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Southland Times, Issue 1869, 23 February 1874, Page 2

Immigration. — Our local Immigration Officer does not allow the passing hours to pass unimproved. In public or in private, in town or country, he grasps at every opportunity of per— tuading people to induce their friends at Home to come to the Colony. He soattera his persualions broadcast, and it does not seem as if they were in the habit of falling on stoney ground. From the 20th of October, 1873, to the 19th instant, no fewer than 2038 immigrants were nominated through the Invercargill Immigration Office, or more properly Officer (Mr Pearson), who is certainly the right man in the right place. Good Tempiary. — The report of the committee of delegates appointed to consider the question of the best means to be taken with members who violate their obligation, was unanimously adopted by the Wallacetown Lodge at its meeting on the 2fith inst. Wardens.— The following gentlemen were, on the 20th inst., appointed Wardens of the New Kiver Hundred : — Capt. Thomson, and Messrs Lawrence, Brook, Boyd, Russell, and Dunlop. Pabliament. — A Gazette Extraordinary was issued on the 18th inst., releasing members from attendance at Parliament until 30th April next. Appointments.— His Honor the Superintendent has appointed J. H. Baker, W. Wood, and W. P. Grigor, Esquires, residing in Invercargill, to act as Trustees of the Sinking Fund of the Mun icipal Corporation of Invercargill j and Mr H. G. Fielder an Inspector of Sheep for Otago. Dibeot iMMrOBAHON. — The following telegram from Mr Vogel, dated Auckland , February 20, was received on Saturday by Mr J. W. Mit chell, chairman of the Railway and Immigration Committee : — " I have advices that the Navvio sailed for the Bluff during January with 300 emigrants." Steambb foe Melbourne. — We received an intimation from the agents, Messrs H. J. Gibbs & Co., too late to make the necessary alteration in the advertiaement, that the s.s. Albion will leave Bluff Harbor for Melbourne on or about the 28th inst. Theatbicax. — On Friday evening the Queen's Variety Troupe made their first appearance at the Theatre Royal. The entertainment consisted of songs, comic and sentimental, duets, dances, marvellously well-executed gymnastics, and a farce. Mr Ritey as a singer of caricature Irish, and Mr Baker of Negro songs, were excellent — especially the latter ; and both, judging by the frequent applause, made a most favorable impression on the audience. Of Mdle. Blanche's performance on the trapeze it is impossible to speak too highly— it is above qualification. The combined ease, grace, skill, precision, and dexterity with which Bhe performs her surprising feats is most wonderful ; nor is the performance of Mons. Hamew, her fellow gymnast, a whit less surprisingly clever and astonishing. While going through one of their difficult and dangerous feats on the double trapeze, Mons. Hamew fell, but without injuring himsel', or in any way disturbing his own equanimity. There was a good house at the Theatre on Saturday night, when Mr Baker, Miss Tilly Andrews, and Mr Riley, as comic singers, and Mr Mason as a step-dancer, were each highly appreciated by the audience— and deservedly so. Of the gymnastic feats and aerial performances of Mdle. Blanche and Mons. Hamew, the audience manifested the most enthusiastic approbation ; and taken as a whole, the entertainment, which concluded with a farce, was pleasing, and worthy of praise. A new programme is announced for to-night. The Ship leon Kino — The hull of the Iron King, recently stranded near Adelaide, waa sold for £490. MISB Eioise JtTNO. — An act of kindness, performed by Miss Juno, ia thus related by the Launceston Chronicle : — " We recently referred to the kind visit paid by Miss Eloise Juno to a poor actor suffering from a fatal disease, in the general hospital here. Miss Juno authorised him to receive such luxuries as the medical gentleman would permit, at her expense. The poor young man, Mr George Melville, breathed his last on Christmas Eve, at the age of 23 years. Ho was closely connected with a highly respectable family in England." Peotinoiai. Government Railways.— lt is '. said that the Provincial Government has now in < hand, to be contracted for, 62 miles of railway, and 24£ miles in course of construction. Tenders are elsewhere invited for three branch lines in 1 the Southland district. No. lis an instalment i of the Riverton-Orepuki line, 7£ miles j No. 2, i Riverton to Wallacetown, connecting with the ' Winton line at the Makarewa bridge, 12i miles ; i and No. 3, Riverton to Otautau, 16 miles. < Habvbst. — The Lake Wakatip Mail reports i that a most bountiful harvest has beeu secured I in that district in splendid condition.

An Old Acquaintance. — The contract for the construction ot the Manawatu Gorge bridge has been let to Mr H'Neil (formerly of Southland), for something over £12,000. The building of the bridge (says the Hawkt's ßay Herald) iis a work of some magnitude — the centre span in it is 164 feet. The Manawatu River is a serious obstacle in the way of the south road, the water having been known to rise 40 feet in one night. The work of bridging will be corathenoed as soon as the cement and iron arrive from England. Mr M'Neil is a well-known contractor, he having been the builder of the Wanganui bridge, and also that over the Tamaki, in the province of Auckland. Pakbha-Maobis. — We extract the following from the Waka Maori : — Our Maori friends in past years were familiar with a class of men known as " Pakeha Maoris." The genuine old Pakeha Maori is no longer to be found in these degenerate times — he has long ceased to exist. Hie class was variously represented. First, there was the indolent, do-nothing Pakeha Maori, who generally located himself in some Maori Pah or village. Tbe chief business of his life consisted in eating, smoking and sleeping. He was aceusItotned to watch, with eager eye, the culinary preparations of each family in the village, and at such times was always to be found waiting by the side of the pot or native oven containing the greatest delicacies. When filled to repletion, he would recline beneath the shade of some weeping willow tree, and smoking himself to 9leep, bee ome oblivious of the world and its cares. As a rule he was uneducated and ignorant, although he professed to instruct his Maori friends in all the mysteries of the Pakeha economy. He was very fond of descanting to strangers of the Pakeha race upon the pure descent of his native wife from the chieftains of the highest rank, and his own " great expectations " from her extensive claims to land. Although naturally lazy he would on special occasions put forth great energy, and show great powers of physical endurance — that is to say, on pig hunting, fishing, and such-like expeditions — and he was consequently patronised and petted by the natives amongst whom he sojourned. Sometimes he waa intrusted by some trader with a supply of merchandise for trafficking with the natives, which he speedily distributed among his native friends in general, and his wife's relatives in particular. We know one of this class in the Ahuriri district, of whom it was said that, whenever he obtained a stock of goods, he used to pasa the ends of his rolls of calicoes and prints out of the window, and allow the native women to poll away at them till they cried out in their timid diffidence, " Stop, Bobby I stop !" This kind of Pakeha Maori was thoroughly identified with the Maories — in fact he was a Maori in all but the color of his skin. Deep Sinking ik Viotobia. — A Sandhurst correspondent of a Melbourne paper writes as follows : — The subject of deep sinking on the linea of quartz reef in Victoria is one of importance just now, not only to the inhabitants of goldfielda towns, but to the whole population of the colony. In the Bendigo district payable stone has been worked down, from and near the surface, to 300ft. and 400ft. on many of tbe lines of reefs where a hard granite or sandstone formation comes in, with occasional layers of blue slate, and the reefs, where they exist in such " country," are for the most part poor and unprofitable. This is the cause of the great stagnation at present in Sandhurst, and the cry ie, " What has become of the gold ?".... The deepest shaft on our main or middle line of reef is that of the Johnson's Reef Gold Mines Company, which is 72Ofc. This is in the old or southern claim, and this work is being watched with great interest, for there is no denying the fact that if a rich reef is struck at that depth, or deeper on this lin;e, or on some of the other lines, the permanency of Sandhurst as a prosperous place for scares of years to come will be established. -^