THE PROVINCES.

Colonist, Volume XVII, Issue 1870, 2 February 1875, Page 3

THE PROVINCES.

(Front late Exchanges.) The Mayor of Oamaru has given the handsome sum of £100 towards the coat of the erection of a Lying-in Ward in connection with the local Hospital. ( A subscription has boen opened at , Oamaru and at the Waitaki Brjdge for the tj relief of the members of the Troupe of which i the unfortunate Miss Jennie Anderson i was a member. The XT. 0. Times states that about £40 has been collected. _ ; There is a Total Abstinence Society at ; Yokohama, Japan, numbering two hundred 1 members, and also a Lodge of Good Templars. # : , The Chinese are buying into the best claims and water-races in the Waimea district, Otago. Dr. Webster has resigned his; seat in the j Provincial Executive of Otago, intending to ( visit England very soon. j At Green Island, writes the 0. D. Times, } starlings are becoming very plentiful. _ The ] ipcrease of these birds in the district is amazing. Large flocks sometimes take pos- ] sesion of the fields, feeding on the larvae so ( abundant at this season of the year. To the • presence of the starlings is attributed the fact that grasshoppers are not so numerous j as usual. The Timaru Jockey Club has been re- ■ organised under the name of the South Can- ( terbury Jockey Club. . Three locomotives have been forwarded ■ from Dunedin to Oamaru, per road, to be • used on the northern line of the Otago rail- , ways. They were placed upon waggons, each drawn by ten horses. 1 Clerical.—The Key A. M. Henderson, ■ the leading Independent minister, of Mcl- " ( bourne, and who is known as the Pope of Melbourne, is at present on a visit to ( Wellington. 3 Ohinemuri.—Mr Mackay is at present busily engaged surveying at Ohinemuri, : preparatory to the opening up of the gold- 1 fields there. A la.te Waika^o telegram states: —The tangi over Sophia,, the Maori king's sister, ( has been most immoderate. The natives employed by the settlers in the district, , harvesting, have all suddenly left to attend, , causing great inconvenience. ( We learn- (says the Sotdhland Neios) that 1 a portion of the photographic staff of the American Transit Expedition have received ] telegraphic instructions from headquarters , to return home via San Francisco, instead of ( per Swatara, and prior to their departure to make the tour of JNew Zealand for the pur- , pose of taking views of its characteristic ( features and such objects of interest as f might serve to convey an accurate idea of the Colony and the pursuits of its inhabi- j tants. i It is suggested at Auckland that direct , steam communication should be opened up ( at once between that port and Port Chalmers. ; Official Bcandal —It appears that another official scandal is exciting some talk .. in Wellington. The Daily Times says:-----"It is said that a young man connected closely with an ex-Minister, and in a responsible position in the public service, heving charge of a large revenue-collecting department in a Northern Province, was recently discovered not only to have an amiable weakness for giving valueless cheques, but, further, to have appropriated to private purposes various sums of money, the property of the Government. Instead of being dismissed or arrested, as many others similarly situated, but not so influentially connected, have been, he was removed to head quarters, placed in au office where he had no opportunity for peculation, his salary stopped at the Treasury, and the proceeds applied to making good the sums he had misapppriated, and then, when the Government loss had been made up, he was informed that he had had better send in his resignation. He took the hint and the resignation has been accepted, but the affair caused a good deal of talk." It is unlikely that the Auckland training ship will lack inmates when it levies tribute upon this end of the Colony. It is a good institution, that will be the means of redeeming many a cast-away boy. Otago contributed a first instalment yesterday, when six boys from the Industrial School were forwarded to Auckland to join the training ship by the steamer Ladybird. — Times, January 20.

(Front late Exchanges.) The Mayor of Oamaru has given the handsome sum of £100 towards the coat of the erection of a Lying-in Ward in connection with the local Hospital. A subscription has boen opened at Oamaru and at the Waitaki Brjdge for the relief of the members of the Troupe of which the unfortunate Miss Jennie Anderson was a member. The XT. O. Times states that about £40 has been collected.

A la.te Waikato telegram states: —The tangi over Sophia,, the Maori king's sister, has been most immoderate. The natives employed by the settlers in the district, harvesting, have all suddenly left to attend, causing great inconvenience. We learn- (says the Sotdhland Neios) that a portion of the photographic staff of the American Transit Expedition have received telegraphic instructions from headquarters to return home via San Francisco, instead of per Swatara, and prior to their departure to make the tour of JNew Zealand for the purpose of taking views of its characteristic features and such objects of interest as might serve to convey an accurate idea of the Colony and the pursuits of its inhabitants.

It is suggested at Auckland that direct steam communication should be opened up at once between that port and Port Chalmers.

Official Bcandal —It appears that another official scandal is exciting some talk in Wellington. The Daily Times says:— "It is said that a young man connected closely with an ex-Minister, and in a responsible position in the public service, heving charge of a large revenue-collecting department in a Northern Province, was recently discovered not only to have an amiable weakness for giving valueless cheques, but, further, to have appropriated to private purposes various sums of money, the property of the Government. Instead of being dismissed or arrested, as many others similarly situated, but not so influentially connected, have been, he was removed to head quarters, placed in au office where he had no opportunity for peculation, his salary stopped at the Treasury, and the proceeds applied to making good the sums he had misapppriated, and then, when the Government loss had been made up, he was informed that he had had better send in his resignation. He took the hint and the resignation has been accepted, but the affair caused a good deal of talk." It is unlikely that the Auckland training ship will lack inmates when it levies tribute upon this end of the Colony. It is a good institution, that will be the means of redeeming many a cast-away boy. Otago contributed a first instalment yesterday, when six boys from the Industrial School were forwarded to Auckland to join the training ship by the steamer Ladybird. — Times, January 20.

Riplb Match. —City Cadets v. AbtiiliSby Cadets—A friendly match was fired by the above 1 Corps at the Maitai range yesterday morning which ' was won the City Cadets. The following are the 1 scores:—

City Cadets. 100 yds 200 yds 300 yds Tls Seret Shone 44344 02343 00000 31 Sergt Kitchen ... 43443 30302 04000 30 Sergt, Ricketts ... 23233 20002 03002 22 Cadet A. Shone ... 44343 22423 30300 37 Cadet Seymour ... 34344 02332 04300 35 Cadet Bolto.n ... 43334 22343 30322 41 Cadet Thompson ... 24242 22003 04000 25 Cadet Edwards ... 43443 43233 00222 39 Cadet Moore 33303 30040 32042 33 Cadet Reynolds ... 33443 00232 22203 33

Total .; 326 Artillery Cadets. Sergt. M'Q-ee ... 04233 00000 00000 12 Cadet Membray ... 40444 23444. 02300 38 Cadet Macintosh ... 44402 23023 00000 24 Cadet Hood ... 34434 22424 00033 38 CadetLeaper 22333 00444 20020 29 Cadet Johnston ... 44333 30220 00000 24 Cadet Small 42424 43300 00200 28 Cadet Edmondaon ... 02433 03042 20300 26 Cadet Roehfort ... 33330 00020 00300 17 Cadet Hunter ... 44423 04202 20300 30

Total 266 Melbouene has now a small eight page Sunday paper, called The Gossip, and described as " a weekly journal of light literature and fashionable intelligence." The " light literature " in the second number of The Gossip is of a very sanguinary description, "Murdered Minnie" being a very cheerful story. Perhapß we are to look for the "fashionable intelligence" under the startling heading "A Melbourne Pandemonium; full account of a Thieves' Den discovered last night in the heart of Melbourne ; Startling Disclosure^"-—O. JO. JEmai*. ■