THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 291, 3 August 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

English like, we may as well commence our monthly budget with thQ never failing subject, the weather, as with anything else; especially as we had to announce in our last that a pitiless rain was our constant guest during the month of June. The whole of July has been quite the reverse; one cannot imagine more magnificent weather; at the same time, weather more congenial to the health, and benefir cial to the land. Smart sharp frosts at night, succeeded by a most glorious sun throughout the day, shedding its benign rays without intermission, making all within range of its influence happy and comfortable. In fact, it is the most enjoyable weather we have ever expetienced. in all oar wander-

ings. Such a soothing effect has it that we would not indite a libel even if we could, and which was never our intention. Our Summary must not be looked upon as what is generally termed a l<leader'; it is not usually written by the editor, and it conveys more the opinion or gossip of the public than any judgment of the writer. Such is the case with two of the articles complained of in our April summary, for one of which we are sorry that we have been the unwitting cause of our worthy publisher being mulcted in the sum of £80, with heavy costs. The other was that of the Governors of our College. Nothing was further from the writer's mind than to accuse them of doing whatthey ought not; and another perusal of the paragraph will show that it was given merely as the floating idea of many persons here. However we have pleasure in saying that such idea is utterly unfounded. The Militia, the embodiment of which caused such dissatisfaction, and tended so much to fill up the volunteer ranks, has been disbanded for so long a period as the Volunteer Corps are kept up to a respectable number. The various companies of Nelson display a praiseworthy zeal^in their exercise. We gave formerly a list of the members of those companies then formed and officially acknowledged. Two companies were reserved as City companies. We give the names of the No. 2 Company :— Captain—Nath. Edwards. Lieutenant—A. Kerb, Ensign—-B. O. Hodsson. George Aiken M. Lightband Duncan Macintosh John Warren Henry Buckeridge J. Hollis James Smith E. Jones G. Buckeridge T. Rentoul , Thos. Cotterell Robert Rentoul * • Henry Adams C. W. Mooro George Cate J. Pratt Charles Balme J. Gore E. Jennens J. Graham 0. Edwards C. Jennens W. Harris J. Lewthwaite Thos. Anslow J. P. Black H. J. Goodman J. Sait i Robert Lucas • R. Coulman Charles Stafford J. Rowe A. Hibble W. Healey Thos. Usher R. Nanearrow F. Forman Redwood Cooko J. Hacket S. Young F. A. Waxman W. Hale J. Jenkins L. Nash E. J. Brock . H. Baly D. Moore R- Percival A. Hunter D. f razer. jun. J. Goodman R. Powell C. King W. S. Cross E. Pilchard B. W. Fahy. We give the Customs Returns for the March quarter for the various Provinces of New Zealand, with the returns of the corresponding quarter of 1859 :—

All the lands now, we believe, in the Middle Island are purchased from the natives. This has taken some years to accomplish, but it has been most satisfactorily settled, so that none of the disagreeable doings going on in the Northern Island can ever take place in any of the Provinces of this Island. In agricultural matters we are advancing most cheerily. Besides the establishment of an association with which is connected a good library of the best works on stock and culture, we have had a ploughing match, in which some beautiful handywork was exhibited. The following is the result of the day's work: —For the first class— Horses, without a driver (three prizes, £4 £2, jgl)--there were ten competitors. Second class—Bullocks, without a driver, no competitors. Third class—Bullocks, with a driver (£4, £2, £1)— there were five competitors.. The fourth class was for ploughmen under sixteen years of age, for horses or bullocks with or without a driver —two competitors. The first prize was gained by Davison, Rose, and Sullivan (an extra prize was recommended by the judges for Woolnough). The third class North, Banger, and Hammond; fourth class, Lines and Herrick A more rational day's useful amusement could not be enjoyed. Davison, who won the first prize is described as a canny Scotchman; his horses were young and mettlesome, but "with a soothing voice and a steady rein he put in his plough, and turned over the straight and well-measured furrows. He commenced ploughing an hour after, and finished an hour before the advertised time." The winner of the second prize, Rose, " had a very steady team, and, his furrows were beautifully straight and equal, but his grass was not wellput out of sight." An extra prize for the second class was awarded to Woolnough, whose ploughing was declared by the judges as the " prettiest in the field, but not deep enough." The plough was sent out to Woolnough by his brother, of the firm of Priest and Woolnough, King-ston-on-Thames. ''With this plough he had been able to turn such a very narrow furrow, had skimmed it so deeply with thg skim-coulter and set it up so very close together, that the very, judges themselves were deceived as to the depth at which he really had ploughed his ground."- The other ploughing, even of the unsuccessful candidates,-was most excellent. Another novelty came off at Richmond —a dramatic entertainment, entitled " A good heart compensates for many indiscretions." The various parts were enacted by the children of the Richmond school, who severally sustained the characters appropriated to them with pleasure to themselves and parents, and credit to their instructors, Miss Spencer and Mr. Hodder. We have had another visit by one of those erratic wanderers, a comet. It was attended with nothing extraordinary beyond an enormous and unusual haul of fish, to the delight of the gourmands and others, as a change from the beef and mutton and

mutton and beef, the staple food of the place. Chrome ore has been brought down in quantity from the Croixelles mine, where there appears to be an inexhaustible store. The Dun Mountain Company will soon g»t their Act for the formation of a tramway from their mine to the port, now that the General Assembly is sitting. This will make us all alive, and give the ships from England good ballast and something more to take back to the old country. Mr. Balme has enlarged his foundry, the 'capabilities of which are now almost equal to anything but the casting of Whitworth or Armstrong guns. A weighbridge, by Medhurst of London, too, has been erected near the Wakatu Hotel, by Mr. Lewthwaite. Luckily we have very few accidents to record. A little boy was drowned in the Wai-iti, Waimea-south, by becoming benumbed and falling down while crossing that river. There is now a beautiful road, with a few boggy exceptions, for nearly thirty miles from the city through the Waimeas. We scarcely ever saw better roads in England in the palmy days of Macadam, The road through the Wairau Gorge, by which an overland route can be made from this Province to that of Canterbury will be finished during the next summer, when any one fond of the romantic, with such a modicum of danger as to make it pleasant, will take this route in preference to steaming or sailing. Our various societies—Building, Savings' Bank, &c.—-keep on steadily,, and, a.good deal of money gets into useful%id legitimate channels, which would otherwise be spent in places of very doubtful benefit to the public. The Harmonic Society, though so recently established, had a private concert, when selections from the oratorio of Judas Maccabeus, songs, quartettes, &c., were given with great effect. Considering the short time this society has been established, and the number of members who did not know anything of music a few months ago, the manner in which this, the first concert, was performed, is highly creditable to those who had the management of it. All hail to music's power 1 We have better news tp give of the goldfields now that the preliminary works, which occupied so much time in consequence of the nature of the country, of the various small companies are completed. Two large companies, to whom the General Government has granted some two thousand acres of supposed auriferous land, will shortly get to work, when the western side of the bay will become a scene of busy industry. The prescribed term of office of four of the members of what is somewhat pompously termed the ' Board of Works,' having terminated, an election took place, when one of the retiring four was re-elected. The censurable apathy displayed by the public in the election of various committees, we are glad to see changed on this occasion into busy activity, as shown by the number of candidates proposed. Still we should like to have seen more electors at their post, and it is hoped that every man having a voice in however small a matter will use it: by this means only will things be properly managed, and Committees, and Councils, and Boards be prevented from dwindling down into cosy cliques and snug factions of favoritism and personal benefit. An enormous report was produced on this occasion;. it reminds one of the sea serpent or wonderful crocodile. Should its merit be measured by its length, then must it be declared a most meritorious production. But we hold as a general rule that voluminousness is tediousness, and vice versa. The sum of nearly £2,500 has been expended during the past year, leaving a balance in hand of over £600. This fund has been raised by various means, such as j grants from the Government, &c. The actual amount of rates levied last year was £1031 3s. 9d., by a three-farthtng in the pound rate on the ' value to sell' of the town property. In connection with the improvements of. the town may be mentioned the Church Hill, which had been so mangled, and hacked, and angularised, by pretenders to taste and improvement, that it became a complete eyeaore, and in wet weather the approaches to the church were impassable. It is now nicely sloped and the angularities rounded, the slopes are well turfed and trees planted; ao that it is not tnly a very commanding site, but displays great taste in those who have so ably superintended the works, among whom we have seen most conspicuously, at early dawn and dewy eve, our Provincial Secretary, Mr. Domett, and the ever active member of the Board of Works, Mr. J. Webb. ~ In the Resident Magistrate's Court, a great many cases have been disposed of, but fortunately they have been of a very minor character, small debts principally. One case is important, as involving an engagement in England to senre as housemaid in Nelson for two years, at the rate of £25 per annum, to commence from the time the vessel sailed from London. The young lady, after a fortnight's service (supposed to have superior attractions elsewhere) left the service; but was brought up by her employer, who wished to recover so much of the passage money (£3O) as could be recovered in this Court- The excuse was that " she had too many cats and dogs to feed, and too. many mistresses over her." Ordered to pay £20, and to forfeit all wages during the passage. Some Waterfordian freaks have been perpetrated at the quiet little township of Motueka, on the other side of the Bay. Several fast yrJung and elderly persons were taken up, and, without very much direct evidence ; were committed to. Nelson jail, there to expiate the crime s of breaking the rest of sundry of hbr Majesty's liege subjects, as well as breaking various posts x rails,, fences* gates* &c.» &c There

mutton and beef, the staple food of the place. Chrome ore has been brought down in quantity from the Croixelles mine, where there appears to be an inexhaustible store. The Dun Mountain Company will soon g»t their Act for the formation of a tramway from their mine to the port, now that the General Assembly is sitting. This will make us all alive, and give the ships from England good ballast and something more to take back to the old country. Mr. Balme has enlarged his foundry, the 'capabilities of which are now almost equal to anything but the casting of Whitworth or Armstrong guns. A weighbridge, by Medhurst of London, too, has been erected near the Wakatu Hotel, by Mr. Lewthwaite.

are few knockers or bells in the neighborhood, or they would .doubtless have met with a similar fate. , ■ The Drstrict Court this month has been a .sinecure to all concerned, only a few debt cases being brought before it, in all of which judgment went by default. ! The half-yearly sitting of the. Supreme Court took place this month. We consider the judge's address to the grand jury a very meagre, commonplace affair.' It has already • received some comment in our columns; it can therefore be allowed to pass for what it is worth. One most dangerous doctrine of Judge Johnston we must strongly demur to. In the summing up of the case for asserted libel he said, • If a man privately misbehaved himself, he must not be slandered because he held a public office.' Now we te)l Judge Johnston that if he committed any acts against society^ then it is the bounden duty, not only of the Press, but of every individual member of society, to denounce lany one guilty of such acts. There were two cases of sheep-stealing, in both of which the defendants were acquitted. One case of highway robbery, accompanied with violence, resulted. in:i the committal of one of the defendants to prison, with hard labor for two years, and the acquittal of the other. These.two men had committed a most brutal.assault prior to this, which we commented oh in our last. The great, gun of the assize was the trial for alleged, libel against the proprietor of this journal, for a paragraph which appeared in our summary for April 3rd, which paragraph our District Judge pounced upon and applied to himself; and by means of some witnesses who swore and affirmed that they took it to aPP!y to the said judge and to hone other; and by means of that novelty in- English1 jurisprudence;—a special jury—a verdict was found in favor of the judge, and the publisher,[being the weakest vessel, has to stump up eighty pounds—the value estimated by the said special jury of the damage sustained by th 6 said judge by the said harmless • skit '—besides heavy costs— heavyj even when put through that farcical process, taxing. Why, we make bold to say that had we quoted generally any one of the commandments, witnesses could have been found to make a special application of it. With due deference to the worthy counsel for the defence, we must say that had the plaintiff in this case been counsel, the verdict might have been different. We assure our lawyers that, unfortuuately, they are not in the position as regards the press, as the priests in Cardinal Wolsey's time. This worthy minister of a worthy monarch told the said priests that.unless they suppressed the press, the press would suppress them. But we stop. Thus ends this second episode in Nelson's history prior to the establishment of a censorship of the Press, which we strongly recommend to our office-creating Government. If we have any one weak or strong point about us, it is on. the. subject of flax. For years have we now been advocating the. importance of this material as an export to the old couutry. We have watched its growth, have seen'it cut from the swamp, and by the most simple yet expensive process turned into a beautiful fibre; and yet by some mismanagement, designed or otherwise, it never makes its way into the English market at a payable rate. Two or three patents have been applied for to iprotect the inventors of improved processes in preparing flax. Messrs. Burns and Route, of this city, will send off several tons to England, via Sydney by the mail steamer. On this lot more care has been bestowed than on any other ever sent from this port. The flax has been sorted or taken from that state in which it was dressed, and laid out, and tied up into handfuls of about two pounds each, at a cost of about £8 per ton, arid then packed up into bundles of about thirty pounds, for the purpose of delivery in England in the same state as flax there is received from the continent of Europe. This has been done principally as an experiment to test the value of New Zealand flax as an article.of export. The flax sent hitherto from New Zealand has not been subjected to this operation; and unless straightness of fibre be a consideration at. home, that amount of money could be saved by sending it in the same state as it comes from the mill, a sample of which also will be: sent with the six tons prepared as above. The flax has been pressed by a. powerful screw press, so that no drawback may affect the export as regards bulk. .

The steamer Airedale arrived in port on Wednesday morning last, bringing files of Auckland papers to the 27th and Taranaki papers to the 28th July. She reports the brig Union to be lost with all hands on the Manukau bar. The Pride of the Isles, which left this port with coals for Taranaki, has not been heard of. The Airedale left last evening with commissariat stores, and is expected back on Sunday next.

Quarter ended March 31, I860. Auckland £16,06 9 19 6 New Plymouth 1,318 15 2 Wellington 8,194 17 3 HawkesBay.. 2,099 II 11 Nelson 3,982 10 10 Lyttelton 8,104 7 4 Otago 6,528 1 4 Coiresponding Quarter, 1859. £12,504 16 1 904 8 10,954 15 1,176 19 3,807 17 7,407 15 5,127 11 £46,298 3 4 £41,834 3