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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 6, 8 January 1867, Page 2

To-morrow theWakapuaka Cricket Club will play a match with eleven butchers, in the Botanical Gardens. On Tuesday, the 15th inst, a cricket match will take place at Wakefield, between eleven of that place and the Albion Cricket Club. The Rev. Mr. Lewis, episcopalian minister, of Richmond, has gone to exercise his ministrations at the West Coast gold-fields.

Wellington telegrams state that Mr. J: E. Fitzgerald has accepted the office of Comptroller of the Eevenue, salary £800 per annum j and that Mr. M'Millan, formerly sub-editor of the Independent, has" committed suicide by hanging himself;

Two disastrous ship-vvrecks have latelytaken place on the Manukau bar, that of the Government steamer Pioneer, which drifted from its moorings on the 3rd Dec; and that of the British barque Cambodia, from Bombay, bound to the islands for guano. The captain of the latter put into Auckland for provisions, but mistaking the signals, ran on the sand bank. Nolives were lost in either case.

We understand that the committee appointed to superintend the festivities to take place on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Nelson province, have decided on the following programme of proceedings. A procession consisting of the Odd-fellows, Foresters, trades, professions, schools, etc., will march from the Government Buildings to the Botanical Gardens, through the principal streets of the town. At the gardens refreshments will be provided' and amusements will be entered into. A public dinner, a ball, and fireworks will wind up the proceedings.

Taranaki does not require many policemen, according to the Herald, which says : — lt must not be forgotten that the only policemen on pay will be the sergeant and two privates — if these are not enough to secure the peace of the town the only way of getting more will be by the townspeople rating themselves for the purpose.

We learn from the H. B. Times, that some time ago Mr. Towgood and Major Fraser made a bet of £50 aside that the former would not ride from Wairoa to Turanga within 24 hours, and with only one horse. During the last month Mr. Towgood accomplished this feat — having left Wairoa about 2 a.m., and arrived at Turanga at 9 p.m. He thus had five hours to spare. The Major has to stand a dinner for five, this being part of the bet.

The following sections of the Crown Grants Act, 1 866, are published in the General Goverment Gazette for general information, and the attention of the public is particularly directed thereto: — "XXXVII. There shall be paid to the Eeceiver of Land Revenue or other officer appointed to receive the same a sum of one pound upon Crown grant of lands not exceeding in amount one hundred acres and upon every Crown grant of land exceeding that acreage an additional fee of one farthing for every acre in excess of one hundred acres.' ' "XXXIX. There shall be paid upon all grants to be hereafter issued which may be loft in the charge or custody ef any Commissioner of Crown Lands or other officer charged with the delivery of the same a fee of sixpence for every month during which they shall have been so left after the expiration of three months from the date of the notice in the Gazette of the province wherein the lands are situate that Buch grants are ready for delivery." "XL. There shall be paid upon all grants issued prior to the passing of this Act and left as aforesaid in the custody of the officer charged with the delivery thereof a fee of sixpence per month for every month during which they shall be so left after two months subsequent to the passing of this Act."

We learn from the N. Z. herald that Wm. Thompson or as he was called amongst his own tribe, WI Tamihana, the king-maker of New Zealand, died on the afternoon of the 27th of December, while on his way to Wahau, whither he was being conveyed. For some time past the health of. Thompson has been rapidly sinking, and death was not unexpected. We can scarcely suppose that the death of Thompson will sensibly affect the relations.

of the two races to each other, either for good or evil. His influence has long since been upon the wane, and even amongst his immediate followers the respect paid to him has been rather that due to his former position than to any ■ present influence which he might have possessed. During the last few months of Thompson's life, since, indeed, his return from Wellington, the most unremitting care and attention have been paid to his wants by the Colonial Government. Dr. Sam has been assiduous in his professional attendance, and though Thompson's position really has been that of a rebel taken redhanded., still, beyond the confiscation of a portion of his territory, he has in no way suffered ; his person has been watched, and indeed^ as we have already said, nothing that the Government could do for him to render him comfortable has been neglected. Such conduct is not creditable to the colonists, but is perhaps the best practical answer that could be given to the mendacious statements of those who persistently accuse the colonists of New Zealand of being actuated by very different feelings towards the natives. We mention this, the more especially, as the news of Thompson's death will probably reach England shortly before the commencement of the " May meetings." A proclamation appears in the New Zealand Gazette of the Ist inst., bringing that most objectionable Act of the last Session of the Assembly, the "Native Lands Act, 1866," into operation from that date, the Ist instant. If any action of the G overnment was ever calculated to cause disaffection among the Native race, and that, too, among the most peaceably disposed portions of it, it is this Act. Well may be expect war and opposition to British rule when such interference with Native rights is attempted as has been legalised by this Act of the Assembly, inde--cently shuffled through the house, and if Mr. George Graham's version of the manner in which it was so passed be correct, under false pretences also. — N.Z. Herald, Dec. 13. The C. Press says an albatross of large size, measuring ten feet six inches from point to point of its extended wings, was found by the fishermen on the North beach, not far from Kaiapoi. When found it was still quite warm but bore marks of having sustained some fatal injury. The Wellington Independent, says: — Te Kanapu, one of the principal Arawa chiefs, died at Maketu on the 25th November. He was a fighting chief all through life. He was engaged for some time fighting the Hau-haus on the West Coast, and has in his time done good service for the Government. A great tangi was held over his remains. By a recent order in council, the retriction against carrying goods coastwise from any place in New Zealand to any part of the east coast between the South Head of Tauranga harbor in the Bay of Plenty and Table Cape has been removed. Sir George Grey has been paying a short visit to the Kawau, and has just left again for Tauranga and Wellington. His Excellency had intended, it is said, to go to Taupo, but found that, the proposed journey would not bee quite prudent in the present state of the country. He is expected to visit the Middle Island shortly and spend two months there visiting oil the different settlements. The Canterbury Provincial Council has voted £600 towards giving him a public reception. A correspondent of the Morning Post says that, from certain rumors which are at present current in London, he is forced to conclude that the vice of gambling is once more trying to make its way ; and that not in what might be called the professional circles, but initiated and conducted by those whose high social position appears to suggest to them no shame for their proceedings. The Lyttelton Times says : — Strange cases sometimes come before the law courts. Thus we notice thai at Timaru ft man named Owen Davis sued one John Melton for the recovery of £20 under the following circumstances. Davis is nearly bald and being anxious to grow a fine head of hair listened credulously to a black barber* named Patterson, who said he could do the job for him of making the bare j

places sprout "with a good capillary crop in three months. Overjoyed by this assurance Davis offered a fee of £20, which sum he deposited in the hands of a Mr. Melton. Mr. Davis, however, eobn afterwards dimly conscious that he had been a fool, applied for his money back, but not getting it, adopted legal proceedings against Melton. After hearing the evidence, his worship stated that there was no legal contract entered into, and that Patterson had undertaken an impossibility; therefore he ehould give verdict for plaintiff, and plaintiff to pay the costs. It is astonishing how credulous some people are. Medical men know that all the lotion and tincture in the world will not make hair grow on a bald spot, any more than on an old hair trunk, yet Rosalie Coupelle and a host of others, sell their advertised specifics to a greater extent every year. The Taranaki Herald says — a party of Waikatos 60 or 80 in number on their way South, were seen coming along the beach from Parininihi. They turned up the usual track at the Waipingao gulley ; and are probably some of the party reported from Auckland as on their way down here. They told the natives at Tupari that their orders were not to interfere with pakehas thereabouts, if the pakeha did not interfere with them. We hear from the South that small parties of Waikatos have been arriving in the neighborhood of Pungarehu, and inland of I Waingongoro. The Tauranga Argus, Ist December, is responsible for the following incident which recently occurred at Poverty Bay : — "It appears that the surveyors sent out by the Government to survey the blocks at Poverty Bay had been stopped by the I natives there on several occasions, but one of them, having more pluck than his coadjutors, when his theodolite was kicked over by a big burly Maori several times, found it was high time to use a little muscular Christianity, and forthwith rolled into him, and gave him such a lesson in pugilism that he was only too glad to cry, " taihoa." The other natives, perceiving that John Bull had beat his champion, allowed the surveyors to proceed quietly with their work." We (W. News) can assure our country readers that the feeling in Auckland is very strong in respect to the utter want of all good faith, and even common honesty, which has been shown by Mr. Stafford in respect to the Auckland compensation claims. Bad as was the conduct of Mr. Weld's Government towards Auckland, nothing so despicable as this — which amounts to repudiation, and that shabbily d one — ever was perpetrated by that ministry. A smat shock of earthquake was felt in Napier about half-past 9, on the evening of the 30th ult. It seemed to come from the southward. We learn from the Herald that the Taranaki natives have announced that the road betwesn Warea and Opunake is for themselves in the day time and fo? the pakehas at night. As this has been freely accorded without the use of force on our side, it must be looked on as an act of spontaneous generosity on their part. We learn from the Canterbury Press that a large number of birds have been shipped by J. Marshman, Esq., to the order of the Acclimatization Society. The Matoaka, which left the London Docks on the 6th October, was the vessel selected for the purpose. The following is a list of the birds placed on board : — 4B blackbirds, 48 thrushes, 96 skylarks, 50 starlings, 72 linnets, 36 chaffinches, 10 hedgesparrows, 12 robins, 48 greenfinches, and several partridges and pheasants. This thoroughly American paragraph is taken from the New York Citizen: — An American Welcome to an Illustrious Stranger. — Hepworth Dixon. Editor of the (London) 'Athenaeum,' is expected here shortly. Dixon is a sneak. He pitched into us when we were in trouble, lampooned us when in danger. Like others of his race, he turned his cue when fortune smiled upon us and victory upon its banner. Let him slide. Dr. T. J. Brown, Roman Catholic Bifhop of Newport and Meneira, has lately delivered his pastoral, in which he remarks upon the difficulties of the Pope, that as the human body, whose nervous system concentrates in the brain would be paralysed if connection with the head were interrupted, so must it be with the mystical body, the Church, if freedom of

intercourse with its head be prevented or impeded. Cholera has visited at least twenty towns and villages in North and East Devon within the past month with more or less severity. General Moltke, the strategist in the late campaign, in a preface to General Sulicki's history of the Seven Years' War, just published, warns his countrymen against indulging in "the intoxicating draught of victory." The Queen has been graciously pleased to become the patroness of the College for Educating the Daughters of Ministers of the Church of Scotland and of Professors in the Scottish Universities. The Princess Mary, it is said, was weighed a few days before the marriage, when it was found that she represented the substantial figure of eighteen stone. " I wish to procure the biography of Pollock," said a student to a bookseller. "Can you inform me where I can obtain it?" "I cannot, sir ; but I dare say you will find it in the Course of Time." A widow, named Kossignol, and her two daughters have just been poisoned at Vigan, France, from eating a etew made in a copper saucepan which had been allowed to stand without being cleaned, and had in that way generated a quantity of verdegris. Amongst the curiosities now exhibited at the fair of St. Michel, at Havre, is a Prussian, who, with the spike helmet (picklehaube) on his head demonstrates to the curious the manoeuvres of the famous needle-gun, for the small charge of Id. The crowd is always excessive, and the Bhowman is making a little fortune.