NELSON TRUST FUNDS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 28, 30 March 1861, Page 2

NELSON TRUST FUNDS.

Annual Rkpobt of the Board of Trusties or THE NfSLSON TfiUST FtJNDS, TOB THS YjAB I ENDING THE IST DECEMBBB, 1860. | The duties of the trustees during the past year have 'not been unimportant to the community. In the month of April they received an application from the Governors of the College for the sum of £2,500 or £3,000 in order to provide that institution with fur* niture and fittings, and to make improvements in the grounds ; the Governors stating that with the most rigid economy the sum of £8,000 would not be sufficient to do more than finish the building, leaving furniture and many other things necessary for the -efficiency of the establishment unprovided for. Your trusteed looking upon the College as one of the most important objects of the trust, and seeing a building advancing to completion at once well suited to its purpose and an ornament to the place, after careful deliberation considered that they would be justified in affording further assistance, and they accordingly handed over to the Governors the smaller sum applied for, viz., £2,500. With this sum the Governors assure them that they will be able to furnish the building, to provide efficient drainage and piping, to embellish and plant the grounds, and do several things required both for the preservation of the building itself, and the health and comfort of its inmates. A sum of £500 has been advanced without interest to the trustees of the Nelson Institute, for the purpose of purchasing a library and museum, on the condition that the expenditure of the above grant be first submitted to the trustees for their approval, and also that the trustees of the Institute mortgage the building as security for the above sum, and the sum of £300 before lent. The trustees are happy to say that the philosophical apparatus and minerals ordered from England bare arrived in good order. The chemical instruments will no doubt afford frequent occasions of instruction and scientific interest, and enable the youth of the province to observe with their eyes experiments and results, of which otherwise they could only form an indistinct idea by reading. For the care, trouble, and judgment shown in the selection of this apparatus, they wish to express their acknowledgment* to Mr. Heppel, the principal of the Nelson College. The collection of specimens illustrative of geology and mineralogy is now being unpacked and arranged on appropriate shelves. It is of a most complete and interesting character, presenting specimens of the chief European formations with their characteristic fossils where fossiliferous, and containing also typical specimens of minerals. A collection such as this cannot fail to give a great impetus to geological research, by affording the best and moßt valuable aid and instruction. The gentleman through whose instrumentality this collection was obtained, W. I. Hamilton, Esq., Secretary to the Geological Society of London, has laid upon all the people of Nelson, who take any interest in science, or the development of our mineral resources, a considerable burden of obligation. The trustees regret to say that there has not been for some time past that public accommodation by means- of steamers which the people of this place have a right to expect. The Nelson Coast Steam Association, finding no prospect of being able to place the Tasmanian Maid on the berth again, offered to repay the money advanced to them ; they have accordingly already paid £3,000, and are to pay the balance, £4,000, on the Ist of May. The trustees have made attempts in various quarters to (supply the want, but hitherto without success, and have at present under consideration the propriety of ordering a steam vessel direct from England, suitable in aU respects for the traffic of the place. In the meantime, with the view of bettering the communication with Motueka, the Trustees have lent a sum of £400 to our enterprising fellow citizen, Mr. Stock, to assist him in building a small steamer, which cannot fail to be a great accommodation to parties wishing to cross the Bar. During the past year £800 has been paid to the Church of England to be applied in the Wairau, and < £150 to the same denomination to be applied in Golden Bay. The Prcabtterant of the Wainw h»v« also rawed th» lum of *ISO. Tlmm payment* hav#

been made out of the interest of the sum of £1,000 which, in 1854, was invested in the terms of the Report of that year as a " further provision for the spiritual wants of the Province, and more especially of its remoter districts." The publisher! accounts show that the principal sum i 3 still intact. By order of the Council of Governor*, A. Q-. Jenkins, Secretary. New Zealand Flax. — We see that about five tons and a half of New Zealand flax -had been offered in the English market. A lot of dressed was taken in at £22 10s. ; rough, £18 ; and loose, £16 109. per ton. Accident.— On Wednesday morning last, between four and five o'clock, an accident, which might have been attended with the most fatal results occurred at the junction s&ddlc, & point in the forest upon the line of the proposed Dun Mountain railway, distant some fire miles from Nelson. At that place about fifty men, employed upon the line in the immediate vicinity, are encamped in tents. At the hour mentioned a violent gust of wind blew down a large blackbirch tree, some three feet in diameter, which, falling upon one of the tents in which ten men at the time were sleeping, crushed the poles and framing to pieces. Most providentially the men escaped without further damage than some severe contusions caused by the branches of the tree, which, had not its fall been somewhat arrested by the poles and frame of the tent, would have undoubtedly caused much more serious, if not fatal results. Cobonkb's Inquest at Motpeka.— lt will be remembered by our readers that, on the 26th December last, & drunken broil occurred among the aboriginal natives at Motuekn, in which one Manahi te Foka received such serious injury on the head and right hip that his life was despaired of. The natives having partaken of large quanties of beer, Manahi te Poka and Arapata te VVnretuturu quarrelled about its division ; they left the whare together, and then Arapata struck Manahi upon the head with a stick, and felled him to the ground, afterwards kicking him until assistance arrived. Manahi te Poka has from that time lingered in a very weak state until death put an end to his sufferings. On the 28th of March, Mr. Connell held an inquest upon the body of Manahi te Poka, and evidence of the above facts having been given, and a statement of the deceased's, made a few weeks since before the magistrates, having been put in, the jury returned a verdict of tnanslnughter against Arapnte te Waretuturu, adding that great blame attached to the friends of deceased for the delay which occurred before surgical aid was called in. Arapata has been apprehended on the coroner's wan-ant, and is now on his way to Nelson gaol. THE NEW CoMMANDEB OF THE FORCES IN THE OoiONT. — Major-General Cameron, who arrived by the Lord Ashley from Sydney on Thursday morning, has come out direct from England by the overland route, and is accompanied by Major VVhitmore, Captain M'Neild, and Lieutenant Ferguson. General Cameron, at the time of his appointment for New Zealand, was the officer in command of the troops in Scotland. The General, accompanied by his staff, proceeded on to Auckland yesterday by the Airedale, to get on interriow with the Governor before taking the command at Taranaki. Deputation of New Zealand Colonists. — A deputation of New Zealand colonists, consisting of Sir Charles Clifford, of Wellington ; Mr. Newman, Mr. Brodie, and Mr. Nathan, of Auckland ; Mr. Ward and Mr. Fell, of Nelson ; Mr. E. D. Sweet, of Marlborough 5 Mr. W. B. Bray, of Canterbury ; and Mr. John Morrison, agent for the New Zealand Govern* ment, had an interview with his Grace the Duke of Newcastle at the Colonial-office on the 21st of January, relative to the present state of affairs in New Zealand. The Chuboh Missionaby Society and New Zealand.— A deputation of the committee of the Church Missionary Society respecting the present state of New Zealand, had an interview wth the Duke of Newcastle on the 22nd of January at the Colonial Office. The deputation consisted of the Earl of Chichester, president; Hon. A. Kinnaird, M.P. ; Hon. Captain Maude, R.N. ; Major-General Alexander, Messrs. J. F. Thomas, A. Lang, J. Fairish, J. M. Strachan, and W. Dugmore ; Rev. J. Ridgeway, Rev. S. Gedge, and the secretaries, the Rev. H. Venn, Rev. W. Knight, Rev. T. Chapman, Major H. Straith, and Colonel Dawes ; and was accompanied by Mr. C. J. Selwyn, Q. 0., M.P. The Atlantic Telegraph. — The Mechanic* 1 Magazine states that the North Atlantic telegraph is about to be proceeded with under the auspices of its original promoters, whose handß have been strengthened for the work by the devotion of Sir Charles Bright' 8 abilities and experience to the underaking. St. George's-in-the-East. — The Bishop of London has given the parish of St. George's-in-the-East another curate in the place of Mr. Hknsard, who resigned because the Bishop ordered the removal of all the decorations which were objected to by the parishioners. Great Exhibition of 1862. — The Commissioners for the Great Exhibition of 1862, says the Court Journal, are really getting to work, and the public will be astonished some day to find the country fairly committed to another of these gigantic undertakings. The last meeting was held on January 1 7, under the presidency of Earl Granville, who, though somewhat indisposed, would not have the meeting postponed, but received the commissioners at his own residence, instead of at the Privy Council offices. Distress in Ireland. — A fearful amount of distress caused by the severity of the weather, want of employment, the high price of provisions, &c, exists in the county Louth, and in many districts of Meath. Out-door relief is loudly demanded to enable the poor, who are out of employment, to get over the present hard season without the necessity of entering the workhouses. The Great Eastern. — The required repairs of the Great Eastern, now lying securely and snugly on the beach at Milford Haven, have been commenced, and are vigorously being carried on. They will be completed early in the spring. The New Houses of Parliament. — The decay or efflorescence of the stonework of the Houses of Parliament is not, it would appear, confine J to the exterior of the building, but is showing itself in the roof and stonework ornamentation of St. Stephens-hall, arising, it is believed, from the influence of the gas. Sale of Venetia. — A letter from Turin states that a caricature is stuck up in many parts of that city representing Venetia offering Francis Joseph a bagful of crowns. This is headed "January." Side by side is another headed " December," in which Venetia, with an expressive gesture, is saying to the Emperor, " Accept this good hand, or be kicked out of the window." Supposed Murderer of the French | Judge. — According to the Elberfeld Gazette, a person who is presumed to be Jud, the supposed murderer of M. Poinsot, the French judge, has been arrested at Ludwigshafen, and lodged in the prison of Spire. The French authorities, on being apprised of the fact, sent a photograph of the real Jud, which bears a striking resemblance to the person arrested. On the night of his arrest the prisoner tried to commit suicide by hanging, but was prevented by the keepers. He is said to have thrown a quantity of gold coin*, which he had on his person when arrested, into the Rhine.