NEW ZEALAND.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2211, 28 March 1881, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND.

|>BB PRESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, Maroh 28. Spilt Oil. The American whaling barque James, ashore. at Awanui Heads, is reported to bo a totalwreck. She was twelve months out from New Bedford, with £OO barrels of oil. The vessel is lying on her beam-ends, with 6£t of water in the hold at low water. Her masts, have been cut away. The cargo of whale oil. cannot be got out. Nothing is insured. Accident. Thomas Hutchings, settler, of Whou, waft thrown from a trap and picked up insensible. His injuries are severe, but not fatal., BLENHEIM, March 28. Charges against a Property Tax Assessor. The Havelock enquiry concluded on Saturday. Mr McNab, for H. N. Firth, asked the Commissioners if they would make their decision known then. The Commissioners replied that they had to report to the Governor, and tho result no doubt would shortly be made known. WELLINGTON, March 28. Yielding to Temptation. At the Magistrate’s Court, Wm. Michael Downes was charged with illegally removieg s amps from certain papers, and was remanded until Friday, for the purpose of bringing up on important witness from Christchurch. DUNEDIN, Menh 28. DrownedMr Sydney Stock fell from the Mountaineer into Lake Wakatipu carlj this morning. The body was recovered several hours after-. wuruo.

AUCKLAND March 26. The Monument Unveiled. After a great discussion at the Waitangi meeting, the Natives decided to unveil the monument, whioh was done. Bad Reckoning. The American whaler, Captain Gifford, ■went ashore at Wainui Heads, mistaking it for Mongonui. The crew are discharging the oil, and expect to get the ship oil. An Interesting IndividualMr Alexander Black is dead, aged 68. He was one of the few surviving witnesses of the celebration of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Law Vindicated. A lottery was hold to dispose of a yacht and the police prosecuted the promoter, Mr Frank Whiting, who was fined £3 and costs, or a month’s imprisonment. HAWERA, March 26. Major Atkinson Again. Major Atkinson addressed the electors of Normanby lust night, but said nothing now He was severely cross questioned on local matters, after which he received a unanimous vote of confidence. WELLINGTON, March 26. Suspicious. For some time past there has been a suspicion that some perron has been tampering with the stamping of deeds, and the police hare been endeavoring to sheet the charge home. This afternoon William Michael Downs, a clerk io the office of Messrs Brandon and Sons, barristers and solicitors, was arrested on suspicion of being the party implicated. Ho will be charged at the Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning—(l) That he did on the 15th of May, 1879, fraudulently fix upon a certain material, to wit an application to bring certain lands under the provisions of the Land Transfer Act, a stamp to the amount of 2s, which had been removed from some,'other material, contrary to section 17 of the Stamp Act; and (2) That on or about November, 1879, he did fraudulently remove from an application in writing to bring certain land under Land Transfer Act, stamps of the amount of £l3, with intent to make use of such stamps contrary to section 17 of the Stamp Act. Accused has been admitted to bail, himself in £2OO, and two sureties of £IOO each on each charge. The Outward MailThe Hawea leaves for Manukau with the outward San Francisco mail at six o’clock tomorrow evening. Unfortunate MishapMrs J. Clarke, a steerage passenger per Rotorua, bound via San Francisco for England, with her husband and family, fell down the hatchway shortly after leaving Lyttelton. On arrival here she was taken to the hospital, suffering from a broken arm and suffusion of blood on the-brain. She has remained unconscious since the accident, and is now sinking fast and not likely to recover. TIM ABU, March 26. Rumoured Gold Find. "It is reported that Mr McGoverin, of Woimato, has discovered a gold-bearing quartz roof in the vicinity of the Waihaorungu estate, Waimate district. Two specimens were brought into Waimate showing specks on the face and in the body. The precise locality is not yet divulged. Reports say that the samples will run to six or seven ounces to the ton. DUNEDIN, March 26. The “Pinafore” Children. Reynolds’ Juvenile “ Pinafore ” Company is an immense success here. The houses are crowded, and hundreds are turned away from tho lower portions. [FBOM THE OWN OOBBBSFONDBWX OF THB FBB0B.”] WELLINGTON, March 26. The Property Tax officers have furnished me with the following further information as to the Property Tax received up to date. The total amount is £205,000, made up as follows :—Auckland, £31,481 ; Napier, £11,820; Wellington, £35,740 ; Nelson, £8,400; Christchurch (chief office), £52,617; Waitaki, £11,108 ; Otago, £43,173 ; Southland £7621 ; various country Post Offices (about) £3OOO ; total (about), £205,000. From reliable information received as to tho other payments it is almost certain will come in before Thursday next, when the current financial year terminates, it is now regarded as practically safe that the tax will have realised by that date fully £220,000. As I have good reason to believe that, according the corrected assessment, the sum which ought to be produced is somewhere about £245,000, this will leave more than £20,000 outstanding at the close of the current financial year on the 31st inst. Considering all the circumstances, especially tho fact that both instalments of the tax had to bo collected within a fortnight of one another, owing to the repeated unavoidable delay in bringing the Act into force, this result must be regarded as fairly satisfactory. I understand that the gross railway revenue actually taken up to the sth inst,, amounts to about £760,000, of which the working expenses absorb about 62 per cent. If this rate bo maintained to the end of the month, as there seems every reason to expect will be the case, the net profit on tho working lines will be about £320,000, whioh will pay interest at the rate of 3£ per cent, on the net prime cost of construction, as justly apportioned amongst the railways actually open and working during the period. This, of course, ia not official, but you will find it not far off the mark. GISBORNE, March 26. At a meeting of the directors of the Southern Cross Petroleum Company on Friday night, tho tender of Mr H. Campbell was accepted. Tho tender includes the erection of derrick, machinery and dwelling-houses, and also for boring 1000 feet, or until oil is Struck. The directors have made arrangements with the contractors, whereby a very handsome bonus will be given if oil is struck, thus giving an inducement to them to prosecute tho work with the best of their skill and ability. Mr Campbell ia an experienced artesian well borer, and Mr Parsons has had thirteen years’ experience of oil-boring in the best school for such work—Pennsylvania. It is anticipated that the whole of the expenditure to bo incurred under the arrangements whioh have bean concluded will only entail calls to the amount of one shilling per share spread over a long period.