Local Intelligence.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1835, 26 February 1863, Page 3

Local Intelligence.

The City Election.— We had intended to have noticed the Advertiser's last and most remarkable effusion on this subject ; but the arrival of the English mail has given us] .something better to do. We are not in the least surprised that it should have taken our contemporary so long to reply to our election articles of the 19th; but we are very much so at the lame and impotent at- 1 tempt it^makesjto keep up its little game of opposition to Mr ~Dransfield's return. The Advertiser must lake the electors to be a very set of children, if it thinks they are going to be frightened out of their wits by some real or imaginary conversation which " somebody " had with " nobody " in its printing office, about the seat of government. Whoever the gentleman is that the Advertiser threatens ts inflict on the constituency's notice next Tuesday, we may safely assure him that he will only make himself ridiculous if he goes to a poll|; the great majority of the electors of all classes being fully satisfied to see a thoroughly independent member, such as they believe Mr Dransfield p to be, returned without either personal or political opposition.

Reclaimed Land Sale. — Yesterday, the land was offered for sale by auction at the Treasury. Only two lota were sold, No. 1, to the N. Z. Bank, being contiguous to the triangular piece on which their new building is about to be erected, and No; v 3, between the new Bank and Noah's Ark, by Mr Brandon for an office. One of the objects of putting up the whole to auction, is to enable it to be sold to applicants at any time afterwards at the upset price, and we doubt not that it will gradually be taken up accordingly.

Abbival of Miss Neville. — We are happy in observing that those talented artistes, Miss Neville and Mr George Loder, have now arrived in Wellington, and , will jive their celebrated drawing entertainment " The old House at Home" on Monday next, in the Odd Fellows Hall.

ConoNEu'g Inqqest. — An inquest was held on the 21st instant, aj; the Halfway House, Poriruaroad, before F.J. Knox, Esq., M. D., Coroner, and a respectable jury, on view of the body of an infant child belonging to Eliza Mudgway. The grandmother of tho child and Mrs Barrow, were examined, and after mature' consideration, the following vordict was agreed to by the jury, viz.— " That the Baid "female 'child, daughter of Eliza Mudgway'(daugliter of Charles Mudgway), died fvom congestion of blood on the brain in consequence pfignorance on the pazfcof tho nurse in tho administration of its food."

The Separation Pjuzb Pamphlet.— The Otago correspondent of the Nelson Examiner, thus summarily disposes of this pamphlet and its author : — You would probably see that the prizes have been awarded for the pamphlets on Separation. The Daily Times' prize of-^GO, or a silver cup of equal value, was awarded to a Mr W. E. Sadler, of Auckland, a writer entirely unknown to fame. I am strongly of opinion that it will tend much to the advantage of the cause of Separation, if the bare fact that Mr Sadler's pamphlet has been j written is allowed to suffice.' To publish it would be an injury to the lucky pamphleteer, and might I induce tho establishing a commission de lunatico inqvirendo. I was certainly not one of the judges, but as newspaper correspondents are supposed to worm out anybody's secrets, I may confidently assure you that the prize pamphlet is a bundle of nonsense. It owes its merit only to the fact that bad as it is, there wore others a great deal worse. I am disposed to think that Mr Sadler's essay will never see the light. As for the four writers, who recoive i'2o between them, the least said of their effusions tho better; I can only say I strongly sympathise with the judges who were compelled to read them.

[ Tub Hokioi. — There is a maori . newspaper recently started in Waikato called tho ' Hokioi/ which being edited by the natives, will no doubt occasionally contain versions very different to tho3e which appear in the pakeha newspapers. This will be only natural, as iEsop long since showed. Once upon a time aman t and a lion were journeying together, and came at length to high words as to which was tho braver and stronger of the two. As the dispute waxed warmer, they happened to pass by the statue of a man strangling a lion. '• See there " said the man, " what more undeniable proof can you have of our superiority than that? " " That," said the lion " is your version of the story, let us be the sculptors, and for one lion under the feet ©f a man, you shall have twenty men under the paw of a lion." On this principle we may infer that as the Hokioi reports Sir George Grey's visit to the Waikato as leaving matters just where they were — neither party gainiug a victory — there is good reason to believe that Sir George came off very far from second best — that when he spoke, Thomson, really did " melt away and become nothing." Occasionally, however, the pakeha newspapers | give a version which we can imagine would translate first rate. Here is a specimen from an Otago letter in the Nelson Examiner, it would figure well in the Hokioi under the heading, say, I " Pakeha Bounce."—" In my report on the Shott over I forgot to mention that ' jumping ' claims had been carried, on to a great extent. As the Maories have just been mentioned, an anecdote concerning them may not be out of place at even the tail end of a letter. Seven of these men held an amalgamated claim some distance up the river, and it is an extremely valuable one. . They were jumped by the • professionals ' upon the grounds that a 'white man ' should be entitled to a claim before any other colour. The jumpers proceeded to throw their-own tools into the' claim and to throw out those of tho Maories. After some altercation the latter withdrew and went up to their tents. The jumpers as may be supposed were in high glee at their easy victory and had already commenced trying the value of their obtained claim. In the height of their exhilaration and noisy congratulations, they saw the seven Maories returhing. each with a tomahawk. . The Maories- proceeded very deliberately to collect their tools, replace them in the claim, take out their tomahawks and prepare for work. The intruders did not relish this kind of work and, upon second considerations, thought discretion the better part of valour. They withdrew, stating that they should bring the Commissioner. It ' is needless to add that they did not, upon further consideration in this instance consult that gentleman.