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Otago Daily Times, Issue 3251, 8 July 1872, Page 2

Tho arrangements made for the occupation of the Volunteer Drill Shed for the current month are announced in a General Order, appearing in another column.

The Committee of the Benevolent Institution acknowledge in another column the receipt of several donations in* aid wf the charity. The usual monthly meeting of the Union Permanent Building Society will be held at at the office, Princes street, this evening.

" The Striking of the Hour" is to boreproduced at the Princess Theatre to-night. To-morrow night, Mins Flora Anstcad will take a benefit, when " How she loycs him " wilt be presented.

There is exhibiting in the shop window of Mr H. 1 rcw, watchmaker, (says the Nelson Colonist) a rare curiosity in the shape of an Aiua, or Maori God, the name of which is E. Tiki, who, tradition asserts, was the first Maori that landed in New Zealand, and whose wife, E. Pani, brought with her the kumera, or sweet potato, and also the taro. E. Tilu and bin wife are said to have been driven out to sea by a gale of wind from Awatiki, and cast upon the shores of New Zealand, from which

period E. Tiki has found a place amongst the gods of the New Zcalanders. The deity ia made of polished greenstone, about five or six inches long, is in a kind of sitting posture with the head awry, and having a face as ugly as the faces of Maori goda generally are. A hole is drilled through the upper part, and the thing secmo to have been bubpended round tho neck of its ]>o«K»sor.

The Wellington Independent states that "the negotiations of the Acclimatisation Society with Mr Graff for the purchase of the three black fowl at present in the Society's grounds have been completed. £56 was the price finally agreed upon. The present confinement being altogether unsuitable to the habits of the birds, they will shortly be removed to Mr Waterhouse's station in the Wairarapa.

Large numbers of ducks are now being shot in the Wairarapa, where the black Bwaos have so increased that the settlers on the borders of the lake are slaughtering them wholesale, and they are reported to be very good eating. No fewer than 260 were counted in one lot the other day, flying over the lake.

Good coal and a thick stratum of fine firebrick clay have been discovered on the property of Captain Symonda, Muddy Creek, near Onehunga, Auckland. It ia contemplated to form a company to work both.

The Evening Poet says that on one of the examination papers put before the candidates for the New Zealand University scholarships appeared the following :—" Describe the formation of dew." A precocious aspirant appended to it the remark, " Query —mountain dew or honey dew 1"

The farmers in the Northern districts of Canterbury are reported to have experienced most favourable weather for sowing wheatbetter in fact than known for some years.

The announcement of a public trial of the Rock Render in Ooornbe's claim, Glcnorc, gathered together there on Friday last a considerable number of minors and others interested in the experiment. The drive prepared for the shot was 3x2 feet, running 117 feet into the hill, 'with a 7 feet Tat the end. In this T, at least 25 feet below the surface, was placed a cask containing 3001bs of the Rock Render, and tamped with atones, &c., in the usual manner. In nine minutes after the fuse waa lighted the charge exploded, 20 or 30 yards of the ground's surface waa aeen to be heaved up about a foot, and Binoke to issue from cracks in the hill over the back of the drive. To judge from appearances, the quantity of cement and stuff displaced will probably prove something like 5000 tons. Altogether the test was a very severe one, as will be seen from the figures given, and although the proprietors of the invention havo determined, before laying claim to absolute success, to wait ten days, until the water has fieen laid on and has found its way into the fissures of the blast, and so tested its result in the most thorough manner. The miners who had charge of the shot seemed to have no hesitation in at once pronouncing a favourable opinion. While the large blast was being tamped, an experiment on a smaller scale was tried with atwr «';on boulder in the centre of the claim. In this stone a small drill was made and a charge o£ 1| inch placed. Although the quantity of the compound used could not have greatly exceeded an ounce, the result of this test proved that the title was at least no misnomer. The Rock Render behaved like a giant, calm in the consciousness of hia strength. There was no loud report, and no hurling of excited fragments high in air. With a dull thud, like a sigh of resignation to its fate, the stone opened up into many pieces, each of which quietly rolled a few feet from the centre ; and although the shot was rnodt satisfactory in its results, any one might have remained within a few yards of She ex- , plosion without real danger.

Two large oil paintings of forest scenery, exhibited within the last few days in the shop window of Mr Hay, Iwokseller, have attracted general notice, and called forth merited expressions of approval. They have been painted by a gentleman whose productions are already favourably known to many, Mr P. Power, of Dunedin. He rould scarcely have made a happier choice than ho has in selecting the Water of Lcith Valley to furnish him with subjects for his pencil ; as it would be difficult to find another bit of country abounding with such an almost endless variety of exquisite scenery. The more pretentious of Mr Power's two pictures reprifsents a view obtained in the Valley road, about two miles from town. The foreground is filled with the forest through which the road windß at this point, and the rich profusion of underwood, the stately pines and beautiful ferns, the trees covered with blossoming creepers, the stream winding through the forest and the blue outlines of distant ranges in the background— all convey a vivid—and, it must be confessed, somewhatidealistic—impression of the wealth of New Zealand scenery. The other picture, though not ho attractive as its companion, is full of quiet beauty. It represents a rocky pool, overhung and buried in deep shade by trees and dense jungle. There are also two smaller pictures of great merit exhibited by Mr Power, whose reputation as a painter is well sustained by these proofs of his artistic skill.

All will remember the melancholy interest attached to the death by drowning, some three months ago, of a promising young man, Mr Thomas F. Janverin, of the Occidental Hotel. A handsome monument ha* just been placed over his grave, in the Southern Cemetery, which may be considered worthy of notice, for one peculiarity, which greatly enhances its value as a memento of the departed, and is worthy of imitation by others who may wish to preserve the memory of their friends. A fine photograph of the tieceased is sunk into the pedestal, embedded in a cement of shellac, with brass rim and a covering of glass. The base of the monument —the work of Mr (i. Munro—is of Port Chalmers bluestone, with a pedestal aud broken column twelve feet cix inches high.

A late telegram from India announces that J. Cracroffc Wilson, Esq., C.8., of Canterbury, has been created a Knight-Commander of the Star of India.

San Francisco mail for Wise's library:— "Notes on England," by W. Tame; "Story of the Plebiscite," by JLM. ErcknmnnChatrian ; " The Coclie," by author of "Oinx'6 Baby;" » Robert Ainsleigh," by Miss Uraddou ; " Hearth Ghosts," by J. A. Froudc; " Darntou Abbey," by T. A. Ttt>lJope ; " Wide of the Mark"; " Lord Kilgobbin," by Lever; " Highlands of Brazil," by Burton; "Janet's Home;" "Bridge of Glass," by Itobinson ; " Inquest of Coolies," byJ. Hope; " Country of the Dwarfs," by Da Cbaillu ; " Malvina."

The following books were received by the

The quarterly meeting of the Otago School masters' Association was held on Saturday, the President, Mr Milne, in the chair. The Secretary announced that the first order from a district association —thatt of Balclutha —for books from the central library, had been received. Mr Milne, the President, was elected to be the Association's representative at the Board for the examination and classification of teachers under the new regulations. Mr Russell, of Moirnington, was appointed to read a paper on " Compulsory Education" at the next meeting."

Mr John Muir writes to the Acclimatisation Society, that having observed no marked reference in the Society's Annual Report to the success of the green linnet in the neighbourhood of Dunedin, he has to state that during the lost month he has observed a flock of from twenty to thirty of those birds at the southern end of the Peninsula. He adds that they are in good condition, and beautiful plumage. Mr Muir also reports having seen, early last summer, a pair of rose linnets, near the Anderson's Bay road. He has since been informed that the same birds afterwards bred in a gorse hedge on Mr Cut. ten's property.

The hearing of the case, William NichoU, farmer. West Taieri, v. Harableton, engineer, Dunedin, being a claim of £49 ss, for alleged neglect on the part of the defendant to supply, before the 19th January, 1872, a reaping machine in good working order, and for loss sustained in jousequence, was continued from the previous day at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, and concluded. Damages were given for the plain, tiff in the sum of £40 and costii.

We understand the General Government have requested Mr Thomas Calcutt to proceed south and purchase the whole of the land required for the Invercargill and Mataura railway line, in view of an early commencement of the •works.

We received information last evening of the arrival of the William Davie at the Heads, from Glasgow, whence she sailed on April 6th. She anchored at tlie Heads, and will be towed into Port this morning by the p. s. Geelong.

The Suez mail, which was delivered in Dunedin on Saturday, occupied 50 days hi transit from London, via Brindisi. The San Francisco mail brought by the Nevada occupied 59 days in transit from London to Donedin.

It will be seen from the letter which wo publish in another column, from Andrew Fkasek, Esq., SherifF-Subsfci-tute of Inverness-shire, to Messrs Patrick Henderson and Co., the wellknown Glasgow shipowners, that a system is being pursued by the AgentGeneral in regard to persons desiring to emigrate from Scotland to Otago, which will put a stop entirely to the introduction of Scotch immigrants into this Province. Such policy, we venture to say, will meet with universal disapprobation in this part of the Colony. It is to be hoped that the Provincial authorities will remonstrate with the General Government, and insist that instructions be at once sent home to Dr Feathekston to make airangements for shipping from the Clyde all persons who may apply for passages to Otago.