Ijipoets. — In our note of imports per Anna from Dunedin it should have been stated in our Monday's issue that 337 pkgs wines, spirits, ales, stout, sugars, cigars, flour, etc., had arrived to Messrs Wragge and Co. Local Akt.— There is now on the wall of the commercial room in the Southland Club Hotel an oil paintiug by one of our local artiste, His Worship the Mayor of Gladstone, Mr S. H. Moreton. It is about to be sent to the New South Wales Exhibition. The subject is Lake Manipori, and those well acquainted with the spot consider that the artist has given on the whole a very life-like representation of the scene. The clouda seem to us rather too heavy and opaque, and the outline of the mountains on the right not quite sufficiently defined. The scrub on the further shore of the lake also is slightly monotonous. The painting, however, as a whole indicates a genuine love of the picturesque and a very fair conception of what landscape painting ought to be. The treatment of some parts of the picture is highly creditable to our local artist. The Aetesian Well. — The boring for water on the artesian principle at the corner of Dee and Tay streets has unfortunately proved unsuccessful, the primary cause being the breaking of the pipe. We understand, however, that the Town Council purpose making another attempt in some other part of the town. The following is the journal of the abandoned bore kept by Mr Macaliater, the superteudent of the work. It gives the mature and the depth of the various strata passed through, and will no doubt prove interesting to many of our readers : — '' Surface clay, 9 feet ; lignite, 2 feet ; light clay. 6 inches ; sand and gravel, 2 feet 6 inches ; dark sand, 2 feet ; sand and gravel, 8 feet; quick sand and gravel, 34 feet — a good spring of water was obtained at 34 feet from the surface ; brown clay and gravel, 1 foot ; soft lignite, 3 feet 2 inches ; light clay, 2 feet 6 inches ; quick sand, 6 feet 6 inches— another spring of water was obtained here at 71 feet from the surface ; blue sand, 18 feet; white clay, 5 feet 6 inches ; dark clay, 1 foot ; white sand and gravel, 26 feet ; dark clay and mica, 2 feet 6 inches ; dark sand and clay, 6 feet 6 inches ; lignite, 2 feet 6 inches ; light Band and gravel, 10 feet ; dark sand and gravel, 4 feet ; fine quartz and sand, 3 teet— here, 150 feet 2 inches from the surface, another spring of water was obtained ; sand and clay, 2 feet 6 inches ; sand and mica, 7 feet, At this depth, 159 feet 8 inches the pipe broke. The broken pipe was subsequently connected by Mr Maealister with much trouble, but owing to the jagged state of the pipe it was thought imprudent to attempt to 'drive it further,

Thb Abawata. -This steamer arrived at the Bluff about 7 o'clock yesterday evening. She brings 50 tons of cargo for this port, and after unloading this morning sho will proceed to Dunedin at 2 o'clock. AccEssioN^^ff Legal Talent —We understand tffln Mr L. E. Reade, of Kiverton, is about to commence the practice of his profession, as a solicitor, in Invercargill this week, and will shortly* i reside here permanently. Mr Reade will be a most useful acquisition to our two most scientific sporting clubs, the Cricket Club, and the Chess Club, as he is a first class cricketer and a good chess player. We are informed also that Mr Richard Matthews has entered into partnership with Mr Finn, a legal gentleman who arrived from Melbourne last year, and has practised for some years in that metropolis. iNTERBSTING (iEOLOGICAL SSPECIMBNB. — During a trip to the conntry last wetk , in his capacity as Chief Commissioner of j Crown Lands for Southland, Mr W. H. Pearson was accompanied by Sir John i Richardson and Professor Black. Being desirous of seeing the country beyond the Mataura the party proceeded as far as the Conical Hill station, in whoie neighborhood there is much to interest me io»w uf nature, tko riituoao, and the man interested in land settlement. The top of one of the hills, whence can be seen the famous Merino Downs, the course of the Pomahaka, the Tapanui settlement, flanked by the Blue Mountains, Waipahi, Wairuna, Popotuna, the Mataura valley, and our own Hokonuis, is oovered with stones and boulders of a quartzoze description, being of a whitish grey color and as hard as whinstone. These attracted the attention of Professor Black and the party proceeded to break some of them. The result of this labor was the collection of some of the most beautiful fossils we have seen in the colony. They have been deposited in the museum of the Invercargili Athenseum. Some of the fossils look wonderfully like the leaves of the native wild briar which grows profusely on hill sides, beside watercourses, and frequently over the trunks of fallen trees. Others resemble the thin wiry pretty green fern which may be found growing in any clump of moss in Seaward Bush or on the slopes beyond Appleby on the Bluff road. A peculiarity of the fossils it that they are not only beautifully perfect in themselves, but they are distinctly impressed on the stone formation under or over them as the case may be. The same party of gentlemen brought several lizards to town, one of them being a green one six or seven inches in length of a kind occasionally seen in the northern parts of Otago, but never, bo far as we know, met with in Southland. The Amateur Hangman at Picton.— The Wellington Argus of the 27th January, has the following respecting the man who lately volunteered to act as executioner of the murderer Woodgate, j and carried out the sentence of the Court : —The Picton hangman came over to Wellington in the Hinemoa on Thursday to escape the revilings of the local populace. The arrival of the distinguished visitor had somehow or other leaked out, and as he passed along the wharf he was the observed of all observers. He was, however, little disconcerted, and made himself quite at home in a well-known public house. Afterwards, it Beems, thio notability experienced several pricks of conscience and mollified his feelings in beer. H© became restless, wandered, to and 'ro and up and down, and finally was discovered in Cuba-street, helplessly drunk, between one and two o'clock this morning, In the lockup he made no secret of the result of the meeting between himself and Woodgate and produced a bundle of notes which, ho said, was the reward of his handicraft. The Dunedin Team for the All England Match. — The Otago Daily Times of last Saturday intorrrs us that a meeting j of the All-England Eleven Match Committee was held, at which it was decided that the following members of country clubs should be at once informed that they have been finally selected : — Messrs Millington and JN T icholls (Oamaru), Downes (Lawrence), Everest (Palmerston). It is likely that Messrs M'Hutcheson and Kees will be in town jsome days before the match, and should they show their usual form, there is but little douut tuej will be chosen. The town players will be chosen from the following : — Allen, Austin, Bouch, Clark, Cargill, Collinson, Douglas, Dixon, Fuller, Fulton, Gien, Lathbury, M'Donnell, Macfarlane, Meares Morrison, Niven, Paramor, Rose, Rhodes, Robinson, Sutcliffe, and Tait. The Colonial Pbize Fsbing.— The burgesses of Hokitika are already preparing for the reception of the representatives at the colonial prize firing. They have resolved on having " a spread " on their arrival, and a ball and supper previous to their departure. A i/'UEii Abkested.— Two gentlemen recently quarrelled at Auckland and ultimately accompanied by seconds agreed to proceed to the domain to fight a duel. A start was made, but in going through Princeß-Btreet, one of the party suggested the calling at one of the hotels, and the taking of a nip to brace up the nerves of the duellers for action. During the short stay a more friendly feeling gradually prevailed, until happily a most pleasant evening terminated what might otherwise have proved a melancholy affair. Untaxed and Taxkd Law Costs.— In an action between two parties, of whom one resides in Auckland and the other in a soutuern district, matters were amicably settled out of Court, the former agreeing to pay the law costs of the latter. The bill for these waa sent up to Auckland, and was fouud to " tot up " to the respectable sum of £L 23 lUS. Considering that the case had not been brought into Court, and tliat, therefore, theße were preliminary costs, that sum of L 123 10s may be safely declaredjto be a respectable one. The Auckland party got the bill " taxed," and the result was a reduction to the paltry fee oi L 8 10s 1 Danger of County Councils' Extbavagance.— The Grey River Argua says:— The County Councillors are, we are afraid, showing a disposition to repeat one of the worst features of Provincialism — proposing works and voting mouey before they know what means they are likely to have at their disposal, and thus often leading to disappointment when it is found ihe money is not forthcoming. Last night, for instance, L 1550 of proposed expenditure was included in notices of motion for next meeting, before any approximate calculation of the revenue has been made. Before any of these proposed votes are carried, the financial i position should be well understood.

Stab Vocalists for thb Australasian Colonies.— The Napier Telegraph says: — " Signor D. De Vivo, late agent for Mdle. De Mnrska. has been heard of from New York, and is endeavoring to secure another great musical star for Australia. Signor De Vivo intended going to London and the continent. His ambition is to obtain Mdle. Lucca or Mdle. Tietjens, who are spoken of as the most likely to accept terras satisfactory to the entrepreneur. Both these ladies have at various times entertained the idea of visiting Australia, but of course it is all a question of termß. The enormous, takings of De Murska have paved the way for othera. We cannot expect to hear Patti, Nilsson, or Albani as yet, but it is a mere public furore which raises them above artistes like Lucca and Tietjens, both of whom are unequalled in certain spheres. Mdle. Tietjens made overtures of her owe accord, about three years ago, to visit Australia, or, at least expressed her wilI lingness to come, with other artists, but it could not be arranged."