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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 107, 7 May 1868, Page 3

The proprietors of the Otago Daily Times, having been cast iv damages for libel, Lave addressed the following letter io the Otago Provincial Council. It states : — That on account of recent occurrences, your petitioners are impressed with the conviction that a full report of the proceedings of the Council, especially of discussions aifecttng individuals, would be attended with great risk to . the petitioners, as proprietors of the daily paper, the Otago Daily Times ; and your petitioners respectfully suggest, seeing ike great importance of giviug publicity to the debates, that your Honorable House take into consideration the question of whether protection can iv shape or way be afforded to such reports. May it therefore please your Honorable Council to take this petitiou into consideration, aud do in the premises as to your wisdom shall seem meet. The petition was received. We were shown on Saturday last a very well-finished specimen of a door mat, made from New Zealand Flax, by Mr. Alfred Cooksey, of 138, Queen-street, as a tentative attempt to develop another branch of industry in our midst ; and we are glad to learn, from the orders already leceived from the local ironmongers, that a satisfactory trade is likely to spring up. The mat which was shown to us appeared quite equal in strength, to those made of rope and cocoauut fibre ; and what is of course equally worthy of notice is, that they could be sold at a rednction in price of fully 25 per cent, upon imported goods of this nature. The Sydney Empire, speaking of the attempt to assassinate Prince Alfred, says : ■ — ' Within two or three hundred yards of the spot on which the Prince was shot, but separated by a rocky wooded hill, was assembled the largest number of aboriginal blacks ever seen in the neighborhood of Sydney by the present generation of colonists. Men, women, aud children, they numbered about 300. Many of the children and some of the grown-up folks were half-castes, and some who were the children of half-castes had their skins as white as Europeans. They were provided with abundance of refreshment. The camp of the blacks was visited by a large number of persons during the day, aud preparations were making for holding a corroboree when the dreadful news that i the Prince was shot reached the place. Th&i excitement and anger of the aborigines were so great, and more strongly expressed, than those of white visitors ; for upon learning that the assassin had not been lynched ou the spot, they asked for his body for the purpose of " roasting hire." '

It appears that, by the last census, the population of Christchurch is 6,647, made up as follows ; males 3,335, females 3,312. Of the male portion 1,126 are married, and of the females, 1,162. There are unmarried, 2,152 males, and 2,022 females. The number of widowers is 57, and of ■widows, 128. The amount of land held in the various districts is as follows : — Christchurch, freehold, 4,134 acres; leasehold, 2,072 acres ; under crop, 1,862% acres. Lyttelton, freehold, 1,03 14 acres ; leasehold, 458 acres ; under crop, 133£ acres. Kaiapoi, freehold, 26,032 acres ; leasehold, 23,866 acres ; under crop, 21,589 acres; Cheviot, freehold, 77,7 fl acres ; leasehold, 255 acres ; under crop, 903 acres.