TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5561, 24 January 1879, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

(per press agency). Auckland, Thursday. At the Wesleyan Conference yesterday the following seven candidates for the ministry were accepted :—Messrs. J. Pinfold, W. Brooke, R. Hudson, C. Abernethy, W. Slade, F. Parkes, and L. Isitt. Mr. Olliver Dean’s offer was not accepted, on account of illhealth. The schooner Transit, from Oamaru, and the Albatross, from Wellington, arrived here this morning. The latter vessel made the run in 3 days 14 hours. An accident, which narrowly escaped a fatal termination, occurred during the launch of the schooner Madonna to-day. A line was passed to an adjoining schooner, and when the vessel went off the ways it was suddenly drawn taut. A lady spectator, standing in front of the rope, was caught by it and thrown several feet into the air, and thence overboard. Two men sprang to her assistance, but great difficulty was experienced in saving her, owing to the mass of floating wedges and beams. At the Wesleyan Conference yesterday the report of the committee appointed to allocate the balance of the deficit on Home Missions over the several districts of the colony was read and adopted. The allocation is as follows : Auckland district. £l3O, including £9O raised last night by special collection ; Taranaki and Wanganui, £6O ; Wellington, £75 ; Nelson, £35 ; Canterbury, £190; Otago, £SO; and by members of Conference, £l2O. The representatives undertook to raise the amount. It was resolved that the amended balance-sheet, with the resolution of the Allocation Committee, be adopted, thus beginning the year free of debt. The total income of the Home Mission Church Extension Fund for 1879 was estimated at £2050, but it was resolved that the claims should not exceed £2OOO in all.

The following appointments were made today :—F. D. Prime, financial secretary Home Mission Fund ; Rev. F. Buddie, general secretary, Executive Committee, same as last year, with the addition of R. Arthur and F. A. White; lay treasurer for the district of Wellington, J. Ralph. Rules : This fund was revised, and the following resolution passed -That the rules of. the Home Mission and Church Extension Fund be adopted as now amended. The question of church properties was next considered. Permission was given to sell fifteen sections of laud at Whiteby, Taranaki, proceeds to be reinvested in land ; to sell Thorndon parsonage, and the churches at Woolston and Heathcote, Canterbury, the proceeds to be reinvested in the purchase of more eligible sites; and the parsonage at Dunedin to be°sold in order that a more convenient buildinn’ may be secured ; also the old church site at Waikouaiti, on condition that a new site be purchased with the proceeds, and be settled on the model of a deed to the satisfaction of the president and ex-president. At an inquest held on the body of a child named Jones, who was drowned in a well, the jury returned a verdict of found drowned, and attached a rider censuring the owner of the property for his gross negligence. The crank pin for the mail steamer left Sydney on Tuesday by the Tararua. It will reach here on Monday next, and being in a rouf'h state will be turned by Fraser and Tinne. The steamer is expected to get away about ten or twelve days hence. At a meeting of the Waste Lands Board this afternoon it was stated that at the next land sale 17,871 acres, iu various districts, would be put up to auction. Foxton, Thursday.

The ship Hyderabad was floated yesterday afternoon, and hauled 150 ft. further to seaward. There is every probability now of her being got off. Mastebton, Thursday.

The Tait and Murtagh episode advanced another stage to-day. During Murtagh’s absence Tait and Falloon went and took possession of the premises, taming Mrs. Murtagh and child out; after which they nailed up the doors and windows. On leaving a drunken man called Tait a coward. Tait knocked him down, and both were taken in charge by the police. A large crowd witnessed the proceedings. New Plymouth, Thursday.

An embargo has been laid on the steamer Hannah Mokan, lying in the Waitara. Wetere, of Mokau, has come in to demand a hundred pounds, the price paid for his share in the vessel.

The weather ia very hot and dry. The farmers are cutting wheat. The bush is on fire in many places. A large fire on the Mountainroad has burnt several huts and piles of railway sleepers. Rain is much needed. If a wind springs up much damage will ensue. An albatross was found on the beach yesterday with a slip of muntz metal round its neck, bearing the following inscription ; —“ Ship Trebery, from Boston to Batavia, lat. 36deg. loruin. S., long. 62deg. Bmin. W. October 7th, 1878.” Mr. Outfield is dead. He came out as commissioner to the New Plymouth Company, and was in charge of their first expedition in March, 1811. He was formerly a naval architect, and was one of the oldest J.P.’s in the colony. Sir. Skinner, the surveyor, was ordered to Mokau, and had made every preparation for proceeding there. He himself said yesterday that after waiting some weeks he had received counter orders from the Surveyor-General to proceed to Stratford. The strengthening of the Opunake and Waihi garrisons is openly spoken of by the A.C.’s themselves, and corroborated by an Opunake correspondent and by the Carlyle correspondent of the Taranaki Herald. Christchurch, Thursday. In the case of Henderson v. Napier Harbor Board the jury gave a verdict for plaintiff for £6500. Mr. Macassey said that he would move to have the verdict entered for the defendant. It will be argued in banco tomorrow. Messrs. Hisoooks, Hayman, and Co. have purchased the remainder of Mr. Hoskins’s lease of the Theatre Royal. Great commiseration is felt for Mr. Conyers, who was highly popular in Christchurch. Oaharu, Thursday. The weather is beautifully fine. The harvest is becoming general; crops turn out much better than expected. Business in the grain market is at a standstill, and not likely to be moving till the new crop is in. The polling took place to-day on the proposal of the Municipal Council to borrow another forty thousand pounds to complete the waterworks for Oamaru, —two hundred and eightytwo votes for, and nine against. Dunedin, Thursday. A four-roomed cottage at Opoho, in the occupation of Carey, cab-owner, was destroyed by fire last night. The laying of pipes for carrying the watersupply from Silverstream is being proceeded with vigorously. A large number of men are now employed at this work. The first general meeting of the Dunedin Catholic Association was held last evening in the lower hall of the Athenamm. The president, Mr. J. P. Perrin, 8.A., occupied the chair. The report of the board of management, which was adapted, showed that the association has already over one hundred members. Office bearers were elected for the ensuing year. The special committee appointed to frame a 1 resolution re introduction of the Bible in schools, to-night reported as follows : —The Synod having its attention drawn to the subject of national education, resolves to avail itself of all constitutional means for moving Parliament to sanction the Lord’s Prayer and the reading of the Scriptures, under a timetable and conscience clause, in the school, and resolves that the Synod regrets the present tendency in certain quarters to destroy the national system of education by the introduction of denominational education. The Temperance Hotel at Saddle Hill was burnt down this morning. Gore, Thursday. ( Mr. Conyers passed a very restless night, but he is a shade better to-day, and is apparently regaining consciousness. The doctor reports that there is no fracture of the skull. At 7.30 p.m. Dr. Macaffer reports that very little change has taken place in Mr. Conyers ; but if anything, the symptoms still show further improvement, but not decided. He is still in a semi-conscious state. Invercargill, Thursday. _ ' The run from Christchurch to Gore in twelve hours, accomplished by the engine which brought Mrs. Conyers up, has been much talked of here. The Strathmore estate, Otautau, was offered at auction to-day by Mr. G. T. Martin Hall, mortgagee. The attendance was good but the bidding slack. It was put up at per acre, and withdrawn at £7 17s. 6d., the highest bid. The Mayor and Corporation of Dunedin, and some sixty visitors, took a trip by special train to Kingston, and spent a pleasant day. To-morrow the Mayor and Corporation of Dunedin are to entertain the Mayor and Corporation of Invercargill.