TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 1779, 30 August 1866, Page 2

TOWN AND COUNTRY.

Motto for the Honourable Joiin Hall (Slightly altered from the original):— " His honour rooted in dishonour stood; And love of places made him falsely true."

Cook Straits Cable.-Fr,>m enquiries at the Government Telegraph Office, we learn that this telegraph is now open to the public for the transmission of messages. Electoral.—We presume that the accession of the lion. John Hall to office in the General Government will create a vacancy in the representation of the Itakaia for the Provincial Government. West Coast Mail.—The mail arrived yesterday about 5 p.m., which is considerably under Hie usual time. The road is described as being hi very good condition. We are again disappointed in net receiving files of Hokitika papers. It is to be regretted that the young journals of the West have not yet learnt to recognise the necessity of regularity in the transmission of their exchanges. Accident to Mr. Dobson.—We regret to hear that the Provincial Engineer has been much hurt by an accident which happened while driving in his buggy. It seems that a bolt, fastening the shaft to the body of tiie carriage, broke while Mr. Dobson was driving in the ileathcote Valley Road. The horse bolted, and Mr. Dobson was thrown out on his face, which was severely lacerated. The injuries, though not serious, are such as will confine him to the house for some days. Theatre Koyal.—Last night '■ Camille " was repeated for, wc are glad to bdieve, the last time. The audience was a slight, very slight improvement on the" previous evening, It is unnecessary to repeat our opinion of " Camille," and we see no reason to retract one iota of what we have already said. The piece for to-night is, "Ingomar," in which Miss Juno will take the part of Parthenia, than which there are few in the whole range of classical dramas more beautiful or more worthy the talents of a great actress.

Railway Rowing Club.—The usual first annual meeting of this club was held last evening at the Criterion Hotel. There was a good attendance, and after the business of the lust season was concluded, showing that the club was working satisfactorily, so far as financial matters were concerned, it was resolved to adjourn for a fortnight, pending the arrangements of the Heathcote Regatta committee, which, by-the-way, meets to-day at the Town Hall, at one o'clock. The Heathcote is now completely cleared of water-cress, and for the coming season, commencing on the Ist of next month, will afford good water for practice. This club, formerly consisting only of railway employes, is now open to all comers, and we trust to see one of their boats at least placed in the proposed inter-provincial match. Legal.—His Honor Mr. Justice Gresson sat yesterdiiy in banco. The only case of any public interest was that (if Wynu Williams, appellant v. The City Council, respondents. His Honor, after reciting the differents steps which had been taken in this case, said that he was of opinion that the Court had jurisdiction therein, and he thought that the respondents were right in contending that it was the appellant's duty to have prosecuted the appeal, and they were perfectly justified in applying to have the appeal clisinißsed for want of prosecution. With regard to the slatement that the suit had abated because Mr. C. Allsopp, who originated tli-i proceedings in the Court below, had ceased to be the collector of the city rales, he (the Judge) was of opinion that that statement could not be sustained, inasmuch as it was evident that the City Council were the real plaintiffs in the Court below. For these reasons, he felt hound to dismiss the appeal with costs, Upon the application of Mr. U'ynn Williams, leave was given to appeal.

Building Suciuty.—Last niglit the eighth annual meeting of the Cliristcliurch Land Building and Investment Society, was held in the side room of the Town Hull, Mr, Coxheud in the chair. The secretary read the report and financial statement. The report stated that the society held 15 unrealized shares and 59 unredeemed ones. That its income was £56 lis (Id per month, which, added to the amount in hand and a sum due for fines, would probably bring the society to a close in seven or eight inmths The flnaneial statement set forth that the receipts during the past year had been, from subscriptions, £635 10s; interest, £228 17<; lines, £ll7 !)s (id ; redemption money, A'(ißfl Ids 9d. B dunce in band at last audit, £7O :)s Bd. Total, £1641, ills lid. And the disbursements, expenses of management, £*!) Os ltlil; interest on ov.nlraf, t'o lis lid; amount on shares cancelled, £712 10s Balance in Hank of New Zealand, £84!) 17s 2d. It was resolved that the ri'|x>rt and financial statement ho received. The following ollkers were elected to officiate until the termination of the society. Mr. (!. W. Turner as Chairman. Messrs. Papprill, Marley, Cnxbead, Hull, Ilawlcy, and Ness, as commiitee men, and Messrs, Hull and Ness as stewards. When this society expires, another will be formed on the samo'principlcs.

PUUBSUN MIUTAUY CoMMANDEBS.—The Prussian military correspondent of the Times gives the names of the general officers who command the different Prussian corps d'armcc. —The Ist corps, levied and recruited in the province of Prussia Proper, is under command of General von Homin •, the 2d, or Pomerian corps, of General ton Schmidt; the 3d, or Brandenburg corps, and tlni 4th, or Saxon, have no command at the present moment, ami are considered to be under the immediate control of Prince Frederick Charles; the sth, or Posen corps, is under General von Steinmiiz: the dth, or tSilcsian, under von Minimis; the 7th, or Westphalian, is in Hanover under General von Falkeustein j the

Btli, or Hliinclund, is commanded by General Herwnrth von Bittenfeld, who seems to be called indiHcriminatcly lierwarth orßittenfeld. Tlie great body of the curalry 1b under Prince Albreeht, and tlio corps of the guard is commanded hyTrince Augustc of Wurtemherg.

OItDINARY AN!) SURPLUS REVENUE OF TUB Coi-oNr,—l'lie N. Z.Adoertiser institutes the following comparison between the ordinary und surplus reTcnue of the colony for the last eight financial years :

The total ordinary revenue of the colony for that period was consequently £3,81)8,254, the surplus £1,372,618, and the average proportion of the latter to the former was 37 per cent, The land revenue during the same period was £3,505,649, or epul to 47 per cent of the whole revenue of the colony. In the colony of Victoria during the last financial year the total revenue was £3,092,400, of which the territorial revenue was £1,483,000, or 47 per cent. But in the latter colony the amount appropriated to services analagous to those undertaken by the provinces in New Zealand was £2,341,182 or 53 per cent., against 37 per cent, allowed in the Colony,

Panama Socially Retrogressing.—The Panama Star and Herald of a recent date says:—lt is a strange fact that Panama at this day, with a population supposed to be nearly ten thousand—for we have no census to judge by—possesses neither a public school nor a public hospital. Years ago, when taxation was not one-third of what it is now, and when everything but taxation was three times higher, Panama could boast both of schools and hospitals; but now, alas! military fame has taken the place of learning and charity. The school is turned into barracks, and the destitute sick are left to die of neglect and want. It is painful, too, to walk round the city and see what has become of all the property once owned by the Government, Except the barracks, the gaol, the Govern-ment-house, which we believe is heavily mortgaged, and the Town Hall, which cannot be sold, we are tolerably safe in saying that Government has not reserved a solitary foot of gr»und, the whole hiving been disposed of to Biipport an army. Even the census on private property had to be redeemed by a decree of Government, and immediately after the property was freed from this burthen the ordinary taxes thereon were tripled or quadrupled. And all for what ? To support an army. But, now that Panama has its army, what has it done for the country in return for the one hundred and twenty thousand dollars annually it costs the State to support it ? One of its first acts was to get up a revolution and capsize the Government it was sent to protect, and since that time a week rarely passes that we have not the cry of fresh revolutions; in fact, so common has this become that few people retire at night except in the dread of having their slumbers disturbed by a call to arms. Twenty-five policemen used to keep Hie city perfectly tranquil, but now-a-days two hundred and twenty-five soldiers appear insufficient to quell the nightly alarm of the inhabitants. Surely it is time that this farce was played out, and peace once more established. New Zealand Affairs in England.— The London correspondent of the Wellington Independent writes thus by last mail:—l have, I believe, on one or two occasions, suggested that it was scarcely sound i olicy that the London Manager of the Bank of New Zealand should be permitted to occupy himself with other commercial or insurance tran-

suctions than those he is paid to look after, in his purely official character as Manager of your Bank. lam informed that he has been instructed, and has agreed, to confine himself strictly and exclusively to the business of the Bank of New Zealand, and none other. During the present month, the directors of the Panama line have opened their report.and have declared a dividend of 5 per cent—but

have deferred its payment on account of the tightness of the money market, and the

scarceness of cash. In fact, the Directors have obtained permission to issue debentures for £IOO,OOO. The shareholders at the meeting were very confident and enthusiastic about their present and future prospects; and they have every reason to be so when it is considered that they have passed safely through a most severe monetary panic, and have declared 5 per cent dividend—out of profits, and not out of capital—on all their shares, new and old, even though the immense sum expended in the Panama ships has been as yet unproductive. The tone of the report is somewhat hostile to the future of your local Steam Navigation Company. No doubt the directors of the latter company have so far conscientiously done their duty in endeavouring to protect the interests of their shareholders, and to foster and keep afloat an enterprise of such importance as that of the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company—whose prospects by the last accounts were improving. Still should this improvement not be maintained (and it will depend on heavy subsidies to accomplish it), it may yet be considered expedient to amalgamate with the Panama Company—should the latter be successful in its commencement of the Panama line. Excessive competition may be a gain—for a time—to the publij; but it too often results in a loss to the shareholders on all sides; a collapse follows, the enterp-ise goes to the wall, and cannot be resuscitated; and turn the public loses as well as the company. Such are the views and opinions of most of your shareholders. Financial mutters in London connected with your colony remiiin asthey were—only that yours and 6 per cent, debentures are improving in the market. You" will be glad to learn that the Messrs. Kennard's have undertaken to supply the material, and build, the bridge over the Wangatitii River for the sum of a little over £IB,OOO. This bridge would be a credit to a large town in Kngland; it is to be 810 feet in

length with a roadway—lß feet in the clear, with a footpath outside the roadway 4 feet 6 inches wi lc. The length of Southwark bridge is on ! y 7tiß feet. The Wanganui bridge is supported on 6 piers of two 7-feet cylinders each, filled with concrete, and 4 ditto in one pier to support the swing-bridge, which, when open, leaves a passage for ships of 3S feet 6 inches in the clear. The cylinders when in position will be sunk on an average to a depth of about 22 feet in the ground. The longest one will measure, from top to bcttom, 53 feet 9 inches, and the shortest, 31 feet 3 inches. The spaces will be formed by means of wrought iron double lattice girders, 10 feet deep and 2 feet wide. One of the spans will he over 140 feet in length; 414 tons of cast iron and 313'0f wrought will be consumed in the construction—making a total of 727 tons. No time has been lost for securing tenders for this bridge, and it is to be hoped, when it is completed, it will do credit to all concerned. Great efforts will bo made to send a first shipment of part of the cylinders by the Wild Duck. I am sorry to inform y»n that in the present sta,te of the ■money market, but little progress may be expected with the Taranaki Steel Company. Trade has been dull generally for the last month, Thero is considerable stagnation in the wool trade, anl there is still a downward tendency in prices.

Southland Goldfiklds.—The Southland Daily iVcwft, in its latest summary for England, sivs;—The number of persons engaged in gold mining in this province has yery gradually increased during the past month. The majority are located at the Paibi, a diggings situated on the coast about 20 miles to the westward of Hiverton. The population there is now estimated at between 250 and 300 miners. They have until recently been occupied in washing the auriferous sand of the kind found so extensively distributed on the Bea tieaches'of the West Coast. Among other examples of very marked auccess we may pla'ie that of one party who have already realized well and who have now about 200 loads of wish dirt stacked—estimated to return about 1 oz per load. Of late several pariies have prospected back in the hushabout three miles from the beach—with the rejult of finding some moderately payable

ground. The auriferous drift lias been founfl chiefly in a atrip of ground of variable width (from 15 to 20 feet), on one side of a creek The (tripping averages about three feet in depth with six inches to two feet of washdirt—composed of gravel and what miners describe as a greasy grey sand. The n 0 here, as on the beach workings is exceedingly fine. The average earnings may he fairly estimated at one ounce per man per week some parties are getting much more while a few complain of continued h;id \ There are at present three stores at the town' ship. Provisions arc moderate in i, r j ce ' bread selling at Is (id the 41b loaf ■ |, e ,,f qj per lb; tea, 3s Cd per lb j sugar, 7d p c -r Jh Tools are cheap—long-handled shovel* in,' each ; American axes, 10s; sluice Ames No. 2, best quality, 15s. There is al so an accommodation-house, where meals provided at 2« per head. Timber for f \n\J boxes, &c, has been selling at 30.s i, r i f)( j feet super. The price of gold a t the P a j|,j is difficult to fix. in the absence of any mi ut buying establishment. For clean wishr-i from JE3 On to X 3 12s is obtained. Annlm mated and roughly retorted gold hw\ m£ l 2s 6d in Kiverton. No post-office j,' '! established, but the continued developing J mining industry will, it is expects, \ n ,\ m , the authorities to make the ncw-swrv a'r angements at an early date. Traces of bom have been found on the beaches to \u southward of the Paihi; and in t | lt 6 , r i, part of the month intellig, m . ( . / received here to the effect that a party of prospectors had succory i„ finding payable claims on the beach a t Bushy Point, about 10 miles from Carmiliell town (Bluff Harbour). The announce nt caused but little excitement as it was •»• om pinied by the information that the working were limited in extent and the groim I w, m M soon be wrought out. Fifteen or twenty men are now working there but their average earnings are not made known, They have however disposed %i ab mt aoo ounces of - o ld to the banks in this town and appear to be satisfied with the results of their labour The black sand found on all the diggings in the Middle Island occurs in unusual qiumtity at the Paihi and Bushy Point <li«gm, 3 It , specific gravity is so great as to cause ex treme difficulty in separating the goH-jn, fact by washing alone it is found impo-ible to win the whole and the quicksilver process is now had recourse to. One or two small samples have been submitted to assav in Sydney, and the acting master of the lioyal Mint there has reported that a large per. centageof platinum was contained in one of the parcels submitted to test.

Squatting in Austhalu._tlic Pastoral Tunes of a recent date, says, that the macr. mtude of the squatting interest in Australia can best be shown by what it sprang fromwhat it is now—and what it promises to be The past is a matter of history, the future furnishes food for speculation—and as our Parliament is about again to legislate on the land question, we hold it to be the interest of all those engaged in squatting that facts should be more generally understood as well by the public, who elect the law-makers, as by the latter potentates 'hemseUes—'• our approved good masters" in Sydney. In the beginning of this lentury, according to O'Neil's Squatters 1 and Farmers' Journal, there were very few sheep on the continent of Australia, and these were of a very indifferent kind—some poor Irish sheep," and a few Southdowns and Leicesters brought to Botany Bay in convict ships. Fortunately the subject of depasturing sheep on the vast plans of Australia had been laid hold of by a strong hand, and Captain Macarthur had, with inde fatigable perseverance, brought the matter before the Home Government. King George 111., devotedly attached to all such pursuits, made Captain Macanhura present of three splendid rams, Sp.mish Merinoes, then in Windsor Park. From the few sheep got together from such sources have sprung the many millions of sheep of all classes now depasturing in these coloniesgood and choice importations being added to them since, from time to time. In 1810 the exports of fine merino wool to England by Macarthur only reached to 1671b5. There had been previously several consignments of small quantities of coarse wool, for many years after that the increase was slow, and in 1823 it barely exceeded half a million of lbs. Since that time the progress of wool growing has bsen very rapid, and in 1832, including Tasmania, the exports amounted to 3,616,596 lbs. In 1843 it amounted to 16,226,400 lbs, and in 1846 the exports of the whole of the Australian Colonies amounted to above 77,0.-O,ooolbs. Thus, in spite of drought, and other natural drawbacks, and in the face of hostile legislation and legalised impediments and restrictions, has the great interest advanced. If we are to estimate the future by the past and present, we may infer that at the close of the present century the country will be exporting many hundreds of millions of pounds of wool, thus giving employment to a merchant fleet of thousands of vessels, and creating mechanical labour that we cannot estimate.

Tub Late Charles William Broi-ghton. The following report, which sufficiently explains itself, emanates from the Committee of the House of Representatives on Public Petitions, and hears the signature of J. C. Wilson, C.B.:—The petitioner is the brother of the late Chatles William Broughton, who was treacherously assassinated on Sunday, Ist October, 1865, by some Maori rebels, in the immediate vicinity of a fortified pah, not very far from Kakuramea, in the Patea district, whither he bad been enticed on the plea of discussing, in his official capacity, some of the conditions of the Peace Proclamation of the 2nd September, 1565, which, as was pretended, required explanation. The de-ce-'sed left behind him four half-caste children. Another child has been bom posthumously, and the petitioner prays, on behalf of the five orphans and the mother (a Msuri by birth) for the kind consideration of the Legislature. The Committee are of opinion that it is the duty of the colony to take upon itself the task of educating and providing for the family of the deceased, and they unanimously direct me to suggest that an allowance of two hundred pounds sterling per annum should be granted to the family, provided that the children be educated as European children, to the satisfaction of tru>tees ok> anointed by the Government; f >rty pounds of such allowance to cease and determine on the death of the mother, and thirty pounds to cease and determine upon the decease, or upon the arrival at the age of nineteen years, of each child. And further, with a view to leaving for ever in the numory of the Maori race a memento of the detestation in which the dastardly crime committed on the Ist October, 1565, is held by the colonists of New Zealand, and of the fixed determination to reward to the utmost of their powtr the heroic ilteds and devotion of their public servants, that there should he made t.i thechildren a grant of land in one block, to include, if possible, the spot where the deceased was assassinated, to the extent of three hundred acres, the same to he inalienable, ami so settled, if praeticable, as to descend intact to the descendants of the orphan children front generation to generation.

Ordinary. Surplus. Proportion & & 1858-9 . .. 176,310 . .. 70,559 .. . lOpcrcoot 1859-00 . „ 202,007 . .. 93,809 ., .. « .. 1880-1 . ,. 229,700 . .. 70,711 ., .. 33 „ 1801-2 , .. 388,887 . ... 107,953 ., ..43 „ 1802-3 , ,. 552,377 , ,., 229,785 ., »« » 18034 . .. 709,029 , ,.. 288,533 . ..39 „ 1801-5 . .. 738,720 ... 310,835 . -46 „ 1805-0 . ... 902,131 ... 109,310 . .. 12 „