AUCKLAND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3040, 1 September 1870, Page 4

AUCKLAND.

* By the arrival of the Phcobo we have Northern files to the 27th. The preparations for a King meeting at Tokangamutu, which we announced by telegraph on the 25th, have fallen through. Hone Te One and another paying a visit to the King was tho only result. A correspondent of the "Cross" writes from Taurauga that the natives have cut down all tho telegraph poles on the other side of the Waikato river, and that Hoani Paiako threatens to cut down fourteen miles of posts. An amicable arrangement is however expected. A fire occurred on board the Excelsior at the Auckland wharf, and was suppressed through the exertions of seamen from other vessels, but not before considerable damage was done, which is estimated at £500. The origin of the fire is unexplaiued. Several tines for not carrying lights have been imposed on the masters of small craft. Kihirini Te Kanawa Ngatiraahuta, an old Waikato chief of importance, has lately died at Tokangamutu. Tho weather has been remarkably had at Alexandra, and a ilood is expected at Waipa. Two seamen — one belonging to the Taranaki and the other to the St. Kilda — who had been spending an hour or so ashore, were going on board their respective vessels, both now lying at the Onehunga wharf, when the man belonging to the Taranaki, named Jas. Gaffuey, accidentally fell into the water, and was unfortunately drowned before assistance could be rendered. A melancholy incident attaches to the death of this poor man. His wife and children were on their way to Auckland when the sad fatality occurred ; and it is said he was one of the first to urge the getting up a subscription on board the Taranaki after the news of the loss of the ' Tauranga. ; The Provincial Government of Auckland ] have ordered a twelve horse-power road steamer. Captain Beveridge, who has been the [ means of rescuing several persons from ( drowning, bas received a handsome bronze , clasp from the Humane Society in England, , on the representation of the Provincial Secre- ■ tary. ; Speaking of Professor Gamgee's preserved ! meat failure, an Auckland paper says :— -We '. have no knowledge of the method adopted, except that some kind of ether is injected into the system of the animal before death, and that the carcase is placed iv tho cask whole, after the intestines, legs, and headhavo been j removed. The cask which was opened yosterday had been sent out from England as an ' experiment merely. It is the tubular or cigar shape, bo as to admit the whole carcase j of a sheep. The meat, after undergoing the { cleaning process, is apparently sewn up in canvas, placed in the cask, nnd enclosed in ( oats. A bag of charcoal n theu placed in , the cask to absorb the gases, and the whole t is then tightly closed. The cask which was t opened yesterday was precisely of this i character. Scarcely had the hoops been removed, ore an overpowering stench was s emitted from the cask, and when the carcase 1 was fairly disclosed to view tho odor was J frightful. The gentlemen who witnessed the i experiment hurriedly stopped their nostrils, and immediately drank off a disinfecting * fluid in the shape of whisky. -j An inquest was held on the body of the B Roy. Father O'Brien, who was found dead in r his bed, at Tauranga. At the inquest it r appeared from the evidence that the rev. B father lived by himself, and that the night before his death, a man named Cleayy, very much under the influence of liquor, and having Bercral miles to travel to bis homo at

a late hour on Sunday evening, appealed to Father O'Brien for a temporary shelter. His reverence kindly arose, admitted and gave him room to sleep, at the same time informing him, though he could give him quarters, he could not furnish him with covering, ndding that he would see Clenry in the morning and get him to take the pledge. Cleary was the last person ivho saw him alive, The " Thames Advertiser" of yesterday '. says :— "We regret to state that there is a great want of two very essential articles on the field at present — these are coal and quicksilver. Some of the crushing mills are alread}' idle for want of these essentials, and if a supply is not soon obtained the want will be much more severely felt. What can the owners of the Bay of Islands coal mines be thinking of? ' Of tho robbery of watches nt the Thames, the " Advertiser," says :— Mr Blundell had removed all tho watches from the window, and the cases in which they were exposed during the day, and had deposited them in a box for safe keeping. It has been customary to remove this box to the sleeping apartment occupied on the premises by Mr Blundell. On this evening, previous to removing the box, Mr Blundell locked the door, and had gone across the street to Mr Wyatt's stationery shop for a newspaper, and on returning in a few minutes found that the door had been opened in his absence, and the box with its valuable contents abstracted."