AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1342, 18 August 1877, Page 6

AUCKLAND.

KAURI BUSH LAND.

A very good proof has just been given of the increasing value of kauri bush lands, favourably situated, in this Province, the Tairna Company having sold theirs for £32,000. The bush is a very extensive leasehold, obtained from the Maoris at a nominal rental for 50 years. The real consideration to the Maoris was a considerable amount paid down. Subject to this lease at a nominal rental, the freehold was afterwards purchased by the Government, and figures for some fifty thousand among the acres "purchased in the North," of which the Assembly has at various times heard so much. The purchasers from the Tairua Company are the Union Sash and Door Company, one of our most promising and most flourishing adventures. The Tairua Bush is on the East Coast, a little above Tauranga, and i 3 considered one of the best in the Colony. It has been scarcely touched, and will keep the Sash and Door Company going for many years. This Company, by the bye, has just paid 25 per cent, dividend on its last year's operations.

SETTLEMENT.

A new Agricultural and Pastoral Association has been formed with powerful support and every prospect ot success. The attempts hitherto in this direction hare not been fortunate, but both the agricultural and pastoral interests have grown much during the last few years. The Waikato and Piako have been the chief centres of this increase. The lands in the North are more broken, and suitable for a different class of settlement. An unusual and very large area has been planted in fruit trees— especially lemons— in the north this year, and it will in the long run hold a much larger population than the south, which is, however, far more in favour at present.

COURSING.

The first coursing cratch in the Province was held last week. There were 12 entries. The hares were numerous, and I am told the ■whole thing went off well. The remains of the unfortunate Puss were secured by one of our hotelkeepeis, and the skin was stuffed In memory of the event.

MASONIC.

Mr George S. Graham, agent of the Norwich Insurance Company, and one of our oldest and most respected residents, has received the preliminary announcement of his appointment as Provincial Grand Master of the Auckland Masons, E.C. This is the result of a long continued effort on the part of th« Auckland Lodges to have a Provincial Grand Lodge of their own. The Scottish Constitution have only one for the whole North Island, but their Lodges are less numerous, and the plan is said not to have worked well even with them. Mr Whitaker is their P.G.M., having succeeded Sir Donald M'Lean, on the death of the latter.

THE VOLUNTEER SCRIP.

The Volunteer scrip has long been a sore Bubject in this Province from the difficulty of finding land open for selection, except in " the refuse of the refuse" bought from the. Natives. The Government last session made all lands, confiscated or otherwise, subject to selection, but render this nugatory by not handing over to the Waste Lands Board any worth selecting. The holders of scrip complain of this as a dodge to do them out of their chance till the legal time has passed during which the selection can be made. They are very indignant, and apparently have succeeded in making themselves heard, as it is reported the Government intend to buy up all outstanding f crip ac par. Considering that much of it has been bought at 10s in the £, and a very g»-eat deal at 2s 6d and ss, the speculators will net do badly by accepting par.

THE REV. C. R. HASSAED, Incumbent of St. Matthews, is about to leave Auckland, on a short visit to England, for his wife's health. He will be very much missed, for he has managed to inf nse unusual life into a large congregation. Mrs Hassard is as active and popular as her husband, and many hundreds will wish her a speedy return from England in renewed health. I have not heard who is to take Mr flaasard's duty during his absence.

THE PORT AUGUSTA COPPKK COMPANY.

A company has been formed in Auckland to work a newly discovered copper mine in South Australia. TM3 will seem strange, while we have so many mines wanting capital for their development among ourselves. The explanation is this : A shepherd in the back country of Australia discovered a fine outcrop of copper some years ago, but the place was then too much out of the way to think of working it. He left for the New Zealand goldfields soon after, and only a few months ago observed that the country in which he formerly lived (about Port Augusta) was being opened up. He got a few friends to subscribe for a prospecting y.arty, which he guided, and returned to Auckland fully armed with surveyors' and other reports, showing that the lode had been traced for 600 feet, and gave 42 to 45 per cent, of copper. The company has been formed on these reports, and all the shares are taken up. The nominal capital is £30,000, in shares of £1 each, but as the company has been privately formed I cannot give any information as to the distribution of shares. The names connected with it are good and undoubted.

THE UNION INSURANCE COMPANY'S shares are being eagerly applied for in Auckland, and it is likely to prove a great success. The difficulty will be in the allotment, as the number applied for will very much exceed those that can be given to this Province.

STARVED TO DEA,TH*

An old soldier of an old Highland regiment was found last week dead in his bed — or on the planks that did service for a bed — and the Coroner's Jury decided that he had died from want of food. The old man was 72 years 01 age, a shoemaker by trade, and well known ia the neighbourhood. He had been ill, and was urged to go the hospital, but refused to do so. A neighbour swore that he had supplied him with food several times, and it was impossible in that case he could have died from starvation. No food or trace of food was however found in the stomach, and the verdict was in perfect accord with the medical evidence. Either dread of the confinement, or dislike to what he regarded as cLarity, deterred the old man from seeking admission to the hospital. Be that as it may, it is a terrible reflection that an old man of industrious, and (as far as the evidence went) sober habits, should perish for want of food in a new and flourishing Colony. There is

A GREAT DEAL OF MISERY without doubt among a very different and much more hopeless class than this old soldier ; who had at least his trade of shoemaker to fall back upon. A very numerously signed memorial purporting to be from labouring men and mechanics out of employ had also been presented to the Mayor by a deputation appointed for that purpose. Measures have been at once taken to find them in work zt stone breaking, and all the contractors of the Harbour Board and City Council hav9 been refused further extension of time for their contracts, so that they might not leave the men unemployed. We must, I fear, look for more complaints of this kind now that the expenditure of borrowed money is to cease. Why more immigrants should, with such prospects before ns, be introduced into the Colony is puzzling every one, and the sooner it is looked into the better. No extensive immigration is happily contemplated in this particular Province, as we may infer from the GoVernment having used as Court of Police buildings, or handed to School Committees and other public bodies, nearly all the immigrant's portable cottages that were sent to various parts of the Province. Eighty of these structures were pnt together at a cost of £12,000 to £16,000. Only 13 are left, and they are to be also distriouted among bodies able to put them to a useful purpose.