NEWS OF THE WEEK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 79, 31 October 1874, Page 6

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

We ivgret to state that of late we have been selected as the iavored incipient of a number of poetical contributions, which no cloubt have caused their authors much labor and time. This preference is the more embarrassing when we confess— no doubt on. acount of a too prosaic composition— that we have been totally unable to discover any poetic merit in the contributions forwarded. Beine theretore, unable to estimate them at their proper value, we feel bound to intimate our deficiency, so that, by finding another channel the genius of those by whom we have been favored, may not bo lost to posterity. jjg A meeting of members of the Press favourable to the establishment of a club for the use of the profession, was held on Saturday evening, at the Provincial Hotel, Mr F. Nicholls being ia the chair Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather the attendance was large, and the chairman announced that he had been handed the names of fifty-five gentlemen who were desirous of becoming members of the club. As it had been announced that on the application of fifty persons tho club should be at once started, the meeting proceeded to. carry such resolution into effect, when the following gentlemen were elected office-bearers -.—-President, Mr G-. W. Bell ; Vice-President Mir R. H. Leary ; Treasurer, Mr F. Chapman ; Secretary, Mr T Hum phries ; Committee, Messrs F. tficholls, J. Dungan, Cole, Bracken and. G-raham. The Committee were authorised to meet togetlier for the purpose of drawing up a code of rules for the future guidance of the club, which will be submitted for the sanction of the members at a. general meeting. It was also decided that the formal opennio- of the club, which takes place this evening, should be inaugurated by a sunnei? at the Provincial Hotel. ' ' H Amongst the most important items of intelligence brought by the Hero is that with reference to the state of affairs at tho Palmer digging !. Advices had been received at Brisbane that the miners were no longer able to maintain a footing on the field, and that hundreds were daily leaving, starved out. The impossibility of getting provisions to tho ground makes it a matter of certainty that if the Government do not tale means of providing a transit for provisions, by opening up regular communication with the diggings, a famine will be the inevitable result during the winter.

Wb learn from the local papers that a new bell has been hung in a temporary tower constructed for the purpose, at the Catholic ™ •' L/ ttc"on- Ifc has been manufactured by Mr John Anderson, of Christchurch, and is said to be of good tone—heavy, rich and SSt^tt I* B,. to(:al COBt > delusive of all necessary fixings, has been ±.70. We beheve it is the intention of the members of the church to build a bell-tower at no distant date, a plan of which is now in the hands of the committee. We notice by advertisement in another column that Mr J P Armstrong is to re-deliver his lecture entitled " Wanderings in America and Australia, in the Temperance Hall, on Wednesday evening. -The proceeds are to be devoted to a charitable purpose, and from the well-known powers of humor of the lecturer, there can be little doubt but that the entertainment will be an interesting one, and realise a handsome sum for the object for which it is to be delivered. The unprecedented^ high rates ruling for all kinds of butchers meats are not, it would seem, conGned to this Province. From all parts of the Colony the complaint is the same, in some parts there being absolutely a famine. In Greymouth, not only are the prices enormously m excess of the ordinary terms, but most of the butchers have closed their shops, and given up business altogether. At the ™^ a c J^ 8 ' afc Ho3iitilca. the lowest prices obtained were 555. per 100 lbs., whilst some of the meat sold reached as high as 70s for the same quantity. When it is remembered that that was the wholesale price—and a margin should be allowed for its sale by retail—our readers will form some idea of its price to consumers. The worst of it is that, according to all accounts, there is little chance of its decline for two or three months at least, whilst thero is a great likelihood of its advancing on the present exorbitant and ruinous rates With such a state of affairs, and the modest demands made upon those who do not possess a fig-tree of their own under which to shelter the struggling colonist has rather a hard tussle to make both ends meet. It has been often asserted that "two of a trade could never agree, and a belief in its correctness will scarcely be shaken on perusal of the following. There seems to be a slight diversity of opinion between the Fijian organs regarding the benefits of annexation. Ihe Times says :-« Notwithstanding the temporary suspension of Great Britain's final decision upon this, to us, vital "point we have no fear whatever as to the tiltimatc result. The fact of so high and experienced a functionary as Sir Hercules Hobinson having been directed to visit the kingdom, with a view to explain matters to the King and chiefs, is in itself sufficiently indicative that the Home Government do not by any means abandon the idea ; but that a modiiication of terms only is looked for. Annexation is but a question of time, and a short time only ; and we shall soon see Britain's glorious flag waving ocr a country which may be yet destined to become one of the brightest jewels in her diadem." The <Frji Argus' thus raves:-"Do our readers know what this means? Do they understand the mild supervision to which they are to be subiected ? -.1 fch^ T , a Y are of wliat is in store for them if a military ant-crat, with absolute power of despotism, takes up his residence in Government House. Levuka, to ride them «severely ?' Have they ever heard of freedom destroyed, lands confiscated, ruin consummated by tyrants to suit a whim or conserve a caprice? Let us be up and doing, for assuredly they will regret the annexation cry when it is too late " The schooner Pearl, which arrived at Auckland from Fiii on Monday, brought a special despatch, announcing the cession of the islands, and that the British flag had been formally hoisted on the 10th mat The terms of cession were concluded and signed as far back as the 30th ult., at Nasova, which is situated at two miles distance from Levuka. The chief Maafu, who is next m power and authority to the King, had nofc, at the departure of the Pearl declaied which cause he would espouse, but the prevailing opinion was that he would offer no opposition Sir Hercules Robinson had gone to the Windward Islands, where Maafu resides, with the view of getting his signature to the act of cession, giving orders that the existing form of government should not be disturbed until his return. Contbakt to all expectation, it would appear that the young girl who was so murderously assaulted at Invercargill, some time since is rapidly approaching convalescence. The 'Southland Times ' says — " Our readers will be glad to learn that there is now every hope of the complete recovery of the young girl Mary Hall, who was so murderously assaulted some months ago by the man Brennan She ►"s now, and has been for the last ten days, able to walk about her room, and up and down the stairs, without any support, ancl also to enjoy an occasional short promenade in the verandah ; and notwith standing the murderous maltreatment which she received there is now no reason to suppose that she will, as formerly conjectured,remain a burden to herself, her friends, or the community." If any doubt exists in the minds of our readers as to the weight carrying powers of Celestials, the following, from the 'Keefton Courier, will set the matter at rest—" One day last week, a party of European miners living about eight miles from Eeefton, called ten ders for packing provisions from Cronadin to their hut, a distance of about five miles. A tender was received from a Chinaman who under took to carry the required loading at a rate of one shilling per cwt and stipulated that each load should not weigh less that 4 cwt' W hen it is understood that 3 cwt. is considered to be a good load for =a pack-horse we arc unable to imagine what sort of stuff Chinamen are made of. The Government has received, per Tararua, a telegram from the Agent-General, dated the 7th of October, which advises that the fol lowing immigrant ships saUed dtiring September :-Cospatrick, with 420 souls, for Auckland; Geraldine Paget, with 698, for Canterbury • Clarence, with 340, for Napior; Carnatic, with 290, for Marlborough • Crusader, with 370, for Canterbury; Dilhare3, with 370 for Axick' land; Margaret Galbraith, with 130, and the Nelson, with 330 for Otago. '