The Dunstan Times SATURDAY, 10th FEBRUARY, 1866.

Dunstan Times, Issue 198, 10 February 1866, Page 2

The Dunstan Times

SATURDAY, 10th FEBRUARY, 1866.

‘Beneath the rule of men F.xuniav :vsi, tli' pf.n* is miohtifu than the snronu!”

The new Electoral Roll for the district of Goldficld's Townships is now ready, and may he procured from the Returning Officer, Mr H. W. Robinson,

At the Nevis, the large dam which was broken away by the late floods has been again repaired. The damage was not found to be so great as was anticipated and several of the claims are already in working order, while it is expected that others will be so in a few days. The Secretary of the Goldfields, in his report of the 30th September last, estimates the population of the Otago Goldfields at 10,845, of which number 6,913 were actively engaged in mining pursuits.

The '■ Southland Times" publishes the following report:—"Riverton. Jan. 24. Sergeant-major Chapman begs to state that a report has been iu circulation here that Leonard's party have discovered payable gold near Colac Bay, and are getting an ounce aday a man. The sergeant-major has not been able to trace this report to any reliable source—every person believes it to be true." Upon this very vague information, the " Times " indulges in the hope of a large goldlield being shortly opened in Southland.

A proposition has been mooted to conI nect the Grey with Hokitika by a wooden tramway. There is plenty of. timber to be had on the way, and if this project be carried out there is little doubt but that it will be of great benefit to both place?. The " Hokitika Evening Star" announces the death of Sir Michael Prcndergast, barrister-at-law, who died suddenly on board the steamer in which he had taken his passage from the Grey to Dunedin.

In reply to a petition from the inhabitants of the township of Milton, praying for its erection into a municipality the Provincial Secretary states that the Municipal Councils Ordinance had been reserved for the assent of his Excellency the Governor, and that his Honor the Superintendent had been advised not to take any steps towards its extension to country townships until such assent had been received.

We take the following account of an extraordinary charge of highway robbery from the " West Coast Times " :—" Two respectable looking men nampd George Dell and John Tracer, the former a storekeeper and the hitter a miner, \vere charged with robbery in company. It appears that the prosecutor, Edward Welsh, who confessed to the soft impeachment of having served a sentence for cattle stealing in Otago, and whoso mate was proved also to have had his liberty curtailed for nearly killing a policeman, sold to Cell a cask of butter, for which the j latter paid £lO. On opening it, however, it turned out all but worthless, and Dell sold it to a baker for .£'2 10s. Meeting

the prosecutor one night, Dell demanded some compensation, and was promised by prosecutor £2. After agreeing, however, he failed to keep his word; and, according to his own account, Dell then caught hold of him, and took not only the £2, but £5 which ho swore he had in a purse in his trousers leg. On the other hand, evidence to prove that he could not have had such an amount of money was brought; and moreover. Dell alleged that by prosecutor's own wish they searched him, in order to verify his statement that he had no money, and only found an empty purse. Tracey, by the prosecutors account, assisted in the alleged robbery, but Dell declared he had nothing whatever to do with the matter. The jury eventually acquitted both prisoners."

By advertisement in another column it will be seen that it is the intention of Captain Baldwin to address the electors of the Manuherikia district at Clyde on Tuesday, 13th inst., and at Alexandra on the following day. We have received the prospectus of a new bi-weekly journal about to be published on the West Coast, to be called the Hokitika Chronicle. " The proprietors " says the prospectus, " propose establishing the above journal to meet the oft-expressed wish of the mercantile community for a second well conducted newspaper at Hokitika." We wish them every success in their enterprise. The Cromwell Coal Pit is again in good working order. Mr Owens has been at considerable expense in laying down a tramway to the face of the seam. This tramway joins a road newly formed leading to. the main street, so that drays and wagons can now load at the -pit's mouth.

A child three years of age. son of Mrs Victors of Alberton, is supposed to have lost its life by drowning on Wednesday afternoon last. The little fellow, when last teen, was playing with a, companion about his own age on the banks of the Clutha. The child who returned home said that ita playmate went away Bwimjning down the river.

Captain O'Neil, late Road Engineer i 3 a canditate for the representation of the Gjldfields in the General Assembly. His requisition has been very numerously sigaed. Mr. George Brodie, we are given o understand, retires from the political world. The large expense and loss of t'me suffered by tliis gentleman during the last three years in looking after the interests of the goldfields renders it necessary that he [should devote more time to his private affairs. In Mr. Brodie the goldfields loie a staunch friend, and we trust that his friends will urge upon him to again enter the political arena.

We call the attention of our readers to the fact that applications to have names placed upon the Electoral Roll must be sent to the Registration Officer of the district previous to the 31st of March. A proclamation appears in the " New Zealand Gazette" of the 27th ult., dissolving the General Assembly. Writs, returnable on the 16th of April next, have been issued for the election of qualified persons to serve as members in the House of Representatives. It is also notified that the Assembly will meet on that date.

At a meeting of the Clyde School Committee held on Thursday evening last it was unanimously agreed that the examination of the scholars should take place on Wednesday, the 14th inst. Among the many incidents of the last great flood on the Molyneux, one coming under our notice may be considered peculiar though melancholy. A miner proceeding to his work discovered, immediately below Gibbs' Halfway Hotel, in a portion of the terrace eaten into by the current, a broken coffin; on looking into which ho saw the remains of a poor fellow, who, it appeared, was found drowned about two years ago, and buried there by the miners in the neighborhood, as they thought, high and dry. The discoverer with praiseworthy humanity, reinterred the remains on the following ningWe have often had occasion to remark upon the high price of bread in this district—it certainly requires some explanation why the inhabitants of this town should have to pay 2s for a 41b lea'', when t':e same can he purchased in Tuapoka for one shilling. A correspondent of the '.' Tuapeka Recerder " says :— ,: John Chinaman has

come, lies not been molested, has smoked his cigar in Princes-street, gone to the Theatre, looked at our new buildings, the Bank of Otago, (including its anti-Chinese manager, Mr Bathgate), and is now with a dozen of his countrymen, digging with success in Peg-Leg Gully, Upper Manuherikia, Sum s 3000 are coming shortly, and I dont think they will be sent down a flooded Molyneux after all. They will at the present time do us a great deal of good if they come over in the number represented."