THE PRINCE'S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3340, 31 March 1868, Page 2

THE PRINCE'S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND.

We understand that His Excellency the Goverjnor has not received any'dfficial communication with reference to the subject on which we are all so anxious, — namely, whether the Prince will come to !New f j Zealand. His Excellency has, however, received private letters dated the 20fch of March from the Earl of Belmore and Commodore Lambert, which are to the same effect as the news which we published yesterday. ' They state that the Prince was progressing mos.t favourably, but that the medical men had proj hibited him for the present from placing himself in circumstances which might tend to excitement. In these circumstances, it cannot be known whether the Prince will come ;fco JSfew Zealand till next mail from Sydney, and perhaps ' not even then. We are able to stake, however, that if the Prince is prevented from visiting New Zealand, it will be very much against his personal inclination, he is most anxious to see this country.

The boisterous weather which, we have had for the last few days culminated, yesterday in the moat severe north-easter we have had for a , long time. .Rain fell, sometimes very heavily, throughout the whole day. The weather was so* .bad as seriously to interfere with business in town. In the afternoon, when the gale was at its height;, several sheets of corrugated iron were blown from the roof of the shop of Mr. Parker, shoemaker, Queen-street. 'Two parsons ttLo wiwo ptttwing «.t the tioa© nMTOwly escaped being struck ; and one of the sheets was carried up the length of Vaile's shop. One of the chimney pots of the Bank of New Zealand was blow over, and fell through the outermost glass roof of that building, but fortunately did not penetrate the second. With the exception of some pieces of fencing blown down, we have hoard of no other damage caused by the storm. The City Board of Commissioners held their usual fortnightly meeting yesterday afternoon — Mr. George in the chair. The' reply made by his Excellency the Governor, Sir George P. BoTren, to the address presented by the Board, was ordered, to be entered on the minute-book. The Board agreed to defray half the expense of constructing a crossing opposite the Bank of New Zealand. The sum of £6 was ordered to be paid for services rendered at the recent fire in Vincent-street. In future the Board' will not recognise any similar claims. The rates collected aince 16th March amounted to £369 17s. 3d., and the amount in bank to the credit of the Board is £375 4s. A resolution was adopted to the effect that his Honor the Superintendent should be requested to convene a public meeting of the inhabitants of the province in order to express their sympathy with his Eoyal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, William Henry Hawkins, alias Frederick Marshall, was apprehended last evening by Detective Ternahan, charged with stealing an Inverness cape and pair of leggings, value 305., from the Alexandra Hotel, Parnell, the property of the proprietor, Mr. W. A. Clark. It appears the suspicions of the latter were aroused shortly after the prisoner had left the hotel, and on following him the property was found in his possession. Prisoner has only recently been released from Mount Eden Gaol, after serving two years' imprisonment for forgery. It is believed that other charges of a similar nature to the latter will also be preferred against him to-day. The annual licensing meeting of Justices of the Peace for the districts of Waiuku and Port Waikato, in the Southern Division, will be held ac noon on the 21st April, at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Waiuku. At the Police Court yesterday, two parsons were punished for drunkenness. John Bowlen was fined 20s. and costs for riding furiously in Queen-street on Saturday evenicg. James Simpson wa& fined 20«. and costs for indecently exposing his person on the Queen-street Wharf. The Eesident Surgeon, Lunatic Asylum, acknowledges, with thanks, » donation of 10s. towards the Patients' Benefit Fund, from Mrs. John Williamson. A lecture on "The Past History and Present Position of Taxation in New Zealand" will be delivered this evening, by Mr. H. H. Lusk, at half-past 7 o'clock, at the Odd Fellows' Hall. We are glad to learn, although we cannot make the announcement authoritatively,that the parliamen- ( cary commission see no reason for thinking that Colonel McDonnell was guilty of cruelty or any other unsoldierly acts in the attaok on Pokaikai. This was the impression we held at the outset, and it is satisfactory to find it confirmed. Gentlemen occupying positions of influence should be very careful of what statements they make affecting the character of those who are called upon to execute 'a doty so difficult as that of dealing with the* natives, in the face of constant spying and tale-bearirig, to which too ready credence seems to be- given. This result of the commission, if we have been correctly informed of it, is further satisfactory as bearing' upon 'the suppression of native disturbance. Some of the Maoris along the coast beyond Kakaramea are beginning occasionally to assume » bouncing tone, which only a firm and unswerving front on. the part of the Government and the settlers will keep down. They need to be overawed, and the least appearance of giving way might be disastrous. — Wanganui Chronicle, March 24. The Independent thua notices (in addition to a lengthy examination of Mr. Buller) the progress *f the Native Lands Court at Otaki : " The business of the sittings, from the very nature of the case, proceeds slowly and tediously. The whole of the proceedings require to be interpreted from English into Maori, and from Maori into English. For example, the questions by the agent for the native claimants are put originally in Maori, and theft trantlaijed info

for the information of the Daniel for tht) \3Qrpyhi ; and the replits, given in Ma\*i, ara then Jgfctiuated for the Court. The pressing Judge =w!Uresses the agent for the claimants in i^glitit, but formal questions ate pat to him by the ini^preVvrin Maori . Mr. Williams replits occasionally inEn^h. but generally in Maori The Court tit* fromlO «&£ , to 5 p.m. d»Uy VJtt .Mr. .Young,_the intem*efcLwJk performs at the same time the duties of clerkio the Court, holds a rather difficult post," in whiOi h« acquits himself very creditably. ' The Court-iouse is generally well filled, and the natives are evidetfly gratified with, the patient and, painstaking mannetin which tbe inquiry is being conducted. When he agent for the native-ciaimaTflta has closed his ca*, Mr. Foxjwill address the Golirfron>behalf of the Crown and will produce evidetfoe in support of the counter* ,«laim. > '» ' The 1 trade reports' of. the year given jn to-day's] Twne^areas gloomy, as the weather. Everywhere business Seems to have been depressed, and testridtfed. In the cotton trade both spinners- arid m'anttfaoturers are complaining ; "a man never bought cotton and turned it into yarn or cloth without finding by the time he had brought it to market! itr fluid fatit&ld. to 2d. per lb." Not have the fortunes of silk been more propitious— " 1867 has been a long dreary twelvemonth of dull, dragging, disappointing bustnesg to alL'eogagettin silk." lAs for wool, there "is no ground fdx congratulation;"^ The condition of the metal trade.'may'obe .gathered' 'from the fact that a sanguine. firm, .trying in the spirit of Mark Tapley to ifbe / jolly under creditable circumstances, has nothing better to say than that, iflßusijttttdoes not improve, at any rate it cannot possibly be won* than it has been during the 'last two years. Even where trade has been profitable there are circumstances wßioh'terid to modify oar satisfaction at this result .The porn trade lis described as suooessful, -but along; with this we must put the fact that "wheat is 8 per oent. deficient in weight* 20 per cent, deficient in quantity, equal to fully 3(HX 000 q uarters on an average' growth. And thongh ' the shipping interest- ha«'belsn more prosperous than for some tune previously," it,"Js ~q^elfapnable,,wiSßt;lier tßis is a natiorial gain when we Ifind itr attributed to the Abyssinian expedition I.^-PaU1 .^- PaU Matt Qatctte. TJie fourth meeting of the present session of the Boyal Geographical, Society was held at Burlington House , o"n gTanuary, 13, Sir 1 R. r I. Murehison Jn'the chair. Before the odinniencement of the ordinary business 1 the President read * letter respecting Dr. Livingstone, . rwhioh he, had received the same' day from' Dr. Kirk, of Zanzibar, dated October 29. It ran as follows : — " I write only to assure you that nothing further has reached. .iM regarding tbe frftveller in the Lake regions ?1 who miujt,. withqut .doubt, be' Livingstone, since wo' have news' of hiinfeom Quiloa as having been seen west of Nyasu, . where gold is found. Bunduki, the native to whom the letters were,given, has\<not yetr reached the coast, being delayed, as we. hear, by carrying ivory in in double journeys from village, to pillage ; and he is still too far, off to make it of anjr use sending men to receive the letters which he has in Bis possession. i( .It will be/Borne time before, we can write to Johanna ; but I hope that Moosa and his companions may be well watched, and when the time comes severely punished for the miqery they; have caused. They, however, press their claims for salary, and have even sent men here in the hope of getting their wages