NEWS OF THE WEEK. [FROM THE DAILY TIMES.]

Otago Witness, Issue 877, 19 September 1868, Page 13

NEWS OF THE WEEK. [FROM THE DAILY TIMES.]

We are informed that the salmon in the ponds at the Wahvera continue doing welL It ia reported that gold has been discovered on the run of Messrs Brown and-*' Sbeuart, Waiau, Southland. A Brewery Company has been got up in Napier, and brewing now ranks as a new industry in Hawke's Bay. Sugar cultivation ia progressing in Neir Caledonia. A recent shipment Bold in Sydney at a general average of L 23. The Insurance Companies of Auckland are about to establish a Fire Brigade, nnder the superintendence of a paid officer. T. M. Hocken, Esq., M.R.C.S.E., hoc been appointed a member of the Medical Board in the room of Dr Hulme, resigned. The young man Nolan, whose thigh was .fractured by the falling of a tree, while engaged in splitting on [Mr Cameron's run, has since submitted to amputation of both legs. The Mayor of Hokitika, Mr Shaw, is about to establish a second paper on the Thames. He is already the proprietor of two papers on the West Coast, and of one in Shortland. Half the town of Greymouth is built on a Maori reserve, and the inhabitants are complaining of the exorbitant rents they are called upon to pay for their leaseholds. Mrs Bloor is selling in Melbourne a " New Food for Infants and Invalids," made from her own receipt. The food is highly spoken of. The Acclimatisation Society of Auokland have recently added a kangaroo to their Gardens. It waß brought over from Hobarfe Town. Advantage will be taken of the expected visit of the Rev. Father Hickie to Oamaru, to lay the foundation stone of the Catholic Church about to be erected in that township. We observe by the Gazette, that the Governor has disallowed the Education Beserves Abandonment Ordinance, 1868, passed by the Provincial Council during the last Session. The telegraph from Greymouth to Westport—6s miles in length —was opened on the 4th inst. The country throngh which it passes is described as being of the most dim** ult character. "> he prospects of the Phoenix Water Race Company, at Wetherstones, are improving j and we are informed by one of the i/irectoii that another dividend will shortly be de» clared. " Mr Alexander Pirie, who has had several years' experience as a teacher, both in England and Scotland, has been appointed District Sohoolmaster at Otepopo. There wera nine applications for the post. We are informed that Mr D. Nisbet, the well-known importer of Clydesdale stud horses, has juat arrived from Scotland at Melbourne, with n've of the very best bred horses, one or more of which are intended for this Province. We regret to hear that a rather serious accident occurred to Mr'B. J. Lowry, of the New Times Boot Warehouse, on Tuesday evening last. He was wrestling, in play, with a friend when the result of a fall was the fracture of a thigh-bone. The following Bills passed by the Provin« cial Council, and assented to by the Super* intendent, have come into operation, viz. :—- The "Roads Diversion Ordinanoe, 1868, and the Port Chalmers Reserves Management Ordinance, 1868. During the past fortnight one boy has been received into the Otago Benevolent Institution. The inmates of the Asylum now are —4 men, 1 woman, 26 boys, and 27 girla. Total, 53. 157 persons received out-door relief, the total weekly sum disbursed being Ll3 7s. With reference to the sale of shares in the Perseverance Company, Blue Spur, we learn that although Messrs Herbert and Mr De Carle sold out at what is now considered a comparatively trifling sum, still th» proceeds realised from the sale at the time were not inconsiderable. On Monday, flags were hoisted half-mast ■high on the vessels lying at the wharves and in the bay. and at many of the offices of the shipping agents, in consequence of the death of Mr Frederick Coxaead, who waa for many years a Custom House Agent at this Port. The Committee of the Dunedin Social Im» provement Association met on Monday, and arranged the programme for the next entertainment. The Association is progressing rapidly; it already numbers 85 members, and great interest is taken in the object for which it was formed. The Rev. Father Hickie, who has just) arrived in Dunedin to collect subscriptions on behalf of the Irish Roman Catholio .University, has, it appears, been very successful in Canterbury. Prior to his leaving he was presented with an address illuminated on vellum, by the Roman Catholio residents in Christchurch and Lyttelton. Four settlers were fined a few days ago by the Resident Magistrate of Tuapeka for depasturing cattle on Treweek'a run. The Press, in a leading article on the subject, suggests that a deputation should be forthwith despatchei to Dunedin to "demand tbe immediate throwing open of, at all events, one of these runs."

A local journal, in classifying the industries of Otago, ranks mining first, agriculture second, and sheep-farming third ; regretting that it cannot accord the second place to Bheep-f arming, "because it only benefits a few." Our contemporary forgets that the value of national industries cannot be estimated by counting of noses.

Mr W. C. Young is on hia way out from England. We learn that the Otago Southern Trunk Railway scheme is favourably looked upon by contractors j but that a Colonial contract is never accepted at home, without an examination of the proposed line, and a report thereupon by a specially-deputed Engineer ; and that there is now a proposal that the Government shall pay the expenses of such an Engineer in visiting Otago.

The miners on the Dunstan are talking about cutting a race from the Lindis river to a point at the base of the Dunstan ranges, ■o as to make the banks of the Molyneux between Clyde and Alexandra the scene of sluicing operations. The local journal thinks the scheme so practicable that ' 'capital would be very easily procured to prosecute the undertaking, and the only seeming difficulty appears to be in making an estimate of the ooit."

The Victorian Government has declined to make any further grant of public money to the Acclimatisation Society. The Society, in consequence, despatched a deputation to the Chief Secretary for the purpose of discussing its future. Arundei Farm — the property of Mr Edward Wilson— has recently ceased to be a field for acclimatisation experiments, having passed into the handß of Mr HobfcrtM'Dougall.

An accident, which was happily unattended with any serious result, touk place on Tuesday nvirnin;?. It ajpeara that Mr M'lndoe, of Taieri Ferry, vas driving a spring cart, laden with liquors and groceries, along Princes street south, when one of the shafts broke, owing to the weight of a barrel of brandy placed upon it. The head of the barrel was stove in, and the brandy conse quently lost ; some of the groceries wore also destroyed, but the horse and driver fortunately escaped injury.

A telegram has been received in town, stating that, on Thursday, Constable Hunt, who is siationed at the Arrow, and Mr Colc'ough, were stabbed by a lunatic named Alfred Motherstone Hunt had been sent to arrest Motherstone, because he was dangerous ; and Hunt received three stabs in the left side, which are reported by a surgeon to be, fortunately, not dangerous, owing to the blows having been struck almost directly downwards. Mr Colclough, who went to Hunt's assistance, received a cut 7in. long on the left arm. Motberstone had, at the time of the telegram, been lodged in the Queenstown lock-up.

Robert Anderson, a miner, 32 years of age, and who had recently arrived here from the West Coast, committed suicide on Sunday afternoon, at his residence, York place, by shooting himself with a fowling-piece His wife Trent out about four o'clock, leaving him in bed. Sne returned in about an hour and a half, and not finding the deceased in the bedroom, went to look for him. She found him lying crouched up in the fireplace in the kitch -n, with a fowling piece between his feet and knees. He was dead, the shot having entered under the chin. The deceased had been much depressed in spirits for some time past.

The installation of Bro. Ridley as "W.M. of the Hiram Lodge, E.C. took place on Tuesday, at the Masonic Hall. The ceremony was impressively performed by Bro. C. j. Levien, P.M. assisted by Bros. J. Hyman aa A. Myers, P.M. There were a large number of visiting brethren present, amongst whom were Bro. J. H. Harris, D.G.M. and officers. Subsequently, the brethren adjourned to the Criterion Hotel to a banquet given by the united Lodges under the English Constitution.

The Perseverance Company, Blue Spur, have obtained more than a thousand ounces of gold as the result of six weeks' washing. We are informed that Messrs. Herbert of Lawrence, and Mr De Carle of Dunedin, recently sold their shares in the above claim amounting to two-sevenths each, for a trifling sum.. A handsome return seems tolerably certain to the fortunate shareholders, as the claim is a^out seven acres in extent, which is nearly double the size of any other on the Blue Spur.

A debating olass, consisting of the senior scholars of the Middle District School, met last Thursday week. There was a good attendance of ladies and gentlemen, ohiefly the parents and friends of the soholars. The subject of debate was, "Is it probable that New Zealand will ever become great is the scale of nations ?" On this question there was an animated debate, which lasted about two hours, and gave rise to about twentyfive speeches. At the conclusion, the pupils were addressed by the Rev. Messrs Sutherland and Williams, who expressed themselves highly pleased wich their performance.

A handsomely printed demy octavo of 150 pages, just issued, contains elaborate " ReB>rts of Cases decided at Sißi Prius and in anoo, in the Supreme Court of New Zealand and on appeal to the Court of Appeal " The publication the first of its kind in this Province, if not in New Zealand— is edited by James Macasaey, E9q , Barrister-at-Law. To the legal profession, such a work will be specially welcome, and they will no doubt accord to it the support it merits. It will be continued as a regular s=ri* iB,i 8, in the usual style of Law Reports, and will thus ensure for itself a place in every legal library in the Otago and Southland District.

At a recent meeting of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, attention was drawn by a member to the need for importing rooks and starlings, to keep down the white grubs which are now doing a ereat deal of harm to the pastures After some discussion, it was decined that a letter Bhould be written calLng the attention of the Acclimatisation Society to the subject.

iEgles in The Leader writes as follows a^out the projected visit of H. K.H. to New Zealand : — Doeßn't it look a little like a little snub for H.B H. the Duke of Edinburgh that he is to resume his cruise forthwith, and visit New Zealand? New Zealand would have been in his track whea he loosed the foretopsail for Great Britain. It was more than once hinted, when H.B.H. determined to change hia mind, that his metanoia might be misconstrued as resulting from timidity — which is not a family failing. H.R.H. will, however, I am sure, be cordially welcomed by the " Pakehas," and his visit will be regarded as better late than never.

The very liberal offers made by the Provincial (Government to as3ist miners in the construction of their water-races, with the loan of the Government Mining Surveyor, form the subject of an indignation paragraph in the Tu&peka Times. Mr Fenton, of the Blue Spur, having made up his mind to bring in a race, from Beaumont Creek to the Blue Spur — a distance of twenty miles — bethought him of the Government adveitisement. ard sought the pr raised, assistance. The official reply to this communication was "to the effect that, as soon as anything w;ts matured Mr Fenton would he informed of the amount of as istanee tae Government would be prepared to lend." The local journal remarks : " If this is not a system ot gulling the public, we do know what is."

The fate of poor Harnett, murdered 'hy the Hauhaus at the Chathams, is thus detailed in the evidence given at the inquest on his body : — Robert Hardy deposed that he was standing at the end of the room, smoking and talking, and the deceased was arranging some papers on his cheat. A prisoner of the name of Tikoti gave the signal of attack in Maori, and the prisoners then madfa a rush at the policemen At the first alarm. Harnett sprung up, but three of them seized him ; he pushed one away, upon which a prisoner named Tamihami Tikitiki struck him twice across the face with h's tomahawk. The first wound was across his eyes and nose, and was a mortal wound, about 4 inches long and 4 inches deep. The second wound was inflicted a little lower down. He fell dead, without a groan Can positively swear to Tamihami Tikitiki, having worked with him formerly. — The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of murder against Tamihami Tikitiki.

The monthly meeting of No. 1 Company Rifle Volunteers (City Guards) was held on Monday, after drill, at the Drill Shed. There were 38 members present, and Capt. Moss presided. — Two new members we c proposed and seconded. — Capt Moss notified to the Company his intention to resign, but said that he would hold office until his successor was appointed, which he sug gested should te within a week. — It was accordingly resolved that the election should take place on Monday evening next, at eight o'clock, at the Drill fcihed. — The Company Challenge Belt was presented to Volunteer Creagh, and was suitably acknowledged. This Belt is the result of a prize ofered by Lieut. -Colonel Cargiil for the best Company shooting. No. 1 having won, and having resolved to select a Belt, it was further resolved to have a yearly competition for the honor of wearing it. Creagh was the winner in the first of such competitions ; and he has _the Belt for a year.

Mr W. A. Murray, of Glenore, writes to the Bruce Herald about the bad faith of the Provincial Government in the matter of the bonus for the first 5000 yards of woollen cloth manufactured in the Province. He cays that he provided estimates of the cost of machinery from leading firms in England, and made various other arrangements with a view to the establishment of a woollen manufactory ; but having communicated with the Provincial Government as to terms, before offering shares in his projected Company for sale, he received an answer which put an end to the business, so far as he is concerned The answer, which he publishes, states that " Messrs Driver, Maclean, and Co. found a claim for the bonus to the cxc usion of others, upon a letter which they received from the Superintendent, of date 17th July last." Mr Murray remarks :-»- " Comment is needless ; we Bee what these bonus schemes mean."

Mr W. D. Murison, J.P , Deputy-Horoner, •held an inquiry on Tuesday, at the Hospital touchins the death of Robert Anderson. The wife of the deceased said that her husband had been away for some years and had only recently returned. On Sunday afternoon she went out, leaving him in bed. When she came back she found him sitting in the kitchen fireplace, with a gun between his knees. He was dead. He had been very low-spirited, and had told her that he had. taken more drink from the time he left Nelson to come to Dunedin than he had during all the years he had been away. Evidence was given to show that the deceased had been affected mentally, and Dr Alexander detailed the results of a post mortem examination He had found a gunshot wound below the chin. The weund could only have been inflicted by the deceased's own hand. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased committed suicide while labouring under temporary insanity.

Shearing commenced ah Coree, Biverina, on 6th August last, and tbe first portion of the clip— 24 bales, valued at 39 per lb— ar^ rived at Melbournefor shipment on the 19th. The following rules are to be enforced this season in the best shearing- eheds of Riverina, and might with advantage be adopted in Otago :—l.: — 1. '* he hours for beginning and for leaving work, and for smoking, will be struck upon the belL 2 Shearers may learn the number of their tallies by application to the manager every Monday morning. 3. Every shearer must hang up or lay down his shears before putting out the sheep he haa finished, to prevent accident to himself or others. 4. No noise, riot, nor improper language will be permitted. It should be unnecessary to remind workmen that work can only be carried on properly where quiet attention and decent behaviour are observed. We have had an opportunity of ' seeing, at the Occidental Hotel, an interesting collection of curiosities from the Fijis, which has been sent by Mr Lukg, a cotton planter there, to his brother, a storekeeper at Waihemo. There was a number of ladies' dresses, which were made of grass or fibre of some kind, dyed in various colors. They are only a few inches in width, and are worn round the loins. There were also necVlaces of fishes' teeth, swords of very hard wood, with sharks' teeth attached » head dresses or wigs, made of human hair ; fourpronged fcrks, of hard wood, used only in eating human flesh ; combs made of tortoise shell j wooden dishes, , war clubs, &c , all displaying the well known ingenuity of the Fiji race. There was also some excel ently cure i tobacco, in the leaf, intended for use as cgarettej; an • some bananas put up in rolls, much after the style adopted by sailors in preparing leaf tob ceo. At the meeting of the T iocesan Synod of Christchuroh, held on the 9th of this month, the Bishop alluded as fllows to the two memorials from the Rural Deanery of Otago and Southland, copies of which appeared iQ recent issues : — I have laid upon the table two memorials from the Rural Deanery of Otago and Southland, which have arisen out of the%)roceedings of the Board of the Deanery assembled in Dunedin, on the 18th of ugust last, and I must request your atten'ion to them, thougn, probably, you will agree with me, that the questions, on which it appears some division of opinion has taken place, may best be remitted for settlement to the General Synod, which is so soon about to meet. The Synod of this diocese, though it has, under statute No. 3. some authority in the case of Archdeaconry or Rural Deanery Boards within the limits of the diocese, has never thought fit to exercise that authority in the deanery of Otas^o and Southland. It has indeed, with myself, virtually recognised the board as having the powers of a Diocesan Synod, and I can hardly suppose it will now alter its policy when the deanery is about to take its place in our ecclesiastical system, as an independent diocese. On the morning of the Bth inst. considerable excitement was occasioned in Campbelltown by the appearance of two whales at the entrance of Bluff Harbor. A boat, under the command of Captain Gilroy, late of the Amherst, was speedily in pursuit, and after some time succeeded in approaching near enough for a harpoon to be stuck into one df the whales. The animal immediately started off at full speed, dragging the noat after it for some distance, when, its strength being exhausted, it was killed and towed in to the wharf. The whale is of the black species, and measures about 60 ft in length, its value being estimated at between L4OO and LSOO. A number of people from Invercargill and elsewhere have paid the monster a visit, a cheap excursion train being put on for the occasion. The capture of this marine giant appears to have awakened the local muse, a piece of "poetry" having been produced for the occasion, from which we extract the following stanza : — AU round town, from the jettf to the jail, The universal question is f " Have you seen the whale ? " To stimulate inquiry, with eagerness all strive, So here's a new sensation just to keep the game alive. A deputation, consisting of Messrs A. Chetham- Strode, J. H Harris, R. B Martin, and E. B. Cargill, waited upon His Honor the Deputy-Superintendent on Wednesday, and aßkedhim to preside at a meeting to be held in the Athenaeum, for the purpose of bringing before the public the subject matter of an address to the Bishop of New Zealand, now being sizned in other Provinces. There appears to have been an irregularity as to the manner in which the address came into the hands of Hl3 Honour, it not having reached him direct. He therefore declined, as Deputy-Superintendent, to take any steps in the matter. It was pressed upon him that he was to be considered the official channel for communicating with the people of the Province, and that the matter was one of great public interest. His Honour still declined to take any part officially in the meeting, and the deputation withdrew. — We understand that, since the interview, the members of the deputation have determined not to take further action until the return of Mr Macandrew, who is expected here this week. We have been requested to state that the addiess, which has been prepared for presentation to Bishop Selwyn, will sh.«»rty be ready for signatures. In other Provinces, it is being sij^ned by persons of all classes and of all religious denominations.

The following gentlemen have been elected lay representatives of the Diocese of Dunedin, in the General Synod— R. B. LuskvTEsq., Northern District ; R. B. Martin, Esq., Southern- and Goldfields Distriots ; andE. Quick, Esq.', Southland District.

A soiree in support of the Otago Seamen's Mission took place on Tuesday, in the Oddfellows' HalL The attendance was good., and the chair was occupied by Mr John Gillies. There were also on the platform the Rev. D. M. Stuart, Rev. Mr Williams, Mr E. B. CargilL Mr John Bathgate, and Captain Patching. The hall 'was tastefully decorated with flags, kindly lent by Captain Brown, of the Helenslee ; and the blue Bethel flag was displayed behind the Chairman's seat Letters of apology from the Rev. Mr Johnston and Mr Street having been read, the meeting was addressed by the Chairman. The Treasurer - (the Rev. Mr Clark) then read a statement, snowing the revenue since Ist January last to be L 126 5s lid ; and the expenditure, LlO9 14s lid. He was followed by the missionary, Mr Gilbert, who read his report, giving a brief history of the mission since its establishment upwards of four years ago, and conoluded by strongly urging its claims upon the meeting. Addresses were given by the different gentlemen on the platform, advocating forcibly the cause of the mission. The proceedings were varied at intervals by the performance of several pieces of sacred music by a choir of twenty voices under the leadership of Mr Taylor.

Instructions have, we believe, already been sent to Britain by the Government respecting asecondshipmeatof Salmon and Trout Ova, ior which, it will be remembered, the Provincial Council unanimously voted a sum during its late session. Acclimatisation, as a pursuit, is a notable evoker of the most kindly spirit of assistance between those who take part in it. Our Government has now consented to aid Southland, by arranging for the shipment of ova for that Province. The Honorary Secretary of the Southland Society {Mr Butts), writing to Bis Honor, the Superintendent, on the 9bh inst. says, "I beg to express their sincere thanks, for the prompt manner in which the Otago Government has consented to assist their pisciculturat efforts, and to add, that an agent of the Society will be ready to receive delivery of the ova immediately on its arrival at Port Chalmers." The agents of the Government will not, we fear, be able to take advantage of the important offer — as te ting the Panama route for Acch'tnat sation purposes — which is made in a letter pu lished in the London Times of July 11th, under the heading, " Fish for New Zealand." The writer, Mr W. M. Mackenzie, 11, St. James's Square, S.W. says, " It may interest some of your readers to learn that Captain Vine Hall, the general manager of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company, is about to go out to the Colonies by the next monthly steamer — Atrato -on the 3rd of August, and offers to take a special charge of any properly packed consignments of fish ova, which may be sent in due time to his office, 51, Moorgate street, or to the steamer at Southampton. Aa the voyage to Wellington, N.Z. will only occupy 48 days, and to Sydney 55 days, and is attended with only one transhipment at Panama, it may be assumed that a very much larger per centage of ova would arrive safely by this transit, than if sent by long sea."

•'Leila, a Poem, by Mrs Christina Fulton," is the tit.c of a modest contribution to the poetical literature of New Zealand. The authoress has selected for the groundwork of her composition an interesting narrative of the domestic type, with which every reader of Dr Thomson's Story of New Zealand is familiar ; and this narrative is interwoven with another equally interesting, of a warlike kind. We are introduced to the great chief Held, who stands before the imagination as the great historic warrior of the Maori race ; we witness the disastrous attack on Oheowai, where the English troops met with the most signal reverse perhaps that ever attended their arms in the colony ; we listen with his horrified comrades to the screams of the wretched soldier, tortured to death at night within the pah. In the midst of such scenes, we make the acquaintance of a fair half-caste, Leila, and her greyhaired father, Stewart. As Dr Thomson tells us, this man had left his wife at home in Scotland when he set out to seek his fortune in New Zealand. He was one of the earliest of our settlors. After twelve years in his new home, he sailed back to Scotland with the intention of rejoining his fanaiy. Here the tale reminds us of Enoch Arden. >tewart finds his home in the possession of another. His wife, hearing nothing of him and believing him dead, did as wives are apt to do in such circumstances — she married another. On hearing this from her own lips, Stewart rushed away and returned to New Zealand. He met his death soon afterwards, having been tomahawked by the Natives sa a mark of their hatred to his race. Leila, on learning his fate, lo3t her reason. Her lover Rewi, watching her movements on one occasion, saw her leap into the sea ; he ran after her, brought har to the surface, and endeavored to restore animation, but in vain. This concludes the action of the poem. Both the plot and metrical structure will remind the reader of Sir Walter Scott's poetical tales. Mrs Pulton breathes the spirit of chivalry into the action of her narrative, and seeks by that means to attract the sympathies of her reader. The effort is not unsuccessful. It is chiefly marred by the rhythmical errors in which the poem abounds, and which a little attention would probably enable the authoress to avoid.