Telegraphic News.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 214, 16 October 1875, Page 9

Telegraphic News.

Auckland, Monday, October 11. The South British Insurance Company hold their meeting this afternoon. The report shows £12,500, equal to 6s. Bd. per share to capital, making £62,500 (sic). They carry forward £10,300, and pay a dividend of 10 per cent, on £62,500. The gross premiums are worth £50,409, being an increase of £12,460 on the corresponding period of last year. The net premiums are £41,139, the losses £26,431, and invested funds £57,526. The South British Insurance Company’s report was adopted, and directors re-elected. The honorarium was increased to £7OO a year. Wednesday. The Emu has arrived from Fiji. The schooner Dauntless, which was stranded on a reef, has been towed in, and will be repaired immediately. The company of Royal Engineers, under the command of Colonel Pratt, arrived at Levuka per the Egmont. Lady Gordon and family arrived in the same vessel. At a public meeting held at Levuka an address of condolence was adopted, to be sent to Mrs. Goodenough. His Excellency presided at the meeting. It is proposed to erect a monument to the memory of Commodore Goodenough at Waitova, one of his favorite resorts. The late order in council is supposed to apply to two native chiefs. The whites regard it as a good measure. The Royal Engineers started surveying a township soon after arrival. The site of the capital is not yet decided on. It is nearly certain that Levuka will be chosen.

A large market place for the natives is to be erected for Totoga.

There is every prospect of a sugar-mill being erected at Dreketi shortly.

Fireclay from Suva was favorably tested by Potter and Co. The October sessions were to commence on the 4th. The principal case is Armstrong v. Joske, to recover £2OOO damages for breach of contract.

A female immigrant, just landed at Auckland from the British Empire, was sent to the lunatic asylum to-day. She had been insane before she left England, and again broke out during the voyage. Grahamstown, Friday, October 8. Ihe stoppage of the Bright Smile pump has not yet seriously affected adjoining mines. Owing to recent demands upon the resources of the Thames hospital, the income has been found to be insufficient. A special effort is being made to augment the income. There is little doing in the share market. Mining generally is rather depressed. Saturday. Litigation is impending between two of the local bodies. The Parawai Highway Board have put a valuation of £BOO on the borough water supply, reservoir, and water pipes. The borough objects. Parawai has also rated a piece land purchased by the Government for a general cemetery, the valuation being £9O. An appeal will probably be made to the R.M. Court. There is every indication of a strong gale. The barometer at eight o’clock this morning was down to 29'00. At the same time yesterday morning it was 30’04. Since three o’clock yesterday 2g inches rain fell. The temperature has been high, with a heavy murky atmosphere. The Cure Company realised 79ozs. of gold for the month’s crushing. Monday. The low level of the City of London mine is flooded. All hands are dismissed. The manager lias proceeded to Auckland to see about drainage.

Alexandra, Friday, October S. A few canoe loads of produce have come down this week. Yesterday a large canoe, loaded with wheat, was caught in a gale at Kopua and capsized. Very "little of the load has been recovered. Several tons of flour have gone up to Hikurangi for Tawhiao’s meeting.

A large and influential meeting was held here to-day to consider the Representation Bill. A resolution was unanimously carried that a petition be forwarded to the House, praying it to grant an additional member for Waikato. The petition is now being signed. Tuesday. Tawhiao and party are all off to a large feast at Petetere. On its conclusion all will return to the Hikurangi feast. It is reported that Sir George Grey will come to meet Tawhiao at Hikurangi shortly. Ihere is a fresh in the river, and the natives continue to bring down produce in their canoes.

Thursday. There was a great rush here to-day from Te Kuiti. No fewer than thirty-eight canoes are now at the beach with large cargoes of wheat and maize.

Gisborne, Saturday, October 9. On Saturday the fiercest storm within the recollection of the oldest inhabitants passed over Gisborne. Buildings were unroofed, and in some cases blown to the ground. Scarcely a soul ventured out in the streets during the day. A cutter which was moored to a high tree on the river bank tore it up by the roots. Other casualties are reported. Fences are lying flat on the ground in all directions. A number of drowned cattle, sheep, and pigs were floating down the river Paora. Pukerakuka, a native, in trying to rescue his horse during the heavy fresh, was nearly drowned.

A Maori who was recently imprisoned for biting two fingers off the hand of the arresting constable, and swallowing the same, has escaped from the lock-up across the river. The police are trying to hunt him down. A pugilistic prize fight in European style came off between Parle Prou and L. Hia, a notorious Chinaman lately imported, near Mungatu, for £25 aside. The Chinaman was conquered, ancl has since left the district. Thursday. At a dinner given by the Celtic Club at Ormond about 500 people were present. Fifteen waggons left Gisborne for the scene, and on the way one upset, breaking the legs of two of the passengers, who were brought to town immediately, and placed under the care of Dr. Gold. Ihe pi’ize-fight between Paul Prou, a thorough Hauhau, and a Chinaman, occurred through the Celestial proposing the health of the Chinese people. The Chinaman was frightfully punished. A war dance took place afterwards, at which about fifty natives took part.

Hamilton, Tuesday, October 12. The Waikato Times, although a supporter of the Government, severely handles the Representation Bill, and lias called upon every settlement throughout the district to oppose it. Tourists for Oliinemutu are arriving daily, many preferring this route to that via Tauranga.

Napier, Friday, October 8. The spelling bee last evening was pecuniarily, successful. £l7 was taken at the door. 350 persons were present, but it did not afford much amusement, as few candidates came forward.

New Plymouth, Thursday, October 14. The Waitara and New Plymouth railway was opened to-day. Miss Carrington christened the engine “ The Fox.” The first train started at 9.15, taking about a hundred people. Onits arrival at the Waitara the Deputy-Superin-tendent declared the railway open, and in his speech spoke eloquently on the benefits to be derived from the public works policy of Sir Julius Vogel. The train then took the party

back to town. To-day was proclaimed a public holiday, and trains ran free during the day. The first free train took 400 people to the Waitara. The Brogdens give a ball this evening, to which a large number of persons are invited. All the public offices were closed except the post and telegraph offices. Nelson, Tuesday, October 12. A serious accident occurred yesterday on the railway to a man named McMurray, who, in attempting to use the break, lost his footing and fell, the train passing over his leg, and cutting it off. He is now in a very precarious condition. Ihomas Askew, an old settler, was drowned at Croixolles by a boat upsetting. Greymouth, Saturday, October 9. The result of the crushing of the Energetic Quartz Mining Company at Inangaliua, from the 16th of August to the 14th of October, is 7670z5. 12dwts. of melted gold, from 893 tons of stone, len additional head stampers are oidered for the battery, and will be erected within a month. A dividend of ss. per sixthousandth share has been declared.

Christchurch, Friday, October 8. In the Supreme Court, C. W. Worgel, late steward of the Canterbury Club, for embezzlement, on three charges, got three years on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently. This concluded the business of the criminal sessions.

At a meeting of the Philosophical Institute last night it was announced that a statement of the case at issue between Dr. Haast and the Governors of the New Zealand Institute had been forwarded to the Royal Society. .At the Supreme Court, W. Jackson, charged with sheep-stealing, was found not guilty. ° At Waimate early this morning Merry’s store took fire, and was burned to the ground in a short time. Insured in Standard for £BOO. The loss is nearly covered.

Tuesday. John Williams, arraigned at the last session of the Supreme Court for obtaining 1200 cornsacks from a Christchurch merchant by false pretences, but discharged on a technicality, has been re-arrested on a charge of obtaining sacks at Ballarat, Victoria, by false pretences. It seems, that Detective Feist suspected Williams of being a Victorian offender, and while Williams was awaiting trial, Feist communicated with the Victorian authorities, and his suspicions proved correct. A warrant was received from Victoria last steamer, and Williams was at once arrested.

A court of the Ancient Order of Druids is to be established here.

Wednesday. Judge Johnston has given judgment in the case Morrison and others v. Southland Waste Lands Board, which was argued before him at Dunedin. Judgment is as follows :—I am of opinion that the proclamation of July 11 was valid as regards runs under licenses issued in pursuance of the Southland Waste Lands Act. 1865 ; and secondly, that such lands are legally liable, by virtue of the Southland Waste Lands Act Amendment Act, 1874, to be set aside for sale on deferred payments under the Act of 1872 ; and thirdly, that they are liable to be sold or otherwise dealt with according to the provision of that Act.

Thursday. Reports submitted at the annual school meeting just held, show a widespread and very strong dissatisfaction at the management of educational matters by the present Minister for Education, and there is a general desire to see the Board of Education reinstated.

Dunedin, Wednesday, October 13. Judge Williams delivered judgment this morning re the Princes-street widening case. His Honor found that the Corporation had no power to delegate to a third party, and granted the injunction applied for by the SolicitorGeneral. Thus the awards are for the present set aside, but the matter will be taken to the Court of Appeal. Some strange facts have come out in connection with the matter. The tenants had looked upon the affair as all but settled, and two families were awaiting payment of the award to go Home. Another tenant had given a party who had leased the premises included in the proposed widening £3OO to cancel the lease. At a meeting of the City Council last evening, the lighting committee recommended in their report that the Council should offer Hankey £43,500 for the purchase of the gas works, and if he refuse, the Council should erect new works. The Palmerston Times, a new weekly, appeared this morning. Thursday, A serious accident occurred at the Dunedin railway station this afternoon. One of the railway porters named Andrew Drake was en S a S cc i at the goods shed assisting to discharge goods into the delivery drays, when a box, weighing about half a ton, which Drake had on a truck, overbalanced, and fell back on him. The box struck him on the leg and broke it. A meeting of the Guardian shareholders was held yesterday. It was resolved that a further call of £1 per share should bo made, which would produce £3OOO, and make the amount per share called up £4 10s. on £5 shares. The shareholders expressed their approval at the literary improvement in the paper, and considered its position on the whole satisfactory. The balance-sheet shows a loss for the year of £I7OO, and outstanding debts due to the company over £3OOO, A large and influential meeting of the Guardian shareholders was hold in the lower hall of the Athemeum yesterday, when it was unanimously resolved that a further call of £1 per share be made, amounting altogether to £3OOO. The explanation made was that, in order to raise the tone of the paper it was necessary to make some outlay, and that when the price of the paper . was raised a penny few if any subscribers had left, while the increase of

revenue would be considerable. The statement was received by the shareholders as a satisfactory explanation of the loss last year. Ihe shareholders expressed their approval at the literary improvement in the paper, and considered its position on the whole satisfacfactory.

Invercargill, Monday, October 11. Ihe Local Board of Health met to-day to consider two undoubted cases of scarlet fever; one in a private house, and the other at the immigration barracks. A committee was appointed to look for a suitable place to isolate the cases. The Board meets again this evening to receive report. m, -r , , Thursday. The Local Board of Health met to-day to consider a letter from one of the medical men, to the effect that six children in one family were suffering from scarlet fever. The family m question number fourteen, and occupy a house near a quantity of stagnant water. Ihe board resolved to cleanse and quarantine the house and take other precautions. The case of scarlet fever formerly reported is progressing favorably.