OTAGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1265, 19 July 1864, Page 2

OTAGO.

Our files are to the 15th instant. Wc take a few extracts from the Mail:—

The inquest on the unfortunate Mr. ICellett, was held on Saturday last, at tho Robin Hood Hotel. It appears that on his way to Ilindou he stopped one night at Mr. Stewart's, about eight miles this side ol that township. On the following morning (the 2!) th), he slrated on foot to Hindon, leaving his horse at Mr. Stewart's. Ho reached there in safety, and set out to return back about one o'clock p.m. of the same day, but a short time afterwards a severe snowstorm came on. Deceased must have then lost his way, and, after wandering about for some time, at length lay down to die where his >body was found near the Fortifications. A verdict that he died from exposure to cold was returned. There was not the smallest reason for suspicion of foul play, and the investigation was very short. On the person of deceased £1 16s Gd, in money, a silver watch and gold guard, a gold ring, a pencil, and portmonnaie, were found, and handed to Mr. Cudderford, his late partner. Deceased was very much respected, and his melancholy fate is deeply lamented. At the funeral, which took place on Saturday afternoon, a large number of persons attended to pay the last tribute of respect to his memory. The following is the official report sent in by Sergeant Irwin, who found the body, and embraces all the evidence given by that officer at the inquest:—" Dunedin July 7tli, 18G4. Sergeant Irwin reports for the information of the Commissioner of Police according to instructions received, he proceeded to Hindon in search of the missing man Kellett. Arrived at the Hindon camp at 4 p.m. ou 7th inst., and having obtained the assistance of mounted constable M'Lelland, Mr. Whittingham, Mr. Cudderford, Mr. Davis, and Henry Folks,who accompanied in the search, proceeded in the direction indicated by one of the party, Henry Folks, who stated he had found a hat on the 30th June last near the Fortifications, in the Hindon from its appearance, he supposed to belong to some respectable man. Arrived at the spot indicated at 8 p.m. on the Bth inst.,and after a deliberate consultation the party separated in various directions, agreeing if unsuccessful to meet again at the same spot at 2 p.m. The party met at 2 p.m. with a report of an unsuccessful search, and, again deliberating, it was considered from the appearance of the snow drift the wind must have blown from a certain quarter to where the hat was picked up. The party then proceeded in accordance with these suppositions in a straight line to windward from the spot where the hat was found, and about a quarter of a mile the body of Mr. Kellett was found dead, with his left hand under his head, apparently composed in sleep. Searched the body, and found no appearance or marks of violence. Found the following amount of property—£l 16s 6d, one silver watch, one gold guard, one gold ring, one pencil and one portemonnaie. Placed the body of deceased on Mr. Whittingham's horse, and conveye d it to the Robin Hood Hotel, Dunedin, at 11 o'clock a.m. on 7th inst., where it awaits an inquest." We are glad to find that Mr. Barrington and his companions, who recently explored the West Coast, and met with so many privations and hardships in doing so, have now nearly quite recovered. The inhabitants of Queenstown have held a meeting, organised a committee, and taken active steps to procure for the hardy quartet a suitable pecuniary acknowledgement. Ten guineas have been promised by the Government (little enough), but we presume it is intended to give them some more substantial encouragement at another time, and this sum is only intended as a contribution to the Queenstown local subscription. Wc publish at length the diary of their travels in another column, and it speaks volumes for Mr. Barriugton's British pluck to find him keeping it up day after day when starvation, or death in some other way, seemed imminent. ARRIVAL OF XIIE ESCORT. ozs. dwts. Queenstown 3 > 007 15 Arrow River 1,098 10 Dunstan 1,831 10 Manuhevikia 1,322 10 .Mount Ida 1,096 0 Mount Benger 425 Hamilton's 1 > 693 ® Tuapeka ? Waitahuna ••• 2/7 0 Woolshed... •••

Total ••• ••• 12,002 7 Seven designs for the honorary certificates of the coming exhibition were sent in for competition to the Royal Commissioners. All possessed considerable merit, but two were especially creditable. 1 he choice fell on ft design sent in by Messrs. Ward and Reeves, proprietors of the Lijiiclton I imes, but the Commissioners were so pleased with one sent in by Mr. Brooks, engraver, of Dunedin, that they awarded five "-uineas as a, second prize to him, though no second prize had originally been intended. The whole of the designs will be exhibited m a few days at the Athenaeum. A seam of coal which promises to be of great value to the province, was recently discovered on the north bank of the Waikava. A lease was applied for and granted on Wednesday last to the prospectors, and we understand they will commence mining operations immediately. The coal is of excellent quality; and what is more, there are gieat facilities for shipping close to the pit's mouth. The Olatjo Daily Times says " A very heartless case of robbery, which occurred under most peculiar circumstances, was on Saturday reported to the police. About four months ago, a woman named Mrs Nicolson, who lived in a tent behind a woodyard in Princes-street South, was summoned before the Resident Magistrate's Court. She had been sixteen years in this colony, and supported herself by taking in washing. For some unexplained cause, she disobeyed the summons of the Court, for which she was afterwards brought up and fined £3, with the alternative of seven days' imprisonment, bhe nleaded poverty, and went to gaol for seven days. Duriti" the periodof her imprisonment, she confessed that she had money about her tent, and asked that some person might bo sent to look after it m her absence. A constable was accordingly entrusted with the mission of searching the tent, when, to the astonishment of everyone, lie found, secretcd in various parts of the tent, no less a sum than ,£4GO, the greater portion of which consisted of silver coins This money was taken to the station, i d deposited *in the Bank, ni prisoner's Same When her short term of imprisonment luvd exo red she came to the police station and demanded hS money, but was ultimately prevailed upon to allow it to lie at interest in tho bank for three months. The deposit rcceipt was then to her. Immediately on the expiring ot_ the three months Mrs. Nicholson drew her principal and interest from the bank, and took it, in bright sover 'imis to her tent' as she said she could not do without counting it over. She only had it a few days, when on Friday last her tent was robbed, and over £4 GO carried away. The poor woman was not very able to give an account of how the money was lost, as the calamity seemed to have affected her nund. On Saturday night she was seen standing knocking i loudly asking then, to open tho door and give up her money. She then \> alked away and no trace of her lias since been iound The police are on the ftlert, but the worst fears are entertained that tho sudden sweeping away of hoi savings for sixteen years has so preyed upon her mind as to have caused her to commit self-destruc-tloA correspondent in the Fiji Islands remarks that the natives generally throughout I<iji are planting cotton more or less, and several European residents have turned their whole attention to cotton planting, but from the almost total absence of capital, noneot the'plantations are large, ayeragipg 10 to ac *' es - One managed by Mr. Storck, formerly assistant to Dr. Leeman, the Government botanist—who visite<3 Fiii in 1861—is above twenty acres, now in the third year; and Mr. Storek estimates the yield will be a ton per acre thin year. One cotton-gra bantam

erected, the motive power applied being a windmill, and it does its work well; utid two or three more arc iiM'our.tc of erectioi . Hut the I'ijis will never produce cotton in nuHelent q»»ntity to make a stirlabour is too precarious.—Daily iiiiien, ilUly ii« A meeting of the <)t:igo (Committee for promoting the New Zealand Exhibition, 18(15, was held yesterday afternoon, in the committee roomi at 'ne Athoroeunj. Mr. M. Holmes wai in tl e chair} and there were present Messrs A. Beverley, C. 1. '<% A Currick, and J. 8. Webb, honorary secretary, who offlciiited in the of the secretary, through the effects of a recent accident. The minutes of the last meeting were re id and confirmed. Homu applications for space, which bad been wrongly 'J'l'lwf ( -« to the Commissioners were considered Mr. VVeon rend tiic letter from Messrs. Smith, of Tokomairrio, which we published last week. The Chairm.m said the offer to clean wool was a liberal one, hut hi# belief was that every settler who exhibited wool would do lih best to prepare it on iiis own station. In the Great Exhibition, wool was exhibited in bales—there was one great arch formed of them,but there was an opening cut in each hale find some brass wire inserted, so that samples could bo taken without the bales being disturbed. A letter from the honorary secretary to the Commissioners was read, as was also an enclosure. Mr. Balfour, the Marine Engineer, wrote to the Commissioners that the contractor for the lighthouse on Tairoa Head, had opened a quarry of Milestone of a remarkably fine quality — the finest, lie said, in the province. lie had extracted a monolith, weighing, he believed, about ten tons, and lie offered it to the Commissioners to land it at Dunedin, between high and low water mark, if they would pay the cost of its removal to the Exhibition Building. The Commissioners referred the question to the Local Committee, with the statement that » a slab ot the stone might be a very desirable exhibit. Jhe Chairman thought it would be well to exhibit the stone if it were really of a fine quality. It was agreed that there should be inquiry whether the stone could be brought under the crane on the jetty; whether the crane was strong enough to lift it; and whether there was any contractor who would undertake to transport the stone to the building for a reasonable sum. Mr. Webb stated that lie had been told the cost of transport from the jetty would be nearly £100. Mr. Beverley, the treasurer, handed in a financial statement showing that out of the first £500 voted, there remained a balance of £243 10s 10d; the second £500 being in the bank at interest. The Committee adjourned.—Olago Daily Times.