AMERICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 9, 10 January 1872, Page 2

AMERICA.

New York, December 8. —450 canal boats are frozen in oq the Hudson river and Erie canal. It is thought that a few may be able to get out, but a far greater number, with cargoes valued at 4,000,000 doliars, will remain ice-bouDd the entire winter. In his message opening Congress the President of America recommended liberal measures for the purpose of supporting the American lines of steamers now plying between San Francisco and Japan and China, aud the Australian line, almost tbe ouly remaining lines of ocean steamers, and of increasing their service. The Secretary of War alludes to the existence of an armed rebellion, of regular organisation and great strength, in parts of the Southern States, and the necessity for the use of an armed force to put it down and bring the leaders to speedy justice. The total lose of the Chicago National Banks, by the fire, was one million five thousand dollars, leaving them with their capital unimpaired, and a surplus of one million eight hundred thousand still available.

360 sailing vessels and 42 steamers of an aggregate tonnage of 52,422, and managed by 3,000 sailors, are now registered in Victoria. The quantity of gold, the produce of the colony, exported from Victoria during the quarter ending on 30th September, was 306,660 ozs. We (Olago Daily Times) lately mentioned that Mr. H. H. Hall, of San Francisco service celebrity, had filed his schedule iv Sydney. A local paper gives the following as his estimated liabilities and assets : — Liabilities, £17,419 6s. 3i1.; assets, £49 7s. 7d. ; deficiency, £17,369 18a. Bd. At the recent sitting of the Supreme Court at Auckland, his Honor the Chief Justice congratulated the Grand Jury on the lightness of the calendar. He however commented on the large number of forgery cases, and announced his intention of inflicting heavier sentences than heretofore, to try and stop that crime. The Daily Southern Cross of the 30th. ult. states that Mr. Carruthers, the Engineer-in-Chief, is to examine the various projects for water supply to the Thames goldfields, and that the Government ai'e quite prepared to carry out such a work if it is proved that it can be done with advantage. The Thames journals state that on the 21st instant, £1,000 wassubscribed in that place in a few hours towards the challenge money for auother rifle match between Christie and Walker. This was irrespective of what was raised in Auckland, so that iv all probability there will be a much larger amount of money depending on the result than was at first anticipated. The Organ for the Melbourne Town Hall will have to pay a Customs duty of £764 16s. The value of the organ in London has been certified to be £3476 6s. Bd. To that amount ten per cent, was to be added according to the usual practice, and the dutypaid upon the total. Including: wharfage duty and conveyance per rail the total of charges upon the organ amount to £855 3s. An Ice Stork.— The Queanbeyan Age gives the following accounts of a terrible fall of ice : — " Mr. P. Mai one reported in Queanbeyan on Tuesday that on the preceding day a storm of wind and rain passed over the tract of country extending from Fairy Meadow beyond Bungendore to near Boro followed by an unprecedented fall of huge pieces of ice. He himself saw a vast number of detached pieces of ice of incredible size many of their number being individually laage enough to fill an ordinary iron bucket. The bark of the trees in many instaaces was terribly torn and stripped, and many trees torn up by the roots. The jagged, massive lumps of ice lay for a long time afterwards undissolved on the ground." It is not surprising that, law flourishes in America if any reliance may be placed on the following statement from the American Law Review : — "ln America, all lawyers drink; very few are sober after 10 o'clock in the morning. It is not customary to keep sherry bottles or beer barrels in offices, because sherry and beer are rarely drunk in America, except by women. Lawyers, like all other men, drink whisky, and for this purpose a hogshead of it is kept in every practitioner's safe. Formerly, in Massachusetts, no contract was considered valid in the profession unless it had been 'ratified.' Ratification consists of a solemn drink, inter paries, participated in by the attorneys." The Weather is not usually considered a lively topic, either for conversation or paragraph writing, but when the subject is warmly taken up, as in the following extract from the Newcastle Chronicle, the triteness of the subject is excusable : — The heat yesterday was intense ; the wind blew a scorcher, and a cool spot was not to be found in the city. The sun rose iv the morning like a ball of fire, a thick, lurid mist hung overhead, and all nature wore an air of suffering, The heated air was rarified to such an extent that even the smoke refused to rise, and the steamers' funnels belched forth their Hack clouds, only to float away, as it appeared, on the surface of the water. The thermometer showed the temperature at 105 deg. in the shade; what it reached in the sun we are not aware, nor was it worth the trouble of ascertaining; suffice it to say, that had it stood at " roasting," it would not have beeti far wrong in its indication. Dairy Produce. — Such is just now the absurdly low price obtained for butter — not enough to pay the milking of the cows «nd dairy expenses — thiit we are glad to meet with anythiug indicating an outlet for our surplus wealth of this article. We therefore give the following from the Sydney Mail in reference to the shipment of butter to Ceylon : — " A ton of Ulladulla butter, prepared by a firm in Georgestreet for the P. and O. Company, is to be seen at the rooms of the Agricultural <

Society. It is remarkable for having been to Galle and back, and for having consequently been melted and yet not destroyed. It was purchased at Is. 2d. per pound, prepared, tinned, ami put on board the mail steamer Avoca at Is. od. Tier pound. The common price of butter in Indian and Chinese ports is 2s. 6J,, and upwards. It strikes us that this would prove a far better market for butter than England. The materials-used iv the preparations are, to every hundred weight of butter, 101 bof dairy salt, Soz saltpetre, and ljlb of powdered loaf sugar. The butter is tinned in 61b tins, nnd packed in cases amongst sawdust. The taste of the specimen in question is very good." With the prices quoted above, as those ruliug iv Indian and Chinese ports, it would surely pay to exercise every care in getting up an article in such form and so packed as to stand the voyage, and command a price that would leave a handsome margin to the shipper. The above lot was packed in sawdust, but, unless the tins containing the butter were soldered down, sawdust is not a suitable article for the purpose. — Independent. The Grey District. — In making a sketch of the year, 1871 the A rgns speaks as follows of the prospects of the Grey district : — Not only has gold-bearing quartz been discovered, but the baser metals also, and it is not to be supposed that this line of reefs is only limited to the Murray, as it commences at Wangppeka, passes through the Innngahua district, and right through the beck and alino?t un known country to the Taipo. This is not all, for we shall expect to hear that the much-abused Moonlight reefs will yet turn out payable although they are on the line with the Waimangaroa reefs at Wesport. Much has been done during the last year, but it will be deemed little in comparison with what remains to be done before our gold resources are fully known. The last session of Parliament resolved that the railway from the Brunner Coal Mine to Greymouth should be commenced, and the surveyor has already received instructions to proceed with the work. It is the intention of the Government to make the Grey the Newcastle of New Zealand, and steps will be taken to ascertain if the channel cannot be deepened, so as to admit of vessels of heavy draught coming into port. If this can be dove, a new era of prosperity is dawning, greater than it was possible to dream of some years since. Looking at what has been done and what is in store, the Grey District never looked healthier than it does at the present time. Execution of Kereopa. — A Napier telegram to the Wellington Post, dated January 6, saye : — Kereopa's execution yesterday was the first occasion upon which the extreme penalty of the law has been carried out in Hawke's Bay. Kereopa confessed to having ordered Mr. Volkner's murder, but denied the actual perpetration of the deed. It was understood that he possessed some mesmeric power, and succeeded by this means in influencing the minds of the natives io 1865. After his condemnation, the Bishop of Waiapu had several interviews with him, but the prisoner was geuerally taciturn, and beyond acknowledging having given the order for the murder of Mr. Volkner, and repudiating the actual murder itself, he made no admissions. At eight o'clock 'yesterday morning Kereopa, accompanied by the Rev. S. Williams, ascended the scaffold, not the slightest emotion was visible, aad he preserved the same stoical

imlifference that he exhibited when upon his trial. The scaffold was erected in the under yard of the gaol, and was so boarded and screened as to prevent the curious public from obtaining v view of the ceremony. The Rev. J. Williams knelt in front of the prisoner, aud prayed in the Maori language, for which the prisoner appeared grateful. Mr. Williams was requested by the Deputy-Sheriff to ask the prisoner if he had anything to say. He answered "No." His legs were then tied, the rope vias adjusted, the cap was placed over his head by the executioner, the signal was given, the drop fell, and Kereopa was almost instantaneeusly a corpse. Little or no movement or struggling was perceptible. After hanging for one hour, the body wns cut down, and placed in a coffin. Not a single native was present, though Kariatiaua Takamoaua, M.H.R., and Tareha both had tickets sent to them. During the whole of the night previous to his execution, a Sister of Mercy attended Kereopa. He refused all refreshments and stimulants. An inquest was held at 2.30 p.m., after which the body was removed for sepulture to Tareha's pa.