Local and General Intelligence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1671, 5 March 1890, Page 2

Local and General Intelligence.

THE criminal sessions of the Supreme Court? Dunedin, commence on Monday next. We have been informed that Sir "Walter Buller left London for New Zealand on the 16th of last month. Thirty flax mills are erected or in course of erection in Southland, with a total capital of about £9000, while the industry employs about 400 people. At a sitting of the Police Court, Lawrence* on Monday, P. M'Devitt, for being drunk) and also for soliciting alms, was sent to Dunedin gaol for the term of one month. The "Dunstan Times" reports that Mr Warden Wood has so far recovered as to be able to take buggy exercise. He anticipates this week being able to make his way to the sea coast, where it is to be hoped he will regain his wonted strength and health. We have to acknowledge the receipt of the March number of the " Time Table of the New Zealand Railways," issued by authority of the Government. This is one of the most useful publications turned out by the Government printing office, and is certainly a cheap penny's worth. Within the last few months more than 50,000 acres have been bought in the Bahamas by 'British and American capitalists, to be devoted to raising sisal hemp. Yucatan will soon have a formidable rival in these West India islands, where the sisal is said to grow luxuriantly and the rope manufacturers who have so long controlled the Mexican fibre will have a new factor to deal with. The ' • New Zealand Times," after a searching inquiry, pronounces that the botton has not dropped out of the flax market, but only out of the dishonest roguery of the flax-millers of the Wellington province, who have done worse than scamp the dressing of their fibre. In pursuing their present course they are ruining the entire flax trade of the colony, , and exhibiting a degree of selfishness that 1 cannot be too strongly condemned.

The 'Frisco mail boat arrived at Auckland on Saturday. The mails are expected to reach Dunedin this evening. A summary of the mail news will be found on our fourth page. Only one civil case— J. Kane v. J. Blair, claim of £7 14s 9d— came on for hearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Lawrence, on Monday last, Mr W. H. Revell, R.M., being on the bench. Judgment was given for plaintiff for the amount claimed, with costs (22s 6d). Mr Finlayson appeared for plaintiff. The ups and downs of mining interests are well shown in the following, from Reefton. A fortnight ago a man was sued for failing to satisfy a judgment for 9s Id obtained by a local butcher. The defendant said he only had a few valueless mining shares, and he was quite willing to hand them to the judgment creditor in satisfaction of the claim, but the creditor refused to accept them. To-day the market value of one lot alone is £900, the shares (Cumberlands) having in ten days ad- | vanced from zero to 3s 3d. The debtor holds three thousand. At the Ashburton District Court the other day his Honour Judge "Ward delivered judgment in the case against Robert M'Connel, in which he was called upon to show cause why he should not be imprisoned for disobedience to an order of the court made on December 9th. His Honour made an order that unless the said Robert M'Connel pay into the Court by two o'clock p.m. on the following Monday the sum of £354 3s 10d, together with costs, he be committed to gaol for three months or until such time as the amount be paid. The case is the first instance of the kind in which an order for imprisonment has been made by the Bankruptcy Court. During a self-denial week of the Salvation Army throughout the countries over which the army's ramifications extend a sum of £23,041 was collected. The United Kingdom contributed £14,000, and the foreign districts £6000. The latter included £2100 from Australia, and about £450 from New Zealand. Of the amount so collected, the sums have been expended in special extension purposes, training home, sick and wounded fund, food and shelter works, slum work, poor corps, and flying columns to Africa, India, Sweden, etc. The expense of the appeal, including printing, postage, and carriage of parcels, was nearly £2000, equal to a tenth of the sum raised. Ix would be a hard matter now even for the most exacting to find fault with the arrangements of the Railway Department in connection with the running of cheap excursion trains and the issue of tickets at excursion fares. The rates are liberal— generous, in fact ; and the extension of time should be quite long enough to satisfy all reasonable people. As notified in our advertising columns, cheap excursion tickets will be issued at the Lawrence station to-day and tomorrow morning in connection with the friendly societies' demonstration in Dunedin, and will be available for return up to and including the 10th inst. At a book sale in Dunedin a few days ago, the Pictorial Atlas of Australasia, with the exception of one or two of the last numbers, was put up for auction and knocked down for 19s lid. This is the same publication that people all over the country have generously given a Yankee publishing company, temporarily located in Sydney,ten guineas for ; and for refusing to commit a similar indiscretion numerous others are threatened with all the pains and penalties of the law. The interesting part of the incident is that the purchaser is a very active canvasser on behalf of the company for the same publication; and is well-known in his up-country peregrinations for his overpowering volubility in praise of the worthless book. The Athenseum Committee election, which takes place in the Town Hall to-morrow evening, promises to be an exceptionally tame affair. There is no talk of opposition as yet, nor is there likely to be any ; the old committeemen, as well as the President, arc all likely to be re-elected without any of the usual humours of a contest. The honour of a seat on the Committee must surely have diminished considerably in the public estimation within the last year or two. Two or three years ago the Athenaeum election was regarded as a matter of moment ; opposition was fierce, and took the form of systematic canvassing for weeks prior to the date of election. The subscribers had a bad time of it then between the rival candidates, and possibly they will not object to the calm that a period of quietude like the present brings. The absence of opposition, it should be said, does not denote any falling off of public interest in the institution, which is at present, as the report and balance-sheet show, in a very flourishing condition. AN important invention in the form of a double automatic coupler for trams and trains will shortly be patented in the several colonies. The merits claimed for the invention are that from 100 to 200 carriages can be joined together by the engine-driver without the intervention of the porters, the contrivance being self-acting in this respect ; that when joined the carriages are compact and taut, thus preventing bumping, jolting, and oscillation; that the risk of life and limb which at present exists will entirely disappear, as the carriages can be uncoupled by means of a lever, which is worked from the platform ; that the invention can be affixed at a cost of 20 per cent, less than the screw coupler at present in use, and that if one of the couplings give way the second one will supply all that is required until it has been replaced. The principal inventor is Mr E. Dimant, formerly of Lawrence, and now of Melbourne, and the invention (adds the " Herald ") will, it is claimed, be as great a success in its way as the Westinghouse brake. The observation attributed to the Prince of Wales some time since, " We are all Socialists nowadays," contains a larger measure of truth than those who regarded the saying as a jocular commentary on current events were willing to acknowledge. The current of the world's thought is running strongly against the let-alone-policy which was once the favourite principle of political economists. The weak have begun to discover that in combination they possess a power which enables them to withstand opposition, against which in* dividually they would be powerless to contend. The worlds' rulers are also awakening to a recognition of this fact. No more potent illustration of this fact can be found than the action which has been taken by the Emperor of Germany in regard to the labour question. As a political move his proposal to attempt an j intercolonial regulation of labour may be regarded as very astute. The intention, evidently, is to take the wind out of the sails of the German Socialists; but yet there is a danger that by raising hopes which can never be realised the reversion of disappointment may strengthen the feeling of hostility to existing institutions. Whatever the result may be, itis,however, well to see that this powerful and almost despotic ruler shows more anxiety to seek his victories in the field of peace than in the domain of war. In the lucky bag of mining the experiences of the last couple of years show that there are more blanks than prizes. The Mount Morgans and the Broken Hills are gifts of fortune which are few and far between, and even these deposits of richness sometimes prove to be dangerous quicksands to the too enterprising but unwary speculators. On the turf, which is the only parallel to mining in its uncertainty, a kind of glum consolation is derived by losers from the knowledge that they have had a run for their money ; but when the animal they have entrusted with their investments is either a " rank duffer " or a " stiff 'un," they feel the loss of self-respect almost as much as the disappearance of their coin. So with mining, an additional pang is felt when the fact is brought home to shareholders that they have been duped or befooled as well as deprived of their money. Experiences of this kind are so plentiful in the history of New Zealand mining within the last few years back as scarcely to need individual reference. New Zealand for a time had a regular mining boom on the London market^ and in the majority of instances the confiding Home investors have been severely bitten. But the day of retribution has come; the "rank duffers " and the " stiff 'uns " have all been found out, and now it is.not too much to say, that he would, indeed, be a phenomenally smart man who could successfully float a New Zealand mine on the London market. Another proof of the old proverb— as true in its application to communities or countries as to individuals— that "honesty is the best policy."

A farmers' club has just been formed at Wyndham, the chief aim of which is " the discussion of all matters affecting agricultural interests with a view to securing benefits of a general nature, and also securing the selection of the fittest persons to represent farmers in Parliament and the county council." The Newmarket Handicap, which was run at Flemington on Saturday last, was won by Churchill, Boz being second and Sir William third. Thirty-six horses came to the post, including Scots Grey, Corunna, and Rudolph. Carbine won the Essendon Stakes, beating Singapore, Melos, Bravo and Chintz in the order named. Another example of how road traffic is successfully competing with the railways under the present system of management has just transpired. The InvercargOl auctioneers (says the "Southland Times") have entered | into an arrangement to hold monthly sales at Wyndham, and they find it cheaper to drive from town and back again than to use the railways. Some six or seven auctioneers have now taken a coach twice, and they find that besides beating the morning train as to time, they effect a saving of about £2 per trip. The unfortunate man afflicted with leprosy at St. Clair, about whom there has been so much public concern lately, died on Saturday evening last. About the time of his death arrangements were being made to have him transferred to a piece of isolated Crown land at Tomahawk. When, however, all these preparations were made, and everything was in readiness for his conveyance, it was found that he had died. The chairman of the Benevolent Institution, on learning of his death, gave orders for his interment, requesting that the grave should be deeper than' usual and that the coffin should be covered with quicklime. The burial took place on Sunday morning, the Rev. Father Lynch officiating at the grave. A tea-meeting will be held in the Presbyterian Church this evening,at which addresses will be delivered by the Rev. Messrs Jolly, Chisholm, Currie, Taylor, Smith, and others, the intervals being enlivened by choice musical selections performed by a highlytrained choir. The rev. gentlemen just named are all men of wide experience, thoroughly well acquainted with the early religious history of the colony, and intimately identified with the growth and expansion of the churches to which they belong. They are,besides, able and cultured speakers, and may be relied on not only to instruct but also to entertain and amuse on an occasion such as the one in question. Exclusive of all this the object is a worthy one, and, we need hardly say, deserves a generous patronage. THE "Palmerston Times," in referring to the resolution passed by the Tuapeka County Council at its last meeting re limiting the number of horses in carriers' teams on the County roads to six, says: "The action of the Council will no doubt be somewhat unpopular but the members are perfectly justified in reducing the cost of maintenance by preventing what has hitherto been the wholesale cutting up of the County roads by heavy wheeled traffic." Some of the carriers on the County roads view the matter in a totally different light to our contemporary ; for we understand that an indignation meeting is shortly to be held in one of the up-country districts, at which a resolution will be pro* posed asking two, if not more, of the councillors to resign their seats. Sir Henry Parkes is a remarkable man at the present moment. He has risen to a commanding position from nothing, without the aid of any advantages not of his own possession. In the days of the American war, when he was in the prime of life, he was sent to Great Britain to direct a wave of emigration towards his colony, and on that occasion gave proof of his great power of penetration and his boldness of generalising, qualities which he earned in a correspondence with the " Sydney Morning Herald." On that occasion his companion was the celebrated Mr D alley, long afterwards renowned for his great powers of oratory and his bold conception of sending colonial troops to Egypt. Since then, Sir Henry has had many ups and downs, achieving remarkable effects owing to his extraordinary fluency. He has struck the iron in the hottest place this time, and all Australia admits it. The fairness of the awards made at the Exhibition is not the least creditable feature of the big show. This is strikingly exemplified in the case of the Chinaman from New Plymouth taking first prize for half-a-ton of butter. Probably there may be some who may rail at the policy that treats a Celestial in the same spirit of impartiality as m European. But the justice of the thing will commend itself to all right-thinking people. Our policy may be to keep Chinamen out of the colony as much as possible ; but when we have them among us, living according to our laws which admitted them, we should make no difference between them and any other race or creed in the colony. The mere fact that a Chinaman, labouring under all the disadvantage of a limited apprenticeship to our system of modern dairying and agriculture, should be able to beat all his European competitors at the Dunedin Exhibition, and sweep the board, as the saying goes, entitles him in all fairness and all candour to the highest credit and consideration. The fact that the judges viewed the matter in the same light is a strong proof of their unbiassed judgment. Miss Lawrence, who has just been promoted from the Millers Flat school to the position of third assistant mistress in the Macandrew Road school, Dunedin, was the recipient of a very flattering testimonial, together with a purse of sovereigns, from her pupils on Friday evening. Miss Lawrence has been mistress of the Millera-Flat school during the past three years, and was immensely popular with her pupils and re* spected by the elders. The presentation took place in the school, and was made by Miss Catherine Kerr, who first read a very pleasing address, expressive of her own and her schoolmates' warm regard and affection for their teacher, and their deep regret at her departure, and then handed over to Miss Law* rence, as a further and more solid proof of their esteem, a well-filled purse of sovereigns. Mr J. Kerr (Secretary of the School Committee) responded on behalf of Miss Lawrence thanking the children for their thoughtfulness and gratitude towards the young lady, who had laboured so long and so successfully in advancing their interests, and, like them, he desired to take the opportunity on his own and on behalf of the School Committee and the parents generally to express regret at Miss Lawrence's departure, and wish her success in her profession wherever she went. At the close " of the ceremony a dance followed, which was well attended, and carried on with spirit for some time, Mr Grogan acting as M.C., the music being supplied by Messrs Munro, M'Donald, and Pringle. A number of songs were nicely rendered, and a very pleasant evening spent. -(Omrespmdent.) A terrible shipwreck, accompanied by large loss of life, has just occurred on the Queensland coast. The British and Indian Company's steamer Quetta, on her homeward voyage, struck a rock supposed not to be marked on the chart, near Cooktown, with terribleforce,splitting her completely through The crew consisted of about 30 European officers and 95 coloured men, principally Lascars, and 282 passengers. A large number of the crew and 166 of the passengers are sunposed to have gone down with the ship Nearly all the passengers were on deck at the time, and a terrific panic ensued, the Dasspngers scrambling into the boats, heedless of the commands of the captain and officers, who remained cool throughout the exciting time. In less than three minutes after strikW the Quetta sank, amidst the despairing cries of those who were left on board in a helplesss condition. The captain endeavoured to get the women into the boats, but there was no tune, and he was only allowed time to get into the rigging and throw himself into the water, when the stern of the vessel rose completely out of the water, and then she settled down, and was seen no more, the whole taking less time than it does to tell it. A large number of both crew and passengers were swallowed up in the vortex, never to rise again, while others floated about and were picked up as quickly as circumstances would allow. The captain undressed himself in the water and swam about for over half -an-hour before being picked up by one of the life-boats. Only two of the boats were launched, and they saved as many as it was possible to do. All the ladies in the saloon except one were drowned. The steamer was valued at £95,000 and was fully insured. -