TOWN AND COUNTRY.

West Coast Road TRAiFic.--Tlie numbers of persons and stock which passed the Bealey, to and from the West Canterbury goldflelds, during the week ending. 29th Dec., 1866, are as follows From the goldflelds—persons; males, 34, females, 1. Horses, 46. To the goldflelds—persons : males, 67 ; females, 1. Horses, 91; cattle, 19.4 j sheep, 560 ; pigs, 12; asses, 1. Number of permanent residents at Bealey, 6 . During the week erided;JanV.. 2, forty-nine, cattle have been driven past the Rangiriri station, on their way to Hokitika. . Accident. Yesterday morning, .as.:Mr McGregor, formerly of the firm of Hart and iMcGregor, was crossing Cashel street, opposite Messrs. Lane,. Brother's. store, a horseman galloped round the corner from Colombo street, and before Mr McGregor could get out of his way, the horse struck him down upon his hack, and planted a hoof on his right ancle, while. another just grazed the ribs on the left . side; ■. Dr: Marshall was in immediate attendance, and expressed • ; the ppiaion '-that'. Mr i McGregor had narrowly escaped a fatal injury,' which'would probably have 1 resulted had the : hoof.] of. : the horse, which was a heavy one, descended fairly on his chest. The injury done to the ancle appears to be. of a . serious nature, but its exact amount could not be ascertained at the time..: -

New Journal.—Another newspaper has been added to the literature of New Zealand. The Wairarapa Mercury's _ maiden sheet appearedon Jan,,s,and' it is a very .credit--■able.paper, both, in matter and .composition. It will: doubtless meet the requirements of the district as a local chronicle of events, and it ha 3 our cordial wishes for its success. Kaiapoi Dbamatic Sooiett.—Owing, no doubt;% the. inclemency ofc the:weather on Wednesday evening last, the members of this society, performed, to a very thin house. A new member, Mr G. Wearing, made his debut onthi3 oCcasionaßEmilyTrevor,in : which part he appeared to great advantage. During the interval between the. two piece 3, which were "Boots at the Swan" and the petite comedy of ■ Little Toddlekins," Miss Hookham played two solos on the piano with a' degree of taste and skill,iatV once evincing the fine ear. and finished execution of an accomplished musician; after which,. ..Mr. A. C. Bell gave. two songs,, in : -lus .usual, excellent style. On conclusions! theenter-, tainment.dancing succeeded, and wa3 kept up ti11,3 a.m. The Govebnor's Visit.—Orders hare been issued by the Colonel commanding the district that all Volunteer Corps are to hold themselves in readiness to attend on Sir George Grey at, parades, and as guards of. honour, escorts, and sentries. The Cavalry will muster in Latimer Square;.at seyen a.m., ■ on Monday, and will proceed at once to Lytteltonto form the escort. , During his : Excellency's stay in Canterbury, Melville House, as fixed upon on a former occasion, has been prepared as a suitable-resident®';, ; and-all requisites .to. do;honour; to- the dis-. : tinguished visitor have been provided by the Provincial Government.! will : be the guest of Mr Cracroft Wilson, as ■ reported, but only for a short time, the visit to the province being:.one of ceremony;.; His 1 .Ex<^e^'^ r Lyttelton and ' Qhristchurclt: One; of the' objects; pf.vhis visit will be an inspection of the tunnel. . We notice in the last Wellington papers ■ : that H.M.S. Brisk is the vessel in which the : : Governor Mil ■ embark; for Canterbury andi;. that: he is only awaiting her -arrival at Wellington, to. dom- .. . ' -

-, Theatre Kotal.—This theatre was opened last night, for a benefit to the widow and. family of the late Sergeant-Major/ 'Darby;. Miss Joey Gougenlieim, the lessee, kindly-gave the use of the, theatre and the 1 professionals of Christchurch and:- some who are net not professional), histrionic, terpsibho'reati, and musical, Vwith equal kindness gave'their services gratiutously for the occasion; We are glad to be able to say that the house was a good one, and that many of the volunteers aided to ; swell its, numbers; - But had they been good enough to : be at, the' itrouble of donning their regimental uniforms, the amountof volunteer/sympathy lfitli the bereaved would have been more apparent, and tlie • theatre - would have looked all the more gayV;. and we believe the act would have been in viaccord with the practice at home. The comedietta, "Who Speaks First,'!, was well enacted, and afforded much amusement ; arid'it was followed : by. an interlude, chiefly musical, that was even fmore -successful.' The'entertainment concluded with a farcei;of(ithe;variety 'called "screaming," entitled " The Dumb Belle," , which took all the remaining risibility out of the audience. CiTr Council.—-A special meeting of the new members of the City Council was held yesterday, at their offices, at 3.16 : p.m. The. ;first business was the election of a clwirmttji. In the interim, Mr Duncan occupied the chfiir, the following members, being present; —Messrs Ruddenklau, Tombs,. Anderson, ; jWilson, Calvert, Hislop, and Thomson, On. the' motion of Mr Ruddenklau, seconded by Mr Thomson, Mr W. Wilson was elected . chairman, He returned thanks for the honour conferred upon him, and after passing a high eulogium Upon the manner in which the; late Council had discharged their. -funor, lions, professed. his jntentipn .of doing . all in his power to promote the interests of the:,city, .The next business before'the. Council was the making arrangements with: reference to the Governor's visit. A com-' tnittee, consisting of the Chairman, Messrs. Anderson,' arid Duncan, was appointed, to draw up a congratulatory address to his Excellency. It was decided that arrangements with reference to the Governor s tisit should be left to < the chairman and the committee.. It was-decided that ka f application should be made to the Provincial Council,

requesting his Honor the Superintendent to cause a sum of money to be placed on the Supplementary Estimates, for the purpose of putting Cathedral Square into proper order. Provinoul Council.—We are unable to give the whole of last night's proceedings.. What took place after the detailed Report, given to-day" may be i briefly summarized.' T)ie; Hokitika Corporation Bill was passed throughi committee and ifeported. Mr Beswjek's motion, affirming the desirability of constructing tramways tn different parts of ? the province, was agreed to after considerable discussion . The Roads Ordinance Amendmen Ordinance was passed. The sum of £3,175 for the Provincial Engineer's Department was voted in committee. Mr Stewart's motion for making reserves in Hokitika was carried. Mr Beswick complained of the conduct iof/] anr honourable member outside 1 'the- -chtthber, but the Speaker said lie had no jurisdiction. The House went into committee, andpassed the item of £12,159 for immigration, With reference to the Grey River Coalfield Company, Mr Stewart said the terms of the agreement with the company were on record, bnt the Government did not consider itself hound to act. TheCity^Council Ordinance, itwas intimated, could not be got through, but the Government were willing to give their sanction to a short bill as a temporary expedient to assist the views of the Council.