THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 201, 5 July 1864, Page 3

THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES.

Yesterday morning the s.s. ' Airedale' arrived in the Manukau, and Mr. Brewer, Collector of Her Majesty's Customs at thatport, immediately brought: on to Auckland the mail, which consisted of two boxes, two i parcels of loose letters, ten bags* and two packages. Several boxes of specie also arrived from the South. Money however is too plentiful in Auckland to be of much' value. From Taranaki there is but little news of interest, and that will be found-in the letters of our own correspondent. By the following resolutions passed in the Wellington Provincial Council, it would seem that the people of that Province have more money than wit: — " 1. That in the opinion of this Council the cordial acknowledgements of this Province are due to the Provincial Government and Council at Canterbury, for t he liberal action they have taken respecting the Panama Contract. " 2. That, t.liis Council pledges itself to undertake, if necessary, the burthen of providing for the moiety of such a sum as may bo payable, in the said contract, in excess of tlie amount already sanctioned by the

General Assembly, sucli moiety not to exceed £15,000. ■ , • "3. That copies of these resolutions be ■ transmitted through the usual channels to Hio Honor the Superintendent of Canterbury, and the Hon. the Speaker of the Provincial Council of that Province." A petition signed by one hundred and seven persons iu the district of Kangatiki has ber>Ji forwarded to His Excellency, praying that the verdict recorded against Trieker, convicted of the murder 'of Mr. llayner, may he sot aside, the petitioners knowing the nature of the country near the scene of the murder, and feeling that it could not be within the hound of possibility that Trieker could have been at the scene of the murder at the time that it was committed. Tins evidence of the balf-caste boy 011 the two several occasions on which he was examined was flatly contradictory. 'Whatever may be the result of the petition it does seem something very like murder to hang a man on such evidence, and between hauging and acquittal there is no middle course. Trieker is either entirely innocent, or guilty of death. It is amusing to find every little broad sheet to the South, no matter how small its preleusious declaring ex cathedra, that there will shortly be a session of the. General Assembly. Most of the Southern journals, large and small, are speculating on this point, urged, thereto by the articles which appeared in the Press, a sort of piece of haphazard guess work, which happened, to have just enough of truth iu it to lead 'them all into error. From Nelson we learn that the Bishop of that Diocese has resigned. Bishop Hobhouse's reason for taking this step is the failure of his health. We clip the following from the Nelson Examiner of the 2nd instant, from the correspondent of that paper at the Wakamarina diggings:— " A party of miners have flumed a portion of the river near Deep Creek, an undertaking ivliich cost them three -necks' labour ; and, upon trashing down their first small paddock, they realised 36 ozs., this shows what may be done by perseverance and energy combined. I have heard to-day of a rush beyond Deep Creek, on which there are about two hundred men at work ; X have not heard the full particulars, but I believe it is a tint convenient to the river, aud the sinking' not very deep. ■Some parties here are making splendid wages, and I believe so far from the river being worked out, that there is more gold between this arid the Deep Creek than has been taken out up to this time. There is a class of men who come here, go a little way up the river, roam about for a day or two, instead of trying the ground for themselves, ask questions, nnd, if the replies are not satisfactory, leave grumbling, and call the diggings, in diggers' parlance, a " shieer." I know one instanco of a miner from Otago, who, instead of asking questions, commenced to work, aud obtained in one day, 1 oz., 6 grs., by ■ himself, in a small branch creek flowing into the Wakamarina. The deep sinking is progressing slowly, the men have not yet bottomed." From Canterbury there is no news. From the Daily Times we learn that another fire has occurred in Dunedin, on the 24th. From the Times of the 25th, we take the following -. — "We have had another serious lire. It occurred last night, in George-street and Moray Place ; and it resulted in the destruction of half-a-dozen shops, a workshop and two dwelling houses. There was once more the Providential circumstance that there was scarcely a breath of wind blowing; and there was again the very unprovidential circumstance that little or no water was to be had. Will this fire, added to the eight per cent, guarantee of the Government, lead to the absolute formation of a Water Company ? The fire commenced in Moray Place, in the first houso from the comer of George-street. The house was occupied by ilrs. Meiklejolm, dressmaker; and the furious ringing of the alarm bell, about twenty minutes be I ore ton o'clock, unmistf.keably announced the lierceness with which the flames had burst forth." A new gold district has been discovered on the West Coast, full particulars of which must be deferred till our next issue." The Otago Daily Times of the 25th contains the following nervous piece of writing : — " Death in the pot. Two hundred tons of. partly decomposed flour to add to present mortality of unfortunate Dunedin." A short time since we noticed that the General Government, to save tl»e credit of the colony, had agreed to assist Southland in the carrying on of her railways. AVe now learn from the Southland Times of the 18th ult., the exteut of the aid afl'orded:— '■ His Honor the Superintendent has returned from Auckland, having obtained lor us all wc anticipated ; ' i(ll which, under the circumstances, we could well have expected the General Government would do. We understand this amounts to instructions to tno Sub-Treasurer to pay over to the Provincial Government illo,ooo per month lor three months, to complete the railway works. By tliis, we presume, is meant the opening of the Northern Railway, as far as the Makarewu, at once —possibly further; and continuing the works on the Bluff and Invereargill Line, so far as to prevent their destruction from weather and other causes," pending the time when we shall have sufficient l'mids to complete it. This accommodation is accompanied with the instruction, which we have previously stated would be the case, viz., to impress our Land Revenue."