LOCAL AND GENERAL

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 380, 16 August 1871, Page 3

LOCAL AND GENERAL

The distance between 1 the cities of Duh- • -edin and Wellington has been ascertained, -•''by astronomical observation, to be exactly . *32l'miles. v. :-..'-. Auwaterspout laitely burst over Victoria in the west province of the Cape colony, . 'causing the loss of 100 lives and L25,00G worth of property. A Nelson paper say's it may not he generally known, yet it is a fact which ought to be generally known, that the Brunner mine -coke is worth in the Melbourne market -about 10s per ton more than English coke. .A Scottish Volunteer • Corps has been formed at the Thames, and already numbers ■some 60 members. The uniform is to be a ikilt and 'tunic, with a blue Balmoral bonnet. A clever performing dog, called Schneider, 'has just been brought from Tasmania to "Victoria, where he is to be exhibited. The -dogis a.-_-o*idescript sort of terrier, and goes through some very learned performances, "reading, spelling, and calculating with great by means of a circle or cards, on ■which Words, letters, or figures are printed. The Wellington Provincial Council has •voted LBOOO for the erection of new Government Buildings on the re-claimed land, and •a further sum for the necessary furniture. Tlie good people of Wellington evidently think that provincial institutions are going to receive a fresh lease of life.

At Bendigo lately there has been a rising market for nearly every description of stock, and nearly every speculator has made money. Perhaps the most astonishing instance of success is the sale by Mr Koch of his claim and machinery on the Garden Gully line of reef for L75,000 cash. A few months ago it might have been purchased for a few hundred, pounds. ,„, ,rr A Modest OyyEiv. — The Rothschild of HoTritika, MrCassius, (Proprietor of the Tuapeka Hotel, Gabriel's Gully, in 18G1,) who •owns nearly half of the town, recently offered to lend the corporation £1,000 for twelve months at the rate of 12 per cent, per annum, with 5 per cent, added, for negotiating the transaction, provided it was used exclusively for the extension of the wharf from wharf-street beyond Re veil street. State of the Provinces. — Mr J. B. Gillies, the Superintendent oi Auckland, thus the position of the various Provinces of New Zealand : — Southland ha3 ceased to exist, her debentures having compelled her to return to the wealthier maternal bosom •of Otago. Otago, thanks to her magnificent Sanded estate and her productive goldfields, has hitherto survived the financial storms surrounding her, though they again seem •dark and lowering around her. Canterbury, -too, though her golden fields of Westland (have been riven from her, has, by means of her landed estate, backed by wise administration, managed to surmount financial troubles. Marlborough has well nigh subsided yfrom public notice. Nelson, having wisely ;got rid of her landed estate, now waits pla•cidly for whatever may turn up. Wellington , hopelessly bankrupt, after long years of government by one of the ablest men of New Zealand, Dr Featherston, seeks to keep ■tottering on for a time by another pull at the (Colonial purse. Hawke's Bay, the Goshen of SQ'iatOCracy, is solvent, stationary, and COVetOUS Of portions o_ Auckland's patrimony song withheld. Taranaki is, as she has ever been, living on the compassion of the rest of ■the Colony, and in return providing seats for Ministers, by whose good offices she may hope to be still further fostered. Auckland has -been alternately prosperous and postrate, 'sometimes living on profits, sometimes on hope, with her seal at one time taken in execution, at another, at tbe last gasp of financial exhaustion ; but now again — thanks to these wonderful goldfields — in probably the best position of all the provinces, if only the paralysing paw of the General Government were lifted from her lands and her natives. But that if mars all. That paw will not be lifted till bhe last drop is sucked from her -veins-until the last official vampire is satisfied . Borrowing. — A correspondent of tbe * Nelson Examiner ' writes :— " A few words on the state of things to whicb reckless borrowing has brought us. For the last four years the revenue has steadily declined, despite all efforts to augment it by increased taxation, while the cost of Government has greatly increased. To cure the evil of an -•annual and ever-increasing deficit, a great ;genius propounded the happy idea of at once doubling out debt and so make finance easy h'y enabling the colony to pay interest and defi .its out of borrowed money. And this great scheme- this grand idea— was accepted by the men who were entrusted with public interests, and has been ratified by half the electoral body. But tbe time must come when this system of debt and waste will lu»v_ an end, and the bone and sinew of the country will pay dearly for their folly. That there is some mysterieus tendency in human affairs, says a Melbourne contemporary, to repeat themselves — that the same types of character re-appear at certain or -uncertain intervals— and that popular delusions are revived at different epochs ap--p^ar to be among the best accredited matters of historical experience. Here, for example, is the Thorn folly of 1838 re-enacted in 1871. At the former date there was a fellow a few miles from the cathedral city of Canterbury, in England, proclaiming himself the Messiah, promising his followers an earthly immortality, claiming supreme powe-* over life and death, foretelling the millennium, and announced that he was pre-ordained to fulfil the • prophesies and promises of the Old Te.sta- j ment. He was shot dead, however, hy an I unbelieving lieutenant under orders of j some sceptical magistrates, in a secular riot ; and thus there was an end of that delusion, j Now rises up another fanatic among the j wild wood carters of Munawading only a few j miles from the cathedral city of Melbourne, which sends out missionaries to Christian'se ! the natives of the South Sea ldands ; aud this bush Messiah calls himself Jesus Christ, the Son of God ; has been recognised as such for the last ten years by about 100 disciples, some of whom reside in Ballarat and Prahran ; assures everlasting life to his dupes ; declares that the millennium has actually commenced ; professes to be able to strike liars with paralysis, and to enter into the spirit of Judge Pohlman, bestows his divine sanction upon polygamy, and lives with' three, sisters. Such are the statements made jwith respect to this imposter, Fisher by name, who follows the business of a : har-coal-burner, and has been dragged before the Court of Petty Sessions at Oakleigh, by an irreverent tipstaff, on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. And all this takes place at the latter end of the nineteenth century, in the immediate neighborhood of a populous city, full of churches and chapels, aud, in the midst of a community which plumes itself oh its intelligence. Each of the Nuna wading Messiah's devotees is entitled to a voice in the legislation of the colony, ahd-is'presumed to exercise his electoral privileges with discrimination and judgment.

, Call 'to the bar.— Among the narnes ' of gentlemen called to the English 'bar by J thb Honorable Society bf the Inner Temple in Easter terrti last (May '2) are those of Martin Chapman, Esq.i and Frederick ,E,evans Chapman, Esq , sons of Mr Justice Chapman. Both are natives of this colony, and Mr Martin Chapman was for some time secretary to the learned judge. , ! The 'Press ' confirms the statement that there will 'be- no ' Hansard " published this session.- It deprecates the change, and hints unmistakeably as to the reason No newspaper can afford to report the debates in full, and some in their own interests will not dare to do so.

• At an agricultural show held in Nelson the other day, a Maori took the first prize for the best Southdown ram, and the second prize for the best pen of Southdown ewes.

Mr J. W. Walker, of the Thames, Scottish Volunteers, ofiers to shoot against Capt. Wales, of Otago, with any rifle, and from any position from 200 to 900 yards, for any prize from £50 to £200. Mr Walker offers to defray the travelling expenses of his opponent on the occasion.

The legislation of the last session in furtherance of the colonisation schemes of the Government, is a true child of monstrous parent. It will be less than ever possible to fix upon any authority the blame of an}* miscarriage, and it must therefore continue true, when the great breakdown arrives, that the mischief is the natural result of development. If it is too mtich to hope that the Assembly will pause in its expenditure to calculate anything, it may at least cure this one crying vice, and by concentrating the responsibility, enable the colony to recognize the hand that kills or cures. If our policies naturally develope spendthrifts, rogues, and fraudulent bankrupts, let us have the means of identifying them, and putting tho right men on tbe treadmill. — Nelson Bxatalner.'

Never in the history of the world has there been so *• fast " a colony as New Zealand. Oni}* thirty years colonised, and a debt, in proportion to its population, double that of England — that tax-ridden country But in England the interest of the debt is expended on the spot, maintains a healthy circulation while here all the profits of industry leave the country to enrich the people on the other side of the world. But how has all this arisen? The Canterbury 'Press' hit the truth last Monday when it said. — "It has been the fashion in nearly every community in the colon}* for a number of years past, to look upon the public luxuries which belong to old and wealthy countries as positive necessities. The fact has never been recognised that our debts are heavy, our population scanty, and our income comparati vely inconsiderable. There are probably few who have not shared the general inclination to discount the future." That is the real truth. New Zealand in its state of infancy has coveted all the appliances of ease and comfort possessed by old countries in their high state of civilisation. This was not the way in which the foundations of prosperity were laid in the American colonies, and before New Zealand can reach the greatness promised her she will have to *' try back." and grow up from a harder and more healthy basis. — * Nelson examiner.'

The following, from President Grant's speech to Congress, with regard to the settlement Of the Waste Lands ; is well worthy <--£ consideration: — " The opinion that the public lands should be regarded chioflv as a source of revenue is no longer maintained. The rapid settlement and successful cultivation of them is now considered of more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale of tbem would provide. The remarkable growth and prosperity of our New States and territories attest the wisdom of the legislation which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on terms within rhe reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the foundations of new common-wealths, renders a signal service to his country, and is entitled to the special favor and protection of the laws that secure that object, and largely promotes the welfare. They should, therefore, be cherished as a permanent feature of our land system. Good faith requires that we t*ive full effect to existing grants The time-honored and beneficial policy of setting apart certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new States should be continued. When ample provision shall have been made for these objects, I submit as a question worthy of consideration whether the residue of national domain should not be wholly disposed of under the provisions of the homestead and pre-emptive laws."

One of the members of the new ministry of Victoria, in seeking re-election, thus addressed his constituents, (when will we be able to say so of New Zealand legislation) as follows : — For the first time in my memory as a public man, a Ministry has been formed that i3 not ominated over by any of the great interests of this country. (Applause). We have no squatters in it, no bankers in it, and no merchants in it. (Applause). I speak with all respect of all these three great interests. They are wealthy interests and they are important interests, and I would be the last man gratuitously to injure any one of them ; but I do say that they ought not to have the control of the Government of this country. (Cheers). There has been no Government that has not been nnder tho control either of one or the other of this community of interests. If it was going wrong, there were always some means, either by detaching supporters to bring the Ministry to grief, or by action through some of the members of the Ministry to prevent the policy which tlie people demanded from b ing carried out. No Government has stood many months in this country that has not had one or all of these large interests at its back. You will remember when a Government was in office some eight or nine years ago, viz.. when Mr Duffy was President of Lands, and he proposed to increase the rent of the squatters. The moment he did that, that Government fell, and it fell in consequence of that interest withdrawing its aid from the Government. That policy has been pursued ever since. And I have no doubt that this Government, if it meets with the support of the people, as I believe it will, and enunciates and unfolds, and endeavors to carry a popular policy, it will meat eventually with the strenuous opposition of these organised interests. But, gentlemen, there are interests outside those interests — there are the interests of the great mass of the working people of this country, which have to be attended to just as closely and just as comprehensively, and as wisely as the interests of the wealthier and better organised classes. 1 hope that this Government will endeavor not only to carry useful legislation, but to administer all their duties in such a manner that every man may feel that not only in the eye of the law, but in the administration of the public departments, every man will be regarded as the equal of his neighbor, though he may be the poorest in the land, and his interests will be attended to in all reason the same as though he had great wealth to back them up,"

.. 'The Hawke's Bay Provincial Council has authorised the Government of that province to offer the 'fol 1 owing bonuses for the encouragement of new industries in that province :— A sum not exceeding LSOO to. any firm which may • cure and. export froni Hawke's, Bay the first. 100 ton's of meat preserved by the tinning process, aud_Lsoo to any firm which may first produce" 100 tons of marketable sugar and 3000 gallons of proof spirit manufactured from beet-root grown in the province of Hawke's Bay. . ; , We extract the following from the * Sydney Mail ' : — '* The cow that survived the attack . of foot-and-mouth disease, which proved fatal to the cattle brought from England in the * Winifred,' is dead. She was killed in deference to public opinion, and very properly so ; tbere was too much at stake to allow of her being kept alive. The Government were powerless in the matter. There is no Act under which they could even detain the animal ; but it nevertheless was detained, and, while so held, a deputation of alarmed squatters waited on the Government to obtain power to kill it and compensate the owner. The deputation, however, had to put down their own subscriptions towards the compensation, and Mr F. White, like a sensible man, accepted the L2OO offered him, and parted with the cow to those who were bent upon its destruction." British Columbia is looking up. We hear that four or five of Thompson's road engines are being employed in the transportation of freight on the great Cariboo wagon road — which, by-the-bye, in the canons of Frazer, is one of the finest pieces of successful engineering on the coast. The Lane and Kurtz Company, who have obtained from the now enlightened Colonial Government a lease for thirty one years of four miles of '* The Meadows " (lower end of Williams' Creek), have forwarded n> quantity of steam m--vchmnry 7 piimps, &C, to, tUe*,* region. A private telegram has just been received reporting rich discoveries (course gold) on Jack-of- Clubs creek. The doubters may be reminded that the much-abused Williams' creek, in the immediate neighborhood, has yielded, up to the present time, not lens than sixteen million dollars' worth of the precious metal !

Captain Peek, master of the ship Bcth Shan, wiiich lias just reached Nelson, from London, preached several times to large congregations. In the afternoon, service was conducted by Captain Peek on the decks of the Beth Shan, which were crowded, as well as the wharf, and in the evening the Wesleyan Church was rilled to overflowing, with a congregation that listened most attentively to the" earnest appeal of the good sailor, who preached from Jonah, Ist chap., Gth verse. The progress of Victoria as regards population has been, as everyone knows, exceedingly rapid, bnt the following figures will nevertheless be read with interest. It appears that in 1826 the population was 254 • in 183S, 3511 ; in 1841, 11,738 ; in 1846, 32,879; in ISSI, 77,345 ; in 1854, 235,770 ; in 1857, 410,766 ; in 1861, 540,322 ; .and the population at the present time is estimated at over 740,000. I The post office "department has issued a return showing the number of letters, packets, and newspapers received at and despatched from Victoria, per Peninsular, and Oriental Royal Mail steamships, during the month of i June, 1871. The return is as follows — ; Received per Rangoon, 05,070 letters, 9900 | packets, 95, 54.5 newspapers. Despatched por Geelong, 43,822 letters, 134 packets, 43,035 newspapers. Total, S_y393 letters, 3224 packets, and 141,579 newspapers. From a return obtained during the late session of Provincial Council, on the motion of Mr Barr, it appears that the Martin's Bay J Settlement has already cost 13878 9s lid, the items being as follows :— Survey expenses to March 31st, 1871, L2267 12s 2d ; Whitworth's pamphlet, LSO ; Road from| Lake Wakatip to Lake MKerrow, LISGO 17s 9d. The population is stated to be only 39. This gives a charge against each inhabitant to the

Province of LIOO, apart from the additional cost of the Geelong exploring expedition, subsidy to steamers conveying passengers, tic, against which has to be j)la.cccl the amount realised by land sales, which, we fear, is likely to be but small, apart from the free land grants. So far, therefore, the Martin's Bay settlement has been anything but a success, otherwise than in impoverish in" our -already too bare provincial chest.

We would recommend to the Blue Spur claimholders the following hint from the 'Wakatip Mail': — At the sitting of the Warden's Court the Chinese litig.mts set an excellent example. A day or two before, they withdrew all the cases between themselves, and deposited for each of the several companies the sum of L50 — L-00 The company that first goes to law is to forfeit LSO, and so on. They have also adopted an arbitration tribunal, to whom all matters of dispute between themselves are to be referred Of course the Europeans would not use these means, but '* John'' is thoroughly disgusted with the European courts of justice. He says that he always goes •* to the wall," and cannot unde-stand it at all. Hence this new movement, which is likely to be adopted throughout tho district. The scheme of gigantic borrowing propounded by the Colonial Treasurer last session, demands that those who have a permanent stake in the country shall narrowly watch each action of the Government and I etrislature in connection with it. We say advisedly, those who have a permanent stake in the country ; those who, f r themseL-es and their families, have staked their all in the colony. We do not refer to the ' ' flying sqaudron " of mere speculators, whose views, it has been suggested, Mr Vogel probably represents with great accuracy ; for when no amount of borrowing would be too excessive, no expenditure too profuse, if only it might be achieved while they were here. Ts not theirs the watchword, already recorded in * Hansard ' : — *' We want money, and plenty of it. and soon ? " Nofc for those do we write ; nor, indeed, do we believe that for them would any writing avail. But we willingly believe that the bulk of the people of New Zealand — the real settlers in the land, who, with anxious thought and har-Ptoil, are si niggling as best they may, individually aud collectively, to secure for themsebj^s and offspring a prosperous and stable future — are sober-minded enough to refuse to be dazzled by the gambling element of the scheme, infectious though it be ; are too cautious—oldfashioned it may be termed — to, as was happily termed by Mr Gillies, "go in for unlimited loo." They, the men who want not to run away, and could not if they would, but who will have to stand and bear all the liabilities which the scheme entails, recognise clearly enough the manifold permanent evils which may flow from it, an I will surely call their representatives strictly to account if these evils are not guarded against. The attitude of the constituencies during the late elections, and especially so in the South, is indicative of the attention with which the scheme is regirded, and of the corresponding watchfulness which will: attend the action of members.— ' Nelson Examiner*' ■'''-.-.

[ The charge on telegrams from England to Australia is not yet decided ; but it will be a hout L9 for a message of twenty words . Country visitors to Dun -din" will be agreeably surprised to find that the well-lent wh old post-office corner -is being rapidly transformed into a substantial and handsome warehouse, for Messrs Briscoe and Co.'s ironmongery business; The building is to be erected to the widened line of Princes street, uniform with the University Buildings and P ovincial Government offices, and is to have a frontage to Princes street of about 115 feet, by a depth to Jetty street of about 63 feet.

The following are the particulars of the proposed New Canal Scheme in Victoria :— The proposed canal,, with its branches, would run through the districts of Rodney, Bendigo, Gladstone, Kara-Kara, Boning, andKarkarook, and its entire length would beTabout 500 miles. The projected line of the" main canal was stated to be from a commencing point on the Goulburn River between Murchison and Tabilk, thence in an easterly direction, passing the township of Waranga to the south of Lake Cooper ; it would afterwards intersect the Campaspe River between Rochester and Elmore, passing tie Victorian . Railway lino fifteen miles from Echuca, and thence it would run by way of the head of the Mount Hope Creek, the south side of the Terrick ranges, the London River near the Durham Ox, the Avoca River near Jerule, through Lake Buloke, and westerly through the VVimmera district to Lake Hindmarsh, which lake it would connect with Lake Albacutya. The branches which would be of equal size to the canal, would connect other districts adjoining the main canal, the whole length as stated being 500 miles. The canal was projected to have a fall of 9in per mile, to be 60ft. wide, and 10ft deep, and to have sides eqnal to two to one in the dip. The clepjila-ion recently applied foi* & lfe&Sfe, under the 46th section ol the Land Act, for 909 years of the land through which the canal would be formed together with every alternate square mile of country on each side of the line, or else for a grant in fee simple of the same quantities of land, which it was estimated would amount in all to three millions of acres. It was considered by the projectors that the land that would be retained by Government would be increased in value from Ll per acre to L5 or LG, through the increased facilities for settlement given bj- water-carriage and also by a system of irrigation. Tlie estimated expenditure of the company would be L3,000,000, and it was stated that the whole of the money had been promised.