SOUTHLAND.

Press, Volume VII, Issue 744, 18 March 1865, Page 3

SOUTHLAND.

THE LAX& BEGULATIONS. Southland see-ns to look to a change in its Waste Lands Regulations as the only means of helping it out of its financial difficulties, but there are very different opinions as to whether that would be best effected by raising or lowering the price of land. The Southland Times says:— As we want immediate relief, and not. relief eighteen months or two years hence,. the first thing to do is to adopt such land laws as shall, with the renewed progrees of the province, on his debts being paid, and its works completed, secure a probable sale of say £50,000 worth of land yearly. It is stated by those best able to give an opinion, on the subject, that under free selection, there are at least two. or three hundred thousand acres of land which would be taken up at £2 per acre; to lower the price below this, would be to defer all help from this source for eighteen months at least, as the sanction of the. Home Government would be necessary. To adopt the Canterbury regulations, with such alterations in other respects than the price per acre, as may be applicable to "the Provincial interest, Vould place this select land in themmarkett t and bring an income of several thousands a year from the rent of rune. Such a land law being passed, to come into immediate operation; let a bill- be passed empowering the Provincial Government to issue scrip to the amount of 4e per acre on , allunsola lands of the province, such scrip only to be issued in payment of provincial liabilities and for the completion and execution of reproductive works. Let it be made a legal tender in the land office, as county notes at home are only a legal tender at toe bank of issue—all money received for land to be deposited in some bank for the purpose of taking up this scrip on demand. It appears probable that .such a scrip bearing, eight per cent, interest would become a favorite circulating medium, possibly an occasional investment,, and that it would only be at a discount when there was an exodus from the colony, a contingency which its very creation would, unless under great; temptation, put an end to, for the natural order of things in a new country is an increase and not a decrease of the population. The annual sale of £50,000 worth of land, would permit the circuhition inthe provmca of several hundred thousand pounds worth o£ scrip, if required, and the deposit in some bank of all money payments for land for the purpose, of taking up the scrip at par, would meet all the requirements of those holding it, who desired to realise and'leave, the. province. .;.*-. The SoiUMand Newt takes precisely the opposite view. It says :-—We have, how-' ever, no doubt at all, but that, had a liberal land scheme been in operation, we should by this time have firmly attached tothejyrovince many whom we have lost for ever/ . Whether we view the question, as it affects the small, purchaser of the large, we say 40s pep aero is too much; and we can nave no hopeTrhatever of relieving ourselves of any portidxi of our difficulties by the sale of land while

this price is maintained. We have been in communication with persona well versed in the land question, and the conclusion to which we have been obliged to come is, that by offering the land at 10s per acre, we snouldbe able to sell immediately so large a quantity as would materially relieve us with respect to the incubus of debt upon us and proepectively relieve us, by reducing the interest for which we are liable. On the other hand, by keeping up the price, we are not only preventing large sales, but we are actually deter""*; - '» i small settler from the exercise of hi* « urrpriae and energy in the employment of hie little capital among us, ana thus retarding the permanent prosperity of the Province. Thb Spjebik tjekukkcy.—An advertisement in another part of to-day's issue, announces that a meeting of the Provincial Council will take place on the 13th instant, for the purpose of electing a Superintendent, it having been notified to the Speaker by his Excellency the Governor, that the office is vacant. The intricacies of the legislation bearing on the election of Superintendents, are beyond our powers of comprehension, and we may be pardoned for our stupidity, whilst the judges of .the Supreme Court and tiie Attorney-General of the colony, are at variance on the subject What is to become of the work of the last session of the Council, is certainly a matter of some moment to the community, but we can afford them no information. We would recommend them to apply "to one of the judges, or to the Attorney-General—but not to ooth. — Southland Times. The Mataitba—•The News of the 9th instant gives the following report of the Mataura goldfields:—" Our advices from the Matanra continue to guarantee the certainty of* a lasting goldfield in that section of coun try. Prospectors are extending their operations on all sides, and everywhere with a certain degree of success. Tempted by the extremely small volume of water at present forming the Mataura river, several parties are employed in cradling the sand and gravel alluvial of its bed. They are not disposed to be communicative respecting their earnings. It can only be surmised that they are making "wages" at all events. A very promising rush nas taken place within the last two or, three days, to a gully on Douglas and Blyth's ran, situate about four miles to the southward of Br Menzies' run, and about ten miles from the present diggings. Great numbers started in hopes yesterday morning. The sinking is stated to be shallow, and the gold is of a coarser kind than that hitherto obtained. It is, notwithstanding, a perfectly waterworn sample. The only persons at all dissatisfied appear to be the storekeepers, who complain that tlte population is not sufficiently concenThe Times of the 10th says:— ** We continue to receive, on the whole, fair accounts from the diggings on the Mataura. They have certainly proved a great benefit to Invereargill in relieving it of a little of the surplus labor which has been hanging about since the suspension of the railway works. We have it on the authority of several who have visited the diggings, that coarse gold has been discovered in some of the games* and one of our informants assures us that a spur of one of the hills has-proved auriferous. Should this last re- . port be verified, we may expect these diggings to be of a more permanent character than has hitherto been supposed. There | are, we most confess, some on the Mataura diggings who have been unable to make ** tucker ;'* but these are the exceptions, and a proportion of them are totally unacquinted with digging operations, which may account i for non-success. Last week the Bank of Otago purchased lOOozs. on the ground." As Adyehtuiie with a Maniac.— Yesterday morning, a violent assault, which might have had a fatal termination, was committed by a lunatic named Hugh Hector, I in Hie old gaol,: on Peter Ford the warder stationed there. Ford it seems was quietly seated at breakfast in the back part of the building, when Hector came forward as if he intended going,into the Instead, of paseing, however, he suddenly and without any warnings seized Ford by the coat tafls, and hurled him to the ground. This act evidently fully aroused the madman's passions, for before the warder could recover himself, he was viciously grasped by the throat and dragged about the place. The struggle was desperate, bat the warder, though by no means a slender made man, was ito match for the lunatic, whose naturally powerful frame was strengthened by insanity. Fortunately a person engaged in the stables adjoining, attracted by the unusual noise, looked through the railing and saw what was going on. He at once ran to the gaol and apprised the governor, who hurried to the scene. With greatdifficulty,the maniac was bound band and foot, and when attention could be turned to Iford, he. was found to be in a pitiable condition. In the course of the encounter, he had been bitten severely on the face, neck' and arms, which already were swollen and disfigured. One bite on the wrist of the right arm resembles the snap of a large bulldog, more than anything that eouila be done by human teeth. He is also badly hart from sicks received on the breasts, and rawer part of the body. In the apartment were the attack was first made, and in the yard, were several pools of blood, indieatmg plainly now the poor fellow had been dragged about. Dr. Monckton was in attendance shortly afterwards, and had thewounds of Ford burned with caustic, and Hector's tuur cot dose to the skin. The. lunatic we tmdoitstand was a thriving ■.. carpenter—a traded he is said to have excelled in, before bis intellect gave way, This it is said was earned by anxiety on religious matters, and about eighteen months ago it was found necessary to place him under restraint. Daring nis confinement be has been generally peaceable and though occasionally a violent outbreak occurred yip t&yesterday no great difficulty was experienced in subduing him. This last paroxysm we think calls imperatively, for at least and additional warder \n the place.