TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4227, 7 October 1874, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

[Press Telegraph Agency.] Otaki, Tuesday. The coach to Wellington is detained here, ■ owing to a heavy flood in the Otaki River. Major Atkinson has proceeded to Wellington on horseback. Grahajistown, Tuesday. An inquest has been held on the body of a bushman named John Drew, who died suddenly yesterday. A verdict of death from natural causes was returned. Caledonians are down to £5 155., the result, it is supposed, of the proposition to re-model the company, and increase the shares and capital. Auckland, Tuesday. In the Supreme Court to-day, at the Criminal Sitl ings, Charles Blake was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for having knocked down and robbed a man in Symonds Street. A gentleman is in correspondence with Sydney with the view of inducing a cricketing team to come over. The schooner Christina was offered for sale to-day, and passed in at auction at £1240. Lyell, Tuesday. The Excelsior Company have struck the reef in their low level tunnel. The stone shows very good gold, but the thickness of the reef has not yet been ascertained. Reefton, Tuesday. A large public meeting was held yesterday evening, for the purpose of urging upon the Provincial Government the necessity of repairing and maintaining the Greymouth road, and purchasing Dalton's suspension bridge. Great indignation was shown by the speakers at the neglect of the district by the Government. Resolutions in support of the special object of the meeting were carried unanimously. The following special resolution was carried unanimously and enthusiastically : " That the Inangahua District Revenue Board possesses the entire confidence of the electors, who completely approve of their management of affairs." Some of the waggons which arrived yesterday were capsized in ruts on the road, and the drivers are contemplating withdrawing from the road.

Golden stone has been struck in the Argyle claim, Larry's Creek. The Herald this morning publishes a private letter from the South African diamond field, deprecating any rush to the Transvaal goldfields. Dunedin, Tuesday. The Criminal Sessions included eight cases for trial. True hills were found in all cases but one. Sydney George Alexander, known as "the military captain," charged with false pretences, was acquitted on the first charge. Chiustciiuhcii, Tuesday. The statistics from the Registrar-General, showing the comparative healthiness of various Municipalities of the Colony, and which place Christchurch in an unfavorable position, have excited much attention. At a meeting of the City Council last night, it was decided to inform the Registrar-General that the hospital is in the city, and that it receives patients from all parts of the Province, consequently all deaths there should not be included in the Christchurch returns. A report from Dr. Powell on the statistics was read. . This states that the high per centage of the death-rate for the past three months was casual, and not in any degree attributable to the sanitary condition of the city. The deaths were principally among very young children, and were due to the very changeable nature of the weather. It pointed out the fallacious nature of per eentage returns, as registered in Binall communities, extending over a short period of time, as such returnßwero largely influenced by casual circumstances; and stated that the death-rate of 1873, in proportion to births, was 20 per cent, less thaa in 18G4 and 1869.