Telegrams.

Otago Witness, Issue 1198, 14 November 1874, Page 14

Telegrams.

Wellington, Nov. sth.

It is stated on good authority that a redistribution of Judges of the Supreme Court will take plaoe at the conclusion of the sittings of the Court of Appeal. Sir George Arney is to remain in Wellington, Judge Johnston will be removed either to Dunedin or Auckland, Judge Riohmond will probably remain in his present location, and Judge Gresson also. Judge Chapman is expected to retire from the Bench. Sir George Arney goes home to England in February next, when, it is said, he will be succeeded by Mr Prendergast as Chief Justice. Seventy tons of first-class potatoes were offered at auction yesterday. Twenty tons were sold at £8 10s, but the remainder were withdrawn. A Gazette notice proclaims Monday, the anniversary of the Prince of Wales's birthday, a public holiday, with the exception of the Post Office, Telegraph, Customs, and Railways Departments. The Hon. Mr Reynolds during his visit North has arranged for completing telegraphic communication in Taranaki, between Opunake and Stoney River. He also succeeded in removing the Native opposition to the erection of a lighthouse on Cape Eginont, and tenders will soon be called for its erection. November 6th. Mr O'Shea reports :~Flour, £13 10a; oatmeal, £25 ; barley., pearl, £27 ; oats, 6s 3d to 6s 6d ; wheat, chick, 4s 6d to ss; bran, Is 4d to Is 6d ; pollard, £8 10s; bacon, scarce, Is ; hams, Is Id ; cheese, 9d. Nov. 7th. The following humourous skit appeared in the Times this morning: — "Latest from Kawau :: — • Telegram to Superintendents by pigeon express : Bless you, my children ! Live for ever ! Macaulay's New Zealander on London Bridge will be Superintendent. Trust in Provincialism and sell land, especially unreclaimed land. Cash first, reclamation afterwards. Borrow much, spend more. Greatness always draws on posterity, Draw, then ? Six infant nations (see Constitution Act) depend wholly on you for nourishment and freedom, and. appeal to you for protection from the dagger of despotism. Farewell, progenitors of Presidents ! I have juat heard there are Constitution Amending Acts. Of course, if they amend they must render Provincial institutions, if possible, more secure. But I may aB well look at them. Pray send copies and credible information. Send telegrams (collect) direct to the throne, reviewing the origin and progress of local Belf government in the world, and its perfection in provincial institutions in New Zealand. Parliament will vindicate your birth-right and pay cost of telegrams. Kawau must be relieved from taxation for local and general purposes, otherwise I shall petition Her Most Gracious Majesty to constitute it an independent province with myself as Governor and Superintendent of same.' " Madame Arabella Goddard and company arrived to- day. There waa an unusually great rush for tickets. His Excellency has returned from his trip up the Coast. November 11th. The Oneco arrived yesterday, but she only got in this morning. About £25,000 worth of Provincial land was sold and applied for during the last few ! weeks. # November 10th, Sir George Arney goes to Auckland on the 20th to be in readiness to swear in the new Governor, who is to arrive about that time. Arrived : Star of India, with 375 iinmigrans, 103 days from London. The Strathnaver case comes on next week. The vessel is being detained at a cost of £40 per day demurrage. The following tenders have been received at the Public Works Office for the construction of the Waimea water-race : — William Smith, Hokitika, £19,462, acoepted. Declined — James Thompson, £21,141 ; Cullen and Dee, £30,146 ; Stenhouse and Co, £29,890; M'Lean Jack, £32,977; W. Evans, £23,134, all of Hokitika. During the passage of the Star of India five deaths occuried; three were children and two were father and child. In a fit of temporary insanity he seized the child and jumped overboard. There were 10 births. There is no sickness now. Commenting upon Sir George Grey's petition, the Times points out that, amongst the last of his official acts as Governor, was the transmission to the Secretary of State of a memorandum by Mr Stafford, in relation to

the County of Westland Act, in which the Imperial Parliament was invoked to grant to the New Zealand Legislature that very power t > make alterations in the Constitution of the Colony. Mr R. C. Hammerton, Deputy-Registrar of Supreme Court, has been appointed Secretary to the Stamp Department, which fills up the vacancy caused by the retirement of Mr Brandon. Mr Hammerton will occupy a higher position than Mr Brandon did, and will remodel the office altogether. The office of chief clerk will not be filled for the present, pending certain changes, November 11th. Madame Arabella Goddard gave her opening performance last night. There was a steady <!!o A'npour of rain, but the house was. full, and showers of bouquets were thrown. Mrs Smythe was encored. It is understood, on undoubted authority, that on the conclusion of the Court of Ap- ! peal Sittings, Judge Chapman will be removed to Auckland. His Excellency leaves Wellington at the | end of the present week or early next week. Auckland, November sth. The inhabitants of Onehunga last night presented Mr O'Rorke with a valuable service of plate, as an acknowledgment of his disinterested action in retiring from the Ministry. In responding, Mr O'Rorke said that the step was not taken in a hurry, how • ever, or on the impulse of the moment, but after mature consideration. November 6th. The Coronet, from Tahiti, brings intelligence that two American ships — one named the Mogul and the other unknown — have been burned to the water's edge in the Pacific. The two* calamities are reported to present very extraordinary features. Both vessels belonged to the same American firm, and loaded coal at Liverpool for San Francisco, and both were burned within a day or two of one another. The crews both found shelter on the Marquesas Islands, all the hands of the Mogul were saved. They were nearly 70 days in an open boat. The captain, mate, and one of the boats' crews of the other vessel were lost, but the second mate brought the other crew safely to Marquesas, after 22 days' privations and difficulties, having been all that time without instruments or charts. A small piece of cai'dboard on which their course waa marked off was the only means of reckoning used. The vessels when burnt were nearly 2000 miles from land. The first crew arrived at Tahiti on the same day as the Coronet, and the last one arrived seven days after. The Hydaspes has been placed in quarantine. The last case of scarlatina is reported as occurring on the 23rd October. One death from brain fever occurred to-day, but there are no cases on board now. Mr Alexander Saunders reports : — Sales of Caledonian, £5 ss. Buyers of National Bank, £3 8s ; South British, £2 9s j Cure, 9a. Sellers : Colonial, 12s ; Tckatea, 9s 6d ; Bank of New Zealand, £18 ss. November 7th. It was stated at the Board of Health that the Hydaspes's immigrants would probably be released in eight or ten days. The vessel will immediately be fumigated and brought up. A large public meeting passed resolutions urging the Government to devote the £25,000 grant to the Province last session to education, in lieu of the tax now being collected. Mr O'Rorke has joined the Provincial Executive, taking the office vacant by the death of Mr Beveridge, Provincial Solicitor. Mr O'Rorke does not take the title, but it is understood he will do the solicitor's work. November 10th. The prospectors who have recently been to the Ohinemuri country report having discovered payable reefs. ' Arrived. — Barque Chocolate, 59 days from San Francisco, with 300 tons of barley. November 11th. It is reported that the Superintendent and Pro rincial Secretary proceed to England by the next steamer, to arrange for speoial settlement under the new Auckland Waste Lands Act. Mr Buckland reports of the first wool sale of the season : — Long wool, greasy, lOd to Hid ; washed, Is 4d to Is 4£d ; scoured, Is 5d ; half-bred in grease, 6£d to 9d ; merino, B|d ; washed, Is Id ; cross bred, greasy, B£d. Chrtstchurch, November sth. Quotations : Lytteltoa (f.0.b.) wheat, 5s 5d to 6d ; oats, 5a 9d to 6s ; flour, £12 10s to £13 10s; bran and pollard, £6 ss; sharps, £7 ; cheeße, 8d ; butter, ll£d to Is l|d ; grass seed, 5s 6d. The market is bare. There are 629 entries for the Agricultural Show next week. Judgment was given against M'llroy for £24 in each of the three civil cases for damages for breach of contract for the conveyance of men to the Palmer diggings per Comet, from Dunedin. This judgment amounts to £10 refund of passage money, £14 for loss of time, &c. The criminal charge of false pretences against M'llroy is not yet heard. The race course rights, booths, cards, &c, were sold yesterday, and realised £303 15s. Major Palmer paid Lyttelton a visit yesterday morning to test his chronometer by the instruments on board the French ship Vire. He held direct communication by telegraph with the observatory party at Burnham. Comparisons were instituted. Napier, November sth. A court of enquiry, under the Merchant Shipping Act, acquitted Captain Vale, of the Rosalia, of charges of habitual drunkenness and incompeteucy, but the Court was of opinion that he had been intoxicated occasionally on the voyage. They made no order for costs. A banquet to Sir Donald M'Leau will be given next Tuesday. Nelson, November 9th. The Ocean Mail passengers were lauded this morning. She had a most favourable passage, and very li title sickness on board. Three deaths of infants, and two births took place. New Plymouth, November 9th. Mr Parris has made arrangements with the Natives for the purchase of four hundred thousand acres of land, consisting of five \ blocks. The land stretches from Waitotara

to that already acquired at the back of the mountain. It is spoken of as being splendid soil. Surveyors are now engaged in surveying the boundaries. Alexandra, November 11th. The Natives at Kuiti are in desperate straits for food, and are trying to raise advances on their crops. Charleston, Nov. 6th. At a public meeting held last night a, Prospecting Association was formed, and it was decided that a bonus of two hundred pounds should be given to any person who should find, payable ground in the country lying between the watersheds of Totara and the Four-Mile Rivers, capable of giving remunerative employment to one hundred men for at least six months. Grahamstown, November 7th. Mr James Mackay, jun., has started with a party of surveyors on the large block of land recently purchased in the Piako district. November 9th. The opening of the' Ohinemuri is now almost a settled thing. A meeting was held there to-day, and it was expected to Bettle final arrangements. Te Hira and other leading men having consented to the opening. November 11th. The Ohinemuri correspondent of the Advertiser reports that Mr Mackay has commenced busiuess with the Natives. The Maoris held a meeting at Shortland on Monday, and condemned the proclamation prohibiting the sale of land by Natives to any but the Government. The Advertiser gives the following translation of a circular lately circulated amongst the Natives : — " Hold on J hold on ! hold on ! Wait the arrival of Mr M'Lean : he is the principal man ; he is the Minister for the Maori side. He will consider the correct regulation for the welfare of the people. The practice of issuing licenses is very wrong ; it is a treacherous proceeding, and has neither head nor tail. — From Mr Dickson."