INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1089, 15 July 1873, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

The Superintendent of Otago has officially communicated with the Home Agent of the Province, with a view to getting out fifty working shoemakers and an equal number of tailors, for engagement to wholesale houses, in making up a similar class of clothing goods to those now imported. A late telegram states that the Crown Prosecutor in Canterbury, has decided, in the ca.e of alleged man-

slaughter by Miss Herberte and other?, to lay an indictment under the Coroner's inquest commitment. It has been proposed to bring the Christchureh railway station to the •centre of the city on the Town flail site.

The first case under the Agricultural Produce Lien Act, which permits growing crops to be held as Security for payment of advances thereon-, has been heard at Christchurch. A farmer sold Borne Oat's under lien to Messrs Eoyse, Stead, and Co., Another person receiving the money for the same without paying off any of the advances made, and subsequently filing a declaration of insolvency. The firm sued the purchaser for the value "of the oats, amounting to Over £2B, and recovered it. It is likely that the lienee will be prosecuted under the penal 'clauses of the Act. The Dunedin Municipal Corporation invite tenders for £12,000 of co-opera-tion bends, secured on the rates. The money to be spent in further city improvements. The members of the new Provincial Council in Otago'areto be—Provincial Secretary, Mr Tolmie; Provincial Treasurer, Mr Turnbull; Goldfields Secretary, Mr Bastings; Provincial Solicitor, Mr Turton; and Mr M'Dermid, without office. Mr Tolmie also stated that the Government would shortly be reconstructed, with the view 'of giving to each part of the Province ?m adequate representation on the Government benches. Mr J. L. Gillies has been elected Speaker of the Council.

An Otago Exchange says:—" Has it it ever struck anyone that in a very few years most of our gold producing districts will be totally destitute of fuel; that the consumption is continually going on, and that nothing is being done in the way of planting trees, &c, 'to meet future requirements ? This .worM is a selfish one, we know, and "D.j'pian ideas are not generally relished, but let us soberly ask—"What are our successors to do in the absence "of ail combustible material ? ' Slinging the billy' will be obsolete to thj future goldminer of Otago ; and unless some method of'bottling sunshine ' is initiated, the miner et hoc genus omne, will also become obsolete. Hundreds 'of square miles of auriferous ground which, under more favorable circumstances as regards labor, &c, would afford employment to thousands in the next generation, will simply become, and remain a howling wilderness from the above cause. Cannot the Government initiate some plan to meet the "case.

The Provincial Council of Canterbury has passed a resolution to ask the •Superintendent to place a sum of £SOOO on the estimates to aid in Establishing new, and assisting public libraries, book clubs, and institutes in the country districts. During the 'discussion on the motion, Colonel Brett made a somewhat remarkable statement. He said it was no use passing the vote to give books to the tountry districts, as fifty per cent of the provincials were unable to read or write, and that the books would, therefore, only be used by what he called the higher classes. The Government, whatever public rumor may say to the contrary, is clearly alive to the imminence of a native war in the Waikato, and is making large preparations accordingly. The Bay of Plenty Times says : " The Government evidently do not intend to let much Waikato grass grow under their feet, and most unmistakably appear very earnest as regards the Maori difficulty in that Unfortunate locality. A correspondent ■writing from Cambridge under date of 27th ult., says : —The authorities are forwarding a large quantity of arms and, » ; amunition to ths front. Waggon loads of ammunition arrive almost daily, together with huge cases of arms. All sorts of camp requisites are to be obtained at the Goverment depot on the line, and it is said that about 300,000 rounds of ammunition have found their way to the various stores during the last month. Depend upoD it, if necessary, the Government Will show that they can bite as well as bark."