LATEST NEWS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2613, 24 December 1867, Page 4

LATEST NEWS.

AEEIVAL OF THE S.S. TARANAKI

FEOM THE SOUTH.

By the s.s. Taranaki, which arrived last night, we have received later files of papers, to the following dates : — Canterbury, Dec. 21st, Otago, 21st, Southland 16th.

The Lyttelton Times denounces Mr Fitzherbert's speech as a miserable display oi temper, and says that ho has forgotten what was due to his office and to himself. " How can it be expected, or even hoped," remarks our contemporary, " that one who is unable to control his temper, and prevent himself, on such an important occasion, from giving way to such an outbreak of folly, can be fit to carry out a large financial operation which requires great experience, coolness, and judgment ?

The Otago Daily Times in a powerfully written article on the same subject stigmatises Mr Eitzherbert's defence of the Public Debts Act, as being nothing but a wretched evasion evincing the most abject cowardice. A leak has been discovered in the embankment of the Dunedin waterworks, but it is not considered to be serious.

Tenders are to be invited for the consh*uc tion of a Graving Dock at Port Chalmers.

The Geelong, which took round a party to examine .the West Coast of the province oi Otago, has returned. Previous accounts oi Martin's Bay are confirmed, and there is no doubt this place will one day be the scene of a settlement. The river is described as oJ easy access, and both it and the Lake M'Kerrow, from which it flows, are navigable to fair sized steamers. A track from the Wakatip to the Lake is about being .made. The neighborhood of Preservation Inlet is also described as suitable for settlement.

Captain Eraser i-.nd Mr Herbert Julius have been dispatched to Melbourne, with n special invitation to His Eoyal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to visit Otago ; and Mr Carrick has proceeded there with a like invitation from the Mayor and City Council oi Dunedin.

Mr 11. Cleave, with a party of ten diggers, left Martin's Bay not many days before the Geelong arrived there. He says that the beaches are auriferous, and in some parts they were found to be payable, for in one spot the party washed out 4oz of gold in two days, with a gin case, and when they brought in a' race, they obtained 31bs 3oz by three weeks' work.

In continuation of tho recent exploration of tho West Coast, the surveyor, Mr Wright, aa soon as the weather permits, is. to go overlaud from the Wakatip to Martin's Bay, and a few hundred pounds are to bo expended in making a passable track.