THE The New Zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1875.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4226, 31 May 1875, Page 2

THE The New Zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO. MONDAY, MAY 11, 1875.

u Tiik session i»f tlio C'uinicil lias been o iiK\rl;od hy . <mu l<'C;il muiisurcs of in- " t.'ivst, l>iit tlit-J iii'c ovL>rsh:iiliiwi;'l l>y tlie Jj • i!uvel.>;.iiH in it hii.s givi-ii t.> thu tw.ij{iv:it i. I i>:irtit.'* (:iki)iLr sh:iliu in our poliliual wurKl. " I'ntil this st'-sii'ii it was t!ikoiifor«riiiitO(l 7 Unit the i'iovinciulists were hiding a\v;iy,

and that Centralism was the universal creed. The idea has received a rude shock. It is apparent that the Provincialists divide the arena, and that parties are more equally balanced than was believed a few months ago. The universal spectacle of a Legislative body rescinding, by a narrow majority, resolutions passed on the previous day, euflieioiitly proves the division of parties and the earnestness with which this battle will yet be fought. The speech of his Honor the Superintendent was admittedly the most able and interesting yet addressed to any Provincial Council. It laid bare the linancial condition of the Government, but at the same time denounced in lofty and vigorous terms the injustice and wrong to winch that condition was due. The misappropriation of the land fund, the waste and corruption of the General Government and the consequent oppressive taxation of the people, were touched upon with unsparing hand. Out of .ill this oppressive taxation; out of all this large sum taken from our earnings, scarcely .a shilling in the -pound is available for our own purposes, and for promoting the welfare of the peoplo of the province. Such was the burden of His Honor's speech, but the tone was none theles3 conlidcn t and proud. It has long been the cry of those who are ready to support the Geneial Government at any price, that we should " work in" with Ministers—in other words get what we can as a favour when we should demand it as a right. Sir George Grey will have nothing to do with this policy. He disavows it as humiliating and in every sense injurious, and the whole community, especially after the last experience i'f " -vorking in" in connection with the I'limping Association, will go with Sir George, heart and soul, in tins determination. The next important subject was education, for which the Council carried a tax on kauri gum nnd hypothecated a part of the Supreme Court site in Queon-stivet. The tax on gum, being an export duty, can only be enforced by an Act of the Assembly and must be again considered by that body. The hypothecation of the Supreme Court site i.s* of more immediate benefit, and its results will soon be manifest in the erection of proper school buildings in town and in the improvement of those in the country. Of the first £20,000 raised on the security of the property one-half is to be appropriated to the hospital now being built, and the other half is a building fund for the Education l.oard. The reproach that Auckland alone—of all the towns in New Zealand and we believe of all the large towns in Australia —is without a single public school building of its own will thus be wiped away and the character and tone of our common schools be- proportionally improved. A proposal for an income tax was rejected as premature, members regarding it as only to be resorted to when all other means have failed. Had this tax been in place of others it would have been well supported; but when merely levied as an additional burden it cannot but be regarded with aversion. The £00,000 liability assumed by the province in ordor to prevent very serious injury to the Thames Goldlield from a cool breach of agreement on the part of thu General Government will be a sore point not easily forgotten. The

agreement had been entered into without the cognisance of the Provincial Council. Payments had been made on account, and no "doubt had hcuii raised m>oll tin; question till Ministers suddenly altered their course and by paying the last instalment to the credit of tho province threw tho responsibility of rirr.v. mi; the lr.oney on 1 ■h, Council. The ' P. ■■ ,",.! ■• ■ .':ui"i::t. iiiev ana 110 choice, for althingh 1 hoy never would have sanctioned the arrangement in the first instance, the certainty of destroying the work that had been dine and of throwing a thousand people out of employment, left them without alternative. The proceeding was one of the purest folly on the part of Ministers from a Centralist point of view. It has impressed on the minds of goldlields people, with ineradicable etl'ect, the coolness with which their welfare can be regarded by authorities r>oo miles away. That tho works of the Association should stop, that a thousand people should be thrown out of employ and valuable mines be rendered valueless in a day, that the labour of tho past should be wasted and the hopes of the future destroyed at the Thames weighed less in Wellington than would some netty , larrel botw.-jn a ' couple of liuv riiiiioT ollici.ils under the eyes of tl i; (ii.vernm at in that, important city. The Amendment of the Highway Boards and Sheep Acts will remove doubts and dilliculties of which complaint has been made. The police ma} - or may not be controlled l>;. the Provincial Oovernment as His Honor may decide. The Council objected in the first instance, but in passing the Estimates tacitly revoked the objection. Were the police of the province only a body of ordinary constables, the objectors would have been few from the first. There are many who regard it as an insult and indignity to ' the pe<>*plc to suppose them incapable of controlling their own police and who yet disapprove of a divided control over the Armed Constabulary of which our Auckland police now forms ;i portion. Tho Laud Purchase Committee was one of the j noticeable features of the session and the most noticeable feature in connection with tho committee was the now famous telegram of Dr. Pollen to Major (Jroen, the Acting-Agent of the General Oovernment. The abuses of the jobbery in connection with the land purchases are . notorious. "he Superintendent tells us in hi-i speech that out of 120,000 acres of r land given ever by these land purchasers 15 to the province, only 2GOO was of good agricultural quality. Members of Coun--0 cil competent to speak, tell us that 00,000 acres on tho Piako capable of supporting 1 hundreds of prosperous families have ' been sudored, with Government, conni--1 vance, to fall into a few hands. In some cases instead of Government buying for ; the people they have allowed their agents to buy for a few privileged capitalist L supporters of their own. In other cases . Government otlicials are charged with securing for themselves and their friends, whatever there is of good land and ' handing over the rubbish to the 3 colony. In other cases where capitalists ," havo bought large blocks of bad t . and inferior land they havo been h allowed to exchange them for better and j to hand over the bad to the colony. For » the past two years the province has been ■ talking over these things. They are ■'• cither gross slanders or gross and 1111- ■' pardonable robberies. The Council appointed a committee to enquire into them = as matters deeply affecting the province whose welfare is entrusted to their guardianship by the Constitution. The purchxses were conducted by General Government ollieials, but their mouths are closed by ])r. Pollen in a telegram if which tho stupidity is only surpassed by its insolent arroj'r :iee. The enquiry had therefore to cease, So far as the select committee is concerned, but the Suporinn tendent will no doubt take care that it 1- does not sleep altogether. Dr. Pollen e considers the Assembly the pn.yr place it for such an enquiry. He known pi ri'ecl' ,' I. v.vll thai. Sir Donald McLean has ouK tl> d get up and solemnly declare the enquiry ', likely to lead to native complications,

when the Southern members, and the large number of Government hacks which a great expenditure must always com'mand, will at once negative the committee and whitow.-vsh all concerned. If this fail and Government were forced Ho resign, Dr. Pollen knows perfectly well that he can fall bach either on the well-paid agency in Auckland or on his pension of nearly the same amount. The whole system, both of Government and of administration, is rotten at the core. Never was this so forced on men's minds as during the session of Council just closed. To the Provincialist party it has been a session of triumph in this sense. |It lias vindicated their hatred of a Government which the nature of the country and abuses of the Constitution place above popular control. But it is a session that should also convey to them its warnings for it exhibits the great majority of country members and some of the town in opposition to their viows. The country members baso their opposition on two grounds, past neglect and present impotence. They charge the, town with securing all the expenditure for itself, and the Government with disregarding the votes of the Council. The former, so far as it is true, must be largely attributed to division among country members, for no Government could withstand their union. The latter is a defect that can only .be remedied by the adop tion of a "responsible" Government which is cumbrous andjunsuitablc, or by power being given to the Council to pass Acts, by some fixed majority, over the veto of the Superintendent, There would in the latter case be no need for party government and the Provincial Secretary and Treasurer might sit in Council without a vote. If their appointments were made by the Superintendent subject to the approval of the Council the responsibility would be complete. Some arrangement of this kind is evidently required if Provincial Councillors are to feel the pride in their high position which that position, coupled with something like real power, should inspire.

As Mr. Vogcl has made the subject of " loans" somewhat interesting to our readers, an extract from the evidence given before "The Select Committee of the House of Commons on Loans to Foreign Estates " will serve to enlighten our readers somewhat upon the manner of manipulation :—" Apart from the consideration of particular loans, the principal points to which attention was direcied were the dealings now carried on before the allotment and the secrecy with which contractors and the limited partnerships called syndicates can place from time to time fresh stock upon the market after a loan which has been only partially subscribedhas been admitted to a quotation." The evidence we shall quote, and as reported in the Time*, is that of Mr. Scott, a member of tho Stock Exchange Committee for the last seven years. Mr. Scott had not been concerned professionally with any of the loans, but had a general knowledge of tho means employed in launching them. It is the practice in many cases to form a Syndicate, as was done in the case of the Peru loan. The arrangement of a Syndicate is to take a certain portion of a loan " linn" at a price below the issue price to the public. It is a comparatively secret affair. In the case of a £"10,000,000 loan they sometimes take, for instance, £4,000,000, with a right to take the remaining £0,000,000. Of a Turkish loan, which now stands at JL-J2,-_>oo,ooo, £-2,'200,000 was the profit of the Syndicate. The public took the whole. The public paid UOJ, the Syndicate had their stock at 54, and were so enabled to make JL'2,2H0,(100. The .Syndicate were themselves responsible for what they took "linn." Tho public did ;iot know that the (Joverninent only .: ■' £iA. The operations of the _,■:•. Imv.'.o iv-j -'ii - f vd to Keeping up tile u". :;. c .u;<i tli'jy do .so by a " pocket order" t> a V.'.ik^:"-—th.it i-, .in order .'ithout any limit te go into the market and buy. He had no knowledge in loans, though he had in shares, of a broker being also employed to sell. The parties interested will let the public papers know that there is a premium, and that goes forward to the public long before the committee lir.i ai.y cognizance of it. A person taking n:i a paper in the country knows that stocK for which he can apply is at a premium, and that premium may nave been produced by the contractor. It is an unhealthy state of tilings. In repressing it the danger is to interfere with legitimate transactions. Tim public ought to be i:i possession of such knowlege as that but a small amount had been issHod, or that it had been issued at au c.iurmims prolit to the contractors. If it ought t'i be done by the Government, the chief ~l:i.;er of the Board of Trade might be tL' , proper authority. I'.iit ' ■ 'ii!d {•■ giue international diiiioulties i' l.i..'m.ntor . .uiy coming to seek a loan we ■: asked « .at s debts were. Yet the investor ought t> have that information. Stopping dealing.-, in stock before the stock was bought miyht be goo.!, but he did not see how t-j interfere with it by directing that a perso i xhaU not sell that which he may never ho v. The pi.'.utical disadvantage of stopping all bargains bn'oro the stock is in tho hands of the public would, however, in hi! iiui:\idual oninioi:, be smaller than the advan'-ige of putting an end to fictitious dealings. He had always i>lvoeated the statement of the actual amount--issued being quoted, as suggested by Mr. Walter, and he thought we were coming to it. The old fashioned plan was to obtain a list of persons who were willing to take certain amounts, and then to take the whole "I'xin." The Syndicate plan was modern, In. was found inconvenient and going out again There is clerks' work to be paid out of thu profits, and the use of the. name of the firm which brings the loan out. Sometimes agents are sent out to foreign parts, and advertisements are inserted. In the case of some of the inferior loans, they are no doubt puffed in some portions of the i'ress by means of advertisements. To Mr. Kirkman Hodgson, he said that, with regard to the quick closing of loans, Messrs. Rothschild had lately had, in more cases than one, to close them before the time mentioned; they had so many applications. According to the explanation given of the term taking a loan " firm," the Now Zealand four million loan, as accepted by Messrs. Rothschild, comes under that heading. Taking a loan " firm , means that the contractors unde/take to take up the whole of a certain amoiiuV whether or not they can dispose of it to !>• jublic.

All sorts of excuses have, iluring the past few years, been framed by the representative journals of tl.c United .States for t!ie decay in her commerce which has lon>r '-"sen too apparent. The fact, however, is now admitted by nearly all the leading journals that "protection" has been the root of all the evil. In a recent number of the San Kraneisco liul-ti-lin we lind an article headed " Our Commercial Decay," in which is pourtrayed the immense falling off in the .shipbuilding trade, the result solely of the "protective policy." A few years ago the rival of Great Britain on the ocean, as to the extent of tonnage, we have dwindled down to perhaps one-fourth as 'ouch as is possessed by our gru.t rival >r.-:. our contemporary). The <v ■■ i ill le t _r....tioii which accomplished it g:u ; the lirst I! *> and that v.:n followed after the close of ;..owar l>y legislation on tin; part of Cong , -, is such as could only have ■ ..urn: from persons entirely ignorant and inapprcciativu of its importance. Instead of legislation eiieuuraginj,- and iM.suring the growth of our mercantile mar;i:e toward its former .state of imnortaucj and profit, coinnieiee, so far as American shipping is coneeine.l, received no ene..ur:.gon..jnt worth nii'iitio.iiiig. Our country has <,Miie steadily downward i.. its and n-U----t:vi-lv in amount of s!uj-. we are no', h iU ,; ■ , >. ai-M\a!lini;(:reatli.-ii:iin -is we were iO yea. , I ..-o. liie(.niiii.-iitiiigup.m the present coudltion of ili,. Khip.build'inj'inU-rjstsofN'i-wiorli it. i..-i!-lii-ilar, t'.ie New York ll'■mid cont ;. ' s tli.- present .condition with the past i ■ -uiea tlie ])i-ineipal (inns still known :is ■h.i■liiti.di-r.s in that vicinity, and what they

are doing in the way of their trade. A yacht or two, and a echooner, a email craft here and there—half a dozen in all, pjrhapa— make up the suin and substance of shipbuilding in that city and vicinity. In contrasting this with the shipbuilding done there during the years 1861 -2-3 -4, the picture drawn is disheartening. Not mentioning smaller vessels, it gives the name and tonnage of seventy-two steamers built during those years, not including any under one thousand tons, and some of them measuring over three thousand ' tons. Now not one is being built there. It is nearly equally bad elsewhere. Shipbuilding seems dead in the United States. That journal asserts that " we are fast sinking down to a rivalry with Mexico as a commercial nation," and the Bulletin satirically adds :—"lf our navy keeps pace with our commercial marine in this race of decay, we shall soon be under the necessity of chartering a man-of-war when it shall become necessary to send one of our many Commodores or Admirals abroad. Should the stupidity of the future equal that of the past few years, the American Hag at the main of a merchant ship will soon be as rare a sight in this harbour as would be the Crescent from the skysailmast of a Turkish galliot, or the national Hag of the Mikado from one of the old-time junks. Shipbuilding throughout the country is dull or dead. Our people cannot afford to build, and Congress will not allow them to buy of other nations. We must build or have no ships. Because that may have been good policy once, the wisdom of a majority of Congress determined it must be good policy still. We could buy ships for less than we can build them ; but Congress says build them, for if you buy, although at half cost, you shall not have them registered. So our commercial supremacy goes to the dogs, or rather to Great Britain."

The return of ships despatched by the New Zealand Shipping Company from Londou to this colony in 1574, and from the colony for the same period, supplies some very instructive information as to the relative trade importance of the several provinces of New Zealand. The total number of ships despatched was 03. Of these the highest register tonnage was 1745 tons, and the lowest 377 tons. There are several vessels set dowii as ranging between SOO tons and 500 tons, but these represent rather trade-ships than immigrant vessels, although many of them carried immigrants. Of the above total number niue ships belong tu the Company—namely, the ltakaia, 10:21 ; the Dorette, 547 ; Waikato, 1021 ; Wnitangi, 1127 ; Mataura, 553 ; Waitara, 533 ; Waimate, 1123; Kangitikei, 1225 tons. The amount of tonnage, including immigrants, to Canterbury, was 15.770 tons, 5143 immigrants ; to Otago, 12,204 tons, 2511 immigrants; to Wellington, 14,21 iS tons, 3403 immigrants ; to Auckland, 13,356 tons, 3510 immigrants; Napier, 22(il tons, 752 immigrants ; Nelson, 1039 tons, 342 immigrants; Pietou, S7l tons, 301 immigrants. The total amount of tonnage despatched from London was G3,25~> tons, with 15,90S immigrants. During the year 1574 eleven ships were despatched from Canterbury, with 10.559 tons (chiefly wool) ; seven ships from Otago, with 0377 tons (considerable portion of these cargoes was also wool); three vessels from Auckland, with 2043 tons. It should be stated, in order that the above figures may not mislead, that this export from Canterbury covers eight months, or nearly the whole year—from January to December ;— while from Otago it only covers seven months —from January to July (inclusive) ; —and from Auckland, only three mouths, namely, April, August, and November. Two vessels were despatched from Wellington, in February and August, with 1377 tons ; one from Napier, in April, with SOC tous; and one from the Bluff, with 534 tons. To give an abstract of the above, it appears that the number of ships despatched from London during the year was sixtythree. The average tonnage to each was 1000 tone, and the average ruiinl "r of ]->s3-'Uger.- - I.> each ship w;u; 'JM. '. ae .lAyi despat- .•_■.'•

from "Sew Zealand ports were twenty-tno in number, averaging SG'J tons, and carrying in all 53,2-22 bains of wool, 'J0,573 sacks ■••? wheat, besides 3722 tons o" tallow, meat, and Max. All these vessels have quick despatch ami direct intercourse with English porta, so that there is a basis afforded to the shipper to calculate approximately the tendencies of home and European markets.

iiv the last mail we have further light thrown on the Burmese difficulty, but it is still :.\r from quite comprehensible. Jn addition to Mr. Margary's murder and the murder of his servants, there are allusions to a dispute about frontiers on the Arraean or Kni'lish side of Bimnah. These disputes are lirst alluded to on March -20. The information is then given that Sir Douglas Forsyth is gtiinn on a special mission to insist on a set* • --Mint, and that troops would probably hi- jred into British Burmah as a prolanti maiy measure. The next news is that the Kin" "of Biumah was marching 40(10 men t.)wards his frontier, and that Richardson's battery of the sth Brigade with 200 infantry, is marching upon the disputed Toungo.i ti-i----ritorv. The murder of Lieut. Ilolcomhc and soye of his men in the Saga territory to the nonh of Burmah, while out surveying, indicates a general disturbance in that direction and that war cannot very likely be avoided. In the last war with Bnrmah, some 25 years ,i<»o, the territory now disputed was annexed by'the Indian Government. The steamers and war material then at our disposal were very inferior to those we now have, but it was a troublesome affair in those days. Of course it is not so much Burmah itself as the complications in India and China and even in Turkestan that might result from the excitement attending a war which will be most seriously regarded. The whole afiViir has sprung into sudden notoriety and the telegrams are meagre, but we believe the broad outlines will befoundas we havestated and that Margary's and Holeombe'a murder are connected with these disputes, probably long pending, about the frontier, as well as the commercial jealousy their surveys of the new route vould excite. I'erhaps some AngloIndian among us may be able to-jxi-Uin more fully- If so, we shall gladly publish Ins communications.

Dkep sinking for gold-bearing quartz run enough to pay fur the large additional amount of labour an<l extra cost for stcamimpelletl machinery is still being pursued with more or leas success in some ot the Victorian quartz reefs districts. The -Melbourne Leader says. The discovery of golJbearinc quartz at the depth of 110J feet has concentrated the interests of the mining world upon the Prince Patrick Company, at Stawell. Frcm j. scientific iioint of view it will be accepted by «ome as an answer to the theories of Murchis >n and Selwyn, that reefs would get poorer as they got deeper, till they lost all traces of the precious metal, while from an industrial standpoint it may have the effect of infusing, or rather reviving, the element of hope in connection with our mininc proopects that was almost dying out in some quarters. The >*ewington Company adjoins the Trince Patrick, audit has already Bimk its shaft three hundred feet deeper, —hile in the same neighbourhood the Magdala has reached 1530 feet, and is still sinking.

Wβ publish elsewhere in our impression ot this morning a letter his Honor the Supc-i iutendent has addressed to the CA-mm--Secretary", at Wellington, which conta;u= ■. proposal" for modifying certain arranges'vi:tk authorised by the Mini-ttr for Publi .• W ork< on the 14th March, IST'2. The letter i. ore whioh demands the serious attention of Minister*, but the insolent tone adopted by ■'r. A ,, !'i: towards the Government of this 1 iov ; i, _• precludes t\\-: hope that a.uy mil'- • made bv His Honor the Superintendent wil 1 be entertained. When Sir George Grey takes His. teat in the Assembly, iu July. Dr. I'olleii, if he b* then Colonial Secretary, will doubtless bo called to account for the studied insults and slurs he has gratuitously parsed on this province.

Another fatal occurrence took place on Saturdav, in the vicinity of the Ellerslie Itacecourse. The details of the first ghastly accident on the railway which followed the conclusion of the first day's races are still fresh in the memory of the public. The second accident, which has resulted in the death of, it is believed, another victim to intemperance, preceded the race on Saturday. On the Queen's birthday the first unfortunate victim was proceeding home after the sports. On Saturday the young man who now lies .dead at the Junction Hotel was going to' the races, when, owing to his losing control of his horse, through being more or less intoxicated, he was thrown to the ground and killed on the spot. These cases of awfully sudden death should have a deterrent influence on the minds of those whose love for strong drinks prevents them from keeping within the bounds of prudeneo. The Melbourne Argus is rather severe upon Mr. Hastings and his temperance cause. Concluding an article it says:—Mr. Hastings is by no means so rabid as somo types of temperance orators, but we are not quite sure that we do not prefer teetotal fienzy to bad logic. When a man descends to the argument that Government has as much right to put down drinking as to put down thieving, he must be either dishonest or obtuse, and yet thisargumeutwasadvanced repeatedly by Mr. Hastings, and applauded to the echo by the audience. This case very fairly illustrates the monstrous assumptions in which apostles of prohibition indulge. One is, that the trade in liquors has been created by the licensing eystem, whereas everybody knows that the system simply regulates a trade that has arisen out of a universal social custom. Another is, as -we have just seen, that the mere act of selling drink is by nature felonious, and belongs to the same category of crimes as murder and arson. A third is, that all liquors are unadulterated poison—a position which entirely ignores their medicinal and invigorating properties when judiciously used. And the last we Bhall mention, which is as glaringly false as it is ostentatiously pious, is that the use of intoxicating drinks is forbidden, or at least discountenanced, by the Bible. If these premises were true, there would be some rahjn d'etre for a prohibitory crusade, but as they happen to be all false, the demolition of any arguments based upon them would be a work of supererogation. For people who ignore an appetite common to every civilised and savage race under the sun—who propose to fight against nature and improve on God, by laying waste all the vineyards and breaking all the winepresses of the world, and who threaten much-enduring mankind with another deluge of water, we have but one prediction aud one pvr.yer. Our prediction is, that they will have success akin to that of Don Quixoto ; and our prayer is that they may speedily acquire the gift of common sense.

In a report of the speech of Mr. Moorhouse, who is standing his candidature for the Sαperintendency of Marlborough, we tind the following sentence, without any positive explanation of the why or the wherefore : — " Mr. Moorhouse then referred to Sir George Grey, saying that he had a most complete want of faith in Sir George's theories, and that if elected he would not sit on the same bench with him." Mr. Moorhouse, it appears, then spoke in very high terms of Mr. Vogel, describing him as very laborious, perfectly honest, and of very high, moral character —a central man, and the heart of the Cabinet. He referred to the enormous success of the policy of Sir Donald McLean, and remarked that he did not think it would be easy to tind a successor for him. Of the Minister of Public Works he also spoko in, high terms, and concluded his remarks upon the Ministry, by saying that, all things considered, he would endeavour to tolerate them, and he would be found a general supporter of the Government. The Bishop of Manchester lias given in his adhesion to the principle of compulsory and s-eular education. At Liverpool, while delivering the scholarships and prizes awarded bv the local Council of Education, he said :-- •'" :. r o hid been reluct:! ;:•;!> -hi-.... *o tL-. co.i-cr-'juthat uoinpuL>.>'/<->:'u<- lio.i was i :cC; • saiv. He was quite sure :he public mind yf this country was made ap in favour of religious education ; but die present sysUm, wh, t'ler regarded from c or secular point of view, was unsatisfactory. The schools turned out neither intelligent Christians nor intelligeut citizens ; nor was there so much general intelligence or so much thougthful teaching as was the case 2.") years ago. He said distinctly, and without the slightest reserve, that rather than maintain one single church school is a denominational school in a languishing str.te, he would, while the time was at his disposal, hnnd over the school to the School Board. People were becoming weary of apparently interminable denominational controversies and theological differences." Very much so. and it is gratifying to tind that the fact is perceived and acknowledged by a member of the Bench of Liishops.

The tirst football match ot the season— j Auckland v. l'.-rneill—took place at Kller.-lie on Saturday, an. , , resulted in a victory for i.'iw ~nder<, The races evidently kept mm ,• kickers i.-v'ay, as both teams were snort of their n ijuired number ; nevertheless, those who did turn up went in with a v-ill, and had a very exciting game. The Auckland boys seemed to have the best of it from the beginning, always keeping the ball near their opponents' goal. >'o very brilliant plav was shewn on either side ; but this was, no doubt, on account of vhe long There was only one goal kicked, and that by Mr. Dnnnet, for Auckland. We understand the Aueklanders play the North Shore on Saturday next, at the North Shore. We notice the re-ereotiou of the Drill-shed is being rapidly gone on with on the new site in Wellesley-streetJEast. This position is more central, and will be more convenient for all parties than the old one. We understand the floor will be asphalted instead of

bearded as before, which will be a great improvement. When on the march_ on a wooden floor it is next to impossible for the meii to hear the commanding officer's voice. This difficulty will be obviated by the new tloor.

The Naval Brigade, under Captain Le R«.iy an? Sub-lieutenant Parker, mustered f,>r '-nn practice at the North Head last <iturdav afternoon. Some capital linng was uiaie, althoi ijh tbe target at which thov were ririnn was over 4000 yards distant. The men" acquitted themselves very crediUnly in loading and handliug the guns. Serueaut Broughton was present as drill instructor.

The l'art-Siugiug Class, and the Elementtarv Cass. for vocal music, conducted by Mr" Joseph Browu at the Young Men's Christian Association rooms, were unavoidably postponed, owin£ to the inclemency of the weather, from last Monday to this evening—the Klemcntary Class at 7, and the Fart-Singing at S o'clock.

The fact that Sir George Grey was a candidate for the otKce of Superintendent of Auckland was " cabled" home, and appeared in the London Times.

The burletta of " Fra Diavolo," -which was so successfully performed at the Ponsonby Hall on Friday" last, -was produced by the members of the Ponsonby Dramatic Society. •

Notices is given by the Registrar of the Supreme Court that ihe Sir Walter Scott Cold Mining and Quartz-crushing Co. is dissolved. Notice is tveu of an application for the trai-.?f.!r ■- f licence of the Hiberuia Hotel, from Mr. James Fatters'.n to Mr. lloberc S'eniahau. The seventh annual meeting of tlio Bay 01 Maids Coal Co. will be held in tue lar;.,c: room of the New Zealand Insurance Ul;l----inff", at 3 p.m. to-day. . .. Mcs.«r-'. Samuel Cochrane &:M>n w ill sell, at the Land -Mart. at noon f. day, a number of valuable neehold town a;iA C °"i l , tr> lt Fr A l rthiirVvill hold an extensive sale of ~wuil-:u-urU:a fruit and jams, ex Jane, Horn Hubart 'rowc. ti.-d.-vy, at noon. A niitieo by M.-ssrs. John Brogde.l and touts appears elsewhere.