The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1868.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 49, 28 February 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1868.

Mr. Charles Taylor, late mauager of the Grey River coalfield, has lately inspected the coalfield at Collingwood, for the working of which it will be remembered that an unsuccessful attempt was made some time since to form a company, and he reports very favorably, not only of the quality of the coal itself, which is described us being highly bituminous and admirably adapted for grate, steam, and gas purposes, but also of the probable extent of the seam, which affords strong evidence of its proving a good workable field. We may add that a fine specimen of the coal from the Collingwood mine is now lying at the office of this journal, where it may be inspected by any person interested in the development of this very important source of wealth in this province. We learn from Foxhill that there has been a very heavy flood in the Wai-i-ti ; the rain having fallen steadily during the whole of Wednesday and the preceding day, the river rose to an extraordinary height. The breakwater at the spar footbridge stood it out bravely until dark on Wednesday evening, hurling ihe numerous large trees that came down, one after another, to the right or the left. About 9 o'clock, however, it gave way, and lodged against the bridge, together with two very large birch trees, one of which was 90 feet long and of great thickness. This caused a wash under the legs, and of course removed the protection which the breakwater afforded, and which now became a source of danger to the bridge. Although the pressure was so enormous as to shift the centre pier bodily several feet lower down the stream, the bridge is still whole, and crossable either by passengers or horses, but of course in very ugly form, the shifting of the centre pier having caused a bend in the roadway, which is unsightly. This, however, can be repaired, at a comparatively trifling expense. The breakwater, we are informed, was of hasty and faulty construction, and necessarily so, as funds were wanting, but the very severe trial to which the bridge has just been subjected, has proved most satisfactorily that the principle on which it was constructed is a correct one. We are requested by Mr M'Conkey to state that he purposes exhibiting the improvements lately made in the furnace of his stearaengine, to which we alluded on Wednesday last, this evening between 8 and 9 o'clock, with a view to demonstrate to the public that no danger is likely to arise from its use under the precautions which he has now adopted. We would remind our readers that the adjourned meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association takes place this evening at the Rooms, Bridge-street, at 8 o'clock, for the purpose of receiving

subscriptions aud enrolling members, when we hope to see a numerous attendance. | We observe from a notification in the General Government Gazette of the 13th inst. that petitions have been forwarded to the Governor from the city of Christchurch, and the towns of Kaiapoi, and Lyttelton, praying that they may be constituted boroughs under the above Act. It appears that the match between the Picton and Blenheim cricketers, which took place at the former town on the 17th inst. was not played out, but was decided by the first innings, in. ■which Blenheim scored 96, to the 95 made by the Pictonians, and 33 in the second innings. An error, however, was afterwards discovered in making up the byes and wides in the Blenheim first innings, and in consequence of this it was agreed to consider it as a drawn game on condition that another match is played in Blenheim. The following advertisement appeared in the Marlborough Press of the 19th inst. •' Challenge — Eleven of the Picton Cricket Club aie prepared to play any twenty-two, to be selected from the South side of the Wairau River. Conditions. — The match to be played on the Picton ground, and the game to be played out. Match to come off within a month from date. — T. Freeland, Captain. It seems that the cricketers of Blenhiem and the suburbs intend accepting the challenge. The Lyttelton Times authoritatively contradicts the statement which has appeared in some of the colonial newspapers to the effect that the Government purposes to expend the sum of £15,000 on the reception of H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh in this colony. The Government, it seems, has never proposed to exceed the amount appropriated by the General Assembly for the purpose, namely, £5000. Lord Lyttelton, accompanied by his son, the Hon. G. S. Lyttelton, left Christchurch for Hokitika on Friday, the 21st inst. by Cobb's coach. The Canterbury papers teem with particulars of the late disastrous floods in that province. In the Temuka district alone, the loss is estimated from £100,000 to £150,000. The Lyttelton Times thus speaks of the bowling of the Hon. G. S. Lyttelton, whose score of 104 rune in a late cricket match at Chistchurch we have already noticed : — Combined with good delivery and more than an average pace, Mr Lyttelton possesses the talent of altering his pitch at will so soon as he observes the batsman's weakest point. And of his batting: — Possessing great length of reach, with perfect freedom of wrist, and playing with a straight bat, the Hon G. S. Lyttelton is a batsman of rare merit in this part of the world. Almost all his hits were forward, and nothing evinces power of defence better. The following description of the discovery of the monster nugget at the Maryborough diggings is taken from a local paper: — Since the discovery of the Mary River gold-field itself, we have not had more startling intelligence to announce than we have to-day. Our townsman, Mr George Curtis, who has a claim on Sailor's Gully at the head of Nash's Creek, was at work yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, when he had the good fortune to drive his pick into a monster nugget, the weight of which was reported to us to be variously 701b5., 751b5., and 801bs. We at first refused credence to the report ; it seemed like one of those wild rumors often set afloat now-a-days ; but after making inquiry we found the report to be correct; there can be no mistake about it. We had it on good authority before, but our last authority is Mr Pockley, the manager of the Commercial Bank at Nashville, who writes to the manager here that the nugget has been lodged in the Bank, and he estimates that it contains about 1,000 ounces

of gold. The claim in which the nugget was found had been worked and abandoned when Mr Curtis took possession of it. Since he has worked the claim it ha3 never yielded more than £3 to £4 per week, and he had some thought of leaving it and trying his fortune elsewhere. Luckily for him he" did not. The nugget was found but a few inches, we understand, below the surface. There waa great excitement on the discovery becoming known, and in a few hours every inch of the neighboring ground was pegged out into claims ; and from our impressions of th© spot we should be surprised if a large extent of payable surfacing — nuggetty and patchy — is not found there. We should have said that Mr Curtis is Scab Inspector for this district, on leave of absence. It is a singular circumstance that Mr Goodcbap, the discoverer of the Caledonia Reef, which has yielded so many rich specimens, was at the time of the discovery in the Government service on furlough. The population of Dunedin and its suburbs, according to the census returns lately taken, is 19,000. The Government of New South Wale3 advertise a sale of the lease of 128 runs, most of which range from 45,000 to 65,000 acres. Many of the runs are at & rental of £100, running down to £80, The largest run is 156,800 acres, at a rental of £245 per annum. The lowest rental is £10 per annum. Some 64,000 acre runs are at this rental. The bidding is to be at so much premium for a year's lease.