ELECTION FOR BRUCE DISTRICT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1123, 27 July 1865, Page 5

ELECTION FOR BRUCE DISTRICT.

The polling for a representative of the Bruce district in the General Assembly, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr E. B. Cargill, took place yesterday. There was not the slightest visible sign o£ any interest being felt in the election, so far as Dunedin was concerned. The bailiff's room at the Court House was used as the polling booth ; but Mr Calcutt, the deputy-returning officer, had an easy time, only 35 votes being recorded during the day. It might be supposed that the* very wintry weather had some effect in preventing electors making the journey to the Court House; but we understand that the seemingly ridiculously small number of votes given is not small comparatively. The voters yesterday were about the average of those who have exercised their " J privilege at former elections for the district. When the poll was closed at four o'clock, the numbers were :— James Msicandrew 26 John Car£ill 9 The Dunedin sub-district is the one in which there is the smallest number of registered electors. The total on the roll is 921; but we have not been able to learn the proportions. The other polling places were—Tokomairiro, East Taieri, Waihola, Inch Clutha, Warepa, Lawrence, and Pomahaka; and all the returns have to be sent to Mr Dewe. the returning officer, at Tokomairiro.

Affairs in Egypt.—A private letter from Ciiro, under date April 22nd, says— that owing to the American war, Egypt has become a vast cotton field, instead of being, as formerly, the grauary of the East. This sudden transformation is not unlikely to bring vast political changes with it. Multitudes of the fellahs and small holders of land have been deprived by the present and previous Viceroys of their land, on account of its increased value as a cottonproducing soil. They are, of course, discontented with the Government, and not well-disposed towards the Franks, for whose sake they know the cotton is grown. In addition to this, the murrain among the cattle has, during the last two years, swept so many away, that distant parts require to ba scoured, in order to provide meat for the Cairo market. In addition, it is a weltknown fact that over the whole Mahomedan world just now there are floating rumours and predictions of a coming ascendancy, during which the Crescent i 3 to stand above the Cross, and the faith of the East is to revive again. As the ignorane populace cannot reason or look to the future, they think the shortest way to accomplish these desirable results is, aa in Syria and Hindostan, to massacre the. Christian population of the land. The writer thinks that while this state of feeling lasts, additional precautions for the safety of Europeans should be taken.

Chiha. —The North China Daily News says that the Mahometan rebels have m^de a sudden stride in the Northern Provinces by the capture of the departmental city of Tungch'ang, situated on the Grand Canal, about 75 miles below Yen-chow-fu. A leader, whose name is as yet unknown, at the head of 300 men, took the city by surprise, and completely routed the garrison. The China Mail says that these rebels are going on from success to success, and marking their progress by devastation and bloodshed "■ never surpassed in the narratives of Taeping atrocity." " The latest accounts," it adds, " state that they have entrenched themselves in the city of Lo-yang, and that the country round about has been desolated, the villages burnt, and the people put to the sword. Although these rebels have been long in the field, and rapidly becoming formidable,.we have not heard of any Imperial force having as yet encountered them, and we may expect to hear of such supineness on the part of the authorities leading to disorder throughout the empire." The same paper i 3 of opinion that Taepingism yet possesses vitality enough to cause anxiety for the future. There is no political news from Japan. A sour old bachelor says he always looks under the marriage head for the news of the weak. '

MANSE STREET.