LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 170, 7 June 1845, Page 54

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Gross Outrage. — A gross outrage was committed by a man named Con-way, on Wednesday last, on William Harding, late a police constable. Conway, who was tried for felony at the last sitting of the Supreme Court, and acquitted for want of evidence, bore, it appears, a grudge to Harding for his activity in arresting him when suspected of committing the felony ; and, meeting hint ion the above night at the Gardeners' Arms, he struck him on the head with a log of wood, nnd fractured his skull. When captured. Con way endeavoured to stab the chief constable, Saunders, and also aimed a vroun 1 at

i another person who assisted in taking him. As it will probably be some days before Karding can appear at the Police Office, C onway is for the present remanded. A black fish, measuring about twenty-six feet long, was thrown up on the Boulder Bank last week.

! By the following paragraph from thefyddcy Herald of May 21, it will he seen that there have been no late arrivals from England in the neighbouring colonies. Any vessel, therefore, which may have left London for New Zealand in January or the early pjart of February, will have been similarly detained : — i "The latest English newspaper which has bjeen received in the colony, is dated December 2,1 tt, so that our news is now five months old. Upon referring back to our files, we find that the English news of the beginning of January seldom comes direct, owing to the general prevalence of westerly winds in the Channel, which prevent vessels from getting clear of the land. Last year, English news to the 6th of January was brought by H.M.S. Thalia, from Madras, which arrived here on the 15th April; and it was not until the 9th June, when the Hindoo, which left England on the 22d January, arrived, that any later English news was received. In 1843, the news to the 6th January was brought to Sydney by a still more circuitous route, having arrived here by the Australasian Packet, from China, on the 25th May. In both 1843 and 1844, therefore, we were longer without ships from England than we have yet been this year. Several vessels are expected from the Indian Islands, and it is quite possible that we may have English news by that route as soon qs the weather clears."

Additional Troops ior New Zealand. -r~By the Sydney papers we learn that another detachment of troops sailed for Auckland on the 17th of May, under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Despard, who, we are informed, will take command of the whole of the forces in New Zealand. It is rumoured that the new Commander- inChief has determined to take Heki at whatever cost. The Herald gives the following account of the embarkation of the troops : — j " Between ten and eleven o'clock on Saturday forenoon, the troops intended for New Zealand -were drawn up in open column in the BarrackHq.iare. After which his Excellency, the Comrfaander of the Forces, accompanied by his suite, inspected them : then they marched off the ground in companies, for the place of embarkation, headed by the band, playing the " British Grenadiers ;" soon after arriving at the Comtnissiariat Wharf, they proceeded on board the barque British Sovereign, Captain Milne, which is to convey them to their destination. The British Sovereign is expected to sail in the course of the afternoon. The following is a list elf the troops and officers who sail in her: — Officers: Lieutenant- Colonel Despard, BrevetMajor Macpherson, Lieutenant Beatty, Lieutenant Johnston, Ensign Blackburn, Ensign Ji. J. Symonds ; Lieutenant and Adjutant lpeering, [and Assistant-Surgeon Galbraith ; 8 sergeants, 7 corporals, 5 drummers, and 160 privates of the 99th Regiment. Captain Snodgrass, Ensign Mundell, Ensign Wilmot, nine privates, two women and four children, of the 96th Regiment. Captain Marlow, of the Koyal Engineers, to relieve Captain Bennett, of tfie same corps, who returns to Sydney for the benefit of his health. Two privates (prisoners) ■°>f the Royal Marines were also put on hoard in order to be sent to the vessel they belong to, one being at present stationed at New Zealand. Total, 12 officers; 189 non-commissioned officers and privates : in all, 201."