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Southland Times, Issue 1176, 14 June 1869, Page 2

We understand that His Honor tbe Superintendent will offer himself as a candidate to represent the Bluff constituency, in the room of Mr Longuet resigned. It i 9 understood that he will not be opposed. A meeting, for the purpose of dißCUß3ing the question of annexation to Otago, waa held at the Prince of Wales Hotel, on the afternoon of Saturday last, the> 12th inst., and was attended by about 25 gentlemen. Not being aware of the meeting— it was not publicly called— our reporte** did not enter the room until near the close of business, aad on proceeding to take notes in the usual way, was informed by a neighbour that in opening fche meeting, the chairman Mr T. M. Gierke, had, an behalf of those who had got it up, requested the representatives of the press not to publish the proceedings, the meeting being ouly a preliminary one. At the termination of business, oni reporter requested to be aUowed to copy the resolutions which had been proposed l and carried. This permission was at first refused but immediately thereafter granted. It was as follows, and of itself gives a good indication ofthe business in hand — " That a committee be appointed to communicate with the various country districts on the subject of re-annexation of the Province of Southland to the province of Otago, ahd to adopt such other meane to promote this objeot as to them may seem fit ; said committee to consist of Messrs J. W. Mitchell, W. B. Kingswell, Or. Dawson, T. J. White, J. H. Smith, J. P.Joyce, L. Longuet, P. M'Ewan, P^ Dalrymple, T. M. Ulerke, W. Craiij, T. Swale, ahd R. Swale, with power to add to their number. This formed in reality, the whole of the business, and seemed to* meet best the views of those present. Several amendments of one kind and another were brought forward and elicited a

good deal of discussion and a great variety of opinions on the subject, but were ultimately withdrawn, and the motion given above allowed to pass. From Stewart's Island T»e 'earn that no trace, has yet been found of the oid man, Walshlager, | who went aims-sing oa the 20th of last month, although search has been made for him ever since in all directions. Our informant further states that Buckley's party are still working at Ruggedy Beach and Smoky Cove, and are making wages. Another party of diggers, from Orepuki, are also on the Island, on a prospecting expedition. They now on the southern coast, but whether succfssful in discovering gold or not is yet unknown. ■ The Auckland * Weekly Herald,' of the Bth inst., has the following :— " A year or two, and Auckland will number amongst her citizens thanks to the incredulity with which the richness ' of the Thames reefs wai for a long time received elsawhere — more men of larger wealth than all the Australian colonies put together can show j and when we take into account that ouly a patch of the actual goldfields at the Thames have aa yet been opened to European enterprise, who shall say fvhat our future has not {in store for us — wealth, population, political freedom from Middle Island interference, and the first place in commerce amongst the Australasian colonies." An advertisement elsewhere appearing, informs the members of the Invercargill Volunteer Rifle Qorps that an inspection of arms, by order of the General Government, will be made at drill, oa Wednesday evening, 23rd inst. We understand that Capt. Elles will be present on the occasion, as the representative of the Government, to see that the rifles and other accoutrements are all right. Absentees lay themselves open to a fine of £1, which is to be moßt impartially exacted. A San Francisco contemporary says : — The days of bowsprits will soon come to an end, at least for two masted sailing vossels. All Beamen agree that the immense weight of the bowsprit, with its bobstays, bowsprit shrouds, and other attachments, rack a vessel most terribly in a heavy gale, and it is seldom that they can be so secured as not to cause a leak. Next week the new hermophradite brig Nautilus, will arrive in this pori from Puget Sound, and will undoubtedly command the attention of seamen. The Nautilus is about 300 tons burden, 105 feet length of keel, 25 feet beam, and 10 feet depth of bold. She is an extreme clipper, after a model furnished by John Daily, in accordance with hia own views and those of Captain Matthew Turner, one of her owners, and late master of the Timandra. She will have no bowsprit ; her foretopmast stays set up directly at the knightheads. She will carry a i jibboom of the usual size, and capable of being , rigged in and out whenever necessary. Her fore- : mast is stepped 38 feet abaft the knightheads, ' affording a vast scope for canvas. A double set ** of chesstrees have been provided for boarding the l foretack, the foremost pair being so far forward . as to allow the brig to he as close to the wind as a fore-and-after. There will be no collars to her , standing rigging j but it will hang from a heavy wrought-iron band around the mast heads; the ' band being supplied with strong eyea into which ■ the rigging will be hooked. A great many new i and well considered changes from the present , style of rig will be observable. The Nautilus is prove the fastest sailer on the Pacific. She is built expressly for the Tahitian trade : in which Captain Turner has 3 been so long successfully engaged. Lieut: Maury, ■ who formerly superintended the Government I Observatory at Washington, pays the highest . compliment to Captain Turner, whom he considers j one ofthe ablest navigators of the age. Great I curiosity is evinced to see the Nautilus, which will probably be the first vessel to inaugurate an entirely different style of bujid and rig. We " feel great confidence in her entire success, in l which case the days of bowsprits will have come to a sudden and inglorious termination. They ; are terrible strains upon a vessel, take up a great deal of room and cost a good deal of money. i The ' Wairarapa Mercury ' states that land in that district still has soma value in the market, although but nearly nominal. A property consisting of 1,100 acres, situated at the head of one of the branches of the Warehama, was sold last week, by Mr Bellis, together with 1,100 sheep for the sum of £1,100. Mr Dymock was the purchaser. The 'New Zealand Herald' of 10th May says .* — " One of the most extraordinary yields of gold we have yet reported from a claim at the Thames is the result obtained from 3501bs of stone taken from the Long Drive claim, and crushed on Friday at the Kuranui ones tamper battery. It speaks alike for the claim and the machinery. The result was 1185ozs. of pold, or at the rate of nearly three and a-half ounces of gold to the pound weight of stone." The following items of intelligence will be read with interest : — " The Auokland Grammar School was formally opened by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the 17th inst. The Duke planted a couple of Norfolk Island Pines in the school ground, in commemoration of the event. On the forenoon of th« 18th, His Royal Highness aud suite were busily rehearsing for the evening's theatrical entertainment at Government House. At a.30 p.m., in the presence of His Excellency Sir George and Lady Bowen, he planted a Wellington Gigantea and two Norfolk Island pines, on the lawn, in front of the vice-regal residence; and subsequently went out riding. In the evening he was present, and assisted in the performance at Lady Bowen's "at home." The I whole affair passed off most successfully, the acting being quite equal, as a whole, and iv the 6cene from " Henry VIII." superior to anything of the kind produced even on the professional boards in Auckland." Of the performances the 'N. Z. Herald' writes thus .* — " The orchestra, in which some fifteen musicians took part, was a very fine one ; and the duet for two violins, by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh and Mr Chevalier, was much admired ; so muoh so, that His Royal Highness kindly continued the performance for BOine time. In the farce of 'A Night at Notting-hill,' the acting of lieut. F. riomiUy as Alderman Syllabub was much admired. Altogether, we must congratulate the Galatea in having a theatrical company of its own, of far move than average merit. The curtain fell to a perfect shower of bouquets. j

Six brace of pheasants were taken by the Duke of Edinburgh from Auckland; for distribution at Tahiti and the other islands of the Pacific to be visited by the Galatea. A letter from Waikato, received in Auckland, states that Kereopa, in addressing the natives, at Ohineroa, expressed his determination to "eat the eyes of all the clergymen in the island." This declaration, says the .'Southern Cross," is unique as well as singularly characteristic, but we aro inclined to think that Kereopa has set himself to accomplish an impossible task. A friendly chief has also seat notice that Kereopa intends to make a raid upon Tauranga, and that Te Kooti may at any time make his appearance in Waikato, at the head of an armed force of Ngatitaoroas, Ngatihauas, and Uriweras. We learn from a contemporary that a new, and so lar the moat feasible scheme of telegraphic communication between Australia and England, has been proposed by Mr W. B. Fowler, late chief inspector of the lines and stations in South Australia. He proposes to carry » line across from Adelaide to Port Lincoln (167 railis), thence by land to King George's Sound (1047 miles), Perth (205 miles), North-west Cape or Nicol Bay (634 miles, and thence to Java by submarine cable (800 miles). The total cost is estimated at £325,380, and the calculations of revenue made by Mr Todd, the Superintendent of the South Australian Telegraph show a profit of 20 per cent., without subsidy. The sea between Nicol Bay and Java is free from coral. Mr Fowler is at present in Melbourne with the intention of organising a company to carry out the project.