INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1223, 27 October 1874, Page 3

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Referring to journalism as existing in Christclmrck the correspondent to the N. Z. Times says : —" The want of a free and unfettered organ is becoming more and more felt here. "While public prints, especially those assuming the mantle of high respectability in which our two dailies continually attempt to cloak themselves, are supposed to lead or reflect public opinion, these two journals are in the hands of a few —very few —men, whose dexterity at pulling the right strings at the proper moment has been marvellous. Efforts, hitherto unsuccessful, have been made to float an independent journal; and if report speaks true, the " ring" of which 1 speak are determined to spend a few thousand pounds to crush any attempted opposition that might arise. The two evening papers are simply reprints of the morning Times and Press, and as such are ignored. They were intended as a stop-gap to prevent any intruder from establishing a footing upon the sacred precincts in the occupation of those half-a-dozen gentlemen who aspire to rule Canterbury, but they have only succeeded in bringing their promoters on the wrong side of the ledger. The evening Globe has just published the fact of its having changed hands, but for all that its contain the Press's matter, as set in the latter's morning issue, and its purchaser is the largest shareholder, and the manager of the Press itself. Journalism is indeed at a very low ebb in Canterbury." An Otago exchange remarks that all Chinamen are not of the " heathen'' type. Messrs M'Dougall and Smith, auctioneers, &c, have had a Chinaman in full charge of their store at Matatapu for above a year past. They have found him to be a young man of excellent character, true to his trust, and very correct in accounts. lie is studying hard to master the English language, and he writes a legible hand. Two hundred bushels of "Wakatip wheat have lately been sent to Mel- ■ bourne as a trial shipment by a Queenstown firm. The opening up of railway communicatiou with the Bluff in course of time has led the enterprising firm referred to to adopt measures for ascertaining the value of Wakatip grown wheat in the Victorian market, with a view to its export, so soon as this fine wheat-producing district is placed within easy reach of a pprt of shipment. "Wakatip grown wheat fetches a better price in Dunedih than any other sample. The Wellington Evening Post gives currency to a rumor that the post of Governor of the new Colony of Fiji is

to be offered to Sir Donald M'Lean, the Native Minister. Whether there is any real foundation for the statement or not, there can be no doubt that the appointment would be a suitable one. A correspondent of the Nelson Colonist gives a derivation of the name Wakatip or Wukatipu. He says : —lt was common enough with the Maoris to imagine destructive monsters living in deep pools and by rocky headlands and other places, probably where navigation was dangerous to canoes. The Otago lake, now commonly known by the degraded name of Wakutip, in Attic Maori would be called Whangn-tipua, " The monsters creek or lake/' a name it well deserves. A. novel importation was noticed at Poverty Bay a few days ago. It was a consignment of sixteen frogs, from Auckland. The Herald says they came from Australia. They are excellent purifiers of water, and their " croak croak," if rather monotonous, is not uninteresting in the " stilly night." Ex-Governor Colonel Gore Browne has become a director of the New Zealand Trust and Loan Company. At the Lyttelton regatta to take place on the Ist of January, there will be a race for sailing vessels of any rig, except cutters, under 150 tons register for £IOO, and a silver cup valued at £?0; also a four-oared whaleboat race for £3O. The Dunedin Star hears that Colonel Moule goes home, and that Major Gordon is likely to receive the UnderSecretary ship of Defence. Two publicans have been fined for Sunday trading at Greytown, province of Wellington. In one esse the evidence was that of a man who said the publican hud refused to supply him and that a lodger in .the house had given him some beer, which he drank on the premises. It is not generally known that one part, of New Zealand is at the present moment, and has been for many years, suffering from precisely the same sort of tyranny which drove the North American Colonies in rebellion, and gave birth to the Ui.iied States Ttie Chatham Islands are taxed, though not represented! Included in no electoral district, the residents in that retired -locality are deprived of the proudest boast of Britons; the ballotbox is unknown there, nor does any member in the House ever have the Chathams in his mind's eye, when, for the hundredth time he says, " the important and influential district which I have the honor to represent, &c." The Custom House is in full blast there though, and the duties levied are higher than in New Zealand, because the cost of shipping' goods adds to their value.