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Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2073, 28 December 1869, Page 2

The Mayor’s Court. —The Mayor s Court tliis morning presented an unusual sight. There was no less than four of Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace on the bench, viz., His Worship the Mayor, and Messrs Fraser, Eeynolds, and M'Glashan. It is highly satisfactory to find Otago’s J.P.’s evincing a desire to recognise the responsibilities appended to the acceptance of a magisterial commission. Yauxhall.—Wc have been informed that the jetty at Yauxhall gave way late

last evening, and in consequence much alarm was caused amongst the visitors to the gardens who were waiting on it, for the steamer to convi y them back to their homes. Although no very great damage was done, much confusion ensued, and some fearing a serious casualty took to the water. Through the efforts of Captain Dickie and others the fears of the visitors were allayed, and the embarkation took place as usual. Medical Board. —The New Zealand Gazette, of the 18th inst., contains the following ;—His Excellency the Governor has been pleased to appoint the under-mentioned gentlemen to constitute a medical board, under the Military Pensions Act, 1866: — Edward Hulme, Esq., M.D., F.R.G.S. ; E. W. Alexander, Esq., M.D., M.R.C.S.E., L. ; and T. M. Hocken, M.D., M. L.S.A.L. Shearing. — Sheaving on the station ! on the Five Rivers Plain commenced a fortnight ago, says the Southland Times The clip is reported to look well, and hands are plentiful at 15s per hundred. In the Tuapeka district the prospects are by no means so favorable, the lambing this year having been very bad. On one station, the local paper states that the losses exceeded 70 per cent.—a proportion chiefly occasioned by the want of sufficient hands to attend to the flock. This year’s clip is also said to he considerably be’ow the average. Agricultural Prospects. The Lyttelton Times, in an article on the prospect of the next harvest, says -“ In forecasting the price of grain for the ensuing season, it should not be forgotten that the Australian Colonies will commence the year with unusually short stock. It is, we think, almost a certainty that oats will be high price d, and that barley will also maintain its value. The price of wheat will depend, to a considerable extent, on the ultimate yield of South Australia. There is not, so far as we are in a position to judge, any substantial reason for thinking that it will fall very low. The West Coast. — We take the following from the Greymouth Star /—Life on the West Coast is not quite coukur de rose. A conflagration has laid the most valuable business portion of the Buller in ashes, and the whole of the populations of the towns of the West Coast of the Middle Island, from Okavito, south, to the Buller, north, have now had a surfeit of bitter experiences from both fire and flood. Hie first destructive fire occurred at Okarito ; skipping Hokitika. it seized Greymouth, and, as if regretting the omission, it turned back and burned down twenty business establishments in Hokitika. Passing Greymouth en route, it attacked Charlestown and has now visited Westport, where it did its work very effectually and with the utmost despatch. The following are estimated losses by fire on the West Coa»tOkarito, L 5.000 ; Greymouth, L 60,009 ; Hokitika, L 30,000 ; Charleston, L 3.000 ; Buller, L 15.000 ; -total loss by fire, LI 13,000. And all this very large amount of losses (leaving out Okarito) happens us within the period of a few months. Te Kooti. The Southern Cross, Dec. 17th, speaking of this arch-rebel’s movements says “Te Kooti, who appeals to have arrived at Maracroa, which is distant about 50 or 60 miles from Te Kuiti. Tawhiao has issued orders for a general muster of the Waikato and Ngatimaniapoto people, who will, in all probability, make short work of Te Kooti and the few followers who are still fatuous enough to adhere to his fortunes. Te Kooti’s abandonment of his fastness in the neighbourhood of Talma at the head of the Whanganui River, and his insolence to the King’s messengers, can only be accounted for in the supposition that Te Kooti has become thoroughly desperate. He must have suffered terrible privations while subsisting on fern root and indigenous berries, for though in former times the natives were accustomed to depend very much upon this kind of food, the introduction of European agriculture and the subsistence of the natives for years past upon European diet, has rendered them incapable of living upon their old food for any very considerable period. This does not apply so much to the natives of the old school as to those who, like Te Kooti, have resided since childhood in a district inhabited by Europeans. In such cases the constitution of the natives lias undergone such a change as to incapacitate them from subsisting : for any lengthened period upon fern and other indigenous roots. We have no doubt that tnis has been one of the reasons which have induced Te Kooti to come out of his lair, and to stake his fate upon one more desperate trial.” It will be seen by a reference to our advertising columns that the Omeo is announced to sail on Thursday next, the 30th inst., instead of Friday, as previously advertised. To-.morrow, tbe Dunedin Volunteer Artillery Corps will meet for special parade, in terms of the advertisement, at 7 p.m.