The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-18 00:00:00

REVENUE OF NEW ZEALAND.

The ordinary and territorial revenue for the financial year
ending June, 1861, was £500,368, of which sum £270,678
was derived from land sales. As the total revenue in 1860
from the same sources amounted to £464,738, we have, in
the present case, an increase of £35,630, showing over the

increase of 1860 a progressive increase of 7 to I—the in-
crease of 1860 over 1859 being only £5,089. The expendi-
ture during the year 1863.61, for administrative purposes
was £153,046, and disbursements by the receivers of land
sales amounted to £276,438, leaving a surplus made up from
this and other sources of £76,744 to be distributed among
the different provinces. Deducting the revenue derived
from the sale of lands, the remaining amount was made up
principally by customs duties, from which source alone
£204,651 were received. The post-office contributed
£11,581; and fees and fines levied in the various courts
added £9,034 to the year's revenue. The expenditure, on 1
the other hand, may be classed under the following chief
items :—The Civil List figured for £19,000; permanent
oharges for interest for £7,408, and permanent charges un-
der acts of the General Assembly for £14,074. The Exe-
cutive of the whole colony absorbed only £3,418 (an ex-
ample worthy of imitation at home). The legislative (by
which, we presume, the various expenses of the two cham-
bers and their officers are meant) cost £11,101; customs
required £17,005; the postal service was performed for
£32,725; while the miscellaneous items were contented with
an outlay of £11,633. Having shown the abundant reve-
nues with the comparatively small expenditure of New
Zealand, we will proceed to explain by more figures how
these revenues have increased from year to year, and the
prospect they afford of the future prosperity of the country.
For this purpose we can ask for no better guide than the
customs returns for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 1861, com-
pared with the returns of the corresponding quarter in 1860.
The total amount received by the customs for the Septem-
ber quarter of 1860 was £45,789 ; and for that of 1861,
£66,934, an increase of £21,145. While the value of the
articles imported was only £417,165 in the 1860 quarter, in
1861 it had risen to £.586,118, an increase of £168,953. The
duties were, it will be observed, entirely levied on luxuries,
such as spirits, wine, tobacco, sugar and tea, and coffee--
although, perhaps, the last three may be exempted, by their
universal use, from that title. Spirits produced to the cus-
tem-house treasury £28,131, an increase of £7,887 on the
corresponding quarter of 1860. Tobacco gave £6,982, with
an increase of £2,073. Wine contributed £3,140, and an
increase of £715. Tea brought in £3,685, an increase of
£1,184. Sugar, £6,815, showing £1,701 increase ; while
coffee and cocoa more than doubled their previous contri-
butions by affording £1,167 to the revenue instead of £666
as in 1860.—New Zealand Examiner.

ANOTHER GREAT OIL WELL STRUCK

IN CANADA.

(Prom the Chatham Planet.)
Oil Springs, March 17, 1862.
There is almost constantly observable improvement in
this village—one year ago there were but a few adventu-
rous persons in here, looking for oil—to-day there are not
less than 1,500 inhabitants. We have four stores, keeping
a large assortment of wares and goods, one of them, a Mr.
Thompson's, would be a craft to any town, two tailoring
establishments, three shoemakers, three blacksmiths, one
foundry almost completed, one tinsmith, two butchers,
numerous carpenters and joiners, bricklayers and masons,
one brick kiln, ono large timber yard, one baker, several
land agencies, one physician, one printing press that will
issue a number this present week, one schoolhouse, one
livery stable, three lines of stages, 15 refineries, one hotel,
and one tavern--and no drinking saloons. Thus, you per-
ceive, we have all the trades represented, and every man
has work enough to keep himself employed. We kayo no
sawmill nearer than four miles—we want one here very
much—it would be a very profitable investment. The inha-
bitants are greatly excited regarding a name for the place ;
they do not like the present one of Oil Springs ; cannot
some one help us to an appropriate one ? Messrs. Pike
and Thompson on Saturday afternoon " struck oil" in
large quantities. As yet it cannot be called a flowing well,
because of the immense quantity of water that was in the
well, it being BxB feet, 60 feet to the rock, but when the
water shall have been pumped out, and pipes inserted,
there is no doubt but it will flow as largely as any of its
predecessors. This well is also further westward, and about
one mile from Shaw's. It is said that the oil is the very best
quality that has been found here—its colour a dark bottle
green, and almost odourless. This well is one of the old
' surface wells, drilled to a depth of 218 feet, and proves, as
I asserted before, that there is a rock oil below the surface-
yielding wells. Quite a new spirit has beon infused into
the owners of surface wells by this finding, as it has been so
generally a received opinion that there did not exist rook
oil where surface oil was found. The value of land in the
westward part of the village is already held at an advance
over former prices.

'I he committee appointed by the oil producers leave here
for Hamilton to-day, to confer with a committee appointed
by the capitalists of Toronto and elsewhere, to perfect the
arrangement for shipping oil to European markets, The
reports of oil brokers in Liverpool have encouraged the oil-
men by their urgent appeal for any quantity of the crude
petroleum, at very largely remunerative prices.

THE COUNT OF PARIS ON DUTY.---I called this
morning upon Gen. M'Clellan and found the officers of his
staff preparing to leave during the day for Alexandria. The
general not being visible at so early an hour, I stepped into
a tent pointed me by a sentry, and was immediately inter-
rogated by a young aide-de-camp as to the object of my
visit. This officer, apparently some two or three and twenty
years old, was dressed in the plain, dark blue suit of a cap-
tain, the unpretending straps with the two gold lace bars
showing his rank. Tall and well formed, his handsome face
was bedecked with moustache and nascent beard, growing
a l'Americaine ; his tent, though roomy, was perfectly
Spartan in adornment, being somewhat below the average
of most of the volunteer officers. The narrow bed, about
two feet six wide, was covered with close army blankets, but
no sheets, and the entire arrangements betokened a supreme
contempt of luxury. He sat on his bed and conversed with
I me for half an hour, the subject being the conduct of the
warand the attitude of the English Government during the
present troubles of the Republic. The young captain's ac-
cent was slightly foreign ; otherwise, his knowledge of our
language was perfect, much more so than is generally found
amongst foreigners. I may as well state that I was convers-
ing with the Comte de Paris—a fact of which I was at first
unaware, but learned it subsequently by" gessiag," as they
say here. The count is a powerful young fellow physienlly,
and I am sure must be a very agreeable companion with
his associates, for his observations to me were both just and
witty, and not in the slightest degree tinctured with arro-
gance. "Whatever fortunes may be in store for him, I be-
lieve he will prove worthy of them ; and he certainly
showed himself perfectly at home amongst the Republicans
of the New World.—Letter from. Fairfax, Virginia.

BENSON'S WATCHES AND CLOCKS.- —" Perfection of
mechanism."—Morning Post. Gold watches, 5 to 1(0 guineas;
silver watches, 2 to 50 guineas. Benson's new Illustrated
Pamphlet, free for two stamps, descriptive of every construc-
tion of watch, enables persons in any part of the world to
select with the greatest certainty the watch best adapted to
their use. Watches sent free and sale by pobt on receipt of
a remittance.—J. W. Benson, 33 and 34, Ludgate-hill, 46 and
47, Corniiill, London Y.C.—Etabliphed 1749.