The Press. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1867.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1485, 13 August 1867, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1867.

Thefirst fruits of the rejection of the Local Government Act appear to-day in atelegram we have received from Timaru, announcing the revival of the cry for the separation of the district from the rest of Canterbury. The telegram informs us that the news of the defeat of the Bill caused great excitement in the town, and that a public meeting was to be held last night to petition the General Assembly-for separation from Canterbury. There is no chance of the petition being granted, opposed as it would be by a great majority, if not the whole, of the Canterbury members, and by the great bulk of the Provincialists, who would be decidedly averse to setting a precedent that might hereafter be carried to an inconvenient extent. Every province has some district discontented with the provincial rule, and desirous of starting in life for itself, and if the practice of separation were once allowed to begin there is no knowing where it would stop. Every province therefore would help to preserve the integrity of Canterbury, if from no other motive, from a fear lest itself should be the next to undergo dismemberment.

Besides, Timaru does not satisfy the conditions ..under which alone- '■_ new province could be created. "It is not

naturally a separate province. It is not, like the West Coa?t, divided from the rest of Canterbury either by geographical position or by difference of social and commercial interests. The West Coast is really a separate province, and would undoubtedly be made so were tbe boundaries of the provinces now to be arranged for the first time. It is cut off from Canterbury by a mountain range, communication across which, always tedious and difficult, is liable" at times to be stopped altogether ; it draws no supplies from "Christehurch, but has its own ports, 7 aira carries on a perfectly independent trade witbrMelbourne; it has no interest 1 in common with Canterbury, is way commer-; cially connected with; it, and, if the eastern half of the province were to be totally ruined, would not: be in the least. If therefore the West Coast demands to be constituted a distinct province, it 'is plainly in accordance with the whole theory of provincial institutions; that the demand should be r cpmpli,ed with. But Timaru is in a very different position. It is too integral a part of Canterbury, too thoroughly identified with it in pursuits, and .interests, and too little provided with the requirements for starting on an independent career —a port, a capital, and a large population, to be summarily cut off; and its petition for separation will be opposed not .only by those members of the House jwho have reason to fear for the consequences to their own province, but by all who wish to maintain .the provincial system intact. Timaru therefore,, and, all other outlying districtSj must f be,ar, .tjheir hard fate for at least another twelvemonth, and submit themselves with what resignation they may to the tender mercies of the triumphant Provincial •Governments. The. result is iniich to be regretted, and induces us -,t.a wish that the General Government had either drawn their Bill with more caution or persisted in it with more resolution, so

aa to have escaped being defeated on a question of whether or not powerß of local government were to be committed to the country districts. The Local Government Bill was no ordinary measure, and had been expected with no ordinary interest. Its advent had been heralded by an express announcement in the Governor's speech at the close of last session, and:it had been looked for with the utmost eagerness by the outlying, districts of every province as the means of relief at once and for ever from the injustice against which they had so long remonstrated in vain. We fear that the news of its absolute rejection will excite a corresponding degree of discontent and indignation. . Such at least seems to be the case with Timaru. The people of Timaru'know too well what they havetbexpect from the Provincial Government. They remember how promises made to them session after session h#ve been: broken with the flame careless facility with which they were made, and they have evidently given up all hope of the possibility of improvement or that any good thing can come out lof Christehurch. It will be for the I Provincial Government by its heedful attention for the future to the require- | ments of every part of the province to dispel these gloomy anticipations, but [we confess to. thinking that, they are only-toowell founded. The events of the present session of the Assembly,-with-the repeated victories of the Provincial party, are not the moat likely means to effect any change in the centralising policy which Provincial administrations seem instinctively to adopt. ' Yet' it is no trivial matter that a large section of the. people should be living in a state of permanent dissatisfaction with the existing form of government, and will lead some day to consequences which the Proyincialists in the hour of their triumph little expect. Concert.—A concert will be given this evening in the Town Hall "by Mr Joseph Rowley. A very excellent; programme has been drawn up, and the patronage of the Chairman and members of the; City Council has been obtained. '■. Chbibtchtjkch Fibk Bbioade.—All the enrolled members of this Brigade are requested to meet the Superintendent-at the fire engine station at half-past six p.m. The Brigade turned out for practice last evening at seven p.m., with both engines. The practice was confined to laying down the hose and other duties., connected with this portion of the work. Kaiapoi Steeplechases.—Mr Swan, the clerk of the course, requests that the riders of all horses entered for these events will mest; him at Day's Kaiapoi hotel at not later than ten a.m. on the day of the races, to be shown over the course. The present fine weather is greatly improving the ground, and should no heavy rain fall before Thursday next the ground will be in excellent condition. In the entries published yesterday Pre-emptive Sight was stated to belong to Mr C. Oram instead of Mr H. Oram. By a misprint also, it was said that the course had been laid out by Mr Stevens, instead of the clerk of the course, Mr R. Swan.

M_irm_ Statistics.—The ,l lndependent" furnishes us with the following statistics, showing the number of vessels, and their tonnage, belonging to the ports of the colony in the years mentioned respectively:—lßs7, 186 vessels, 6662 tons; 1858, 189 vessels, 6652 tons; 1859, 213 vessels, 7883 tons ; 1860, 238 vessels, 8.?27 tons; IS6I, 252 vessels, 9144 tons; 1862,- 287 vessels, 10.825 tons; ,1863, 343 vessels, 15,189 tons; 1864, 423 -vtessels, 22,573 tons; 3&Q5, 461 vessels, 24,484t0n5; 1866,493 vessels, 26,787 tons.

Commercial Statistics.—The following statistics extending over a period of fourteen Years, which we take from the " Independent," will show the development of the trade "f New Zealand. The imports during that time were-1853, £397,827 ; 1851. £891,201 ; 1555, 1856, £701.865; ISo7, £1192,994; 185 S. £1,141.273; 1859. £l.ool,030; IS6O, £1.548 333 ; 1861. £2.493.811 ; 1862, £4,626,082 ; 1863, £7,021674 ; £7,000,655 ; 1565, £5,594,077 ; 1866, £5,894,863. The exports during the same period were—lßs3, £303.252; 1854. £320,801; 1555. £365.863 ; HSS. £318 433; 1557, £369.394 ; IRSS, 458.023 : 1859. £55,1184 ; IS6O, £588,953; IS6I, £1,370,247; 1862, £2,422,734 ; 1863, £3.455,405 ; 1564, £3.4-01,667,- 1865, £3,713,248; 1566, £4.520,074. ■- The value of. gold exported from the colony, between - the Ist -April, 1557, and 31st December, 1866,. is £11,842,721.

The Three-Million Loan.—From papers laid before the Assembly, says the " Independent," by command of his Excellency the Governor, we learn that up to the 31st of Deceojber, 1866, the Crown for the Colonies had received the sum of £5141 12s in respect of the sinking fund for the redemption of £500,000 of the £3,000,000 loan, to be paid off in 1915, which they had invested for the most part in Ceylon and Victorian six per cents, £48 being invested in English three per cento. The stock held on_-.4his account represented a value of £4853 5s 9d. On account of the sinking fund of £500,000 to be paid off in 1891 the Agents had received £10,021 3s 3d, £5000 of which wa3 lying in the London Joint Stock Bank awaiting investment, £4-940 17s 6d had been invested in Victorian six per cents, and £80 53 9d in three per cent, consols. The debentures held to represent these investments were worth £4788 16s. On account of the £100,000 portion of the loan, £1000 had been received towards the Sinking Fund, which had been invested in Ceylon debentures and three per cent, consols. The Crown Agents had received £46,713 16s 5d on account of the Sinking Fund of £1,000,000 to be paid off in 1914, which they had invested thus :—Cape of Good Hope sixes, £11,600; Natal sixes, £34*7 10s; Queensland sixes, £5567 12s 6d ; Ceylon sixes, £417; three per cent, consols, £97 5s 2d. The stock held represented a value of £21,907 15s 4d. The reraa nder of tlie amount received, amounting to £25,584 8s 9d, was lying in the, bank, awaiting investment.

Colonial Museum.—We iearn from tho "Independent" of the Bth instant, that Dr. Hector has published the Colonial Museum and Laboratory reports, the former of which states that, on the 15th June last, the total number of specimens in the museum waß 15,239, of which, since the last report, upwards of 3000 had been fully labelled and arranged. The number of visitors from the Ist January, 1866, to the end of August, 1866, was 1000 ; and from the Ist September, 1866, to the end of June, 1867, 3000. These returns are, we believe, taken from the visitors' book, and the actual number of visitors was probably much in excess of these figures. The laboratory report states that Mr Skey had been principally ocoupied during the past three months in examining . the intimate composition of the rocks passed through in the Lyttelton tunnel, as collected by Dr. Haast. A number of sampleß of coal have been examined, many with rery satisfactory results. A sample forwarded from Waiapu,"by Dr. Brown, though very inferior on account of the large percentage of ash it contains, yet proved to be a true bituminous or caking coal, and is a sure indication of the occurrence in the district in which it was found of coal strata of superior quality to the ordinary brown coal. It was intended that Mr Skey Bhould commence a serious of ultimate analy¥eß 6f"New "Zealand" coals "as aoqp as possible. Analyses of the Taranaki and Poverty Bay petroleum are given, which show the oil found at the -latter place to be far superior to that i found at the former.