CALIFORNIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 101, 13 March 1862, Page 6

CALIFORNIA.

Via Sydney, San Francisco papers have arrived to the 28th November. The Alta California of that date, adverting to , the project for'establishing a lino of steamers between San Francisco aud China, remarks, :— The completion of the Overland Telegraph has put a new phase on this question altogether. It is no longer a mere State enterprise, but a project of national importance. In pressing the matter upon the attention of Congress, California wiR no longer appear in the character of the only State interested in tlie steam navigation of the Pacific. She will, for the future, find efficient allies in the great communities of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and, in fact, the wholeof the Eastern States. It is now as much to their advantage (and more) as ours, to be brought into speedy communication with China and "the Orient, for in point of time, by means of the magnetic wire, they are as near to these nations as we are. The case stands thus : —We trade with the Eastern States, England, and France. AYe send them about forty millions of dollars a year, to pay for the articles which we purchase from them. The Eastern States, England, and France, trade with China and India. We are then in a position, provided a line of steamers is laid on from this port to China, to become their factors, and to liquidate their indebtedness to China, to the extent of our indebtedness" to them, provided regularity of shipment Is secured. Let us take the case of a New York house as an illustration. It imports goods from China every year to the value of half a million ot dollars, and exports to California to the same amount. AYe have to pay a premium of three per cent, on the half of a million of specie which we send to the New York house, in payment ot the ffoods which'we obtained from it, and the New York house is obliged to pay at least six per cent. on the money it sends to China, for if notsent by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, losing four months hy the voyage, it has first to go to England, and then by the way ofthe Isthmus of Suez to the East. Now, why cannot this expense be saved I We can pay the half million- which the New York house owes to U«n». and receive from it a receipt for our indebtedness In this way there will be no necessity for the future to send the specie nearly all round the world—from here to New Y°""j£, from New York to London, and from London to Canton It can go in steam vessels directly from thiß port iv twenty-five days, and we savej our 3 per cent, premium, and the New York house saves four, at least, out of the 6 per cent, winch it formerly bad to pay. It will only be necessary for it to send a telegram to San Francisco and the thing is done. Then, again, instead of sending on money all the way to France and England, to pay for the articles which we imported from these countries, we cau do the same thing for the merchants ofthose nations, and another useless transportation of money would he saved. AYe send money from here to the English or French house : to which we are indebted, as the case may be, and they send it off to China and India. sin eleven days an order could he forwarded from London to San Fraucisco, to transmit the money due to the firm of A. B. & Co., in that city, to C. D. & Co., of Hong Kong, and as soon as the money was shipped the account was squared ; whUe the specie, instead of heing withdrawn from circulation for moiths, would in 25 days be placed in the hands of the parties who were entitled to its use. Millions can be savedby the change every year. We know that we, in Call- ( fornia, will be benefitted to the extent of a ( million and a half a year, or more, and the advantages,to the other great commercial centres , ofthe world will he much greater. . I The Greatest Oil Well yet.—The editor ofthe Mercer (Pa.) Dispatch gives a description of an extraordinary veiu of oil tapped recently on the M'Elhany farm, at the depth of 460 feet. He >■ Bays a watch was held while it ran into a tank holding, hy measure, 103 barrels, and it filled the same in 55 minutes. At a fair estimate, taking this as a data, those who were working and ■watching about it are confident that in the first 24 hours it flowed 2400 barrels of oil. And when ■are left on Friday morning there appeared to be tut little diminution. AVhat is also remarkable, Is the fact that this well is located not more than twenty rods from the Funk well, which has been flowing some four months, and has yielded an almost incredible quantity of the oil. The Hanoi?, g of Four. Indians.—From the Dalles (Oregon) Mountaineer ofthe 13th, we take j the following account of the execution of four ( Indians at that place on the Friday previous :— ( The execution of the four Indians convicted of i tbe Barlow Gate and Tygh Valley murders, suf- , fered the extreme penalty of the law on inday ( last, about the hour of three p.m. The arrangemente for the execution, under the direction ot t Sheriff AVhite, were admirable, and proved that s he was the " right man in the right place." The « attendance at the execution was quite limited, and we were pleased to note that scarce a re- ( spectable female was on the ground. The num- t ber of Indians present was variously estimated at from three to five hundred. Captain Whittles- a icy's company of Cavalry, company A Call- ( fornian volunteers, and Dalles Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, acted as an escort and assisted t in preserving order. The culprits left their cell \ at precisely two o'clock. A waggon was drawn s up in front of the Court-house door, in which the , prisoners were placed and driven to the place of c execution. The carriage containing the pn- c eoners was closely guarded by the firemen and a t detachment of soldiers, the whole under the com- i mand of Captain AVhittlessey. The cortege ar- ; rived at tho foot ofthe gallows, the condemned i men alighted from the waggon, and with firm - and unflinching step ascended the stairs leading to the scaffold. Here a delay ensued in fixing s the ropes, during the whole of which time the j culprits gazed about apparently as unconcerned as the most indifferent spectator. Everything s being ready, the prisoners took their places on the ( trap, and the nooses were properly adjusted, i Thus far the prisoners had cheerfully acquiesced i in all that was done, but when the sheriff at- I tempted to draw the black cap over Hanawake's * face, he was stoutly resisted. Each of the" other . Indians objected to the black cap, but their re- J eistance was finally overcome, and at a signal ( given—the tap of a drum—the cord that held the t drum was cut, and four human beings were s launched into eternity. Thus far the Indians i present had maintained a perfect silence, but just s m the drop fell they set up a wail of sorrow. 1 This was hut for a moment, and then all was ' silent. Meanwhile the bodies swung too and fro, ( the contortions of the dying men being terrible s to behold- After hanging twelve minutes, Vis , Hasson and Aunter examined the bodies and t found the pulse had ceased to beat. At twentyone minutes after the drop had fallen the whole c four were pronounced to be dead. The ropes t were then cut, the crowd dispersed, and the whole * tragic scene was over. , SOUTH AUSTRALIA J The Fab North.—A gentleman who has just ar- ( ijved from the neighbourhood of Chambers' Creek, informs us that Mr. Stuart had left that spot as was intended, and had proceeded for some considerable distance northward. He is not able however, to furnish precise dates or further particulars. He says t that the intense heat in the early part of January was < followed by occasional heavy showers which have ' caused many of the creeks to run, and have greatly i improved the feed. He remarked on his .journey < southward the general scarcity of grass for a mile or tiro around the houses of accommodation. This he \ supposes to have arisen from the love of the shepherds to be near those spots where refreshment and company are obtainable. It could hardly, he imagines, be the wish of the sheepowners to have authorised the establishment of eating-houses on their runs that weary travellers should be compelled to hobble their horses, as they are often obliged to do, a couple of miles from the place whero they themselves are to pass the night. 8. A. Register, 7th February. Trade of the Murray.—AVe have already caUed attention to the increasing amount of produce Jjrought down by the Murray and shipped at our ports, and to the circulation of money in Adelaide in connection with sheep and cattle stations upon the borders of the adjacent colonies. AYe are glad to understand, from a highly respectable and reliable source, that our business relations with the Murray and Barling are likely to be considerably extended in i the course of the next year, as some large sheep far- i mere who have hitherto been in the habit of doing their business in Victoria or New South AVales have expressed their intention of transmitting it to Adelaide. It is said that the extension of the railway to i Victoria Harbor wiR be an additional inducement to i

wool-growers on the Murray to send their produce in ' this direction.—S. A. Register, 14th February. M'Kinlay's Expedition.—AVe have been obligingly favored with the use of a letter containing the sub- - joined extract, received from a settler at Angipena, and dated 30th January :—" We have bad a little information with regard to Mr. M'Kinlay and party. A bkcicfellow, named' Frank, whom he took from Pekiua, returned to Toonkatchina at the commencement of this month, and informed mc- that the party were all well, aud that Mr. Hodgkinson had joined the remainder of the party with stores ; but I could not glean from him whether the party had made much progress, only that it took him (the native) eight days to come from their camp to Manuwalkaninaa. He ; was fed well by the other tribes all the way in, and was not molested by any of them." According to . this, we understand Mr. M'Kinlay would have been, when the native left him, about nine days' journey ; from Toonkatchina. It will be recollected that shortly after the discovery of the remains at Lake , Pando, Mr. Hodgkinson was dispatched to the out- ' stations for stores, and as instructed to return as early as possible to Mr. M'Kinlay, who .would await 1 his return at some arranged spot, previous to commencing the Government explorations of the country :' to the north-west. As the stores were safely received : the expedition is now probably started northward. . It is to remain out, we believe, eighteen months from the date of its leaving Adelaide, and will, doubtless, '■• be the means of supplying us with much valuable, information concerning an extensive couutry, which, 1 although witliin the boundaries of the colony, is at present almost unknown. The blaekf'ellow mentioned in the above extract as sent by Mr. M'Kinlay, is probably the one whom he spoke of in his diary, and whom he took with him as a guide through the coun^ try beyond Mount Hopeless.— S. A. Register, 9th February. Gigantic Shark.—AVe have been informed that several efforts have been made to capture a, most gigantic shark, which has been seen in the Gulf of St. Vincent, between Yorke's Peninsular and Port Gawler. Two boats recently gave it chase, and after letting out about 150 fathoms of rope, they were obliged to desist. It is stated that the monster is 40 feet in length, that it carried off a hoy who waa bathing last summer, and that it is often seen in comparatively shallow water. It is the terror of many, and its capture is most fervently desired. — S. A. Register, 10th Feb.