NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4362, 13 March 1875, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH. FEBRUARY-MARCH, 1875. For transmission by the JC.M.S. Tararua via Sues, on the lith March, or per Wellington from Wellington, on the llith, and the A.S.N. Co.'s steamer Mikado, on the 10th March from Auckland, via San Francisco. Saturday, March 13. The information that Mr. Vogel, soon after his arrival in London, had succeeded in floating, through the Messrs. Rothschild, the new four million loan for Now Zealand, was received by the Government, per cablegram, a few days ago. The particulars to hand are scanty, bat they are regarded as satisfactory, though the fuller information as to the transaction that will follow will be looked for with interest. The main thing was the provision of funds for the completion of the public works now in progress, and the continuance of the system of free immigration, which combined are doing so much for the colony. The details we publish in another column as to those works, will be doubly interesting in England, as well as here, at the present moment. They show that the colony has a great work in hand, and that the time has not yet come when largo returns can be looked for. At the same time, it is satisfactory to know that, so far as the lines have been opened, the returns have exceeded the most sanguine anticipations of their projectors. Large as the immigration continues to be, there is still no fair evidence of the labor market being over-supplied. It may be that the larger towns of the South and North—Dunedin and Auckland to wit—may offer attractions to the least desirable of the immigrants, who prefer an idle or a vicious town life to one of hard but honest labor; and in a system of immigration conducted on so large a scale mistakes in selection must occur. On the whole, however, a very desirable class of people has been sent out; and it has been noted with satisfaction that latterly more care in selection has been shown, and the people who are now coming are, as a rule, of the right sort. These seem to find no difficulty in adapting themselves to the colony, and falling into grooves in which they desire to run. Some come out with means, and no matter in what province they laud soon find opportunities of settling themselves and their families. Others come in search of labor, and have no difficultyin finding it. In this province (Wellington) the demand is still for more labor of all kinds, and none who have come prepared to work have been disappointed. In Taranaki more people are wanted. Hawke’s Bay is by no means satisfied as yet, and the demand for labor increases rapidly in proportion to the occupation of the lands. Of Auckland, Otago, and Canterbury wo do not speak, as their position with respect to labor will be amply dealt with by their organs of public opinion; but we may say that Marlborough still calls for more men accustomed to country work, saw-milling, &c. ; while even Nelson finds that the’effort to establish a special settlement at Karamea (on the West Coast) has not been too much for her, and that as her iron and coal-mines are now likely to be opened up soon, she can absorb a good many more immigrants, accustomed to a country or a mining life. A magnificent harvest has been reaped in the agricultural provinces ; deep leads have been reported, for the first time, in the valley of the Grey, on the West Coast ; extensive water-services for mining purposes will soon be in operation there, to sluice vast tracks of payable ground ; a new gold-yielding country—Ohinemuri—has at last been opened in the province of Auckland ; and there is nothing at this moment to throw a shadow over the fair prospects of the future of the islands. The meeting of Parliament has been further prorogued, formally. It is understood that the two Houses will not assemble before the mouth of June, by which time the Premier will have returned. When the Council meets it will have to congratulate its Speaker, no longer Major, but Sir James Richardson. The death of Mr. John Williamson, the Superintendent of Auckland, has occurred during the month. He had long been in delicate health, and a journey to the Thames district in exceptionally hot weather proved fatal to him. He returned to Auckland very weak and reduced, and his remaining strength rapidly gave way before the sharp illness that assailed him. He was an old colonist, the founder, and for many years, the proprietor of the New Zealander , at one time an influential Auckland journal, but which ceased to exist some few years ago.

He was much esteemed for his thorough 3 honesty of character, and sincere desire to further the interests of the colony, and especially the province with which he was so long associated privately and publicly. His successor in the Superintendency will be Sir George Grey, to whom a requisition, very numerously signed, was presented, asking him to allow himself to be nominated. Mr. Dargaville, who opposed Mr, Williamson at the last election some months ago, had intimated his intention to stand ; but on the publication of Sir George Grey’s address he withdrew. The election will take place in April, and it is not likely now that there will be any opposition. Sir George’s address—as telegraphed—will be found in another column. It is regarded as being much less strong than his first utterances on the subject of the abolition of the provinces ; so that when Sir George Grey presents himself in the Assembly as one of the representatives of Auckland City West—a seat resigned by Mr. Vogel—the gulf between him and the Premier on that subject may not be found unbridgeable.

The death has also been recorded during the month of Mrs. Macandrew, wife of the Superintendent of Otago, and sister of the Hon. W. H. Reynolds, the Commissioner of Customs. It is understood that the resignation of the Chief Justice, Sir George Arnoy, has been in the possession of the Government for some time ; and Mr. Prendergast will succeed him. Mr. Justice Chapman has also informed the bar of Otago that he retires from the bench at the end of the present month. Mr. T. B. Gillies, of Auckland, and Mr. Joshua Strange Williams, of Canterbury, have been appointed Judges; and the judicial districts of the Supreme Court have now been re-arranged. The Northern district is assigned to Mr. Justice Gillies ; the Canterbury district is given to Mr. Justice Johnston ; and the Otago and Southland district to Judge Williams. Tho Chief Justice will, of course, preside at the Seat of Government. The difficulty regarding Mr. Justice Richmond’s successor has been overcome without making any new appointment, Nelson coming within the jurisdiction of Judge Gillies, and Westland within that of Judge Johnston. The claims of District Judge. Ward were such that they could not be overlooked ; but

the Government apparently hit upon the device of increasing the work of two Judges to avoid again appointing that gentleman to the Supreme Court Bench, or of putting a slight upon him by taking a barrister out of the rank and ble of the profession, and seating him temporarily in Judge Richmond’s chair. _ Active work is now going on in the reclamation of the Thomdon foreshore, and arrangements have been made by which the whole of the land to bo reclaimed passes from the Provincial Council- to the Corporation ot the city. The price to be paid is £130,000, which makes the transaction an advantageous one for the city. The new ground will, at no distant date, be the chief business portion of the city. The Corporation had previously been fortunate in the disposal of the tolls of the wharf, stores, &c., under the arrangements suggested by the Mayor and a special committee of the Council. The previous rental, paid by Messrs. Jackson and Graham, was £4OIO ; but under the hammer the lease fell to Mr. Jackson, of that firm, for £BIOO. The discussion in the City Council, invited by Mr. Moorhouse, the Mayor, on the finances of the city, has been postponed in consequence of the unavoidable absence of Mr. Moorhouse in the upper part of the province. It has leaked out, however, that the overdraft of the city : amounts only to some £16,000, a sum which will speedily be reduced by the increased rent from the wharf, if the Council determines so to employ the money. The New Zealand Steam Shipping Company have taken steps to obtain a new and fast steamer from England, adapted to the coasting trade. They are also about to furnish the Wellington with compound engines, and otherwise to improve their fleet. The Dunedin Harbor Shipping Company are also bringing out several new steamers, and it is reported that Messrs. McMeckan, Blackwood, and Co., of Melbourne, intend to enter more strongly into the business of serving the increasing trade of the coast ports, with the help of the new and powerful vessels they are about to receive from the Clyde builders. These greater facilities for travel and transport of goods are rendered absolutely indispensable by the increasing business now done along the New Zealand coasts, which has long been too much for the vessels engaged in it, numerous and fine as thej’ are. The news of the wreck of the steamship Gothenburg, with the sacrifice of no less than ninety-nine lives, has been received in New Zealand with great regret. Captain Pearce was well and favorably known in every part of the colony, and nearly all his officers and engineers—who are amongst the lost —were almost equally well-known and respected.