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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 913, 10 January 1871, Page 2

Au inquest was held at Akaroa (Canterbury) on the 30th December on the body of a man named Thomas Grogan, killed in a drunken quarrel at Le Bon Bay. A verdict of wilful murder was returned against George Hall and David Wright. We learn from the Auckland papers that an old and respected colonist, Capt. Deloitte, died on Tuesday, 13th December, at Sydney. The deceased gentleman was the first to open up trade between New Zealand and New South Wales, having planted the British ensign for the first time at Hokianga. The Southern Cross tells us that an ingenious engineer, Mr Hunter, has produced an apparatus by means of which all the gas lamps in a city can be lighted at once from a central ciiice. A service pipe of small dimensions is to be laid throughout the district, to be supplied with branch pipes to each lamp. The pipes are charged with water, and the pressure required is given and maintained from a tank placed at the required elevation. Inside each lamp-post is to be placed a small cylinder, to the piston of which is attached a rod. The top of the rod is serrated, and gears into a toothed wheel, attached to the ping of the lamp tap, which is turned round and opened as the rod rises. A small fusee drops from a reservoir, and is carried by a swivel plate to a piece of roughened spring, on which it is rubbed and ignited. It is then carried round past the burner, the gas is lighted, and the fusee drops to the bottom of the lamp. In the morning, when the lights are to be extinguished, the pressure of water is taken off the cylinders, and an escape tap opens, when the piston drops with the weight of the rod and the taps are turned off. It is proposed that the lamp-cleaner shall supply the lamps weekly with a due supply of matches.