NELSON.

Wellington Independent, Volume VIII, Issue 772, 5 March 1853, Page 4

NELSON.

{From the. Nelson Examiner.) ; Shocking Accident. —It is our molancholy duty this week to record a fatal acoideut which has occurrod at Massacre Bay. It appears that ou the Bth instant Mr. H. Eliot, a gentleman well known to most of our follow settlers, took his gun aud went out for the purpose of pigeon shooting. As lib did not return that eveniug or the following morning, his wife became alnrined, and expressed her fears to a noighbour, Mr. ;T Lovell, who, in company with Mr. Packard, immediately started out to look forthe missing goutleman, hut returned in the evening without finding him. The search was

continued on tho two following days, in company with some Maories who had been engaged to assist, and at uoon on fhe 11th inst., one of tho party-returned with the' tidings that tho dead body of Mr. Eliot had been found about two miles away from his house. It would seem tho deceased was climbing a rock, and had left his gun rosting against the baso of the rock, and. that while in the act of reaching down to lift the gun after him, it exploded, the contents shattering tho bruin, and causing instant death. A Court of enquiry was held-yesterday ; at the Commer<)ial Hotoli Nelson, by -the Coroner, when several witnesses were examined, and the following verdict-was returned:—" that Henry Eliot met with his death from an accidental discharge of his gnu." The Coroner was requested by'the jury to express ■ their thanks to Mr. J. .Lovell for his great and unwearied exertions in discovering tho body, and his unremitting endeavours in clearing up the.facts of the melancholy case, aud that great praise is due to him. .Nelson Mining Company.—We regret to state that a report is in circulation, to the effect, that tho Coal field at Pakawau has turned out a blank. We are requested to say, that this has not emanated from Mr Stoddart, the gentleman employed by tho company to-survey the field, whose report of that survey will be delivered to the Directors this morning, and is by no means unfavourable. Gold.—We have been.informed, on respectable authority, that gold has at last been found in the settlement of Nelson by a person who has -just returned from. the Australian gold. fields. Whether this report will be confirmed, or whether it-will turn out a mere rumour, time will decide. It is stated, however, that a sample of the gold has been sent to his Honour the Superintendent, but as we have not seen it, wo can express no opinion on tho subjoct. Inland Communication with CanTBRDUiiY.—i'ht! successful attempt made last-year to drive stock by an inland route"from Nolson to Canterbury, hits led to a considerable migration this summer in the same direction. Four or five flocks of sheep, numbering altogether nearly 5,000 head, the greater part of which are breeding ewes, will cross Barefell's Pass during the present season, on .their way to help to stock the great southern Plains, besides about 400 head of horned cattle. The ooeuing of this communication between the two settlements of Canterbury and Nelson is of great importance to both. ■It has caused a brisk demand for breeding ewes, which have been selling at about £ 1 a head, and it will be the moans of hastening the settlement of the country south of tiio Kaikoras, and.increasing its exports, as tho facilities for importing sheep from Australia are no longer what they were before the recent gold discovery there. To Mr. E. Lee, the gentleman who so boldly undertook last year to explore alono the supposed impenetrable country between the two settlements, vye are untler the deepest obligation. During the past week the work of harvesting has fairly commenced throughout the settlement. 'We have never witnessed in any previous year such luxuriant crops of every kind as are now being gathered in, and the turnip and potato crops, yet to follow, hold forth the promise of equal abundance. This is particularly remarkable on jtheujjper or light soils, and is attributable to the showery weather which we-have experienced durriug- the whole of the present summer. The results of tho present, and also of last season, have established the fact that much of tho land in this settlement which had hitherto, from its gravelly character, not been deemed well fitted for a rotation of crops, is,-in seasons like the last two, ut least worthy of cultivation, and many sections whioh have previously been past by, are now eagerly sought for. We are not at all certain that a-further experience of our climate may not prove that the weather of the last twenty-four months is as much to bo expected as the drier seasons preceding them. It is to be desired, however, that tho weather should become more settled than it has been for the last fortnight, or we fear that some damage will be sustained by the crops now ripe, before they are secured.