AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1159, 14 February 1874, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

{FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) The anniversary of the Province was celebrated with great energy on the 29th instant. In every direction picnics, steamboat and railway excursions, Sunday school feasts, and Good Templar festivities were the order of the day. The great event was the regatta — the best by many degrees that we have yet tad, and perhaps the best that could be found in New Zealand, if not iv. the Australian Colonies. Auckland is admirably situated for aquatic sports. Few who can afford it are content without owning some kind of yachtgor cock'boftt. The abundance of water communication throughout the Province favours tbo growth of a large mosquito coasting fleet. The excellent supply of cheap timber has also given rise to a large and growing ship-building interest. Our builders are making a name for themselves throughout the Colonies. Vessels are constantly on the stocks for other Provinces, and a good many have been built for Fiji. A large muster was therefore natural, but the show of beautiful small craft of every conceivable build and rig surpassed expectation. About £250 was collected for prizes, but the weather, unfortunately, was calm beyond precedent. From nine in the morning till three in the afternoon there was scarcely a breath of wind, and by that time the harbour was studded with forty or fifty competing vessels, besides any amount of others, all becalmed or drifting in clusters with the tide. At three, a breeze sprung up, and the remainder of the day was far more suitable, and, I need not add, enjoyable. The chief interest centred in the performances of the strange-looking yacht, built for Mr Street, of your city. The Winona, as she is called, is only 17 tons, on a draft of 7 feet 6 inches. Narrow, sharp, and of peculiar lines, with two-thirds of her tonnage in iron ballast, general opinion ran strongly against her. Some thought it iin-po.-sible she could take any place in the race at all, but no one expected to see her come in second. She has great height between decks, and her cabin is thus very roomy, which is prcbably one of the objects sought in her peculiar build. In a light breeze her weatherly qualities carried all before them. What she will do in heavier weather, is now the point on which discussion turns. An opportunity will probably be given of proving this before the Winona leaves, as the owners of the Daphne, another beautiful and favourite cutter of 30 tons, are not satisfied at being beaten, and intend challenging the Winona for another trial. The racing went off without the least dispute so far, and the umpire's services were not required. The wide and active interest felt in this regatta is likely to give a new impulse to boat and yacht building. Next year's show will probably bean that of 1874, which certainly justified the pride all Aucklanders feel in their harbour, and in its capacity as a nursery for sailois. I ought, by-the-bye, to have mentioned that the yacht by which the Winona was beaten was the Fleetwing, of half her size, a noted little craft, but who owed her victory on this occasion to an extraordinary local breeze, which carried her aud the next little craft, the Contrabandiere, nearly two miles ahead of the others, whom the breeze did not reach. We have nothing new in Native affairs beyond much talk about the next great Native meeting, to be held in March. One day we hear it is to be held at Taupo, and that Europeans are to be invited. Noxt day Te Kuiti is the place, but it is pretty sure to have some practical end if the report be true that it is convened by Manuhiri, and that he is to be the leading spirit. The Luna brought up 25 more Armed Constabulary, and the Government are evidently preparing to show a bold front in case of need. The precaution is wise, for the Natives are far from settled, either among themselves or in their relations with the Colony. Land, as usual, is at the bottom of the disputes, and in land questions they are more obstinate and suspicious than on any other. The Superintendent, Mr Williamson, has made a tour through the Northern districts, and been everywhere warmly welcomed. His personal popularity is enhanced by the broad views which he lays before the people assembled to meet him. A magnificent district, full of coal, timber, and good land, stretching from Auckland to the Nortk, is lying comparatively waste. It possesses splendid harbours, and fine large navigable rivers, but tbo land in the neighbourhood of the harbours and along the rivers is either poor in quality or covered with dense kauri bush. The kauri, as a rule, indicates poor land, and is not in favour except for saw mills, of which many, representing some hundreds of thousands of pounds, are now in vigorous work. In the centre of the district there are, however, extensive valleys admirably suited for settlement if only roads were made to them. To this question tho Superintendent's attention is mainly turned. Ho is promised active co-operatiou on the part of the Colonial Ministry, aud hopes to get a sufficient sum from them to opon. up a splendid stretch of agricultural country. The prospect is cheering, and causes universal satisfaction, 'though there are many who would prefer that the end could be gained in some other way. Auckland's contribution to the general revenue for 1873, was £262,000. It seems hard that she can only get the money requh'ed to develope her resources by an unilinching support of particular men as Ministers. Such, however, is the case. In Otago you are saved by the laud revenue from falling into this position, but Auckland members seeing their Provinoo drained of its general revenue, and having

nothing to fall back upon, must look to the loans to make good the deficiency. _ Prom a Provincial point of view the policy of cooperation with the General Government is manifest. From a Colonial point of view, there are obvious and serious objections to a great Province being thus held in leading strings, and being dependent for a fair 1 share of the expenditure on the good will or caprice 1 of any Ministry whatever. So long, however, as the General and Provincial Governments have no defined sphere in which each can work independently of the other, it is not easy to see how the position now taken by Auckland could be avoided, nor a healthy, sound, parliamentary opposition stand the least chance of existence. What people want is money spent on roads and works. Give them that, and they will condone many offences in their representatives ; but it the latter are suffered to stand in the way, they will meet with little favour in asserting the independence of their Parliamentary positions. This is how men talk of affairs here, and I leave you to draw from the various opinions your own conclusions as to the effect of such views on parties in the Assembly. Education is also to be provided for, but the details of the proposed measure will not be known until the Council meet in May. The Highways Act is to be amended, chiefly with a view of enabling an acreage tax to be levied. This, however, will require the consent of the Assembly, and it is believed will not be agreed to by runholders and others owning large blocks of uncultivated land. It is also suggested that members of Highway and Educational Committees should be paid, which will not meet with favour from the ratepayers ; and that members of the Provincial Council should be ex officio members of such Committees. This will be met by the objection that it is always open to ratepayers to elect such members on committees if they wish.^ A further proposition is to make one committee do the work of both Highway and Education Committees, but it is objected that men quite suitable for one may be less so for the other. The confidence felt in Mr Williamson is, however, amply shown by the reception he has everywhere met. His power in the Assembly ought to be, and will be, considerable, as many of the Auckland members — and in fact all who desire to stand well with their constituents— will readily follow his lead. People are quite alive to the difficulties he has to meet, but they have a perfect faith in his ability and sincerity, and are sanguine of his success now as in other times, when he has done much to raise the Province from depression, and to infuse energy aud hope into public affairs.

The dry weather continues, and is affecting seriously the supply of logs to the saw mills. It used to be the practice to collect by dams the water in the creeks, at the head of which the trees are cut. These dams are filled with the rough logs, the water suddenly let out, and the timber rushed down the stream to the mills. Tw> questions arose in consequence of disputes between Mr J. S. Macfarlane and a neighbouring mill owner. What right has one man to use a creek running through another's laud, and is driving a dangerous practice? The first point, the Timber Floating Bill of last session sets at rest. Any creek can be used, provided security be given against possible damage to the adjoining land. It was generally thought that this permitted "driving," but Judge Arney has refused to allow that stipulation His Honour holds that if it had been the intention of the Legislature to allow this practice, the Bill would have expressly authorised it. Until that express authority is obtained he refuses to regard it as settling anything beyond the right to travel by water through another's land. In this dry weather the question has unusual importance, and the Judge's decision causes great dissatisfaction among those who have risked many thousands in an industry which is one of the most valuable in the Province. No doubt a vigorous effort will be made to have the Act suitably amended next session.

Gold mining is looking up, especially at Coromaudel. Tl c Tokatea mine has fallen off in its yields after paying between £45,000 and £50,000 in dividends. But its revival is looked upon as sure at lower depths, and meantime the adjoining claims, Van and Margarets, are at last on good gold-bearing leaders, after spending nearly three years in the search. The Waikoromiko— a district lower down on the Kennedy's Bay side of tho range — is also attracting much notice, and a good deal of gold is being got in small parcels by the men on claims there. At the Thames hopes are fixed on Tookey's, and the Albion especially ; but the Caledonian is still keenly watched, and the mining from the Pumping Association's works at the 400 ft. level is expected to open up payable country. Every holder is disgusted with the low price of his shares at present, and a very general determination to have nothing more to do with mining is manifested. But lam much mistaken if on the first good find there is not as great a reaction to the opposite extreme. Those who now refuse to look at shares at any price will then be anxious not to be too late. This was tho caso in the lnsb rush, and will be so again. At the Thames buyers are more steady, but they know what they are about. The Auckland people are not miners, and, as iv all such cases, their speculations aro in shares more than in the mines themselves. Hence they move in crowds, and in times of excitement go as far in the one direction as they are now going in another. The excitement while it lasts is genuine, despite the assertions which I have seen in Southern papers to the contrary, and at such times there are no more firm believers in their own mines than the Auckland people themselves.