The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 88, 16 June 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1866.

An order in Council enforces certain port regulations, in reference to the Port of Havelock. No rubbish is to be landed on Crown Lands, except on such places as the Harbor Master may point out, uuder a penalty of a sum not exceeding £5. No ballast or rubbish is to be thrown overboard, except by the consent of the Harbor Master, under the penalty of a sum not exceeding £20. Vessels, unless specially permitted in writing, by the. Harbor Master, are prohibited from firing guns between the hours of sunset and sunrise, and on Sunday, (except iu cases of distress) under the penalty of a sum not exceeding £5. Persons removing stone or soil without the permission of the Harbor Master, or Superintendent, are liable to a penalty of £10. A rate of Is. per ton may be charged for ballast removed from within the limits of the harbor. Masters shoaling the water alongside the beach are liable to a penalty of from £5 to £10. The half-yearly public examination of the scholars of the Nelson College, is announced to take place on the L9th, 20th, and 21st iust, prt;vious to the winter vacation. It would doubtless be pleasing to the pupils and satisfactory to the teachers, if parents, friends, and the public in general would attend in considerable numbers. At the Christmas examination very few persons attended, aud yet the subjects in which the pupils were examined were numerous and interesting, aud such as would have not failed to please the friends of education had they thought proper to attend. Anniversary sermons are announced to he preached to-morrow, in the Wesleyan Chapel, Hardy-street; that in the morning, by the ! Rev. R. S. Bunu, and that iu the evening, by the Rev. W. Kirk. On the Tuesday following, a tea meeting, to be followed by a J public meeting will be held, afc which several ministers and friends are expected to deliver addresses. We see that the owners of the steamer Thane advertise a reduction in the passenger money, to the Buller, the Grey, and liokitika. It should be observed that the charge is exclusive of provisions, which are to be supplied on board at moderate rates. The terms are saloon to the Buller, £8; steerage, £2. Saloon to the Grey and liokitika, £4 ; steerage, £2 los. The subject of the lecture to be delivered iu the Union Chapel, Hardy-street, to-mor-row evening, by the Rev. E. Thomas, is John Knox the Reformer. At Richmond, on the 13th inst, the following gentlemen were elected members of the Local Committee of Education ; Messrs. Harkness, Butler, Batey, aud Saywell. We are informed that the match intended to take place between the Chess Clubs of Nelson and Christchurch, will come off oa the 19th inst. In the Resident Magistrate's Court this j morning, Eliza Chant complained that her ' husband, William Chant, laborer of Motueka, had threatened to do her grievous bodily harm. She prayed that he might be bound over to keep the peace. The defendant was bound iu his own recognizance of £50 to keep the peace for 12 months. The magistrate told him if he did not miud what he was about he would require him to find two other sureties of £50 each. Samuel Biggs complained against Vere Bogle, for allowing one head of cattle to wander at large. Defeudaut was fined 10s. and costs. John Flowers, of Wakapuaka, was lined 10s. and costs for drunkenness. The West Coast correspondent of the Canterbury Press makes the following remarks as to the imports to liokitika during the month of April: — The duty on imports for the month of" April was £8,184 155., out of which amount £3,669 was paid to introduce brandy into liokitika ; against this item you may place soap, £18 65., and draw any inference you like,

The Inspector of Police, quoth the Wauganui Times, visited oar town the other day, and many were the coujectures a8 to whom the missing man or men could be that he was in search of. The mystery appears to have been cleared up by his taking his departure in the Wanganui with two of our three truant legislators, who had failed to put iu an appearance at the opening of the Provincial Council. A wrathful writer in the Wanganui paper denounces cattle stealing in the distriet : Let them discontinue the practice of killing cattle to which they have no right or claim, and which they designate wild cattle upon the supposition that the oiYiier is absent. Their ideas of propriety iu disposing or apportioning the carcases of such cattle amongst their neighbors, are erroneous in their anticipated, results, and will not avert the scourge which is hanging over their heads. Let "them, if they desire even to be considered honest, avoid taking fat calves, cattle, and pigs to butchers or ships after dark and unseasonable hours. r £he cattle appear to be lively animals at liokitika, from the description of a local paper. No later than Saturday last a little boy — son of Mr. Kennedy, proprietor of the Club Hotel — was attacked in a furious manner by one of these infuriated beasts while ib was being driven to a slaughteryard, and before the little fellow could be rescued he was tossed high up in the air, and only by a wonderful stroke of good look came to earth again living, and without any limbs broken. The Otago Times says — It has been reserved for the good folks of Oamaru to get up a petition in opposition to the Southern Railway. They have some hazy idea that it is to be made at their cost, and to their loss. They apparently do not understand the question, or how the proposed railway is to be carried out. A very slight glance into the future should satisfy them that it is only a question of a very few years, before a. continuous line of rail from the Bluff Harbor to Picton will be made, traversing the Avhole length of the Middle Island The Daily Southern Cross complains that the inhumau practice prevails in England of deporting lunatics to this colony, by parents, with the view of getting rid of them. One unhappy man, "Alexander Stanislaus de Wolff, a Polish barber, aged 40 years, arrived from England, by the ship Winterthur. on the 25th May, and after landing soon attracted the attention of the police. It being apparent he was of unsound mind, he was committed to the asylum iu the usual way. Pie was melancholic rather than maniacal. It was reported that he had been greatly persecuted on the voyage out." This man died on the 28th July. Dr. Philson adds : " There are several persons now in the asylum who were sent there either immediately on their arrival or very soon afterwards." In Victoria, Canada, and the United States, a law exists prohibitory of this inhuman practice. The Okarita Times, Jane 9, has the following relating to the robbery at the Bank of New Zealand : — By the Bruce, yesterday, representatives of the Bunk arrived from Hold rika for the purpose of thoroughly investigating the circumstances, but the active investigation which has been made during the week which has elapsed, and since these gentlemen have arrived, has only resulted in nothing, and the matter remains as much a mystery as it was at first. It is unnecessary to repeat the numerous speculations which have beeu made as to the mode of abstraction, the moment of abstraction, or the man who abstracted the prize from the usually well-kept safes of the bank. The surmises are legion. For the present, it remains the fact that the robber is not discovered, although every inquiry has been made, and every suggestion, followed, which might lead to the detection of those guilty of the plunder. The Okarita Times, June 9th, says the party of Italians and Frenchmen who ktely brought iu a rough sample of gold from ji tributary of the Waiho, and who at that time spoke hopefully of their prospects, have again been in town, and, although gossip has eou-

siderably exaggerated the accounts ■which they give, the sample of gold they brought, and the statements they make, sufficiently justify the belief that in their neighborhood good gold, and to some amount, will ultimately be obtained. Mr. Wilson, of Canterbury, thus describes the road from Christchurch to Hokitika : — The road as it now exists, will never be able to compete, for the carriage of goods generally, with the traffic round by sea from Lyttleton ;. nor indeed will Canterbury, in my opinion, be able to compete in either with the supply of goods direct. But for passengers — whether by coach, on horseback, or on foot, and for packing the very lightest class of goods, as well as for mercantile and other correspoudeuce, whether by electric telegraph, or express messenger — the work cannot be considered otherwise than as a great boon to every portion of the province. At any rate, that is the impression decidedly left on my mind by the journey ; and I am convinced it will be that made on every reasonable man who may follow my example, aud take a trip from Christchurch to Westland and back. A Southern Paper thus writes in favor of railways; — Last season heavy crops of potatoes were allowed to rot in the ground because they would not pay the expense of lifting ; and quantities of straw, instead of being put to profitable account, were actually destroyed by burninsc. In England, such traffic is remuneratively conveyed at a rate of threepence and under per ton per mile. If only sixpence per ton were charged here the saving of the public would be two-thirds of the present cost, and a large increase of trade would be promoted by the interchange of commodities. Our produce would become well known in the Melbourne and Sydney markets, and we should have something to give in exchange for the goods imported from those commercial capitals instead of having to pay for everything, as at present, in hard cash. Amongst the articles of export, according to the Hobart Town papers, is lire-clay. The Seymour coal mine has been offered £3 10s. per ton for their fire-clay by the Melbourne Gas Company ; but they expect sE6 10s. for small quantities, approximating to the English price. This makes the fire-clay more valuable than the coal. Mr. Alexander Beveridge sends the following account of the rivers between Okarita jtud Jackson's Bay, to the Westland Observer : — The first river uavigable by small «raft is the ICaragaroa, about 33 miles from Okarita. The next are the Makarea and Maitai, both of which join the sea at Bruce Bay. These three are only available for vessels of small tonnage in fine weather. The next river I may mention is the Pareka. It is situated about seven miles south of Paranga-ranga, or Waieuamata Hill, the southern point of Bruce Bay. It is a river available for vessels of from 30 to 40 tons. With the wind from any point to the southward, the bar is very smooth, without even a break. on, but a stranger would require to be cautious, as there are a few sunken rocks in the bay. Between the Pareka and the ITaast there are four small rivers, viz., the Moeraki, Walcapo (or Blue river), Suprekaka, and Waitai, but the next principal river is the Haast. It is situated about ten miles to the northward of Open Bay Islets, mid 21 miles north of Jackson's Bay. A rock, about three feet above high water mark at spring tides, lies about one mile from the shore, abreast of the entrance. At high water there is sufficient depth of water for a small vessel of from 40 to 50 toun, but the stream runs so rapidly that vessels -would require a strong breeze to cany them in, and after they are inside, the anchorage would be found to be very bad, owing to the strength of the current. The next available river is the Tarrawit. It lies about 5 miles from Jackson's Head, and when the weather is any way settled is available for small craft of from 30 to 40 tons, there being about eight feet of water on the bar at high water. The bar is very good, not a break being seen on it for days together. I have mentioned merely the principal rivers along the coast ; there are several others of inferior size, also available for small vessels of light draught of water,

The screw-steamer Sheuandoah, which created such terrible havoc among Federal vessels during the American war, has just been sold by auction at Liverpool for £1 5,750. When this vessel was bought for the Confederate government, two or three years ago, she was sold for £35,000. When our gracious Sovereign is at Windsor, twenty-four baskets, averaging 1501b. weight each, or something like a ton and a half of soiled linen, are sent daily "to the wash," the which operation is performed by a steam-engine, and thirty-four servants, with a manager at their head.