INTERPROVINCIAL.

Evening Star, Issue 7166, 21 March 1887, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL.

(Pun United Press Association.}

AUCKLAND, March 21. Mr Justice Ward, in opening the criminal session this morning, said the calendar was lighter than usual; it contained only seventeen charges. There were no offences of a heinous character, one of the most serious being attempted suicide by a woman who complained of her husband’s ill-treatment, and another charge against a woman from Taurauga of uulawful'y wounding her husband. Catherine Jones, of Tauranga, who was charged with stabbing her husband with a table knife, pleaded guilty, stating that she committed the act in self-defence. This was accepted as a plea of not guilty. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The Judge, in acquitting her, advised her in future in her drunken quarrels to use only the weapons provided by Nature. Archibald M'Nair, for theft, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment ; William Anderson, larceny, two years’; James Fleet, attempting to pass counterfeit sovereigns, six months’; Jane Horne, attempted suicide, was discharged ; Thomas K. Hardy and Charles Coleman, for stealing L 25 and lOoz of gold from a returned Kimberley miner, eighteen months’. Shortly before midnight last night a fire broke out at Ehrenfried’s spirit stores, Lower Queen street. The fire got a good hold, but the brigade suppressed it within an hour. The insurances are as follow : On the building, L2OO in the United; on the stock, L 3.500; plant, LSOO. These latter lines are believed to be in the New Zealand and London and Lancashire offices, but are partly reinsured. Of the reinsurances the Colonial hold L7OO, the National LI,OOO. The damage to the building will probably be LSOO, and to the stock from L 2,000 to L 2,500. All the stock on the top floor was destroyed. The origin of the fire is a mystery, as the premises were closed since 1.30 p.m. on Saturday last. NAPIER, March 21. The Rev. T. J. Wills, late Wesleyan minister, was ordained a deacon of the Anglican Church yesterday by the Bishop of Waipu. The continuance of dry weather is becoming alarming. There has been no rain

to speaks iff s&ce November, The whole driefl np. On some farms willow trees aw being cut down to feed the cows wjth. It is feared that there will be no growth of grass before the frosts set in. WANGANUI, March 21. Captain Somerville had an interview with Mr Ballanoe Wellington re Martini-Henry rlflea for next year’s meeting. Mrßallanco said he had ordered Sohulof repeating rides, and. expected them in time; but would ascertain by cable if they were likely to bo here in time. If not, he would at once order 400 Martini-Henrys. If the Sohulof rifles come they will, be handed to the shooting men oh payment of a certain deposit to ensure care and the return of the rifles in good condition. I! the MartmiHenrys come out they will be sold at about L2 10s each, The ammunition will cost Os per hundred. . HAWERA, March 21.

Te Peherei Nehero, residing at Otaki, has been arrested under circumstances which point to homicide. Recently he was at Parihaka, and it is alleged that, having detected his wife misbehaving herself, he thrashed her so severely that a species of paralysis set in. She was removed to the Native hospital at Oeo, and thence to Pibama, where she died one day last week. Subsequent to her death the Natives rcEorted that the woman’s neck had been roken by Te Peherei as a punishment for her unfaithfulness; that he had put her neck across his knee and bent it until it broke. When the police commenced inquiries the Natives became reticent, but sufficient information was obtained to enable them to arrest the man. The Natives said it was a matter for Te Whiti to deal with, and talked of obstructing the police, but after Rawa, the chief of the Otakeho kainga, had been warned by Sergeant Anderson of the consequences of interfering with the police, the arrest was made, and the prisoner lodged in the Manaia lock-up. Prisoner and his wife came from the Waikato. WELLINGTON. March 21. Inquiries are frequently made why the 10-40 5 per cent. New Zealand loan, of which the Press constantly publish quotations, is so little over par. The explanation is that the ten years expire in 1896, after which it is optional for the Government to pay off the loan at par, on six months’ notice. The price, therefore, varies with the amount of interest accruing between each half year, together with some small amount representing the value of 5 per cent., with 4 per cent interest until the time when the loan is payable at par. The cable quotations of this loan as trausactiohs are small,, and vary as described above.

The Zealandia, with the mails of 24th February, left San Francisco on 13th, one day late. The Alameda arrived at San Francisco on the. 19th inst., one day in advance of duo date.

The charge against an oyster-saloon-keeper for having rock oysters in his possession during the close season was dismissed, it being proved that the oysters in question were taken from the mud.