INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1039, 21 January 1873, Page 2

INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Amongst the cargo of the ship City of Auckland, 25 tons of Taranaki iron sand was consigned to a foundry at Middlesbro-on-Tees. This is the largest consignment of the raw material that has ever left Auckland, and if experiments prove satisfactory, it will doubtless open up a demand for the article. At the recent examination of the Catholic schools at Napier the proceedings terminated with an open air dramatic entertainment by some of the pupils. The verandah in front of one of the buildings was fitted up as a stage, curtains being hung in front of it, and seats placed for the audience in the quadrangle below. And, when it became quite dark, the foliage surrounding the quadrangle was hung with Chinese lanterns. The Episcopalian Bishop of Dunedin has shown by his recent utterances on public occasions that he is an out and-out supporter of denominational education. Twice in his address ou opening his Synod, he expressed a desire for schools under the direct control of his church, and in earnest language urged their establishment. Respecting the large number of lawyers in New Zealand, John Perrybingle writes to a Melbourne contemporary : —" They must have happy times down in • New Zealand. In a town of one street there's said to be eighty lawyers thriving ; and towards the south, commercial travellers from Victoria as so thick that, as a sarcastic friend of mine says, they outnumber the white population. Writs and slop toggery ought to be cheap in those parts. This is one of the consequence of the decay of cannibalism and the march of intellect. Alas, there was a time when the native New Zealander wasn't too proud to eat a raw lawyer, or to take a scrap of ' legal adviser,' euange and change about 'with wild pig ; but civilisation has spoilt the savage for those awful delicacies, and so the lawyers multiply. The Auckland 'Herald' describes Nelson as the one place more than another in New Zealand always in a political ferment. Nelson is the scene of uninterrupted party conflict when the Assembly is not in session, and Nelson politicians "give and take" with heartiness and sincerity which is refreshing to contemplate, even at a distance- The only regret we have is that these gentlemen are not better employed. There is no province in New Zealand which contains more latent wealth than Nelson, acre for acre; but it is a lamentable fact that there is no province in the colony in which so little has been done towards utilising the great natural resources which await the energetic application of capital and labor. The only exhibition of energy observable, is that of platform disputations and newspaper wranglings." Our contemporary says : —" In conclusion we would re. commended our fellow-colonists to apply their great and admitted powers towards the development of the resources of their province, instead of to tearing one another to pieces. Such proceedings can only end in- personal bitterness, which must render it impossible to have anything like hearty cooperation in the active work of colonisation. A great field is before them if they only avail themselves of it. Their settlement is admirably placed for commercial and manufac-

Turing purposes. Nature has been prodigal of her gifts; let us hope that these gifts will uo longer be despised." A Steeplechase Club has beeu started at Wanganui. About 80 members have joined already. We, ' Southern Cross,' understand that the Union Bank of Australia has received instructions by the mail to open subscription lists at their various agencies for shares in the portion of the National Bank of New Zealand'a capital allotted to the colony. The printed forms are expected from London by the Dacotah, when applications will be at once received. The last lot of emigrants brought out by the Chile to Napier, seem to be a very superior addition to New Zealand population. The ' Hawke's Bay Herald ' thus speaks of them: — 'All who have seen the immigrants recently arrived by the Chile speak in the highest terms of the appearance of intelligence and respectability which they present. They come, we understand, for the most part, from Cornwall, a couuty in which the peasantry are, as a class, much superior to those of the other southern counties of England. Several of them are skilled tradesmen, such as carpenters, butchers, and so on, and a good many others of them have been accustomed to farming work." The Huruoui Bridge, on the borders of Nelson and Canterbury, and which has been washed away frequently, is again completed and open tor traffic. It is 260 feet "longer than before, and measures altogether 1100 feet in length. Ari effort will shortly be made to raise sufficient capital to work the quicksilver deposits in the Bay of Islands district. A similar venture in San Luis, California, has recently been deemed a sufficient object for the floating of a company with a capita! of £600,000. V