TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4295, 25 December 1874, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

[Press Telegraph Agency,] Auckland, Thursday. A body was found to-day on the Eangitoto rooks. It was much decomposed. The word Taranaki was tattooed on tho back. It is believed to bo that of a Maori. The Resident Magistrate dismissed a charge brought under the barmaid clause of the Licensing Act, on the ground that the barmaid said she staved after eleven o’clock voluntarily, and was not kept by the landlord, or under his control. He said that, after examining the definition of tho word “employ,” ho was satisfied, from tho absurdity of the clause, that the drafter of it never intended to secure a conviction under it. In a number of cases of resistance to the education rate, to defend which a public subscription was raised, they were settled by payment in court. .Counsel for the defendant advised his clients that the only possible way to dispute tho validity of the Act under which the rate was levied was to take it to the Appeal Court. 5 p.m. The body found at Eangitoto has been identified as that of the cook of the steamer Lalla Bookli, who fell overboard lately.

Alexandra, Thursday. At the Amumutu races good sport is expected. There are plenty of entries for every event. Tawhiao’s eldest son and party arrived at Kaipaha this morning to spend Christmas here. They attend the races. Grahamstown, Thursday. The Manukau has cleared up with a splendid yield of 982 ounces. The Advertiser, in its summary, gives the gold returns for the month as 10,153 ounces; an increase on the previous month of 1182 ounces. Sir Donald McLean leaves hero to-day, returning in a week or two. The Queen of Beauty lodged more gold, and the whole was melted this morning, giving 1481 oz. 9 dwts. as the result of crushing fo r little over a fortnight. Poet Chalmers, Thursday. The Corporation has resolved to accept Pierce’s tender for the waterworks, at £7500, on condition that the debentures are sold. Dunedin, Thursday. His Honor the Superintendent turned the first sod of the Portobello and Ocean Beach railway yesterday, and expressed a hope that the example set by the company would be followed in other parts of the province, and that the public would rely more upon themselves and less upon the Government for the construction of their light railways. The entire line is to cost £60,000.