TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5667, 29 May 1879, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

(PER PRESS AGENCY.) New Plymouth, Wednesday. The English Opera Company have had a very successful season here. They leave for Nelson to morrow. Auckland, Wednesday. Considerable excitement was caused at Hamilton, Waikato, yesterday, owing to the disentombing of skeletons while axcivating the footpath., They were an adult and a child’s skeleton in complete preservation ; the adult lay in a species of coffin, over the little child. There were also found a mirror and numerous beads; the latter were in shape and have been taken care of.

At Cambridge, after the Native Lands Court opened, Te Ngakau wanted the'*kauhi block postponed. The Judge refused. To Ngakau then said he would not allow the Court to proceed, and threatened the Judge afterwards. The Court adjourned till 2 p.m. Meantime a meeting took place outside the Court, and after au adjournment for dinner, at 2 o'clock the Court opened, and the business proeee 'ed. Te Ngakau was in Court, very quiet aud orderly. The City .Council to-day resolved to take over the Mechanics’ Institute property, for the purpose of forming the nucleus of a Free Public Library. The Native Minister is still suffering from quinsy. He returns to Waikato to bring Chief Rewi to Auckland to meet the Governor. At the City Council to-day a ratepayer named George Stains entered his written protest against £SOO of the ratepayers’ money being voted towards : decorations, &0., for the Governor’s visit. Mr. Goldie proposed that the letter be received, and a solicitor’s opinion obtained as to whether the Council was acting illegally in voting the £6OO. Councillor Buchanan thought the money should be voted, and if action were taken against them, lie would willingly bear his proportion of the vote should it be saddled upon them. Other Councillors spoke in a similar strain. The motion lapsed. A young man named John Burke was arrested this afternoon for alleged breaking aud entering the counting house of Messrs. Collie, Soott, and Wilkinson, of Wanganui. He is stated to have stolen a tin box, with the cash-box and six £5 notes, eighty-six £1 notes, fifty-six half sovereigns, a cheque for £ls 13s. 4d., and £l2 4s. gold and silver. An inquest was held this afternoon on the body ot Samuel Kidaon, who died from a gnushot wound on his right arm. Evidence was given showing that Kidson had been shooting with a friend near Wangaroa. He grasped his rifle by the muzzle, the trigger caught in an exposed root, discharging the shot in deceased's arm. He leaves a wife and child. Napier, Wednesday. The charge of wife murder against McLennan was continued in the R.M. Court to-day, and again adjourned till to-morrew. The matter about the natives stopping the Napier-Kopua train turns out to have no political significance whatever, and to have originated ; in a squabble between a Maori chief named Hiraka Tohiua and a railway guard named Reese Watkins. Yesterday Tohiua was in the train aud was smoking in a carriage that was not one for smoking. Watkins asked him to desist several times, but he would not, and then Watkins turned him out of the carriage on to the platform, and it is stated that a good deal of violence was used. Tohiua, it appears, owns the land through which the line passes at Takapau, and it is said that though there have been negotiations for its purchase by the Government the money has not been paid. Tobiua seems therefore to have considered that he was merely exercising his rights as an owner, when yesterday afternoon he obstructed the passing of the train by placing not only sleepers across the rails, bat a wire fence right across the line. He asserted, however, that his purpose was not to prevent the running of the train, but merely to make it stop, while he searched for Watkins, whom he would have tomahawked if he could have caught him. These circumstances were not known until this morning after the train had gone, and then a telegram was sent up to Waipawa to stop Watkins from going any further. Tohiua .: was brought down to town and charged with the offence of obstructing the line. He was remanded until to-morrow, but was allowed to go at large under the surveillance of Mr. Master, the native interpreter, virtually in custody, though Tohiua does not know it. ■ Westport, Wednesday. An accident occurred this morning in Sullivan and party’s claim, Addison’s Flat. While washing the face of a claim they were opening out, the earth fell, and killed a man named Angelo Bouguhui-and injured F. Desonza. ■ , Christchurch, Wednesday. A prisoner named Amos James Tudball, undergoing sentence of four years for forgery, has been admitted to the hospital as a patient, with heart disease. The matter was discussed at the Charitable Aid Board 1 to-day, and a resolution was passed that a letter be sent to the chief gaoler informing, him. that there was Uf provision for the safe custody of prisoners at the hospital, and the committee could not be responsible for Amos James Tudball. It was suggested, that he might try to escape., ,/Xhe Church of ’ England Diocesan Synod resumed its sitting to-day. The business was the consideration in committee of an Act for consolidating'"the trusts and Church property in the diocese of Christchurch, and declaring purposes for which the several properties are held in trust/ 1

Tjmaeu, Xlmrsd.iT. A special meeting of the Harbor Board was held to-day to consider the question of getting a steam tug or launch for the harbor. Several witnesses were examined as to the practicability of the undertaking, the majority of whom thought a 15-horse power launch would be more useful than a 40-horse power tug. No conclusion was come to, and the meeting adjourned to Tuesday next, to take further evidence.

Commercial depression appears to be on the wane in this district. There was a splendid attendance at a sale of laud two miles and a a half from town. The biddings were very spirited, anil all the laud offered sold at an average of £SO per acre.