TELEGRAPHIC BRIEFS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1866, 26 August 1887, Page 18

TELEGRAPHIC BRIEFS.

The mail coach fr6m Opuhake met with an accid&hfc a lady had her arm ana ankl6 tookda and the drivfer sustained rather serious '.injury; The horses, which were standing at the Oed Hotel-, started off and capsiged, the coach. Captain Payne, of Auckland Arliiilery (A Battery), is gafcetteu 1 majofc in the New Zealand Regiment of Artillery «md to command the 1.«,t (Ndrtjfc Jsland) Brigade. James Parnell, late captain Whangarei City Rifles, is gazetted honorary major in the New Zealand Volunteer Force,

Intelligence has been received from Mongonui Bluff, Hokianga, that while two Maori children, brothers, aged five and six years, were leftaloue in a whare while their parents were away in the bush, the clothes of «the younger Caught fire accidentally, and those of the elder also 1 ignited while trying to savß the younger. The elder brother Jumped into the creek and extinguished his burning clothing, and ran back tb assist his younger brother, but only arrived in time to see him burnt fed death. The Survivor was badly burned through bis heroic efforts to save bis brother.

The Natives burned to death at Whatiwhau were man and wife, Kairangi and Tenua, formerly of New Plymouth. The Auckland Timber Company's annual report shows a 1083 of £261 on the year's operations. No dividend is declared owing to the state nt the timber trade. £23,230 is standing to the credit of profit and loss account.

Amongst the passengers by the ' steamer Richmond are the Rev. A. Pearce, Mrs Pearce, and eight native missionaries en route for New Guinea, via Sydney. The Rev. Mr Pearce has been for the last 14 years at Raiatea on behalf of the London Missionary Society, and he recently volunteered to proceed to New Guinea to carry on missionary work there. He, with, his wife and family and native missionaries, will be stationed at Dunen Island, a comparatively unknown portion of the Continent, and in pursuance of missionary work will establish » native school there.

The Midland Railway Company are pushing on work in the vicinity of Brunnerton as fast «.•> possible. Fifty men are ballasting the lin between the Tyneside mine and the Junction station. The master's house at Richardson is nearly completed, and the engine house, station, and goods sheds are started and are expected to be out of hand in a few weeks.

Owing to an unusual amount of traffic on the Brunner bridge, some difficulty would be encountered in meeting any sudden and increased demand for coal. The district traffic has been increasing so steadily of late as to point to the necessity for a dray bridge, so as to leave the present bridge free for railway coal traffic.

Owing to the scare caused by the late Greymouth flood, people are steadily removing to the higher part of the town. Within a short distance in Tainui street no fewer than 20 private residences are now in course of erection. There are very many more being erected all over that portion of the town known as the Terrace.

A vagrant named Robert Carlyle was found in a washhouse at Greymouth, sleeping between several little fires he had made on the ground. He was sentenced to one month in Hokitika Gaol. He admitted in the course of examination that he had burned down ike house in which he camped at Coal Creek some time ago. The annual meeting of the Auckland Timber Company was held oa the 22nd. The report showed a loss of £261 on the year's operations, and the payment of a dividend to shareholders was not authorised.

The Onehunga Ironworks recommenced active operations on the 22nd. Arrangements have been made with Mr Hugheß, of Sydney, who has taken over the works, and it is his intention to carry ou the smelting of sand. He has brought with him from Australia a dozen workmen who aro proficieut in the industry. Mr Justice Ward on Monday again held that a bankrupt could not obtain his discharge until he paid all wages in full by 20s in the pound, and the mere fact that a servant might agree to take a less sum would not alter the case. A bankrupt must be able to swear he paid in fall. The placing of White's new Maori book in the official ivdex expuryatorms has had the effect of causing a tremendous rush for it in Auckland on Monday. Last week there were copies to be seen in all the booksellers' shops ; at noon on Monday not a copy was to be got for love or money.

A boy named Tumbull fell off the Tauranga wharf on Saturday night, and was pluckily rescued by Smith, a seaman of the Omapere. An effort is being made to float a company in London to work the Caswell Sound marble deposits. The capital of the proposed company is set down at £100,000, in 10,000 shares at £10 each. It is contemplated to purchase a steamer in Great Britiain to fetch the marble from Caswell Sound to Wellington, where most of it will be transhipped for London. The trade, however, will not be sufficiently large to employ a steamer the whole of her time, and it is proposed that she could occasionally run a cargo of coal from Groymouth to Wellington, Lyttelton, or Dnnedin.

The snow on the mountains inland is lower down their slopes at the West. Coafit than has been seen for years, and it is therefore a common subject of remark that it only requires a heavy rain to cause another flood.