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Dunstan Times, Issue 621, 13 March 1874, Page 2

The'post of Provincial’Solicitor’resigned by Mr Turton,'we understand _has been acoepted.by Mr Haggott. _The day for deciding applications for land in the Teviot district is March the; 19th. Mr. Fache will selFby auction, at the Old Bendigo Hotel, Clyde, on Saturday (tomorrow) afternoon, a lot of'sundry effects. The months of April, Slay, June and July are proclaimed as the months for the shooting of game. We wish our sportsmen good luck. The latest telegrams from Australia convey the intelligence that the Palmer rush is over,-and that hundreds of miners are dying of starvation. The Daily Times understands that the Banks have raised the price of gold to 3/. 15s 6d per oz. This step, it is said, is due to the threatened importat geld to the Victorian mint. Tho new Court-house at Clyde is being rapidly pushed towards completion. The roof is on, and the plastering of the outside is all but finished.) The internal fitting, we may say, is all that is required to be done. We purpose, in a future issue, to give a detailed description of the new building. On Monday last the District Land Court was open for receiving applications for land in Ida Valley, Tiger-hill district. W. L. Simpson, Esq. pi elided, and received the following .—Joseph Glass, sections 26 and 27, Block V, 200 acres ; Hugh Sinnamon, sections 1, 2, 3 and 8, Block V,; 177 acres 38 poles ; William Anderson Low, sections 3, 8 and 13, Block V, IS4 acres. The date fixed for dec iding the applications'is April the 2nd. The annual meeting of' the’Alexandra Miners’ Association was held in the Library Hall, Alexandra, on the 28th of February, when the following officers were elected Air. J.’Allen, President; Mr. Thomas Sims, Treasurer ; Mr. J. Simrnonds, Secretary ; and Messrs. Simmonds, Sims, D. Forrest, Bohninsr, W. F. Forrest, Coleman, Terry, Fawselt, and Livingstone members of Committee. Mr. Sims was'tlccted Delegate to represent tho distrietjat tho Alining Conference. AVe arc given to understand'that a portion of .tbe'roadjbetwcrn Neipcr’s store and Butcher’s Gully is badly washed away by the late rains, and’ that the services of a surface man or two for a'few days would he of great 1 benefit. Our‘informant also says that the 'piece of'road'on; the west hank of’the Molyncux between Conroy’s Gully and the Alexandra and Dunedin road is in an impassable state for wheeled’traffic, deep chams being made for a great part of it. The first of the new lino of coaches to run between Queenstown and Dunedin, in connexion with Mr. Henry on the Queenstown end of the journey, and Messrs. Yeend and Pope on the Lawrence end, arrived in Clyde on Wednesday afternoon and made the first journey this (Friday) morning. We hope the proprietors of the now line may meet with success ; but we think there is scarcely sufficient traffic on the road to support two expensive establishments such as four-horse coaches must he. At the cutting of the first sod of the Waipori sludge channel, a work to he constructed under the Government loan, and at a cost of some 18,000k, Air. Bastings said he had no doubt the channel would be a reproductive work, but, if not, it would drain the flats, and fit them for the cultivation of trees. What did our worthp Gold-fields’ Secretary mean—ls it to beunderstood that tho work is commenced without any data as to the amount of gold in the Waipori flat and terraces to make it a reproductive work, or is it a question, whether there is fall sufficient in the country to work a sludge channel ? In the Resident Alagistiate’s Court, Clyde, on Thursday last the 12th instant, there was only one case for hearing, that of Henshurgh v. Ferand, for commission on the sale of some fruit. Air Feraud, who conduotedhis own case, filed a set off, and entered into an explanation, from which it appeared that he entrusted in plaintiff’s hands a quantity of fruit for sale, on tho express understanding that the fruit was to be brought back if it did not realise certain prices ; that the plaintiff returned and handed in Ilk odd, as being the amount he had received, but which was 7k less than its value, and the amount of his set off, and what the plaintiff was suing for, commission on tho Ilk Ihe plaintiff in stating his case denied any price being fixed on the fruit was to realise. The Bench said the evidence being so contradictory, made the giving judgment a difficulty, and suggested to plaintiff, if he could bring further evidence, to accept a nonsuit. The plaintiff said he had no further evidence ; the Court then a ljudg • ed the accounts between the parties settled.

The election of a Member of the Pro viucial Council, vice Mr J. Bathgate resigned, took place on Friday last, and resulted in the return of Mr Reeves by a majority of 160 over the three other aspirants for legis: lative honors, Messrs Chapman, Cargill and Isacs. The Southland News in commenting on the election says— “ The success of Mr ’Reeves encourages the hope that the land question is beginning to be understood even in Dunedin, which has been for some time the stronghold of the party that has for years contrived to manipulate the land laws for the benefit of its members.” The heavy and continuous rains that fell from Friday midnight to Saturday about mid-day will have a beneficial effect throughout the district. The water-races that were beginning to fall short of their customary supply, will, for a spell, be again replenished, and cause increased activity amongst the miners. The whole of the crops being cut and housed, the rainfall will have done the’farmers some good.

but however much benefit will be derived, no inconsiderable amount of damage has been done to the roads, which, in a many places we notice are badly cut up. The Arrow Observer is responsible for the following : —“ We are informed by Mr Powell, Road Inspector, that on examining the Shotover bridge this week to see if it required tightening up after the dry weather, it was found that forty of the nuts had been taken off the bolts beneath the flooring, and ousside the parapet. Some of the bolts were quite bright, showing that the thief had no small difficulty in getting them to stir, and that the theft had been done very recently.” We hope there is some mistake here, as we cannot bring ourselves to believe any man can be found so bad, so lost to all sense of right and wrong as to commit so wanton an act, whereby life and property are placed in Jeopardy ; if it is true, thore:should be but little trouble in hunting down the villain, and the police must surely have lost their wonted cunning if they fail in apprehending him. Individuals rf sporting tendencies, and

especially those addicted to that interesting game termed “ Yankee gra\” had better (says the Post) be on tne alert just now, as there are several professional sharpers honoring Wellington with a visit. These professionals are well up to the work I rf skinning a lamb, and have, we believe, I already found several innocents cn whom to practise. As illustrating one of the dodges practised, we have been shown a

die used by them in Qankeo grab, in which the edges of the six'side are so ingeniously rounded off as to render it quite impossible I that the ace could ever come up in throwing. By cleverly substituting th is prepared die for one of the legitimate dice, a most apparent advantage would be gained. The die in question was forcibly taken possession of by a gentleman whom they attempted to fleece, but wUo proved too wide awake for them. When on a visit to the Carrick'range during the'past week we were shown specimens of copper ore, plumbago, cinnabar and antimony as discovered in the district. The party, in whose possession they are. informed us the two first mentioned, under existing circumstances, are of no market value, the veins from which they wero taken being very thin, and the returns, after analysis, being very small; with the two latter, however, a different account was given, the return being 75 per cent. A large parcel, in all about three tons of the | antimony, has'becn sent homo, and if the j return equals the first trial, not only docs I a competence await the fortunate holders, but a branch of industry will bo opened that must raise the district second to none in importance in the Province. The existence of those various metals haslong been known, but their locale has been a hidden secret until now. We have gleaned the’following statistical information as prepared in connection with tho census for the year 1874 for the sub district of Dunstan, comprising all the country lying to the west of Chatt.o Creek under the Dunstan Range, including the town of Clyde, thence crossing the Molyneux, and taking in Stewart’s home station ; also, the Dunstan Flat to the boundary of the town of Alexandra, skirting the said boundary, and including the Manorburn and the Knobby Range up to the boundary of the Serpeniine—Population, 625, inclusive of 89 Chinese, and 175 children born in the Province, of these latter, 114 are boys and 01 girls; great cattle, 683 ; horses, 288 ; sheep, 138,10:) ; pigs, 132 ; goats, 65 ; turkeys, 155 ; geese, 375 ;-ducks, 189 ; and fowls, 1910. Of the ground under crop, there are 468 acres of oats, with an estimated yield of 13,460 bushels ; 25 acres, wheat, 795 bushels ; 11 acres barley, 216 bushels ; 166 acres hay, 230 tons ;29 J acres potatoes, 82 i tons. There were 3,5551bs of butter made in 1873. Of last year’s crop there are only 70 bushels of barley in hand. The Weekly Times reports tho following:—“ Two brothers named Murdoch, and aged respectively fourteen and sixteen years, indulged in what they were afterwards pleased to call ‘ only a lark,” late on Saturday night, at Sylvan Bank. Probably for tho want of something worse to do, they gratified their love for pleasantry by ‘ sticking up ’ William Hall, a neighbor and acquaintance, and relieving him of 31. Approaching their friend in a jocular manner, one of the youths caught him behind and held his arms, while the other, coming up iu front, took his money. The neighbors then parted, and it was not till some -ime afterwards that Hall missed his money. Thinking he had lost it in town, he returned, and, procuring a lamp, went up and down the streets, Diogenes like, looking for ids lost treasure. At last, finding his search vain, Hall went and described his adventure, with the Murdochs to the police, who afterwards apprehended the boy who had, as he himself said, quite unknown to his brother, ‘ conveyed ’ the mo* , ney from Hall's pocket to his own,’' 1