Local and General.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 369, 20 July 1869, Page 2

Local and General.

♦ TLtttelton Winter Readings. — The flf fcb &f the series will take place in the Colonists' Hall, on Friday evening next. An excellent programme has been issued. The Gouklays. — These artistes gave a farowell entertainment on Monday night, at ths Colonists' Hall, to a crowded audience. Most of the songs were encored, and the '•' Basket Illusion " was capitally done. The Gourlays left for Wellington this afternoon. Quartz Rekfs. — Messrs Murray- Aynsley, W. Williams, Hornbrook, jr. Ollivier, and W. White, started at 8 o'clock this morning for tiie locality in which Atkinson aud Goldsmith have stated that they found the goldbearing quartz. They were driven by Mr L. G. Cole, four-in-hand. It is understood that f.ii;/ will return to-night.

AJourxalistic. — It was announqeiJ?-; last night's issue of the Evening A/Si/, r tbafrthe publication of that journal has ceased for the present. ; •v/Kaiapoi Ferry.— Mr Bowmaker lauuched aiarge ferry puat, or, more correctly, the pair of punts, to serve during the repairs of the Kaiapoi Swing Bridge, on Saturday last. The punts sustain a platform capable of bearing a horse and a loaded dray. The Opuha Reefs.— Our last accounts, remarks the local journal, from these reefs say that Thew and party have sunk 20 feet alongside the reef, and are intending to go 40 feet before driving. One of the parties at work in the locality have sent to Timaru for aqua-fortis to test some metal found. We hear that other parties in Timaru are preparing to visit the reefs. Gold Pkospkcting Compant.— A meeting of the committee was held yesterday. It was decided to send out four prospecting parties to certain localities, -which were selected, in the course of a few days. Mr "Warner was appointed mining manager for one month, and the men who have been appointed as prospectors will meet him to-day, to make ar.angements for their departure to the scene of operations. Legal. — His Honor sat in the Court Chambers at 1 1 o'clock this morning. On the application of Mr Slater, for Mr Bamford, the I last examination was fixed for Thursday, the 26th August, in re Evan Griffiths, Alexander Heron, and Edward Fruhauf . An order of adjudication was made in re C. A. Calvert; creditors to meet at one o'clock on Wednesday, July 28. He Westby Havrkshaw Percival. As the defendant had filed no affidavit, the time to show cause was extended for a week. Another Claim to the Government Reward. — The claimants, Messrs Atkinson and Goldsmith, started for the locality yesterday afternoon, in order to lay the reef bare for inspection by the Government. An Executive Council meet ing was held yesterday, and the result of it is, that some members of the Government and a few other gentlemen, will leave Cobb and Co.'s office at 8 o'clock this morning for the locality in which Messrs Atkinson and Goldsmith obtained the specimens. We are reliably informed, that several pieces of true quartz, with undoubted specks of gold, were brought to town yesterday from another locality on the Peninsula. Akaroa Horticultural Societt. — The annual meeting of membera of the above society was held at the Library, Akaroa Town Hall, on Thursday evening, the 15th inst., the Rev. W. Aylmer, presiding. The lion, secretary and treasurer, Mr S. Watkins read the accounts of the past year, from which it appeared that there was a balance in hand of £2 3s 6d, which was passed to the credit of the society for the present year. The following gentlemen were then appointed officers of the society for the present year. President, Rev. W. Aylmer; hon. Secretary and treasurer, Mr W. Penlington ; committee, Messr3 Thomas Feltham, W. Jolly, R. Newton, H. G. Watkins. and S. Watkins. Ltttblton Borough Council. — The Council met at the usual hour on Monday, July 20th. Present: Councillors England, Allwright, Ward, Hawkins, Hargreaves, Woledge, his Worship the Mayor presiding. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The outward and inward correspondence was read, but calls for no remark. The following accounts were passed for payment— Weekly pay-sheet, £6 2s; Mr Street, lighting, £11 5s 4d. Councillor Hargreaves drew the attention of the Council to the matter of the hose for the fire engine. He thought it much better for them to order 300 feet. Councillor Ward moved, Councillor England seconded, and it was resolved, " That Councillor Hargreaves instruct Captaiu Jenkins to procure 300 feet of hose, of the best quality, to fit couplings; and also to procure three pairs of couplings; and that Captain Jenkins be allowed to value." Councillor Allwright again mooted the question of water supply. It was resolved that the clerk write to the Provincial Secretary for. a reply to the letter sent in March, and also to Mr Thornton, to know if his plans are matured. It was further resolved to send a carboy of tunnell water to Melbourne to be analysed. The Council then adjourned. Servantoalisjc. — A new phase of servandalism has been developed at the Cape of Good Hope. The story is thus relitcd by the Cape Argus : — c> Two young servant girls, both, we should say, under eighteen years of age, lived in the service of two farmers in Waggonruaker's Valley. These young ladies occasionally met for congenial conversation, and on one of these occasions servant girl No. 1 related to No. 2 how her mistress had give a her two slaps. No. 2 proposed that No.- 1 should set iier mistress'house on flre as a measure of retribution, promising to do ■ the suine to her own mistress in reprisal for sundry little private grievances. They then separated : and after meeting once more to confirm each other's resolution, No. 1 proceeded to get her master's house on fire, and did it effectually. No. 2 was there to enjoy the blaze, and, according to the theory of the prosecution, went quickly home, an i likewise set fire to her master's house At all events, a column of smoke was seen rising from the spot, and a fire whs kindled, which was fortunately extinguished before much damage was done. Time rolled on, and No. 1 was smitten in her conscience, and unburdened the whole story to her mistress. No. 2 was accordingly charged with arson, and No. I was admitted as Queen's evidence. Unfortunately there was no substantial corroboratiou of the witness's story, aud the accused was acquitted, with a judi.;i us warning from the judge. The precocity if tlie ' approver' in giving evidence, and of he prisoner in cross-examination, were as diking as the incident itself. 'Ihere will be i:i iliificulty now in accounting for the fires *'hieh bring periodical alarm in various parts ot the country during the dry season."

Steam Saw Mill.— -Mr \@ibb'o'ns / has erected a mill on the reclaimed rtanay Ly^te> ton, for the purpose of supplying firewood in cut lengths. ' '■;'; Tasmania. — Colonel Shaw, a veteran officerretired from the Indian army, and settled in Tasmania, has addressed a letter to the Time* of India, urging hi 3 old comrades to follow his example. He says: — "I would recommend to settlers the vigour and stability of this very beautiful island. If, in defiance of taxation so outrageous, life may be so enjoyabld in Tasmania, what will it become when a body of immigrants strong in moral force and order shall come upon it ? I have chosen my allotment in Castra since last I wrote you. My family has received a grant of 100 acres. The laud is almost free from trees, and is a beautiful plain traversed with a watercourse running down to the Leven. Youthful members of an English family are unable to undertake this entrance upon bush life, but there will be found an abundance of useful and happy labour after the opening has been made. And now a word to persons possessed of families. Judging from myself, I should suppose such persons to be for the most part unacquainted with the difficulties of putting sons into life in Europe. Colonel Crawford has, in my opinion, acted a philanthropic part iv propounding a scheme for the provision of old Indians, by which so much general comfort and competency may be attained to. The district of Castra is on all sides stated to he surpassingly rich in soil and beautiful in scenery. I have not heard much about its climate, but if it in the least resembles the Mersey, where I now write, no utterances of mine can do it justice. The river (stocked with fish and lobsters) must be a constant treat, and a settlement upon it might do wonders. I cannot touch upon this place — to wit, the Mersey — and its salubrious climate without becoming extremely eulogistic. They make me young again. I feel strong to labour as I never did before. At threescore years and seven I accomplished work which I could not have attempted in ray early manhood. These things lead me to advise old Indians to invest in Castra. Education in South Austbalia. — The education movement is approaching a climax here, as in Victoria, and only the religious difficulty causes would-be reformers to hesitate. On almost every other point they are consolidating, and their ranks are fast closing up over many old disagreements. Last session a select committee recommended local rating, with school committees elected by the ratepayers — substantially a repetition of the scheme proposed iv 1861, but never acted upon. Rather by tacit consent than through any systematic discussion this has been made the common goal of reform as far as ad ministration is concerned. The relation which primary schools should hold to the state has been pretty accurately defined. The more delicate question of how they should be related to the church is still in the hands of those who consider themselves chiefly responsible for it — the denominational leaders of the church. There is a disposition among the Congregationalists towards secularism pure and simple. One or two influential Methodists have declared on the same side, but it is obvious that they do not carry the mass of their brethren with them. The Episcopalians would concede separate religious teaching, or, in other words, adopt the conscience clause of the revised code ; but they will not hear of the schools being nationalised. They, and those who think with them, raise a question of priority with the state as to who shall be principal and who subordinate. The denominations would willingly build schools and provide teachers, and then -treat with the state for assistance. Such was the policy adopted at last meeting of the synods. But the secularists insist on the denominations taking the subordinate positiou and rendering assistance to the state simply as religious teachers. The dispute is less about the system of teaching than about the ownership and control of the schools. Even if the denominations could guarantee quite as good a secular education as can be obtained through national schools, the more uniform and self-consistent state administration would continue to increase in favour, as it has certainly been doing of late. Disturbances in Paris. — The only references to disturbances in Paris to be found in the papers by the present mail are contained in the following extracts from The Times of May 15, and the Pall Mall Gazette of the sainedale. The late telegram received last mail, and bearing date London, May 14, would therefore seem to have conveyed the information in an exaggerated form. The telegram in The Times, dated May 14, Evening says :—" The Patrie and the Public of this evening etate that the announcement of a meeting to be held yesterday in the fifth electoral district attracted to the Boulevard Beaumarchais an immense crowd, numbering about 20,000 persons, who began to sing the Marseillaise. A body of policemen, reinforced by 500 municipal guards on foot, and 100 on horseback, drove back the crowd. Several persons were severely hurt, and an officer of police was badly wounded. By. midnight everything was quiet. A meeting of the seventh electoral district, where M. Henri Rochefort is one of the candidates, was held yesterday in the Boulevard St Michel, aud was followed by a similar demonstration. More than 1090 persons congregated and sang the Marseillaise, but were dispersed by the police." The correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette writes : — " Paris, Friday evening. May 14. The Avenir National, one of the most democratic organs of Paris, contains an article this evening • which commences with these significant words, " Dv calme 1 dv calme ! " The fact is there were collisions in the streets last night, and affairs are wearing n serious aspect. After M. Raspail and other orators had addressed their electors in the Napoleon Circus, a disturbance took place outside the building, where about 20,000 persons had assembled. As on the previous evening, befiiie the Chatelet, the 'Marseillaise ' was sung and the authorities abused.

The end of the matter was that at ab§ajfc half-past eleven p.m. the mob was chatf£ed" by the police, aided by the ' Gardes de Paris' horse and foot, and the people were rapidly driven from the streets. A good number of persons were seriously wounded, and amongst them an inspector of police, who lies in a most precarious condition, having had his skull fractured by a man who was afterwards arrested. A similar scene was enacted on the other side of the Seine, in the vicinity of the Sorbonne, where M. Henri Rochefort is the popular candidate." Curiously enough, our own late telegrams by the mail just arrived give an equally alarming account of the riot to that received laßt month ; but it is evident that the whole affair has been grossly exaggerated. Monopoly op the Soil — The Gipps Land Times furnishes the friends of a monopoly of the soil with the following nut to orack : — " The great distinction between the two systems — pastoral occupation and agricultural occupation of the lands of the colony — is, that the one discourages actual settlement in the country, and affords no room for population, whilst the other promotes a settled population, and offers remunerative andhealthful employment to whole families. Take a well-known instance. On the banks of the Avon River, weat of Stratford, is a large cattle station, or rather freehold, for it is all purchased. Its area comprises some thousands of acres, much of it very choice agricultural soil. The owner of the station and his family reside in a neighbouring colony, and they visit Gipps Land about once in ten years. The property is securely fenced, and it is managed in the absence of the proprietor by ayoung gentleman as overseer, whose staff consists of three stockmen and a boy ! The yearly income derived from this station — which supplies the Melbourne markets with some of the best fat cattle of the district— is a handsome fortune, and the whole cost of its management only amounts to the salary of a tradesman's bookkeeper. Thus much as an illustration of pastoral occupation. We now come to another, relating to the agricultural aspect of the case. Immediately contiguous to the station alluded to, are a number of small agricultural settlements, the total area of which would not be more than double that of the cattle station. On these areas whole families have made their homes in Bcores, and the broad acres of well tilled land remind the passer by of the smiling farm homesteads in some of the rich agricultural counties of the oIJ country. We have said, and the justice of the assertion is too palpable to be overlooked, that the ■quatting system became an iniquity in proportion as it was found to interfere with agricultural settlement ; but it seems to us that the system is not likely either to be abolished or die out of itself under the fostering care of Mr Grant's new Land Bill. Under the restrictions and stipulations imposed it is doubtless but right and proper that the squatting tenure should be extended for another ten years ; but it is certainly not right that seme seven or eight large firms should continue to hoi 1 over three millions of acres of land at one-third of the actual value; and, as very forcibly pointed out by the hon. member for Collingwood in the debate on the second reading of the Land Bill now before Parliament, Mr Grant's measure, instead of removing the evil, perpetuates it for another ten years." The Caps of Goob Hope. — We (Argus) have papers from Cape Town to the 11th of May, and from Port Elizabeth to the 13th of April. A general election was pending, and the questions at issue were responsible government, the voluntary principle in matters of religion, protection to native industry, and the restoration of an equilibrium in the tnances of the colony. Subscriptions were being raised throughout the country for the relief of the sufferers by the late terrible fire. We notice in the Port Elizabeth Telegraph that our Mr Cope's imperfect aspirations form the subject of jesting commentary erenin South Africa. It will be seen from one of the extracts subjoined that a rich diamond field has been discovered in the province of Albania. The Cape Argus of May 6 asya : — On Tuesday we had the pleasure of tasting a sample of Australian preserved mutton, received a few weeks ago by the ship Orient. The article, which was very good, had quite j as fine a flavour as any of English manufacture. We understand that the wholesale price in Melbourne is about 6d per lb. A writer in the Somerset Courant draws the attention of geologists and the public to unmistakable evidences of coal formations on the farms of Mr Chris. Leppan, Somerset district; and Mr David M'Maater, in the Mancazana, Bedford division. The writer iv satisfied that enormous coalfields exist in the localities named. Mr Bredenham has brought into Cape Town a forty-seven carat diamond from the Groot River,' which he subsequently scut to England for eale by the mail steamer, insuring it for £2000. The question of the existence of rich diamond fields in and beyond Albania is now at rest. Nearly all the diamonds hitherto found have been picked up on or near a farm belonging to one Nicholson, situated in Waterboer's country, a few miles west of the Vaal Uiver, and between Backhouse and Campbell. Waterboer's sovereignty is there paramount, and unquestioned — as it is also in Albania. The diamond beds are strongly suspected to occur again in Albania; and also, possibly, in the colony, near Hopetown. So far then as regards diamond-finding in Albania, and in Waterboer's country, weattl theVaal, the matter was completely in Waterboer's hands, who has already parted with all his rights for a «onsideration. A company of eight enterprising gentlemen in Colesberg have purchased the concession of a right to take all metals and precious stones found in the countries under his government. Waterboer's share is to be one-fifteenth of the whole proceeds; and he received the magnificent «urn of £100 by way of earnest money on the liny the concession was signed, sealed, and delivered, before a Cape aotary public aud witnesses in due form. '