IMPORTANT FROM THE WEST COAST

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 654, 8 February 1869, Page 2

IMPORTANT FROM THE WEST COAST

(BT ELECTRIC TELEGBAPE.)

[The following appeared in an Extra issued this office on Friday.]

Times Office, | 6 a.m.

We received the following telegrm yesterday, the latest arriving at late hour in the evening :

Wellington.

February 3j Nothing important from Wanga^ Colonel Whitmore is waiting j the Armed Constabulary from t] Waikato.

Titokowaru evidently means try and hold his ground.

February 4.

H.M. steam ram Blanche sails day, with the Commodore, Gent Chute, Colonel Page, and Doc Grace.

5.35 p.m.

Captain Finnimore has arrto with despatches for the Govei ment.

The pa at Nukumaru" T |T taken by the Colonial troops on 1 morning of the 3rd. The enemy evacuated it as ( troops advanced, and retreal towards the Waitotara road.

The cavalry and natives are in ft pursuit, and close on their track. The pa is reported as exceeding] strong, and the defences of the ma complete description. It had been shelled on the lj and 2nd, apparently with great i feet. Titokowaru evidently mad off in consequence. No bodies ha\e been found. Our loss is one man wounded. "Whitmore follows up the enea across the "Waitotara as soon as m sible. 1 The men are all in excellent sjs rits.

Wereroa pa has been re-occupii by our troops.

Heavy Fall of Rain.—A co siderable fall of rain, accompanied 1 thunder and lightning, took pla during Saturday last—decidedly tl heaviest we have experienced for s

eral months. Great benefit wi] have been conferred on the countr by this timely rain, which has bee very greatly wanted. There is no 1 good prospect of abundance of wintt feed for sheep and cattle. "We fea however, that some damage has bee jdone by the rising of the rivers*

The Harvest in the Wairabapa Dn teict. —The Wairarapa Mercury says thai •' the late dry weather has caused the os! crops in the Wairarapa Valley to be fai below the aveiage—in some instances thi farmers are cuttibg them for hay, as thej would not pay for thrashing. The wheal about Masterton appears in many instance! to be a fair crop, although in some place it has entirely failed; potatoes in some instances —more particularly in the Maor plantations—look very weak, but on tin whole we believe we are correct in statin; ihat the demand will exceed the Bupplj."

The Harvest at Timabu.—According to the Timaru Herald " an outcry is bpginning to be made by the farmers that laboi promises to be scarcer and dearer this set son than it was last year in the Tiuiart district. At a very low estimate there will be about 11,000 acres of grain to cut in this district, and this, together with shear* ing, will require a considerable amount ol extra labor. Harvesting has commenced, and in a week's time is expected to be ge< neral." The same journal says : ; —"lt hat been reported to us that a species o( blight, similar to that which attacks cah bages, has seized on some of the wheat crop in the Kakahu and Temuka district!, and has done considerable damage." Celebeated Eam Wang* nui Herald, says i —A novel case came off in the K.M. Court to day. J. Noni\ ferryman, summoned Messrs Taylor and, Watt for conveying 120 rams across the river, at 6d a head. The defendants ob« jected to pay more than the usual penny a head. The Act say 3 that all " entire anU tnals" are subject to a fare of 6d a head, and the plaintiff rested his case that rams came under the generalisation, which the] Bench held to be sound law, and adjourned the case until proof wa§ adduced about tb* number conveyed aoross. The defendant!, pleaded that the act never contemplated, allowing more than Id a head for any kind of sheep. What legislation and what an act provides are two verydifferent things, and a positive enactment goes a long way in over-riding intention*, and opinions. We admit that the act layij down a principle which might be carried] to a most ridiculous excess, but is all in keeping with Provincial Council legisk* tiori.