any dsy within a time at the forge." ■£ , Wanganui is now a borough unfl the terms 6f the Municipal tions Act, 1867. ; The "election of ■ first Mayor of Wanganui has rosuiH. in the election of Mr Watt, late of fl firm of Taylor and Watt. The refl has caused great excitement. 9 Mr Eyes, late M.H.R. for 1 Wajrau, haviiig accepted ministrative offices, which are mS lucrative than being a simple a new writ w as issued, and the noaiiH tion took place at Blenheim oq 1 14th instant. Mr Seymour (SupeH tendent of Marlborough) and 1 Joseph Ward were nominated, fl show of hands gave 27 for Mr SeyniH and 14 for Mr Ward. A poll waaS mauded. wm The first quartz crushing pIH manufactured at the Thames, AiS (and, has been erected at Katfl bridge. It. is described as foliow»n The plant consists of a six-horse pofl pillar engine, with Cornish boilefl steam stamper battery, and four lafl bfrdans, each four feet in diameterM side, fitted with drag and revolvH balls, and each berdan attached to 9 shaft by clutch gearing ; a shoot ijßj ing from the table of the battery flf verses over the whole of the berdS| and is fitted with sluices, so thatflj tailings from the plates maybe it-tiS either of the berdans, an may be qB convenient. The whole of the bercSj are selfjeeding. Over each is ai which can be filled with tailings.■§ by means of waterpines a comH stream is kept flowing into them; fl from the box the water and tailifl| are conveyed together iuto thu fljj Four funerals took place on IK nesday—three infanta and one mJB So many funerals iu a single day mm never, we believe, occurred in TitJg before. . k' The correspondent of the"Aw| iu Western Australia saya there hm_ a single bookseller's or news' Bhop in the whole of that colony, RTho " Bendigo Independent " ets| that in that district there is asnflt destitution, if not considerably ;1 than in any other district ifljßS colony. This is owing to the efi mous increase of the population vfl has taken place within the iasS The picking of the cotton eroJK •Fiji has been commenced, and tie St is expected to be an excellent one,H trees being very heavily laden, f^ About four o'clock on the m««H of the 2nd instant, fire burst oflg the shop of Mr Hasket, CooksoiiHi Kaiapoi. The following is a Aetmm list of the damage done by the iireH Hasket's saddler's shop, totally H troyed ; building insured in the 1m Zealand office for £IOO, and stoemE £2OO. Crooke's stables, totally fi troyed ; building insured in the LiH pool, London, and Globe oCk-tfl £IOO, stock all saved. M'DoiuHi butcher's shop, totally destroflr building insured in the New Zeaflfl office for £2OO, stock and furuiH uninsured, nearly all destroyed. Mr mated loss, £BO. H. Kerr's b'ag smith's shop, totally destroyed; MB mated loss, £l5O, uninsured Tin; blacksmith shop, totally destru;Ss| estimated loss, £2OO, uniiisug Simon's dinning-rooms, partially f» troyed; insured in the Liverjßf London, and Globe insurance ib for £300; estimated loss, £75. m total loss will amount to about jfflß and £675 will be covered by insuttW INEFFICIENT PTJBIH OFFICERS. EFr (From " Colonist.") fe; { . It seems a most demoralising mm of the publio service that could eg rant any legislator in advising»getting into office of unbright rraßjt crity or incapacity ; and if it said ft'.the inducements in the shape of M ferment are few, the salaries comas lively small, it may be also l'rfl| argued that these are natural reffl of either crowding incompetence™ office or having bo much of it warn pitiably ou Providence for some crifl of patronage. The number of ready to take aud who long ™M Government appointment is BometH enormous. Many of these anfl enquirers have had no experience what the official duties may be; ■ there seems' a general notion ■ public official work can be perfoflM by any one/that no particulartraiM or aptitude is necessary, that in Wm a Government " billet" is a very ■ easy comfortable thing, and SR sequently is iq. great demand. ■ AtitinsoQ, at a recent public maeWp? bore comic testimony to the preTajHHj of this demand, and doubtle6B«KAtkinson is/tery well qualifiaS It is a curious fact that aniiflE virtuous- reprehension of and place-hunting freely exprjHf there is to bo found such a maS the roprebeudere who care nothitißMt the public Her vice, but do all iheJJ to Recure mime crumbs of officS themselves or their friends, audjM take ddligbt in stigmatising ns j»J hunters men who have shown '">■ 'proclivities, but to attack whom fl fondly hoped to be a means of. V tbeir own cherished desires, J ever, wo suppose that is B>ime>vßJ the weakness of human unuro ■ animates small or selfish auud*S

together, the Government have no eaey task before them. The remodel]in" of the Civil Service, with a view to lessening its coat, and at the same tiine enhancing its efficiency, is. a pecesaary work, which they will have to accomplish, in spite of the army of hungry, applicants and their friends tfho are anxious for a quiet retreat to those from whom the "brightness" of genius has been cruelly witheld.