AUCKLAND. 18th March.

Evening Post, Volume XIX, Issue 64, 19 March 1880, Page 2

AUCKLAND. 18th March.

A foot race is on the tapis between R. J. Hutton, of Auckland, and James Freer, of Gisborne, for J650 aside. Distances — 100, | 150, and 200 yards ; winner of two events out of three to take the money. i At the Waste Lands Board, a letter was received from Messrs. Grant and Foster, the Lincolnshire delegates, stating their intention to leave for England by the next mail 1 steamer. They were desirous of learning whether the Board was willing to withhold from sale 10,000 acres of the Te Aroha block, until they had time to organise a colonising party. They would be willing to pay a fair price for it, and to submit to any reasonable conditions imposed**- After some discussion it was agreed to reserve the land for Bix months. - T , Fitzgibbon touch, C.E., of Katikati, applied for indicated portions of Te Aroha block, for the purpose of a special settlement, and said if he were granted the land he intended to proceed to* Great Britain in order Ito form a party of settlers. The chairman said that the land applied for included those sections referred to in Messrs. Grant and Foster's letter, as well as that claimed by Mr. Thomas Russell. The applicant's project was supposed to be one of a purely speculative oharaoter, and it was therefore decided to refuse hi&'recfuest; At the Orakei meeting, owing to the nonpdfrrrvai^of KaiparaJ cMefsT^the^feme was occupied in oanvassing Te Whiti's speech, which, they thought meant war. Wiremu Tameti has arrived from Mercer in the place of Te Wheoro. He says that Tawhiao has called a meeting for to-morrow at Kopua. Te. Wheoro has gone, too, and he requested Wiremu to represent him at Orakei. The latter says that Tawhiao's desire in calling the chiefs together is that they t shall endorse the policy he will again enunciate, viz., that all the tribes rest quiet. This Day. On Wednesday night Bishop. Cowie delivered a lecture on Afghanistan and Central Asia, at the Auckland Institute, to a crowded audience. He thoroughly endorsed Lord Beaconsfield's Afghan policy, and approved of the occupation of Merv and Herat, if necessary. His Lordship served as army chaplain with an Indian force.