The Sonthland Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1868.

Southland Times, Issue 1022, 16 September 1868, Page 2

The Sonthland Times. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1868.

The election of a member of the Provincial Council, for the town of Invercargill, in the place of Mr George Lumsden, resigned, was held at the Town Hustings, on Tuesday, the 15th inst. The attendance of electors was large, but little interest was evinced in the event. The Returning Officer, Mr John Hare, having read the writ, Mr John Mitchell in a few remai is, proposed Mr Thomas Pratt as a fit and proper person to represent Invercargill in the Provincial Council of Southland. Mr T* M. Clerke, M.P.C., seconded the nomination. No other candidate was brought forward, and the [Returning Officer declared Mr T, Pratt duly elected. The new representative acknowledged the honor that had been done him and a vote of thanks terminated a very tame election. It will be seen from our ad vertieing columns that the time for the return of the nomination of representatives to the General. Synod of the Church of England, to be held in Auckland on the sth October, for the districts of Otago and Southland, has been altered from the 16th to the 21st September. A meeting of the committee of the Southland Art Union was held at the Club, on Tuesday, th; 15th in3t. The attendance was good and several members were added to the committee. It was proposed that the first exhibition should be held early in November. The draft of a prospectus was read and considered. The Secretary was instructed to prepare a copy of the prospectus for publication. What, to use a vulgarism, may be termed a " sell " of a rather remarkable character was perpetrated upon a well-known hotel-keeper in this town, on Saturday last. It would appear that on the evening of that day, a person entered tbe hotel, and intimated his desire to spend the night there. He was flush of cash, and after partaking of some refre&hing beverage, in a confidential whisper informed the host that he had just arrived from the Fiji Islands, and had importantinformation worth thousands of pounds to him, but he could not impart it to him alone, as it was intended to benefit a friend of his as well as himself. The landlord, not doubting hia statement, being in expectation of news from the quarter mentioned, volunteered to accompany him to the residence of the party named. They proceeded on their journey, but when in sight o the house the Fijian ambassador changed his mind, and refused to go any further. The confiding landlord began to " smell a rat." In a very short time the possessor of the expected information was so obfuscated and noisy that lie fell into the hands of Sergeant O'Keeffe, who escorted him on the road to another sort of ho I el, where he was well known, and which he had a parti cular objection to visit. On the way he struggled to escape, and in his efforts to do so, fell headlong into the drain in Esk-street, dragging the conservator of the peace after him. Fortunately no great harm was done. Although the prisoner was stunned by, the fall, Sergeant O'Jteeffe escaped unhurt. This Fijian messenger proved to be a man of the name of John Wiltshire, who had only been released from prison that day after serving a sentence for robbing from the person about the commencement of the year. In the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, before H. M'Culloch, Esq., R.M., a man with many aliases, called Grleeson, was brough t up, charged with being the parson described in the Victorian ' Police Gazette,' for whom a warrant had been issued on the charge of uttering a forged cheque in Melbourne. From the evidence taken it would appear that the prisoner arrived at the Bluff a short time since, and was handed over to the police by the captain of the vessel, charged with being a "stowaway." Having Berved the sentence passed upou hitn for that offence, he was nowbrought up on the other charge. The Commissioner of Police asked for a remand, as he had communicated with the authorities in Melbourne, and was in daily expectation of receiving a reply. A remand for a week waa granted. On Monday, John Wiltshire was brought up, charged with being drunk and disorderly. He was discharged with a caution. Mr M'lntyre made a charge against Constable Connor for misconduct. The complaint was not sustained, and consequently dismissed. The Court was for. some time occupied in hearing crossactions between Mr Cameron of the Albion Hotel, and Mr M'lntyre, of the Albion Stables. The two cases were purely those of disputed accounts, which could have been much more quickly and inexpensively adjusted by a professional arbitrator, and possessing no interest whatever to any one but the parties themselves. His Worship reserved judgment. On Tuesday, Mr M'Culloch decided as follows: — Iv the case of M'lntyre v. Cameron, £9 6s 6d was sued for, he gave judgment for £L, without costs. In the noxt case, Cameron v. M'lntyre, the amount sued for was £72 18s 6d. Judgment for plaintiff, £14 13s, with £5 costs. Iv our notice of the case of M'lntyre v. Cameron, for trespass and foSible entry, in our Friday's issue, by a mistake, the judgment appeals to have been given for the plaintiff, it should have read " for the defendant, with costs."

t^Jfr^frs nv«> vefuvnhy to the West Const frrtm I I theiv wanderifitra over Australian goldirnneß. ( ' SoarceW a stennw *' »ay 3 the * West Coast Times,' "comes hfi'r. f-^y-i Australia without, bringing a greater ov lr?s rmmbev of returned diggers, who after risl'ing hoalth and wnstin? means at the ephemeral Queensland mines, have at Inst been fr.m to once wore turn their 1 faces towards the hills and dales of Westland. which with all her faults has never yet been known to refuse her children a livelihood" The *Waneanui Times' of the 29th ult., under the head of H our native allies," says : — *' Governor Huni, Hbri Grey, Kemp, and other chiefs started overland for Patea oil Tuesday morning to join the men who the day before had gone in advance. Previous to starting, Hori Grey said he knew they were not wanted by Colonel M'Donnell, but were going to do a little business on their own accoTint. They go to seek out and bring Titokowaru, dead or alive. Should thoir services be otheiwise required they will be ready to act, but their main object in going to the front is to capture some of the murderers. After the cruel butchery of the Gilfillan family near Wanganui in 1847, those men, with a respected chief who is now dead, pursued and captured three of the murderers. They were tried, and hanged at the foot of the Rutland stockade, but Sir George Grey thought that the hanging part of the business was a mistake." The Victorian papers state that, Captain Gardener, of the Mount Shank Estate, says in a letter to the ' Border Watch ' that he has shipped 12,000 kangaroo skins within the last few monthsThese kangaroos were all shot on the station. Captain Gardener pays nine shillings a dozen for the skins, but they do not bring hs much as that in Melbourne. The kangaroos are so plentiful that even the twelve thousand already shot make no apparent difference in their numbers. Prom the English papers received by the last mail, we learn that, gold-fields have been discovered in South Africa — that information has been received to the effect that " diggers " had arrived at Shoostrong, the chief Matjen's head kraal, whose country is rich in gold-fields, and had made terms with that chief for the privilege of digging. Matjen had received the party in a friendly manner and pointed out the treasure ; he also expressed himself anxiouß to be taken under British protection.. Lions were plentiful in the country, and caution with regard to them was found necessary. The "New York Times" of the 24th June says : — " The trial trip of the Little Western, a small life-boat, on Lake Michigan, on Sunday afternoon, resulted disastrously. Captain Garrett, the person who sailed her, and a venturesome reporter who took the chances of the experiment with him, were both drowned. This untoward incident is invested with more than ordinary interest from the fact that the lifeboat was built, after a new model, expressly to cross the Atlantic, and had obtained a wide notoriety in the West on account of the intention of her constructors." The ' Daily Times,' 7th Sept., has the following : — " Our readers are aware that Mr Whitworth, a wealthy gunmaker in England, caused a sensation the other day by setting apart a large amount of money for the purpose of scholarships to be held by mechanics. There are to be thirty scholarships of £100 each, available for two or three years j but for the present year there will be sixty exhibitions of £25. This is preparatory to the scolarships. It should be known that these scholarships are open to all Her Majesty's subjects, whether at home or in the colonies ; the only conditions being that the candidates should be mechanics and not more than twentysix years old. Possibly New Zealand may furnish some competitors." The Volunteers mustered in good numbers in the Parade Room, on Monday evening last. Great surprise and pleasure was evinced on the arrival of Captain Harvey, and Lieutenant Geisow in the full uniform of the company. It is a most tasteful and imposing dress, being a scarlet tunic, with silver braid trimmings, dark blue trousers with a red stripe, and a French peak cap to match, with the letters, I.R.V. in scroll, and cast in silver, iv front. Captnin Harvey intimated to the Company that the cloth for the whole company, he expected, would arrive by one of the first steamers from Wellington. An enterprising settler on the Upper Huon, in Tasmania, has commenced the manufacture of buckets and tubs, on the American plan, from the Huon pine and other timbers common in the district. He has put up a sawing, planing, and turning machine on. a section he owns, and, with the assistance of his six children, can turn out two dozen of buckets per day. These he proposes to sell at 15s per dozen. The following account of a meteor seen at Karori, August 5, 1868, was given by Mr Baker at the recent meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society : — At about a quarter after seven o'clock on the evening of the sth August, and while at work in the bush, observed a light very much brighter than the moon, which had just risen and was only two days past the full, shining brightly in a clear sky. The light appeared to be a large round ball of fire, about the size of the moon, travelling from an easterly direction towards the west. The ball of fire burst, and a portion of it apparently struck the ground at about 50 to 100 yards from my house at Karori. The meteor produced a very strange feeling upon me, but which I cannot describe. There was a rumbling noise at the time of the descent of the meteor. A Queensland telegram in the c Argus,' 31st ult., states that the India, from Hobarton, brings the news of the loss of the barque Ornagh, 326 tons, from Newcastle to Adelaide, on the 26th August. She struck on an unknown sunken rock on the east side of King's Island, in latitude 39deg. 48min. south, longitude 144deg. 14min. east ; Sea Elephant Rock bearing S.W. half W. distant four miles, and the extreme end of the bay bearing S.S.W. All hands were saved, and brought here by the India, which arrived last night. The rock is not laid down in any chart. The barque sank iv jsleven fathoms of water after getting off the rock. From the Sydney papers we learn that an extraordinary circumstance happened on board the schooner Urania on her passage to Erisbaue. A meteor struck the vessel, killing a seaman named Sales. After striking the vessel, the meteor burst with a very loud report. '