Interprovincial News

New Zealand Mail, Issue 421, 6 March 1880, Page 22

Interprovincial News

The telegraph station in Otago, hitherto known as Alexandra and Vincent, will, from the Ist proximo, be known as Manuhermea. The Queenstown correspondent of the Cromwell Argus says the Macetowu reefs are beyond the scope of mere correspondence memos. A breath in their disfavor; a questioning of their value ; a statement that the reef has . run out in a well known claim ; an assertion that picked quartz is being selected for crushing purposes out of another claim; that an attempt is to be made to bolster up the sharemarket ; that an enterprising reefer is grounded —are things thai if stated with authority would bring down a shower of letters of the usual class from interested quarters ; yet these and many o er rumors are current. The general opinion is that the Macetown reefs are good ones , that too much warden’s protection has been the rule rather that the exception ; that they require capital and more combined efforts to develope ; that jealousy, rivalry, and other under-hand processes have interfered to make their respective resources better known. The late master of the schooner Griffin, whose recent arrival at Auckland caused so much sensation, has informed the New Zealand Herald that during the voyage the convicts were far more amenable to regulation than the deportes, and gave far less trouble. The vessel was not long out fr un Noumea when one of the convicts informed the captain that some ol the deportes wanted to broach a cask of wine which was being brought up to Judge Gillies. A report was recently circulated in Auckland, and telegraphed throughout the colony, that the harbor there was rapidly silting up in consequence of the unfinished state of the reel matron works. The Herald of February 26th says:—'“ Mr. Maxwell, District Engineer, has been instructed by the Hon. Mr. Whitaker to ascertain whether the harbor was rapidly siltin" up in consequence of the unfinished reclamation works. Mr. Maxwell, who is at present in Waikato, has telegraphed to Mr. Whitaker as follows *I am directed by the Enoiueer-in-Cha ge, North Island, to report re the supposed injury to Auckland harbor by the railway reclamation works, that having obtained a report on the matter from Mr. J. Stewart, and having had a further examination made by me, he is convinced that the fears of the Harbor Board are unfounded, and that the evils are imaginary.—J. I>. Maxwell, X) E * ” The remarkable facility with which children are “run in” to the charitable institutions of the colony has frequently been the subject of public remark. In Otago it has attained the magnitude of a public scandal, and the last straw has broken the magisterial back. A woman applied to hav .an infant child committed to the Industrial School. The child was illegitimate, and the clerk to the Court explained that the mother was in receipt of 10s. per week from its father, and the object apparently was to pocket the maintenance money and leave the public to look after the child. The motner, it transpired, was again in the Hospital for the purpose of being delivered of another illegitimate child. The Bench were of opinion that this was not a case for the Industrial School, and declined to entertain the application. , , ~ The Taranaki Herald mentions that its Hawera correspondent’s version of Te Whiti s speech was slightly in error Te Whiti in alluding to the “chaff and the wheat, did not in any way refer to the Native Gommission, but simply said that the wheat were the people who came to hear his words, and the chaff were those who did not heecl what he said. Te Whiti announced that, although the land was taken from them, there would be no fighting ; but he also foretold that a deliverer of the Maori race would appear during the present year, who would settle all disputes in connection with this land. The Nelson Evening Mail describes the speech of Mr. Hursthouse, M.H.R., recently delivered to his constituents at Waimea West, as a good, honest, outspoken address, at the close of which he not only received unanimous thanks, but a vote of entire confidence. The Chinese diggers in Otago have ont altogether abandoned their old trick of manufacturing spurious gold, and selling it to the banks. An attempt of the bind has recently been detected at Cromwell, and the offender arrested. 3?Et is with feelings of the most sincere regret (says the Timaru Herald of Saturday) that we have to record the death of the Rev. Mother Susannah Boudreau, Superior-Vicar, which occurred at the Convent of the Sacred Heart yesterday afternoon. It will be remembered that this lady, accompanied by several companions, arrived m Timaru from America about three weeks ago for the purpose of founding in our midst the first; convent of the society in the Australasian Colonies. After the laying of the foundation stone she visited Dunedin, returning to Timaru a few days ago, since which time she has been confined to her bed, and her illness terminated yesterday, as mentioned above. We understand that her death was caused by dysentery, which aggravated an internal complaint of long-standing. Her death is one of the most sorrowful events which could be imagined, and threw quite a gloom over the community, non-Catholics as well as Catholics expressing the deepest sorrow at it. The lady was, we understand, between 50 and 60 years of age, and intended to leave for America and Europe in a few days. She was attended in her illness by Dr. Macintyre, his Lordship Bishop Redwood being present at her death.

The Dunedin Morning Herald expresses dissatisfaction at Dunedin having been ignored in the selection of members of the Royal Commission on Railways.

A good building stone, harder than the Oamaru limestone, and softer than the sandstone of the Lakes district—not so liable to grow moss as the former, and easier to woik than the latter—has long been a desideratum with architects and builders. The Southland News claims that a reddish sandstone, fulfilling these conditions, has been discovered in unlimited quantity on that portion of the New Zealand Agricultural Company s estate, formerly owned by Mr. G. M. Bell, and so close to the Waimea railway that but a short length of rails will be required to make this large store of building material available to to the whole of the Middle Island towns.

The Lyttelton Times vouches for the following being a fact:—An amusing conversation occurred at the Christchurch railway station yesterday, just before the departure of one of the trains :—Newsboy (to pas seuger who has been endeavoring to borrow a newspaper) Here y are far : morn, ng fS’scml S/eXT “kp. mind taking to-morrow mornings if you ve to ot that.” Newsboy: ~Hei , e yf e ’ Times, on’y sixpence. y e , sm Buy i Chiniauy lecture, sir ? Tiaveliei . “ Who’s 'Chiniquy ? ” Newsboy : “ Dunno, I’m sure, sir ; some people say he s a rogu . I don’t care what you call him, s iong as yo buv a book ” Traveller: “Yes, but what do \ou call him?” Newsboy (decidedly): “Well look here. When he was at the state the other day, I offered him these books and he said no, he didnit belie in ’em.’” General laughter, but no sale effected. (( ™ As the Timaru Herald remarks, Ihe Minister of Lands is taking a most judicious step He is making arrangements lor holding sales of land in a number of different localities, just about the fame when the working men are most likely h? have the means of purchasing them. This land is divided into blocks to suit allclassesof settlers, and it is to be sold partly foi cash and nartlv on deferred payments. Mr. Rol leston haJadopted the sensible plan of advertising the sales at all the railway stations in the neighborhood of the land to be sold, in the hope, no doubt, that working men and others who may not be likely to read the newspapers very carefully -ihnut harvesting, may yet be informed oi the opportunities offered them of obtaining lane Facilities like this for easily investing small sums of money, are what the working men in this country most need, and we earnestly trust that they will take advantage of them. A man with fifty or a hundred acres of his own, has a standby in hard times when employment is scarce. He can work at it wh otherwise he would be standing idle, and every day’s labor that he puts into. »J much to the good. Let us hope that hundreds who, but for such a .chance as this would waste their earnings m dunk, or eat them up while looking for work will lay them out in buying an aUotment and making a decent home for themselves Apart Lorn the view taken by our contemporary, the choosing of the end of the harvest as a time for offering land for sale will, we tlnnK:, afford a good test of the inclinataon there ,s amonv working men to become land owners on a small seal?. Recently, as wM be remembered, good land offered on favorable terms in the Thames district scarcely elicited a bid and this has been held as a proof tb at the‘erv “people for the land and land for the people” is a delusion, and that, on the contrary, people do not care about taking the responsibility of having to pay for lan yielding but slow returns and entailing the exercise of much untiring industry. The present experiment will prove whether the Thames district is an exception to the general rule, or that there really does exist throughout the colony a disinclination on the part of the working classes and small capitalists to invest in land.