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Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1285, 18 January 1870, Page 2

A EECENT Gazette notifies the appointment of Frederick E. Hornewan, Esq., to be a coroner of the Colony. Celebration op the Twenty-eight AnnivebSABY of the Phovince. —This event is to be celebrated by conjoined action on the part of the two friendly societies, the Oddfellows' and Fdresters', who have made arrangements for holding a fete on Ist February, the twenty-eight anniversary of the Province of Nelson. It appears that there will be public spoi'fcs; a public dinner in the Oddfellows' Hall, at which the Superintendent will preside, a public tea in the Botanical Gardens, and a display of fireworks in the evening. Mb. Henry Handyside is gazetted as having been appointed clerk of the "Warden's Court on the Nelson South-west G-oldfielde.— Westport Times. Population of the Thames Golbfield. —The editor of the Thames Advertiser, in reply to a correspondent, states that the population of the Thames may be estimated at between 15,000* and 20,000. At Lyttelton, the Helen has been specially chartered to carry flax to England, the London ships having refused to carry it, owing to the advanced insurance premiums, not only on flax, but on the whole cargo where flax forms a portion. The Hokitika Eoening Star has twinkled its last. Peoeo&ation of the New Zealand Pabliament. —A special Gazette published on January 7 contains a proclamation further proroguing the General Assembly until Tuesday, the 29th. March next. Floods in Otago—Loss of Life.— A telegram from Dunedin, dated, Friday, .January 7th, says:— " There have been extensive floods throughout the Province of Otago, and considerable damage has been done to the crops, but not to the extent which was at first feared. At the Taieri, an unfortunate loss of life occurred. A young man named Hastie was drowned while attempting to rescue his father aud mother from their house, which was flooded." The Meteor of the 26th tut. —This singularly brilliant Meteor seems to have been observed all over the Colony. The Auckland papers mention it as having been seen there. The Quartz Keeps at the Grey.—We {Argus of January 11) hear from Moonlight Creek that the only reefing claims on which work is bei g done at present are Moonlight, Golden Hill, ftarly Grey Dawn, and Starlight. In the former of these a large quantity of'stone is out, ready to be put through the machine when crushing is again resumed. Fine gold is easily seen in the stone, and those at work on the claim are confident that it will pay well. It is reported all through the creek that, a large quantity of gold was lost during the last crushing, as it was seen by the miners floating down the stream with the amalgam. This is almost invariably the case with the first starting of new quartz crushing machinery. In the next claim, the Golden Hill, the men at work have commenced tunnelling into a well-defined reef,^ running right through the upper portion of the ground. The tunnel is now in about forty feet; at present the n>en are going through some very hard rock. The overseer expects to be well on to the reef, at a depth of forty feet, in the course of three or four weeks. Some very good specimens from the casing, showing gold plainly, were brought to town. The stoae is precisely similar to that taken from Taff's reef in the Moonlight claim. Another reef has been struck in the upper portion of the Golden Hill ground, and it is believed, on the spot, that every reef in the Moonlight claim runs into the Golden Hill ground. The company think so much of their I ground that they have, within the last few days, put on an extra man to thoroughly prospect the claim. The main reef from the Golden Hill claim runs into the Sunrise Company's grorind. The tunnel in the Early Grey Dawn is now in about fifty feet. They are on a well-defined reef, and are getting put plenty of stone, but as yet gold has not been seen in it? however, the manager seems confident that it will turn out right yet. The -New Stamp Act.—On and after the Ist January, 1870, all bills of exchange, drafts, orders, and promissory notes drawn within tbe Colony (except such as are liable to a duty of one penny only), must be stamped with an impressed stamp before; the.sa.me are made, signed, or issued, under a penalty of fifty pounds, and. no such bill of exchange, &c, shall under any circumstances be'stamped after the making thereof. No instrument (except bills of exchange and promissory notes drawn out of the Colony) shall be stamped after the first execution thereof, by any person except the commissioners. . No transfer of shares in any company shall be registered in the books of such company until duly stamped. ■ Bills purporting to be drawn in sets are liable to; a proportionate duty on each of the set; but persons who shall draw and issue any bill purporting to be one of a set, without drawing the whole of the set on duly stamped paper, are liable to a penalty of one hundred pounds.• 'Unstamped bills, &c;,' are'not to be noted or protested. Some special provisions are made respecting the stamping of deeds; but the duty is uaclianged. Sections 17 to 22 relate- to marine insurance policies, introducing new provisions which should be studied by those interested in these policies. The schedule) contains the new rates of duty on such insurances. " ,

GOVERNOR BOWEN REPRIMANDED.—The following paragraph appears in several of our New Zealand contemporaries:—The Home Government has'severely reprimanded the Governor for assuming the Queen's prerogative of decorating subjects, by his consenting to an Order in Council. instituting the New Zealand Cross. In consideration, however, of tho special circumstances her Majesty has been pleased to confirm the order from the date of its issue.

A Tokomairiro paper states that the contract for the erection of the lighthouse at theNuggetshai! now 1 been completed, The erection of the lantern has been commenced, and it it expected to be ooniplet«d ip about two months,—O^»D(»»7y2Vmff«, J

i Thbee days' racing took place at Westporf .*ui»l Christmas week. . hM A new daily paper. The, Morning Adverttter, m» made its appearance in Auckland. ' ~ A bather long and continuous wave at eanu quake, rather than a shock, was felt in W»n"«J I (Otago), about four p.m. on Christmas va? : " i lasted, says the Argus, for a minute, and our "lfi)r". i mant, says he was lying on the sofa, and thought ac first some one was shaking the side of the house next to him. The wave was also felt at Queenstown, ana I though earhquukes there are common enough, this I one attracted attention owing to its duration. ; The Imperial Tboopb.—Every day brings fresh confirmation of the fact that the 18th Regiment is positively to5 be removed from New Zealand.- 'Wev have just learned that the Claud Hamilton, on her outwardtrip'from here, is to proceed to Taranaki, and take away the two companies stationed there. —• ' Wellington Post, January 10. 1 Cbicket at WBtiiNaTou:—On January 18,'« cricket match came off at Wellington,; between the cricketers of that city and the officers and seamenof H.M.S. Challenger. The man-of-war's men won with eight wickets to spare. MqsvvAm to Me. Baxpotjb.—The Otago Daily Timis states that it basf been suggested by the friends of the late Mr. J. Balfour, Colonial Marine Engineer," that a monument should be erected to his memory in one of the seaport towns of the Colony, the necessary funds to be raised by public subscription^ small donations being taken, so that everybody desirous of * doing so may be enabled to contribute. Wellington,' has been mentioned as affording a suitable site for the cenotaph, -which might, howerer, -with .equal' propriety-be erected in Dunedin, since. Otago was the scene of Mr. Balfour's first labors in New Zealand. vi-':.W'ATE«'SOT3PLYEOR WELLIKGTOX.^-r-The Indppefr* dent of January Bth, says :— "■ We learn that about a month ago our enterprising townsman, Mr Beck, sent home an "order for tho pipes and other-plant necessary to enable him to bring in an ample supply of pure water for the use of dwellers in Mannersstreet, Willis-street, and Lambton Quay.- A site for ' a reservoir has been secured-, and the water will be brought in at a pressure of• about IOOJbs on the" squire inch, which, with the elevation it is' brought-' from, wilt render the water of-immense use in case of fire." ■ - . - . J Mb. Gabbett, of Bendigo Gully,- Cromwell, Otago, ' has been thrown from his horse and killed. The body of a man named William Brodie, has' been washed up on the beach at the Wanganui Heads. At the inquest, a verdict of "found drowned" was returned.. .'..-.' Earthquakes.—At Blenheim, Marlborougb, on January 7, three shocks of earthquake were felfc ' The first, at 1.23 a.m., was very sovere, and accom- " pttnied by a rumbling sound; the second, at '4.30 E a.m., was not 80 severe, while the third, at 5 a.m., was very slight.—The same shoots were felt at White's Bay, in the same Province.—At Picton,: onL the evening of January 3, at 7.30, a smart shock was experienced. , • :' The Settlebs at Patea and thb Pbeßent * Government. —The settlement at the Patea,.and indeed all along from Waitotara to Hawera proceeds satisfactorily. Eoad-making is going on at various' ' places along the route, and we understand that Mr; Fox, and Mr. Shepard, of Gobb and Co.,'jnean to ride from Wanganui to Patea this week to examine the road, and see what is still necessary before, the coach , commences running. ' Beyond the Patea some ofthe-* settlers in favorable situations have gone upon their land; the larger portion of them, however, have ... gathered at Manutahi and Hawera, at each of which- - places a block-house is now nearly erected, and from these block-houses as a common centre and place of safety, they look" after their different ""holdings and battle as best they can. They express themselves perfectly satisfied with the : variousY Government ' arrangements made for their protection and fpr the gradual settlement of the district;— Wanganui Times, Jan. 8., >:.< .. , ..'.;: ..: .. .'-.; V ... ', 7 >:, i Flax Works in Otago.—-The Times states that , Flax Mills appear >to be springing : up all over the Province. Two were lately erected in the Bruce district, and three more are said to be <in course "of Construction, viz., at Silverstream, below. Mosgiel^ Wynham, Mata'ura: and in"the Clutha" swampj between Otanomomo and the river. After all the time, labor, and money expended on > the Weatherstone's deep shaft, Otago, the hopes of " the promoters of that work hate' been disappointed. Accordiug to the TuapeJca Times', the bottom-has been reached, but, unfortunately, it has not proved the subterranean Eldorado some sanguine prophets fpretold. On the 20th instant, the whole working jilant.and machinery, &c, were sold by; Mr. Hay to Mr. Mackay, Weatherstone's, ror £16 10s. '.' The attempted bolstering-up o£ tHe Thames Goldfield at the expense of the West Coast is thus spoken of by a correspondent of the Otago Daily Times :— " Certain influential men, largely interested in the Thames goldfields, observing the deductions drawn.1 from'the fact of the small quantities of gold exported in proportion to the number of men aud amount of capital employed, have hit upon the happy .expedient of improving appearances by importing the gold purchased by the Banks on the West Coast (Wesfclaqd) and then exporting the same to Sydney,: the eveirf' being " chronicled in the daily papers' thus :—".'s?s. \ Hero, from Auckland for Sydney, IO.OOOoz of gold,"" not revealing the fact that 5000oz of such 'shipment have been received from Wesfcland. When it is remembered that this procedure costs the Banks two freights and insurances instead of one, I cannot but conclude that the object sought is to create, a false impression of the yield of gold at the Thames. Henceforth the only reliable means of information to |he publicof the export of gold from this Province; will be the-Customs returns, as the duty upon all 1' gold shipped from the West Coast must be paid there, before its' shipment to Auckland." s Rifle Matches in Maecbobottgh.— Picton v. fyTahaMpawa.-^-Tte return match between these two places came off at Mahakipawa on Tuesday, the 28th December, and after one of the closest contests that the Province of Marlborough has ever witnessed,'' resulted in a victory for Mahakipawa by fourteen points. Each place was represented by twelve rifleInen. The scores were —Picton, 502 points (or .an average per man of 4VIO points); Mahakipawa, 516 points (averageper man, 43 points).— Picton v. SavelocJc. —On the following day, ten of the Picton men had a contest with the same number; of riflemen at Havelocki when the former were victorious. The score's-weiris—Havelock, 326 points;' Picton; 349 points. ; . , f Mb. BAX¥Ottß,the marine engineer, was it appears drowned at Timaru whilst on his way to Oatnaru to" 1 attend the funeral of his friend Mr. Patterson, railway engineer, who, it will be remembered, was drownerj by the upsetting of a coach in the Kakanui river.—The body of Mr. Small wood, who was drowned at the same time as Mr. Balfour, has been found near the mouth of the Opihi river. \ The Affray at the Ahattra Races.—On Jan. 6, at Ahaura, before Mr.Lpwe, R.M., Maurjce J)ool«in^ ' was charged with violently assaulting Michaelßourkej j lon the racecourse on December 27, and was sent w*" 6obden gaol for two'months; witte hard labor.— Bourke, who had been most severely kicked and abused, was fined £5 for commencing the row. \ Washed and tTNWAriifeD "Wool—The Oatnaru (Otago) "Times saysihat as there is considerable discussion as to the advantage or otherwise of washing.l on the sheep's back it may serve to set the , doubts of some at rest to state the result'of an, experiment designed for the express purpose of test^ ing the matter. The Hon. Matbew Holmes lait sieason sent home a portion of his wool in the grease , 4nd a portion washed, and the result was that the hitter fetched as much aa 2s. 4id. per lb.—the highest price we have yet heard of for this season—while that in grease, which Mr. Holmes informs us was of equal quality, realised 10£ d. Comment is unnecessary. -' ' The' Roman Cathoho Bishop of Axtckland.— The " Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" states that Monsignor Pompallier, worn out by the labors of an apostleship of thirty-three years, in KewvZealknd, has begged the Sovereign Pontiff ; to allow him to retire from the duties of the episoopal see of Auckland. His Holiness has just ■conferreadtt^bi ' jenerable Missioner Bishop the title of Archbishop < f Araasia, in partibys. The Key. James McDonald 1 ''icar-General of Monsignor Pompallier^i Justbwa IPpointed to adniaiittr the dwotw tf ▲uoUand.