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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4136, 23 June 1874, Page 2

The Licensing Act of last session seems to have been a subject of discussion in several of the Provincial Councils whoso sessions .have just closed, and it is probable, from the toao of these discussions, that a variety of amendments upon tho measure will bo proposed during the ensuing session of Parliament, some in consonance with the intentions of its originator, Hr.

Fox, and others in opposition to his views. As samples of the feelings on the subject, we have two in motions lately tabled in the Otago Council, and in the report of a select committee of the Council of Westland. In the Otago Council one set of motions which was introduced was to the following effect : —"That in the opinion of this Council the licensing lawa at present in force in this Province should be amended in the following particulars : —(1.) That provision should be made for the transfer of publicans' licenses between the times of the sittings of the Licensing Court. (2.) That provision should be made for opening publichouses on Sunday, between the hours of 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and S and 10 in the evening ; but that the bar doors be kept closed. (3.) That, a license having been once granted, personal application for the renewal of such license should not be necessary or required, unless notice of objection to the renewal thereof has been served on the Clerk of the Court, and also on the licensee a reasonable time before the sitting of the Licensing Court ; and if no objection to the renewal of a license be so served, the license should be renewed as a matter of course. And (4) that the system of bottle licenses be discontinued, and that the minimum quantity of liquor of any description, which may be sold under a wholesale license, be reduced to one gallon." The recommendations of the Committee of the Westland Council are more brief and less specific, and w practically to only three, namely:— 1. Inat it is necessary that the Licensing Court should hold quarterly sittings, 2. That the power to transfer from one house to another should be o-iven to the Licensing Court. 3. Inat the persons constituting the Licensing Court should be appointed by His Excellency the Governor of the Colony on the recommendation of the Superintendent of the Province.

Of the many articles which the Colonies should be capable of producing, instead of importing, there are few which deserve more _ attention than paper, the consumption of which is rapidly increasing in connection with the_ print-ing-trade, in the counting-house, and m the store It is satisfactory to find, therefore, that experiments are still being made with a view to (utilising for its manufacture some of our indigenous and cultivated vegetation, and that at the meetings of those of scientific tastes, such as the members of our Philosophical Institutes-, there are being exhibited specimens of manufacture which lead to the hope that soon some abundant material will be discovered and used This was indicated the other day, at a meeting of the Otago Institute. As a new featureln the proceedings of that Institute.it is mentioned that Capt. Hutton purposes exhibiting at each meeting objects of interest which had been presented to'the Provincial Museum, and as a beginning to the carrying out of that intention, he exhibited at the last meeting two specimens of paper material manufactured m the Colonies. One of these mis a specimen of paper made in New South Wales from maize' the other was a specimen of paper pulp made from the red tussock grass of New Zealand The latter had been presented to the Museum by Mr. Edward McGlashan and it was stated by Capt. Hutton that the New Zealand material exhibited was, he believed, that from which the company now being floated intended to manufacture paper at the Mataura. By Mr. McGlashan's exertions, and by the recommendations of the Industrial Committee of the Assembly, much has been done to promote the industry of paper manufacture, and it is gratifying to know that a native product extensively" distributed throughout the Colony, and probably capable of cultivation, has been found fitted for the purpose. It would be none the less proper, however, that investigation and experiment should proceed still further, for there is every probability that in the varied vegetation of the country there may be found other products which are equally capable of being converted into paper, and m supply sufficient to enable its manufacture to be carried on on a scale equal to more than mere Colonial demands.

The " thin end of the wedge " is evidently being introduced in popular opinion and action in the Colony, with regard to the question of Sunday observance, and in the direction of that observance being more free or easy, or both, than it has hitherto been. Lately the members of the Dunedin Athenaeum opened the doors of their institution for Sunday readin«- of whatever the subscribers might choose to°read, and still more recently the Christchurch Museum was thrown open for a few hours on Sunday and was the resort o£ thousands. Following these exampless Mr. Fish, the late Mayor of Dunedin, and a member of the Provincial Council, undertook the task of raising the question of opening the Dunedin Museum by tabling a motion in the Council in favor of some arrangement such as had been adopted in Christchurch, but the close of the session came all too soon for his project. Before the day for its discussion came, the Council was prorogued, and the motion has only been mentioned as an item included in the " massacre of the innocents." Though thus set aside for a season, the question is not, with Mr. Fish as its champion, one of which we have heard the last, and should he re-introduce it at another time, he will have the advantage or disadvantage of doing so with the experience which has been gained in Canterbury as to the propriety of the experiment, the presumption being that the public sentiment there will prove to be m his favor. Next, no doubt, we shall have the question raised as to the opening of the Colonial Museum, though there maybe less leisure or disposition to discuss in Parliament a question which is more of local than general concern.

The high estimate in which the industry of brewing and the consumption of its product are hekl in the Province of Otago was very prominently exhibited a few days ago by the presence of what the Dunedin journals describe as "a large and distinguished party" in the New Zealand Brewery, as an extensive new browing establishment, opened by Mr. Copeland, has been designated. This " large and influential party," we are told, consisted of twenty-four members of the Provincial Council, and the occasion of their visit was rather a suggestive one. Those who had spent weeks in dry debate betook themselves thus numerously to the brewery, and to a practical trial of the quality of its beer, immediately upon the prorogation of the Council, proceeding thither in cabs and in the company of Mr. Speaker, and, according to the local description, they seem to have appreciated the visit to an extent that was both complimentary to the brewer and suggestive of the prolonged and painful dryness of the session's debates. That mutuality of sympathy in this particular was not confined to twenty-four is indicated by the paragraph relating the incident, which sa ya :—" Besides the twenty-four, there were Councillors from the city and vicinity who could not come on this occasion, and who intend to make an inspection at some convenient opportunity."

Mr. Wii-kie Collins, the well-known author aud colleague of the late Charles Dickcus,_it appears, is not unlikely soon to visit Australia, coming by the San Francisco route, so that ho will have an opportunity of seeing Now Zealand, ami we may have the chance of seeing him and hearing him as a lecturer, or rather, as a reader of selections from his own works. Letters by the last mail state that the author of " The Woman in White " was about to sail for America, in response to numerous invitations, and that after a tour there- he would turn his face towards Australia.

The pearl-fishery of Western Australia seems to be assuming more and more importance. Wo observe from the West Australian newspapers to hand that the season had just closed, and had proved to bo tho best yet experienced. Numbers of valuable pearls had been obtained, and largo quantities of pearl shell. More than five hundred hhds. of shell had been sent to Fremautlo from Tort Wallcott, also, during the last month of tho season, and many more were on the way down the coast. The "heathen Chinee" has found his way to tho scene, and, as usual, has "gone hi" for ingenious efforts to imitate or improve upon Nature.

It is stated that "John drops a little 'joss" into a live oyster, and keeps the fish underwater until the joss is well covered with mother-o'-pearl. Several excellent imitations of real pearls have been produced by this method. It has also been applied to producing additional brilliancy and lustre to defective gems."

The "personal column" of the Times and Ivcio York Herald is now imitated in a mild way in Melbourne. It has been begun by the Argus, which in a late number has the following among " messages " advertised : " Ida's mamma. Return instantly. She frets. Nothing more said : both miss you." That ajvpears to be an appeal from a husband and father to an errant wife. The following is from one of the softer sex ; probably addressed to a young but vagrant lord and master, or to a lover in the sulks :—" Willie : Return ! All will be forgiven." It is well that in these cases the printer, for a wonder, keeps a secret.

The Legislative Assembly of Victoria consists of seventy-eight members. The newly-elected House is composed of twenty-six Englishmen, twenty-two Irishmen, fifteen Scotchmen, three Welshmen, four natives of Victoria, three of New South Wales, one of Tasmania, three of the Dominion of Canada, and one whose birthplace was "unknown " to the biographer of the House. Scotchmen, it will be seen, figure largely, when the relative proportions of the population of the three Kingdoms is taken into consideration.