Local and General News.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 103, 22 February 1868, Page 3

Local and General News.

The Suez mail arrived at the Bluff on Saturday evening last, and is due in Picton to-morrow. The District Court Sittings will be held at Picton on the 25th instant, and at Blenheim on the Monday following, the Ist March. h The Falcon. —This little vessel—so noted of late for her rapid passages—was wind-bound in Wellington at 10 o’clock yesterday, and will most probably arrive in the river to-day. Two shocks of earthquake were felt here at 10.54 on Wednesday evening. The latter was nearly as smart as the one which occurred on the . Ist instant. . ', ; : T > * District Prizes.— The shooting at Picton is to come off on Monday next, when some of the Blenheim men will probably go oyer and fire with them. The Blenheim firing is fixed for the second Monday in March.

Messes. Lakey and Welford, of Picton, have been gazetted as Custom-house Agents fertile port of Picton. The export of gold from Havelock and Picton during the December quarter was 13 ounces, value £52. The total for the year, 501 ounces, value £1,978 ; being a very slight excess on the returns for the previous year. Finding that any analysis of the Municipal Corporations Act would be too lengthy for our usual space, we have printed it in the form of a supplement, which will be issued to town subscribers to-day. We may remind ’our readers, that the adjourned meeting for the consideration of the Municipal Corporations Act, is to be held on Wednesday evening next, in the Council Chamber. Elsewhere will be found an analysis of the Act.

The Auckland Provincial Council has passed a resolution affirming that, although a change is necessary in the form of Government of the province, yet no change should deprive the Council of its legitimate power to legislate for the local government of the province.— lndependent.

Seauzeau has received an assistant at this station, in the person of Father Goutenoire, who lias just arrived from New Orleans, and will reside in Blenheim. The arrangement will be productive of great satisfaction to those of the Catholic persuasion, by enabling services to be held every Sunday at Blenheim, and consequently more 1-egularly in the Petitions under the provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act have been sent by residents in Christchurch, Lyttelton, and Kaiapoi, praying that those towns may be created boroughs under such Act. The Superintendent of Canterbury having given his assent thereto, the petitions are to be considered by the Governor on the 2nd March.

The Impounding Ordinance, in conjunction with the Cattle Trespass Act, was brought into force on Wednesday last, and the quantity of cattle and horses deposited in the pound by one person only during the last day or two has created a vast amount of ill-feeling' and excitement. We shall next week devote a portion of our space to the subject. His Honor the Superintendent returned from Wellington on Tuesday last, by the Rangatira. We understand that the business which called him to Wellington remains much in the same position as described by us last week. His Honor has, however, raised the legal point as to the £1,826, turning on the construction of the 46th clause of the Public Revenues Act, referred to by us in a recent article.

The Wreck of the General Grant. —ln reply to a deputation from the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, the Solicitor-General stated on Friday last that the Government had arrived at the conclusion that a steamer could not carry sufficient coal to enable her to make an efficient search of the Auckland and Campbell Islands, for the purpose of ascertaining if there are any more survivors from the wreck of the General Grant.— Post. / The Convict Sullivan. —A scene of considerable excitement, says the Nelson Examiner of the 15th instant, occurred on board the steamer Otago on Thursday, caused by the contemplated removal of the convict Sullivan from the Nelson to the Dunedin Gaol for safer custody, and by the discovery that he was then on board the steamer named on his way to Dunedin. As soon as this fact became known, the passengers, of whom there were a large number, many being diggers from the West Coast, threatened to lay violent hands on Sullivan, and to throw him overboard,, and had not Constable Levy drawn his revolver, Sullivan would certainly have received some rough treatment, and might have found it necessary to exercise his powers of swimming. When Captain Symons, who was not on board at the time, learnt what had taken place, he refused to give Sullivan a passage, and Sullivan had therefore to return to the shore and be conveyed back to gaol in an Albert car, amid the shouts and execrations of all who knew him. It was supposed, at first, that Sullivan was about to be liberated, but this was not true, and no doubt much of the excitement was caused by the false impression which the people present received. Nelson gaol, for many reasons, is not a fit place for criminals of the Sullivan class ; while Dunedin gaol is said to be an establishment of a far better kind for long-sentenced criminals. The excitement that arose should have been foreseen by the police, who cannot be regarded as having acted with judgment, in seeking to send away, in broad daylight, a criminal so universally detested as the unhappy man spoken off. / The Comino Session. —The calling together>6f the Provincial Council a month earlier than usual, has given rise to a variety of suppositions, the most novel of which we heard at Picton—namely, that it was for the purpose of sanctioning a loan ! We have before shown that such a proceeding was impossible under the Loan Consolidation Act; the same course operates with respect to the Wairau Bridge. No guarantee can be given, or loan effected by the Council. We believe the true reason is to provide for the repairs of roads, more especially the Taylor Pass, which is impassable for drays, whilst the Audit Act will not permit of a shilling being expended on any work for which a vote has not been passed by the Council, except under special circumstances, which are not now available. A subject which ought to come under the notice of the Council is the amendment of the Roads Act, which, in common with the Blenheim and Picton Improvement Acts, is only covered by the Validation Act until the next session of the Assembly. It

will, morever, be worthless, unless rates are made compulsory instead of optional. Another impoi'tant matter is the Cattle Trespass Act, so far as it applies to the vicinity of Blenheim, where this week it has been made an engine of oppression, and it is alleged—extortion. The victims of the latter, if any such exist, however deserve to suffer, if they neglect to adopt such remedial measures as the law provides. The case demands immediate notice, and those who feel aggrieved by the Act should at once call upon their members in the Council to urge either the repeal or amendment of the Act as speedily as possible. Nothing so strongly demonstrates the inutility of the Act for all practical purposes as the late floods, which, by destroying the fences, renders it impossible for cattle to be kept within their owner’s boundaries;

The schooner Canterbury was brought into port from Cape Campbell by the a.s.Egtnont bit 7 Sunday, and is apparently but little damaged. I The Egmont got to the place at about dusk on Saturday evening, and the ballast was got out of the vessel, and she was pumped ready to b«J hauled off on the morning’s tide. She was got off at 5 next morning, and now lies at the wharf/ 1 * and will forthwith be placed on the patent slip in Evans’ Bay.— lndependent.