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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4241, 23 October 1874, Page 2

Ain. Huntek, we regret to learn, does not see hia way to comply with the prayer of the requisition addressed to him, asking him to consent to he nominated for the mayoralty. While we regret Air. Hunter’s decision, we cannot hut hold him excused for declining an honor which, though meant as a deserved compliment from his fellow citizens, involved a large amount of work and serious responsibility—for it is not to be denied that the affairs of the city are in a state which requires the hand of a “still strong man” to bring them to order. The public, however,-have already made large demands upon Air. Hunter’s time—of which he, has been no niggard. Ho is one of the members of the House of Representatives for the city ; he is a member of the Provincial Council ; one of tho Provincial Executive ; a director of the Patent Slip Company ; a director of the Public Hall Company; he takes an active part in the management of the Club, and his name is associated, in some active capacity with a variety of other public, or semi-public associations, all of which call for time and attention. Air. Hunter, therefore, has done, and is doing his duty to the city. Now that his determination has been made known, we trust that the choice of the public will fall upon some one of the citizens who is capable of bringing to order tho disorganised staff of tho Corporation, and seeing that the business of tho city—the seat of Government—is done.

The enterprise of a railway across the continent of Australia is not to bo left to the people of Adelaide or the capitalists of South Australia alone. Whilst they have boon hesitating and calculating, others have been at work in a more practical manner. When the representatives of ,the Queensland Government were in Sydney, to meet Mr. Barken and Mr. Vogel, it was stated by tho Brisbane journals that thenstay in Sydney could not he .protracted, because their presence was urgently required in Queensland to consider a proposal submitted to that Government of a very important nature. That proposal, it appears, was one embodying the American theory of railway extension, made by Messrs. Jonkyn Collier and Co., of Melbourne, by whom the Sandhurst and Bclmoa line, in Victoria, and some of tho principal railways in Queensland, wore constructed. That firm has made an oiler of the following character to the Government of

Queensland :—To construct a railway from Dalby to the Gulf, of the same guage and character as the existing one, and to run a train from each terminus daily—with plant sufficient for the traffic—at an average speed of thirteen miles, and at an average rate of carnage of 4cl. per ton per mile, and for passengers Id. to 3d. They propose that the local mails shall he free, and to carry the trans-continental mails subject to arrangements. They ask for a Government grant of the fee simple of ten thousand acres of land for each mile of railway constructed, including rolling stock and survey, costing £SOOO per mile, and pro rata for any less expenditure on the portion from Dalby to the heads of Thomson River. For the portion thence to the Gulf they require the fee simple of twenty thousand acres for every mile, the contractors selecting the land in alternate sti’ips : fifty miles, commencing at Dalby, to be opened within two years, and a hundred and fifty miles every subsequent year. Should the offer be accepted it will be one of the largest speculations ever entered into in Australia. It would result in an enormous fortune to the contractors ; but the construction of the railway would be of immense advantage to Queensland.

Yet another fire in Auckland ! Another heavy draw upon the purses of the insurance companies by the City of Fires ! On this occasion, fortunately, the insurance losses are restricted to somewhere about three thousand pounds, distributed over six offices, so the affair may be regarded as quite a Lilliputian one. The wonder is that, Auckland having so questionable a-reputation with regard to fires, the insurance companies should continue to take risks there, even at advanced rates. It is curious, also, how unfortunate and unlucky some persons are in these matters, for in these cases it is usually found that one or more of the sufferers have been previously scorched out of house and home by the fiery demon. It is remarkable, also, as a proof of the advantages of insurance to the insurers, that one of the losers by this conflagration had only paid his premium the day, and another a week, before its occurrence. Of course the origin of all these fires is inquired into. In more than one instance arson has been proved, and in a great many more it has been suspected and not proved. , Fires in Auckland, however, have become so suspiciously numerous, that the matter seems to demand more full, close, and persistent inquiry than a Coroner, or a Police Magistrate, can give. Commissions are slow - moving bodies, formal in movement and clumsy in management. A commission, therefore, would probably, if appointed, throw but little more light on the subject than the previous investigations have done. It might be well, however, if a ■ smart detective —say from Dunedin or Canterbury, or from another colony—were specially employed to inquire into the whole circumstances attending every large fire in that apparently doomed city, and report specially to the highest authorities. If such a step were taken, we should probably learn more than we know of some past catastrophes, and find the facts surrounding those which may be expected in ordinary course less difficulty to elucidate, than if no such prying person were about. This game would certainly be worth the candle.

Tire Parliament of South Australia has now under consideration a Bill for “ the abolition of the law of primogeniture, and to make other provision for the division of the real estate of an intestate ; and also to abolish dower and tenancy by the curtesy ,of England, and to make other provisions in lieu thereof respectively.” It has also before it a measure “to discourage the maintenance of unnecessary licensed public-houses.” It is a Bill of only three clauses, but these are important and practical. The first provides that any and every bill of sale, mortgage, lieu, or charge of any kind upon any goods or chattels, or any license or authority to seize and remove, and any mortgage uponrfreehold or leasehold lands, at law or in equity, given by a licensed victualler, or any person intending to become a licensed victualler, for the benefit of any brewer, or wine and spirit merchant, or for money advanced by any other person, to enable the business of a licensed victualler to be carried on, shall he absolutely void. The second clause declares that no license shall be granted to any house which belongs to or is held in trust for any brewer, or wine and spirit merchant; and if any such license should bo granted it shall be of no effect. The clause, however, is not to apply to any house of which a brewer or a wine and spirit merchant is a trustee only, and has no beneficial interest. The third clause declares that the Act shall not be retrospective, nor come into force without due warning; and therefore, should it become law, it will not be enforced until the Ist day of January, 1876.

The Provincial Council of Nelson, we observe, are about to appoint an Inspector of Mines. If they make a good choice they will bo doing an excellent thing ; but if favoritism prevails the chances are that the only practical result will be the addition of a burden on the revenues of Nelson. Inspection of mines, in the coal and iron districts of England and Scotland, has been productive of immense benefit to mining management, the health of the workers, and the safety of life ; but inspectionsuchasthat which takes place in Staffordshire or Glamorgan cannot be made of the mines of a goldfield. We are not aware of any good results that have attended the partial inspection of mines, and machinery in Victoria, where the safety of the mines—as it does here—really depends on the vigilance, intelligence, and honesty, to miners as well to directors and shareholders, of the mining managers. If Nelson leads the way the result will be anxiously watched elsewhere.

The Nelson Colonist may now be added to tin? number of journals in the Middle Island which has given in its adherence to the Ministerial policy as regards provincialism in the North Island. Our contemporary would go further, and put an end to all Provincial Governments. It is moved to this course by the example Nelson presents of a fair and rich province all but ruined' by provincialism, and men in office thoroughly imbued with ideas of no higher than a purely provincial character.

With reference to the sale' of Crown lands which takes place at the Provincial Council Chamber, on Tuesday next the 27th inst., wo arc requested to state that New Zealand Company’s land-orders and scrip can be exercised in the purchase of the sections within the block situated on the left bank of the Wanganui River.

Wo disclaim responsibility for the briefest of brief summaries of the address of Professor Tyndall, as President, delivered to the late meeting of the British Association at Belfast. We quoted it—not having seen the speech itself, which, we learn, occupied eight closelyprinted columns of The Times —as having been “reported,” and did so, regarding it as “ a very remarkable statement.” The paragraph was printed as given by a popular Glasgow newspaper, as the essence of Professor Tyndall’s address.

• Wo learn by way of Newcastle that the barque Dizzie and Rosa, of Sydney, was wrecked at Amoy, and has been condemned. The barque .was insured in the New Zealand Insurance Company for £3500, and the freight from Hongkong to Sydney was covered by the same company to the extent of £OOO. We arc indebted to Captain Stafford, of the barque Camille, for Newcastle newspapers to the 9th inst. We notice that the ship Eslcdale was loading there on the 4th inst.

It will be noticed that the annual meeting of the Wellington Caledonian Society will be held in {lie New Zealander Hotel, on Tuesday next the 27th inst., at 8 o'clock p.m. Wo understand that the Commissioner of Public Works has accepted the tender of Mr. James Smith, lately auctioneer here, for the right of advertising at the stations of the Wellington and Mastertou Railway for two years, from the Ist of January next. The inhabitants of Greytown were to .meet last night for the purpose of discussing how the township can best bo .protected from the encroachments of the river Waiohiue.

Journalism appears to be extending rapidly. We hear of a new journal at Auckland ; new evening papers have appeared at Christchurch; more frequent publication of existing journals, and new evening sheets, are promised in more than one of the townships of Otago ; and we have before us the first number of the Wairarapa News, a journal which proposes to contest with the. Standard the representation of that thriving district. The News has experienced unusual difficulties in coming out, probably from the interference of the floods with the transport of its plant, but it is written with care and printed with great neatness, on paper of good quality. The residents have given it a very excellent start with advertisements, and this new journal appears to begin with fine prospects of success. We trust our young contemporary will avoid a too common error—bickering with a neighbor. There should be better work for a newspaper than throwing mud at a brother journalist. The Nexvs mentions that the first load of the season’s wool, consisting 1 of eighteen bales, from the station of Messrs. Beetbam Bros., was forwarded to Wellington on Monday last by one of the Carrying Company’s waggons. Mining for manganese is reported to have commenced near Russell, in the province of Auckland. Those who are engaged in the operation should be somewhat cautious, as those who have entered upon similar work in, the Australian colonies—whore, also, manganese has been mined for—have not found the labor profitable, as the market is limited.

•As an encouragement to emigrants, a late Cork journal gives the following example of “ what may happen to a man in Victoria ” —or New Zealand :—“A young man named Furlong left Killure, county Waterford, in the year 1847, and by a paragraph in the Melbourne Argus we find that lie has purchased an estate for £30,000. He left Killure for Melbourne with scarcely a shilling in his pocket over his passage money.” A scurvy trick was played lately upon a well-known pedestrian, Mat. Higgins, who was practising for a ten miles spin for a wager at Hobarton. He had gone down to the Battery, and.left his coat, necktie, and boots, in a quiet corner till the exercise was over. Some picker-up of unconsidered trifles found them out, and quietly walked off with them, leaving Higgins to go home hatless and bootless. The Masterton correspondent of the IVairarapa Standard writes as follows:—“Lambing in this vicinity will soon be over though the unfortunate little animals have scarcely yet seen a fine day ; those who have docked find a much smaller percentage than usual, which, added to the serious losses of older sheep during the winter, will doubtless make a considerable decrease in the next~two years’ returns. Some of the amounts of the last London wool sales have reached here—one lot of Romney Marsh brought Is. 4-Jcl. per lb., exactly what the clip from the same flock sold for last year. There are great doubts felt by most flock-owners as to which breed of sheep is best adapted for our district. The great run now is on Lincolns, but it is highly probable that those who have gone rashly into this breed will ere long find they have made a, mistake. Cotswold or the last importations of Romney Marsh will prove more remunerative to the grower.” We take the following from the New Zealand Herald of the 19th inst.:—“lt has frequently been asserted that Auckland port dues are the heaviest in the colony, but a glance at the statistics lately published in the Gazette , being the returns for the. past year,” ending the 30th June, proves the statement to he fallacious, comparing the receipts taken at Wellington with those at Dunedin and Lyttelton. We find that the port of Auckland, although having the greatest shipping returns, receives the least revenue, and is by far the cheapest port in the colony, while Port Chalmers stands in the opposite position., Wellington is next to Auckland. The following figures will speak for themselves :—Total tonnage (foreign and coastal) entered inwards during the year 1873-4 : Auckland, 281,710 tons ; port and light dues, £1727 ; Wellington, 162,737 tons ; dues, £2616 ; Lyttelton, 177,529 tons ; dues, £3179 ; Dunedin, 168,333 tons ; dues, £3503.