PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 181, 29 April 1873, Page 6

PROVINCIAL AND COLONIAL.

Lawrence complains of being swamped out by Blue Spur tailings. Starlings are stated to be now "thoroughly acclimatised" in Auckland. The Roman Catholic organ, the Tablet, is to appear shortly in Dunedin. Anderson and Oo.'s last crushing at Reefton yielded 913 ozs. from 600 tons. The Order of Good Templars is reported to be making rapid progress at the Thames. The selling of dead tuis is now punishable in Auckland by a maximum penalty of £2O. 135 tons of tailings recently put through from the Caledonian mine, yielded 61 ounces of gold. Out of a Chinese population of 600 or 700 at Waipori twelve months ago, but 60 or 70 now remain. The Wanganni Chronicle calls Wellington an ambitious collection of ornamental wooden packing cases. Hops planted near Dunedin six months ago by Mr Colman Burke, as an experiment, ha $ succeeded remarkably well. Native policeman have been ordered out from Grahamstown to expel the European prospectors from Ohinemuri. A carrier named M'Kenzie committed suicide at Waikouaiti on April 23 by hanging himself. He had been drinking. Blue Spur miners have seen enough of law and its expenses, and are reported to evince a disposition to settle disputes amicably. The Lyttelton Times indignantly protests against the proposed exhibition of a tattooed Maori head in the Christchurch Museum. Pheasants in the bush near Tokomairiro are so numerous that application is to be made to Government for permission to shoot them. A correspondent of the Wanganui Chronicle says that one publican at Foxton took £IBOO at the last sitting of the Native Lands Court there. The Provincial Council of Taranaki has voted the munificent sum of £2O for the purpose of supplying the rivers of that Province with trout. On the road between Dunedin and Tokomairiro, three retriever dogs meet the coach every morning to take the newspaper to their respective masters. A pretty youth upon whose noble brow three-and-sixty summers have left some traces, resident in Tuapeka, is afflicted with whoop-ing-cough.— Times. The barque Lochnagar sailed from the Bay of Islands, a few days ago for New Bedford, U.S., with a cargo consisting of 3940 barrels of whale oil, valued at £25,000. The establishment of a Refuge for the Destitute is being agitated in Auckland, the necessity for an institution of the kind having become painfully apparent of late. A Christchurch paper states that Mr R. Newton, of Aylmer's Valley, Akaroa, recently killed a two-toothed half-bred wether, which, when dressed, weighed 1161bs. Among the written applications made by unmarried females for the post of assistant teacher at the Westport school, one letter alone was free from errors in spelling. A man named Bickle, one of Brogden's importations, has been committed for trial at Timaru on a charge of stealing the coins deposited m the foundation stone of the Masonic Hall there. The City Council of Auckland advertised for an Inspector for the new market hall at a salary of £2OO per annum, and have received no less than ninety-eight applications for the appointment. Some Chinese passengers by the Nebraska to San Francisco were discovered in Auckland to be possessed of HOoz of gold more than they had declared at Dunedin. They had to pay the extra duty. The Canterbury members of Assembly have presented to Lady Bowen a splendid diamond cross and silver casket, in recognition of the hospitality and courtesy extended to them by her ladyship. Mr Charles Elliott, of the Nelson Examiner, is a candidate for the vacant seat for Nelson Suburbs in the House of Representatives. Messrs Kelling and A. J. Richmond are also mentioned as probable candidates. A late Grahamstown telegram says : —The gold returns for the past fortnight are good. Several claims are improving, especially the Golden Crown, Otago, and Dixon's No. 1. The Bright smile for the fortnight yielded 489 ounces. All the leading medical men in the city have addressed a letter to the Even'mr) Post, stating that Wellington is now visited by an epidemic of low fever of a typhoid type, owing to the want of drainage, and the contaminated state of the water. It is stated that a Wellington legal firm has received instructions from the rejected suitor of the lady's hand to commence an action for breach of promise of marriage against Lady and Sir James Fergusson, immediajtly upon their arrival in the Colony. Damages to be laid at £50,000. A few days ago a person in Auckland, finding himself the worse for liquor in the streets, called a cab, and told the driver to take him to the lock-up. The request was complied with—the driver drove to the station, where his "fare" gave himself into custody, and was locked up for the night. On the Lyttelton wharf, a few days ago, a railway truck in passing along capsized three tiers of timber. Men were set to work to rcstack it, when on reaching the bottom planks they were no less astonished than horrified to find the body of a little boy underneath. The body was fearfully crushed, and death must have been instantaneous to the pool ■ little fellow, who was only eight years old. As an instance (says the Thames Advertiser) of the rapidity with which news travels, and the undue importance invariably attached

to rumoured gold-fields, we may mentioj that an old Thames miner was induced tt leave the comforts of a home in Nebrasfe county, United States, on reading a report o| the opening of the Upper Thames, and to make all haste for the long-talked of nev Eldorado. We need scarely add that bii disappointment is great, and that he purposes returning instanter. From a well-filled room the attendance a! the fortnightly meetings of the Thames Debating Class (says the Advertiser) has declined to a solitary unit. At the fortnightly- meet, ing last evening there was only the President in attendance, reminding us strongly of the sagacious pupil who, having become the soli. tary attendant at a parish school, looked m with a reflective air in a lull of school-work and said, "Maister, a think there'll be nae schilling the morn." " What puts that it your head, sir'?" haughtily inquired the mas. ter; to which the callant immediately replied '• A'U no be here"—inferring that Othello'! occupation would then be gone.—The Auel land Star gives further information (which the Advertiser, however, good-humouredly re. prints), to the effect that the solitary attendant was found by the secretary asleep ovei the local paper.