THE Marlborough Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1888.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 314, 29 May 1888, Page 2

THE Marlborough Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1888.

Inspection.— An inspection parade of the Blenheim Rifles, Blenheim City Rifles and School Cadets takes place this evening at 7.30.

The Weatiieb. —Captain Edwin telegraphed at 3.15 p.m. yesterday : “ Southoast to south and west gale after 10 hours from now. Glass rising. Indications heavy rain.”

On the Move. —Messrs John Hey hoe and Co. intimate that they have removed into their new premises, next to Mr Muncaster, Market-street North, where they will carry on business as usual. Mohawk Minstrels. This talented company, comprising 20 members, is announced to appear in Ewart’s Hall on Wednesday night. The show ran three months in Auckland, which should be a good guarantee of its merits. City Rifles.— After parade to-night, there will be a squad bayonet competition between the four squads of this company. A good deal of interest is being manifested in the contest by the members of the company, each section being confident of gaining the palm.

Concert. —A concert and social gathering will be held in the Wesleyan schoolroom at eight o’clock this ovening. A musical programme will be rendered by the efficient choir of tho Church, and coffee and other refreshments will be bountifully supplied by ladies of the congregation. New Telephone Offices.— The following new telephone offices have been opened to the public : —Wangarei Heads and Marsden Point, both in Auckland District ; Karangahahe, (Thames District). The hours of attendance for each office will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, except Sundays and holidays, when the offices will bo closed.

Route to the Mahakapawa Goldfield. —Messrs Clark and Pickering announce that they have made arrangements for boats to land passengers from Havelock (the easiest and cheapest route to the field), at a point within easy distance of tbo rush, and that they are prepared to furnish special conveyances and boats on short notice.

’Frisco Mail. —Tho mail will arrive via Picton early this morning. Tho Hawea left Wellington yesterday afternoon, and was expected to reach Picton at ten o’clock last night. Anticipating its arrival, the Chief Postmaster arranged to havo the mail conveyed at once to Blenheim, where it would have been sorted into privato boxes immediately thereafter, but a telegram received late last night announced that owing to a gale, the steamer was detained in Worsor Bay. Pastoral Leases. —The following are the details of the pastoral rims in the provincial districts of the South Island, the licenses of which will expire between tho Ist January, 1888, and 31st December, 1890: —Canterbury, 2,835,819 acres, returning a rental of £48,548; Otago, 986,233 acres, £31,827 ; Westland, 280,120 acres, £313; Nelson, 70,567 acres £167 ; Marlborough, 52,259 acres, £184; Southland, 12,550 acres, £B3; total, 4,238,548 acres, rotuming an annual rental of £80,825

Cost of Collecting Customs. —The average cost of collecting Customs duties in New Zealand was £215 Gdper cent, whereas in Great Britain it is £4 Gs Sd per cent. At the various New Zeaiand ports the cost of collection ranged from £2 Is 3d at Wellington (the lowest) to £26 Is 9d at the (now closed) port of Foxton. The cost was £2 8s lid at Auckland, £2 Is 7d at Dunedin, and £2 4s at Lyttleton. Auckland and the Depression.— Writes a travelling contributor to the ilawera Star :—“ Auckland, so far as business and work is concerned, is as dull as ever it was, or is likely to be. Perhaps there is no class who feel the depression so much as sailors ; crowds of them are begging their passage away to other port 3. Empty houses and shops are to he seen in every part of the city. Food is certainly very cheap. I saw the best cuts of beef sold retail at 3d; sausages, 2d ; the 21b loaf at 2Ad ; and other things at equally low prices.”

“ I Need Thee Every Hour.” A Chicago minister, who was very much gratified at the large attendance of young people at the Sunday evening meetings, one night announced the hymn " J Neod Thee Every Hour.” The consequences were silted as follows: “I distinctly saw a young lady" in one of the front seats nudge a young geu^ cman ker side. Three seats back I saw a joung gentleman nudge a young lady, and live f 8 ®* 8 back I saw another gentleman nudge a young lady. This set me thinking, and the next Sunday night I guvo out the hymn with my eyes wide open, and as I uttered the words, ‘ I Need Thee Every Hour,’ I saw several people nudge several other people, and my notion of the zeal of these young ladies and gentlemen changed. They came to church to bo in each other’s company.”

N.Z. Frozen Meat. —A London correspondent writes :—I hear that some of the largest importers and wholesale vendors of the best New Zealand mutton mean to act on the hint given by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the House of Commons the other night, and prosecute all retailers who sell New Zealand meat as Scotch or English, under the Food and Drugs Act of'ISS S. If this idea is carried out and can be worked, it will have, I can promiso you, a most beneficial effect upon the trade. The butchers fhemselves admit it ; moreover the better-class radesmen will not be sorry to be obliged to be honest. What Jones thought right, Smith felt was justifiable. When, L ••••

ever, selling a leg of New Zealand muttonas prime Scotch becomes a felony, things will be altogether different.

Ingenuous. —The celebrated Te Kooti has petitioned Parliament, asking for recompense for the destruction of his houses and their contents by fire on the 27th of January last. The noble savage naively urges that “it has been the custom and the law in New Zealand to show love to those who are in trouble, or have suffered loss of any kind. The Export of Horses.— An effort is to be made by Mr John Stevens, of the Rangitikei district, in conjunction with Mr A. Thompson, of Kakanu, to open up a regular trade with Calcutta in horses and New Zealand products. Mr Stevens proposes to send his first shipment of twenty-five horses by the Tekapo, which sails early next month, and he will person - ally|accompany the expedition bearing credentials from the Colonial Secretary to the Governor-General of India. It is more than likely that a movement will be made in the direction of obtaining a subsidy from the Indian Government. If the trade in horses should prove successful, Mr Stevens proposes forming a joint stock company for the purchase of stud horaes, which will bo let out to small farmers throughout the Colony, the object being the breeding of good stock for the Indian market.

England’s Defences. —The following is a special message to a Sydney paper on the question of the day at Home—England’s defences: General disgust is expressed throughout Great Britain at the limited reference made by Lord Hartington, the president of I he Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the army and navy estimates, to measures to ensure greater efficiency in the British Army and Navy, which were pointed out by Lord Wolseley in a recent speech and the Duke of Cambridge in the evidence given by him before the Commission. It was expected that the inquiry would have been of the fullest nature in regard to the w - like efficiency of the service, and the popular opinion now is that nothing has been done that will prevent ( tba recurrence of the peddling and bungling which have been characteristic of the War Office authorities in times of crisis.

inA Big Scheme. —The following appears in a recent issue of the Melbourne Herald: —“A rumor is current in circles usually -well informed on such points that agents of the Rothschilds, now in Melbourne, are prepared to offer to the Government L 30,000,000 sterling for a 99 years’lease of lands west’of the city, known as the "West Melbourne Swamp, the approximate area being five square miles or 3200 acres. These can hardly be the correct figures as to the area, inasmuch as the whole of the district known as the West Melbourne Swamp, together with the Sandridge Bend, does not reach to more than from 2000 to 2200 acres. Supposing the report to be substantially correct, and this offer to have been made, if there are 2200 acres the price per acre is about L 13,636 for the lease of three generations ; if 2000 acres only, the offer is, of course, L 15,000 per acre. Apart from the gigantic nature of the undertaking, the price does not appear outrageous when we remember that some time ago a block of six acros (certainly nearer the city) was sold to a syndicate for over L 200,000, that is nearly L 33,500 per acre. General Boulanger’s Dismissal. —La Corcarde (the Boulangist organ) says: General Boulanger is removed from his command. The foremost soldier in France is turned out of the army. The cowards who quailed before him have now turned traitors. The Official publishes his revocation. Of all our soldiers,' it was he whom Germany was most afraid of. The aged Emperor William told his grandson on his death-bed—prepare to fight Boulanger. He is a fermidable adversary. In 'spite of this, or rather on account of this, Boulanger is dismissed on a burlesque pretext. France will not bo deceived by the childish folselioods of a few senile dotards driven wild with fear. She knows that M. Carnot and M. Tirard have struck off Boulanger only to give some satisfaction to Germany. General Billot, who has gone to Berlin to humiliate the French army before the coffin of the man who bombarded Paris, conveys to Frederick the Third, as a gift on his accession, the dismissal of the one General in whom the army felt confidence, whom France will call upon to conduct her defence when she is menaced. To deprive such a man of his command, and of his means of preparing for the inevitable war, is nothing short of treason. The whole of France will protest. The patriotic and generous people of Paris, so often mowed down by the guns of the ferocious Parliamentary faction, will regard this revocation as a crime against our country. Wherovcr the Fatherland has been iii danger, it has been saved by the people. The people will save it once more. Vive la France ! Vive la Ilepublique ! Vive Boulanger ! N.Z. Mining Ventures on the London Market.— A-company has been registered at Homo under the curious title of “Tho New Zealand Beaches, Limited.” Its object is to acquire tracts of sea-beach in New Zealand and to explore for gold or other metals. The capital is L 50,000, divided into 50 shares of L 250 each. The Champion Gold and Silver Mines, Limited, has also been registered, the capital being L 75,000, in LI shares. The object is to acquire and work mines in the Tui Creek and Te Aroha districts, Auckland. It is provided in the articles that five of the ten directors shall be resident in New Zealand, and that they shall be paid LSOO a year amongst them, together with five per cent of the net profits after ten per cent has been paid to the shareholders, A directorship has been offered to Sir Walter Buffer, with the chairmanship if he elects to take it, but it is not likely he will accept, as he has already undertaken engagements of a sufficiently onerous nature. A formal statutory meeting of the Waihi Gold Mining Company was held in London on the sth instant. Mr T. T. Russell, C.M.G , who presided, made a very hopeful address. He declares he has never seen a more promising undertaking than this mine It was intended to concentrate every energy in developing the Union lode, which averaged about five feet. After a great deal of trouble and expense, it had been discovered that the ore was a free ore, but the gold was exceedingly fine, and required an amount of care in the manipulation, which, under the whole process existing in New Zealand it was not possible ' * *nvo it. It has been decided to adopt KSSrSS «“ p oT ,o p„. :.*r‘ “*<= gold. The lode, so far as it had been proved was worth L2OO a toD and it was believed the average value of the lode would be at least LlO a ton. Mr Russell added that he believed it would prove very much more valuable than. that. The shares allotted were 84,818 ou ; of 100,000, and the remainder were boin ' gradually taken up. A Stock Exchange quotation will shortly be obtained.

Winter Novelties. We have received our first shipment of Winter Goods direct from London, and are now showing the latest style- in Millinery, Plush, Hats and Trimmings, Ladies’ and Children’s Jackets and Ulsters, in the most fashionable chapes; Plain and Fancy Dress Goods, all Wool Cashmeres and Merinos, the newest shades ; Watered. Striped and Plain Plushes, a beautiful variety ; Hosiery, Gloves, etc. Our new Tweed Patterns from the N.Z. Factories arc to hand. Tailoring orders executed on the shortest notice; fit and quality guaranteed- An early inspection solicited. —Sm ale Sc Hay, London House.