NEWS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XVI, Issue 2168, 30 March 1870, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

o Upwards of fifty red deer have been seen in the neighbourhood of the Brookstreet Valley ranges, Nelson. An inquest was held on Monday, at the Sunnyeide Asylum, on view of the body of Sarah Lawton, who had died whilst an inmate of the Asylum. After hearing the evidence, the jury returned a verdict that deceased died from natural causes.

The Omeo, with the English mail on board, left Port Chalmers yesterday ot 4 45 p.m., and may therefore be expected to arrive at I/pttelton about noon to-day. Tho Rev. T. Buddie will deliver a lecture on " Courtship and Marriage," this evening, in the Town Hall. His Worship the Mayor will take the chair. We have received complaints from Kaiapoi of cattle, particularly horses, being allowed to wander in the streets after dark. It is high time this nuisance was put a step to. Yesterday, in Chambers, before E. S. Willcocke, Esq., Registrar, on the application of Mr Jameson for Mr Joynt, Thomas 8. Lewis was adjudicated a bankrupt, and the first meeting of creditors was appointed to take place on 6th April, at noon. There was another good house at the Theatre Royal last evening, when the comedy of " A Boland for an Oliver " and the burlesque of " Lalla Rookh " were repeated. This evening Tom Tajlor's sensational drama, " The Ticket of Leave Man" will be presented. A serious fire occurred last evening in the Heathcote valley, near Mr Garland's. From what we can learn a number of stacks of grain have been destroyed, but we were unable to obtain any particulars beyond this. Under the impression tbas the fire was somewhere in the boundary of the city, the firebells were rung and the different engines were turned out with great prompitude, but were soon ordered to return.

A meeting of the Lyttelton Borough Council was held on Monday, March 28. There were present—The Mayor, Crs Allwright, Bunker, Young, Stout and Cummins. The amounts received since last meeting were— rates and rents, £27 3s. The Foreman of Works report was read giving a list of the works completed during the week. The Mayor announced that there were no nominations on the day appointed for the vacant seats in the Council. The overdraft at the Bank was staled to be under £200. The following amounts were passed for payment—weekly pay-sheet, ££ 2s 6d ; Town Clerk's salary, £16 13s 4<d. The Council then adjourned. An Auckland contemporary reckons that during the last eight months, our forces have killed seventy-nine Hauhaus, at a cost of £400,000. Each has therefore cost the colony £5000. This, probably, guided the Ministry in fixing the amount of the reward for Tβ Kooti; but he is surely worth a little more than the undistinguished herd. At the same rate, reckoning those who sympathise with or actually follow him at 500, and the disaffected, who belong to Titokowaru'a band, at 300, it will take £4,000,000 to destroy them. The London " Weekly Dispatch" of December 25th contains the following paragraph : —The New Zealand Commissioners are expected here in January or February, with powers to raise a force for the protection of the colony. If the conditions be as favourable as represented, they are not unlikely to obtain the services of a large number of officers and men from our Volunteer regiments. A very full and interesting report (says a contemporary) by Captain Young, 18th Royal Irish, Acting Military Secretary to His Excellency the Governor, on a fort and tower in course of erection at Newcastle, Waikato,! appears in the " Government Gazette." This defensive work, which seems to have been erected with great skill and under considerable difficulty, is not quite completed, its progress having been arrested by the temporary removal of the Armed Constabulary on active service. Captain Young enforced the strictest economy during his operations, and allowed nothing to be purchased that could be made, repaired, or converted on the spot. In addition to adding, in a material degree, to the safety of the district, he deserves the credit of having to a certain extent " developed the resources of the country —by utilising, for the first time, the brink clay of Newcastle, and by producing in the district lime for building purposes—a product never before obtained in Waikato." One passage of his report to the Governor is as follows: —"All history, from that of the Romans in Britain downwards, points to a defensive character of a warfare as the sure mode of overawing and subduing barbarous nations. A fort is a sleepy sentry, even upon post —a source of confidence and security to all around it. And a system of strong posts is right economy; for each post, since it permits of a reduction of armed force with safety, is equivalent to the services of so many men under arms. The commander who neglects to fortify cannot be said to hold a country en permanence ; he moves through it, makiog no more impression on it than a whale does in swimming through the ocean ; he neutralises half his strength by being compelled to make large detachments; and when he does want to strike a decisive blow, finds that he cannot with safety concentrate more than half his force." After thanking his assistants in the work for their hearty co-operation, Captain Young concludes:-— "Aβ an officer of the last regiment of Her Majesty's troops ever likely to unfurl its colors in the colony, and now quitting its shores for ever, I am bound to express my sincere thanks to your Excellency for having offered to me—and to His Royal Highness the Field Marshal in Commanding-in-Chief, for having permitted mc to accept—a position that has enabled mc to show some active sympathy with our fellow-countrymen in New Zealand."

We take the following paragraph from the "Bruce Herald " of the 10th inst. .—We hare just learned from a thoroughly reliable source, that during the floods an Inch Clutha resident, whose early days were epent alongside one of our most famous Scotch salmon streams, found a young salmon imprisoned in a pool which had been left bj the retiring waters of the river. He at once transferred the young hopeful to the Clutha's rushing stream, and we hope that it may yet reward some enthusiastic angler of the future, when it has reached a weight more worthy of a " take." We specially mention the experience of our informant to ensure that he was not likely to mistake the nature of the fiah caught for some of the finny tribe indigenous to our rivers. , The Wellington correspondent of a eontem* poraty writes as follows:—Are you an admirer of Mr Commissioner Brannigan ? If so, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I venture to prophesy that if you continue bo for another six months, you will be one of two singular beings in the colony, the other being Mr (then Commissioner no longer) Branigan. In spite of audit committees and organised *' oppositions," I don't believe the public ever hear the truth ebout the way matters are con*

ducted. Members don't like to cay too much, fortune might chance to pitchfork them into office, ami then it would be inconvenient if they had talked too much. Ministers of course don't. Their bnsinese is to bamboozle the House and the public. And the only other body of men who " could a tale unfold," are the Government clerks, and the public gain in their case would be a synonym for their lost bread aud butter. But even with these good reasons why everybody should hold his tongue, enough must come out; to convince unbiassed men that the present style of managing matters is ruinously expensive, and has not the ghost of a chance of doing us any good. Branigan has no idea but to spend as much money as he likes, and to make everybody about him do as he orders. He disgusts the officers under him, who have seen (what be never has) active service in the Imperial service and in our own Colonial force, and his accounts appal the Treasuay authorities and the clerks through whose hands they pass. The defence estimates have been long ago exceeded, and still we hear of our force being threo months in arrears of pay, and being almost without food, and devoid of clothing.

No less than three suicides have been committed in Auckland within the last few weeks, says a contemporary. Particulars of the third have just reached us. The unfortunate man is Mr Edward Penny, of Mongonui, who was found by his daughter on the morning of the 24th ult., hanging by the neck, in one of the rooms of the house in which he resided. It appears that he was under the belief that some one had robbed him of £88, and under depression of spirits from his supposed loss, he is supposed to have committed the rash act. The money was found shortly after his death, in a box, where he no doubt, had deposited it, and forgotten the place.

A correspondent of the " Nelson Colonist" calls attention to the injurious effect that using as food sheep that have boen recently dipped for scab is likely to have on the public health. The Nelson Government cause all sheep arriving from the Wairau to be dipped in a poisonous composition, strong enough to cause the finger nails of the men who dip the sheep to turn black. The sheep themselves, which are bathed and soaked in it, and carry a large quantity away with them, to be still further absorbed into the skin and circulation, must be still more affected by the poison, and must be utterly unfit for food for months afterwards. The " Colonist's" correspondent says :—" I may mention that I have cut a piece out of a skin of a sheep dipped in Hood's composition a fortnight before being killed, and wrapped a shilling in it against the fleshy side, and an hour or two afterwards the shilling was black. And yet flock after flock is consumed in Nelson immediately after being saturated in this highly poisonous composition, which may be all very well for use on the runs where the sheep are turned loose again, and no doubt in time to get the poison out of their systems, but which to mc seems monstrous to use on sheep travelling to market for immediate use. Although the glaring effects of the poisoned sugar may not be exhibited, still it is hard to say how many headaches and attacks of indigestion and ill health of various degrees, may be attributable to the joint of mutton on the dinner table ; and I think it behoves the public to see in'o tho matter, and abstain from mutton altogether, until it is dipped in something less poisonous than corrosive sublimate, arsenic, and the like."

The Auckland '• Morning Advertiser " gives the following account of a new atmospheric crushing machine invented by Messrs. Harvey and Co., of Auckland :—A large number of gentlemen met in November last, at Hayle Foundry, by invitation of Messrs Harvey and Co., to witness the working of six atmospheric stamps, as introduced by Mr Sholl, engineer, and which bid fair to supersede the present mode of pulverising ores. The atmospheric stamps bear a similar relationship to the usual stamps as the modern Nas myth steam hammer to the old tilt hammer. The effect of the improvement is, that instead of fifty or sixty strokes a minute an average of 150 are given, with much more force, and that a far greater quantity of work is done at a reduced cost. The set of six stamps tried is fixed in an iron frame-work at the top of which is a six-throw crank shaft, with a driving-wheel at one end and a fly-wheel at the other. The cranks are set at equal distances in the circle described by their rotation, so that every part of the revolution performs an exactly equal quantity of work, and all strain is avoided. Suspended from each crank is a pieton-rod and piston, working in a cylinder, which is kept vertical by bush guides. The stamp heads are fixed by means of a shoe at the ends of the cylinders. It is in the action of the piston within the cylinders that the speciality of the machine consists. Hitherto it has been impossible to apply power to stamps directly by cranks, because no arrangement existed by which the length of the stroke could be varied, whilst the play of the heads up and down must depend upon the quantity of stuff underneath. This difficulty is now got rid of in the most effectual manner by the utilisation of the expansive force of the air. The simplest mode of explaining the method by which this end is attained is by a reference to the working of the steam-engine. The air is admitted into the cylinder to which the etamp-heads are attached in a similar manner, bat with a very different result, the cylinder being moved instead of the piston. Aβ the piston is driven down in the cylinder by the descent of the crank, it presses the air beneath to between four and five atmospheres, and thus causes the cylinder and the attached etamphead to descend with a momuntum greatly superior to that which would be due to the weight alone. As the piston returns it compresses the air above, ana then the cylinder is driven upwards to an extent exactly corresponding with the amount of compression to which the air has been subjected.

The ** Marlborough Express " of a late date saye: —We had, last week, the pleasure of viewing Mr Dry's wonderful work in Picton, and must express our astonishment at the result that has attended the labor of our persevering and talented fellow settler. It is an ideal picture, and the conception is most minutely and accurately executed in different kinds of New Zealand wood, so selected and arranged as to give a perspective which would compare favorably with many celebrated paintings. The principal figure is a full rigged ebip in full sail, making for a harbor and town that can be seen in the dietanoe, which a nautical gentleman pronounced to be complete in every detail. What struck ue most with this part ot the work was the perfect resemblance the wooden sails had to real ones, an effect obtained by the grains of the different blocks of wbiob they are made. Oα the

right side of the picture is a group of rocks ' with a flook of sea-guile hovering orer them ; whilst on the water a couple of shags are eeen after they have been diving for their finny game. An albatross on the wing ie I fljing round the veesol ; and a boat, pulled by \ two men, ie just passing the buoys that mark out the course to the harbor- The water, hills, cliffs, rocks, and sky are all formed of different kinds of wood, tho same as the figures, and the whole is surmounted by a most elaborate and beautiful border. It is impossible to give a detailed description of the raany wonders comprised in this work, which must be seen to be believed. With the exception of a bluo, necessarily used as a flag at the stern of the vessel, all the other effects are given by the natural color and arrangement of the different kinds of wood, let into a depth of threeeighte of an inch and upwards, specified as follows in a catalogue :—Outer edge of border—ake-ake ; border—honeysuckle, containing 1340 pieces ; inner border—totara, cross grained ; sea — curly rimu ; two buoys — Ist, titoki ; 2nd, white and black maire; small boat—black and white maire; flag—cedar ; men—black fern ; piers —titoki; castle—-puriri and maire; townbirch ; hills at back of the town—kauri; cliffs and rooks—birch; lighthouse—white and black maire ; light—gold; rocks—birch ; laud—totara, rimu, kauri, white pine, and titoki; albatross, on the wing—white maire and black fern j two shags— black mairo j group of rock and cliffs—titoki and birck; land running behind the oliff—kauri j flock of gulls—maire j sky—rimu ; moon—maire ; star —gold. Ship—copper—wairangipirau ; first streak—black maire ; second—oak. Sheer streak—yellow—akeake ; top sides— cedar ; jibboom—wairangipirau ; bowsprit and dolphin striker—black maire; figurehead —holly, maire, cedar, and fern ; anchor —black maire ; cookhouse—tawa ; long-boat; black maire and akeake ; wheel—black maire and gold; man—r-white maire and fern ; flag— New Zealand cedar, maire and holly; masts and sails—white maire ; yards—black maire ; stunsail booms — wairangipirau ; channels, blocks, shrouds, stays, reef, tackles, and braces—black fern ; frame — outer edge— totara; groundwork—rimu; blocks—rewarewa, ngnio, and totara, containing 640 pieces. Mr Dry, who some years since produced a smaller picture in Auckland that caused great attraction, was nearly four years engaged in this his latest work, which contains nineteen different kinds of wood in one thousand four hundred pieces. The picture is now being exhibited in Picton.

The successful completion of the Suez Canal, we learn from an English paper, appeara destined to give rise to a similar undertaking nearer home, and already there has been placed before the publio a project under the name of the " Great Western Ship Canal," which is to commence at Bridgewater Bay and terminate at the estuary of the Exe, thus connecting the English and British Channels, and opening a new route botween the great South Wales coalfields and adjacent districts, and the western and southern counties, London and the Continent, by which the sea passage will be reduced by nearly 300 miles. In addition to the great advantage of thus shortening the distance and saving the time, the long and dangerous passage round the Land's End, co perilous to life and property, will be entirely avoided. The cost of the canal, including harbor and dock works, is assumed, will be £3,500,000, the length c.f the canal being fifty-nine miles; width at surface 124 feet; at bottom 31 feet; and 21 feet deep. There will thus be sufficient draught iof water to accommodate the largest vessels, j and a port accessible at all states of the tide, is to be established on the coast of Devonshire, which will no doubt be a great boon to the shipping interests, there being no harbor answering that description from Portland to Plymouth. It is expected that the quantity of coal which would annually pass through the canal would be 4,261,334 tons, and, if on this was levied a toll of id per ton per mile, a profit of nearly 5 per cent, on the outlay of £3,500,000 would be the result; and if we add the tonnage of coke, iron, and other mineral and miscellaneous products, it would seem that a very large revenue ought to be forthcoming. Like the great enterprise of M. de Lesseps, we believe that the canal now proposed is but the revival in a new form of an old idea, the celebrated engineer, Telford, having designed a somewhat similar work in the year 1825.

The European minora at the Moonlight Creek, Lake Wakatip, says the " Cromwell Guardian," have been doing a very foolish thing. Some five weeks ago, a number of Chinese (11) proceeded to that mountainous region, and asked some of the Europeans where they might " catoh him gold." They were pointed out the bed of the old, worked creek. So well satisfied were they with the results of their washing-up that they buiit a comfortable hut, and thatched it with straw. They were also building a similar residence about three miles higher up the creek. The lower house is situated under a high bluff or precipice of rocks ; and on Friday night the Chinese were wakened up by finding large masses of rock being rolled down upon their roof from above. Terror-stricken, they escaped, asking the European miners why they wanted to kill Chinamen ? One Chinaman was severely hurt, and others more or less so. Their appearance was also the signal for yells of derision. When they reaohed Lawton and Gardiner's station they were given the woolshed to pass the night in. On Monday the police received notice, and Sergeant Fox and Constable M'Gann immediately started for the locality. They returned yesterday, and report that the Chinese statement was quite correct; that an attempt was made to burn the roof of the lower hut, but failed, owing to the grass being damp ; that the upper hut (in course of erection) was completely burnt; and that the offenders could not be identified by the Chinese, which is no wonde*, under the circumstances. It would be only honorable and would tell much in their favor if the other section of European miners would denounce the eavagee who were capable of so cowardly and fiendish an attack upon sleeping and helpless men. The Chinese will re-occupy the position under the protection of the police. The latter deserve every praise for their prompt action.