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New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6148, 1 August 1881, Page 5

We understand (says the Taranaki Herald) that a legal opinion has been received from Auckland with reference to the voting in conncction with the passing of the gas rate at the last meeting of the Borough Council. The opinion is to the effect that two of the members who voted on the question are liable to the penalties contained in the Act; but the gas rate is not thereby invalidated. It is expected that the matter will come before the Borough Council.

The stateroom of Mr. Cromarty, chief officer of the s.s. Wakatipu, was lately broken into, and his portmanteau, with a quantity of clothes and some £22 iu notes, stolen. At present there is no clue to the thief, although the police ate making active inquiries in the matter. From all we can learn, tho locks of all the rooms and offices of the Wakatipu are of one pattern, and can easily be opened by the key of any one of them. This should be remedied, as keys arc easily lost, and ordinary locks under these circumstances are of little use.

The Rangitikei Advocate says the most beneficial results are following tlic work of the West Coast Commission. Before the commission began its labours the auction yards were flooded with the stock of people who were eager to desert the district. Now the settlement is progressing with extraordinary rapidity. Hawera has a population of nearly 1000, and there is a corresponding increase in all the townships. Sheep sell readily for 9s a head where Gs a head used with difficulty to bo obtained.

The . Lyttelton graving dock is being pushed on as rapidly as possible. The boilers, engines, and putnps for this dock, and valves for the culverts have been landed from the Merope, and delivered on the works. The work at the dock has been re. tarded by the weather to a considerable extent, but still the contractors have made a good show with the excavation at the eastern end. The invert at the entrance is fast approaching completion, and is a splendid piece of masonry. The side walls at the entrance are also in a forward state, The caisson was tc be delivered in London last month, and is probably shipped by this time, so that everything in connection with the works is in a most satisfactory state.

. Mr. Morris, the manager of the National Bank, Tauranga, has received a letter threatening him, as follows ; —"Mr. Morris, I am watching you very closely, and if yoa don't look out. I shall split on you about how you managed to stick the bank in Canada. You scoundlr I shan't keep your secrat any, longer, you had better let Barfield case drop or ——• I will shoot you in your "bed (sic). You white .Get ." [The remainder of the signature is illegible]. Barfield was the mnn who gave warning respecting the! attempt to rob the Nation*! Bank.