General Intelligence.

Clutha Leader, Volume III, Issue 139, 9 March 1877, Page 6

General Intelligence.

Mr Pierce, a clerk in the employment of Davis and Co., Napier, was thrown from his horse and killed on Wednesday.

J. T. Paine, late clerk to the Waimate Hoad Board, has been committed for trial for embezzling £500 — Board funds.

'1 he Western Star reports that a party of three Chinamen at the George Diggings got .£SO worth of gold last week. The previous week they made £9 per man.

A new run of gold was discovered last week, which is expected to be the most important find made at Grahamstown for years. Shares advanced from Hs to 31s. The fortnightly yield was 7150z5,

On the steamer Charlps Edward leaving the ITokitika port a week ago, a man named Chambers was missing". A human body has been since washed ashore near Greymouth, and it is believed to be his.

The Herald states that salmon is now regularly sold by all the fishmongers in Hobart Town at sixpence a pound. Fish have been caught Weighing 15 pounds, proving conclusively the success of the acclimatisation of the king- of fish.

A telegram from Riverton says that a boy three years old, son of Mr Robt. Cupples, Groper's Bush, has been killed by a horse trampling on him while .playing in a paddock. At the inquest a verdict of accidental death was returned. Robert Anderson Buchanan, a clerk, was brought up at Auckland on Monday on three separate charges of embezzling funds. His defalcations, extending over three years, amounted to £-15 18s od. He was committed for trial on each charge, bail being allowed. The Evangelist remarks that the late Mr Robert Borrie, who Was drowned" in the floods in the Taieri district, " must have been thoughtful beyond his years; for he left a will duly executed, by which he gave to the Missions of our Churoh the insurance upon his life, amounting to £500/'

The mail steamer Zealandia brought to Auckland a couple of coops of American prairie chickens, and also two deer, which have been forwarded to the Acclimatisation Society by Mr Hugh Craig, at San Francisco. The deer were landed in splendid condition, and the same can be said of the chickens, two only having died on the passage out.

' On 28th July a geyser started, suddenly spouting an immense body of "Water to the height of 30 feet, in Rotorua Lake. The Bay of Plenty Times says it lasted some time, and was accompanied by a rumbling sound. The eruption was witnessed by tbe greater portion 'of the inhabitants of Ohinemutu, amongst whom it caused a considerable excitement.

Some idea of the growing value of property in Wellington may be gathered from the price paid by Mr Lichtscheindl for the block adjoining- the Empire Hotel, in Willis-street, which runs back to the sea, a depth of 120 ft., and the price was £7000. This is an advance on the price paid a few months ago for the Empire itself, the size of the two blocks being the same.

The licensing laws are likely to produce an innocent victim. Mrs Burke, of Purakanui, Otago Heads, convicted of sly-grog* selling on the 27th January, being unable to pay the fine of ,£OO inflicted by the Bench, is now an inmate of the Dunedin Gaol. The unfortunate woman has been removed from a family of young children, and there is the immediate prospect of an innocent addition, Avhich will bear through life the stigma of its birth in gaol. The case is one that calls loudly for the interference of the Visiting Justices. — Evening* News.

On Friday last Wm. M'Lauchlan, proprietor of the George Hotel, Port Chalmers, was fined 40s for a breach of the Licensing Act, in allowing one George Campbell to be intoxicated on tbe premises. It appears that Campbell was about the whole of the day in question, having in his possession a large sum of money — £250. On being taken to his lodgings in the evening, he found that it had disappeared. Campbell is a new arrival.

The Cornet, at Auckland, from the South Sea Islands, reports the Beilvue, an Old Dominion vessel, which left Sydney about five .months ago, arrived sifely, and having loaded, proceeded on her voyage to Cork. The crew mutinied, and the captain was compelled to put back to- -Tahiti.-' After settling all disputes in with the distur-

bance, he star-ed to resume the voyage, but the. vessel strandt-d on the' reef through the wind falling light suddenly as she was going out. The wreck sold '<r fi' y dollars, li ia rather hard (says. a northern contemporary) to understand irom the tangled debate on the " New Zealand Hymnal/ at the recent meeting of the Synod, what decision was really arrived at, but it seems, that it was determined to leave the question as to what hymnal shall be used to be decided by each individual congregation for itself. In the Auckland diocese it is* proposed to , arrange for a new and revised edition of the " New Zealand Hymnal," cutting out some, of those hymns in the present collection considered unsuitable., and adding manyVf the very beautiful hymns in the '< Ancient, and Modern Hymnal." This course may commend itself to a good many churchgoers. The Government (the Wellington Post is of opinion) has done a just' and generous act in thf case of the Nelson settlers whose lands were literally washed away by the recent flood Such a disaster meant ruin to these people Not only were their houses and crops destroyed, but the soil itself was gone beyond hope of redemption. Bare boulders and the gravel of a dry watercourse were nil that were left to mark what had once been luxuriant fields in crop, smiling orchards, and comfortable homesteads. That these people should now, without payment, be allowed to select an equal quantity of Crown land in other parts of the Nelson Provincial District, is a concession which will commend itself as being only right and just to the mind of every right thinking man.

l< Tax the large estates" is a cry raised by the Wanganui Herald, which contends that such properties have enormously increased in value through the operation of the public works policy, apart from the exertion, skill, or expenditure on the part of the owners. "Compare," it says, " two periods, 1870 and 1876, and it will be found that the land in the former period worth £1 an acre is now worth £3, yet does not carry a single sheep more. But though we believe estates running from 5000 to a quarter of million acres each are blighting the country, and may ruin it in the s-iroe sense as the big estates ruined Italy, yet we have not proposed anything but a fair tax to meet the demands of the present financial crisis."

The Lyttelton Times of Saturday learns that a writ, issued by the Court of Queen's Bench, and received in the Colony by the Californinn mail a ihw days ago, has been served by the Messrs Brogden on the Hon. Mr Ormond, for damages arising out of the breach of the Emigration Agreement of 1872 The writ names all tbe members of the Fox-Vogel Government of that year, whose names appear on the records of the day as the Hons. W.

Fox, W. Gisborne. Julius Yo<>pl, C.M.G, D. M'Lean, C.M.G., J."d. Ormond, W. Reeves, J. Hall, and 11. T. Miller. The writ also, for some reason, includes the names of Messrs Sewell, Dillon Bell, and Waterbou**e, but for what reason it does not- appear. The Times hears that Sir J. Yogel will be requested to instruct a solicitor to appear for all the defendants,

The Western Star gives the following specimen of how the railway Avorks have been carried on : — " The Town Couccil the other day found a necessit\ r for creating more fall for drainage, hv deepening' the culvert that passes under the railway embankment near the entrance to f he town. We are informed that on stripping it they found the rotten old town drain had been made to do duty for the railway, and judiciously blinded with some new pieces at each visible end to give it the appearance of neAv work. This was about the commencement of the non-performance of the now celebrated Proudfoot contract, and is highly suggestive of the intention from the very start. The Resident Engineer, Mr Bews, A\^as not in charge at the time, so by an alibi he stands acquitted of blame There must have been some person authorised to oversee or inspect, and it is a matter of curiosity to us, and may yet be one of inquiry to the authorities, as to who betrayed his trust."

The Cromwell correspondent of the Daily Times Avri'es : — " A paragraph has been going the rounds of the Press to the effect that notwithsranding the alleged indignation of the Cromwellites Mr Pyke visited Cromwell without any marks of disfavour. It should in fairness have been stated that he took the opportunity of visiting Cromwell under | cover of the funeral of the late Mrs : Goodger, that he camo abmit ten minutes before it started for the Cemetery, and left within fifteen minutes of the return of the mourners ; and further, that be carefully kept housed until he sprang into a buggy in company with a guar.d of Clydeites. And, notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion, he Avas lustily hooted as he drove away ; also, as showing the trepidation displayed by him, it appears that in the haste of starting something went wrong with the harness, and at the bridge the j driver proposed stopping to make all right, but Mr Pyke implored him, to push on at any risk until he got clear of the town. Such then was his reception, such his exit, and «o much for the truth of the paragraph referred to, Avhich is in keeping Avith the character of tbo person who caused its circulation.".