NEW ZEALAND.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2285, 29 July 1881, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

[PBB PRESS ASSOCIATION.! AUCKLAND, July 28. Hew Local SteamerThe new steamer McGregor was launched to-day for the Waitara and West Coast trade, under the auspices of the Northern Steamship Company. The steamer is capable of carrying eighty passengers. Opening Museums on Sundays. The petition to the council of the Auckland Institute, praying for the opening of the Museum Institute on Sundays, is being influentially signed. Several clergymen have signified their intention to sign. At LoggerheadsThe feud between the Education Board and the Grafton road school committee over the appointment of Miss Whyte, a pupil teacher, as assistant teacher of the District School without the committee’s consent, has entered upon a new phase. The committee have ignored the new teacher, and have obtained at legal opinion from Messrs Hasketh and Richmond that the Board’s action is unlawful. Mr Laishley, the chairman of the school committee, will probably now move for an injunction to restrain the appointee from teaching in the school. A French Selkirk. While trading to the westward of New Caledonia, Captain McLiver, of the schooner Norval, picked up a Frenchman in a starved condition. He stated that ha had been put ashore nine months previously with food for two • months. Since he had been living oh bird’s eggs and such like. Ho was landed at New Caledonia. NEW PLYMOUTH, July 28. Sale of the Samson. The steamer Samson was sold to-day. The cabin furniture brought £47, the hull £43, sails and boats £ls, total £lO5. A Gas Dividend. A meeting of the Gas Company was held to-day. The profit for the year was £474, representing 5s a share, which was passed to the capital stock of each shareholder. WELLINGTON, July 28. Telegraphic Revenue. The following is a comparative-statement of the telegraphic businessi-Telegrams forwarded June quarter 1880, 337,957; June quarter 1881, £337,847. Cash revenue received June quarter 1880, £17,743 11s 2d; June quarter 1881, £17,943 19s lid. Value Government telegrams June quarter 1880, £7166 6i sd; June quarter 1831, £6332 10s 9d. NELSON, July 28. EireA fire occurred at Riwaki this morning, when the Travellers’ Best Hotel was burnt to the ground, only one chimney being left standing. The flames obtained a hold suddenly, and the inmates experienced difficulty in effecting their escape. The landlord’s children could not have got out had it not been for a second staircase. It is believed that the fire originated in the taproom, but in what manner is unknown. The building and furniture were insured in the National for £4OO. OAMABU, July 28, The Sparrow NuisanceAt a meeting of the Agricn’turaland Pastoral Association to-day, it was decided, in reference to the small birds pest, that the society supplement the Acclimatisation Society’s contribution of £5, and distribute poisoned wheat at £1 per bushel of 601 b. A Useless BridgeThe Waitaki County Council have declined to appropriate a further sum of money towards the completion of the Upper Waitaki bridge ; £15,000 has already been spent. The bridge is completed, but the approaches thereto are not. The work of completing the approaches would cost £I9OO, and the Waitaki Council decline to contribute any port of this sum. The bridge as it at present stands cannot bo used for traffic, and how the difficulty is to be overcome is not at present known.