WEST COAST.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 828, 19 February 1867, Page 2

WEST COAST.

Last week a rush of miners began to set in to the Haast River, situated about 120 to 130 miles south of the Hokitika, The paddle steamer Bruce was the first which left for the rush, carrying only a; few* passengers, some score or so from Hokitika*; but the excitement grew apace, and on Tuesday morning, as we learn by teUgraphio advices, the large steamer Alhambra took 400 passengers from Hokitika for the same, destination. On Wednesday, Messrs. -N. Edwards and Co.'s s.s. Kennedy -was -djesi patched with passengers and stores for the Haast,and later despatches inform us that there is a growing fervor for thia new locality. The Haast River is one ofthe largest on the West Coast of New Zealand andby de ? . tails of the most recent surveys, by Canterbury officers, it appears to run for a distance of many miles through a belt of dense level forest land which separates the ranges from the coast. — Nelson Examiner. ; The Mtjbdeeeb Sullivan.; — Sullivan, the Maungatapu murderer, returned from Hokitika on Sunday. Murray, or Wilson, „ escaped conviction on the charge of Dob--son's murder, because the jury would, not credit the statement ofthe perjurer Sullivan. Mr. Fox laid an information against Sullivan for the murder of Dobson, but it was departed from on some legal grounds. Sullivan was pert and "cheeky," while' at Hokitika. On one occasion, it is said, while under examination, he pulled out his watch and said, "It is one o'clock, and time for lunch." He was told it was not yet one, he said, "It is one by my watch," and declined to give further evidence ! He was nice in his tastes, too, and refused to partake of colonial bottled porter for lunch, and ordered English porter, which, we are told, was given him ! If all this is true,. the villain is too well treated, and wants a sdujad lesson in short commons, hard work, and harder fare. — Ibid.