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Dunstan Times, Issue 294, 13 December 1867, Page 3

The Criminal Sessions of the Supreme Court opened on Monday, the 2nd inst. Fourteen case 3 were set down for hearing,' and an •additional .case, that of the murder of the Chinaman at Kawarau -Gorge, was to be -added. William Smith, indicted for having, on the 26th of October, stolen a horse, the property of George Wylde, was acquitted. The Grand Jury found " No true bill" in the case of Henry Uruff (on bail), committed for attempting to steal at Cromwell. Bruff was called up and discharged. The Judge said that he did not see why this case was sent down at all. It was merely an alleged attempt to commit a larceny, and thf) Magistrate might have dealt with it summarily. Magistrates had jurisdistion, summarily, in lircenies, up to certain limit 3, an'l great " >ense and inconvenience was caused cases were unnecessarily sent to I 'ourt. Some time ago two or three common assault cases were sent down to be tried, any one of which would have been amply punished by a very small fine. Yet the machinery of Grand Jury and Petite Jury was invoked, witnesses were sent down at a great expense to the country, and one of the cases ended in an acquittal after all. He hoped the magistrates would exercise more caution, and not send down for trial paltry cases, with which they were themselves empowered to deal. . In the Supreme Court on Monday last, before his Honor Judge Chap man, Le « hj Chce.ig was charged with tho murder of one of his countrymen, h Hang, at the Kawarau Gorge. The trial lasted the whole day, the evidence being similar to that given before the Magistrate and previously reported in our columns. The jury, after nearly half-an-hour's deliberation, returned a verdict of " Not Guilty,", and the prison was discharged There was only one cas3 heard in the Resident Court at Cromwell, on Wednesday last; it was an assault, and was dismissed by the Magistrate. On Tuesday, the buildings on the west side of Melm ire-street Cromwell, had a very narrow escape from fire. ' From some unexplair.e.l cause, the bake-house of Messrs. Cossar and Smith were partially destroyed, and some damage was done to the premises of Mr. Whetter, bootmaker, who resides next door. The Stewards of the Dunstan Places are proceeding briskly with the necessary arrangements for the meeting, which is expected to be a thorough success. Our worthy Bonifaces, must i have a high opinion of tha Meet, when it is taken into consideration, that they gave the large sum of £l6O for the rent of the grand stand, and one booth. The Hou. A. C. Strode, R.M. attended at the jail, Dunedin, on Friday last, for the purpose of granting a further remand to James C. Thomson, charged with embezz ing Government monies, while acting as gold receiver at Lawrence. This course was rendered necessary in consequence of Mr. '1 homson's continued illness. The remains of tho late Mr. Daniel M'Leod, who was drowned by being washed off the Oamaru Jetty, on bunday, the 2-ith nit, were interred in the Cemetery on the following Saturday. About one hundred and fifty persons were present at the funeral. The Census is now being taken by the Police ; we have not heard of many people being supplied with the necessary formi as yet, but we suppose that the District sub-enumerator will lose no time in setting his men to work. I'i r.ir 1 «b irm, it wv. siid that the Banks had reduced the price of gold sixpence per ounce,in consequence of the Government having made a charge simi'ar in amount for conveyance of gold by escort to Dunedin. We find the charge has not been made, and that the Banks informed us ■wrongly. The Government had on'y threatened to make a charge, or dis■continue the Escort. The weather has been excessively hot last few days ; that venerabh indivi Hal the " ol hit inhabitant" has never experienced the like before. The " Waikouaiti Herald," writing on Australian wines, says :—" How is "it, now that Australian wine is becoming abundant, and that steps are taken by the Victorians to introduce it in the Home market, that we, so near thereto, have no opportunity to judge of its merits 1 We think that wine merchants would do well to import such, as there is no doubt that it | Would be found a palatable and pleasant drink. The " WestlandC«unty Act" is proclaimed to come into operation on the Ist of January. We have received the first number of.a new weekly paper., published in Dunedin, entitled " The People's Journal." It is admirably printed, and, although giving but a small amount of local u'-ws, it contains some well-selected readable matter. We are, however, sick and .tired of seeing so many socket newspapers publish d in J>urtPdin, rr>d really think that flu bnsiwvT a.rd iinVlligence of fhe metropolis shrn'-l f ""nt n record reepectph]n jonriia l . w'fh -pnflieiVnt space to cV-.V" o rnet'rng like a free and ~.,i,:... .-j ro; ; cu 0 f the pullo

Quite a commotion was caused in Clyde on Wednesday last by the presence of a large number of sheep that had been driven into the Town. It i appears that Mr. Robert M'Morran, i who is a flockowner on the commonage had hired the old I nion Hotel, for a shearing shed, and was about to commence the operation of sheai-ing. The novelty of the proceedings attracted a large number of visitors, many of whom improved their knowledge by adding to their several accomplishments; that of sheep shearing. M essrs. Mouat, Shepherd,and Brown, Members of the Provincial Council for the Goldfields, have had an interview with the Secretary for Land and Works, respecting Public Works on the goldfields Mr. Mouat said that, during the last Session of the Provincial Council, about £'25,000 had been voted for new works throughout the country, and, as far as their information went, nothing had yet been undertaken under those votes. The , Secretary replied that there had not been a great deal done, but it had been the intention of the Government to do nothing until they had received the Delegated Powers. The necessary instructions hid been given to the engineer, Mr. Oliver, who was now on the goldfields, and who would see what should be first formed. The vote for the road over the hill between Clyde and the Nevis, and a small vote for the Nevis itself, would be at once expended A number of men would be told off from the Teviot and Switzer's road to be employed on the road between Alexandra and the former place. All the roads under the .£B,OOO vote would be in hand during the present financial year .£.500 in excess of the .£350 voted for the approaches to the Nevis and Arrow Ferries had been expended. Upon Mr. Shepherd referring to the subject of opening lands for settlement on the goldfields, the !• ecretary said that the matter of commonage was engiging the attentton of the Government at present. He found that Mr. Main's statement was correct. That gentleman had stated to him as a fact that, when they found the lands bnng withdrawn from runs for goldfields purposes, the runholders would have the exclusive right to graze cattle on the unsold portion of the land. It was, however, a matter with which the Government could not deal. The leises were for fourteen years, and, although they had the power of reserve with reference to several of the runs, there were some in which no reserve was made. The reserve might be let on goldfields leases, but they could not j give the powet to use it as a run. Re- ! specting the track to the West Coast, the " ecretary said the Government were now taking steps to have com- ; munieation direct through to the West | Coast, but f heir first object was to get a direct line from Qneenstown to Marj tin's Bay. Rut nothing would be done until the Surveyor's reports were received. The Government wanted as direct a road as possible, and more towards the centre of the province of Otago, with a view to settlement on the West Coast. If they opened up any of the roads without considering which was the most suitable and serviceable for the province they would be going rashly to work. He did not say that they would expend the money voted on one nad in preference to the other : if possible, they would endeavor to undertak" both roads. Mr. Shepherd referred to the vote of £I,OOO for a survey of wot«r res°rves on the gold '.elds. He understi od that arrange merits had been made for Mr. Miller to make the survey, and he suggested, as an rconomioal arrangement, that Mr. Miller should first be provided with Surveyor's and Warden's reports. The Secretary said Mr. Miller would have all his instructions from the Engineer, anl would, no doubt, be furnished with .all the information that was procurable to aid him in a personal survey of the country. Mr. Brown suggested that the great benefit likely to arise from such a survey would be in connexion with the utilisation of the rivers of the country. The water shed was already to a great extent made use of by the miners, but the large rivers might be turned to most profitable account. The Maori owners of land still persist in placing obstacles in the way of the develonment of the "Thames Gold Field." The Superintendent of the Province of Auckland will make another attempt to get the country opened. The Quartz Reefs promise to turn out exceedingly rich ; a correspondent of the " Southern Crois" says, seven hundred ounces were brought by the last river steamer, six hundred ounces being from Hunt's claim. These six hundred ounces of retorted gold, were the produce of a few tons of stone, and separated by only a hand stamp and a small Berdan. In Kelly's claim, on the Moanataiari, something over 100 pounds weight of stone turned out close on 100 ounces of gold, r early all the claims where gold has been struck are good. In many the casing is uncommonly rich. A smallparcel of sandstonewasbrought to me from a spur bordering on Tararu Point, weighing abrut 21b., which I reduced to powder in a mortar, and, having panned it. off in the creek, i cot over 2rlwt of gold. His Honor fhe Superintendent was present dur:ng fhe prrcess. Where the rample wis got from, is row ground, und tli' re if ro rea?on to that many of ihe srr>r3 tr north will not prove equally r.rrlfcrour.''

The Rev. F. C. Simmons has been invited by the miners resident at Waitahuna to visit that place. Mr. Simmons has .accepted the invitation, and will deliver a lecture during the Christmas' vacation. It is also intended to invite him to visit Tuapeka. In all probability Mr. Simmons might be induced to extend his visit to the Dunstan, and we are sure that he would find the miners in this district, like those of Woitahuna, most happy to hear him lecture, and not at all inclined to join in condemning him without a healing. Mr. Simmons will soon find that religious bigotry has a very precarious existence On the goldfields, however it may flourish in Dunedin. The " Daily Times" says :—Native deputations have been invited to wait upon Prince Alfred, to afford him nn opportunity " to join together in amity the hands that have been raised against each other in deadly strife, and to stamp out the mouldering elements of civil discord." The same journal informs us that Sir George Bowen is to arrive the first week in January; Majcr Richardson succeeds Mr. Fitzherb-rt as Colonial Treasurer. •■ ir George Grey's horses, plate, &c, have been sold at auction. We find the follow'ng in the "Waikouaiti Herald," published in the form of a lost letter : - " Waste Time Office, Wednesday, November 1. 10.30 a.m. —Here I am again, In this wretchedly furnished office, at this early hour in the monrng. The Provincial Government service is harder than the work of a galley slave. Compare my hours with 's. He's aG. G. officer, and dosen't come down till eleven. It's all Macandrew's fault for coming to his office every morning at ten o'clock. Lucky thing that, with all his pushing, he never pushes in here of a morning, or f lse we'd have to be here at ten too. 12 o'clock. Had a good spell at the paper and a pleasant chat. Got out my 1 o)' s and laid them on my desk, while I watched the workmen on the new post-office. 2 p.m.—Bother the public 1 There's ene of them been intruding here, though he colud see it's a private ofiic-\ lie can't know any better though, for he took his hat off. We always keep our hats on here—sure sign of vulgarity taking one's hat off in a private room. He learnt that in the Survey office, as I hoard him remark to the friend who accompanied him that the Survey men were ' a very gentlemanly set of fellows.' That's all he knows. 2.30. Hurrah ! time to close. Much amused with , under my very eyes it took him three minutes to write one word. Why, if Mac. came up stiire aiid looked round he'd get fits. Why doesn't he keep looking at lii 3 books and changing them as Ido 1 Hah ! there's the outer office locked. Now for a yarn over that enormous fire before home. T hope what the Father of the Church Calls 'tlie sin that has come among us' won't bring ■> Civil Service examination down here. If I had my way the service should be a decidedly uncivil one."