THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, AUGUST 5.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1746, 5 August 1867, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, MONDAY, AUGUST 5.

A sitting of the Supi-eine Court;, for hearing applicatioES under the Debtors and Creditors Acts, is to be held at ten o'clock to-day. The following is the list:—Third hearings : George Cockerill, Duncan Cameron, Thomas R. Fryer.—Second hearings: John Baker, John. M. Coote, John Switzer, John Heyward, Frederick W. BeaL John Joseph Kelly, James Dodds, Henry Manders.— First hearings: Abraham Solomon, George Demp3ter, Henry Taylor, Anthony St. George White, Samuel Howard, Edgar Ivens, James Gardiner, James TJre Russell, William Blair, George Howorth, David Kirby.

"Among the passengers by the Rangatira, from Melbourne," says the Sydney Horning Herald, " was Captain Smyth, late of the schooner Jessie Kelly. It will be remembered that the Jessie Kelly left the Mauritius for Otago, and put into Fremantle leaky, after leaving which, she again put into Adelaide, when the captain suddenly disappeared. The owner in Sydney at once sent instructions to Melbourne, and had Captain Smyth apprehended."

*' It may be remembered," says the Bendigo News, "that at Castlemaine, two prisoners—Ryan and Quinn—were convicted of a garotte robbery on a Chinaman, in Brdge street, and were sentenced to three years on the roads. Information has reached us which tends to throw some doubt upon the result the jury arrived at. We learn that a statutory declaration has this day been made, shifting the crime to the shoulders of two men who suddenly decamped from the gully, where they had resided previously, and adjacent to the spot where the robbery was committed. We were also informed that the police were made aware of this before the trial."

Miss Adelaide Bowring and Mr J. B. Steele concluded their farewell engagement at the Princess Theatre on Saturday evening, when the drama " The Grey Lady of Port Vennon; or the Hidden Hand," aud the third act of " Rob Hoy," were repeated, and were again very satisfactorily performed. This evening the performance will commence with Tom Taylor's drama, "Paul's Return; or the Power of Gold ; " and for the first time-will be produced Mr Farjeon's new burlesque, "GuyFawkes."

The Moray Place Social Improvement Society's third monthly lecture will be given this evening, by Mr J. Bathgate, in the hall underneath the Congregational Church. Subject : " Fossils." Mr C. H. Street will take the chair.

A valuable discovery— the discovery of coal in Preservation Inlefc, at the . southwestern extremity of this Province—is reported by the Southland News. That paper says:—"The Pilot, cutter, Q apt Meadows, which left this port some time since on a prospecting expedition, has returned, bringing a quantity of coal stated to have been obtained in Preservation Inlet, on the west coast. The sample submitted to us for inspection is a fair quality of surface coal. We can safely say that it is the best we have seen as yet the product of the Province. Hitherto the so-called coal has proved to be only lignite. The shining fracture of the mineral,, however, leads us to hope that experiment will.prove it to be the genuine article."

The following extract from the Melbourne Argus is interesting, as illustrative of the progressof industrial art inVictoria: "Therecent arrival in the bay of certain machinery, which we shall presently describe, furnishes an excellent illustration of practical and large-minded enterprise as compared with the inefficiency of the Victorian Exhibition Commissioners. Instead of sending home specimens of oiir timbers which would indicate their quality,

and descriptions of their growth and general character, they despatched but a few useless samples and a descriptive list filled with only botanical descriptions of doubtful value to the man of science, and none whatever to those who might want to consume our products. What can be done has now been shown by Messrs Alcock and Co., of Russell street —a firm we have frequently mentioned as honorably connected with the utilisation of Colonial material. The ship Prince Patrick, just anchored in the bay, has brought for them the first regular machinery for cutting veneers yet introduced into Australia. Its chief feature, the huge disc-saw, weighs three tons; and, when fixed in working order, will represent a cost of over LIOOO. It was made expressly to order, by Robinson and Sons, Rochdale, England, and the lathe in which it was turned cost the firm L4OOO. They had just completed an order for Spain when that from Alcock and Co came in, and the machine altogether represents the most modern as well as most efficient and expensive improA'ements. The disc-saw will travel 8875 ft per minute. The main object the firm have had in view in pi'ocuring it is to obtain the means of sending the ornamental timbers of Victoria and the neighboring colonies to Europe in a shape in which they will be marketable ; for it is a fact that there is too much speculation involved in buying our timbers in the log for foreign, consumers to purchase them. The case will be different when there are offered ready-made veneers of richly-grained and delicately scented woods from the forests of Victoria, Tasmania, or Western Australia, fit for instant use. Our readers will be interested to learn also that this firm, in order to use colonial slate for their, now-famous billiard-tables, have constructed a slate-planing machine in their own shops, and it works admirably. They, were unable to get one made elsewhere in the colony. Their splendid "Exhibition" billiard-table, for which the .jury desired to give an extra medal for "marked superiority," has just been purchased by Mr J. Hadley, of the Freemasons' Hotel, Sandhurst, for a sub-scription-room. Taken with its appurtenances, it would be regarded anywhere in the world as a piece of exquisite workmanship."

During a recent thunderstorm in the vicinity of Bluff Harbor, the flagstaff at the signal-station was struck by lightning. The correspondent of the Southland Neios says .- —The signalman, sitting in his house about fifty yards below jbhe signal hill, heard a heavy crash, but could not discover the cause, through the darkness. On going to the flagstaff at daylight next morning, he discovered the mast had been struck by lightning six feet from the ground, and partially severed ; the current had then, run down the centre, burning its course into a* black powder, and splintering the heel into several pieces; entering and ploughing up the ground for several feet from the base.

The Border Post reports that a clerk in the Joint Stock Bank at Wagga Wagga, named Andrew Murray Stack, has committed suicide by cutting his throat. He had only arrived from New Zealand two days before, and appeared to Ma fellow-travellers to be an invalid. He had been drinking brandy pretty freely ; but although his mind was affected, it was not supposed to be from this cause. He was found lying in his bed, with two large gashes in his throat, and cuts about his body. The bed clothes were saturated with blood, and he appeared to have struggled severely. He has left a wife in Melbourne and some friends in Sydney.

The Melbourne Argus of the 27th ult. contains the following notice of the Cape Paterson coalfield :—" Letters of the 23rd inst. from this field state that the party which has gone down under the direction of Mr Bury, state that though the weather has been tinfavorable, the old shafts in his leased ground have been emptied of water. They have laid bare for inspection the Queen Vein, and by fair measurement, found it to be 3ft. 6in. thick of solid coal of good quality. The Rock Vein and others of workable thickness will be reached and measured within a week. It is stated that the whole of the seams in Mr Bury's section are of a first-rate quality for steam purposes. Several descriptions of fireclays have been found. These were known to exist in the ground, and two practical men in Bury's party are now giving them a rough trial. Mr Andrews, who is in charge of the Victoria Coal Company's mine, states that he has found a new seam of good coal, and he has given Mr Selwyn a specimen from it."

The HobartTown journals are urging upon tlie Government of that colony the importance of constructing a line of land telegraph from a point on the east coast of the island —Patrick's Head, to the north of Port Seymour, is recommended—to connect with the existing line between Tamar Heads and Hobart Town, which, in its turn, will by and by be connected by the Bass's Straits cable with the Victorian lines. It is argued that if such a line as this were in operation, the mail steamers from New Zealand, including the Panama vessels, would call off the telegraph station to land telegraphic messages of the news, and also mails —a chance from which both Tasmania and Victoria, as well as the other Colonies, would gain.