LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2431, 23 October 1866, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS.

The Queen's Whabf. — The last of the screw- piles, which will support the new extension of the Queen's Wharf was driven into the ground on Saturday, and a flag was hoisted on the pile driving machine, as a sign that the work had been got on with so far. It is expected that all the timbers will be laid, and the wharf completed by next Christmas. New Zealand Steam Navigation Company. — The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of this Company, will be held on Monday next, in the Athenaeum at 2 o'clock. Cobbection. — In our report of the Dis. trict Court proceedings, Mr. Levin was made to say " that eighteen per cent interest wjas usually charged by Banks and mercant|le men," whereas, the rate he mentioned wjas ten per cent. The mistake arose through a printer's error. I Telegraphic.— We understand that communication is again established along the whole line of telegraph, the interruption caused through the late gale having been rectified. Primitive Methodists. — Anniversary services were held on Sunday last in the Primitive Methodist Church, Sydney-street. The Eer. Mr. Muir preached in the morning and the Eev. Mr. Harding in the evening. ; Mb. Ckosbie Ward.— Mr. Crosbie Wardi formerly Postmaster-General, whose service^ in connection with the Panama service are well-known and appreciated, arrived yesterday in this port from Lyttelton in the s.s. Wellington He is, we understand, about to pay a visit to England for the benefit of his health. The Thespian Club. — This Club gave another performance last night, at the Odd Fellows' Hall, which was well attended. The pieces played were the same as those given on the last occasion, " The Will and the Way," and " Winning a Wife," and met with a fair amount of success. DISCONTINUANCE OF MAIL SeBVICES. — The Postmaster- General has carried out the suggestions of the Postal Committee for the discontinuance of certain mail services. Notice has been given to the New Zealand Steam Navigation Company to discontinue running steamers for Manukau, Nelson, and Picton in order to collect the mails from those provinces which are intended for transmission to England by the Suez route. The steamer for Napier carrying the Suez and Panama mails is also to be stopped. We don't know how the reduced service will work, but it appears tp us that much inconvenience will be felt by 9ome of the provinces. The Government of course are bound to study economy, but there are many things to which the pruning knife might more fittingly be applied. If the mail services are to be cut down,, let us have some reductions in those departments of Government for the maintenance of which much of the revenue is wasted on the mere pretence of public service. The Maung-atapu Mubdebs.— An illustrated narrative of the Mauogatapu murders, containing a full account of the capture, trial, and execution of the murderers has been published by Messrs. Nation and Luckie of the Colonist oßice, and is on sale by Mr. William Lyon of this city. The pamphlet is admirably got up and contains a history of Burgess's life, compiled by the Editor of the Colonist from a narrative written by himself. We have also received a somewhat similar pamphlet from the Examiner office, of which nearly the same remarks may be made. Those who wish to possess a full and accurate narrative of these occurrences will find it in a convenient form in these pamphlets. Mb. Charles Huesthouse.— By the present mail we have received copies of twopamphlets, being letters addressed by Mr. Charles Hursthouse, to the Earl of Caernarvon, Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to the Hon. E. W. Stafford, " Premier," on the affairs of New Zealand. We «hall take an early opportunity of reviewing their contents. The Thames. — The Southern Cross says : — " The letter of our Thames correspondent is very assuring, and we may congratulate the province on the gradual settling down of the natives to peaceful pursuits. The operation of the Native Lands Court ought to ht quietly and steadily extended in native districts.

. Canterbury. — Some alarm has been caused in Christchurch, by the late overflow ! of the Waimakariri into the Avon, which. I flows through Christchurch. The Provincial j Engineer is of opinion that in the course of i time the Waimakariri will return to its old course and How through Christchurch. The new Provincial Council was opened <5n Friday the 19th inst. Mr. Tancred was elected Speaker of the Council. The Superintendent in his address adverted to some of the measures he intended with the advice of his Executive to bring forward ; alluded to a plan which would be brought forward for selling rural lands on the West Coast ; requested power to spend a fair share of revenue in Westland and Timaru, and trusted that the cordial understanding, which he had established with the neighboring Provinces of Nelson and Otago would be maintained. The Superintendent also said that he wa3 advised that the line from Lyttelton to Selwyn would be open throughout in about nine months. Otago News. — There is a great deal .of political excitement in Otago at the present time. Mr. Dick addressed his constituents at Port Chalmers on the 13th in&t., on the events of the late session and was well received, while Mr. Vogel has preferred to issue an address to his constituents in the columns of the Otago Daily Times. A number of lists, showing how the Otago members did not vote all on the same side during the session, have also been published and suggestions made that all the members should resign and new elections take place, A great public meeting took placer afc the Princess' Theatre on 15th inst., to hear, the the representatives of the city, give' "an account of themselves ; Mr. Patterson, whospoke first, was frequently interrupted and called on to resign ; after saying thab he was prepared to do so, he sat downadrnidst aperiect Btorm of groans and hootings. Mr. Reynolds was well received, and said that he was willing to follow the suggestion which had been made that all the members fbr the Province should resign tfheir seats. Mr: Hepburn also wished to speak, but the people would not listen to him. Mr. Dick, Mr. Vogel and Mr. Burns also spoke and were well received. Ihe meeting which waa not very orderly, broke up after passing a resolution to the effect that the members should resign their seats in order that the feeling of the Province should be tested. Public Meeting at Gbeytown.— -From our own correspondent in Greytown we learn that a meeting was held in the Greytown School House on Friday the 19th inst. for the purpose of expressing an opinion on therecent proceedings of the Greytown School Committee j Mr. Eevans in the chair. Mr. Herschberg proposed that this meeting considers that the Greytown School Committee has acted contrary to the interests of the inhabitants in giving Mr. Jupp, (the schoolmaster) notice to retire and advertising for another master, and they require that the advertisement be immediately withdrawn, Mr. Walker seconded the resolution. Several gentlemen spoke in favor of Mr. Jupp and stated that their children had improved very much under his care. The school inspector's report of his last inspection was read and it spoke most favourably of the progress of the pupils. In the course of the meeting Mr, Jupp read a copy of a letter he posted to the Chairman of the School Committee, asking for the reasons of his dismissal and said Mr. H. Udy the . Chairman, did not answer it neither would he tell him the cause of his dismissal. The resolution on being put to the meeting was carried unanimously amid cheers, after which a vote of thanks was given to the Chairman and the meeting separated. Mr. H.TJdy was not present at the meeting ; but it is said that he was within hearing of what passed. New Zealand Bishops.— Two New Zealand Bishops were consecrated on August 24 at Canterbury Cathedral. They were the Sev. A. B. Suter and the Eev. H. Jenner ; the formor as Bishop of Nelson, and the latter as Bishop of Dunedin. The consecrating prelates were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of London and Gloucester. It had been arranged that the Rev* S. R. Waddelow should at the same time.be consecrated, not as Bishop of Grafton and Armidale, a new Australian Diocese, to which he has been designated, but as a suffragan to the Bishop of Newcastle. Some I difficulty arising out of the unsatisfactory | state of the law in regard to the colonial episcopate, however, probably prevented the rev. gentleman from presenting himself. i / Eaipaea.— At a meeting of Northern 'native chiefs recently held at Kaipara, to consider what action should be taken in consequence of some native assessors having been, dismissed by the Government, the resolu--1 tions arrived^ were that the Native Magistrates and Office-holders under the Government in the North, should at once throw up . their appointments on the refusal of the Government to reinstate those native officer* removed from their posts. Ngabuawahia. — The Southern Cross saya; — " Our correspondent at Ngaruawhia, ifc will be seen, mentions the departure of the natives who have hitherto been living within our boundary to those parts of the country where the Queen's writ does not ran. We learn from other souroes that the Maoris still in Waikato are anxious that we should not believe from this emigration that war is likely to ensue. We regret that the tendency among the natives south of Auokland is' to disquietude. The following is from a correspondent on whose veraoity and intelligence we place every reliance : — ■ ' The Ngatimahanga (poor old Naylor's tribe) are going over to the King^ en masse, headed by their chief, John Priest (Pirihi), Naylor's /favorite son. What can be done to- stop« \them? They are a poor dissipated, demoralised sot, and will naake a poor hand at fighting.' " I Sale of Native Lands by Auction.— - The native owners of the Taupake block, ; 13,500 acres in extent, and situated between, the Waitakerei and Kaipara, having obtained, I a certificate from the Court under the Native ! Land Act, 1865, have had the blook surveyed ' into sections of from 50 acres to 500 acres each, and have placed it in Mr. Samuel Cochrano's hands for sale by public auction. Incendiarism, — It is suggested by the Neio Zealand Herald, that to prevent the spread of incendiarism, a vigilance committee should be appointed. Our contemporary remarks that there'is no safeguard against the evil unless the inhabitants themselves take the matter in hand, divide the city and suburbs into districts, and fornv vigilance committees in each distrioti appointing patrols as a public safeguard. The evil has reached to so serious a length that ■ [ active measures need to be at once initiated if the public safety is to be preserved. 4

Jack Sheppjlbd Again.— A man named Isaac Robinson has escaped, for the fourth time, from the Auckland prison authorities. The hard labor gang went out as usual in charge of the overseers, for the purpose of performing their day's work, when Robinson : suddenly dropped his tools and made off 1 towards the main road (the Kyber Pass), one of the overseers fired a shot from his musket, but without effect, so the fugitive made good his escape. The Southern Cross states that I an attempt was afterwards made to capture Robinson, but a Mr. Hall who tried it was immediately knocked down with a blow from a hammer handle. Robinson then entered a dense scrub, and was lost to sight. The fugitive Robinson, whose character may be gathered •from the above sketch, is a brother of Kelly, who was recently execited at Nelson for the Maungatapu murders. Kelly wrote him a long letter some time ago, in which ho pro>tested his innocence. Native Intelligence. — The New Zca•laad ReraU of the 13th inst. says :-";We understand that a letter has been received from 'Sir George Grey, by Matatuera, the king, stating that it was his Excellency's intention to send, during the month of Oct., two steamers to Kawhia, but whether with a 'hostile intention or not, the natives, we believe, were not able to understand from the language in which the letter was couched. Immediately on receipt, however, Mafcutaera issued orders that all the women and children should be taken to Morokopu, situated between Kawhia and Mokau, and that should the soldiers attempt to destroy the crops of potatoes, &c, they were to be permitted to do so without hindrance. The tekau-ma-rua (twelve), that is the twelve Hau Hau apostles, are busy spreading themselves all over the country, south of the confiscated line, making proselytes to HauHauism. Great numbers of the sick are said to be going over to the prophet Maka to be cured by his magic touch. The survey at Aotea is going on, but is greatly hindered by the act of the natives in cutting the poles and destroying the trig stations. SLereopa, the murderer of Mr. Volkner, has been t late visitant at Kawhia. The P. and O. Company. — A private letter from Melbourne says that the Treasurer (Mr. Verdon), now in London, went armed with instructions to make all necassary arrangements with the P. and O. Company, and that, although possibly he will not absolutely conclude with them for afo *tnightly service, it will be so far arranged as j to admit of its being commenced early next year. A Detachment. — Twelve officers and 218 meu of the Ist Waikato Militia proceeded in the Lord Ashley, on the 12th inst., from Auckland to Tauranga for location on their lands there. Pbovidential Escape of Mes. Fox from Death. — Tidings have reached this city (a Durham paper says) of an accident winch befel Mrs. William Fox, whilst travelling with her husband in Switzerland, which might have been attended with fatal results, and her escape from which seems to have been truly marvellous. She was travelling on a mule's back, along a narrow passage, about a mile beyond the well-known Tete noire on the way to Chamounix; the road skirted a nearly perpendicular precipice of eighty feet, with a mountain torrent at the bottom. Meetingabaggage mule at this point, the mule on which Mrs. Fox was riding bep,an to jib, and contrived to get its hind legs over the precipice. Having thus lost foothold, it slid down some twenty-five feet, tail foremost, after which it rolled over and over amongst the rocks ; when half way down she was T.olled off, but being entangled by the stirrup was dragged further down till she became disentangled, and then rolled down to the bottom of the precipice. Her husband, who had witnessed the fearful crash with which they had gone down the precipice, never expected to see either her or the mule alive again ; and great was his surprise as well as joy, on hastening to the spot, to find that she was entirely uninjured except a sprained ancle, caused by entanglement in the stirrup. It is only a few weeks since three ladies lost their lives by a very similar accident in Switzerland, and amongst the many hairbreadth escapes which have been experienced at different times in that land of hazardous travels, there are probably fevr on record more marvellous than that which it is our pleasure to be able to report on the occasion. New Steam Navigation Company. — A aew Steam Navigation Company for the East Coast is being started in Auckland. The capital is £4500. Good Signs. — The tribes who took forcible possession of the surveyors instruments near Wairoa, have, by the direction of William Thompson, returned them. A message was also sent to the effect, that it was Win. Thompson's express desire, since his return from Hauraki, that Tauranga and Hauraki should live in peace with the Europeans, leaving those at Patea and other places at the South to fight if they chose, but in such fighting the tribes above referred to, were not to participate.