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Otago Daily Times, Issue 1792, 27 September 1867, Page 4

The inefficient manner in "which, the Telegraph Department, is. ..conducted, is strikingly evinced by the delay that frequently "takes places in transmitting important . Messages. ■ ..On Wednesday;! a meeting, of the Chamber of Commerce was hastily convened to consider the somewhat extraordinary and unexpected proposal of MxMac'andf ew to withdraw all subsidies for tHe conveyance of Inter-Colonial andTlriterrPrdvinciaVMailsl The meeting, after some consideration, adjourned to yes? terday, because they had not sufficient in- j formation on.; which to form an opinion, This information, equally necessary to the meeting yesterday, would have been supplied yesterday morning had tuemessage sent by our- correspondent been transmitted in due cpurse;- ,On reference to the telegram, ,we : ;find that it was pre- : sented at Wellington for transmission at 5 o'clock p.m. on the 25th inst. (Wedies^ day). As a matter tpjt course, it ought to have been received the same e^en--ing ; but a memorandum on jtixor last sheet informs us that the transmis-,, sioh was " finished at 10.30 a.m." of "ithe 26th (yesterday)^ Where ttie delay; oc-n curred we ara not able to, say. On inquiry \ at: the : •Dunedin;:Telegraph Office, reference was made to the Attendance Bqok, whence it appeared that the clerks were in the office until 12.45 a.m., Very nearly' eight hours after the message was presented at Wellington, and that up to that hour not a word of it had been received, Jior '•: any intimation given .that it was' waiting for'transmission. It is plain, therefore, that the fault does not lie with the Telegraphists at Dunedin. The system requires complete revision. There can be no valid excuse for such delay. It is by no .means a Bolitaiy instance; but so frequent have such cases become, .that dejay is the rule and not the exception, scarcely mpie than one in four messages,-; from beyorfft; the. Province, reacliing us the same evening. We have more tllan once complained to the I^ead of the' Department of>tnese irregularities, but without effect. It is high time that N a change was made ; for, as at present conducted, the Telegraph- Department treats the public with contempt. > ,\

There was another special meeting of-the Chamber-of.-Commerce yesterday, to consider; ..the proposed abolition^ of the IriterProvincial and Liter-Colonial Steam Subsidies.- The Chairman stated the substance of a reply he had received from Mr Macandrew, to a question as to his reasons for proposing the abolition-of the subsidies; and the telegram itself was handed round to members. After a long discussion, the telegram was read,''with a view to its 1 publication. Resolutions .were, adopted, adhering to the resolution come to on Wednesday, in favor of the abolition (except as to the Suez mail service from Melbourne), and declaring that the Chamber did not approve of or sympathise with Mr Macandrew's reasons for his proposal, except so far as they related to retrenchment. Tife meeting lasted an hour andthreerquarters. :.-.. .;■:.,. ■:.■

We understand that, after all, Mr Hall is not likely to retire from the' (government. Mr Richmond, is,, it is said, to be Resident Minister at Auckland; and Mr Fitzherbert, it; is, whispered, will go Home to negotiate the consolidation of the Loans.

.^£hesTrqyi^ have consented to accept the L6OOO of 'accrttld-reb&ori the PHnceg;street Reserve ; the Superintendent giving an undertaking toreturn the amount, or any part o£ it that theJ Province may. be found not entitled to, if-the result of the action pendingiup§et^ its.title 4k> the whole pr any part of the reBetvtk;^-'^ .^■•ry.l'.i, .-y.^..]:?, :,/;..;.:? • '"'

'' Tlie Balclutha correspondettt oi - the \Bruce if«raW-relate6aTniahapto tunoa,<x>acE,firlucSj^^Win|g ;had

not been raining JioV some time previoup to Monday last, when cihe journey was performed with all safety until reaching ithe Post, Office here. Mr Lourie,' the driver1, had just pulled up, and was in the'act of delivering'the* mail," when i,he h'orsea suddenly bolted ; in endeavoring to rein them in one of the bridles was hauled off, thus leaving the driver no command. He deemed it prudent to jump out,,and succeeded in doing so with no further injtir'y than a'few scratches. Left to their own coiirso, the horses indulged in a gallop round the Police Coiirt'and pas\the School, tiirhihg corner's tiiid: crossing a "creek without capsizing ;f eventually being brought; to a stand by running among the; flax bushes." ' ' ■ . ' !

An interesting letter from our Wellington correspondent, appears in our sixth page,'

The criminal sittings o| the Westland Cir. cuit Court, terminated oijl the, 20th, instant. Arthur Tanner/the laj'te rate collector, was found guilty of emiezzling money, the property of the Corporation of Hokitika. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labor. I ;

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Port Chalmers, on Wednesday, Charles Martin, for being drunk; was fined. 10s,- or- 24 hours' imprisonment: William Scott, for allowing his chimney to catch fire, was fined 10s and 6s Gd costs. Thomas Harris sought to recover from Andrew M'Kinnon L 2 lls, as balance on an alleged contract for the supply of timber, A large amount of cross-evidence was adduced in this case, and it resulted in a non-suit, A verdict for the plainiiff was given in the case of Thomas Brebner v. Henry Sperry, for L 4 9s, for goods supplied; the defendant being allowed time to pay. The case, of James Bonner v. Colac White, a Maori, being a claim for Ll, deposit money on the purchase of a pig, which had died previous to the plaintiff taking delivery, was postponed until Saturday, for further evidence.

A ball, under the' auspices and management of the Caledonian Society, is to be held this evening at St. George's Hall. Considerable preparations have been made to contribute to the pleasure of the numerous party expected ito be present, and the xneetr. ing, in that respect,, is likely to be a very successful1 one. - -; ; i ■•-...:

The Lyltdtoii Times reports the successful capture of a large whale, on Friday last, by the' boats from Mr Jame'a Wright's Whale Fishery, Island Bay, Akaroa. : One of the boats was stove in by the whale, but fortunately none of the crew were" injured.ll The1 'monster was safely towed into Island Bay on Sunday 'last; the crews havingbeen engaged the whole of Saturday and Saturday night last in towing it to the vicinity of the try pots. \ ; Mr Wright expects to obtain about seven tuns of oil, and a proportionate .quan-. tity of bone,, from, this,.whale, and. is san-' guine of future catches, as whales are show:' ing daily, > ?... ,

.The pleasant and social (Quadrille Assemblies of the Duuedin. Quadrille* Club Were brought to a close for the season by a Ball held last evening, in St. George's Hall. The room, which was tastefully decorated, was com-, fortably filled; a good band, under, the leadership of Mr Anderson, waspreseni;; and dancing wa3 spiritedly kept up. until a welU. arranged .programme was; exhausted:; The .meetings, pf the Club have-not only been very, enjoyable, but yery successful; and it is intended; to present the,surplus, funds to!the Benevolent: Institution. .'-.-.:■ ;

-At thfr Polytechnic,,, last evening, ttere was a numerous attendance, and the entertainment passed off well, the ".Sphinx" causing, as usual, astonishment and amusement. To night, Mrs S; Howard takes her benefit, and we i trust there will be a good house.

The Itev. R. Counebee'slecture on."The Sufferings of the Puritans for Conscience Sake,!' takes place this evening in the Hall below; the Congregational Church, in Moray place. — — - -- --- ... ■

The Supreme! Court sits to-day, for the trial of a postponed common-jury cause, Pirn v. Hardy. v

In reporting the amval'of Mr Johnson in Canterbury, ' with the trout ova from Tasmania, the Isyttdton Times: says :—" On arrival at[ Lyttelton the boxes of ova were immediately landed. and conveyed to . the gardens.,... The ova were then placed in the breeding box prepared; for their reception, which is supplied from an artesian, well by pipes so arranged as to modify the force of the stream.- As might have been anticipated, from the transhipment of the ova, the rough weather experienced, and the unavoidable 'o etentiori at Melbourne, a small per centage has perished, but as far as can be at present ascertained,, the remainder are in a healthy condition, and Mr Johnson himself-enter-tains.no doubt of the successful hatching of* fiW. . . * .

' The JSTew. 'Zealand Times (Wellington), o£ Saturday last, says, "A very modest and unpretending announcement appeared in our columns, yesterday, to the effect that some trou; ova had been' landed in. Dunedin, in good condition.' Probably few who read the '■paragraph ■■frilly* realised the importance of the information it contained; but taking it in connection with a .motion which is now before the House of Representatives,'we are'justified in regarding it' as ■■'■ a matter for- sincere congratulation that, the efforts of the -Canter-' bury and Otagq Acclimatujation Societies to introduce trout to the jNeyr Zealand rivers have been so far successful; The motion to which we allude is that brought forward by the member for Waikouaiti, Mr Murison, in the following terms:—" That; in the opinion of this' House,' it is desirable that inquiries should be made by the Government with tine, view of ascertaining the best means to be adopted for introducing salmon into the Colony,-^the most * favorable situation for carrying out., experiments in connection with the breeding of salmon, and the

yiuuauio won \ji Buuii ex]jerunem;s. .; .. There is toogreat a tendency toregardkcclimatisation a^a.me.re ; amuseinen'a. Su,c3imcn aS-Mr..Mu^sp.i Shouldnptlbe^regarded- as"' .JQfire dilletariii. Acclimatisation is "a work in whidh the I^gisfitare "may welt"feke a -part-; nay-more, it is a work in which it -is |moi the duty of the Gttverament of la jcqiiatry iflach i*& this io take dH'^aoUve pirt i an^

in ,|^ki^g;th^s^parfe |n the special york of Jtacclniiatising salmon, they would^ be conferring ,^ an .iminenße benefit on i the country. "4^o, fact* it would be difficult to select a. wpjk-of a more strictly reproductive, character. The, salmon fisheries of England, Ireland, and Scotland are mines of wealth, andso would sahnon fisheries in NewZealand be if we had them—more permanently1 profitable, perhaps, if less exoiting, than the mines we literally possess. Left to Provincial Governments, or to amateur, though enthusiastic societies, it will probably be some time before the salmon leaps in a New Zealand river, but if the work,was,undertaken by the General Government, ;and a, sufficient sum voted to meet the necessary, expenses of the work, it would not be long before we could make a similar' announcement in regard to sahnon to that which we hdd the pleasure of making yesterday, in regard to trout. The cost need not be great, and we believe that it would be amply repaid. There is, indeed, more money wasted in the Assembly in a week than would suffice, not only to introduce sahnon, ;but also to gladden the heart of many an ardent member of Acclimatisation Societies by the introduction of other valuable inhabitant's" of earth, air, and water, which unhappily are not indigenous. "We hbp&to see on the Supplementary Estimates a sum to be devoted to the object we have indicated." ■

In the Money Order Department of the General Post-office, 522 orders were issued during the month of August, representing L 2161 3s 4d; and 303 were paid, amounting t0L1382 14s Gd. These, added to the previous mimbers, show that, since the commencement of the system, Ist September, 1862, there have been issued 27 687 for L 130,484 2s 5d ; and 12,411 have been paid, amounting to L 59,921 5s Bd. In the Postoffice Savings Bank Department, during the month of August, 52 new accounts were opened, in which deposits were made to sum of L 833 9s Od. , The additions to former accounts were 181, amounting to LlOlB 12a 6d —making a total for the month of 233 deposits, L 1852 Is Cd, The number of deposits siace the establishment of Sayings Banks in April, is 1175,;andthe amount deposited, L 14,209 lls 3d:■*. The withdrawals during the month were £2 ? .representing L 751 14s lid—making the total withdrawals 195, and the sum X 2957 Bs.9<J.

Morgan's BntishTrade Circular states that interesting samples of New Zealand flax, .showing the fibre in different states of preparedness for paper-making, and also samples of paper made from the fibre, have been forwarded to Great Britain. The flax paper, while rather Mghly-cblored; has a singularity of texture and :a. strength which suggest that from flair might be made excellent paper for bank-notes, and other special A scientific gentleman here has dealt with a Blab of compressed pulp, as received from the paper-maker, and has shown that-the coloring matter can be got rid of, the pulp being left as white as that of ordinary; cotton rags. t The samples experimented upon include "some fibre bleached, but not subjected to the action of the breaker ; and this is estimated by a Dundee manufacturer to be worth L2O a ton "for *s6me,d«!criptidns of matting." "Taken as a whole," says the Circular, "there have,not been'seen any samples of prepared: New Zealand flax more suggestive of "the possibility of establishing an important 'native industry.' Some-paper-makers in England Tiave WerTinstigated. to make 'experiments, but the fear they express that the fibre is too strong for paper-making will be found groundless." ;

Theßalclutha correspondent of the Bruce Herald says:—"ln the early part of'the past week^ Mr : Sibbald, of this township, was seriously injured by being thrown frQm a horse near Kaitangata. For some time past an unusual height of water in Kaitangata and iTuakitdtoi Lakes ias so flooded the adjacent low land as to make a breach through that part of the road beeween De Gosta.'s Hotel and the swamp. The horse Mr, Sibbald was riding at a brisk pace, suddenly halted on coming to the breach, throwing his rider a clean summersault. On being taken up, the injuries he had received were found to be such as to necessitate his; being conveyed home in a buggy. Dr. Smith, who was early irt attendance, did aJI that could be done to. alleviate'his patient's sufferings, and on the following day, assisted by Dr. Ferguson, of Tokomairiro,'succeeding in reducing dislocation of the hip."