New Zealand Probinces. WELLINGTON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XV, Issue 26, 28 June 1856, Page 3

New Zealand Probinces. WELLINGTON.

Our Wellington papers are to the 18th instant, but our file of the Independent is incomplete. The following is a summary of their contents : —

On the morning of the 17th instant^ about half past one o'clock, the premises occupied as the offices of the Provincial Gov/rnment were found to be on fire ; and the flames spread so rapidly, that nothing could be done to save the building, which was entirely destroyed, with the exception of some documents deposited in two iron safes, which were rescued at great risk by Mr. Sawyer; the whole of the furniture, books, maps, records, and papers contained in the building were lost. The origin of the fire is involved in complete mystery.

A public meeting was held on the evening of the 18th, for the purpose of "receiving the report of the committee appointed on the 28th of April, and to adopt such measures as might be deemed advisable in order to obtain fireengines, &c." The report of the committee recommending that the Superintendent should be requested to obtain fire-engines, was unanimously agreed to. An important action for libel was tried in Wellington on the 22nd of May, before a special jury, the plaintiff being C&ruel Campbell, formerly Land Commissioner at Canterbury, and the defendant, J. E. FitzGerald, Esq., the Superintendent of that province. The case was a remarkable one. Colonel Campbell, our readers will probably remember, while Land Commissioner at Canterbury, became involved in incessant disputes with the settlers, which ended at last in his removal from the office, by the Governor, who, however, conferred upon Colonel Campbell, shortly afterwards, the office of Registrar of Deeds for the Canterbury province. On this appointment becoming known, the Provincial Council passed a series of resolutions complaining of the appointment, on the ground that Colonel Campbell f was not competent to adequately perform the duties of the oifice, and that such an important office ought to be entrusted only to some person possessing the fullest confidence of the public. The Superintendent of Canterbury then addressed letters to Sir George Grey, in which his honor requested that Colonel Campbell might be removed from the offico of Registrar of Deeds on the ground that that gentleman had "been condemned by the united voice of the public as wholly unfit to be entrusted with any public office whatever.' 5 It was upon these words that the action for libel was brought, and the jury, after retiring for twenty minutes, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages £600. A case of another character, but of considerable importance, was recently decided iv

the Resident Magistrate's court in Wellington. A seaman of the schooner Lord of the Isles sued the master of the vessel for his arrears of wages ; and the court, considering the master as the agent of the owners of the vessel, decided that he was bound to satisfy the legal claims of the crew, and failing his ability to do so, that he would have to be sent to gaol. By this decision the master of the Lord of the Isles is made liable for for wages due to his late crew, and as the proceeds from the sale of the wreck did not realize that sum, the master of the late schooner is placed in a most unpleasant position. The brig Gazelle from Sydney, with horses and stock, and the bark Maori, with a similar cargo, had both arrived in Wellington. A thoroughbred horse, Grey Camden, was imported in the Maori. This horse is by the Crab (an Arab), out of Alice Grey (Cassandra's dam). Two cart stallions were also imported in these vessels. The brigantine Sea Serpent has been laid on as a regular trader between Wellington and Melbourne.

A weekly market, established at the Hutt, appears to be well attended. Among recent prices of stock we notice fat steers at .£l3 10s. each, good cows 10s. Steps are being taken to establish a weekly market at Wellington.

At a sale of land, held by Messrs. Bethune and Hunter, town and country properties of the value of upwards of changed hands at satisfactory prices.

An inquest was held at the Hutt, on the 9th of June, on the body of a man named William Leckie, who, in a fit of delirium tremens, left his bed on a freezing cold night, without clothing, and appears to have wandered about until he fell down and died from exhaustion and exposure to the cold. The latest prices are for wheat, 9s. 6d. to 10s. per bushel, flour £28 to ,£29 per ton, beef and mutton from sd. to Bd. per lb. Sawn timber from 1 2s. to 20s. per hundred feet, bricks 655. to 70s. per thousand, lime 2s. 9d. per bushel.

Local politics for the time are left in abeyance by both the newspapers in Wellington, in order to discuss the proceedings of the General Assembly. It is amusing to mark the tone of the Independent on the various changes which have occurred in the Government since the Assembly has been sitting, the hopes and fears which the arrival of each successive mail excites in our contemporary ; his bold speculalations on the future, his withering condemnation of the past, and the perfect unconsciousness with which, while lashing furiously the opponents of his three demi-gods, the great guns of Wellington ultra-provincialism, he belabours his friends even more than their adversaries.