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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 15, 18 January 1867, Page 2

It has been ordered by the Governor ia Council that the disiiuguishing flag to be carried at the mast head of vessels whose masters hold a certificate of exemption from pilotage while entering any port to which that certificate applies, shall be a white flag no less that six feet long by four broad. In the Provincial Council of Otago, recently, says the M. Express, Mr. D. Bell said he could not understand the ill-feeling that had arisen against the runholders, who, in spending their money, advanced the interests of the Province. Would it never be admitted that the process by which land was improved was the process by which land on the outside was made attractive. If those lauds were made available, then occupation would be an immediate result. The policy of the Province liad been to drive away capital, and to endeavor to limit the means by which settlement would be advanced. He denied that the runholders desired mouopol}'. Mr. Reynolds : What about Nelsou and Marlborough ? Mr. Bell could state as a fact, that the regulations relating to the sale of lauds in those Provinces had been proclaimed in opposition to the wish of the squatters. Mr. Reynolds thought that runholders had been treated with every consideration. It had been stated that the whole Province of Marlborough was in the hauds of thirteen ruuholders, and that in the Province of Nelson the land had been divided among them. Major Richardson said that the scheme was nothing more than au ingenious device in an attractive form, to enable runholders to obtain a preemptive right. If it was carried, capitalists would take the kernel, and he should have no moi'e to say, for he did not care who got the shell. The amendment was put and adopted. The motion was then put, and, on a division, was negatived. The Havelock correspondent of the Marlborough Express, writes as follows: —On the 4th instaut, it seems that Sergeant Goodall, the gold searcher for the port of Havelock, was rather suspicious that a quantity of gold dust was being smuggled, to avoid payment of duty ; for on that officer going on board the cutter Venture, lying at Mahakipawa, he found in possession of the master, Thomas Windover, small parcels of gold, weighing respectively 320z5., and 2 ozs. 18dwts. Other gold was also found, but it had paid duty. The cutter cleared the customs at Havelock on the 2nd instaut, for Nelson, and would have sailed on the evening of the 4th instant, had not the gold been seized. The master at first said the large parcel of gold belonged to himself, but afterwards said it belonged to Mr. G-. E. Levieu, of Havelock, storekeeper and publican, and that the small one belonged to himself. Neither of the parcels were entered on the ship's manifest. As one of the parties concerned in this affair has repeatedly been cautioned against sending away gold without paying duty, and has as frequently said, he would never pay any duty to this province, besides openly defying the gold searcher to detect him, it is to be hoped in this instance an example

will be made, if the charge is proved, such as in future will ensure to the province its legitimate duty from the product of its own gold field. At the present time it is notorious that not one-fourth of the produce of the Wakamarina pays duty to this province ; but it is conveyed to Nelson, and there sold as West Coast gold, the inducement being some 2s. an ounce more than Wakamarina gold. The plan adopted is to separate the Wakamarina gold in two parcels ; one, and at least two-thirds of the whole is then passed of to the Bank agents as West Coast gold, the remainder being coarse and more easily distinguishable, is then sold as Wakamarina gold. The person alluded to in this affair has often boasted of his success in this arrangement, even to the gold-searcher himself. As the Customs authorities here are awaiting instructions from the Commissioner of Customs at Wellington, it may be some time ere the matter is brought to an issue. We take the following from the Herald, of the 29th ultimo: — King Matutaera, Aye learn, paid a visit on the 20th ult. to the north side of Kawhia, to see an aged chief, and on his return a runanga was assembled the real object of which has not yet been ascertained. It is surmised that the King is raising recruits, to proceed to Taranaki forthwith. That this was the object of the ruuanga is corroborated by the fact mentioned in the Tarauaki Herald, of the 22nd ultimo, that a party of Waikatos, 60 or 80 in number, had passed Parininihi, going southward. The natives of Kawhia, where the King and Court reside, are, we learn, still most decidedly opposed to any attack being made upou Waikato, or to any disturbance being made at Raglan and Kawhia, or, indeed, in the Auckland Province at all. They will not fight, they say, unless driven to do so by the aggressive action of the Government. Thus Waikato enjoys security and quiet and is, we believe, likely to enjoy them uninterruptedly. The judicial statistics of England and Wales for the past year have just been published. The total number of murders was 135, beiug one in excess of the previous year. 76 were reported from the counties, 1 from boroughs, and 8 by the metropolitan police. In Laucashire 28 cases occurred, of which 13 came from Liverpool. In Yorkshire there were 15 cases; in Durham, 10 cases; in Somerset, 7; in Southampton, 7; iv Devon, 6; iv Kent, 6; Gloucester, Stafford, and Worcester, 5 each. Some of the remaining counties had smaller numbers, while iv 13 English and Welsh counties no case of murder occurred. There were 54 attempts to murder as compared with 40 for the previous year; and 279 cases of manslaughter as compared with 214 for the previous year. The cases of stabbing, shooting at, etc., numbered 69, showing a decrease of four from the previous year. There were 232 cases of concealment of birth in 1864-5, being less by three than in the preceding year. Of these, 119 were in the counties, 25 in boroughs, 88 in the metropolitan police district, and none iv the City of London. The burglaries reported were 2,615. being an iucrease of 24 on the previous return ; highway robberies, etc., 716; arson, 470; and attempted suicides, 787. The number of proved offeuces against the person was 2.586; offences against property, with violence, 5,160; malicious offences against property, 669; other offences, 43,298. The total number of persons convicted last year was 312,822, of whom 264,214 were males, 50,668 females. The cases of stealing, and attempting to steal numbered 44,908; the assault cases 98,776. There were 10,392 offences against the game laws. The total number of persons proceeded against exceeded by 12,000 the number of the previous year. The total number of appeals to quarter sessions from the decisions of'justicea acting out of sessions in 1865 was 91, of which 57 were affirmed and 34 quashed. The coroners' inquests for last year amouuled to 25.011, showing an increase of 224 over the ' previous year; 17,566 were males and 7,445 females. The total cost of the iuquests was £74,915 4s 3d, giviug an average for each inquest of £2 19s. lOd. The number of commitments in criminal proceedings for the year was 19,614, being very slightly in excess of the previous year. The capital convictions for the last five years were as follows :— lß6l, 26, ; 1862, 28 ; 1863, 29 ; 1864, 32 ; 1865, 20. Of the twenty persons sentenced to death in 1865, eight were left for execution — one committed suicide in prison ; in eight the sentences -were commuted to penal servi-

tude for life, in one commuted to a year's imprisonment, in one the convict was sent to Broadmoor as insane, in one (an Italian) a pardon was granted, on condition of his leaving the country, and in one a free pardon was granted, the verdict not being considered satisfactory. The number of executions last year was seven, compared with 19 in 1864 and 22 in 1863. The number sentenced to death in 1865 is the lowest on record, and contrasts strougly with the number forty years before — the number in 1825 being 1036. The cost of proceedings on indictments paid by the Treasury last year was £134,901 17s. 10d., or an average of £7 18s. lOd. for each case proceeded against. The total cost of the prisons last year was £558,758 14s. 3d. — Nonconformist.