News of the Day. ELECTION OF EDUCATION COMMITTEES.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 49, 19 June 1869, Page 3

News of the Day. ELECTION OF EDUCATION COMMITTEES.

The elections of Local Committees of Education took place on Saturday last. The following additional returns have been received since our last issue :—: — Stoke. Mr. W. Rout presided at the meeting. The votes for the candidates wero taken by ballot, and resulted in favour of Messrs. Richard Ching, William Burlace Tote, and Hicks Parker. The retiring members were Messrs. Cresswell, Jellyman, and Harley. MOTUPIKO. Messrs. Quinney, Wm. Gibbs. Wm. Lowden, G. Ooleman, and Fredrick Mead have been elected as members for the above-named district. Mottjeka. The ratepayers of Molueka met in the Schoolroom, tho Rev. S. Poole in the chair. The three retiring memborß were the Rev. S. Poole, and Messrs. Alexander and Mr. W. Boyce. The Rev. S. Poole, and Mr. W. Boyco, wero re-olected, tho third member of tho committee chosen being Mr. Buchholz.

Anniversary of the Queen's Accession. — Sunday next being the anniversary of the Queen's accession, tho special service appointed for the day — tho only ono of the four State services now remaining in the English prayer book — will be used in both our parish churches on the morning oi that day, with hymns and Bermon special to the occasion. Provincial Affairs in Canterbury. — In commenting on tho state of provincial nffairs in tho province of Canterbury the Lyttelton Times remarks :—: — " From various causes, tho public aro becoming convinced that tho present system of provincial government is too cumbrous and too costly, and that it fails to provide for tho growing wants of outlying districts. It would bo difficult to say how this feeling has arisen. We are inclined to believe, however, that it lias been engendered quite as much by the general prostration of trade as by any other cause. Had there been plenty of money in the treasury, had largo public works been in progress, and had activity prevailed instead of dullness and depression, there would have been, wo think, no mention of constitutional and other reforms. It cannot be said, in the case of Canterbury, that there is no work for a provincial government to do. But it can be said, with perfect truth, that there is little or no money to expend. Wo havo still a large unsold estate in our waste lands, but purchases have dwindled away to a mere trifle, compared with what they used to be. There are still largo public works to be done, but tho treasury is empty. We are brought to that state in which the principal thing to be considered is tho problem how to live within our means. It is under these circumstances, and from these causes, as we believe, that a cry for reform ha 3 arisen." Provincial Government in Auckland. — The Southern Cross, in a late number, says : — "The settlers of Mahurangi are moving in the matter of abolishing provincial institutions. At a public meeting recently held, resolutions to the following effect •were carried : — That circulars should be printed and sent to the various Highway Boards in the province, requesting them to call meetings in their respective districts to ascertain the feelings of the people in respect to petitioning the Goneral Assembly to abolish provincial institutions in this province, and substitute in their place local boards, elected by the people of each district : that it would be expedient lor country settlers to return country members to the next Provincial Council pledged to use their best endeavours to abolish provincial institutions." Improved Method of Obtaining Gold. — An Auckland journal says: — "We have been informed that. the commander of one of the vessels trading out of this port, on the occasion of a recent trip to San Francisco, took with him a small parcel of quartz, taken without prejudice from a quantity •which had beon tested at tho Thames by some of the machinery there, and found to yield nil or very little more. He had the sample crushed at San Francisco, and treated by the dry process, when it produced gold at the rate of thirty-five ounces to tho ton! So much for the comparative value of tho two methods of extracting tho metal. There can bo very little doubt but that by tho imperfect system of crushing and the faulty plans in operation for bringing the "Whole mass into contact with the quicksilver a startling percentage of tho gold is carried out into tho ' tailings.* In the Californian operation, per contra, the stone is ground to an impalpablo powder, and proper means being adopted to bring the whole of the material into contact with the mercury by literally shaking tho mass up into a kind of dough, it is impossible for any particles of gold to escape. It seems wonderful that, in the face of tho wellauthenticated great loss of precious metal by the Thames process, so little attention should have been given to the othor and more obviously certain dry grinding method." Ruffianism in New South Wales.— The Haltland Mercury, of the 20th May, gives the particulars of the attempted assassination of Mr. W. K. Child, of Mount Yincent,by a couple of ruffians with masked faces, as already mentioned in our Sydney telegram. One of Mr. Child's daughters, seeing two men standing on the verandah in the dusk of the evening, called her father's attention to them. He proceeded to the front door to inquire their business, and, "just as ho gained the threshold, one of tho men walked briskly forward till he was within two yards or thereabouts of Mr. Child, when he raised his hand with a revolver in it, and discharged tho weapon full at tho old gentleman. Mr. Child is in the habit of holding his right hand upon his chest, and the hand was in its customary position when the shot was fired. This circumstance, in all probability, saved his life 5 for tho bullet, striking the little finger at the point, ran along the inner side of tho finger, and lodged at no great depth between the third finger and the fourth. As soon as tho shot was fired, Mr. Child withdrew into tho house, and attempted to close the door, when his assailant, probably with the view of following up tho attack, threw himself against it, and endeavoured to get into tho house. However, Mr. Child called ono of his daughters to his assistance, and their combined efforts sufficed to defeat the intentions of tho ruffian, and the door wus closed. Both the men then appear rather leisurely to have decamped, and Mr. Child was attended to by his daughters, one of whom managed to oxtract tho bullot."