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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4224, 3 October 1874, Page 2

A Parliamentary return hag recently boon published of the lands held in the Colony under depasturing and other leases and licenses. Prom this it appears that the total amount so leased is 1-1,022,594 acres. Of these, 56/500 acres, in the Province of Auckland, are held for pastoral purposes, at the nominal rent of £OO per annum ; whilst 40 acres are held under timber licences, at the sum of £2O per annum. In Tarauald, 24 acres are held similarly, at a rental of £2 6s. 4d. per annum. In Hawke's Bay, 187,527 acres, are held under licenses at £OOB per annum, and 40,548 acres under lease at a rental of £174. In the Province of Wellington, 5800 acres are hold at an annual rental of £l2 Is. Bd. ; and in Nelson 273,060 are held for depasturing purposes, at a rental of £37<S per annum ; and 373,437 acres under the Crown Lands Leasing Act, at a rental of £3341 per auuum. In Marlborough, 1,013,700 acres have been held under license at a rental of £4370 per annum, and 22,526 acres are under lease at £93 per annum. In Canterbury, 5,347,144 acres arc held for depasturing purposes, at a rental of £50,775 ; and 769 acres as Government reserves leased for pastoral purposes, at a rental of £27 10s. per annum. In Westland, 35,100 acres are held for depasturing purposes, at a rental of £338 per annum ; in Otago, 6,405,018 acres, at £59,802 ; and in the Southland district, 801,604 acres, at £7265. The total amount of land so held seems to be 14,028,030 acres, and the annual rents and assessments £128,740 9s.' Gd.

The Alhambra, from Melbourne, arrived of Hokitika yesterday evening, and was tendered late last night. Her dates from Melbourne are to the 26th, and, by telegram, from London to the 22nd September. The only items of foreign news of importance are those which relate to Germany and Denmark, and Russia and Servia. Though small, however, those items are significant. It is necessary, apparently, to Germany that the seaboard possessed by Denmark should become German, giving her command of the Baltic. The war in SchleswigHolstein was the first move to obtain for Germany that command of the sea, and now Bismarck is pressing the smaller power, the "Royal Dane," to enter into the German Federation. This Denmark declines; but it is necessary to Germany that Denmark should be German; and as the powers at Berlin are not apt to abandon their plans because of opposition, the next wo shall hear will probably be the exercise of pressure upon Denmark, with all the very awkward consequences that it may bring about. Servia has long maintained a half-independent relation with Turkey, of which she forms a part. Servia, and Roumania, however, both aspire aftor independence of the Turk, and have lately made a movement in that direction. Amongst other things, they have desired the power of concluding commercial treaties With other countries without reference to the policy or consent of the Sultan. Tho latter decline* to permit Servia to do so. Now Russia admits tho right, and thus encourages, the open disaffection, if not rebellion of Servia ? Is another Eastern war to bo

the consequence, and if so who are to be the powers to be involved in it ? The prospect is by no means a promising one in the interests of peace.

A "Bohemian," who contributes to the Qucenslander, is sorry that the Colony is about to lose the sendees of the Marquis of Normanby. He' says that "the Marquis is a gentleman, every inch of him, just as much as if he had no title and had to work as hard for his bread and cheese as a Bohemian." He continues, that the sort of which the Marquis is is a rai-e one. " Without forgetting for a moment that he was a nobleman, and the biggest man in the Colony, he could and did always make himself comfortable, and everybody lie came in contact with. He never lost his dignity, yet never patronised anybody, nor was rude, nor haughty, nor stuck-up, nor had the least tinge of .the prig or cad about him. It's a real pleasure to have a man like that to represent the Queen out here." Such testimony to the high qualities of our future Governor is not without,its value. -The Queens* lander, badly-informed, says that " our present Governor does not make a change for the better in a pecuniary sense, as the salary of the office in New Zealand is £4500, while Queensland, being ' a first-class Colony,' in the item of paying her Governor, gives him £SOOO per annum." It is simply a matter of fact that the Governor of New Zealand ranks higher and is paid more than the Governor of Queensland. He is third on the list of Governors in Australasia.

The deportation of Communist offenders from France to New Caledonia, though large, has not been so great as has been generally supposed. ' The total number landed by the eight "convoys" of "transported persons" is 3537. Of these there are 810 who are condemned to transportation and imprisonment inside a fortified place, and 2727 condemned to simple exile. The number of women and children who have been brought out at the expense of the State, that they might be enabled to rejoin the transported persons, amounts to 273. The settlers there, whether of their own free-will or at the will of the Government, would seem to be prospering, seeing that among their last importations from Australia was a three-year old racing filly, which it is said had made a good reputation on the New South Wales turf.

The figures presented to the Parliament of Victoria as regards the progress of that Colony by the different Treasurers lately, have been somewhat hard to understand at a distance from the scene, and without very careful examination. Both protectionists and freetradera claim that they support their views. Mr. Langton, the most active among the freetraders, and lately the Treasurer of the Colony, holds that protection has been an utter failure. He is supported by the Argus, which sums up a late speech of his in the following terms : " The result of ten years' protection is this—that after deducting the gold, wool, cattle, and sheep imported from neighbouring Colonies, our imports have fallen off from £l-1,336,057 in .1864 to £10,604,00'! in 1873, our population having increased in the interval from 605,500 to 800,000. During the same decade our exports, after making similar deductions, have dwindled down from £3,329,864 to £2,743,257, so that, while there was an increase of 23 '4 per cent, in the population, there was a decrease of 17'6 per cent, in'the 'exports."

FilOJf a comparative return for the quarters ending June, 1874 and 1573 respectively, by the Telegraph Department, which appeal's in the last Gazette, we see that the wires continue to be well employed by the public. The increase in the number of messages in the one quarter, as compared with the other, was 54,830, and the cash received was £12,46,1 Is., a sum representing an increase of £2003 9s. The Government, however, had used the wires less, the value of the official telegrams sent having fallen from £3524 lis. 6d. to £3218 4s. 3d. That the use made of the wires by the public should have increased so largely cannot but be considered satisfactory.