LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 149, 11 January 1845, Page 178

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Anniversary Fete. — The committee for managing the anniversary fgte have decided on giving two days' sport on the ensuing occasion. This was quite necessary to do justice to the races, which promise to far surpass those of the two former years. A good course, we understand, will be laid out at the commencement of the Waimea Plain, about four miles from town.

Supposed Arson and Bukglary. — A house at the Moutere, belonging to one ol the German missionaries, was burnt down yesterday week, during the absence of the person who had it in charge, and, it is supposed, the property it contained carried off. Two persons are in custody on suspicion oi having committed the offence, and will undergo a second examination this day.

Accident. — Another serious accident occurred in the road to theWaimea on Thursday last. A woman named Rainger was thrown off a bullock-cart, when one of the wheels passed over her body. No bones were broken, but so dreafully was she bruised, that she is now lying in a dangerous state.

The West Coast. — The schooner Three Brothers, which left Nelson a few weeks since for a place on the West Coast of this island, known by the name of the Black Reef, on a sealing trip, returned here on Monday last, with 140 seals and sixty gallons of seal oiL The master of the vessel, Mr. G. Thorns, of Rapid, states that near the Black Reef, which is the spot marked on the charts as the "Three Steeples," a little south of Cape Foulwind, there is a large river, a mile wide. It has a bar at the entrance, on which he took soundings, and found sixteen feet at high water. The river appeared to be navigable for a considerable distance. Mr. Thorns anchored his vessel in five fathoms, and pulled up four or fiva miles in his boat. He describes the valley through which the river runs to be twenty miles wide, finely wooded, with some open land. The only trace of a human being he saw on shore, was the footprints of a Maori, and a piece of wood, on which had been written, with charcoal, instructions to another Maori to follow the writer to Wanganui. Mr. Thorns also states that in running down the coast, he saw the mouth of another considerable river, about thirty miles north of the Black Reef. It is much to be regretted that so little is known of this island. Mr. Tuckett and his party have recently furnished some valuable information respecting the East Coast, but of the West Coast and the southern end of the island, very little is known. We have been assured that from a little north of Milford Haven, all the way up to Cape Foulwind, the high mountain range recedes from the sea, leaving a fine level country, thirty miles wide. The fevr Maories who are acquainted with the West Coast say that "from the navigable part of one of the ™rers near Cape Foulwind, they can walk across the island to Banks' Peninsula in three days. Whaling has never been tried on the West Coast. Mr. Thorns states that in no part of New Zealand are fish »;> plentiful. As whaling stations on that coast would draw their supplies from this port, we hope to see the experiment tried next season, and should the result be fortunate, the advantage to Nelson would be incalculable.

Literary and Scientific Institution. — A half-yearly meeting of the members of this Institution was held on Monday last, pursuant to advertisement, in which notics had been given of an intended alteration in the general rules. It being the opinion of the majority of the meeting that, if the entrance fee were abolished, the usefulness of the Institution would be greatly extended by the accession of many new members, the alteration, after a short discussion, was carried. Arrangements were then made for obtaining a regular supply of all the leading English periodicals, a file of the Times and Chronicle, and one or two London weekly newspapers. We understand that the Bishop of New Zealand may be expected in Nelson in a days. Harvest. — Harvest was commenced in the Waimea on Tuesday last, by Mr. John Kerr cutting a field of barley.