Local and General Intelligence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1163, 18 July 1885, Page 2

Local and General Intelligence.

The R.M.S, Arawa made the fastest trip on 'record on her last run Home, haying made the run from Lyttelton to London within 36 days, A MEETING of those wishing, to join the 1 volunteers will be held in the Town Hall on Monday evening. As a reply must be sent to •the Defence Minister, it is desirable that as many as possible attend the meeting. ' A SEBfous affray occurred near Ofcago Heads jOn Thursday, between two men working on a >new road leading from the Maori Kaik, in iwhich Edwin Stallard ' was stabbed in the abdomen by a man named Newman. Stallard ,was removed to' the Dunedin Hospital. ) Constable Daubney* arrested a lad named ;William Morrison on Wednesday for breaking ,into the house of B. Elliott (Beaumont), and .stealing •_< therefrom ■ a revolver aod pistol. ■Accused was brought before Mr Eevell yesterjday,' and remanded until Monday. | . The enormous quantity of ■6,127,522 acres of |the best land of .the Colony is held by 218 private individuals and 17 companies;' Not x>ad this for a young and struggling Colony, attempting to grapple with the problem of {depression!' Most of the land enumerated above is of first-class quality, and close to the ?ea, river, or railway. A tax of Is per acre on' his land would yield a nice sum, and would pro a long way towards relieving the straitened finances of the Colony. The Afghan question still continues to attract considerable attention at Home. A war vote has been passed in the House of Commons' for jthe purpose of despatching 35,000 additional troops to India if found necessary,' One important feature ib the milder tone ofthe Russian press and the change in the tactics of General Komaroff. The General has accused the •Afghans of advancing on the frontier, but he has instructed hi?' Government, to act strictly on' the defensive. Whether the firm attitude of the' Salisbury Administration will check Russian aggression or not' remains to be seen ; but is plain enough that Russia will be called upon to decide forthwith for either peace or war.,, • , . > The annexation question r is still to the front; in Fiji. The Fiji Annexation Committee have again resolved to forward a petition to the New Zealand Government in favor 'of annexation to this Colony. The "Fiji Times" iffldis-,, pleased at the attitude of Mr Stout on the matter, contrasting ,his, coldness with, the, en- , thusiasm displayed over t Samoa. , So universal, is the desire for self •government' in' the British Colonies that the people will neveVVeki Q^ntiew with the sem-imilitarismof a Crown Colony, and we may reat assured that (jhe agitation now begun will be kept up until Fiji is either annexed to another Colony or granted a similar constitution.

A SYSTEM of sixpenny telegrams has been started in Victoria, and notwithstanding the reduced rate is expected to be a success. It is aulhorifatively stated that tri'/taelve months' time the available forces of N.ew South Wales will number from 8,000 to 10,000 men. Largb numbers of unemployed are reported at Adelaide at the present time, aud the labor offices are said to be besieged daily by artJß^ns and others ont of work. Indiguatiou meetings are being held to protest against the action of . the Government in bringing out more immi-' grants. To the uninitiated, the possibility of confidently asserting that many of the elements known to chemists as forming part gJL,th.e c 1 SSiismuonfirof the eaftK < s"crusr'exisf s> int:he sun may appear absurd ; but ,yet, unless we reject'the whole system 'of '.deductive reasoning, in no department of science can physicists be moro s.ure of^th.eir ti; up^|iou. v ,, But, it remainedfor Dr Palmieri to detect in the lava of Mt Vesuvius the element "helium," found previously in the spectum o£ the sun, from which it derived Us name. The "Evening Herald" thus auma up the situation at Wellington :— The situation of public affairs is not at present assuring. We are drifting into a tumultuous sea without either compass or pilot, The crew have mutinied and thrown? the captain and his officers overboard. Repenting somewhat they have' lowered a boat and rescued them from drowning.' The captain and .his 'mates are on deck again, but their charts are lost, and what promised to be a successful voyage is likely to terminate, in disaster, if uotito'thebfficersat'least t6 s titie country! < ' Complaints have been made about the abuse of "medical cbmf6rtsV in the ! Lawrence Hospial ; but,, if all accounts be true, the record of the Wellington Hospital beats all others in this respect. It is stated thatevery patient, including men, women and children, received on an average four ounces of spirits each day. It is only fair to assume that half the patients treated received no spirits. This will briog tho average allowance for those who did up to eight ounces • daily, or, , in other eight stiff nobblers daily. Id the face of the expressed opinion of yearly increasing numbers of the most eminent medical men, this is next door to a criminal abuse of a so-called medicine. ' What a splendid institution for broken down topers the Wellington Hospital must be ! The Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the leopard .its spots', neither can Sir J. Yogel think it possible (says 'the "North Ofcago Times ") for the country to get on without the aid of foreign capital. Some simple persons with a. parrot-like genius and passion for inane repetition never tire of reiterating the statement that the Colonial Treasurer is a man of many ideas and innumerable resources. Originally this statement was in all probability made by some shuffling sycophant or some " sophistical Rhetorician, inebriated with his own verbosity," or -something equally brain-softening, and numerous persons, with no ability to think i for themselves, have taken to it with a kindliness and freedom beautiful to behold. The truth, however, is that in matters of Government, Sir Juliuß Yogel has but one master idea and only, one real resource, and they are identical — namely, borrowing. According to the Registrar-General'3 report for 1884, the total population of the Colony is 608,401, of which Otago contributes 153,901, or about a fourth of the whole. The death rate per thousand of population was in Auckland 13, Westland UJ, Wellington 11, and in Canterbury and Otago a, fmction over 9. In spite of its changeable climate, Otago stands High in' the matter of health. The past' year has been the lowest in the death-rate for ten years over the whole Colony. The excess of births over deaths for the Colony was 14,000. There is no need for a forced system of immigration in the. face of such an annual addition to the population of the Colony. .The total exports amount to £7,091,667, showing a slight decrease on those of 1883, "while the imports amount to £7,663,888, also slightly under those of 1883. Our aggregate trade of 14^ millions is a very respectable amount for the extent of our population, and by judicious fostering the export trade coald be materially increased. The following business of local interest was transacted at the sittins of the Land Board on Wednesday : — lianger Hughan, reporting on application by John Tyson for saw-mill area and mill-site in Itankleburn district, recommended the same be granted. A license for a saw-mill area was granted for three years at 4s per acre ; and for a mill-site for the same period at £1 per year. —The District Land Officer, Lawrence, in reporting on the application' by John Carr to purchase section 38, block v., Table Hill district, stated that if the same was sranted as applied for" it would cut off all frontage to section 17, block vn. He recommended that the road should >be reserved^ Referred to the.Chief Surveyor to have road 3 laid off at the most suitable points.— The following certificate of application for gold-mining lease was approved : John Harris iand others, i section 16, block xvni., Tuapeka East.— William Rose's application to purchase section 18, block VI., Tuapeka East, under agricultural' lease was approved. . ,

The Tuapeka Milling Company's new flour- J mill is rapidly approaching completion. The building is finished, and is a substantial edifice, with three floors for machinery, storing grain, &c. The contractor (Mr Beattie) has carried ,out his part of the work in a highly creditable manner, and in the two important elements of strength and finish has left nothing to be desired. Mr Johnstone is placing the machinery in position, and in the course of a week or two the mill will be ready to commence operations. Both flour and oatmeal will be produced. For the latter, there is a good brick drying kiln, into which the oats will be sent by a shoot from the upper floor. There are four stones, so that the Company will be" prepared to undertake a large quantity of work —more, ■in fact, than the district is likely to requite in the meantime, but it is always a wise provision j to be prepared for any increase. When everything is in' position, we intend to give a full account of the building and machinery. Ifc, ,will be noticed in our advertising columns that the Company is now prepared to receive grain ' either for storage or gristing. ; The " boom " which drew hundreds to Auck- . land a year ago, having subsided, appears to' have left the city in a worse state than before. The following remarks from the matron of the ' Woman's Eefuge to a "Star" reporter gives some faint indication of the distress experienced by many: — "I could tell you of six or seven little children in a house without a morsel of food, and no one near them to look after them. They had only half a loaf of bread amongst them for two whole days, and you may imagine their delight when I carried them some food ) from the butcher's. This was at Newtop, but' worse cases are frequently to be met with in 'town. As a rule they are all the immediate result of drink." One exceptionally pitiable case was related, "A little girl," said Mrs Hutchison, " only fourteen years of age, came to me, recently and gave herself up. She had a comfortable home, but her stepmother and herself did not get on well, and she ran away from ' home. For several months she had' nowhere to live but in the Domain, add she slept there bight after night in all weather. At last she grew weary of her life and came to the Home." We-expressed surprise, at the statement that the girl had lived in the Domain for, two, or three months, but, Mrs Hutchison said this was nothing exceptional. Numbers of people,. she added, were compelled through force of circumstances' to sleep there every night.

, Thomas Boyd, the first white man who crossed the Murray, died in a miserable bark hut at Tumut recently, in great poverty. |Ie was 88 years of age, and was the last survivinor member of Hume's exploring party. The Victorian Ministry promised the olrl man a gratuity of £50 last year, which they never paid, excuse now proffered is that the poor old man never applied for the money, and the sum, which had been placed qn.,th,e estimates, lapsed. It would not have been an .undue straining of the organs of benevolerice'alleged to be in the possession of the Ministry for them- to have sent the gift to the old man, and actually, seen that he got iti Any one who has had any experience ' hi our Treasury must know that it'requires a con»' Siderable exercise of' intelligence, 1 activity, and Satieuce, to get, the simplest account through > ie / 'meshes of red tape that, surround the giving of the smallest chequs. It is probably much easier for a worn out old man, verging on 90 to die than to conduct a successful attack on an intricate Government office. So, , naturally, the old settler took the line, of least resistance. iAs for pur authorities, it ca.nnot, be disguised jthat their ?ac7t<#'ambunt'ed't6 a shabby neglect. jThe defence that they" f were' ready and willing to pay would hardly succeed before a jury, much less a recording angel. Probably this last is a jurisdiction that will not be faced by the parties in default,— " Atticua " in the ••Leader,"

The quarterly meeting of subscribers to the Tuapeka Hospital will be held in the Town Hali on Monday evening. „. WißEßß'were eleven male and three female jj^iehts in the Hospital last^ evening. Four patients were admitted during the week and three discharged. %There was one death— P^ter Wjlsoa, who died of 'congestion of the $' TbuthV remarks ihat'in India there are -about 200,000 Europeans. India ia their pasture. They pass their existence trembling lest they should lose their pasture, and if Russia or any other power comes within a thousand miles or so of it, they would have us at once declare A football match, Lawrence v. Balclutha, wilHlfeTpljlyea ab ( Bajclutha' next Wednesday. The lodal players will leave Lawrence by the first train, returning the same evening. The LawrWßfe te"am will be "chosen from" the following;} — Murray, Porter, Arthur, Roscow (Cap,tain), O. Potts, M. Potts; Barton, Moule, Brooks, Ferguson, Matthews, Keidy, Fowler, M'Lean. IV&se*, Jos. Eoacow, A. Rolfe, £. Rolfs. Brocklehust, Lorimer, and Hart. THE news from twenty wheat-producing States i in America represents it as being the most disastrous failure experienced during the last ten yearn. It is estimated that the yield will be 150,000,000 bushels under the average for the past five years, and 200,000,000 under that - of 18S4. Mr Tallmadge, the Milwaukee statistician, repeats his early opinion, that the yield will be 150,000^000 bushels less than tho average, and says the loss in the winter wheat States is the greatest ever known. The South Pacific Petroleum Company have "struck ile." At the depth of 899 feet tha bore was cleaned out, and oil mixed with sand in about eqnal quantities was brought to the surface Great hopes are entertained, as these are the indications predicted by an expert, and Mr Weaver, the contractor, expects to strike the veritable oil rock at a further depth of from 250 to 300 feet. If a good flow of oil is struck, it will be of great advantage to tho Colony, as kerosene is now a considerable item of importation. A large sum of money has been expended in boring at G-isborne, and it is to be hoped that some splendid returns will be the reward of the Company. The Wellington " Press '* thus eptgrammatically refers to the recent appointment of Mr Elder, of Port Chalmers, to be a District Coroner :— " Why did they make him a coroner? Mr Macandrew, recommended him; he made himself conspicuous at a meeting down there which approved generally of the Customs tariff of the Government, Great Csew !is that how they choose men for coroners? Is it not a smash-up of the principle laid down last session that medical" practitioners should not be coroners ? If a doctor may- not be a Coroner, how much less a dispensing druggist? They put out men of science like Dr Hocken, and they put in an agitating political 'pill-grinder, who 'approves, generally, of, the Customs tariff of the Government.' A horrid job, but its of a piece with all their appointments and administration." ' In 'the history of mechanical progress, the substitution of machinery for hand-labor has always provoked opposition, and in the earlier stages of that progress the opposition was of a pronounced kiod. The speedy ruin of the laborer was predicted, as the inevitable result of the introduction of labor-saving machinery ; 'but the sequel has, proved that in every instance these predictions were based on wrong premises, and instead of shutting the avenues ' of labor, machinery has opened numerous fresh ones. The light of experience and civilisation has dissipated the opposition of the laborer, in 'England at all events; but in Spain the old antagonism still reigns supreme. A serious riot occurred at r a Government cigar factory at Madrid recently, in which some 2000 infuriated women and girls, after .wrecking the furniture and machinery' and breaking the windows, took possession of the factory and barricaded themselves inside. After a siege of nine hours, the women parleyed with the authorities, and left the factory in sin ;le file. All this was the result of the introduction of machinery into tha factory, A SAD case of drowning is reported from Ashburton. On Tuesday evening Philip Dolan, who lived on the banks of the Ktukaia, met his death under distressing circumstances. It appears that, in company with his son, a hcl of seven years, he was engaged hauling firewood from the spit running between tho sea and the river. About half-past four, when the last log 'was being hauled, tho father noticed that the water was rising and the waves washing orer the spit. ,He ordered hisUittle boy to go on before. .This he did, and iv a few minutes looked round and saw the horse struggling against a wave and his father up to his shoulders in the •lagoon. Not a sound was heard but the roar of the sea j and the boy looke 1 away. When the poor little chap 'could look round he could see no sign of his father. He says that when •he. saw. the horse nothing but the head and neck could be seen. The shingle was washed clean away.. The horse eventually managed to get out, and went home, but there was no chance for the poor unfortunate : and up till four o'clock in the afternoon the body had not been recovered. He leaves a wife and two children. , If the rumored rich gol'dbearing quartz reef 3 tseen by; a member of the "Age" exploring party in New Guinoa turn out to be more than mere myth 1 ?, the initial step in coloniping that 'new' British possession will soon follow. A •Melbourne telegram in the Sydney " Morning Herald " says : " The gold brought from New Guinea was the property of Kerry, one of the members of the ' Age'^ party, and experts are lUuanimous in their opinion that it is not Australian gold, and that it has been broken from the cap of a reef. Kerry states that when the (party were returning demoralised to the coast, he sat down on the- edge of a creek to wash his feet while the others went on, and he then saw a pink and white outcrop, from which with a tomahawk he knocked off pieces of the stone containing lar^e masses of gold. The statement was believed here, and the required capital to send an exploring and prospecting expedition to New Guinea waß subscribed within two hour 3. Mrjor-general Scratchley has given the company the requisite permission ,to prospect under certain conditions regarding the carriage of arms and good conduct."

__ Considerable interest is evinced in miniog circles 'in the goldfielda discovered at Mount Criffel, near Lake Wanaka. A correspondent writing to the "Daily Times" gives some imDortant .information, from which we glean the following particulars :— The workings are on ' the north-eastern slope of Mount Criffel, and the distance from Pembroke is eight or ten miles, and from Cromwell thirty. The alluvial deposit is on the mountain slope, and neither in gullies nor terraces. The workings at present are in no case deeper than seven feet. About twenty claims are pegged out, distributed over some fifty acres. The claims are extended claims, one acre in extent. The richness of the discovery, so far as established by actual finds, _,- is beyond question., ,Messr3 Mo/len and party —one of the earliest 'parties upon the field — have obtained 18lb weight of the precious metal out of a paddock 20ft by 30ft, which repre- ' sents the labor of two men for six weeks. ' Others are said to have dove equally well, or even better. However, this accredited instance of success is sufficient to show the richness of field. The only; obstacle to the profitable working of the field is the want of water. ' The gold is chiefly' fine, although good snotty gold has been found in places. Tha goltl is very dark in color, beiug ctiated with mau^.uiese, and the banks are only giving £3 9s an ounce for it. It is expected that tlurini; the incoming bu mmer ;m extensive field will be opened up. ' The lender of Joyce and parly baa ban asceptpd for cutting the Tuapeka Milling Co.'s ■ wMer-race in Gabriels Gully an ad- < ditional 21 chains. Mr Het'ierington'a^euder has also boon accepted for constructing eight chains of, flu,ining to conacc.t the wa.ter-race with I.he mill-wheel. f , , A cubious ceremony was performed f.Ue other day at Travancore. Tho Maharajah was weighed against; a macs.of, pure gold}, which was then., dispensed in oharit.y. jThis custom, called " Tulabbara," is one of antiquity, and said to be traceable in !£ravancorc to tho fourth century. It is not unknown in other parts of India ; though of course gold is only ( used,in the oaso of wealthy per sons ; the Iminbler sorts ( being .'content to r weigh' theraselvos against sptioesorgmn. 1 ( Oa*' 1 the present occasion the Maharajah'welghed a little over nine stone. The Brahmins, it is said, wished to defer the ceremony, in the hope that the Maharajah might more nearly approach the weight of her father, who did nob undergo the rito until forty-SOTen years old, when he weighed 14* stone.