The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4062, 29 August 1870, Page 2

The Daily Southern Cross.

LUCEO, NON URO. If I have been extinguished yet there viso A thousand beacons from the >.paik I boic.

MONDAY, AUGUffT 20, IS7O.

A 2tew appointment to the Official Agency having been recently made, the present appears a n't time to say a few words as to the reprehensible neglect which has beeu exhibited in the non appointment several months ago of an official auditor. The gentlem.m who lately held the position of Officiol Agent has become bankrupt, and upon that account, we presume, has ceased to hold office, but whether by resignation or removal we are unable to say. Another gentleman, Mr. H. N. "Warner, has been appointed to fill the place, but even yot, when this important change has been made, no official auditor has been gazetted. We nepcl scarcely point out in what a very unfair position this negligence places both the late and the present Official Agent ; and we sincerely trust that the General Government Agent will at ones take steps to ensure the due audit of the past accounts. Not merely, moreover, upon the Official Agents, past and present, is an injustice inflicted. Tiie public generally — both creditors and debtors — who are interested in the mining companies at the Thames, have a right to complain that no step has been taken to ensure the proper administration of any moneys which may have been paid into the Agent's hands. Wj would suggest to Mr. Ofcway the propriety of demanding positively that the vacant position should be filled up at once, as, until a due examination of his official accounts has taken place, he canuob bs regarded as free from the responsibility which his appointment has entailed upon him. Should it — as is possible — have happened, that an official auditor has been appointed, but tliat the fact has not been gazetted, we shall atill think that very great blame is to be attached to those who have the control of these matters. This appointment so nearly affects the commercial status of almost every man in Auckland, that the public has a decided right to know to whose hands these great and important interests are submitted. In few things does any Government business — for Government business it is, although our legislators have seen fit to let it out by contract — trench so closely upon the private affairs of the citizens, as in the winding up of these mining companies. And yet the whole matter is treated as if it was one of no importance whatever : the fact that it is nearly five months since the first order was made against a company, and that up to this date the winding up of that company is quite incomplete, is quietly ignored. To our minds this single case is significant of gross neglect in the management of the official agency, and although it is painful to have to bring forward so prominently the name of any individual gentleman, we feel bound in the present case to speak plainly. We should be very glad to learn that Mr. Ofcw&y had insisted strongly upon the immediate appointment of an auditor ; and although this cannot clear him of the charge of having administered his office in the most perfunctory manner, it will at all events show that he challenges inquiry into the disposition of such moneys as he has received.

The report of the Railway Gauge Committee, which has been recentlybrought up, contains a good deal of valuable information. We have already mentioned that, on due consideration of the question, the committee came to the conclusion, that the 3ft. 6in. gauge was quite broad enough for the require oaents of traffic in New Zealand. Whether or not a gauge even narrower than this would have been sufficient, was a point which- was not discussed : although the Festiniog .Railway is incidentally referred to, the members of the committee did not; think it part of their duty to consider whether a similar line would servo the purpose in New Zealand. We think this is a matter for regret, as the report cannot be regarded as complete, without this information. . That it is advisable to adopt the 3ft. 6in. gauge in preference to any wider one, is shown conclusively. The average saving in cost of construction, including rolling stock, upon the I 4ft. B£m. gauge, — the breadth adopted f in Southland — was found in Norway to amount to £ 1,200 per mile; the relative cost being .£6,800 for the large gauge, and £4,600 for the 3ft. 6in. gauge. We understand that had this, in the place, of the sft. 3in. gauge, been adopted in Canterbury, the very heavy item of expenditure upon the tunnel could have been saved, as it 'was' practicable to lead a narrower line round the hill. , Tbe money which "was laid out, upon that work would have beim sufficient to carry a railway to the southernmost boundary of the' province, „ The speed -which the committee considers mighty© safely attained upon a

railway constructed in accordance with the recommendations made is 30 miles per hour — an amply-sufficient rate for anything New Zealand is likely to require for many years to come. ! As we have paid, the report contains | much valuable- information ; it is in fact a summirjrof the several reports which have from time lo time been pub- ! lished in this and the neighbouring colonies. A's a summary it is useful, but it is incomplete in the particular which we have jjointed out, and of tech nical details it is quite innocent. To the publio, therefore, this document will no \ doubt convey a good deal of instruction, but to engineers it must appear altogether too contracted and superficial

; Our Coronjandel correspondent's letter, ! which we publish in another column, contains the latest intelligence as to mining and general transactions in that district. We were kindly shown on Saturday last a panoramic view of Levuka, Fiji, apparently taken from a coral reef in the harbour. The houses are all built on the beach, with hi^h ranges in the background, and the place aa depicted in the photograph reminds one very much of Grahamstown, saving that the buildings are more numerous at the latter pl.ice, and the coral reefs happily absent. The rapid increase of pheasants in this province was strikingly proved by a, occurrence on Saturday last. A milkman named Alexander Campbell, whilst proceeding along Beresford-street, noticed a young pheasant Avhich appeared to be unable to fly, aud g'vmg chase he] succeeded]) in capturing the bird without much difficulty. We believe he purposes releasing it to-day in a • suitable locality. It is fortunate that the bird was not seen by boys. Apropos of this we may mention that a number ot mischievous lada in Beresford-street have lately amused themselves throughout the day in pelting the ravens which have frequented that neighbourhood. We should like to see a severe example made of one of these imps. The master bakers held a meeting on Saturday night last. A resolution was carried for the purpose of obtaining a change in the hours of baking. The present system of hours is anything but satisfactory to master or servant j and we are sure that our readers will be glad to see the desired change effected, when they are informed that by getting the bread baked the last thing in the afternoon before the workmen go away, the work will be done under the eye of the master, and the bread will be clean. There will be no smoking of pipes, chewing of tobacco, and the usual spitting, while working w>th the dough; no one sleeping, and, consequently, no sour bread; neither will masters allow their workmen to < work amon^ the dough while intoxicated. We hope the public will demand the" change sought to be made, by not supporting those tradesmen who continue the practice of bakiug during the " wee " hours of the morning. The business at tho Police Court on Saturday was unimportant. Four persons were punished for drunkenness, one of the number also being sent to gaol for vagrancy. A person of unsound mind was, on the testimony of Drs. Kenderdine and Kennedy, ordered to be sent to the Lunatic Asylum. W. T. Buckland, Esq., and R. F. Porter, Esq., were the sitting Justices. We have to acknowledge the receipt, from Messrs. Onuckshank, Smart, and Co., of a map of the Central Pacific Railroad of California, and a map of the Union Pacific Railroad. These maps give the fullest information for passengers taking the overland route t through America by rad. Creditors are requested to prove their claims in the Golden Crown Extended Goldmining Company, Tradesmen's Goldmining i Company, Trafalgar Goldmining Company, ! and the Bell Rock Goldmming Company. A meeting of the Auckland Total Abstinenoo Society j will be held to-morrow evening at 7.30, in the Hall of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Thames Advertiser says :—" To ! satisfy the costs in the case given ajainst the Earl of Erin Goldmining Company for working without a leaseholders' miner's right, the j company's ground and property are to be sold off. " Mr. W. T. Swan, M.H.R., in a letter to Mr. C. F. Mitchell, says .-—"I voted against \ the corn duties last year, and T shall oppose protective duties in whatever shape they ' may be brought forward." The Grahamstown Mail of Saturday says : — " Several specimens of one of the strangest natural curiosities of New Zealand were brought to our office by a man who had found them in the bush. They are the 'vegetating caterpillar, or hotete. Out of each of the heads of what had formerly been lai'ge caterpillars, has sprouted a branch, and the bodies have been converted into vegetables, but retaining the animal shape, the legs, head, and eyes being quite dis* cernible." Messrs. J. M. Dargavi'le and Charles Davis should be the presiding magistrates at the Police Court this forenoon. The annual meeting of the celebrated Long Drive Goldmining Company will be held today at two o'clock, at the office of the Company in Shortland-street. Those of our readers who have occasion to travel at night along] Upper Queen-street will we have no douot be pleased to learn that the City Board of Commissioners have it in contemplation to place, on an early date, gas lamps at the corner of City Road, Tur-ner-street, aud Mr. G. Staines's store. The company for the importation of purebred stock into this province has at last assumed a tangible shape. A successful meeting was held on Saturday last, a report of which will be found in another column. Mr. Hay, in a speech in the Legislative Council of New South Wales recently, said : —"He could not help thinking that it was matter for congratulation that the different colonies had approached each other in a friendly manner. Notwithstanding the small apparent result, yet, as a beginner, we ought to feel thankful that we got through with rather an increase of cordiality than otherwise. It was only by combination, to be obtained by frequent conferences, that these colonies could ever be enabled to establish themselves on a respectable footing among the people of the world. Responsible institutions had been launched here without any provision for federation, and it was difficult to establish any combined action which should be sufficient for its purpose after we had been separated from each other. The importance of this subject might not now be so pressing as to obtain sufficiently the attention of those engaged in the political management of colonial affairs, and it would probably be found that it would only be when the pressure of some great danger or common misfortune was at hand that this end would be obtained. Those who had the welfare of the colonies at heart should never relax in their efforts to obtain federation without suoh pressure, and before the danger arose to make it absolutely necessary.'* female immigration is much desired in many parts of America. A Colorado editor plaintively pleads : "Gosh dang it] send us more girls I" - The London Gazette is the oldest news- | paper printed in English in the world. ! It is said that 195 rich persons in England hold $1,735,000,000 worth of British consols. A man in Lynchburg, 111., had his skulj fractured by a brick in a fight, which a re. porter stylos " a controversy with a friend. »> There are fourteen, hundred and eighty, tw© theatres in Europe. * ' Ten million sheets of paper were required for printing the letter of the Emperor Ifapo* lwntothe ©lectors of Erwet, -

There exist two hundred forms of religious f aich under the Government of Great Britain, Thereisaßoatonmerchantwhohaslittlefaith in legislation. He expresses his opinion that, "If Congress would adjourn for ten years, business would start up, and the country Would soon be in a prosperous condition." By the death of his brother at Salt Lake, Brigham Young has had four houses full of widows and children left to him to love, honour, and obey. Over 10,000,000 persons have died of the small-pox in Russia since the beginning of the century. Vaccination is not compulsory in the Czar's dominions. The European standing armies aggregate 4,200,000 men. °