INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1184, 12 June 1874, Page 2

INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Amongst the La Hogue's cargo is a case containing the sum of £425 in silver coin, which is consigned to the National Bank. The introduction of so large a quantity of silver will be most acceptable just now, when silver iu exchange for gold or paper money is almost unobtainable, and will tend to loosen the " money market" of the counter.

The Provincial Council of Otago, on the motion of Mr De La Tour, have again affirmed the desirability of reducing the gold duty by 0d per ounce.

The following rather neatly turned comparison was made by the Provincial Treasurer of Dunedin iu hia reply to Mr Fish during the recent debate on Mr Bastings' motion of want of confidence:—" When I came into this chamber this afternoon I felt very much like a prophet. The prophet I refer to is the prophet Jonah. And the reason was that I was in fear of being swallowed up by a Pish. I think the parallel would have been good had my fears been realised, for I predict that I should have disagreed with the hon. gentleman's stomach^The Southland paper publishes the following :—" An eccentric German in the Province of Auckland nominated a lot of his friends to emigrate to New Zealand, amongst them the Emperor William. An autograph reply was received in due course, to the effect that he (Emperor) felt highly gratified at the interest shown in his welfare by his countryman so distant as the Antipodes. He had consulted in the matter with his Ministers, and they had agreed with him that he had better stay where he was, and that it was quite uncertain that he could better his propects by emigrating to New Zealand. Thanking him for the consideration shown and wishing him (the eccentric German) prosperity in his new home, he decided to remain, etc."

The following appears in a recent issue of the Welligton Tribune :—" It is marvellous how secrets leak out and stories arise. One of the latter, and the latest in Wellington in connection with printing, is that a report of 100 foolscap pages, in pica, was recently ' set; U p' at the Government Printing Office here, that ' one' copy only was taken, and that the types were immediately distributed. The story is very improbable but how do things originate?"

In the Kaiwafca district, in the northern part of the Province of Auckland, a cattle plague seems to be prevalent. A settler writes to the Southern Cross : —I ami sorry to say the disease has got amongst the cattle here, and they are dying right and left. One settler has lost fifteen, auother two, and several more. I have lost three, and more are likely to go. The beasts are all in good condition, but droop and die in forty-eight hours. May 15 —I lost another young beast last night, and had it opened to-day hy one of my neighbors. AVe found the animal in fine condition, the lungs healthy, the liver slightly diseased, the heart apparently very much diseased, and part of the intestines very much discolored, the stomach healthy and full. I have another boast just "dying. The one we opened was eight months old, and till about a fortnight ago had two gallons of milk daily, as I was rearing him for a bull. The flesh of the animal appears as if he had been bled.

A correspondent of the New Zealand Times furnishes the following facts relative to the working of the differential duty on colonial and foreign spirits :—" I buy first-class English or American spirits of wine, GO per cent over-proof, at from 5s to Gs per gallon. The duty amounts to about 20s per gallon, and the cost is 2os or 2Gs per gallon. Colonial made spirits of wine is charged mo 7s 6s per proof gallon, which, at. GO per cent over proof, costs 12s ; and, as the duty is 10s per gallon, the cost is 225. So that if I buy colonial spirits instead of the other, the revenue receives only 10s per gallon instead of 20s for every gallon I use in business, and the other is divided in the proportion of 7s to the distiller and os to mo. Practically the result has been that, disgusted with receiving so small a share of the advantage, 1 have ceased buying colonial spirit, especially as I find the American or English sweeter and purer for use." Napier is to have new offices for the Postal and Telegraph Departments. The buildings are to bo two storeys in height, and are described as likely to bo a handsome addition to the- architecture of the town. The demand for labor at Napier continues unabated. The Telegraph states that all the single girls that arrived by the Schiehallion were engaged almost simultaneously with the opening of the barrack gates, and the single men have all found employment. Judge Ward publishes the following

letter in the New Zealand Times: —" To the editor: Sir, —I beg to inform you that the documents purporting to bo telegrams from myself to the Hon. Mr Vogel respecting Mr Justice Chapman, recently published in the Otago Daily Times, are simply impudent forgeries. —I am &c, 0. D. E. Ward.—Timarn, May 28, 1874." Warden Stafford in his report on the Mount Ida district, remarks, upon a somewhat singular fact worthy of attention to geologists, tut especially the miners, for practical purposes. It is that on all the neighbouring ranges, viz, Rock and Pillar, Lammerlaw, Rough Ridge (on both sides), Ruggedy Ridge, Blackstone Hill, and Mount Ida, rich finds of gold have been discovered all at the same level, the same height above the sea, and as the diggings have extended they have done so at the same level, losing value above and below. Strange to say, the same rule applies in regard to dead timber. This discovery, Warden Stafford thinks, should encourage belief in a run of gold on all the bluffs and gullies under the course of the race that ore at the same level and correspond in appearance with Naseby and Hamilton.

The Wanganui Herald learns that Mr Montrose late manager of the Anglo - Australian Press Telegraph Agency, has obtained a permanent engagement on the Marlborough Express, and intends proceeding to his destination by the first opportunity. A firm of seedsmen in Dunedin are doing a large trade in exporting fern roots to England. By the Margaret Galbraith the other day they sent home five tons. They also send home large quantities of dried ferns. These, like the roots, arrive, it is said, in excellent condition.