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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5678, 11 June 1879, Page 2

As some misapprehension seems te have arisen on the point, we -understand that the reasons which induced his Excellency the Governor to remove his son to the Nelson College from Wellington College would not, if made public, act prejudicially to the latter institution. His Excellency had no fault whatever to find with the College as an educational establishment.

The steamer Patea, trading between Wellington and Carlyle, the port of the Patea district, took a consignment last evening of 110 cases of ammunition, containing 75,U001b5., and 11 cases of arms. This will prove welcome news to the settlers in that large district, some of whom live long distances from each other.

Wellington people who have a minute or two to spare will find excellent amusement in going to the Corporation Buildings and listening to the exclamations uttered by ratepayers on the discovery of their land tax valuations. The department has “ trotted out” one of its most polite officials to explain matters, but the utmost gravity of manner on this gentleman’s part has very little effect in soothing the troubled breasts of the unfortunates whose oames appear on the rolls. Exclamations of the greatest disgust resound through the building all day long. The Sydney Exhibition Commissioners have reason to complain of the dilatoriness of intending exhibitors in sending their contributions forward. It should be remembered that there is absolutely not a moment of time to he lost, anid exhibitors should at once send forward their exhibits to Wellington. We hear that Mr. O’Neill has decided to exhibit his, Caithness flagging, and that as a very prominent spot has been set apart for its exhibition it will be laid down around a diamond of ornamental flagging, and that ornamental letters will be inserted in the flagging to indicate where the exhibit comes from. . .

An 1 excellent specimen of the very rare species of whale, neoholaena marginatus, has recently been caught' by Mr. Quail], of Stewart Island, who purposes 'sending it to the Paris scientific authorities. This whale is the only known representative in the Southern seas of the very valuable balleen whale, true whalebone whale, of the north. Though smaller than the halleen whale, the neoholaena is ; even more . valuable, commercially. It is very scarce, the only other specimen caught having been taken to the British Museum by Dr. Hector, but that gentleman holds the opinion as set out in his paper ou the subject published in the “ Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,” that further south these whales would be found in .great numbers. If they could be "got at, no doubt a very profitable field of speculation would be open to shipowners, and : the colonial whaling , industry would soon become an important factor in colonial progress Sergeant Reade arrested a deserter from H.M.S. Emerald ' yesterday afternoon. Prisoner’s name is L. Kidd, and he was a marine. He deserted on the 9th April last.

A'meeting of the Wellington Benevolent Institution was.held yesterday afternoon. Present : Mr. J.fiG. -Holdaworth ’ (in the chair), Yen. Archdeacon Stock, >Rev. Mr. Thorpe, Rev. Mr. Paterson, Mr. B. Smith, Mr. D. 1 Lewis, Mr. J.- E. Smith*, and the • Secretary (Mr. Powles). The following subscriptions were received:—Mr. J. Burne, £lO 10a. Mr. F, Jeffrey, :£1 Is ; Mr. G;-M. Gleland, £2 2s. The Secretary intimated that in.consequence of his business affairs requiring more of his time be should unwillingly be compelled to resign at the end of the current month. The committee received , the announcement with regret. ■ 1

The usual fortnightly meeting of the City Council will take place to-morrow evening, when the following subjects will be brought up for consideration :—Report on R. VV. Watson's claim (adjourned consideration) ; report from Wharf Committee ; report from Waterworks Committee ; report from Finance Committee ; report from Hospital and Charitable Aid Committee ; report from Sydney Exhibition Committee; repoit from Pahlic Works Committee; tenders for the formation ef Ellice-street; tenders for the drainage of the. Recreation Reserve at Newtown. The following notices of motion will also be considered :—Councillor Fisher to move, —(1.) That all informal tenders be rejected ; (2.) that all contracts date from the dale of acceptance of tender by the Council; (3.) that the City Surveyor present, in printed form, at the fortnightly meetings of the Council a return showing contracts in progress, date of acceptance pf tender for such contracts, date of completion, arid penalty for non-completion. Councillor Maginhity to move, —That the two drainage schemes submitted to the Council by Messrs. CUmie and Clark be referred to aboard of engineers, consisting of the Government Engineer, or a board selected by the Council, and that on their report the Council take immediate action. Councillor Thompson to move, —That the resolution of the Council of 29th May relative to a Harbor Board be rescinded, and. that steps be taken in conjunction with . the Chamber of Commerce for introducing a Harbor Board Bill for Port Nicholson. , ...... Yesterday a little excitement was created by the seizure of one of the Tramway Company’s carriages, It was done at the suit of Mr. Davis, and is the result of a dispute between that gentleman and the company. Mr. Whitelaw, superintendent of the Mount View Lunatic Asylum, desires to acknowledge, with thanks, a donation of a quantity of pictures from Mr. Noel Barraud. Similar contributions would be very acceptable, and would materially help in giving a more pleasant aspect to the new wings which have been recently added to the Asylum. I

It will be seen by advertisement in another column that a change in the composition of the well-known firm of T. K. Macdonald and Co. has taken place. Mr. Percival Johnston retires, but the name of the firm remains as before, and to the land auction department has been added auction of general merchandise. The terms on which this new business will be undertaken is particularly set forth in the advertisement. It will also be seen that Mr. Johnston will receive debts and discharge the liabilities in connection with the past.

A sitting of the Supreme Court iu Bankruptcy was held by Mr. A. S. Allan, Registrar, yesterday, and in the following oases the deeds of assignment were declared to be completely executed :—J. and R. Hollis, on the application of Mr. Bel) ; Eddie and Jack and Benjamin Cohen, on the application of Dr. Buller; John Coogan and E. M. Taylor, on the application of Mr. Fitzberbert. A man named Joseph Gurney was locked up last night for stealing a lady's jacket from the shop of Mr. Kirby, Cuba-street. It appears that Kirby saw the thief in the act of taking the jacket, and made chase. Gurney, when he found that he was pursued, dropped the jacket and ran in the direction of Newtown. Communication was sent to the constable in charge at Newtown, and he arrested the thief and brought him in to the lock-up. The Athenaeum committee, at a meeting last evening, decided to make an endeavor to get up a series of lectures in connection with the institution. Probably the President, Sir William Fitzberbert, will be invited to deliver the inaugural address of the course if he can make it convenient to do so. A meeting of Captain Kreeft’s creditors was held yesterday, at the Supreme Court House, for the purpose of assenting to a deed of arrangement. Mr. Charles Ellaby occupied the chair. It was unanimously decided that the deed, should be assented to, and it was also resolved that the trustees under the deed should make arrangements with the bank and the secured creditors for postponing the conversion of the property in mortgage, in the hope of realising to better advantage. The trustees were empowered to allow Captain; Kreeft to keep possession of his household furniture.

We are informed upon undoubted authority (says the Inangahua Herald) that a nugget of eighty ounces was unearthed at Carton’sterrace, Devil’s Creek, last week. This is the largest nugget that has yet been discovered in that locality. At a time when the Panama Canal is being talked of the following wi 1 be of interest ; The United States Consul-General of Cairo, Egypt, furnishes the department of State with facts from authentic sources regarding the Suez Canal. He says the entire cost of the canal is £18,454,781. The stock of the company consists of 400,000 shares of 600 francs each. These have sold as low as 100 francs each. At the opening of the canal they had advanced to only 300 francs. They are now quoted at 717 francs, and are probably worth more. The revenue of the canal increased from 5,000,000 francs in 1870 to over 30,000,000 francs in 1877. The expenses, including interest on the sinking fund and land, have been a little over 17,000,000 francs per year. While the revenues steadily' increase, the expenses are or stationary. The saving of distance to British ships going to India is nearly 5000 miles. Twothirds of the vessels passing through the canal carry the English flag. The Christchurch Press says :—“Some weeks ago we called the attention of the Canterbury Road Boards to the fact that the £IOO,OOO due to them by the Government, and which Mr. Ballanoe promised should be paid during May, was not then forthcoming. The time for payment has now expired, and the Government, as is their wont, have to keep their promise. Are the road boards going quietly to submit to the loss of this large sum without some effort being made to force Ministers to hand over that which they have so long illegally detained ? Surely the Cauterterbury local bodies have had a lesson which should not soon be forgotten. Are they going, after all, to allow the result of their' exertions to slip quietly from their grasp ? In consequence of their efforts last year, and the labors of several Canterbury members, a portion of the money due to the road boards was actually paid to them. But the debt was only partly liquidated, and Ministers are apparently in no hurry to fulfil the engagements into which they entered. Yet £IOO,OOO would prove of very great benefit to the district at the present time. The road boards would, were it paid, be in a position to undertake a large number of public works which would not only prove beneficial in themselves, but would give profitable employment to many hundreds who are at present out of work. Such considerations as these are not at all likely to influence the Government in the course they take. The road boards and those interested in the expenditure of the money may rest assured that the debt will never he paid if the Government can possibly avoid doing so.” In a leading article upon the present aspect of native affairs, the Dunedin Evening Star says : —“ We bad not intended just at present to comment in any way upon the very perioiis position of native affairs in the provincial district of Taranaki. The moral which may be drawn from what is now transpiring is so pointed that it indeed 1 seems unnecessary to supplement the telegraphic information with any remarks of our own. The Ministerial organs are endeavoring, however, in such an audacious manuer to throw dust into the eyes of the public and shield the miserable incapacity of the Government by perversion of facts and circumstances that it becomes necessary to speak out, even at the risk of being accused of ‘ endeavoring to provoke alarm and consternation,* which the Otago Daily Times is good enough to assert is ‘foolish as well as dangerous.’ No doubt plain speaking on the subject is very foolish in the eyes of Ministers, and dangerous, perhaps, to what little prestige they have left.; Slot being in the happy position of being honored with extensive subsidies, we care not one jot about . the good will ■ of the powers that he, whose conduct we shall continue to criticise, just when and how we please, notwithstanding the almost threatening. language of our contemporary. The plain truth of the matter is that the present Government have ‘sown the wind and are now reaping the whirlwind.’ The gushing policy of Sir George Grey, who has been as fulsome in his promises to the natives after their fashion as he has been towards the colonists, and with probably no more intention, of carrying .them, out, has.the effect of inducing the belief that their most outrageous claims would eventually be conceded, and, .especially, .that the. confiscation of the West Coast lands'wonld be sooner nr later absolutely rescinded. Naturally the exasperation ! is great when it is found that this is altogether out of the question, and we are not at all surprised to learn from the Waitara correspondent of the TdVdu-cthi Herald that there is ho ; doubt that the present Ministry have entirely lost the confidence of the natives, not -only on the West Coast, jmt throughout the ! island. In their negotiations with Tawhiao and Rewi, the Premier and, Mr. Sheehan have indeed displayed weakness of judgment and uncertainty of purpose almost bordering on imbecility. At Kopua they were the laughing-stock, not only of the braves, but of the women and children ; and when, after a final effort at bravado and bombast, they slunk off to Cambridge, followed closely by their new ally (for his own proper purposes) Rewi, their glory with them, and their influence with the Maoris as a race was utterly and irrevocably destroyed.

The Tima.ru HtraH says :—“ We have been favored with a private view of the sketch design of a steam tug launch, for the use of members of the Timaru Harbor Board and their friends. This accommodating craft is to be forty feet long on one side and two hundred feet on the other, propelled by paddles so as to avoid the kelp, and fitted with twin screws so as to enable her to lie alongside of ships without bulging their sides in. Her engines are to be from 12 to 20 horse-power nominal, but working up to 200 horse-power on special occasions° One is to be high-pressure and the other low-pressure, and a donkey-engine is to be fitted so as to work the vessel whenever the Board cannot agree as to which of the others to use. The tug launch is to have a towing apparatus on the. poop, and a crane for hoisting goods on the main deck, and is to be so constructed that she may be either hauled up on davits or slid up greased ways, according as the; majority of her patrons may desire. She is to be rigged as a three-masted schooner, with ample”sailing power, to enable her to run to Oamaru for shelter whenever the weather looks threatening ; and is to be provided with a diving dress and' an electric light, so that when she is swamped by the surf she can still see her way about and sldm along the bottom till she lands in safety. The estimated cost of this invaluable vessel is a hundred thousand pounds, but she is so planned that she can be built a piece at a time, allowing for future additions in case no financial difficulties present themselves as the work progresses. The esti-

mate of the first section is only two thousand pounds. The chief draw-back is the greac cost of maintenance, for, in order to render her suitable for her peculiar purpose, she is bound to have as many captains as there are members of the Harbor Board. She is to be christened the Arrant Job, though some members stand out for calling her the Indignant Protest.” Mr. Charles Taylor, builder, of this city, filed a declaration of insolvency yesterday. The first meeting of creditors will be held iu the Supreme Court-house on Tuesday next. A meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society will be held at the Colonial Museum on Saturday evening next, at 8 o'clock, wnen papers will be read by Dr. Buller and Messrs. G. Beetham and W. Collie. The Hutt County Council held its ordinary monthly meeting yesterday, sitting from 1 till 4 p.m. The main subject of discussion was the question whether Council offices should be erected at the Hutt, the proposition being_ rejected by one vote. Of five tenders received for a bridge at Duck Creek, the highest was £650 and the lowest £2SO. A report of the proceedings appears in another part of this issue. Tiie Wairarapa Standard, of 7th June, states as follows re the land tax valuation : “ We give below a summary of the capital and net value of properties in the various districts, and an estimate of the amount to be derived at the rate of a half-penny in the £ on properties above £SOO net value ;— Greytown Borough District, T. Ere they valuer : Capital value, £117,041 ; improvements deducted, £69,333 ; net value, lected, £SO or thereabouts.—Carterton Riding, E. E. Edmunds valuer : Capital value, £413,150 ; less improvements, £176,846 ; net value, £236,304 ; tax to be collected, about £3oo.—Masterton and Alfredton Ridings, Alex. S. Dreyer valuer : Capital value, £361,611 13s. ; less improvements, £138,363 4s. 3d.; net value, £223,248 Bs. 9d. ; tax to be collected, about £29s.—Masterton and Alfredton Ridings, E. Jagerhorn valuer ; Capital value, £162,934 10s. ; less improvements, £50,846 4s. ; net value, £112,088 6s. ; tax to be collected, about £130.”

Messrs. Pllmmer, Keeves, and Co. will hold a large sale of flour, grass seed, &c., at their stores, this day, at 2 o’clock. Mr. Geo. Thomas will sell the tease of a section of land fronting Featherston and Panama streets, near the Colonial Bank, this day, at 2 o'clock. Mr. Sidey will hold sales this day at Greenfield and Stewart’s timber-yard, Courtenay-place, at 12 o’clock; at the Arcade yards, at 1 o’clock ; and at the Arcade, at 2 o'clock. The articles for sale include general merchandise, and a Chilian mill, suitable tor drainpipe makers; the latter will bo sold at the Arcade yards.