The Marlborough Press. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1871. PICTON COMPANY MARLBOROUGH RANGERS.

Marlborough Press, Volume XII, Issue 752, 14 June 1871, Page 2

The Marlborough Press. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1871. PICTON COMPANY MARLBOROUGH RANGERS.

company's orders. Ammunition will be served out to any member of the Company requiring it, on the Ist Tuesday of eacli month, between the hours of l and 3 o’clock n.m. W. J. Baillie, Captain. Picton, June 13,1871. We are informed that a new telegraph office has been opened at Kekerangu. Taranaki.— The population of this province, as per census returns, is 4,480. In the Otago province there are at present sixty libraries open. Cot.. Mould, we believe, is to talce temporary charge as Commissioner of the Armed Constabulary. Following up the Permissive Bill it is now proposed in Auckland to attempt to obtain a law prohibiting persons under age from smoking. Mr. G. B. Barton has issued writs against Messrs Fox, Gisborne, Sewell, and Vogel, to recover five thousand pounds damages, for malicious prosecution Revision Court.—lt will he observed that the date of holding the Revision Court for the District of Wairau has been altered from Wednesday the 21st to Thursday the 29th inst. The Royal Hotel at Oeo, Taranaki, is kept by a Maori firm, Honi Pihama and Pata, and through the Wanganui papers they announce that they offer good accommodation for man and beast.

Appointment. —Joshua Green, Esq., has been appointed Returning Officer for the Provincial Districts of the Town of Picton, Tua Marina, and Queen Charlotte Sound, vice Duncan Guy, Esq., resigned. A late number of the Otago Daily Times announces :—The Bishop of Nelson will deliver a lecture in the Masonic Hall, Dunedin, on “ Periods, Persons, Points, Prospects of Contact between Presbyterians and Episcopalians.” A gentleman who left Auckland some months ago for England, wished, previous to his leaving to dispose of his Caledonian shares, but could not get a purchaser. He has since returned, and finds several thousands of pounds waiting him for dividends. Such is luck ! Boat Accident. —Many of our readers will regret to learn of the death by drowning in Lyttelton harbor, of Captain Taylor, formerly master of the barque Laughing Water, and latterly of the schooner Bee, of Lyttelton, trading between that port and Kaikoura. Departure. —Among the departures by the s.s. Ahuriri on Sunday last, was J. R. Gard, Esq. We understand that he takes advantage of the new route via San Francisco, to pay a visit to the old country, and purposes returning about the end of the year. We wish him a pleasant and prosperous trip. Mr C. F. Varley, C.E., has just invented a telegraphic instrument whereby two, three or more messages can be sent on one wire at the same time without interfering with one another. Mr Varley thus opens a new field for invention —that of enabling one operator to do the work of three.

African Quartz,— Quartz yielding Bozsand lOozs of gold to the ton has been found on the East Coast of Africa, in the tract of country lying between the Limpopo and Zambesi rivers. Scientific explorers have discovered that gold is “ very widely distributed over this region, but only in quartz reefs, not in alluvial washings.” Census Returns.— The population of South Australia is 185,000, made up of 95,000 males and 90,000 females. The population of Adelaide is 27,000. Victorian census returns show for that colony a population of 729,868, of whom 400,700 are males and 379,168 females, while the population of Melbourne is 180,000. Tiie total number of miles of railway open in New South Wales is 405£, the cost of construction of which was about £6,350,000. Excluding the line from Sydney to Parramatta, 14 miles in length, and which cost about £35,000 a mile, the average cost of construction per mile was £13,447. The average cost per mile Of maintenance is £127, as compared with £s6s 11s 3d in England, General Assembly.—No positive date has yet been fixed for the opening of the .General Assembly ; but it is reported in high circles at Wellington that it will stand prorogued from time to time until the return of the lion. Mr Vogel, without the assistance of which gentleman Ministers seem to beat a loss. His schemes are of such gigantic proportions as to puzzle and bewilder even the fertile imaginations of JNew Zealand legislators. Hard Lines.— A Victorian contemporary says :— ‘ Mounted policemen must be careful and not get fat. At Wangaratta, a man who lias been in the force for more than fourteen years, and is a most efficient bush constable, has been reduced to the foot police because lie is too fat to ride. As this retrograde step will reduce his salary 25 per cent.it is too bad to make him pay such a penalty for getting “ width and wisdom.”

Gold in Wellington— We are informed on the most reliable authority that gold has been discovered in the Manawotu Gorge, and a letter and a telegram, both confirming the report, were received on Saturday evening. We believe the exact locality is only about thirty-five miles from Foxton, and gold was found in the vicinity a few years ago. There are stories, too, of a small nugget having been found many years ago adhering to the roots of a tree which had been, washed down the stream.—lndependent. Col. llaultain, as Flax Commissioner, seems to he considerably out of his element Doubtless the lion, gentlemen knows something about regimental “ dressing,” hut his education in the dressing of flax lias been sadly neglected. _ An Auckland contemporary says of his visit to Waiuku :—“ Col. llaultain passed up and down the road to Waiuku, taking a cursory view of the mills on the road, but never turning right or left to inspect the many important mills up the various creeks.”

I Tiie continued richness of the Caledonian claim is truly wonderful. A correspondent of the Hawke’s Bay' Herald writes,—Between the 6th February and the 2nd of the present month the now famous Caledonian claim paid in dividends £208,780. For the fortnight ending the 30th of April 13,r>7G ounecs were crushed, equal to £40,000, and the mine is said to be looking as • well as ever. A well known Auckland shareholder is said to be receiving dividends amounting to nearly £IOO,OOO per year. Fisir—According to a Westland paper amongst other debris washed up on the beach, after the late gales, was a fish, about nine inches in length, that has been pronounced by a competent judge to be the true whiting, in every respect identical with the whiting found on the British coast. There is, no doubt, a far greater variety of fish on the New Zealand coast than we are at present acquainted with, and all that is needed is a proper fishing craft and gear to capture them, and thereby open up a, comparatively speaking, neglected but profitable industry. Danger. —We would draw the attention of the Town Board to the danger to which persons are liable in crossing the bridge in Wairau-street on dark nights ; and also to the exposed state of the ditch at the corner of Kent and Wairau--Btrcet. It was only the other night that a gentleman in turning out of Wairau street into the upper part of Kent-strect, owing to the darkness, took too short a turn and fell into the ditch; but with the exception of a severe shaking and considerably soiled garmentts, lie luckily escaped without injury. A few panels of fencing would be a great improvement, and a means of preventing accidents in future. On board the Nevada mail steamer every movement of the engine is registered. In addition to the usual steam and pressure guages, there is a dial which registers the number of revolutions of the paddles, from which an estimate of the speed can be formed. 18 is roughly calculated that one revolution per minute is equal to one knot per hour. Of course this is only an approximate estimate. It will interest many to learn that during the voyage from San Francisco, the number of revolutions of the paddlewheels was 528,603. .There is also a “ crank indicator,” which by a simple contrivance points to the exact position of the crank at any moment during working. By its aid all difficulty arising from stopping the machinery at its “ dead points ” is avoided.