MAIL SUMMARY FOR Europe and America.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 115, 16 May 1902, Page 3

MAIL SUMMARY FOR Europe and America.

OUB HOME LETTER

AUCKLAND, May 16. The three weeks that have elapsed S! publication of our last sum- "% rf news for despatch via the Francisco mail have been most Lntful within the colony- WanUD I!pms to have set in earlier than • er uSU at and the present month so 1S v » hppn very stormy, but no serhT Results"are reported. His Excelr!v he Governor and the Countess Ie fnR y anfurly are still residing at Gov°f n< House Auckland, and have Sriuch Merest in local affairsS Excellency on the 2nd mst proLed to Rotorua and presented to tf Arawa tribe of Maoris a handle flag, forwarded by the Duke of X* and Cornwall in remembrance !X visit in June of last year. The iZnor will be in Wellington at the ~" 0 f thet Coronation celebrations Tune Coronation Day will be Served as a public holiday throughIT the colony, and committees fanned in the towns and other cenvps of population are working energetically to secure public observances worthy of the importance of llp event. The weather m Aew Zeaand at that time of the year is not Sv to be favourable for outdoor Sriugs, especially of children L t iose interesting themselves in 4e function hope, nevertheless, to make the occasion a pleasant one, and a memorable one- for the young °A number of ancient Maori carvings iad curios was found in a cave near Hokianga f. week or two ago. The cave had been used as a burial place and it therefore contained many articles which the Maoris were accustomed to place beside the bodies of their dead. The coffins are made of totara, carved in the style which has not been used for at least a century. The Maoris now in the district have no claim to the discovered articles, as they are not the descendants of the tribe by whom the cave was used, that hapu having been swept away. Mr. Menzies, of the Lands Department, has charge of the find. Mr- Cheeseman, curator of the Auckland Museum, wired to the Act-ing-Premier asking that the antiquities be handed over to the Auckland Museum, and Mr. Geo. Eowlds, M.H.E.. wired to similar effect to Sir J. G. Ward and to the Hon. Mr. Carroll. The Acting-Prem*er replied that he recognised the superior claims of Auckland, and had directed that the articles be handed over to the curator of the Museum.

The exports of the colony for the March quarter amounted to £3,863,----245, a decrease of £723,398 compared with the first quarter of 1901. The exports to Great Britain alone show a decrease of £560,000. The imports for the quarter amounted to £3,030,----091, a decrease of £211,736 on the corresponding quarter of 1901. The imports from Victoria and New South Wales decreased over £150,000 compared with the first quarter of 1901, and the imports from the United States decreased £40,000.

Mr Alfred Kidd was installed Mayor of Auckland for a second term on the 14th inst. In the course of his speech Mr Kidd said:—"At the conclusion of the term of office of Mayor Goldie there was a net credit balance on all accounts of £30,748 2/6. This was made up on credits on various accounts. These, with the exception of two accounts, are still in credit. Last year the debits were improvement trusts account and Waikumete Cemetery account. At the end of this financial year the improvement trust account is in debit £161 12/9, while the general account debit is £5759 6/9, thus showing that, with the credit brought forward in general accounts from last year, £3576 5/, we have spent from the general account on necessary works in the city a sum of £9335 I*l/9 over and above our income. It will be necessary for the Council to consider during this terra of office the advisability of raising a special loan to pay for the largely increased expenditure necessitated through the Tramway Company's operations, thus relieving the general account, and enabling it to carry on the ordinary work of the city. Unless this 15 done the present rate of 9d fti the * will not be sufficient.

A meeting of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce was held on Wednesday last, _t which Mr J. H. Upton presided. The business under consideration was a site on which to erect a Chamber of Commerce for Auckland out of the £2000 balance from the exhibition, which has since been increased by interest.. The committee favoured the idea of erect-' H* a suitable building- on a freehold, and it was finally decided to Purchase an allotment in Swansonweet offered for the sum of £800. competitive designs for a building be invited in due course.

The valuations of properties in the J«y of Auckland (excluding adjacent boroughs), as amended by the Assessment Court, total £358,864, being «n '"crease of £9149 on the 1901 valuations.

Business on the Exchange, as far J mining stocks are concerned, has een better during- the last few weeks. The Tairua-Brokeh Hills gjapany had another satisfactory f ,,„n > the amount this time being gs«l from 400 tons of ore. Anmer dividend of threepence per "are was accordingly declared. Mares doubled in price, sales being of tl aS high US 10/6' but the wbole the advance was not. maintained, juosequent transactions being at 8/9. uieimsford shares also firmed up to sd t 2- owin» to improved '-p.rom* r.m the mine" The Four-in- , c °mpan,y at Coromandel had «y a small crushing this time, and fflfi tJ^ 8 Pri°e offered for shares. cc then, however, specimens have •m i met with in the mine, and sales S shares took place up to 1/10. The Aomata Reef Company's return 2*n2f consiclei" able improvement, *.-,U53. being the resv.lt of treating fig tons of ore. Sellers at 1/3 disapnrprt off tne list, and sales have jg» |Dr,d;. , ln to 1/8. Tributers in . c --J Queen mine crushed 15J tons

of ore, which proved to be worth over £15 per ton, the yield being £223 11/. Occasional patches of rich stone are got from the Bullion mine, Tapu- Tributers this month crushed 20lbs of specimens from that mine, "which yielded £120. The Talisman Consolidated Company cleaned up finally before closing the battery temporarily, until the air compressing plant for driving the rock drills is in position. The result of the clean up was bullion worth. £2,865 12/. The Waihi Company return was again over £40,000 this month, and considerable attention has been paid to shares in adjacent properties during the past few days, free sales being made of Extendeds from 2/2 to 2/11, with later transactions at 2/8. The Crown mine return was better than usual, being £6,320.

Signor Bragato, wine expert, recently visited the Government farm at Wairangi, where important experiments are being made in grape growing and wine making. Signor Bragato says there is no place in Victoria or New South Wales where the fermentation could be carried on with tmch saiety and surety as at Wairangi. The fermentation was so complete and clean that it astonished him, and the clearness and colours of the wines were far better than he had expected. He is more than satisfied with the prospects of the industry, and is satisfied that a very fine quality of sparkling wine is likely to be produced.

At the Supreme Court criminal sessions last week a man named John Duffy was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for a brutal assault on

Constable Irwin, committed in a han-

ing conveyed to the police after being arrested for using obscene language in the street.

At the Thames Court on May 12th two men, Cyril Douglas Finn and John Eagar, were charged with the theft of £500 worth of slimes, the property of the Waihi Gold Mining Company. The slimes were stolen from the Company's plant at Waikino in October, 1900, and the affair has been a mystery ever sine. The accused were arrested in the act of treating what are alleged to be the stolen slimes at the Mahara Royal battery, four miles up the Tapu Creek. The accused were remanded for eight days on bail, each £100 and two sureties of £200 each

Eight Maoris of Te Hoeatainui, near Morrinsville, when searching for an old native who had been missed from his whare, ate heartily of some bush honey, and became violently ill. Five of them died from poisoning, and three others had a very narrow escape from a similar fate. The honey which they ate was found in an old boot trunk doing duty as a bee hive. They lifted the lid and took some of the honey, of which eight of them partook more or less freely, the other two did not like the honey, so wandered off to further search for the old man. On their return somev/hat later they found their comrades prostrated. The names and ages of the men who died are: Erueti Tamakere (52), Hatara Ngakete (30), Mataata Taireina (16), Karaipu Haimona (14), and Atarapi Tamakere (31). Those that recovered state that about an hour after eating the honey they became unconscious, and remained so for about 24 hours. The Maoris attributed the presence of the poison in the honey to the prevalence of a poisonous shrub called wharangi, which grows abundantly in the neighbourhood of Huirau, where the old man for whom they were searching lived. The ordinary monthly meeting of Lodge Ara, No. 1, N.Z.C., was largely attended on May 14 owing to the fact being known that a presentation was to be made to Bro. Malcolm Niecol, Grand Secretary, prior to his departure to Wellington. There was a good representation from various Masonic lodges. Bro. M. McLean, Grand Superintendent, on behalf of the brethren, presented Bro. Niecol with a purse of .sovereigns as a further mark of the esteem in which he was held by the members of the N.Z. Constitution. He referred to the valuable past services of Bro. Niecol, and stated that contributions had been sent from as far north as Hokianga. An Order-in-Council bringing into operation forthwith the compulsory grading of flax intended for export was gazetted on May 8

Sir Henry Berkeley, Chief Justice of Fiji, arrived from the group by the ss. Taviuni on May 6. He has been offered and has decided to accept the Solicitor-Generalship at Hong Kong, but has not yet resigned his office at Fiji Sir Henry left for Wellington next day, and will proceed thence to Hong-kong via China.

Our Nukualofa (Tonga) correspondent wrote under date April 26: — "Qneen Lavinia of Tonga died on the morning of the 25th inst., after a protracted illness. The Queen was born on 9th February, 1879. She was the daughter of Asibeli Kubu, the son of Lavinia Mahaga, a descendant of the Tuitogas or Sacred Kings ot the Friendly Islands. The. Queens mother was Tokaga, daughter of Peter Fotofili, the first Governor ot Niuafoou. Lavinia was married to His Majesty George Tubou IL, King of Tonga, on June Ist, 1899. The issue of the marriage is Princess Salote, a little girl now two years old. The body lies in State at the Palace. The Royal Guards and high chiefs are now assembled for the funeral, which takes place next week at Malaekula, the Royal' buryingground- Lavinia Mahaga, the grandmother of the Queen, arrives tomorrow from Vavau."