The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 10, IS6B.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 58, 10 March 1868, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MARCH 10, IS6B.

The Wellington Independent of the 7th states lhat the official intelligence received by the Governor from Sydney by* the Ruahine is to tbe efiect that the Prince will not leave that place for Auckland until April 3rd, but this wili not be allowed to afiect the length of his stay in New Zealand, as he will not now leave this colony until the middle of May. The cause of tbis delay in the Prince's departure from Sydney is that the Galitea, which was put iuto the Fitzroy Dry Dock, could not be undocked until the next spring tides, and after that operation she would have to undergo extensive repairs whicb will occupy at least three weeks. The despatches received by his Excellency show that the Prince cannot now reach Aucklaud before April 9th, or Wellington before April 20th at the earliest. A letter has been received by a gentleman in Adelaide from one ofthe officers of the Galatea, stating that 'H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh is to go from New Zealand to Tahiti, Honolulu, Callao, Valparaiso, the Falkland Islands, Monte Video, Rio Janeiro, Demerara, Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada, and Barbadoes, and thence home to Portsmouth, where he is to arrive iu Jauuary, 1869.' This is no mere yachting voyage, seeing that the Galatea must round Cape Horn in September. Ihe Sydney Empire of the 29th uit. states that nothing whatever bad occurred to damp the cordiality with which the Prince was received on his first arrival in Sydney. When he has appeared on. any public occasion he has been received with unbounded enthusiasm, and whenever he preferred to dispense with these manifestations of hearty good wili, his privacy had been respected. His Excellency the Governor has appointed William Weaver, Esq., to be Telegraph Engineer of the Colony, and A. Sheath, Esq., to be District Inspector of Telegraphs. Mr Fox is stated to be slowly but steadily recovering from the effects of the shaking he received on the occasion of the recent accident which befel him on his way from Wanganui to Wellington. The following inscription has been beautifully engraven by Mr H. Drew, of Trafulgar-street, ou the handsome salver presented to Dr Cusack on Friday lasl. ' Presented with an address to S. A. Cusack, Esq., F.R.C.5.1., M.8., M.R.C.S.L., on his leaving Nelson, by a number of friends who regret his departure. Nelson, N. Z., 6 March, 1868/ The engraving on this salver is highly creditable to Mr. Drew's establishment, where the salver will lie for some days for inspection. Captain Pitt, Royal Artillery, at present in Australia, is to be the Aide-de-Camp to his Excellency the Governor

At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, the following case was heard : — Elizabeth Howe, v. G-. Hodgson. This was an action to recover £50, for damages alleged to heve been sustained by the plaintiff through injuries inflicted by a goat, the property of the defendant. The circumstances of the case have already been before our readers, on the previous hearing of the action, brought by the father of the plaintiff to recover £100, in which he was nonsuited. In the present action, the plaintiff appeared by her nearest friend, and it having been agreed that the present case should rest on the evidence faken on the previous occasion, the matter was left to the adjudication of the magistrate, who gave a verdict for the plaintiff for £21, and costs. Mr. Kingdon appeared for the plaintiff ; Mr. H. Adams for the defendant. The anniversary tea meeting of the Union Chapel Sunday School takes place this evening at six o'clock, after which the Revs. R. L. Vickers and E. Thomas, with Mr. J. H. Davis and other friends, will give addresses. A correspondent enquires why the water supply should not be mada available, as in Melbourne and elsewuere, to watering the streets of this city, a procedure which would obviate the iujury to property aud the annoyance to its inhabitants experienced in such weather as that with which we were visited yesterday ? We understand that a cricket match is to take place to-morrow afternoon on Victory Square, between the Wool and Albert Clubs ; wickets to be pitched at 2 o'clock. Mr Haughton, M.H.R. aud Mr James O'Neil, M.H.R., members of the Royal Penal Establishment Commission, arrived from Christ-, hurch this morning by the Airedale. The Independent says that there is a great contrast between ihe past aud the present Governors in one respect. In his mode of life and surroundings Sir George Grey was the pattern of simplicity, while Sir George Bowen, without being tbe very reverse, does far more to maintain the pomp and state of the Queen's Viceroy. The young Earl of Pembroke, who purposes remaining some short time louger in the colony, having chartered the Albatross, a very fast and pretty little brigantine of 86 tons burthen, left Wellington for Lyttelton on the 28th uit., whence he will make a tour round the colony, and afterwards visit the Fijis and the Marquesas. The Taita Company of Wellington Volunteers has made the best score in that Province as yet for the District prizes, Private T. Harris having made 59 points, and Corporal R. King 58, The highest score obtained by the Lower Hutt Company was 56, and by the Porirua Company 53. The Grey River Argus says: — The Nelson Coal Company have at last set about in earnest to make the long talked of railway from tbe mine to Cobden. By the last mail from Melbourne, the manager, Mr Simpson, received a draft for £1,000 to defray tbe preliminary expenses of laying out the line, and a like sum every month wiil be placed at his disposal until the line is completed. The Marlborough News of the 7th states that, for the first time since the commencement of the wool season, Mr Henderson's store at Blenheim is empty, the roads being so impassable from the late floods aa to render it difficult to bring into town the large quantities of wool removable at the various stations in the province. The total decrease in the population of Otago, as proved by the census; is very small. In 1864 the figures were 49,019, in 1867 they were 48,480— giving an actual decrease of 539.

A Christchurch telegram in the Hokitika Star of the 3rd, states that a prisoner, named Burnside, had attempted to escape that morning from the gaol at tbat place, and in a desperate tussle with a warder he was bayonetted, and has since died. It appears from a Dunedin telegram in the Hokitika Star of the 3rd inst that the Queensland diggings were creating no interest in Melbourne or in Dunedin. The case, or rather series of cases, arising from the disputes between Messrs Kennard, the contractors, and the Provincial auihorities, relative to tbe extension of the Queen's Wharf at Wellington, commenced on Thursday last, and will probably occupy the greater part of this week, there being numerous important witnesses on either side to be examined. There are two actions in course of investigation, one being a claim to recover £7940 due as the balance of the contract money, the other a claim for damages laid at £20,000. The damages are claimed oa account of an alleged misrepresentation of the character of the foundations, by which loss was incurred. Mr Petford, Dr Hector* and Mr George have been examined for the plaintiffs, but Captain Kennedy being obliged to leave Wellington on Saturday, he was examined on Friday on the other side. The Court has been crowded each day. Yesterday morning the jury were to visit the wharf, in order to have ocular demonstration of its condition. Mr Travers, instructed by Messrs Hart and Buckley, appears for the contractors, and the Attorney-General, with Mr Borlase and Mr Brandon, for the Provincial Government. The Sydney Empire says that, excluding the cabin passeugers who have left for Queeuslaud, about 500 persons, who may uearly all be taken to be miners, have left Sydney in the steerage of steamers for Queensland ports during the past month, but that an increase is setting in. The Dunedin correspondent of the Grey River Argus announces the arrival in that city of two notabilities ; one, the celebrated German traveller, Schafer, who is now making a pedestrif n tour of these colonies, and tbe other, a visitor of very different character, the convict Sullivan, and states that with regard to the latter, considerable feeling has been manifested in that dty, but that Sullivan will be too well looked after to cause any alarm to anybody. He was handed over to the custody of the Dunedin gaoler, on the night of the 29th uit., having been brought overland from the Port by Sergeant Mallard, of Otago, and Constable Levy, of Nelson. The great wharfage question at Blenheim between the Marlborough Government and Messrs Nath. Edwards & Co., came off on Tuesday last, Mr. Conolly appearing for the Superintendent, and Mr Moffitt for Messrs Bennett & Symons. The action was to recover wharfage dues for goods landed at Blenheim, and was decided" on a mere legal quibble, an erasure having been discovered in the second proclamation defining the limits of wharves, &c, for the prevention of doubts and disputes, to which the counsel for the defendants objected, and to which Mr Conolly submitted. The defendants therefore obtained judgment, with £3 15s. costs. According to this decision, there are no longer any legal wharves in Blenheim, and all dues are abolished for the time being, as well as all arrears accruing since the passing of the Marine Act, 1867. The decision affects the Picton wharves in like manner. A little fellow going to ohurch for the flrst time, where the pews were very high was asked on coming out what he did in church, when he replied, 'I went into the cupboard, and took a seat on the shelf.'