LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 418, 22 April 1870, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Escort on Monday last took down the following quantities of gold ; Cromwell 6360z. Odwt. Clyde 3020z Odwt. Alexandra ]96oz. 4dwt. Teviot 1790z. Ifidwt. Black’s 3020z. OJ wt. Dunstan Creek 320z. 12dvvt. Mount Ida 7420z. Odwt. Total ... 23900z. 12dwt. Several cases have of late been reported of horses on the Dunstan commonage being discovered with their legs broken, others minus an eye, and others showing evidence of having been cruelly maltreated in one way or another. It is reported this week that two valuable cows, the pro perty of Mr. James Connew, have been literally beaten to death. Such acts of wanton cruelty deserve the severest punishment, and we feel certain that, if the crime is brought, home to the dastardly coward, whoever he may be, he will meet with with a just reward. News from the Bendigo Reefs by private parties, on whose statements every reliance can be placed, is most satisfactory and extremely encouraging. The Cromwell Company, at a depth of eighty feet, have got t lie reef two feet, in th ekness, the stone showing every indication of being far richer than aiiy yet obtained by them. Wilson and Company, No. 2 west, are still sinking. They have reached the depth of eighty feet, carrying quartz the whole distance, gold being traceable throughout the sto :e. On the eastern portion of this line, the Golden Crown and the Clyde Claims, Nos. 3 and 4, are pushing a-head with their work, and are raising to grass a large quantity of stone. In these claims (as in all others on this line) the stone at the lowest levels carries good gold. On the Auroia line considerable activity exists The Aurora Company are raising stone at a depth of about forty feet. Another leader joined the one they were working, making the thickness about two feet. This has considerably raised the declining Spirits of the shareholders. The mill is busily engaged crushing for the public, but the results of any of the parcels have not yet transpired. About one hundred tons from Colclough’s is now being put through, from which great things are expected. The Alta Company (Wilson’s) have stopped work for the present, awaiting the result of a crushing of about ten tons which will shortly he put through the Aurora stampers This company his about two hundred tons of stone to grass, and the shareholders are sanguine of a good ymld. Two quarter share shares have lately changed hands, at 125 1, each, or at the rate of 500/. per share. The purchasers are Dunedin merchants. Work is again resumed in Richmond’s claim, the dispute between the parties having been amicably arranged This claim is looked upon as one of the very best in the Bendigo district. Tie latest discovery by Kelly and party, between the Aurora and Colclough’s reefs, and running parallel with either, is commanding a deal of attention. Arrangements have been to have a number of tons crushed at the Aurora battery. Should the yield be but a tithe of wbat is expected by fhe appearances of the stone, the shareholders will in all likelihood make arrangements for a battery of their own. In reference to the man Dyer, who gave himself up to the Loudon police, for a murder committed in Victoria in 1857, persons who, in that year, knew a George Wilson, a sailor, about twenty-five years of age, residing about Newstead, Pennyweight, the Loddon, or Campbell’s Creek, are requested to communicate as soon as possible with the Superintendent of Police, Castlemaiue, or to tho Officer in charge of Detectives, Melbourne. There has been an exodus of the Chinese population from Tuapeka, some five hundred Laving left. The greater portion are bound for the Cardrona, and on Sunday last about two hundred Celestials, accompanied by several drays loaded with their swags, passed through Clyde. On Wednesday another large party followed, and we are informed there are more on the road. The Chinese who have, for some time past, been working on the Cardrona, have been doing exceedingly well, and this has induced the large accession of population in that district.

Some eighteen or twenty months since a lunatic named Motherwell created great alarm at the Cardrona, and«*n Constable Hunt, then in charge of the district, attempting to arrest him he made a most furious attack upon that ■ llicer with a knife wounding him in several places. Mr. Colclougli went to the constable’s assis tanco, and ultimately the maniac was secured, not before Mr. Colclough had received such injuries that confined him to his bed for several months. In consideration of the valuable services rendered by him the Government awarded to Mr. Colclough a sum of 501" together with a gold medal. The latter has only recently been finished, and was a few days ago presented to fhe recipient by Mr. Dalgleish, on bdialf of the Government. The medal medal is both valuable and elegant. We would wish particularly io draw attention to !ho Sale by Piddle Aucion at Cromwell on Thursday next of valuable Mining property at the Bendigo Eeefs being the shares of the late Mr. J. W. Garrett. '1 he sale will take place at Mr. W. J. Barry’s Auction Mart. For full parti ulars,' see advertisement, which appears in another column. Tho Bruce Standard says : —“ It is now well known that a very largeportion of the wheat crop is this season so seriously injured as to be untit for milling purposes. There is but a very limited consumption here for infe ior wheat for the feeding of pigs and poultry, and it therefore becomes an important question : wbat can be done to find a market for it 1 We would suggest that the establishment of a starch manufactory, on a Sinaiscale, in Milton, would be able to work ii]) remuneratively all wheat unfit for bread-making. There is a great cry about native industries: this is one which Can be floated with small capital, and no reason can be given why our own manufactured starch should not exclude Coleman s make We trust that there is enterprise enough left among us to give tho suggestion full consideration, which, if carried out, would open a market urgently required.” We are happy to say that the whole of the province of Canterbury has been declared quite free from pleurapneumonia. We were favored with an inspection of a most elaborately engrossed address that is to be presented to Sergeant Thomas Neil, by the townspeople of Alexandra, as a mark of their esteem and in appreciation of the sterling qualities he possesses. The presentation, we are given to understand, will take place on Tuosd iy next, in the Alexandra Public Library. We are given to understand that, the Postmaster of Cromwell is now appointed an official stamp distributor, and has now for sale duty stamps, impressed piper, &e. This will ba a great convenience to the inhabitants of Cromwell and the surrounding district. Wo are given to understand that the appointment of Mr. B. 11. Baird (who has been for some time past acting as clerk to the Resident Magistrate’s and Warden’s Courts, Cromwell) to the office of Receiver of Gold Revenue for the Cromwell district, hj s been recommended to the General Government by both his Honor the Superintendent and the Provincial Secretary. At the usual meeting of the Waste Lands Board held on Wednesday the 13th instant, no business of local interest was transacted, Tho following appears ill the Pro. vincial Government Gazette :—Sergeant Thomas Neil has been appointed Inspector of slaughter yards for. Clyde District, vice Sergeant Andrew Thompson transferred. The Mount Ida Chronicle says “ At a recent sale of horses in Tuapeka the prices ranged from 3 1. 10. and upwards, the auctioneer having some difficulty in disposing of them at that low figure. We should imagine, from the prices realised, that the last sale of h»rses had taken place in that district, at least until prospects get a little brighter.” From the Waikouaiti Herald we take the following : “An affair of rather a sensational character occurred in this neighbourhood early on Monday morning last, indeed, the accident is of such a nature that very little more was needed to have brought it into the same category of incidents we frequently see chronicled in the newspapers of our American cousins. The gentleman to whom the accident occurred is an old resident and prosperous settler of Waikouaiti, and a widower. Rumour sayeth that during the present week he was again to have entered into the ranks of the Benedicts by marrying a new arrival in Dunedin, and A comjagnon de voyage iu his late return from a visit to the old country. Another young lady, living not a hundred miles from Waikouaiti, doubtless labouring under the impression that she was the one who ought to have been the chosen one of his bosom, seems to have become enraged by feelings of jealousy to such an extent that she took the opportunity while he was in the house to strike him a blow on the side of the head with a blunt axe, knocking I him down, breaking his watch, and in--1 flirting a wound) if not dangerous, i sufficient to lay him up for some time 1 at least.”

Mr. William Matthew Hodgkins has been appointed Revising Officer for the Electoral District of Goltields Towns. In addition to the existing Roll, one hundred and twenty-live persons have applied to be placed on the Roll for Goldfields Towns. A man of the name of Thomas Kiernan was brought before the Court at Ararat, Victoria, and charged with vagrancy, the following transpired in the evidence :—“ The prisoner had been found in an empty house, recently occupied by Mr. Lyth, on the Pleasant Creek road He had of late been in the habit of frequenting empty houses, and living on the cha- ’ rity of the neighbors. The prisoner was quite a character in his way, and informed the magistrate that he was an itinerant preacher, and recognised : no master but Christ. He was asked if he would promise to leave Ararat in the event ofhis being discharged ; but he would not promise to do so, as he felt called upon, lie said, to remain 1 on Ararat to look after the spiritual 1 welfare of a person named Hope, who he was grieved to say, was on the , high road to ruin, and whom he was determined to reclaim at all hazards. 1 On further enquiry it transpired that 1 this saint had arrived in the colony 1 thirty years ago, having left home in the interests 0 * bis c mniry. On being interrogated by the clerk of the court, as to whether he had ever *• cracked a crib ” he indignantly repelled the insinuation, but ultimately acknowledged that his offence had been “ starring by which euphemism he described the commission of burglary by breaking through a window. He proffered his services to the bench to preach a sermon on anygiven subiect, an offer which was declined, and fourleen days’ imprisonment, with hard labor, was given him instead.”— A rural A dvertiser. We have received the prospectus of the Oamaru Herald, and Northern District# Agriculturist, the first nutnmer of which it is proposed to issue at the end of the current month. If the promises held forth in the prospectus are fulfilled, the new journal will be a valuable acquisition to the newspaper literature of he province. It will be seen by a notice in the Daily Times of the IGth instant, that a pamphlet will be shortly published containing a full and accurate description of the Martin’s Bay Settlement, its extent, capabi ities, and practical resources for agricultural and gold mining purposes, with the author’s (Mr. R. P. Whitworth) observations on the natural features of the country lying between Marin’s Bay and the h»ad of Lake Wakatip, as taken bv him in his overland journey. It will be illustrated with maps, and j plan ot the township and surrounding neighbourhood, and containing the Land Regulations of the district. The Daily Times says : “A crockery dealer named Lazard, was accused of defrauding the Customs by passing articles liable to duty at the rate of Is. per foot, as liable to only 3d. per foot, and was lined 100/. The result of the case greatly agitated him, and ho died of excitement within the precinots of the Court. A late telegram from the North says that it is reported Te Kooti has been offered an asylum and protection at Tokaugamutu, by the King, if he will keep quiet. From the local journal, we learn that the Flour Mill, so long talked of at Evan’s Flat, Tuapeka, is at last to be erected, and that Mr. Lawson intends erecting in connection with the Hour mill, a flax mill. On the morning of the 18th inst. a fatal accident occurred in the Wellington gaol. A prisoner named August Schroder, a seaman from the ship Melita, was shot dead while at work with the hard labor gang, by the accidental discharge of the rifle of Mr. McCarthy, the overseer. The bullet passed through bis heart. Schroder was undergoing a sentence of three months’ imprisonment, with hard labor, for an assault on the police, and his time would have expired on the following Saturday. At the inquest, a verdict of accidental death was returned.— Daily Times.