PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 148, 10 September 1872, Page 7

PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

The Thames Guardian has ceased publicagnow fell near Sydney and in the country n the 20th ult. More diamonds have been found at Oberon, few South Wales. Australian wines are said to be attracting reat notice in England. Speculation is said to be rife at the present ime on the West Coast. A seam of lignite, a chain wide, is reported o have been discovered near Tauranga, A vessel which sailed lately from Auckland 0 Hew York took 2475 cases of kauri gum. The strike of railway navvies at Picton has erminated, the men having resumed work. It is said that a payable goldfield exists at >ort Darwin, if provisions can be obtained heap. The yield of the Caledonian claim at the Phames for the week ending Aug. 30 was (05 ounces.

The English cricketers will not come out, Tier all. Mr Grace alone asks £ISOO and iis expenses. An expedition has been organised in Adeaide to explore to the westward, towards Western Australia.

In driving a tunnel at lleefton, a seam of ;oal 16 feet thick, and containing a good deal ,{pure rosin, was bored through. An exodus of Celestials from Tuapeka to he West Coast is taking place. 300 have already gone, and more are to follow. In a" football match the other day between ieamsffrom the Thames and Auckland, one } {tlubformer team had a rib broken. Hews from Melbourne says the Princes Philip and Augustus of Saxe-Coburg, cousins if the Queen, will shortly visit the Colonies. Barber, the Hokitika postmaster and Re;eiver of Revenue, has been found guilty of embezzlement, with a recommendation to mercy. Private letters received at Tauranga say that it is likely the Prince and Princess of Wales will visit India, Australia, and New Zealand. The overland telegraph line from Adelaide to Port Darwin is working splendidly. From Melbourne a reply was received to a private message in 35 minutes. A new alluvial gold rush has taken place near Townsville, Queensland. Intense excitement prevails. The place is said to be

second only to Ballarat. The Auckland Harbour Board has decided to adopt a scheme for providing that citv with dry dock and increased wharf accommodation, at a cost of £120,000.

I For k'ssing against her will a girl thirteen years of age, in a railway carriage, a man named Woods has been fined £5 by the Resident Magistrate at Christchurch, i It may interest those of our readers who [are interested in r c ng matters to know that the celebrated Knotting!}’ is to stand the season this year in the Timaru district.

I During heavy weather width lately pn - Ivadtd on the W s Coast, the coach between ICliristcluiroh aim Hokitika took two hours land a half to traverse one particular quart cr|niik' of the road. i The Shag Valley Quartz Mining Company ■have purchased the engine, battery, mining -tools, and entire plant of the Duke of Ediuiburgh Company, Macraes, with which they ■will proceed to develop their claim. I £•’ dsastrous fire has occurred on the Maryihyriiong estate, by which three valuable ■brood mares, named Lady Heron, Gildermire, land Agitation, were burned in their boxes. |The loss is estimated at about £"000. I “Satan’s Death-Trap,” the Mohongo, has lat last been taken off Webb’s line, and the ■ldaho substituted for her. The latter vessel Jis said to be safe, though slow. However, phe can’t be slower than the Mohongo. I The cold winter has been very severely ■felt on Banks .Peninsula. The Canterbury JPms learns that many of the settlers have ■lost a large number of cattle, in consequence' iof the want of grass. It has been found nopessary in many cases to fell trees, to secure |the leaves for feed for the stock. | A wail of discontent already comes from jPicton, anent the Picton and Blenheim railI"ay management. It appears that the traders ■of the port were anticipating lots of trade I'fith the “navvies” imported by Brogden and |Co.; but to their intense disgust, the firm pave a storekeeper employed, whose duty it lis to serve out to the men tea, sugar, flour, land, in fact, all goods that could be obtained lat any store in the Province. “Brogden and ICo., Storekeepers,” have an advantage over |other tradespeople, inasmuch as they have no ansk from bad debts, and, consequently, are |able to sell at a minimum of profit, not only ■ |* 9 “navvies,” but to any stray customers | ■favouring them with ready money. Whereat! [Pictou traders are exceeding wroth, and do-! Inounce the truck system as illegal and ■abominable.

Hr A. W. Murray, the missionary, has 1 "ritten to a Sydney paper to check certain exaggerated expectations which seem to exist esto the auriferous richness of New Guinea. I He states that though it is likely enough there I ls geld on the island, the missionaries have j seen no traces of it nor heard anything about 't from the natives, and that to go in search 0 H under present circumstances would he a i |'nd and hazardous proceeding. Ho states j that it is his intention, in a few months, to ■ reinforce the pioneer missionary party ; that 7 degrees a better knowledge of the island j Jf, He obtained, and that any information | llf ely to be useful will be published. In this "' a J T i the missionaries hope to prepare the the colonising of the country, and “ e developing of its resources.