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NEW ZEALAND.
At Wellington the con.1 company have de-
cided to appoint a London agent, empowering
him by the out-going mail to purchase, a
steamer of 300 tons, with S tp! draught. Mr.
Dransfield was directed jso leave fry the Raiigi
toto to purchase £7000 worth of sailing yiessels
in Melbourne. A large meeting at Pakowai
rejmiliatcd sympathy with the Waikatos,
and expressed loyalty. The United States .Go
vernment ask permission to establish a station
in the colony, to observe the transit of Venus.
Six companies at tho Thames have divided
£862,458 amongst them since they started,
besides having £10,000 in. hand. New ground
is being taken up. The whole of the Austra-
lian squadron will rendezvous at Wellington
in September or October, to meet the new
Commodore, who comes out in his flag ship
via the Cnpe to Wellington direct. Com-
modore Stirling goes home in the Clio. The
Basilisk is to be placed on the N.Z. station.
At Wellington a mining bill is to be intro-
duced whichwill provide for mining on private
property. At Dunedin 15,000 ova have been
secured from the brown trout in the Shag
river. Vincent Pyke is about to publish a
work on Colonial Life. At Cambridge a
meeting of settlers has been held, at which
resolutions condemnatory of the Government
action regarding Sullivan's murder were
passed, and a demand was made that
British law should be enforced through
out the colony. News has arrived at
New Plymouth to the effect that a
company, consisting of large ironmasters,
had been formed to work the iron sand. At
Dunedin it is proposed to connect Waitaki
and Invercargill by railway. If the General
Assembly refuse to grant the appropriation,
the province will set apart half a million
acres for the purpose. The New Zealand
Government expect further applications for
railway extension to be sent in, to an extent
of one million sterling. At Auckland, the
Rev. D. Hamilton, Presbyterian minister, is
missing. Sir James Pergusson opened the
session of Parliament, at Wellington, on the
15th of July. He congratulated the
colony on its prosperous condition. The
Ministry, Sir James Fergusson asserted,
were anxious to reopen the Californian ser-
vice but they would only do this on terms
just to the colony, and which would not dis-
associate New Zealand from the use of the
Suez service.
Some two years ago a Mr. Handyside, of
Nelson, New Zealand, announced that he had
made a discovery by which a railway train
could be propelled up a steep gradient of 1
in 8. The details of the invention were
sent to Mr. Brunless, the engineer of the
Mount Cenis Tunnel and Right Railway.
He reports favorably of it, and states that
by its means an engine of twenty-six tons
would easily take 180 tons up a gradient 1
in 10 at the rate of five miles an hour, or up
a gradient 1 in 8 at three miles an hour.
For countries such as New Zealand, where
very steep gradients are absolutely un-
voidable, it is thought that the discovery
will prove of great service.
The second reading of the Telegraph
Cables Subsidy Agreement Ratification Bill
has been agreed to. Mr. Vogel stated that
Queensland, New South Wales, and New
Zealand proposed to be equally responsible
for a guarantee of five per cent. on
£1,600,000. The cost of the cable was es-
timated at £1,200,000, and all receipts over
£1200 would go to reduce the guarantee
The tariff was very favorable. New Zea-
land's annual liability was limited to a third
of £50,000, the guarantee being paid only
while the line was working. The Govern-
ment had undertaken to pay £600 towards
the cost of surveys, the Governments of
Queensland and New South Wales each pay-
ing an equal amount, and a vessel was being
prepared in Australia for making the survey.
The French Government were anxious to
pay a share of the guarantee if the line
were carried to Norfolk Island, and New
Caledonia, but the New Zealand Govern-
ment declined the proposal. The New Zea-
land shore end would be on the south side of
Cook Strait. New Zealand would be re-
sponsible for its share of the guarantee if
the cable to Australia were interrupted, the
other colonies being similarly situated re-
garding the Singapore end of the cable.
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