Telegraphic Briefs.

Otago Witness, Issue 1584, 1 April 1882, Page 11

Telegraphic Briefs.

W The Oamaru breakwater is expocted to bo completed in a month's time. The City of Sydney loft for San Francisco on Tuesday. She A\as crowded, and Mr Brogden, M.P., could not get a passage by her. Sir William Fox has paid the Waihi Natives a visit. They will not consent to have their lands subdivided. At the annual meeting of the Thnaru Agricultural and Pastoral Association the balancesheet showed a debit balance of £246. Four hundred and nineteen thousand bags of grain were carried over the Canterbury railways up to March 23rd. A Royal barge, for the King of Tonga, was launched on Monday at Logan's yards, Auckland. It is got up in excursion style, and is to be conveyed to Tonga by the Myrtle. Colonel Reader, after conference with the officers, recommends the abolition of the Auckland rifle battalion, pending reorganisation of the Volunteer force. A fire occured on Monday night at Otepopo by which a threshing mill and two stacks of oats were destroyed. The mill was insured for £00 ; the oats were also insured. Fifteen long-sentenced prisoners were deported from Napier on the 25th to relieve the overcrowded gaol there. Some wore destined for Lyttelton, and others for Wellington. It lias been decided to hold an interprovincial band contest, also a series of concerts and choral competitions, at Christchurch during the Exhibition period. Forty from the Artillery, 40 from the Invercargill Rifles, and 25 from the Garrison Band will attend the Volunteer review at Dunedin from Invercargill. The Riverton numbers are not ascertained yet,

Negotiations have been concluded for the purchaso of the goodwill of the Thnaru Herald, together with plant and premises, by a limited liability company, for the sum of £10,01)0. llio company takes over the business on Apm Ist. At the adjourned meeting of the East Ohnstchurch Licensing Committee a wholesale license was refused to Wilkin and Co., on the ground that one of the firm was an auctioneer. J Ins is the case mentioned last week. Advices have been received that a vessel left Liverpool last month for the Invercargill jetl-y. This will be the first Home ship that has visited the port for 17 years. She goes thence to Napier. At the District Court, Auckland, in the case Burton v. John Lundon, a claim of £38 11s, electioneering expenses, defendant was ordered to pay by Ist May, or suffer one month's imprisonment in Mount Eden Gaol. Charles W. Bell, a stationer in Wellington, and secretary to tho Britannia Lodge of Odd-Fellows, broke a blood-vessel in the street on Saturday, and bled to death in a few minutes. The deceased, who was consumptive, leaves a wife and two children. ,

The Hon. Mr Bryce procoodod to tho Upper Thames River on Saturday. The Natives have now agreed to have removed tho snag which had impeded the navigation of the river for a long time past. Mr Hogg, chief officer of the ship Oxford, lying in Auckland Harbour, narrowly escaped drowning on Thursday, being pushed over the wharf by the crowd at the departure of the Te Anau. A seaman of the Te Auau jumped overboard and rescued him.

Tawhiao's wife arrived in Auckland on Tuesday night, and interviewed the Native Minister re. the holding of the Native Land Court at Mokau. It is officially notified that Rewi applies for a Laud Court at Kihikihi, intending to put a large tract of country through the Court.

An accident occurred at Manufcahi, Taranaki, on Thursday to Mrs Curd, wife of a platelayer. She was riding, and fell from the saddle to the ground. Her jaw was completely shattered, and several of her ribs were broken. Mrs Curd is 70 years of age, and the injuries' are likely to be serious. The Government have remitted the remainder of the sentence of imprisonment for life passed in 1872 upon Te Maka Raitai, one of Te Kooti's followers, for the murder of a friendly Native messenger, on the occasion of the Poverty Bay campaign. The chief Tokaru, of Mokau, states that he is well pleased with tho working of the Native Lands Court in Waitara district, and is determined to assist Te Wetere in getting the Lands Court to sit at Mokau as soon as possible. He also states that he is quite willing to show a good road through the Mokau district northwards.

A seven-roomed house at Taradale, Hawke s Bay, was destroyed by fire on Thursday night. It was occupied by awidowandherfivechildren, who with difficulty escaped. The house was insured for £100 and the furniture for £(50 in the New Zealand Office. £20 in notes wore burnt ; nothing was saved. A negro restaurateur at Auckland named Samuel Cox had an altercation with another coloured man named Hall on Saturday night in the restaurant, andstabbed him in the headwith a table-knife. Hall lost a quantity of blood, and his wounds are considered dangerous, erysipelas having now set n Cox was arrested. ! At the Invercargill District Court the only case of general interest was a charge of larceny preferred against a solicitor from the North named R. Patterson. He was found guilty, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. His solicitor stated that his client had been in the Asylum at Sunnyside and in England has been addicted to drink.

The first poll under the new Licensing Act for and against the issue of new licenses in the Borough of South Invercargill took place on Tuesday. Ninety -five votes were given in favour publicans' licenses, and G8 against. The decision of the ratepayers was, however, against bottle licenses and New Zealand wine licenses.

The directors of the Wellington Frozen Meat Company met onFriday, and after along discussionit Was decided, on a division, to order a Haslem machine for erection here. The chief argument of the dissentients was that nothing would' be lost by waiting for further results from Australian shipments. The expected machinery will arrive in time to work next

season. At an inquest on the body of Henry M'Quaid, killed on the Onehunga road on Sunday morning early, the evidence showed that the lad, aged 18, had been served at 11 o'clock on Saturday night, at an Onehunga Hotel, with three glasses of gin, though the publican admitted that M'Quaid was " fresh " when he came in. An open verdict was returned.

A meeting of the directors of the Welling-, ton Frozen-meat Company was held on Saturday, when it was decided to procure a Haslem machine similar to those ordered by the Christchurch and Dunedin Companies. It is expected the machinery will arrive during the spring, and that the Company will be able to commence operations during the season. Mr Federliehas returned to Christchurch from a visit to Akaroa and the Peninsula. He has persuaded a number of persons to undertake the silk industry — some on a large scale. They have successfully hatched many silkworms, and raised cocoons superior to any he has seen before. He will exhibit a bay of interesting specimens of sericulture at tho International Exhibition.

A young man named Henry M'Quaid, a labourer, was found dead on Monday on the Onehunga road, with a mark of a cartwheel across his head. He was last seen alive aftor midnight, drunk, and it is surmised ho fell asleep on the road, and was run over by ono of the early milk-carts. The driver of a milk-cart said his horses shied at a point where the body was found, but he took no notice of the circumstance.

A case of some interest was heard at Wellington on Tuesday. It was as to whether surety given for good behaviour could be recalled. Carter, a cabman, had been convicted for a breach of the peace, and was bound in two sureties to keep the peace for eight months. He obtained the necessary sureties, but these now applied to be discharged from their responsibilities, as they feared Carter would commit a breach of the peace. The Court held it had no power to relieve them from their responsibility. A curious caso came before linage Johnston at Christchurch on Tuesday. Since the filing of his certificate by a bankrupt, a draft of £1(50 in his favour from his father in London had reached Christchurch, and the letter containing it was opened by the trustee. The trustee presented it for payment, but the bank having received notice from the bankrupt's wife that £60 of the draft was for her. maintenance, refused to pay it. An application for the Judge's order to compel the bank to pay the trustee was now made, and after hearing argument, his Honor reserved his decision. At Tuesday's meoting of the Christchurch Exhibition Sports Committee, it was stated that £450 had bson already collected, and it was decided to allocate the following sums (portion of which has still to be collected) :— £so to the Grand National Steeplechase; £150 guaranteed to Ball Committee ; £155 to Musical Committee ;

£150 to athletic sports ; £40 to friendly sociotics' procession ; £50 to Firo Brigade ; and £25 eacli to bicycle tournament, football match, and coursing match. Mr Quill, an Ashburton publican, has bought the right at the Exhibition of tho bars and re-freshment-rooms, for which he paid down a cheque for £1000. He afterwards bought the sole right to sell edibles in the building, 'and the catering will thus be entirely in Quill's hands. H e will have a staff of some 30 persons who will live in a building attached to the Exhibition, «md a bakery will be built close handy to supply the provisions necessary. Satisfaction is expressed *it the catering of every kind being in one man's hands, as it is expected it will in consequence be better carried out.

At a special mooting of the Southland Waste Lands Board, the question of re-leasing the runs in the western district, of which the leases fall in at tho end of this year, was fully discussed. The report of the chief surveyor and the members commissioned to inspect the runs, was adopted. The larger runs will be cut up and the smaller ones re-loased intact, all for a period of 10 years, and at an upset of 2d per aero. Government will bo requested to arrange for the sale of tho leases to take place at tho earliest possible date with a viow of permitting the new lessees to commence rabbitpoisoning early in winter. The country not dealt with on Tuesday will be inspected next week.