Netos of ti)e Bag.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 201, 29 December 1873, Page 3

News of the Day.

Rifle Match.—A match came off at the Waimea West butts on Friday last, between nine members of the City Rifles and a like number of the Waimea Company. Tho former proved tho conquerers, scoring 375 to tho country representatives, 365. We will publish the scores to-morrow. Foot Racing^ at the Caledonian Gambs.—lt will bo seen by an addition made to the programme of sports for Thursday next, that it is intended to huve a 200 and 300 yards handicap foot rnce, and intending competitors are invited to send in their names to the Secretary before one o'clock on that day. Fatal and Melancholy Occurrence. —On Wednesday hißt au occurrence of a most melancholy naluro happened at Takaka, at the farm of Mr. C. Lewis, son of Mr. Henry Lewis, for several years chief surveyor to the Provincial Government. Mr C. Lewis was engaged in building a atack of hay, from the top of which he either threw or let fall his fork. This, on its way to the ground struck a man named Michael Cumpion, who was working in the field, and tho prongs entering his bowels, caused his death in two hours. The sufferer, who had worked occasionally on the farm for some years, and ht one time lived in tho house, exonerated Mr. Lewis from any intentional desire to injure him—in fact, tho two were on the beet of terms. At the in-

quest held on the body, the ju v returnee', aa compelled, a verdict of " manslaughter " ugainst, Mr. C Lewis. Great sympathy is felt for Mr Lewis and his family throughout the district, where Mr. C. Lewis is a general favourite. Incumbency of Christ Chukcii. — The incumt bency of the par^h of Christ Church having become | Tacant some mouths ago by the reMguation of the Rev. G\ H. Johnston, M.A., it luis been part of the I duty of Dr. Suter, since he has uuen in England, to find a clergyman to succeed the respected gentleman who now only performs the duties until his successor can arrive. The mail on Thursday last brought letters from the Bishop, informing the churchwardens that he had appoi ted the Rev. James Leigh ton to the incumbency. Mr. Leighton was formerly a tutor at the Missionary College at Agra, and has for twelve years been vioar of Bispham, in Lancashire, in the Diocese of Manchester. He was to eail for Nelson via Melbourne about the new year, and may be expected here by Easter. The Bishop expects to reach Nelson about the end of March. { Singular Accident. — A man named Michael Donohue, residing at. Greymouth, strangled himself whilst eating his breakfast, by a pieoe ot meat sticking in his throat. Road to Canteebuey. — A gentleman who has lately made the journey from Canterbury to Nelson by way of Tarndale, complains of the state of the road through the Wairau Gorge. The cuttings along the mountain sides have become dangerously narrow, and in places give not more than eight inches of footing to a horse, while a slip would precipitate animal and rider into the river at a depth ot one lo two hundred feet. As the gentleman we refer to was a stranger to the road, and travelled alono — not a prudent thing, by the way, for a stranger to do — other requirements forced themselves on his attention, not, perhaps, noticed b} those who are in tho habit of making the journey. On crossing the Waiau-ua Bridge his anxieties commenced. Hanmer Piain is intersected with swamps, And a few painted posts are needed to direct travellers across it. There are other parts of the road where such guides would be most serviceable, and the absence of them have caused many traveller to sleep out at night, and suffer a prolonged fast. On descending from Jollies Pass into the Clarence it should be indicated whether the road lies up or down the valley ; the ford on the Clarence should be marked, and the road up tho valley of the Acheron indicted. This might seem unnecessary, but we have known travellers who, failing to cross the Clarence at the proper ford, have passed the Acheron, crossed the Clarence lower down, and proceeded up a nearly parallel but rough valley towards the head of the Awatere. On reaching the forks oi the Acheron, a person unacquainted with the country is liable to go astray by proceeding up Richmond dale instead of towards Tarndale; or he may, by following the left hand branch of the river, be led up tho Alma, with his face towards Jollies Pass which he hud left in the morning. This muy show the necessity of Government expending a lew pounds for the direction of travellers passing through a wild di-trict, where human habitations are from twenty to thirty miles apart. Even after leaving Tarndale house, direction-posts would be very serviceable at all river crossings. It would also be a great convevenience if the holder of the Tarndaie reserves was compelled to maintain an accommodation house at tin 1 Rainbow, and to keep a horse for conveying travellers across the two rivers, and direct and give, confidencH to those who were on horseback. The reserves are large, and they should be made subservient to the public interest. An Impohtakt Discoveky. — The Auckland Herald says : — A Mr. de L'Eau, a gentleman of scientific attainments; who at one time was a large Continental manufacturer of paper, has succeeded in extracting a very fine quality ot pulp irorn the refuse of our flax-mills, which, unless those who have pronounced upon his preparation be greatly mistaken, promises to awaken a new industry likely to be attended with tho most important results. It is proposed that the pulp shall be manufactured from the refuse fibre of the phormium tenax, and afterwards shipped home iv a solid state for conversion into paper of the finest quality." Opening of the Auckland Peovincial COUNCIL. — This newly-elected Council was opened on the 15ih inst, and after sitting a few days, and voting the necessary money supply, adjourned until the let of May. Tho Herald any* :—": — " Nothing could hiive b en nv>re satisfactory than have been the proceedings during this brief sitting. The Council, the Executive, and his Honour the Superintendent, have beeu in perfect accord. Members have evidently met to transact the Council business in a sphit, we may almost say, of genuine patrioti->in. It appears to be felt that the present is a turningpoint in the affairs of the province, and that it only wants members to be united in sinking all minor differences in order to advance the more important, interests pertaining to the province, by which it shall again rise to that rank of importanco, its position, its population, and revenue lairly entitle it." A Proposal to go Yankee Gbab toe Choice of Mayor. — At the recent election of mayor for the city of Auckland, the two candidates, Mr. P. R. Phillips, the outgoing mayor, and Mr. Isaacs, had an equal number of votes. It was, therefore, proposed by a worthy councillor to his colleagues, that the gentlemen should go " Yankee Grab" to settle who should succeed to the vacant office. This proposal did not meet with support, and the point v/at decided by placing the name of the two candidates in a hat, and as that of Mr. Phillips was first drawn, the election was decided to have fallen upon him. A Champion Mile Footrace. — A race for the Mile Challenge Cup, and a sweepstake of £25 each, ■*rs run at Gatesbead, Yorkshire, in October last, between a young Scotchman named M'Leavy, Ridley, of Gateshead, and Hindlo, also a Scot, from Paisley. The race was well contested, and won by three yards by M'Leavy, in 4inin. 21sec. Our readers will be able to compare this time with that in which the mile will be run in at the Caledonian Sports on Thursday next. An Unpalatable Cobhectton. — In the report of a recent speech by Mr. Vogel, in Oiago, on a public occasion, iv reply to the toast of the " Genersl Government," he was reported by the Daily Times to have said, that " with reference to Dunedin, he looked upon it as destined to become the principal city in the colonies." The reporter, to natter the people of Dunedin, put very different words into Mr. Vogel's mouth to those he uttered, as the following; correction subsequently made will show. What. Mr. Vogel really said was this, "He believed that Otago, with the assistance of the other provinces, would causo New Zealand to become the premier colony in Australasia." Absued Telegrams. — The Otago Daily Times has the following: — The Melbourne agent of the Anglo-Australian Press Telegraphic Agency, has deemed it necessary to apprise the New Zealand public by telegraph of the fact, that " Dr. Featherston dinpd recently with the Lord Major at the Mansion House." Really this Agency, which is already the laughing-stock alike of the Press and the peoplo of Now Zealand, is becoming too absurd, The next sort of telegram wo shall receive will be something like the following :—": — " Dr. Featherston has bought a new suit of clothes from the Priuco of Wales's tailor." " Dr. Featherstou had his boots blacked in front of the Royal Exchange to-day." "Dr Featherston has changed his tobacconist," &c. Poor Dr. Featherston ! What has he done that he can't even eat his dinner without a Jenkins in Melbourne blazoning the circumstance abroad? And what has the New Zealand Press done that it should be foixed to pay for such rubbish ? The number of nominations for immigrants for Otago sent home by the last Suez mail, was 2,361, of which 408 were from Riverton, 308 fromDuuedin, 280 from Invercargill, and 41 from Oamaru. Mr. Buckley, a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council, recently gave tho following notice of motion :—": — " That in the opinion of this Council it id expedient that the services of the present Superintendent and Executive should be dispensed with, and that His Honour be therefore respectfully requested to place on the Estimates a sufficient sum to

enabie the Conned 10 obtain tho services of another Superintendent from England, or elsewhere." A charge was recently maiie ugainsb the head teacher ol the Government school «t L'okomairiro of having beaten a Roman Catholic clnlil for refusing to attend the reading of the Bible and Protestant praters. A commissioner was appointed to inquire into the facts, and the following id ihe concluding passage of his report : — " I repent Unit a careful consideration at all the available evidence on tho subject shows, that the allegation that the head teacher of the Tokomairiro Government school had beaten a Roman Catholic boy for refusing to attend the Bible reading and Protestant prayers, notwithstanding the remonstrance of the assistant teacher, is entirely without foundation." The yield of the Otago Q-oldfields is still considerable, the escort of the 9th instant brought into Dunedin the 1 olio wing quantities: — Southern Escort — 028. dwts. Lawrence ... ... ... 1675 9 Waipori 217 3 Waitahuna ... „. 389 11 Tokomairiro- 468 8 2750 11 Northern Escort — 9347 6 Total 12,097 17 Mr. Wheatley, of Eakanui, North Otago, has done good service in the successful acclimatisation of English wild duck in that district. Lust year he sent away no less than 22 couples to gentlemen interested in acclimatisation in the neighbourhood, which will become so many head-quarters from which the progeny of these birds will disperse, i'his year he has scores of young birds, the parents having in some instances hatched out three broods within twelvemonths. There can be no doubt that, i hanks to Mr. Wheatley's enterprise, the English wild duck will be thoroughly established in Otago. A correspondent at the Waimate, in South Canterbury, iuforma a Christchurch journal that labour is very scarce in that locality. Very few of the local hands will go into I tie shearing sheds at the present rates. Tho writer tried to obtain men to save v crop of rupe seed, but though terms were offered by which a pound a day could have been r easily earned, not a single hand could be obtained. " Another proof of the scarcity of labour in that province is the fact, that Mr. E. G. Wright, railway contractor, has been compelled to again advertise in other provinces for men. At the time that hia labourers i on the North line struck, Mr. Wright inserted ad- ( vsrlisements in the Auckland and other papers, by ( which means he succeeded in bringing something i like two hundred into the province, and he is now 1 again so short-handed and unable to obtain a proper c supply, that he has resorted to his former expedient in t tie hope of similar success. The Neio Zealand Herald states that it lias been ' shown a small volume printed upon paper made from \ the leaves of tho New Zealand ilax plant. Our con- ■ temporary sava that the paper iv iippearauce and j strength closely resembles parchment. The Christchurch Museum now contains eighteen I complete Moa skeletons. Dysentery is very prevalent in Auckland just now ' in borne parts of tho city, and the press is calling out • lor the enforcement ot sanitary precautions.. On the Ist of N ivcmber tho inmates of Auckland Gaul, numbered 142, of wlicun 27 were females ( Out of this gross number, 107 of the prisoners were. | undergoing sentence, and the remainder were await- , ing trial. Twenty coal miner?, specially shipped to Dunedin, were unable on their lvcent. arrival to Gild work iv Duuedin in that line. One of these workers, who is described in the list as a veritable skilled miner, is J a female aged 17. The greute.«t wind and dust storm of the season occurred in Dunedin on the 16th instant. Roofs and verandahs were denuded of their iron coverings, windows blown in, and dust found its way into houses through every opening. Fences were levelled, and trees uprooted or broken down. The dust flew ' about in vast clouds, and the wind in its force bore ' along hard pebbles, whie.li struck pedestrians with a j force that was anything but pleasant. From all parts of the southern portion of tho Canterbury Province, the Timaru Herald hears favourable reports of the crops. The heaviest patch ' tint has couie under its notice is on the Waimatitai estate, where there is a field of 25 acres of oats, six feet in height, giving promise of a yield of 70 ' bushels to (he acre. The Arrow Observer takes rather a gloomy view of the state ot the gold-mining industry in New j Zealand generally, and in the VVakatip district in particular. It states it to be its belief, that on the whole there is no industry in the colony at the present time that is so poorly paid as that, of tho ' miner ;• and in the Wakatip district it believes that the average weekly earnings of the unuers range ! from 15s. to 20s each. J The Bruce Herald gives the following account of a small whirlwind :—": — " A somewhat unusual sight was witnessed by a number of individuals in Milton about mid-day, on Sabbath la-jt. All at once a column of dust, resembling Bomewhat a high pillar or • chimney-stack, ascended from the main street, accompanied by a rushing noise. After a few seconds ] it burst, and the whirlwind, for such it was, rushed ] across several sections with great force, lifting cul- -, linnry utensils, domestic animals, &c, in its course. J It did not seom to occupy above a yard in breadth of ground, and several persons stepped aside to allow it to pass. No serious damage was done."