OTAGO.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 289, 4 July 1868, Page 2

OTAGO.

HEAVY OALE AJTD FLOODS AT OTAGO. (From the Daily Times, June 15.) The heavy rain of Friday has resulted in a flood which, in some parts of the province, at least, has been more severe than that which occurred four or five months ago. The flood .was, fortunately, confined to a narrow strp of country from the sea board; but the present one, it is to be feared, has extended overnearly the whole province. The Clutha, which was scarcely at all affected on the former occasion, has now been greatly flooded. The gale accompanying the flood, has been scarcely less severe than its predecessor, and it has caused a terriffic sea on the coast. So far as we have yet heard, the gale has been less productive of wrecks on the coast; but there has been one wreck—that of the brigantine Dispatch— Timaru being the place of the disaster. The Dispatch was commanded by Captain Driver ; and it is with very sincere regret that we have to record the death of that gentleman. So far as our present scanty information shows, Captain Driver was killed before the wreck occurred ; his death having been caused by the galley, through the rolling of the vessel, having been thrown over upou him. Our Port Chalmers correspondent writes :■ —" By telegrams received by Messrs Turnbuiland Co., from Timaru, we are sorry to learn that their schooner Dispatch had been driven on shore at Timaru, and that Captain Driver had been killed by the galley falling on him." The Dispatch left Port Chambers on the 2nd ult. for the Chatham Islands, where she loaded a cargo of cattle, and was returning to this port ; but from information received, it would appear that she had rather a lengthy return trip, as, on Friday, Captain Driver telegraphed that he had put in at Timaru, short ef feed for his cattle, &c. He, at the same time, stated that five head had been lost, the remainder of the cattle being in first-rate condition. On Saturday morning the sad intelligence of the vessel's loss and her captain's death was received, and it cast a gloom over the shipping community. Captain Driver, although an American, was looked upon as belonging to Dunedin, and he was well known in connection with several vessels sailing out of this port. Captain Driver leaves a widow to mourn his loss. He was a brother of Mr Henry Driver, of this city. The Dispatch was a well-known trader on the West Coast in the early days of the gold discoveries there, and under the command of Captain Keenan, she made some remarkably good passages —in one instance accomplishing the voyage from Dunedin to Hokitika and back to this port in fourteen days. For some time past, she has been employed in running cattle from the Chatham Islands to Lyttelton; and sho was on her second voyage from the Chathams to this port when the wreck occurred.