AUCKLAND.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 647, 11 March 1879, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

March 10. The schooner Vavau, from Samoa, brings newß of the accidental shooting of Oaptain Worsp. He had given a native a revolver supposed to be locked, and told him he might point it at him, being certain it would not go off, but the revolver exploded. The ball passed below the stomach. The land tax valuation in the Takapua district, near Auckland, showed only £42 capable of being collected. The properties are valued at £100,000 exclusive of improvements, but it is divided among six hundred owners, of whom only forty-three were taxed. The land tax will not pay expenses for collection in the majority of districts north of Auckland. Two employees at the Kaipara sawmill had their fingers taken off with plaining machines. A man has been drowned in the Wairoa river. He was larking with another man. The Evening Star on Saturday night came out enlarged. In the article announcing the change, it gives the size of the various leading penny papers, showing that its new size is six columns larger than the Melbourne Age, and therefore that the Claris thelargestpenny paper in the Australian Colonies March 8. During the month of February there were 17 deaths registered in the City of Auckland, against 16 in the corresponding month of 1878. Recently a native named Memikutu, was tried at Mongonui before one Justice of the Peace (Mr. Ball), for stealing and disposing of a heifer, the property of Mr. Gittlepond of the Settlers' Hotel, to Mr. Wilkinson of Oruri. Evidence was given at considerable length, which apparently proved the prisoner's guilt, but the charge was dismissed. A correspondent writing from Kawakawa, Bay of Islands, on the sth inst., states that the news of the explosion at Kaitangata has very naturally caused some talk here, and not a few affirm that such a catastrophe may occur in the Bay of Islands coal mime at any moment. It is rumored that flashes of firedamps have lately been witnessed, and in some parts the ventilation ia bo defective as to prevent miners working longer than one or two hours' at a time.

The Royal Commission appointed to enquire into -the matters connected with the Bay of Islands and Mongonui electoral roll is taking evidence at Russell. The Commission is sitting in the Court House. Mr. Bryce intimated that it was his desire to make the fullest and most searching enquiry possible, and therefore the enquiry was conducted with open doors. The first witness was Mr. E. Williams, R.M., and late Registration and Returning Officer, who deposed that from information received he had objected to a large number of Maori names, because they did not possess the necessary qualification, and because they held property in common. He also stated that a Maori had informed him that his claim was sent in without his knowledge, also that several of the claims appeared to be in the same handwriting, and attested by the same party. Captain Baker, Mr. Williama's successor as Registration Officer, appeared to know very little on the subject. He stated that he took no steps to sustain the objections raised by Mr. Williams when the Revision Court sat the day after his appointment. Hirina Ta^hanga deposed that he believed he and another were struck off because they had voted for Mr. John Lundon. The Commission proceeds on Tuesday to Whangaroa, and thence to Mongonui and Hokianga. Mr. Williams strenuously denied that he acted with any partiality when making objection. There are a great many Maories in the township, and considerable interest is manifested in the proceedings. March 9. A. man named Roberts, in the employ of the Auckland Sawmill Company at their works, Freeman's Bay, met with a dangerous accident. He was working at one of the saw benchas when a slab sprang suddenly against the splash board and struck him on the forehead, inflicting a very nasty wound. He was subsequently attended to by Dr. Purchase, and he is expected to recover. William Hayes, carter at Onehunga, has been committed for trial for stealing a watch and chain, worth £18 10s, from a person named Carroll. The South British Company's new building at the corner of Queen and Shortland-streets is approaching completion. Up to the present time the reports from the sawmills would imply that the recent rains have been much heavier in some districts, than in others. The Union Company's mill at Tairua has had a drive of 300 logs. Schappe and Ansenne's (of Mercury Bay) had 1200 logs, equal to two and a half million feet timber ; Guthrio and Larnach at Whatipu had 600 logs, and the Mercury Bay Sawmill Company 150 logs — altogether probably equal to five million feet timber.