The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 262, 4 November 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1867.

The mail for Europe, &c, via Panama, by the Taranaki, closes at 10 a.m. ou Wednesday next, the 6th instant. By the Phoebe, which arrived from the North this morning, we have received no Auckland intelligence of any importance. The accounts from the Thames Goldfields still continue favorable. We are informed that a telegram has been received from Captain Benson, the Mauager of P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Company stating that the Airedale, which was due to-day, would not ca'l at Nelson on her present trip from the We?t Coast to Wellihiiiou. Thu Piicebe, which leaves toil.orrow at 1 -0.m., wiil therefore convey hur passengers to the South aud Melbourne. L Our obituary of Saturday announced the decease of another of our earliest settlers, Mr Alfred Anthony, who arrived iv the Olympus in 1842, under the auspices of the New Zoaland Company. Mr Anthony, who was t c first settler iv the Moutere district, some yea's ago met with a severe accident, v tiv-e having fallen upou him, breaking several of his ribs, and this injury latierly almost incapacitated him from taking part in any laborious occupation. Although he was sedulously attended irom time to time by another old settler, Dr Wilson of Motueka, he fied at the comparatively early age of 47, leaving a large family, one of whom followed him last week to she grave. $~ The Ri^ht R-v. Bisliop Suter arrive I by ihe Wallaby fr*>m Westport on S itur.lay evening. His Lordship delivered a 1-ciure in the Courthouse s?t Westport on Wednesd-y evening last, iv aid of the funds for erecting a parsonage for the resident Anglican minister. Tiie subject of the lecture was 'The present State of England, viewed topographically, socially, anistically. politically, and morally,' ami it whs very numerously attended, Mr Commissioner Kynnersley occupy iug the chair. The subject wus i rented with great-ability, and was of a most interesting character, and at its conclusion a vote of thanks was carried to his Lordship, together with three cheers, which were given most heartily. The Westport Times publishes the lecture in exten-o. We undei stand that the Bishop expresses j himself much gratified by the reception i accorded him on the West Coast generally, nnd is very hopeful of the future of Westport. The review of the Volunteer Companies which is to tike place on Victory-square on the _ 11th inst., in celebration of the Prince of Wales' birthday, will he sigualised by a ceremony of a very novel and interesting character. We allude to the presentation of a color to the Rifle Cadet Corps, which it is inteuded shall take place on tcis occasion. Many of'our readers are probably aware that efforts have lately been made to obtain colors for this -corps;. Mrs • William Adams having ._ kiadly undertaken to supply the regimen- I

"Tril "color, "wliich is how finished arid ready for presentation, and isa very handsome spf-rimeu of silk -embroidery, devised: in strict accordance with tlie army Tegilations. This color, if. is proposed, shall be present d in due form by the fair donor, to the ensigns of the corps on the Prince's bin-Inlay. The other, or Queen's color, which lum been ordered from Melbourne, wiil be presented on a future occasion. Tin-; first practice of the new Nelson Cricket Club took place on Victory-square on Saturday afternoon. A scratch match was got up, in which several of our leading cricketers took part, and wliich was v»ry evenly played. That part of the ground which has lately been laid down with turf, is, of course, ar. present reserved, hut will som.be ready for use. Tiie p ad ice will in future take place on Wednesday and Saturday evenings. The audience assembled at the performance at the Oddfellows' Hall on Saturday evening, was by no means so numerous a one as the programme and the efforts of the company deserved. This evening the comedy of The Secret, and the farce of The London Rake will be given, and to-morrow night, the hist performance of the season, Mr Fenton, the proprietor, takes his benefit. Tiie company have certuuly uot fared so well as they deserved to do, and we trust t'mt tlte attendance to-morrow night especially will go some way to recompense them for their losses. They perform at. Motueka* on Saturday next, returning to Nelnon oh the following Monday, on which evening a complimentary benefit will be given to Miss Annie Merton under 'distinguished patronage,' tlie company beinjr ass'sted on the occasion by several local amateurs. Tlie Melbourne Argus of the 17th ult., states positively that Victoria has withdrawn from the arrangement for oceanpost service, proposed at the late Postal Conference, the representative of New South Wales insisting that the last port of arrival and the Hrst of departure shall he Sydney, which Victoria considers inimical to her interests. This decision however will not at present create any alteration iv our own postal arrangements. It appears, from un answer given in the House of Commons by Mr Murst, Secretary of the Treasury, to a question put by Mr Laird, that no notice has neen given by tiie Home Government to the P. ami O. Company to terminate the Australian Mail contract. We understand that considerable excitement prevailed at Hokitika on Thursday la?f, in consequence of the appearance at that port of the steamtug Despatch, belonging to the Grey Company, who, it appears, had taken umbrage at the fact that the Lioness had been sent to the Grey by Mi 'Ssi's Spence Brothers to oppose the first mentioned steamer. The retaliation seems to have been very successfully carried out, for we nre informed that no sooner had the Despatch arrived than she got five or six heavy vessels that were lying in the offing, and cleared during one title, in the space of two hours and ten minutes, the sum of £500, thus pay inir the Company a dividend of 10 |er c-eut. S une two thousand persons at least were assembled on the South Beach to watch the operations of this new competitor amongst the Hokitika tugs, and much interest was shown in the result. The encroachments which the sea is daily making upon Hokitika are naturally creating considerable »ilarm, and if the following description of ihe present position of that township, taken from the Evening Star of the 29th ult. be correct, these apprehensions are by no means unjustifiable: — We are not alarmists. But unless by some engineering device the sea encroachments be not kept back, and the ocean confined within the legitimate bed, Hokirika must at no vevy distant date be submerged, and while thousands upou thousands of pounds worth of property will be destroyed, many hundred of pur most enterprising traders will be utterly ruined. Each tide, as it rises and falls, carries with it into the illimitable oceau from six to nine feet of the beach upon which Hokitika stands, and meu experienced in these matters tell us lhat if 30 or at most 50 feet more at the rear of Revell-street be washed away, the lower part of tlie towu will become a lagoon, and that the waters of the sea will join the river, aud that Hokitika will be what it has undoubtedly been before — a lake of water over which vessels will find sufficient depth to anchor in. The Wanganui Times states, on reliable

authority, that on the 9th ult. his Excellency the Governor forwarded a despatch to Colonel Beet, Auckland, instructing him to issue orders for the immediate removal of the 18th Royal Irish as follows: — Six companies to Auckland; two to Taranaki; and two to Napier. Thus it appears that Wellington is uot, after all, to be a garrison town. While the Wallaby was lying at anchor in Port Hardy one of the passengers, Mr Richard Barry, of tiie Ship Hotel, Wellington, and who was one of the earliest settlers in the colony, threw himself overboard whilst in a state of delirium tremens. Captain Daniels immediattdy ordered the boats to be lowered, and he rowed about for hail' an hour, but no signs of the uufot'iuuat''man could be discovered. Tne Marlborough Regatta comes off at Pieton ou Saturday next. The committee have received mv *h support in obtaining funds for ihe prizes, which are consequently numerous and of value. We should, be glad to hear that a:iy Nelson boats were likely tv figure amongst the competitors on the occasion. - His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh arrived at Rio in the steam fri*j?.te Galatea on the 15th Juiy. The following account of hi:; arrival and reception id abridged ft\;in the An-ilo-Braziliuu Times: — Monday, lot!: July, brought to the English residents of Rio de Janeiro a realisation of a much anticipated pleasure, when the Galatea, in command of one of Britain's Princes, entered the beautiful harbor of Kio, and anchored near the fortified little, but story- famed, isle of Yiliegaignon, while the thunderiiigs of the forts and the armed ships of the various nations resting within the hospitable precincts of the bay hailed the i!lu.-t.rious voyajer who for a second time visited its waters. Hardly harl the vessel dropped her anchor when his Highness the Comic d'Eu and Couselheiro Dr Albuquerque, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, accompanied by the Veador -Siqueira, climbed the gangway stairs to offer to Prince Alfred Brazil's welcome to her shores, aud to bear him off to land to lend his presence to the social party wbich the Comte d'Eu had prepared to beguile him after the wearing monotony of the voyage. Next morning also brought his Highness ihe Comte d'Eu on board the Galatea, and the two Princes landing at the Arsenal of Marine drove to Sao Christovao to ihe Palace of Bnavisia, to pay the due respect to their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress, who were 'a ailing to receive England's Prince aud give their welcome to him. At 1 p.m. the Duke returned to Rio, there in the City Palace to receive a deputation from the British residents, with an address of loyalty and congratulation. H.M.S. Virago, which asrived at Sydney oa the 13th ultimo, says that during the stay of H.M.S. Galatea at Rio de Janeiro,' public balls were giveu aud festivities of all kinds were got up. At one of the entertainments 3000 persons were present, including the Emperor of Brazil. H.M.S. Galatea was at the Cape of Good Hope iv company with the Virago, aud it was expected she wo jld leave there for Adelaide on the 2oth of September. H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh had been residing with the Commodore ou his Station. He had beeu accorded a magnificent reception at the Cape. When the Virago "came away the Duke was absent from the Cape, ou board H.M.S. Racoon, on an excursion to a place some 400 miles distant. The Hon. M. Willoughby, a midshipman on board the Galatea, had taken typhoid fever at Rio, aod died. Mauy of the crew suffered from the fever. It seems that after the burlesque meeting ' convened' by Mr Crate at Westport, on the 24th ultimo, whi :h we noticed in our issue of Saturday, a deputation was appointed to wain oa his Honor the -Superintendent, consisting of the following gentlemen:— Messrs Crate (convener), Bailie, Neill, Pow-dl M'Farlane, lii-id, Paterson, and Brown. Mr Crate said he appeared before his Honor in a very peculiar position, inasmuch as no specific resolutions had been passed at the meeting hsld the previous evening, instructing him as to the course he should pursue. The primary subject of the deputation was that of an increased representation, and the next was that of the wharfage rates; and on these Mr Crate discoursed at some length. He then went into the "question of r-jvenue derivable from the port of Westport; but he evidently was not clear upon the point, as he rendered himself liable to correction several times by the -Superintendent. His Honor replied that it was au erroneous idea that he was opposed -to an increase iv the number of representatives for Wes, port; but he gave the depu. ation to understand that he could nor recommend a representation to be made in the presant session of the Council, but in the next. Before they gave additional representation the Provincial Council were desirous of seeing how Westland would increase, for they did not like to alter the number of representatives at any place till they had ascertained whether it was likely to be of a permanent character or not.