PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume VI, Issue 308, 6 October 1875, Page 7

PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

i , ~, 7 ; —7 Pheasants are continually being seen in all parts of the Tokomairiro district, and are likely to be very numerous by the commencement, of the next shooting season. :. , nid

The most complete success ever achieved by a public singer in Victoria is, that which has attended the visit of Mdlle. De Murska, Her third concert in the Town Hall drew nearly 4000 people.

The statue of O’Connell is to bo of bronze, and to be placed in the city,- probably (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the Hamilton Spectator) on a site to correspond with the monument to Burke and Wills.

As an instance of the perseverance of Chinamen, and the privations they will endure while searching for gold, it is said that one Celestial worked in the neigh-, borhood of Mount Stuart all through last winter, and at night never had more shelter than he could get in a flax bush tied at the top. Notwithstanding this, John looks cheerful now that spring has 'come.

Several enquiries having been made as to the meaning of the name of Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood and Co.'s new steamer, the Eingarooma, the following 'extract from the Tasmanian Tribune will give the required information A very the sample of tin, weighing more than tvo cwt., was received on the 10th inst. f-om the Ringarooma district, Western Tasmania.

By our Australian files we learq that be New Zealand mare Lurline has returned to Melbourne from Sydney. Mi* jardiuer, her owner, has determined not .0 risk the loss of a season with her, and if ter a few weeks’ spell she will go to the Peer, so that she will not start for the Champion Race on New Year’s Day. Mr J. B. Wallis’s mare Calumny has gone into the great Tait stable, so -a light is thrown on the in-and-out running of Calumy and Goldsborough in the Hawksbury Handicap and the Metropolitan.

“ Atticus” in the Melbourne Leader writes as follows :t—The days of Provincialism in New Zealand are numbered, and the Colony will be spared the necessity of having a separate government with u house of legislature, speaker, and ser-geaiit-at-arras, for a population of five thousand souls. When the Provincial system was first founded, there was some doubt whether the Superintendents were fit to bo entrusted with the Commission of the Peace. Nowadays they give themselves the airs of viceroys, and surround themselves with a flowing retinue of officials and underlings, ,! ~ The Southland Rews says :—Our letterbox last Monday morning contained an unlooked-for “article” in the shape of a pocket-book enclosing bank deposit receipts to a considerable amount, together with a number of private documents, bills of exchange, &c. The find was advertised in due course, and yesterday the owner called to describe and claim his property, which he stated contained, in addition to the papers, a sum of £5 in notes. These, however, were missing—whoever found the pocket-book having no ■doubt rewarded his or her honesty before favoring us with its custody. We hope that people who find pocket-books won’t make a practice of helping themselves to the cash and putting the “ papers of no value to anybody bub the owuer” in our letter-box. We don’t half like it—it places us in an unpleasant position, to say the least of li

The following remarks by the editor of the Coromandel Mail are well worthy of reproduction:—We desire to state that our correspondence columns will always bo open to those who may care to discuss matters of public interest, and which may concern the general welfare;. A.t the same time we have to remind those who may

wish to use our space that a newspaper is not a carpet-bag, which has never got so much in it but what it will hold something more. A newspaper is bounded on the east, north, south, and west by iron bars that will give nor take more than its allotted quantity. When two correspondents write upon a subject on which they differ in opinion, there is not the most remote necessity that we know of why ono should insinuate that tho other had poisoned his mother-in-law, or had carried off another man’s wife, or had been convicted in his youth of stealing a pockct-handkcr chief, or had kept a private still in his bedroom. Let everything be done decently and with discretion. "When a correspondent understands his subject, he should only write on one side of the paper. When he docs not understand it, it is of no consequence on how many sides he writes, as it won’t go in the paper.

A correspondent of the Argus is of opinion that burning kerosene is the cause of diphtheria. Another correspondent says the real cause is bad drainage and cesspool closets. The celebrated Cassius’s claim at Ross \vas the other day jumped and an application made for the cancellation of the lease to Cassius, on account of the rent being unpaid and non-compliance with the leasing regulations. A company is proposed to bo formed if a new lease is granted. Nine Christian M‘Ausland immigrants who left the quarantine station were brought before the resident magistrate at Invercargill the other day under the 42nd clause of the Public Health Act, charged with having escaped from the quarantine station while liable to bo confined there and being so confined. The accused were fined 20s each and costs, the whole coming to £lO. This was paid by Mr George Bowes, a saloon passenger by the Christian M'Ausland.

A singular accident recently happened at the Crown Prince mine, Grahamstown. A shot had been put in, and the workmen had retired to what they believed a safe place, one carrying the powder-can. Simultaneously with the discharge of the shot the powder-can exploded, severely injuring the miner who held it. It is believed that a piece of rock struck the can with such force that a hole was made, and a spark struck, which caused the powder to ignite. One man is seriously but not dangerously hurt.