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Dunstan Times, Issue 318, 29 May 1868, Page 2

We are requested by the Secretary of the Dunstan District Jockey Club to state that, the Meeting of Members will take place on Thursday, June 4th at 8 o'clock, and not on Monday, the Ist as advertised in our last issue: The adjourned meeting of the committee of the Dunstan District Hospital was held in the Council Chambers on Thursday evening the 21st inst. Present, J. Hazlett, in the Chair, and Messrs M'Pherson, ChrisHon. Treasurer, Grindley, Hastie, Hueston, M'Connochie, Beck Pache, Naylor, and R. BarLw, Secretary. The Secretary laid on the table the new Rules as prepared by the sub committee appointed to draw up the same. After the Rules were read and were with some few trifling amendments adopted, it was resolved on the motion of Mr. Christophers seconded by Mr. Beck, —That a General meeting be convened " see advertisement "to rescind the old Rules, and adopt those now read. A vote of thanks to the Chair, concluded the meeting. The following letter from his Honor the Superintendent to Mr. Shepherd, M.P.C., in reply to a communication accompanying a memorial from the inhabitants of Macetown, has been handed to us. We most willingly publish it, as it unmistakably shows that the convenience and interests of the miners is not overlooked by his Honor. " Superintendent's Office, Dunedin, May 14, ISO*. Sir,—l have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, together with a memorial from the inhabitants of Macetown respecting a polling place there. Perhaps you will be good enough to communicate to the memorialists that I have written to the General Government, strongly urging compliance with their very reasonable request. I have also pressed upon the attention of the General Government the necessity of declaring a polling-place at Blue Spur. I have the honor to be, Sir, yours, James Macandrew, Superintendent-" We are informed by a member o the visiting committee of the Dunstan Hospital, that the account, which appears in our last issue respecting the expenditure for wines and spirits was incorrect, inasmuch as the item £l6 GsO, Hazlett and Co, was for supplies obtained during November, and not December as it appeared. The total £B7 5s 2d will therefore represent the expenditure for five months. This however is very large, and doubtless the item for wines and spirits will admit of a vigorous pruning down. A meeting of the Committee of the Clyde Public Library was held in the Council Chambers onTuesday evening last the 2fith inst. Mr. D. M'Pherson in the Chair, and Messrs Hazlett, Ziele, Pache, Hon. Treasurer and J. XT. Cambridge Hon. Secretary. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The Secretary reported,—That he had applied to the proprietors of the various Provincial Papers for copies of their Papers, and had received favorable replies, on condition of stamps being remitted The Treasurer reported,—That he had visited the Alexandra Public Library, and inspected the books as obtained through the Educational Board, and those from other sources, and would recommend that this Committee obtain their books through the Government, as they were so well bound, and in every respect better adapted than those obtained from book sellers. The Secretary was instructed to solicit by Advertisement contributions of Books and Papers for the Library, vote to the Chair concluded the meeting.

The petition from Cromwell for the extension of the Goldlields in the Upper Clutha district, was forwarded by yesterday.s Mail to Mr. Shepherd M.P C. for presentation to the Council. In our last issue we omitted from the list of names of the Alexandra Local Committee of the Dunstan Eistrict Hospital, the name of Mr, L G Ryan. The schooner, Jeanie Dun can has arrived at Port Chalmers from the Fiji Islands, after a passage of i.ineteen days Owing to the schooner having encountered a series of gales, the greater part of her cargo of oranges being damaged, were thrown overboard. Captain Shepherd reports that Cing Thakembau is fighting with the native mountaineers, who killed Mr. Baker. On the day he left, there was a great battle between the tribes, the King lost 180 men, and was victorious : the loss of the others must have been great, the Christian Natives being armed with muskets. News is also brought of the murder of Captain Hayes of the brig Rona, which left here some time since. It is stated that the Captain and Mate had a quarrel on board, and that they went onshore to fight a duel. As soon as the Captain stepped out of his boat, the man drew a revolver and shot him dead. The mate then went on board and weighed anchor. We believe that at one time Hayes was proprietor of an Hotel and Theatre at the Arrow. The hurricane last year having destroyed all the cocoa nut trees, there is no oil on the Islands. The " Oamaru Times" has recently published rumors of a new goldfield in that district, We extract the following from the "Daily Times," as giving the most reliable intelligence at present to be obtained :—" Last week two men, it is said, applied to the Government to be allowed to see the maps of a distrtot between a pass, which they called ' Dandy's,' and the Maruwhenua river. The men stated that they had been prospecting for some weeks; that they had found ' better gold than there was on {he Mount Ida side of the range ;' that there was plenty of excellent sluicing grouud, and that they had been making capital wages. The men stated that they had settled down to work, and were sure they could have done excellently ; but that when they were cutting a tail-race, a man came on the ground and claimed, as private property, land through which about one hundred yards of the race would have to be cut. The men, as wo hear, stated that they offered to pay highly for the land, or for the right to cut the race, but the claimant would not accept any of their terms. Then tho men started for Dunedin, to make inquiries. They pointed out on the map, as the site of their working, a spot where there is no sold land; and which spot is not within a Goldfield or a Hundred. The situation of the spot indicated by the men is said to be—On the Maruwhenua river, seven miles from Graham and Cook's station, half a mile west of the Maruwhenua Hundred line, and three quarters of a mile south of Trig Station G. The men promised to put in a letter of application, and they were assured, as we are told, that whatever could be done to secure them " protection " un der the circumstances, should be done prompt'y. They did not, however, keep their promise ; and they have probably returned to their work. Their story having oozed out, there have deen a good many inquiries respecting the story of the alleged "find" The nearest route to the place, as we understand the men to have stated, is -by the Kakanui river, and then by Dixon and Feran's statiou. We must repeat that nothing is known at present which should induce people to attempt to get up a " rush to the supposod new field." The opening Ball on Friday night last, given by host Redhead, at the Sluicers' Arms, Kawarau Gorge, was very numerously attended ; many persons went even from so great a distance as Clyde. If the ball in question is an evidence of tlie spirit with which Mr. Redhead intends to conr duct his house, there is little doubt but that his new enterprise will be eminently successful. "Dickers Mining Record" says:— A large tree, the wood of which is in a state of good preservation, has been found at Talbot, Victoria, embedded in the washdirt of a shaft at a depth of 50 feet. The wood shows a wavey grain, and is said to nsemblc cedar. Some of it has been removed for tho purpo3o of being polished.