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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4165, 27 July 1874, Page 2

It is understood that tho Natives have expressed their willingness to withdraw all opposition to traffic over the Oroua bridge, and a message has been despatched to ascertain their disposition in regard to tho matter.

The s.s. Cyphrenes, Captain Wood, with the mail from San Francisco, arrived in the harbor of Wellington at one o'clock yesterday, after a run of twenty-four hours from the Spit. The mails were promptly delivered at the Post Office, and sorted and placed in the private boxes with great despatch. The Cyphrenes made no delay, starting again for Lyttelton and the South at half-past three o'clock p.m. She was not in good trim for a fast run down, being high out of the water forward, but as she would be favored with a light wind and a smooth sea, on the first half at least of the passage to Lyttelton, she will probably be reported there at an early hour this morning, and at Port Chalmers on Tuesday. She will leave that port on the same afternoon with the outward mail, and will sail hence on Thursday afternoon for Fiji—punctually to time. She will there transfer her mails and passengers to the Mikado, which will go on to Sydney. The Mikado, we notice, was thirty-three days and thirteen hours on her voyage from San Francisco to Sydney, her schedule time having been exceeded by a few days. Mr. J. H. Wallace will sell at his mart to-day the wreck of the paddle steamer Paterson, which now lies in the Waitara river. The wreck sale includes boats, anchors, fittings, &c. The cabin, furniture, linen, &c, will also be sold to-day, at Waitara. The sale of the wreck, of which full particulars appear in our advertising columns, takes place at noon. Another meeting of the New Zealand SteamShipping Company was held on Saturday afternoon. The protest against the sale of the Company's steamers lapsed; and the sale of the vessels will, therefore, proceed as advertised. " A Waif of the Streets" was repeated at the Theatre Royal, on Saturday evening, to a very good house. There is no question as to the talent the company possesses, or aB to the really clever performance of Miss Towers; and the season, therefore, is likely to be a successful one. To-night, a dramatised version of Mr. Farjeon's well-known story, "Grif," will be produced. The story is a powerful and affecting one, and the members of the company are all fitted with excellent parts. There will, from the popularity of the story, be an excellent house, we have no doubt. A fatal accident occurred on Saturday at Taita to a man named Dennis Ryan. It appears that on the morning in question Ryan had been to the house of a man named Milne for a load of potatoes, in returning with which he got the"SMray into a side drain, but was helped out of the difficulty by one of Mr. Liverton's men, of Taita, when he proceeded on his journey. A short time afterwards he was found by some one going down the Naini, with the cart wheel on his back, quite dead, the wheel having evidently passed over his neck. His body was conveyed to Whitewood's Hotel, at the Hutt, where an inquest will be held at noon to-day. A communication has been received by a firm in Wellington from a Mr. William Small, of 29, Nelson Street, Rochdale Road, Manchester, who desires to obtain information of the whereabouts of his brother Patrick Small, who left Melbourne for Wellington nine or ten years ago. The " missing friend " was formerly in the army, and any information concerning him will be thankfully received at the above address. New Zealand, it would appear, may have something to do with what one of the Melbourne daily newspapers calls "the current mystery." "Up till last night," says the Daily Telegraph of the 3rd inst., "nothing whatever had been heard concerning Miss Pettett, who disappeared from East Melbourne on the night of the 27th May. It has been ascertained that within a day or two of the time she disappeared, a gentlemanly-looking young man and a young lady answering her description left Sandridge by steamer either for New Zealand or Sydney, but there appears to have been a want of smartness in looking after such travellers. The couple in question had no luggage with them, and the gentleman left his companion in the drawiug-rooni of an hotel while he went on board the steamer to engage their passages. This is the only trail which has been struck of her disappearance, and vague and almost imperceptible as it is, it is the best which can be produced, and does not of course do away with the possibility of the young lady being still in Victoria." A "stowaway" from New Zealand has got himself into trouble in Melbourne in consequence of the free and easy way in which he took passage for himself. A Melbourne journal says about it as follows : —" A young fellow named George Williams has been charged at the City Court with stowing himself away on board the Tararua, and fined 40s. for the offence. The captain of the vessel stated that, some time after leaving New Zealand, he found the prisoner, who had stowed himself away, and sailed without paying his passage. The captain said he had fed the man, but that he did no work. The prisoner denied eating much, and pleaded that he stowed away because he wanted to join his friends in Melbourne, and that if the Bench would let him go there was but little doubt he could procure the passage-money." We regret to observe that the Chief Secretary of Victoria (Mr. Francis) has suffered a relapse, and at the latest dates was unable to occupy his place in Parliament. He had sustained an attack of pleurisy, and ventured out too soon, with the usual unpleasant and possibly dangerous consequences. Tho capitalists of Victoria, we sec from our Melbourne exchanges, take an interest in a new company, the scene of the operations of which will be Golden Bay, in the Province of Nelson. The company is called the Pakawhau and Victorian Coal and Pier Company. The capital is proposed to be £30,000 in shares of one pound each. The company appears to have had its origin chiefly in Ballarat, but there is one widely-known name in the list of the provisional directors—that of Mr. George Coppin. The mine to be worked is described as being situate on the Pakawhau Gorge, not moi-e than a mile and a half from the sea, and the prospectors and promoters have secured a lease of 775 acres of a coalfield, besides the exclusive right to a water frontage iu Golden Bay. Tho ceremony of installing the Worshipful Master and Officers of the Greymouth Masonic Lodge, 1233, E.C., took place on Thursday week, and was performed by His Honor Judge Harvey, who is tho Deputy District Grand Master for Westland. The most singular feature in the ceremon3' consisted in the fact that tho Rev. G. T. N. Watkins, Church of England Minister for Greymouth, was the chosen Master of the Lodge. Clergymen are, of course, frequently chaplains of lodges, but we have not heard of one before occupying the master's chair. Another Nelson company—the Perseverance —has been obliged to put its plant into the market. Witli the mine which it possesses at Collingwood, the company's interest has been sold for the apparently insignificant sum of £7OG. The West Coast Times hears, on reliable authority, that it is the intention of the Colonial Bank of New Zealand to open a branch in Hokitika directly after the head office is open in Dunedin. The large number of shares already taken up in this district has doubtless caused the directors to decide on this step. During tho of a case in the District Court yesterday, says the Ilccfton Courier of the 7th inst., ono of the gentlemen of the long robe made anything but a complimentary reference to the quality of : the spirits dispensed by tho Peri of our up-country bars. He stigmatises the liquor vended as nothing less than poison, and strengthened his denouncement by saying that men were frequently urged to suicide through its noxious influence upon their minds. His Honor, later on, also joined issue, and expressed himself in somewhat similar terms. Tho opinion of lawyers upon such a subject is not to be despised, for they are generally understood to be good judges of liquor, as well as of law. There can be no question that the evil referred to, is one of tho greatest which ramifies our Bocial system, and annually casta a greater burden upon our charitable institutions than perhaps any other with which tto are brought into daily contact,

A rumor comes from California that Mr. Fechter, the well-known tragedian, will follow Mr. Sothern on a professional visit to the Australasian Colonies. It is also given as something like a certainty that the actress whom the late Walter Montgomery made his wife will carry out her intention of visiting these Colonies. The death of Mr. B. Keesing, eldest son of Mr H. Keesing, of Auckland, is reported by the San Francisco correspondent of the iVcie Zealand Herald. He left Auckland for California at the time of the first rush, and is said to have amassed a large fortune. The " vastnes3 of the trade of Auckland" is illustrated by the Herald quoting the fact, that there were recently alongside the various jetties twenty-two vessels, including eight ships and barques. There were also ten steamers of all sines, including the mail steamer Cyphrenes. In the stream, there were lying five vessels of large tonnage, and one steamer (auxiliary). On the stocks there were six vessels, some of them of large dimensions, and there was a large fleet of small craft • —not easily counted. There are fresh items of favorable news from the Lyell. The local paper of a late date says : —" Again have the shareholders of the Break o' Day Company cause to congratulate themselves on their most remarkable good fortune. On Wednesday last, while excavating at the mouth of the tunnel at No. 4 level, a leader was met with which was from four to five inches in thickness, and contained very good gold. Some specimens which were taken from it haphazard contained a number of large coarse specs. At the face of No. 4 level the leader is now four inches thick, and contains splendid gold. If this property were only situated anywhere else than at Lyell, there can be no doubt but that the shares would be selling at two or three times their present value." Au old New Zealand celebrity, now resident in San Francisco, is thus spoken of by one of the journals of that city :—W. Shaw, newspaper proprietor, formerly of the Thames, has patented an improved type. The improvement consists in the ease with which the type can be drawn out of the matter without injury in correcting. He has also patented an improved bodkin. Great complaints are being made in San Francisco of the management there of the Australian mail steamers. We observe that Mr. Hawks, of the firm of J. C. Merrell and Co., of that City, is in Europe, endeavoring to make some change in the management of the company's manner of handling the steamers. "It is stated,'.'ays the same journal, that under the present state of affairs, the managers here have no control whatever over the steamers or the attachees, and it is with the greatest difficulty that affairs can be properly managed here during the vessels' stay at this port.''