NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 904, 27 March 1869, Page 14

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

Ropata, the well-known Ngatiporou Chief, has been gazetted a Major of Militia. Fcrty Californian diggers lately arrived in \ Auckland by the barque Domingo, intending to proceed to the Thames. j We learn that Hugh M'Dermid, Esq., has resigned hiß seat in the Executive Council, of which he was a member without office. The thistle nuisance is beginning to attract attention in some of the southern districts of Canterbury. A rumour meutioned by the Timaru Herald states that a boiling-down establishment is to be erected in the Temuka district. A second brewery is about to be erected at Wetherstones by Messrs Bastings and Kofoed, the proprietors of the one already in operation there. A Mr Bragginfc[has contractedgto kill 2000 wild pigs on the Huangaroa Station, Wairarapa, lately bought by the Hon. Mr Waterhouee of Adelaide, for the sum of Gd each. At a recent fire at the Nelson Creek diggings, Grey district, water t eing scarce, a barrel of ale was started, and the liquor employed to put out the fire. Another heavy flood has taken place at Westport. A large portion of the town was flooded, and considerable damage was done to the wharves and streets fronting the river. The names of the Rev. Abraham Honore and the Rev. Jacob Levy have been added to the list of officiating ministers under the Marriage Act, 1854. The election of Mr Thomas Birch as member for Dunedin in the House of Representatives, is officially notified in the New Zealand Gazette of the 19th inst. The School-house, Macrae's Flat, is appointed an additional polling place for the electoral district of Waikouaiti, for the election of members of the House of Representatives. A very successful trial smelting of some of the Taranaki iron sand, took place at j the Thorndon Barracks, Wellington, on the j 3rd mßt. The sand in question was brought j to Wellington by Colonel Hanltain, at whose suggestion, the experiment was raade. A limited liability company, under the name of the Wreck Recovery Company, has been registered in Wellington. The special object for which it has been formed is Btated to be the purchase and raising of the s.s. Taranaki. A man namrd William Kirby was received into the Dunedin Gaol on Tuesday, from Switzers, for obtaining money under false pretences from Mr Varley, having been sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour, by J. N. Wood, Esq., R.M. Fifty-three young trout were turned out into the Kakanui river, at Dr Webster's, a day or two ago. Mr Clifford's care was rewarded on this, as on previous occasions, by the complete success ot the operation, not a single fish being lost. On Saturday afternoon Mr Cutten, whilst driving in his buggy along the Anderson's Bay road, had a narrow escape from a serious accident, by a horse shying against the horse he was driving. The shafts of the buggy were broken, but no further injury was done. Our Blacks correspondent states that the first ball of the Blacks Temperance Society came off on the 18th, and was attended by 50 persons. The' surplus proceeds, amount-, ing to about Ll3, will be given to the Clyde Hospital. — The oat crop at Blacks is fully] double what it was last year. We are requested to call the attention of Trustees in Bankrupts' estates to a notice! published by Mr G. Brodie, the Accountant | va Kankrnptoy, in the New Zealand Gazette of the 19th inafc, requiring them to furnish periodical accounts, &0., addressed to his office in Duaedin.

A mining work of some magnitude has been commenced at Switzers. A new flunaing is being constructed there which will carry Carney's well-known race at a higher level than that which it has at present. It is estimated that the work will coat about LSOO.

The bread controversy is still going on at Tuapeka with undimuushed vigour. .Numerous complaints are made that the bread sold by the bakers in the district is very much under full weight* The approaching visit of the newly appointed Inspector of Weights and Measures is eagerly expected.

Camels are coming into use as a means of transit over the arid plains of South Australia and Victoria. On a recent occasion, a caravan of 65 camels, each carrying 6cwt., and accompanied by 30 young ones, conveyed goods from Adelaide to Mount Murchison, on the Darling, at a cost of Ll4 per ton.

The mining progress of Victoria is summarised in a i-ecent issue of the Mining Record, as follows : — Where 18 years ago not a man worked there are now 64,65S miners, and 1043 steam-engines engaged on SB4 miles of reefa, the total value of plant being estimated in round numbers at L 2,150,432., 150,432.

The system of bi-weekly payments lately introduced by the Provincial Government of this province, has been adopted also by the southland Government. It is officially announced that the Treasury of that province will in future be open for the transaction of public business on Tuesdays and Saturdays only.

Fo'lowing the example set by the General Government, an attempt is abont to be made by private parties to utilise the iron sand of 'iaranaki. According to the Independent, a gentleman residing in Wellington has entered into partnership with a gentleman in Dunedin for that purpose, and operations are shortly to be commenced by them.

The rabbit nuisance is now demanding attention in another portion of the Colony, m which it appears to be spreading. In the Kaikmira district, Marlborough, the rabbits are described as being " a perfect pest and intolerable nuisance" while an "importation" of ferrets is about to be made for the purpose of keeping them down.

A new brick yard has been opened at Waikouaiti, nearly opposite the Cherry farm flour mill. The site would appear to have been particularly well chosan, as, according to the local journal, excellent clay exists there for the manufacture of bricks, while the main road passes in front of the establishment, thus affording a ready means of transport for the bricks to any quarter.

The seat for the Taieri in the Provincial Council rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr Kobertson, is not to go begging. Three gentlemen are named as candidates, Mr Culling, Mr Maddock, and Mr Rennie, all three of whom have, we are informed, expressed their willingness to be nominated. Mr Maddock's address to the electors is published in the Times.

A notice in our advertising columns intimates that the nomination of candidates for the representation of the Taieri district in the Provincial Council, will take place at noon on Monday, the 29th inst, and the poll on the following Thursday, the Ist proximo. The polling places for the district are the schoolhouses at East, West, and North Taieri, Lake Waipori, Otakia, and Maungatua.

A meeting of the Committee of the Horticultural Society was held at the office of the secretary on Wednesday. A sub-committee was appointed to award the amount of prizes for the late show. After some discussion, it was resolved to call a general meeting of the members of the Society, to consider the advisability of holding a third show on the arrival of the Duke of Edinburgh.

The following was the state of H.M. Gaol, Dunedin, for the week ending on Saturday laßt : — Penal servitude, 20 men ; hard labour, 77 men and 10 women ; imprisonment, 2 men ; in deiauit of bail, 3 men and 1 woman ; debtors, 4 men ; total, 10b' men and 11 women. Twelve men and 5 women were received during the week, and 7 men and 4 women were discharged during the same period.

It is said that the steamer Tairoa, which is at present advertised for sale, is likely to be bought for the Fiji trade, should sufficient support noi; be accorded her to enable her to continue in the very useful coastal trade in which she is at present engaged. The sternwheel steamer Tuapeka, which is similarly circumstanced, will, according to the Bruce Herald, be placed in the Port Chalmers trade.

We understand that the Horticultural Societyrfpurpose having another show during the Duke of Edinburgh's visit to Dunedin, and that, with a view to aid in forming a prize f and for that occasion, Captain Fraser and Messrs ft. Gillies and A. Beverly, returned the prize money obtained by them at the show held on Friday. We trust their praiseworthy example will be largely followed. / ii **• We learn that Mr Samuel Gibbs, repre* senting the township of Oamaru, and Mr Robert Mitchell, representing the district of Waikouaiti, members of the Provincial Council, have resigned their seats. It is also reported that the latter gentleman has resigned his seat in the General Assembly as member for Waikouaiti, but the report requires confirmation. Writs have been issued and are returnable within twenty-one days.

Yesterday a deputation from Blueekiu waited on. His Honour the Superintendent* for the purpose of requesting that a grant of ten acres of land should be made for a reserve, and that the disk-ict should receive a share in the money voted for the establishment of an Agricultural and Pastoral Society. His Honour the Superintendent expressed his willingness that both requests should be s. ranted, and the deputation, after thanking him, withdrew.

The undermentioned prisoners were received into the Gaol on Monday, committed from the West Taieri Magistrate's Court, by James Fulton, Esq. E.M :— James Ross and Jonathan Berin, for stealing a quantity of clothing from a dray at Mosgiel, the property of Mr John Campbell, sentenced each to four calendar months' 1 imprisonment with hard labour ; and James O'brady, sent to gaol for two calendar months, with hard labour, as a rogue and vagabond.

News received from the Longwood goldfields, Southland, states that operations have been commenced by the lately established Water Kace and Quam Reeling Company. This company is preparing to bring in a race five miles in length on to the ground at an estimated cost of L4OO. The levels are on the point of completion, and the cutting of the race is expected to begin shortly. Any reefs or leaders that may be in existence will be laid bare in cutting the channel for the race.

Garotte robberies are reported to have been frequent in Auckland and the Thames for some time past. Ordinary punishments having been found there, as in England, to have but little deterrent effect, Chief Justice Sir George Arney has determined to put them down with a high hand. Accordingly, on a recent occasion, three ruffians, who were convicted of this offence, were sentenced by him to twenty lashes with the cat, in addition to long terms of penal servitude.

Sydney papers of the 11th inst. state that the Duke of Edinburgh, who arrived there on that date, was to remain there for fouror five wt-eks, during which time the Galatea would undergo a thorough cleaning. Such being the case, he cannot be expected to arrive at Wellington before the 15th proximo, instead of the 29th inst., as stated in a telegram in our i jsue of yesterday. This is unfortunate for Otago, as the season will be far advanced before we can look for his arrival here.

The Galatea, one of the three di edges in operation at Alexandra, made an attempt to commence working a few days ago. The river, however, was still too hiyk, and the attempt consequently proved unsuccessful. One of the dredges lately consimcieri, of whioh mention has already been made in ourcolumns, made a similar effort, but was equally unsuccessful. The men, however are by no means daunted by their failure, .md. expect to be abe to work withe 1 '- mlerruptiun in the course of a few days.

We uuderstand xh.it the following resolution has been p><sse 1 hy the Church of England Committee at Clyde: — "'That a grievous wrong has neen done both to Bishop Jenner and to the nv-ni'iers of the Church of England within tlie Diocese of Duncdm, i\y the refusal of the Bishop of Christchurch to allow Bishop Jenner to officiate in his ministerial capacity, in consequence of which refusal the members of the Church have been deprived of an opportunity of fairly judging of Bishop Jeuner's fitness for the position of Bishop of this Diocese."

The take- all blight, whose ravages among the wheat crops both in Australia and New Zealand have of late attracted the serious attention of the agricultural community, is stated by the Melbourne Economist to be owing to the ruinous system, so largely followed in both colonies, of growing cereal crops on the same land several years in succession, without allowing the ground to rest. The best means of averting the evil consequences of this practice is stated by the same journal to be by using mineral manures, lime especially being recommended.

The following is the Hospital report for the week ending Saturday last : — Patients in the Hospital at the beginning of the week, 109 men and 20 women; total, 129 Admitted during the week, nine men and six women ; total, 15. Discharged during the same period, cured and relieved, nine men and one woman ; total, 10. One man died

from lumbar abscess . Casualties admitted — Henry Collett, fractured arm ; Catherine Sharky, fractured leg ; and John Wilkinson, injury of the spine. The out-patients averaged daily, 26 ; tne number of each sex being equal. Patients in the Hospital at present, 10S men and 25 women ; total, 133.

j The following extract from a letter dated [ Westport, flew Zealand, October 10th, wag i published in the Glasgow Herald of 19th December last : — " Westport is a wonderful place — the mountains seem full of gold. Some of the diggers make about LBO per man a-week, and about 16 OuOozs of gold leave Westport every month. The township is not a quarter of a mile from the sea, and at the back hills upon hills rear their heads in majestic splendour — some covered with perpetual snow. The goldfields are quite rfjlose to üb— in fact, all round us. The diggings are six miles off ; Giles's Terrace, three ; District Leads, three ; Addison's Flats, six ; Charlton, 20 ; Brighton, 32 ; and Grey, 70 miles. People in Hobart Town fancy this a barbarous uncivilised place ; but it is quite the reverse.

The first escort from the Greenstone diggings arrived in Hokitika on the 2nd instant, bringing 1000 ounces of gold.

The present state of mining matters in the Arrow district is thus commented on by the Lakes correspondent of the Dunstan Times : — The Arrow district is better than it has been for the last three yearß past and is still improving. Some of the sluicing claims up the river are turning out handsomely, nine and ten pounds per week being by no means uncommon, while by tunnelling into the "ter races" Jrom twenty to thirty pounds per week is being made by shareholders. The long deserted a rrow Flat promises once again to become a scene of busy labour. A company is being formed to rescue some of the auriferous treasures immured there by the floods which have swept down the river since the great tiood in 1863. It is proposed to cut up a tail race from the Criterion Cc.'s dam, which is to be removed. This will lower the bed of the river some eight or ten feet, and cause a very large area of ground to become workable.

A fearful accident occurred at Newcastle recently, to a .young man named Lewis Jones, of that city. He and other young men were amusing themselves on a Sunday afternoon on the edge of the cliffs, by throwing stones into the sea, seeing which could throw the fartnest. Jones was on the edge of the cliff, and whilst in the act of picking up a stone the ground gave way from under him, and he was precipitated head foremost on to the rocks beneath, a fall of at least 200 feet. Assistance was soon at hand, but on reaching the spot where the unfortunate young man tell, it was found that life was extinct. His neck was dislocated, his skull broken, and other severe injuries were sustained. Drs Bbwker, Codrington, and Harris were soon on the spot, but their services were of no use. The deplorable accident caused quite a sensation in the city, and hundreds of persons assembled on the top of the hill and rocks. The deceased was 21 years of age, and was much regpected.

A machine for preserving "meat by means of retnyeration has recently been invented in Melbourne by a Mr Postle, and it is said to answer the desired end. It was formally put to the test by a number of gentlemen, when it satisfactorily proved, according to the Argus, its capability to produce extremely cold air, aa the thermometer indicated a temperature of 32 degrees below the freezing point, the zero of Fahrenheit. The apparatus may be briefly described as consisting of a pump for compressing air, and of a cylinder for utilising the expansive force of the compressed air. In the latter cylinder the air expands and gives back about 80 per cent, of the force used in compressing it. Whilst expanding and doing work it becomes extremely cold, and in this condition it is forced out of the cylinder into the receptacle containing the meat to be cooled. Mr Postle's method of preserving meat by merely cooling it down to about the freezing point possesses this advantage over frozen meat, the meat will not require to be thawed on its arrival in the home markets.

As a sign of the increasing interest felt in Australian affairs on the continent of Europe, the Argus mentions that one of the leading journals of Madrid — La America— a fortnightly publication, which combines the leading features of the London Spectator, with some of the literary characteristics of the Revue dcs Deux Mondes, has a correspondent in these colonies. In looking over a file of the America, which numbers among its contributors writers of the highest eminence, like S. S. Amador de los Rios, Breton de loa Herrero3, Colmeiro, Hartzenbusch, Ochoa, the Duke of Rivas, and others, we find an accurate statement of the commercial transactions of Victoria and New South Wales, together with an indication of the openings which present themselves for increasing the trade between Spain and Austral ia. The writer seemsto beof opinion that the choice iiour and wheat of Castile might be laid down in Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and Otago, by Spanish merchantmen, taking, as return freight, cargoes of coal to Valparaiso and Cal'.ao, where they would obtain loading for Spain. He quotes from official documents and from the Argus statistical tables, showing the external commerce of this colony and its eastern neighbour, and having thus consulted the tastes and interests of the mercantile readers of La America, he proceeds to gratify its literary subscribers by translating into good Spanish some of the poetry of the Maoris. It must be acknowledged that, to the eye, half a dozen lines of Spanish verse, with its redundance of vowels and its liquid " n's," present a considerable resemblance to the language of the aborigines of New Zealand. There is also a very accurate rendering of the address transmitted by the Maori chiefs to Her Majesty on the death of the Prince Consort.

The suitability of gun-cotton as a substitute for blasting powder in mining operations has lately been discussed in Victoria. Experiments made in that colony by a Mr Thompson, appear to prove that the use of gun-cotton in blasting operations is advisable on the score of effect, economy, and personal safety. The following particulars regarding it are furnished in a recent issue of the Argus :—lts: — Its special advantages, as detailed by Mr Thompson, are that it occupies less space, and thus saves labour, as borings only a third of the depth required for blasting-powder are needed. ; that the eftect is greater, the rock being usually shattered all round the bore ; that no smoke proceeds from it ; and that it is more manageable altogether than the powder. With reference to the alleged danger or exploding the guncotton whijLe tamping the hole, Mr Thompson remarks that a little care prevents any risk of that kind, When placed upon an anvil, and

struck by a hammer it explodes readily, but when placed upon wood, stone, or brick and struck with 'a wooden mallet, it cannot be exp'oded at all. The tamping of the holes with a wooden tamping bar is, therefore, an effectual preventive of premature explosions. An inch cartridge of the cotton is equal to two ounces and a half of good blasting powder, ' when used in rock of medium hardness, 1 But the proportions vary with the character of the rock ; and where the stone is broken up by numerous joints, blasting powder has more effect than cotton. Exploding the cotton ty percussion increases its power by one-half or two- fifths, and therefore a much greater effect is produced if a litt ( e 'lasting powder is laid on the top of the charge of cotton to fire it. Several trials of this system were made by Mr Thompson, and the results proved Shat a reduced quantity of cotton with blasting powder to fire it, did equal or better work than the full charge fired in the ordinary way. The method recommended by Mr Thompson is to put half an ounce to an ounce of blasting-powder in a piece of calico, and tie it to the fnse, the end of which is inserted in the powder. This is placed on the top of the cotton instead of wadding ; the hole is then tamped and fired a3 usual.

All the leading English journals Beem to agree in thinkir g that New Zealand must be left to itself, so far as the settlement of its Native difficulty is concerned. The Satnrday Review concludes an article on the subject with, a description of the suff- rings which the colony must beprepared to endure, in the attempt to carry out a self-reliant policy. It says : "We cannot blind ourselves to the dangers and horrors which are but too likely to precede the issue. The first militia which marches to meet the enemy will probably h e drawn into the bush. It will Jose heart, as M'Donnell's volunteers lost heart, and will carry back disaster and dishonour to the towns whence it had been sent. It must require months to learn the duty of coping with a savage enemy in the bush. Again, a man must have the quality of command strongly impressed on his own character before he oan venture to exercise the powers of a military leader over a body of colorm+s Ifc would take some time to find thf proper leaders ; and more time for the leaders, wuen found, to discipline their followers. Meanwhile the war would go on aa wars with barbarian races always do go on. And how this is, must be known to all who are familiar vp ith the history of American colonisation. The war with the New Zealandera would be like the wars with the Pokanokefcs »ndthe Narangansetts. There would be the same ambuscades ; the same raids on small villages ; the same firing of honses ; the same captures of women and children ; the same terror ; not perhaps, the Bame barbarity or the same reprisals. There would be the same disunion among the volunteers, the same distrust of their leaders, the s*me jealousy among their leaders. Without a single regular soldier — for whn,t could two or three companies do in the field ? — tbe war would linger on till all the men in the Northern Island had taken up arms, and were followed by those of the Middle Island ; till the military spirit had animatedm ated the whole country ; and till the whole population was possessed with the on 6 idea, that of extirpating "the savages." Then, after years of conflict and cruelty, the wretched natives would be destroyed amid the smouldering elements of a prolonged war, and the honour of the British colonist would be avenged. The prospect is not cheering ; but it is, we fear, the prospect which sooner or later must be confronted by white settlers among alien and barbarous races. At all events, it is better that the war, if war there muse be, should be fought out by the colonists themselves ac their own, expense, than that we should keep 10,000 regular soldiers in the colony to repel aggressions which we have not provoked, and to protect people who are strong and numerous enough to protect themselves.