The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1884.

The regulations for the conduct of the election of three directors as members of the Board constituted under the "Tho New Zealand Government Insurance Association Act, 1884," are published in last Saturday's Gazette. Mr F. E. Campbell, Clerk of Parliaments is appointed Presiding Officer, and Messrs J. Ames and R. S. McGowan are appointed his Assistants. The Presiding Officer is to act in the capacity of Returning Officer. Candidates are to be nominated, in the form set forth in the schedule, by two policy holders. Tho nominations' arc to be sent by post addressed to tho Presiding Officer, and must be made by December 20, and tho election is to tako place on January 7. The voting for candidates shall be by voting papers, a sufficient number of which will be transmitted by the Commissioner to district and resident agents of the Department, and to all postmasters who aro acting as agents, and by them furnished to all policy holders who mayapply for them. The mode of voting is peculiar, and must not be lost sight of. The voter shall erase the names of the candidates tor whom ho docs not desire to vote, and shall sign the voting-paper and add the number of his policy after such signature, in the presence of at least one witness (who shall sign his namo and address), and send such paper by post, addressed to the Presiding Officer, Government Insurance Office, Wellington. Tho voter must leave not more than three names unerased on the voting-paper, and the vote or votes shall be deemed to be given for the name or names loft on the paper unerased. If more than throe names arc left on the voting-paper unerased it will be treated as informal. If it should appear that a policy-holder, either in nominating a candidate, or giving his vote under these regulations, cannot state the number of his policy with certainty, or if in any othor respect any nominationpaper or voting-paper does not fully comply with these regulations, or the form prescribed, the Presiding Officer shall not reject such nomination-paper or votingpaper if by any other means ho is reasonably satisfied that tho person nominating or voting is a policy-holder entitled to vote at the election. Subject as aforesaid, no voting-paper shall bo of any eifect if it bo not completed in accordanco with these regulations, and no voting-paper shall _be tendered to or received by tho Presiding Officer after ten o'clock in the forenoon of the day appointed for the said election. No voting by proxy shall bo allowed in ant cash. At ten o'clock in the forenoon on the day of election the Presiding Officer shall, at the Government Insurance Office aforesaid, in presence of hifi Assistants, proceed to open and examine tho voting-papers and to record the total number of votes respectively given for such candidate; and if it shall be found impossible to complete such examination on that day, then the same shall bo continued on the next following day or days till finally completed. Neither the Presiding Officcr'nor either of his Assistants, nor any clerk or person employed by him or them, 'shall (except in discharge of his official duty) disclose for whom any person has voted or tendered his vote under these regulations either before or after the election is completed, or retain possession of or exhibit any voting-paper used at tho election, or give any information to any person as to the existence or terms of any policy of life insurance mentioned or referred to in any way for the purposes of any election under these regulations. And if any person shall commit a breach of this regulation he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds, to be recovered in the mode prescribed by this Act. Our Supplement to-morrow will contain the continuation of that exciting story the Morniugton Mystery; a complete tale; Ladies' Gossip ; and a sermon by tho lato Rev. Thos. Jonos. It came out at W. J. Harker's meeting of creditors to-day that, though the bankrupt owed debts amounting to over £3000, he still retained a bank balance—lis Bd. Cricketers (and who is not in these days P) will bo interested to know that Dr Grace's son—W. C. Grace junior—though still but a boy, has shown signs of becoming a good cricketer. At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, before E. Lyndon, Esq., J.P., Joseph Buttler was charged with attempting- a criminal assault at Hastings, and was remanded. Another oil company has been floated at Auckland for tho purpose of testing the East Coast petroleum springs. We also hear that there are two companies in course of formation at Gisborne. Wo (Post) learn from a private source that Mr Creighton has been selected by influential men in America to take charge of and direct a newspaper which it is intended to establish in Londm in American interests. Wahanui has a brother named Karu who weighs 22 stone. He, Wahanui, and a cousin, wcigli just over half a ton. We wonder how many pounds the Post, from which we extract the above, allows to the ton. The Now Zealand Royal Mail steamer Kaikoura, that arrived at Dunedin on Wednesday night, has amongst her passengers Mr and Mrs Shrimpton, and Mr Scale, whoso friends will be glad to welcome them on their return here. We aro requested to remind the workers who so kindly have been giving their services to the erection of tho booths, &c, for the Fair, that this is tho last evening for labour, the Fair being opened to-morrow. An extra contingent of willing workers would help matters very much. Tho Cup match between the Rovers aud rhoeuix was concluded yesterday afternoon, ending in tho defeat of the latter by an innings and 34 runs. Tho Phoonix concluded their second innings yesterday for a total of 52, to which Percy contributed 26 not out. Newton secured nine wickets for 26 runs, while Liddle got ten for 34. A fisherman, yesterday, very nearly got himself into trouble through persisting in hawking fish on the railway platform after being warned off. No. 24 of the New Zealand railways, provides that "no person shall sell, or attempt to sell, any Article on any of the premises of a railway sr train without the consent of the General Manager." The intelligence of a jury is once more to he front. Sir Henry Parkes has been ,uing a N.S.W. country journal for libel nid the following occurs in a report: — After the evidenco had been heard and the ury had retired, the foreman roturncd into iourt to ask his Honor if tho view taken by lome of the jury, that a public man could tot be libelled, was'a correct one! The Post says:—"A general election /bout the middle of the coming year is, we hink, not only possible, but extremely d-obablc, and then, if well-defined issues re placed before the country, the result can ardly fail to smooth away many difficulties diich have for a long time past seriously iterfered' with the proper and legitimate peration of Parliamentary government in few Zealand. Thero was a very narrow escape from a >rious accident at tho Spit this morning', 'wo crews were taking the boats that are > be used at to-morrow's races over to isherman's Bay, and owing to the high md blowing at tho time the water was very nigh, so much so that the boats quickly led, and nearly' swamped Reyci-al times, i was with some difficulty that t'he'shed as safely reached. There appears to be some discrepancy itweon Mr Desmond's letter to Mr Har:r, and Mr Desmond's letter that was pubhed by '.is concerning a certain 1.0'.U. r £237 for election expenses. It would ; 3iu from tho fact of the existence of this , D.U. that Mr Desmond does, or did, owe : methihg to Mr Harker. This will be set- ' id no doubt by and bye. probably, before ; r Desmond once more figures as a candite for parliamentary honors. ;

We beg to acknowledge the receipt from the Government Printing Office of a bound copy of the statutes of New Zealand passed last session. _In previous years the statutes of each session have been sent us in the *. form of a lot of loose sheets, which we have | had to gather up and get bound for ourselves. We reed not add that the handsome volume now before us is very acceptable. The Auckland Star, in an article relating to the death of the Hon. William Swainson" appears to confound the deceased gentleman with William Swainson the celebrated naturalist, since it quotes from "Men of the Time " a notice of the latter. Mr Wil-

Ham Swaiuson, the naturalist, however, died some years ago, aud the books mentioned in the notice quoted in the Star were written by him, not by the Plon. William Swaiuson. A Napier lady, by a sailing ship leaving this port some months ago, forwarded a box of curios to a lady relative in England. Advices of its receipt were received in Napier this week, with the addition that on opening the box a live bee was discovered, which had found tho voyage rather long for its liking, and was nearly passing iii its ohequos in consequence. A little care and feeding, however, brought it round, and now one of the most interesting of that box of curios is the beo who made the voyage as a stowaway.

At the last meeting of the School Committee the Inspector's report was presented. From a visit to tho Education Ofiico to-day, we learn that the percentage of passes for the whole school is the highest attained since the school has been in existence, that is for six years, tho percentage beinir nearly 60. The average marks for the pupils examined reached the most satisfactory figure of over 75. As usual the Napier School is again to tho front with scholarships. Mr Thomson and his assistants are to be congratulated on this satisfactory result to their year's labor. An employe on Sir William Fox's estate tho other day killed a fat sheep, which seemed to be in perfect health. He was not a little astonished, on splitting the head open to see a number of fat grubs fall out of one of tho hollows above the eye. Theso creatures were quite as perplexing a mystery as tho " fly in amber." They were certainly neither " rich nor rare," but it must puzzle ordinary mortals to discover how they "got there," and how having got there, they managed to get there living without seriously interfering with the health of the sheep. Last September Mr G. Rymer got up, and forwarded to the Government, a petition praying that tho Meanee district be proclaimed under tho " Hawke's Bay Rivers Act, 1876." Yesterday's mail brought him v reply that the Act in question had been repealed by the River Board's Act of last session, and that it will now bo necessary to petition under the latter. If the Government had replied to Mr Rymer within something less than three mouths tho Meanee district could have been brought under the Rivers Act before that measure was repealed. Now all the trouble has to be gone over again with the additional difficulty of there being forty more freeholders in Meanee owing to the cutting up of the Mission station.

Last evening the Theatre Royal was well filled from floor to ceiling with a kindly disposed resolved-to-be-pleased audience on tho occasion of the concert in aid of the prize funds of the local school. On the stage arranged in eight tiers were some hundred and twenty of the scholars, whoso neat appearance was tho theme of general comment. The first four rows were occupied by the girls, while the boys had possession of the remaining tiers. Each girl had in her hand a bouquet of flowers, so that the stage as seen from the circle seemed a brilliant garden. The first part of the entertainment consisted of a miscellaneous programme, tendered by various amateurs. Mr Aplin sang tho Wolf which served to show the clearness of his lower notes. Mr Finch sang a pretty ballad, but was not in good form. Mr Watkins gave the British Lion in a spirited manner, which was well received. Mr Martin was heard to greater advantage than usual, because his selection was well suited to his voice. Mr Hodgson recited the Lifeboat in a very feeling manner, and Mr Monteith was of course recalled for singing a comic song. Mr Sorrell's band gave two selections. The second part consisted of Thomas' cantata of tho Pic-nic, sung-by the children. The music of tho cantata is both pleasing and taking, and the way the different parts were rendered reflected great credit on their teacher and conductor, Mr Smith, showing- what painstaking efforts could accomplish. Special mention must be given to Master Hendry who in his solo, which was well sung, gave evidence of being the possessor of a very fine voico; for his solo ho was deservedly encored. To the Editor: Sir, —New Zealanders are a strange mixture of despondent and sanguine men, and I have derived infinite amusement from the views of Mr Cooke, president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce I read: —"Further, it is becoming annually more apparent that Australia will, in the future, require to lean upon us to a greater extent for tho produco of our land. I will not bo surprised if, within another decade, sho absorbs almost the whole of our surplus bread and feeding stuffs." A grain of fact is worth more than a bushel of theory ; the above is the theory, now for the fact. Ten or twelve years ago, all tho Australian colonies imported wheat with the exception of South Australia, which had a capital market in the neighboring colonies. But I will not go so far back as that, I will compare 1879 with 1883, and

I find the quantity of land in the five Aus-

tralian colonies under wheat has increasec in four years by upwards sf 700,000 acres, In the first named period Victoria and South Australia jointly had to exporl

half the wheat raised, while in the last named year the exports largely exceeded the home consumption, notwithstanding the fact that in South Australia with the increased area of 400,000 acres under crop, the yield, owing to the average being a little more than half of the former year, was two million bushels short. In other

words, Victoria and South Australia ex. ported four-fifths as much wheat in 1883 as was grown altogether in New Zealand. Sj-d----ney is a free port, and there we find Australian wheat quoted from Gs to 8s per quarter higher than New Zealand, while the difference in value in London seldom exceeds two shillings per quarter, so I am

;emptcd to ask where is the Australian

market for New Zealaed grown wheat? Again, bow are the Canterbury farmers with land valued at from £10 to £20 per aero to compete with the Wimmera farmers of Victoria who can buy fenced farms with houses on them at from £2 to £2 10s per acre freehold ? or with the South Austra-

lian Quorn farmer who can put in and tako off his wheat crop at twelve shillings per acre, so that a yield of four bushels with a spot price of three shillings and sixpence per bushel returns a profit. From your own columns I saw some time ago that in Victoria in the Wimmera twenty-four shillings per aero covers the cost. —lam, &c, Moderation.

T. R. Proctor, oculist's ojjtician, opposite Parker, Blacksmith, Hastings-street, has determined to prolong his stay for one week longer, owing to the pressure of business. All those wishing aid with weak sight should not lose this opportunity.— [advt.]

"Rough on Corns."—Ask for Wells' Rough on Corns." Quick relief, complete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. Felton, Grimwade & Co., Agents, Wellington.

Theso old people whose blood lias become ihin and steps feeble arc praising Hop Biters for the good they have done them. See.

Circulars and pamphlets explanatory of its curative properties have been translated into all languages, and there is no portion of the world where Wolfe's ScitNAr-PS is not known and appreciated.—[advt.]