The coal propr.etors at New castle have fixed the price of their coal for the ensuing year at ten shil lings per ton net." After referring to the price tho new company expect to he able to sell coal at, the facilities for shipment, and quoting a passage from Sir John Coode's l\eporf, the Times says: —" It is plain that Aus tralian capitalists, who have so readily invested in Westport Coal Company shares, have ample reason for the faith they hold, and we can only hope that the Directors, when the lists are closed, will be able to show that New Zealand investors have also, in the same liberal degree, supported an enterprise which will conduce so much to the material and lasting pros perity of the colony."

To judge from the calculations of the various newspapers published through out the Colony, a remarkable diversity of opiuion seems to exist as to whether the Government or the Opposition have been victorious in the recent elections. Journals devoted to the interests of the party in power crow loud and long, and aver that the Ministerial position in the new Parliament has been rendered as firm as a rock, while the Opposition organs, with equal joyfulness, congratu late their party upon its success and the political downfall of the present Cabinet, in each case, of course, the wish is very much the father to the thought, and when one reads a newspaper opinion upon this point car« must be taken to weigh well the prejudices likely to re sult from its political leanings. The vVanganui Herald, Mr Baliance's paper, is so sure that Hall and Co.'s days are numbered, that it suggests the Ministry should at once place their resignations in the hands of his Excel lency. The Premier and his colleagues are not, however, likely to abdicate in such a hurry. The paper just referred to classifies members thus—Opposition ists, 40; Ministerialists 39; Indepen dents, 7. The New Zealand Times ar rives at a different result, as follows— Ministerialists, 45 ; Oppositionists, 3-3 ; Independents, 8 ; Doubtfuls, 7. The Wanganui Chronicle has another idea— Oppositionists 39 ; Ministerialists, 47; Doubtfuls, S; and the Grey liiver Argus brings the parties out about equal, with a fair margin of "Doubt fuls." W"hen doctors differ who shall decide? In this instance time alone will tell. 