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Southland Times, Volume 3, Issue 101, 14 October 1863, Page 2

An advertisement will re found in another column calling a public meeting, to consider what action the people of this Province ought to take in order to prevent the proposed diversion of th ■ Oreti Railway to Wallacetown. We need not remind our readers that the matter is of vast importance to the people of Southland. The interests Of a whole community are in danger of being sacri. fiucd to tho wishes of a few ; the best professional advice obta.nuble in the Province being ignored. The meeting is to take place at Mueller and Geisow's rooms, Tuy-street, at 7 p.m. The evening sittings of the Provincial Council are well attended by the general public, in the hopo that something brilliant in the way of postprandial speeches may be presented to their craving for good oratory. Tnat hope has not 3'et, however, been realised — the House having been almost always in committee, wherein the only eloquence was, the always recur, ing monotonous sing, "Clause read, stand part of the Biiy a id the voice of r.he Clor.c. meandering through heart-breaking legal phraseology. Tjo members, at these ■ evening sittings, as time wears on, and clause after clause stands par! of the Bill, look woefully used up, and many of them sigh as they think that Bellamy's is no nearer than the Provincial Hotel. Some may be seen to suck oranges furtively under cover of large inkstands, and others can be observed plying themsclver quarter-hourly from decanters that contain alas ! — but water. The unfortunate speaker has a sad time of it dropping in at one chair and out of another; for no sooner is the great functionary comfortably seLtle.l in one, thau so nebody wants to report progress to him, an.l he has to jump into another. Tue ordinances discussed are dreary enough to send the mist excitable Chairman of Committees, who ever c Elected " Ay< b and Noes," to sleep ; and low breathed groans of ennui m:iy lie c m, r bt by tin attentive listener, as the monster cande'abrum in the centre of the table, beams down upon yet another " Cimeterips Bill." Biryond the bar, there is usually a crowd of spectators who hang breathlessly upon every word that is uttered, and to whom the bare contemplation of the drowsy legislators is apparently h ippines*. From the gallery above, too, come admiring glances, and whilst ■ sleepily discussing how Pedlars and H-iwkers arc to be better controlled, tho honorable gentlemen have a proud consciousness th;it the cye'of tbc world is up m the members of the Provincial Cjuncil of Southland. A search hns been instituted by the Harbor Mister for tin; bodies of the two men supposed to be drowned off Mokomoko ; as yet, without success. From an advertisement in another column, it will be seen that Professor Parker, so well known in Victoria and elsewhere, as an expert swordsman, is about to pay us a visit, and exhibit his feats. Wo are not aware if there is any one here who can handle rapier or claymore, but if there be, the Professor, no doubt, will be happy to give an opportunity for a friendly "joust." O)i Monday afternoon, a meeting of the Finance Committee of the Invercargill Volunteer Fire Bai^ade, took place. Mr Chapman, the Secretary read a report of the requirements ot a suitable Brigade. The sum of £14 had been raised for a nook and Ladder Company. Some discussion following, it was agreed to refer the matter to Messrs Henderson, Hatch and KingsLind; as a select Committee. A meeting of the Church of England Amateur Concert .Committee to <k place yesterday afternoo i, at Mr S-juth's office. Two gentlcmeu were appointed to wait upon the ladies of the town, and enlist the services of the musical. A list of suitable songs, glees, &c, was handed in by the Secretary, and various preliminaries settled for the first concert, which will take place some six weeks hence. We may direct attention to a valuable table < f postal returns, furnished by tho Chief Postmaster, and published in another column. In the Police ■Court, yesterday, Archibald M'lntvre and James Tobin, were fined 2)s each for being drunk in the streets. A nuisance case was disposed of with a fine, though the Counsel for the defence maintained that the authorities who allowed fascines to rot about the streets, were guilty of a much greater nuisance. The Resident Magistrate replied that if he would bring them before him and establish a couviction, he would visit them with the heaviest penalties of the law. The audience were a good deal* amused, and looked at Mr Commissioner We'don, as much as to suggest that that gentleman oug'it to immediately have the Provincial Government and Town Board and their Engineers apprehended. Tae inhabitants of Kelvin street have to con gratulate themselves on the fact, that the side walk s are being rapidly pushed ahead. The roadway however, is still in a most deplorable state — quife as bad, in fact, as any of the remote streets in the back portion of tho town. The common occurrence of n horse and dray in a "fix" was again to be seenyestenlny in Tay street, opposite the Royal Hotel. Sive the stopping of the centre of the road for a minute or t>vo no damage was (tone . The glory of the Lachlan diggings is amongst the things that were. The Sydney Morning Herald of the 21st September says: — "Every day readers the Lacbtan gold fields more and more dull, as claim after claim is worked out, and nothing fresh is presented to give employment to the miners thus set free. The consequence is, that the population is gradually dwindling down, and that amongst those that remain there is a want of that energy, that can alone render speculation successful."

We regret' to learn that Mr /Thomson, the^detective officer, last week "underwent two painful „ surgical operations, which were necessitated by bi> continued exposure to wet and cold, whilst in the discharge of his duties down the bay." The opera" tions were skilfully and successfully performed by Dr M'Clure, the Provinciel Surgeon, under whose' care Mr Thomson is now progressing favorably, and will shortly wo trust be able to resume his duties. The New Zealander has the following respecting the reinforcements for' the colony :—" It is satisfactory to find that before the present spring ' shall 'have" waned, there is, at length an assurance that gallant General Cameron will have a force at his disposal commensurate with an energetic prosecution of the Waikato. campaign. Hobarfc Town has sent every spare bayonet. - Adelaide follows suit. Melbourne, ever magnanimous lias denuded herself of every infantry ' soldier, with an intimation that the artillery shall follow, if required. And wo further learn that the Governor of New Zealand need but. to ask and have the steam sloop Victoria placed at his dis^ posal. Even. tli3 selfish Government and more selfish members of the Sydney Legislature have been put to shame, and out-voted by their more magnanimous fellow representatives, and after all the ignoble huckstering, it has been finally decided that the whole of tlie troops are to be sent hither: Volunteer militia of a high class and character continue to flock to our colonial standard. From Otago, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland fully seven hundred fine young fellow* havo arrived within the last two or three weeks, whilst we hava intimation of quite as many more being on the way ; and no abatement of enthusiasm on the part of others to embark in n life of military colonisation Tue Indian reinforcements, of whose arrival we have for months spoken with unshaken confidence, may be immediately looked for.' These are to consist of one Queen's Regiment and two battalions of Sikhs: The brave old 48th — the Northamptonshire, and tlie gallant 50th — Queen's own —are feoth confidently spoken of. We incline to think the 50th is the more likely regiment of the two as it was stationed at Ceylon, with the view of being moved thence to Madras. B >th regiments are well known to and held in hio-hest esteem by the old colonists of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land ; and both corps have been particularly distinguished in every quarter in which their services have been required. Our naval force, which has been on the reduced establishment for a length of time, will, ere long, be restored to full efficiency; The Curacoa, a remarkably fine screw frigate, of 1571 tons, 350 horse-power, built at Pembroke in 1-854, from designs furnished from the Navy Office, originally mounting qlrrty-one medium guns is to be amongst the additions. During the Crimean war, she played a distinguished part at Eupatoria, uuder command of C.iptain the Hon. G. F. Hastings, C. B. Previous to her jHresent commission, she underwent an entire renovation, and in some respects, re-construction. The number of her guns has been reduced to 23, but the weight of metal thrown, and tho range of lire mightily enlarged. Sho arrived at Sydney on the 15th instant, wearing the broad blue penant of Cnmmodore Sir W. S. Wiseman, Bart., an officer of great scientific attainments, and well fitted for the honorable post he has been elected to occupy. The Curacoa, it is said, would sail ,from Sydney for Auckland on Saturday the 19tb, and that she would bring with her the remainder of the 12th Regiment, including a draft of 95 men just landed from England, by the new irou clipper ship City of Sydney. U.M. s.s. Eclipse, 6 guns, Commander Miync, had been docked. Her copper hid been replaced, and all other defects made good ; and she only waited the final touches being put to No. 3, ns tho Waikato gunboat has been temporarily named, to escort her to her destination. All the ■ accounts ot this anxiously looked for stranger are extremely satisfactory, except that the repelling boarders by jets of scalding water has proved to be a failure. Otherwise she is pronounced to be a great success. Lot us hope, then, that No. 3 will prove as conspicuojs in our Waikato cause, as No. 290 has done in that of the Confederate^ The Esk, 21-gun corvette, built at Milhvail in 185 i. also from designs of tho Navy Office, may hi speedily expected. The number of her guns ha * likewise been reduced, and their weight of met;l augmented. She measures 1169 tons, and has engines of 250 horse power. We may as well mention lliat there is a rumor current that the troops from India will consist, accordio<r to tome, of throe Queen's and no Sikh regiraenls. According to others, of one Sikh and two English battalions. Whichever statement maybe the correct one, we believe there is no question that that trooper cf troopers, the superb iron screw ship Himalaya, 6 guns, 3453 tons, 700 horse power, Captain E lward Lacy, will be the medium for conveyance of a large portion of the force. We have ascertained — and we have every confidence in the accuracy of our information — that no Sikhs are under orders ; but 3000 men of Queen's line ; what the number of the regiments arc we have not been able to learn. 1 ' Tne correspondent of tho Nelson Examiner, writing from the Bailer River Diggings, of date 18ih September, thus describes the state of affairs there :— " By this steamer you will see the large j nugget, found in a small tributary of tho Lycllj bat uot in the river, it was found about one hundred yards from it, in a bank. Its ownership is disputed, as the mates disagree, oh© sa3'ing he had it before he attempted working the claim, the other denying it, and saying that its finder had no jrolil when taken into partnership. I expect yonr Resident Magistrate will have to decide if-., although here we have no tloi-.bt as to the ownership of it. The Sturt, 1 think, brings about 300 ounces of gold from here. The road party are knocked off. Do our Government think they are pursuing a course that wiil make the Buller hold to Nelson if ever a cry of separation is raised ? The Canterbury ■Government, we hear, are striving all they can to open their way to the Grey, and yet, j ust at that moment, Nelson ceases to employ men here. We had thought they intended opening up a road throughout the Buller. If they merely meant squandering money, why did they nut give it to certain men and say " share it among you." If roads are not opened, this district is not worth much. I may tell you what I know, that tw o men, in three weeks, on the Lyell, got eightythree ounces of gold ; those are the two men who are dispute about the large nugget. Is not such a district worth opening ? Or must its wealth lie hidden for years ?