SUMMARY OF INTELLIGENCE FROM THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1650, 8 February 1862, Page 5

SUMMARY OF INTELLIGENCE FROM THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES.

Taranaki. —The local journals are engaged in discussions as to the future movements of the settlers towards the re-occupation of their deserted homesteads. An entire change in the constitution of the local Militia force was about to be made. The following letter with reference to this subject was published in the Herald of the 11th ultimo : Militia Branch, Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, January 6, 1862. g; r i am directed to inform you that the Government have had under their consideration the question of the present state of the Militia Force in the Province of Taranaki, and of its future constitution and maintenance, and that although the Government have not vet come to a decision on the subject, they will in all probability do so in the course of the present month. The effect of that decision will probably be an entire organic change in the establishment of the present Taranaki Militia, and a great reduction in its expense. It is intended that all persons able to maintain themselves should be left to their own resources, and that in the case of others, the receipt of pay and rations

should be coupled with conditions requiring from such persons effective services in return for the same. This intimation of the views of the Government is given in order that it may be at once communicated to all persons concerned, both officers and privates, in order that they may be prepared for the impending charge which is likely will take place from the commencement of next month. lam to request you to give immediate publicity to this announcement. I have &c., W. Gisborne, Under Secretary. Major Herbert. Commanding Taranaki Militia. Horl Kiugi, Chief of the Taranaki tribe, the man next in importance to Kukutai who was killed, at AVaireka, is dead. The Provincial Council was still in Session. Air. J. C. Richmond had resigned his seat in the Council, as member for the Grey and Bell District. The News of January 16, announced that— The Commissioners appointed to investigate the claims on the Taranaki Relief Fund voted by the General Assembly, commenced yesterday distributing certificates to the claimants, which on presentation to the Sub-Treasurer will be forthwith paid. The first list, commencing in alphebetical order, was posted on the Huatoki Bridge yesterday, and included the letters A and B. A new one will be posted every day, and those who are interested in the distribution will do well to watch their appearance, as it will expedite the receipt of these dividends and facilitate the business of the Commissioners. AVanganui. —At a public entertainment given to the detachment of the 65th Regt. previously to their departure from AYauganui, the following address, signed by 80' of the inhabitants, was presented to Lieut.-Colonel Murray : To Lieut.-Colonel Murray, commanding Detachment of 65th Regt., stationed at Wanganui. Sir, We the undersigned , inhabitants of Wanganui, take the liberty of asking you to express to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the detachment under your command, the high sense we have of the excellent manner in which the soldiers of their regiment stationed here during the last fourteen years have conducted themselves. There has been maintained during that period a mutual friendly feeling between them and us, which has never been interrupted, and which has been due to the accomodating and courtcus manners of the soldiers of all ranks. It is evident that to the efficient discipline maintained by the officers, as well as to the excellent dispositions of those under their command, this harmonious feeling is to be attributed, and we therefore beg that our expression of esteem and regard he understood to apply to all. It is with regret that we see so fine a body of men depart from us, and wo cordially wish them every happiness and success, in whatever part of the world they may be stationed. Wc have no doubt that if called into active service they will maintain the reputation of their regiment and of the service to which they belong. The Hon. Mr. Crawford, whose praiseworthy efforts to diffuse information upon the geology of the District we noticed in our last summary, was prevented from exploring the valley of the Tungarakau by the opposition of the Natives. A toll of thirty shillings was demanded from him at the mouth of the river.

The Chronicle of December 26, gives the following item of Native news : One of onr settlers, who was at Taranaki immediately before the war broke out, on his way down the coast thought it prudent to return, and left his horse in care of a chief. The chief was killed at Waireka, but his son brought the horse down on Tuesday with the view of restoring it to the owner. This is an act of honesty which deserves record. A project was on foot to purchase a small steamer for the coasting trade. AVellington. —A reward of £I,OOO has been offered by the Provincial Government for the discovery of an available gold-field in Wellington, and the Superintendent proposes to make a grant of money, equal in amount to any public subscription, in aid of the expenses of an exploring expedition. The Wairarapa is about to be “ prospected.” The Independent , January 14, thus announces The opening of the N. Z. Bank. —The premises formerly known as Swinbourne’s Steam Packet Hotel, have lately been undergoing the necessary alterations preparatory to the opening of the New Zealand Bank, which takes place to-morrow, the 15th instant. Mr. Henry St. Hill had returned from England. The Spectator says — AYe understand that the warrant has arrived from Auckland by the steamer Lord Worsley, for carrying into effect the sentence of death passed on Color-ser-geant Collins of the 65th Regt. for shooting Adjutant Alexander of the same corps. The unfortunate man, we are informed, received the intimation of his final doom with great emotion, —with clasped hands exclaiming “ Oh that it should have come to thisl and that it would break his poor mother’s heart when the news would reach her of her son’s unhappy fate.” Owing to a question raised by the Sheriff whether, since the alteration in the Sheriff and Jail departments, it is his or the Jailer’s duty to see the sentence carried into execution, the day cannot therefore be fixed, as the legal point raised will have to be brought before the Supreme Court; and as his Honor Mr. Justice Johnston is over at Nelson on Court business, it is uncertain when he will be able to return. The order, however, is that, when this legal point is settled, the execution will take place at the Wellington Jail three days thereafter. Nelson. —The session of the Supreme Court was opened on the 15th ultimo, with a criminal calendar unusually heavy, there being no less than three indictments for murder. One of the cases was that of a Maori named Pepene, who murdered a woman named Parc (Polly), who lived with him at the B tiller River.

The prisoner, at the trial, made the following statement in his defence: — “ Many of us were inside the whare, and some parties desired to go to work. I and my wife were left alone. My wife was making a basket, and I was mending my trowsers. I said to Pare ‘ Wash my clothes.’ I said that, not knowing she had any malice towards me. She then seized an axe. I ran behind some flour in sacks. I had five sacks of flour there at that time. She threw the axe at me and missed me as I stooped behind the flour, it struck underneath the window. A minute had not elapsed before she called out and said ‘ I don’t like you. Do you suppose I have liked you during the past three weeks?’ I said ‘ Who is the man whom you desire?’ She replied ‘ What is that to you?’ While all this passed, scarcely a minute elapsed. She then took hold of my shirt. I had no malice towards her. We lived peaceably with each other, at least I suppose so. As she laid hold of my shirt, which was hanging up, she put her other hand in her pocket and took out a letter, saying, ‘ This is what I like.’ She then put both hands to the shirt, and the letter fell. I ran and picked it up. Pare ran and laid hold of an axe, and said ‘Now, at this time, I do not like you.’ She struck me with the axe, and it went close to my head. I said ‘ Why are you thus striking at me with the axe?’ She replied ‘ Why do you want to have anything more to do with me. Why don’t you go to the diggings?’ I then stood about eleven feet from her. I laid hold of the axe, which laid beside the flour, and said ‘ Here, take back the axe,’ and I threw it toward her. Pare stood with my shirt in her hand. When I threw the axe toward her it struck her in the face- I did not throw it intending to stiike her. When I saw it had struck her, I thought I would go to the bush. I went about a mile distant, and there I stayed. At twelve o’clock on the following day I returned, and, after being five days at Kawatere, I was brought to Nelson.” Pepene was found guilty of the murder, and sentence of death was passed in the usual form. Joseph Ellis, charged with the wilful murder of Esau Russ, was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour for 10 years. Matilda Haslam, indicted for the murder of her infant child, was sentenced to imprisonment for one year. Seventy gold-diggers from Otago had come up, with the purpose of trying their luck at the Buller River, and me- % it was said, were about to follow. The Dun Mountain Railway was on the

point of being completed, The cost, it is said, would he about £2OOO per mile, to which the price of the rails must he added. Marlborough. —This fat and happy little Province has no news. Its proprietors are spending the Land Fand in improving the i property by building bridges here and there; j and they still seem to think it hard that the Colony would not make a railroad for them. Canterbury. —This Province labours under a financial plethora; there is so much money in the Treasury that the Government does not know what to do with it. £25,000 had been received for sales at the Land Office on a single day in the beginning of January, and further extensive purchases impend. The population being about 17,000 souls and the authorized expenditure for the year being nearly £200,000, it appears to be considered that the limit of absorption has been reached in that direction. Accordingly it has been determined, prudently, instead of selling railway debentures to use the surplus of revenue to cover the year’s expenditure on the railway works. On this subject the Times says, — The announcement conveyed in our columns of Saturday last that the Council had determined to accept I the suggestion of the Superintendent and devote a portion of the surplus revenue nowin hand to the purpose of withholding from circulation ihe first instalment of the Railway Loan, will be received by the great majority of the people of this province with sincere satisfaction. The mere fact that a settlement which barely acknowledges an existence of ten short years, and does not yet number an aggregate population of twenty thousand souls, has been enabled after a very recent period of severe depression, not only to find the means of satisfying past liabilities and make ample provision for the current wants of the financial year on an increased scale of expenditure, but to pay down fifty thousand, pounds towards the commencement of an important work, must convince the most prejudiced and unreflecting that it possesses innate resources greater than even the most sanguine have ever imagined.

Mr. Haast, the geologist, had made a “ minute examination” of the mountain ranges by which the coal fields at the Kowai are surrounded. “Tn exploring the sources of the Kowai, Mr. Haast found many signs of the unusual severity of last winter. For instance, at one place about 2690 feet above the sea, he saw the remains of an avalanche filling the valley, which, even at the end of December, was 500 feet long, 60 feet broad, and 12 feet to 16 feet high, under which the river was flowing in a cavern. That this avalanche had been of much greater size was clearly shewn by the utter destruction of the forest on both skies 28 to 30 feet above the bed of the river, the trees all along being uprooted or broken at the roots like so many reeds, though many were of giant bulk. In this romantic region Mr. Haast discovered valuable beds of iron ore, which one day will be of no little importance to this country. In. has been a common saying that New Zealand Flora is very poor in flowers, a glance over our plains and lower regions seems to prove its veracity; but looking over Mr. Haast’s botanical collections we arc covinced that our mountain Flora may successfully rival that of many parts of the globe reputed for the beauty and variety of their mountain vegetation. Mr. Haast’s next researches are directed to the discovery of gold, and we indulge in the hope that his-labours will be crowned with success.” The Kowai coal fields has fallen by a party “ fluke” into private hands. It was the desire of the Superintendent to reserve the site for the benefit of the public; the Provincial Council thinking they smelled a rat in this proceeding, and that a Government job lay beneath, “ relieved this property,” says the Times, “ from its state of reserve and literally threw it away for an old song.” The Coal Reserve was bought up by a member of the Council on the morning after this judicious vote had been taken. The Railway tunnel progresses. The Superintendent and several members of the Executive visited the railway works on Monday last, at the invitation of Mr. Richardson, to inspect the progress made. The whole party was conveyed in the first carriage which has hitherto run on the line, from the mouth of the tunnel to the face of the rock, a distance of a quarter of a mile. His Honor and friends were entertained at luncheon by Mr. Richardson after the inspection. Otago. —The Provincial Council having been recently prorogued, the political news is entirely confined to the result of the Town Board’s Election, the return of Messrs. Shaud, Cargill, Hulme, Switzer, and Kilgour. The fall in the AA r eekly Escort returns does not at any rate seem to have checked the disposition to speculate in town property. In the earlier part of last month (January), the ground lately covered by the old stores of Messrs. Young and McGlashan, said to be considerably less in extent than 4-acre, was sold for £9,260. The total number of persons arriving in Dunedin by sea, from Ist to 20th January, had been 3844; departures, 1134. Arrivals from ports in New Zealand, 230; departures from Dunedin to other ports in New Zealand, 358.

A portion of the Otago press is acting but unwisely in raising the question of the comparative merits of the two climates of Auckland and Otago. The subjoined letter, which has been received from an Auckland settler, in whose veracity and good faith the most perfect reliance may be placed, is, perhaps, more to the point. Writing from Otago, our correspondent says—- “ I have lived in both Sydney and Melbourne, and must say that, for many reasons, I prefer New Zealand, but certainly not this part of it, and shall leave it as soon as convenient. The climate is particularly trying to the Australian constitution, the winter and summer being alike made up of wind and rain. Yet people are coming in great numbers, 2000 having arrived from Victoria within the last two days, and report nearly all the vessels in Melbourne laid on for Otago. The amount of gold brought down by the escort is decreasing every week, and hundreds on the gold fields are not making ss. a-day. The Provincial Government appears to me to be a little too fast ; they are talking largely of separation, railways, telegraphs, &c., while the streets in the city ot Dunedin are almost impassable, and the road to the diggings most horrible, and the principal business wharf something like your Wynyard pier, in Official Bay. It is amusing to those who know so much better, to see the press of the place seriously trying to prove that more rain falls in Auckland than Otago I have been here upwards of six months, and during a season, I understand, of ordinary mildness, and would only say let those who write so ignorantly on this matter try the same length of time in Auckland, and they will be in no danger of ever again falling into the same absurdity of statement on this point. You may expect all the Auckland folk back within the next two months, and most of the Victorian diggers are only working out their claims, and returning to Melbourne as fast as they can.” The Daily Times of the 21st January, vouching for its authenticity, places the following news from the Waipori before its readers:— The Waipori gold field is progressing slowly. It has been reported that a party on the Lammerlaw Creek got 35 ozs. in a dishful of washdirt, scooped out of a crevice in the bed of the creek. Some claims yielded from 50 ozs, to 300 ozs. There are a good many doing pretty well in the creek, and some few in the blind gullies. The ground is very patchy, and the majority of the miners complain that they cannot make wages. Others complain that they can scarcely make “tucker.” Several have left, who stated that they could not make more than ss. per day. It is very difficult to collect authentic information from the miners generally. Those doing well do not wish it to be made known, and those making wages say that they are “making tucker.” There are others more fortunate who make about 15s„ a-day, and some perhaps make less who have not proper appliances. The river is proved beyond doubt to be auriferous for a distance of twenty miles, and perhaps more. There are about 400 miners camped along ; its banks, about 200 of whom are at work, and [doing pretty fairly. They one and all complain of the smallness of the claims allowed by the Act. Several would have set to work on the river, and procured

proper appliances, but they see no inducement to spend money and labour whilst the claims arc too small to repay the outlay. There arc about 2000 people here scattered in every direction. There are 40 stores, 4 bakeries, 2 butchers, rnd 2 doctors. Several storekeepers and miners are anxious to obtain business licenses. Nothing can exceed the peaceable character of the miners. On Thursday, the loth nit., the Escort came into Dunedin with 11,472 ounces, 15 dwts., of gold, of which, 8,867 ounces, 5 dwts., were from Tuapeka, and 2,612 ounces, 10 dwts., from AA r aitahuna. The Daily Times of the 18th contains the following account of the dangerous position from which the Ocean Chief was fortunately rescued by the Guiding Star steamer: — THE OCEAN- cm EE ASHORE AT Tilt BLUFF HARBOUR. The Guiding Star, which arrived yesterday from the Bluff, brings us information of the going ashore of the Ocean Chief on the 13th instant. The particulars are as follows:—The Black Ball clipper ship Ocean Chief lef Melbourne on the 2nd January, with 4,000 sheep for the Bluff Harbour, and arrived there on the evening of the 13th, with the loss of six sheep only. On entering the harbour, in charge of the pilot, with a scant wind and ebb tide, she was driven on shore close to Taenac Point, it blowing very had at the time from the westward. The Guiding Star, s.s., immediately got up steam and went to the assistance of the Ocean Chief, and having steamed alongside, ran away with a large “stream” anchor, and afterwards with a “ bower” anchor. The Guiding Star also rendered what further assistance she could, the wind still continuing to blow very hard, and about 11 o’clock on the morning of the 14th the Ocean Chief was got off, but not without considerable damage to the ship, for when the Guiding Star left the Bluff she was making four inches of water per hour. Wreck of the Genevieve. — On Friday night about ten o’clock the barque Genevieve from the Mauritius, with a full cargo of sugar and coffee, went ashore outside the Heads, close to the spot where the Revival was wrecked. Information of the disaster was on Saturday morning conveyed to Port Chalmers and Dunedin, and the steamers Sampson and Lady Barkley were immediately dispatched to render assistance and to lighten the ship, which was making a great deal of water. The Harbour Master also went down to see what could be done. By Saturday night she had eight feet of water in her, ami it became evident that she was a hopeless wreck. The efforts to save the cargo were perseveringly continued with the assistance of small craft, but by the latest account last night only about eighty tons had been saved. It appears that the captain of the Genevieve was attempting to enter the harbour without a pilot, and that he failed to strike the proper channel. There are rumours of different kinds as to the cause which led to the wreck, but wc refrain from publishing them, preferring to wait for definite and reliable information. —Daily Times, January 20. We have been very much surprised lately at observing a troop of men in handcuffs marched through the town almost every morning from the jetty to the jail. On making enquiry we were informed that they came from Port Chalmers, and that the majority of them were sent up for safe custody until the vessel to which they belonged was about to sail. We were very much surprised at this, as we remember that a considerable sum was voted by the council at the session before last for the purpose of getting the hulk Thomas and Henry fitted up as a floating gaol for the reception of this class of prisoners. Surely two months should be sufficient to do this, and thus put an end to the very expensive and inconvenient practice of sending them up to the already overcrowded jail in Dunedin. The large amount of gold taken away by individual miners affords the best evidence of the success that has attended all who have thoroughly exerted themselves. The various vessels that have recently sailed from Dunedin have taken a good number of successful diggers, the amount of gold owned by whom affords the best argument for their returning home. Some idea may be formed from the fact that the Alma has taken 940 ozs. of gold, owned by 29 passengers, the average being a trifle over 32 ozs. per man. AValking on the jetty yesterday evening, we were exceedingly glad to observe the landing of a new fire engine, which we believe lias been imported by Messrs. R. B. Martin Sc Co., the agents of the Northern Insurance Company. Although the engine is a very small one, scarcely as large, we think, as the one belonging ,to the Liverpool and London Company which did such good service at the late fire—it is satisfactory to know that some addition has been made to the very slight means of defence against fire possessed by this town . Ibid, Jan. il.