AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1003, 18 February 1871, Page 5

AUCKLAND.

(from our own correspondent.)

January 30th.

Fires have been the order of the day. First we had the hold of the splendid clipper City of Auckland in a blaze. After several hours' hard work, the fire continued steadily gaining, and it was necessary to scuttle the ship. She has since been raised and brought into the jetty. The cargo on board was valued at L 20,000, but the damage will be slighter than expected, as the oil and gum are not much burnt, and the Bait water will not seriously affect their value. Nevertheless, the loss will be heavy, and is not without a suspicion of incendiarism in connection with it. The vessel was insured in London till 30 days after arrival in port. Instructions were sent home by last Suez mail to continue the policy, but it is feared the news of the fire may arrive by Atlantic telegraph before insurance is effected. Captain Ashley, her commander, is' an old trader and much respected. The damage to the ship is not serious; but the repairs and cost of discharging and reshipping cargo must amount to a considerable sum.

This fire was followed, in a couple of days, by the destruction of Archard and Brown's Kerosene 3tore, in Mechanics' Bay, and again in a couple of days, by the destruction of the Music Hall in Symonda street, both luckily being

I isolated from any other building. There is but little doubt that these were the aots of incendiaries. A somewhat ungenerous attempt has been made to fix them on the unemployed, but it is scarcely likely they would have selected such a miserable iron shed as Archard and Brown's at all events. A reward of LSOO and a free pardon have been offered — the former by the Corporation and the insurance offices jointly. The kerosene and store were all uninsured ; and it being the only kerosene store, we have to pay 8s for oil until new supplies arrive. The Music Hall was covered to the extent of LISOO, which must be very near its value. • It was owned by the Choral Society, and it will probably be rebuilt. In it there were many valuable musical instruments, and a large quantity of music, with a good Musical Library, the loss of which will fall heavily on the owners and on the Society. The permissive clause in the new Licensing Bill has been passed in the Provincial Council, so that no public house can now be established if two-thirds of the adults, male and female, resident in the district, should object. The machinery for working the clause, for denning districts, and for preparing rolls of residents, has not yet been created, and uulesß this be done the clause will be practically void. An amendment to extend the clause to wholesale licenses was at first carried, but thrown out on the re-committal of the Bill for that purpose. The Council has also decided that it is desirable to introduce under the Immigration aud Public Works Act small farmers, agricultural labourers, single women, and the relatives of residents in the province. The Education Bill is again thrown out, although on the present occasion it ignored the religious question, and left each district to adopt the sectarian or secular system at pleasure. Meanwhile the education of the people is at a miserably low ebb, and the energy that ought to be devoted to the ca iae> is chilled by a hope that the General Government will take the matter in hand next session. It is to be hoped that between the two Governments the unfortunate children will not grow up without adequate education, but it seems too probable that all who cannot afford private or semi- public schools will be badly off in this respect. Of the unemployed I cannot say much except that they are being professedly cared for by the Working Men'a Protection Society. The President of the Society, Mr Wetton, was charged by the Superintendent, when he called on him a few days ago at the head of a deputation, with having been dismissed from his post of lighthousekeeper at Tararu for gross misconduct. The charge was that he had purchased goods from an ironmonger for private use, and asked him to put them down as colza oil to the Government. To this charge Mr Wetton gives, so far, aa unsatisfactory reply — that he partly admits its truth, but says the goods were not articles for his private use, being tar and nail 3 for repairs to the lighthouse, which was leaking badly, but which he could not get the (government, without great delay, to repair. On the other hand, the charge, it appears, was made in July last, but not prosecuted, and Wetton has since been working for the Government. He submitted hiß case to a meeting of the working men, and has received from them a vote of confidence, and continues in his office of President. The proceedings of this Society are watched with considerable interest here, as it is felt capable of doing much good or evil according to the intelligence and character of the men who guide it. So far it has been well conducted on the whole, though the violent actions and speeches of a few of the members have roused mistrust among a considerable section of the public.

Native affairs are very unsettled. There is little doubt that a large party among the Maoris is bent on war, and only deterred by the fears of those tribes who have land to loße, and no heavy grievances at the moment, tt is feared that the war party will commit other murders, and not rest until they have embroiled the colony, and forced their friends to take one side or the other. This is the opinion of men well versed in Native affairs — all of whom, by-the-bye, are wonderfully unanimous in denouncing the Native Office as a source of constant irritation to the natives, and worse than useless to the colony. This office has its agents in every district. Generally they are described as halfeducated, pompous, and presumptuous, constantly interfering with the natives, and very often with the settlers, who dislike them very much, and who believe they could get on better without them. It. is also said that they are much interested by the Maoris, and that the change of policy by successive Governments has placed the agents in a position of apparent faithlessness in their dealings, which the Maoris do not understand. It is certainly strange that while the papers every now and then teem with accounts of their influence, they always prove utterly helpless in face j

of real difficulty. Such, for example, in the murder of Todd ; and it attracts con- , siderable comment that the chief of the department—Mr McLean— feels so little confidence himself in the overpowering influence attributed to him, that he has not ventured in the Waikato district, nor sent any of his agents there, in connection with Todd's murder and the threatened action of Tapihana and Whitiora.

As a specimen of successful mining on the Thames, I may mention the Kuranui, whose report has just been published. It is one of the largest claims, and has the best machinery on the field,' paid for out of the earnings of 1869, but leaving at the end of that year a debt due to the Bank of L4OOO. During 1870 its earnings were— from gold, L 36,26 8; from the battery, L 505 1; and from sundries, L 21 1; showing a pross total of L 41.530. Against this there was an expenditure of L 18.798, consisting chiefly of wages, L 11,036 ; fuel, L 1872 ; quicksilver, 1-398 ; machinery, L 1366 ; timber, L 704 ; ironmongery, L 149 7; and purchase of adjoining claims, LSOO. Of the balance, L 18,247 was paid in dividends, the debt of L4OOO to the Bank cleared off, and L 487 left at credit of the Company at the end of the year. Here we have the accounts of an evidently first-class mine giving a splendid return and with apparently a fine future before it. In the days of speculative mania this mine was held by 11 men in equal shares, and LIO,OOO was actually refused for one share. With such exaggerated notions of the value of mining properties, few who know anything of that peculiar business could be surprised at a sudden collapse. It is very satisfactory, so far as the province is concerned, to refleot that however serious the losses to individuals may have been, there are many mines now in working order and likely to be so for many a year to come, and that of these mines the Kuranui, though one of the best, is exceeded in richness by the Long Drive and others of that class. The Coromandel Reefs are ako proving rich, but old miners stick to the belief that the be3t quartz reefs will be at Ohinemuri.

The Tauranga mail is still carried from the Thames, though constantly threatened with stoppage. The letters and papers are disguised aa a parcel, and sometimes sent in a flour bag. Without such d- -d^ea —however distasteful— they would assuredly be stopped, as the Maori* there look upon the mail as the forennner of roads and telegraphs, both of whifh they hold in righteous abhorrence. The elections have besrun, w<\ so far the returns are — Reader Wood, Buckland, and A. Clark (Opposition) ; O'Rorke (doubtful) ; Swanson and Vogel (Government). The remaining Beats promUe to be well contested.