The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED ON WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS.

SATVfcI'AY. NOVKJIUKK I. I*7-1. WMmvfß b* th« fate of the Province* as Us* rasttit of tbo impending conflict on tb* rewodeiHog of tbe Constitution, whether tbwr power* merge into the GeawraJ Goveaunent or whether they meitim Ummb umJct mor* ctrcam* aar*b*4 m 4 esaet conditions, it is wiaWl m either ease that provision ■Mat Ito ommJU for tb* occupation of awwlj a«|sn*«d eo*»try. Daring the last — smjiiw of tbe general legislature ■aaam» were pawed empowering the Miaktrjr from Urn* to time to make advaaca* to tfc# Proviuoaa oat of loau for tke ptrpote of enabling them to laeai* ib« amrlr arrived iannigraut* which tfc» Gwaral Government are «egage4 is uiiradaetog into the Cobby. It will be readily under* stuod that the awn mercantile act of —Icetiag and shipping people from tbe Uoiud JCiogdoua to this Colony does wA ooupWie the operation of peopling tin* euttntrjr. wtiSeh. mm ■ndritand, to by th« object of th<» ioMatgratioo polkty . Th« smms dt&omlt part remains to tteduao. after their arrival, so aa to pUottiMAbMMblooiliiieeaod ooder

such conditions as will tend to produco results favourable* both to thoncw settler and the Colony which freely expends its means for that purpose. It is true that in so mo instances where from local conditions of a favourable character, where enterprise and capital unite in extending the area of industrial pursuits, no difficulties arise, aud the demand for labour being in excess of the supply, the local authorities are free from all auxietj or responsibility as regards the futureofthe people introduced. Under these conditions the task of locating immigrants ia an exceedingly easy one, taxing neither the ingenuity, forethought, nor capacity of the authorities. Bat there are other places where the etrcaaiatances are altogether different — whore the taccess of locating immigrants depends on so many conditions being fulfilled, that in the event of any of them failing, the most promising programme is likely to be marred in the execution. With respect to oar own Province, there are several conditions necessary to enable at to absorb a large number of immigrants — such as the rapid extension of the Waitara— Wanganui railway, the acquirement of open land tor sale on the west coast, and the commencement of harbour works. We place these in their natural sequence. The railway is necessary to make successful settlement possible in the forest land and at the same time to make the laud saleable. The acquisition of a large block of land in the vicinity of the Patea District would place the Provincial Government in foods to carry oat with spirit the settlement of the waste lands not so readilj saleable, and the whole would so augment the treasury of the Harbour Board as to warrant it in negotiating a loan in order to pro. •acute works on a large and comprehensive scale. It will tbns be ■ten thai the Province is dependent ou the will of the General Government in order to successfully locate settlers, first as regards the advances agreed to be made, and secondly on the faeiHtj which the Government will offer to the settlement of the land by poshing on railway works. A third element of an unknown quantity is also introduced viz., the disposition of the native* to quietly cede land which is already Crown property. With respoot to the money agreed to be advanced by the Colony, the Genoral Government to fur have promptly responded to our wishes in providing funds for opening up the uew block of land for settlement. Tbo works being carried on for that purpose, we are informed, cousist of felling some one hundred and fifty acres of bush to form a town sito at the junctiou of the new road past the meeting of the waters, with the Mountain Road. This township is welt and convouiently situated, is level and is tra. versed by several small streams. As no name haa yet been suggested for the township, the old Saxon nameof VValtbam, signifying a town in a wood, might bonpplied as boingatany rate appropriate. Besides the bush felling, the survey party is busily engaged in laying off 8,000 acres of laud in rural allotments on the northeast aide of the railway Hue; and besides district roads, a main lino of road to open up the Ngatimaru Block is also being surveyed. It is expected that this land will be ready for sale daring the month of January next, tod a portion of it will be sold on the deferred payment system. In ordor to have a depot of seed potatoes in the district, advantage has been taken of some old native clearings to plant some eight or ten acres. Contracts have been accepted for the construction of twenty two-roomed huts, rough but comfortable, to locate the first batch of what we hope will prove to be permanent settlors. When tho fallen timber on the site of the township is burnt oft", cottages of a more permanent character will be built there, ami the township laid off in bections and offered for sale. Tenders have also been accepted fur building teu four-roomed cottages in the open country, from Waitara to Okato ; ' and we are informed that tenders will likewise be asked for erecting cottages of a similar design in the Patea District, wherever there is a demand for labour, and bouse accommodation is scarce. As | the immigrants arrive, thoso who cannot find private employment will, we learn, be forwarded to the new' settlement, to open district roads and widen tho Mountain Road. It is not the intentiou of the Government to compete, in the employment of labour, with private employers; but, if new arrivals are not engaged, they will be offered contract jobs — such as felling district roads, and other bush work, in the Moa Block — nt current rates. The new district which the Mountain Road opens up, needs only to bo seen to be appreciated. The country is level and well watered. Tho forest is of every variety, from very light to very heavy ; j and the intending settler can suit himself accordingly. If ho desires the ' land for the timber, he can be readily suited ; and if he wishes to clear the land for the purpose of laying it down in grass, bis object can be attained. As a general role, the heavy bush is patchy, and the tawa tree prevails. The capacity of the soil for yielding grass is pronounced to be excellent. The roadway was sown down in May last, and there is now splendid feed. Taking into consideration the vicinity of the line of railway and the character of the land, we would advise those who wish to make a future homestead to secure a slice of this now country as soon as the opportunity offers. The surrey of the first ten miles of the railway into the block is well advanced, and will shortly be completed, tad il it only teatonable to expect thai

tenders will be asked for its construction not later than February next. The line will be of an exceedingly easy description, and if local timber ia used, it need not be more than twelve months in constructing. It will be seen that for some years to come the Provincial Government or the govern ment which may succeed it in the administration of this Province, will have an exceedingly responsible and arduous duty to perform in opening up and settling the country. The successful settlement of open laud involves no serious difficulties, but the peopling of vast tracts of forest land is to some extent a novel experiment, and one that requires great experience, care, and forethought in order to produce a successful result and secure to the people of the Colony a satisfactory return for the expenditure which it must necessarily involve.

There is Really Nothing in the Papers. The dearth of news at the present time is putting newspaper reporters, telegraphic agents, and editors at their wit's ends to find subjects to interest the public. Is this apathy a sign of prosperity ? or is it the lowering atmosphere of a coming storm? Our latest files from all parts of the Colony are barren of what may be termed interesting news. Each paper seems to be made up of clippings ; and leading articles appear on subjects that have been done threadbare. The Auckland papers are working up Sir George Grey's petition into all imaginable shapes; so much so, that the people, we fancy, must vote Sir George a bore, and inwardly wish that they had no Constitution at all. The Nelson papers are for the most port filled with advertisements, which must be very satisfactory to the proprietors. One would think that the Wellington journal— being at the seat of Government, where all the news should come from — could find something sensational to publish ; but 'we merely notice the usual clippings, stock leaders, and paragraphs written to fill so much space. Christchurch papers have got the " Scientific Expedition" to amuse them, and this occasionally Affords matter for a column or two ; whilst, in Dunedin, they are discussing " funeral reform," and whether it is the correct thing to allow billiard tables to be placed in the Athemeum. As for the journals in Napier, Blenheim, Invercargill, and other small towns, it is not to be expected that anything very new should be found in them; but even they exhibit an unusual dullness. The press represents the community; and when things are going on smoothly and prosperously, then the papers are dull. It therefore leads us to believe that every one in the Colony is at present profitably c igaged, with no time to spare for fault-finding. When this state of affairs alters, newspapers will perhaps become more interesting ; but, for all that, we don't wish to see the change. It is far better that a reporter should experience difficulty ia gathering news, than that he should be called upon to report meetings held by the unemployed, or to record the destitution he meets with in his daily rounds.

Fresh Discoveries made by Scientific Men ore still looked upon at first by n great portion of the inhabitants of this world with as much doubt as wore Bacon's by his contemporaries Who is there that can moke up his mind to believe that such things as " Carnivorous plants" exist, yet Dr. Hooker in his address before the British Association, states that the Dioiuca (Venus fly-trap) and tho Druscra (sundew) are well known instances. He says that the entanglement of insects in their leaves, which has been long noticed, is no accidental circumstance, but that the plant actually kills, cats, and digests them. An American botanist has actually fed a Dionxca with small pieces of beef. "The leaf closed upon tho morsels as if thoy were insects, and alter a while they were found to be completely dissolved and absorbed, the leaf opening again with a diy surface, and ready for another meal, though with an appetite somewhat jaded. Moreover, the plant has no more control over its appetite than a human being. It was found that cheese disagreed horribly witli the leaves, turning them black, and finally killing them." We must own that we are slightly sceptical of any extraordinary disoovery that starts from America. It may be correct that these plants devour animal food : if so, there is no reason to doubt that the " man eating plant" exists, but it would be as well not to try to transplant it from its native soil, or lives might be lost in the attempt. This "man eating plant" is said to be a native of Madagascar, and traps men and women as the Dionaa does flies. We quote one of the least sensational paragraphs of this "strange story," of what the cannibal plant accomplishes, as described by a supposed eye-witness: — "The retracted leaves of the great tree kept their upright position during ten days ; then, when 1 came one morning, they were prone again — the tendrils stretched — and nothing but a white skull at the foot of the tree. The indescribable rapidity and energy of its movements may be inferred from the fact that I saw a smaller one seize, capture, and destroy an active little lemur; which, dropping by accident upon it, while watching and grinning at me, ia vain endeavoured to escape from the fatal coils." Human knowledge is said to be the parent of doubt; and human nature is prone to to unbelief. We own that the discoveries are wonderful — too wonderful, we fear, for half tho world to credit.

' Nana Sahib has been Captured. Tho name of this murderer had teen almost forgotten, and it was generally supposed that he was dead, but a telegram from Calcutta, which appears in a paper dated 22nd October, informs us that, after a lapse of seventeen years, Nana Sahib has been taken, and is now in safe custody. It was on the breaking out of the Sepoy revolt in 1857, the English residents of Cawnpore were placed in the greatest peril. The efforts to obtain reinforcements failed, and the 2nd regiment of native cavalry revolted on the sth June. Their example was speedily followed by the native infantry. The English, their wives aud children, with native servants, amounting to nearly 900 persons, were besieged within a narrow entrenchment, by the rebel soldiers commanded by Nana Sahib. They defended themselves heroically against overwhelming numbers. Death, however, rapidly thinned their ranks, and on the 24th Juno, Nana Sahib sent a message to Sir Hugh Wheeler, offering to allow tho English to proceed unmolested to Allahabad, provided they gave up the public treasure, the guns, and ammunition. A contract to this effect was I signed on the following day, and on the 27th, J the remnant of the 900 besieged at Cawnpore i embarked in boats prepared to convey them to Allahabad. No sooner, however, had^ they quitted the shore, than the treacherous sepoj's opened fire upon them, following them along the bauks in order to insure their destruction. The boats were sunk, many of the men killed, and the survivors, with the women und I children, carried back to Cawupore. Other prisoner?, mole and female, were brought in,

ami all who survived, were barbarously slaughtered on the 15th July. Havelock defeated Nana Sahib near Cawnpore on the 16th July, aud entered the town on the following day, when the horrors that had been enacted there became known. Such is the slight history of the affair by which this Sepoy made his name known throughout the world, and i£ the man in custody ia really Nana Sahib, no mercy should be shown him.

The Califoknian Mail Service is to be continued — or, rather, re-commenced again — and we trust that it will be attended with more success than the previous efforts have met with. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the result of Mr. Thomas Russell's negotiations with the Postmaster-General of New South Wales is considered by both the most satisfactory that could be arrived at in the present state of things. The Governments of New South Wales and New Zealand will equally divide between them the expenditure of the interim service, and have agreed to unite on equal terms in establishing a permanent service combining the largest number of advantages obtainable for the two Colonies, and enforcing payment of the penalties incurred by the failure of Messrs. Hall and Forbes. A contract has been made with the Australasian Steam Navigation Company to carry on the temporary service until December next. The contractors have accordingly secured the fine steamship •Mikado,' and after a thorough refit she will leave for California with the November mails. It is said, however, that the ' City of Melbourne,' which left San Francisco with the mail, will not call at Auckland this trip; but the services are afterwards to be performed with a regularity to which we have hitherto been unaccustomed.