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Otago Daily Times, Issue 848, 9 September 1864, Page 4

By the Gothenburg we have our Melbourne files to the 31st ult. The Victorian Parliament was prorogued on the 25th, and th^ Legislative Assembly dissolved. The writs for the new Assembly are made returnable for the 7th November.

The police sheet, yesterday, contained no entry of importance, except a charge of fraudulent appropriation preferred against a Mr John Jones, described as a forwarding: agent in this town. The information, which was laid under the Fraudulent Trnstees Act r was quashed through informality, and the accused discharged. He was, however,, shortly after re-arrested. We hare been requested to state that the information was not drawn by the Clerk of the Bench, but by a solicitor.

A meeting of the Ladies* Bazaar Committea will be held at the office of the Otaga Benevolent Institution, on Saturday, 10th. instant, at half-past two p.m.

Kuron races were run on the sth September last. In lieu of cups, plate, or purses,, two ploughs were offered as prizes. The- first race was won by Mr Neil M'Kay's b. g\. Stockman, riden by the owner, three horses having started. For the second race- eight horses started. The contest was to be decided in three heats, and was easily woa by Mr It. Evans' b. g. Jack.

The Southern Cross says : —" The use of the knife, in the adjustment of quarrels, Is becoming common in Auckland, This fact we cannot but deplore. It is an indication of a lowering of the tone of manly ieeling -which leads us to indulge in unfavorable foreboding* for the future. We cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that this exhibition of lerocious and demoralised habits, on slight provocation, has but recently manifested itself amongst us. It is a ' new chum,' so to speak, and one of the wor3t favored of the many strange characters with which -war and immigration ha?e made us familiar."

The following paragraph, extracted imm. the Nelson Examiner^ will doubtless proveinteresting to our sporting readers :—« The list of mares entered for the Nelson Trial Stakes for 1868, nambevs twenty-three, whick may be considered a satisfactory number, and shows that the feelrag among our sportsmen.

=to uphold the Nelson Race Meeting has in no vr&y diminished. Of the sires, Towton has as might have been expected, the largest number of mares, namely, nine ; Oliver Cromwell is debited with six ; Golden Grape and Risk have six divided between them ; while Potentate and Bay Middleton have each one,. But few of the mares, we understand, are likely to prove barren ; and of this small -number old Princess is one, she not having bred for the last three years ; Corona, a splendid filly, by Towton, rising three years old, being the last foal the old mare had. Mr H. Stafford has again been unfortunate with Symphony, the mare having, as in 1851, dropped dead twin foals to Towton. Symphony has been a great disappointment as a brood mare ; for, although she has beeu at the stud nine years, she has [only reared three foals, one by St. 'George, and two by St. Aubyn; and, considering the character of the mare on the turf, and her size and blood, her stock have been far different to what might have been expected. The Towton stock, judging from the i young ones preparing for the forthcoming' -season, promise to be useful animals; but, •strange to say, Potentate, though now a stud horse for four years, has not been very successful as a stallion. This may be no fault • of the horse, but through having, an inferior class oi mares sent to him. We must make an exception in favor of Potentate's son, Oliver Cromwell, out of Phcebe's dam, which we regard as the very finest horse yet bred in New Zealand. It was •unfortunate that he was disabled from ever being trained, through an injury which he got to one of his pasterns by a kick. when a colfc. This horse was sold with Mr. Redwood's other horses, and is now in Canterbury. There are two or three yearlings <by Golden Grape, which, we are told, show promise, and as Mr Newcombe has sent his horse to the Awatere, he will very likely-get a good season there. Bay Middelton, this .year, will probably be thought better of as a Btud horse than hitherto, as the extremely good running last season of his daughter Azalia, will necessarily cause the sire to rise in the estimation of breeders. There is a probability, we believe, of our seeing a colt by Touchstone, out of .a sister of Lord of the Isles, arrive in Nelson from England in the , course of a few months. At a late meeting of the Eoyal Society of Victoria, a letter was read from Mr W. E. P. Giles, of 13 Little Collins street, giving some information in reference to the discovery of graves which the writer believed might probably contain the remains of some of Dr. Leichardt's party. Mr Giles said,"The recent telegrams from Adelaide reporting the recovery of Leichardt's remains and papers ♦(though proving, as I anticipated, unfounded), induce me to address you on the same subject, as from a circumstance which occurred to myself arid other members of the party of which I formed one when looking for country in September, 1861, I feel assured that we came upon the remains of some of Dr. Lud wig Leichardt'a party, as we discovered graves <more substantial . than black graves), which some blacks who were with. •us most emphatically and vehemently made us understand were the graves •of white men who had been speared by the blacks. Our party consisted of Mr Conn (who is now in town) and his son, Mr Curlewis (who was soon after killed by the blacks), and myself. The fact of white men's graves having been found, was mentioned in the Argus by Mr Curlewis, in December, IS6V,--and Mr Conn in January, 1862. I afterwards, in July, 1862, in company with Mr Corrie Fowler, visited the neighborhood, and we intended to dig up the graves, and bring some of the bones down with us, and see if any written records were buried there ; but on our/ arrival near the spot, we were surrounded and attacked by a large number of blacks, and with great difficulty escaped with our lives. This prevented me from opening the graves then. On' my return from Cooper's Creek, we were so short of rations that we had no time to delay for anything, so there the graves lie uatouched, v/ith doubtless some interesting narratives concealed." Mr Giles and Mr Conn were both present, and, at the request of the president, they gave some additional particulars concerning the discovery of these white men's graves. They stated that the graves were' in the locality of what was described by Howitt as Wiikie's Creek, which was altogether out of the track which Leichardt would take in crossing from Moreton Bay to Western Australia. The locality, in fact, was at right angles with Leichardt's last known camp, and about 300 miles to the south. It was possible, however, that he might have gone there with the intention of coming into Victoria. The graves might contain the bodies of some persons who had travelled from the Darling in search of iresh pastoral country, but there.was no record of any white men having been lost there. Dr Mueller strongly urged that a -fr«sh expedition ought to be sent in search of Ldchardt, and suggested the possibility of bis being still alive. He expressed a hope thit the pastoral occupiers of the country ■wKcb. Leichardt had discovered would take gone steps to ascertain the fate of that distingtished explorer. The president tendered the thinks of the society to Messrs Giles and Conn, foi the information which they had given.

3y way of Adelaide and Melbourne we have lafer dates from the Cape of Good Hope. The daiger of a fresh Kaffir war breaking out appjars to have been much exaggerated. The "whde of the troops have been despatched fron the Csipa to Kaffraria and Natal, but the ■comnander of the forces has announced that he dd not apprehend war at present. His Exellency the Governor has announced his intation of annexing the territory lying betwen Thebeiand Bashee to British Kaffraria, andjiving the land to the settlers on military temre. lie Sydney Empire of the 27th ult. has the following:—" Yesterday morning the ratbr unusual circumstance of a duel in the Doiain was fixed to take place, but was, hapily, prevented. Information having

reached the authorities the evening before of the intended meeting, a body of police were in attendance in the outer Domain as early as fire o'clock, and believing that, as the disputants were officers of the French man-of-war now iv port, they would most probably land at Lady Macquarie's Chair, the police kept a sharp look-out in that direction. Between six and seven o'clock a boat was seen leaving the French man-of-war and approaching the point mentioned. The occupants of the boat having landed, they went into the D3main, and were going through the preliminaries when the police interfered. The principals in the affair were accompanied by their seconds and two medical men." The Oamaru Times, of the sth inst., says . « We are glad to learn that at the last meeting of the Committee of the Northern Agricultural Association, a sub-committee was appointed to endeavor to obtain a piece of ground here as a permanent site for holding the annual show. The. site which the committee have in view is a triangular piece, unoccupied, bounded on one side by Severn street, on the other by Towey street, and subtended by the town boundary. The Secretary is instructed to communicate with the Superintendent on the subject. '.The next show takes place on the 10th November next." We learn from the Southland Daily News of the 6th inst, that a most distressing accident occurred the previous day at Harrisville, on the North Road, whereby an interesting little girl named Archer lost her life. It appears that the child had walked into an open well at the back of the premises lately occupied by Mr Kodd, and after she had been missing for about ten minutes, her body was \ discovered in the well by Mr Davidson. Mr Hill, the builder, was passing at the time in a chaise, and he immediately drove into town, and procuring the services of Dr Young, hastened back with that gentleman to Harrisville ; but although every effort was made to restore suspended animation, it was without avail, as life was extinct. We understand that exertions are being made to get up a Cavalry Volunteer corps in Dunedin. We clip the following from the Oamaru Times :— "Members and friend 3of the Church of England, and, it is to be hoped, the community generally, will be glad to learn that, at a meeting of the building committee held on the 29th ult., it was announced that donations and subscriptions up to this date reach £798 ; of this, a sum approaching £300 has been placed in the Bank of New Zealand. Those engaged in collecting have still to wait upon many who have not yet been asked for their contributions. They express much satisfaction at the very cheerful manner in which their applications have hitherto been met. The success so far achieved, has been largely promoted by the zealous and active service of two members of the congregation who have kindly and heartily assisted the Clergyman and Vestry in the work of collecting; Mrs Godfrey having rendered much help in the town and neighborhood, and Edmond Gibson, Esq., having canvassed the district of the Waitaki Valley.'' It is rumoured in Auckland military circles that General Sir D. A. Cameron will leave for Taranaki during this month; and that two regiments are to be despatched thither about the same time—namely, 50th and 43rd. The 68th is also spoken of as likely to be sent to New Plymouth if operations there should require additional troops. We notice that Mr and Mrs Clarance Holt played at the Haymarket Theatre, Melbourne, prior to their departure for England in the Great Britain. They appeared in " Rob Roy," Mr Holt assuming the character of the Outlaw, and Mrs Holt that of Helen. All the Melbourne papers speak favorably of the performance. At the close of the performance of " Rob Roy" Mr Holt was presented with a very elegant silver ,cup, the gift of Lady Don and Mr Hoskins. The Southland News of the 6th instant says :—The railway engine and tender, with some ballast trucks attached, now runs daily several times to and fro on the Oreti Railway as far as the Waihopai. Yesterday, a large number of persons travelled on the first railway in Southland, the engine proceeding at the rate of some twenty miles an hour over the unballasted line. The trucks carry the ballast and deposit it on the line at intervals as they proceed. Nothing could be more perfect than the action of the engine on Davies's new patent, and everyone present admitted that the railway was a grand success. The next two or three weeks will be a busy time for the contractor, in order to complete the operation of ballasting. But the lineis already perfectly prepared for trains to run over it with ease, rapidity, and safety. The brilliancy of the weather yesterday, the exhilirating effect of the rapid motion through the atmosphere, and the charming vista through the woods opened up by the railway northwards, rendered the trip to the Waihopai a very pleasant excursion to those who participated in it.

The nonconformist settlers at Port Albert, Auckland, have been placed in an awkward position by the wreck of a vessel freighted with stores for the settlement. The Southern Cross says.-—"A letter received in Auckland, dated about ten days or a fortnight ago, states that the settlers were then very short of the necessaries of life, and this deficiency would have been amply supplied by the ' Advance,' if she had not met with the unfortunate mishap, as>she had large quantities of stores on board, of Vhich £600 belonged to one storekeeper. What the position of the settlers is now may be readily imagined, and it seems to be a case calling for the assistance of the Government. The neatest settlement to Port Albert is Mangawai, nineteen miles distant, ten of which are overland, and it is doubtful indeed whether stores in any necessary quantity could be obtained there. _A. vessel has been put on in the place of\ the 'Advance,' but she will probably not sail. until next week. There are about forty families at

Port Albert, and this, at the average of five persons to each family, would make 200 souls ; a large number to be supplied with food ; and any deficiency of it in such a case would of course make the distress more severe. As an instance of the desirability of insuring property we may mention that the storekeeper above alluded to, who had £600 of stores in the Advance, wrote to his ageut before he knew of the wreck of that vessel, complaining of his having insured the goods, as he considered it an unnecessary expense. The agent, however, had been more prudent than his principal, and had insured the goods, a fact which the owner of them may now well congratulate himself upon.

After a good deal of delay it has been decided by the Victorian Acclimatisation Society to place the young salmon in the River Yarra. The Argus of the 31st ult. says:—" The public and our correspondents will be glad to know that the destination of the salmon has at length been decided upon. The council of the Acclimatisation Society, after a long and caretul series of inquiries, have determined in favor of the River Yaira as the nursery of the infant fish. The spot selected by Mr Ramsbottom as the place where the salmon are at first to be deposited, is the Badger Creek, which, flows into the Yarra from the eastward, some forty miles above Melbourne, by land. This creek has been pronounced by Mr Ramsbottom—the most competent authority we have on the subject—to comprise all the requisites for a perfect salmon breeding stream. The brief space of time during which Mr Ramsbottom's services have been available, and the necessity for moving the fish from their present temporary abode before the setting in of the warm weather, have prevented the council from inquiring more fully into the merits of the other Victorian rivers, many of which will doubtless prove to be suitable for the reception of the salmon." The Fancy and Auction Bazaar in aid of _the funda of the Benevolent Institution, will be held in St. George's Hall, Stuart street, on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd inst, and will be followed by a ball on the 25th.' A meeting of the shareholders in the Dunedin Water Works Company (Limited) will be held in the large room in Farley's Buildings, at three o'clock this afternoon, for the purpose of electing directors for the ensuing twelve months. A correspondent of 'the Daily Southern Cross writes :—" You will be pleased to hearthat No. 5 Company of the Waikato Militia, stationed at Kihikihi, have been put in possession of their land. The allotments were distributed by lottery, and I understand that some have been fortunate in obtaining portions situated in the very centre of the township, and cleared and ready for crops. One lucky fellow is said to have thus come into possession of an acre lot in close proximity to -the* redoubt, and for which he was offered the sum of £20 to exchange with a less fortunate possessor of a more remote lot. Arrangements are being made for getting in crops, a gentleman of the regiment (2nd Waikato) having gone to town to purchase the requisite seeds and implements.: I am informed by one of the Waikatos that the men were given the option of drawing in the [lottery for either Kihikihi or Alexandra, and'that those at the former place drew for the land there, while the Alexandrians prefer j their own neighborhood.' Each locality has | its advantages. It may be claimed in favor of Alexandra that the -land for settlement will be close to the Waipa river, which will facilitate communication with Auckland; and offer a ready means of sending down the produce of the farms ; while, on the other hand, the greater part of the land at Kihikihi is already cleared, and of a highly fertile description, and withal not far from water communication." We take the following from the Melbourne The following interesting account of the finding of three children, who were recently lost in the bush between Harrow and Apsley, is given by the Hamilton Spectator of Saturday last:—"ln our last we published the circumstance that three children of the name of Huff had been lost from Spring Vale Station, between Harrow and Apsley, and that there were only the very faintest hopes existing that they were still alive. By the date of latest information, when writing that paragraph, the children had been lost between seven and eight days. Owing to the rain all trace of them had been lost, and, in fact, the systematic and general search which had been kept up by all the men in the neighborhood had been discontinued. Knowing that they must have been for the whole of the time without food, it was thought impossible that they were still alive^ or that children of such tender years would be able to exist under such a protracted privation. Al- > though, however, the general search was discontinued, the immediate friends of the poor little children did-not give up all hopes, and with the assistance of some blackfellows, who were at length obtained, the search was still continued.. We have not yet received the full , articulars of the search, but we learn that one party—composed partly of i white men and partly of blacks—were out [ carrying on the search for two days and a. night without food. This humane perseverance was not without its reward. On the ninth day from that on which they had been lost, the party, led by a blackfellow, came on their tracks and found them. The poor children presented a pitiable, but most interesting spectacle. The two boys—the eldest and the youngest of the three— were utterly exhausted and speechless, and had lain down, evidently, but for their providential discovery, to rise no more. The girl, who was only about seven years old, was much stronger, and when found, had just divested herself of her littie frock, and was with it covering up her two brothers, who were lying helpless on the ground. This last act was not the least touching incident of the whole affair. The spot where they were found was not above fifteen miles from the station,

although the distance they travelled over must have been very great. Once found, they were soon conveyed to safe quarters and properly cared for, and we believe that there is every hope that they will recover from the terrible privation they have undergone,"

A special meeting of the. Education Board was held in the Government Offices yesterday. Memorials wrre read from eight District School Committees, and one from the Dunedin Educational Institute against the minimum scale of school fees fixed by the Board at its last meeting. These memorials had all one tone, and set forth in unmistakeable terms that the increased rates of school fees would prove highly detrimental to the interests of the schools in the various districts, and would have the effect of compelling the parents of a large number of children to take them from the schools, as they would be unable to pay the increased rate, and would not, for various reasons, claim the benefit of the exemption clause. Deputations were in attendance from a number of districts to urge upon the Board the necssity of reducing the minimum rates. Ultimately, a resolution was adopted, on the motion of His Houor the Superintendent, to the effect that the Board would not render imperative the adoption by the School Committees of the minimum rate of fees as fixed by the Board until after the next half-yearly meeting of the Board in January, 1865 ; and, in the meantime, give the settlers in the various Educational 'districts an opportunity of publicly expressing their views on this subject at the annual meeting of the ratepayers, to be held on the second Monday in October next. The Secretary was further instructed to invite the various School Committees to send in to the Board, as soon as possible after the election of the new School Committes next month, a list of the rates of the school fees which they may consider suitable to the circumstances ot' their respective districts. A large amount of general business was also disposed of at the meeting, a report of which will be found in another column.