NEW ZEALAND.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2715, 21 December 1882, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND.

[per press association.! . AUCKLAND, December 26. Acting upon permission given by the Presbyterian Cemetery trustees, Superintendent Thomson had the bodies of the late Hugh A. Hamilton and his infant child disinterred this morning and conveyed to the morgue. Dr. Goldsbro made an examination, there being also present Dr. Walker and Dr. Dawson, Superintendent Thomson, Detectives Strathearn and Walker, and the undertaker who interred the bodies. The press requested permission to attend the examination, but was refused admission. The body of Hamilton was in an advanced state of decomposition. The preliminary stages of the examination disclosed facts that have not even been suspected, and that will, when made public, intensify the painful interest which is concentrated upon the case. The fracture of the skull was found to be more extensive and serious than had been anticipated. The divorce case of J. S. Willcocks and Forder was fixed by Judge Gillies for the ensuing Civil Sittings. The petitioner is a tea dealer, and the co-respondent a clerk The scandal was first dealt with by Good Templars, Mrs and Mr Willcocks taking part in an entertainment given by the Sir Henry Havelock and other lodges. PATEA, December 20. The Government land sale to-day did not attract many people. Ten lots were taken up on deferred payments in Momahaki block at prices ranging from .£1 to .£9 ss, according to size and quality. Cash lands sold readily, and whenever there was anything good offered competition was brisk. About 40 lots were sold from .£1 to .£8 5s per acre. _ GISBORNE, December 20. The Southern Cross Petroleum Company's engineer reports from Rotokautuku, under date of 15th, that sinking was resumed on the 11th, since which the total depth sunk was 19ft. The crumbling nature of the ground necessitates quick slabbing. Since sinking very little oil or ebullition of gas was experienced, owing to the ground having been taken out expeditiously. The dip was slightly N.E., and during progress black pupa veins appeared, and the "lay' altered to a dip to the S.W. at an inclination of 15deg. This alteration makes no difference in the bottom regarding oil or gas. All the machinery is in good working order. BLENHEIM, December 20. A man named John Mclvoy was found dead in a watercloset at the back of the South Star Hotel. An inquest will be held. WELLINGTON, December 20. At the inquest to-day on the body of Joseph Sanders, senior, who was found dead in the harbor on Tuesday last, a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was returned, viz.—" That death resulted from drowning whilst suffering from an apoplectic fit. In reference to a statement published by a Marlborough paper to the effect that Mr Conolly was about to take the portfolio of Post and Telegraph, in addition to that of Justice. Ministers state that the subject has never been discussed, much less decided, but it is possible that some rearrangement of portfolios may take place after the holidays. NELSON, December 20. The Supreme Court opened to-day with criminal business. Charles Stratford, alias Coleman Phillips, alias George Webb, alias George Smith, alias George Lee, was indicted for horse stealing, and was found guilty and sentenced to six years hard Labor. He had three previous convictions in Wellington. A charge of keeping a disorderly house, which has now commenced, concludes the criminal business; after which the case of Williams v the Queen will come off. GREYMOUTH, December 20.

L. von Hotter, the retiring Postmaster here, was presented with a purse of sovereigns this evening at Gilmer's Hotel. About thirty leading citizens were present. The affair was sot up very hurriedly. He leaves, per Mahinapua, in the morning. Mr Calders, the new postmaster, took charge to-day. TIMARTJ, December 20. Detective Kirby returned from Melbourne to-day, bringing Patrick Ryan, his wife and daughter, arrested there on a charge of conspiring to defraud creditors. All the returns but that from one small polling station .are now in in connection with the proposed harbor loan of .£IOO,OOO. The total number of votes for the loan is 128 G; against loan, 35. The Harbor Board will therefore take immediate steps to float the loan. , At the R.M. Court to-day a charge against John Cooper, for breaking into and robbing a railway post office at Pleasant Point and Winchester, was dismissed for want of evidence. DUNEDIN, December 20. The District Court was occupiedthe whole of to-day with the hearing ot the case of David Edmond v Robert and Henry Goodison, a claim of £145, being the proceeds of a cheque alleged to have been obtained by the defendants from plaintiff, while to their knowledge the latter was intoxicated. The circumstances will be remembered from a, former telegram, the allegation being that defendants sold plaintiff a horse for £l4o, which they well knew to be only worth £2O. The case was not concluded this evening. Some half-dozen youngsters in one of the suburbs were seized with vomiting to-day after eating between them threepennyworth of Persian lolly, a compound winch is being retailed at the street corners by a Turkish-looking individual. It is supposed that it must have contained some poisonous material, or at any rate something too strong for tho stomachs of colonial youths. Probably the police will prevent its sale until it is analysed. . The Equitable Insurance Association are calling for applications for the post ot submanager. INVERCARGILL, December 20. The sale of pastoral runs to-day did not attract a large attendance, and of nineteen lots offered all were disposed of, with the exception of runs 154 a and 302. In only one instance was a higher rental than the upset obtained, viz., for run l l JBc. Iwo

deferred payment pastoral runs failed to elicit a bid, and were passed in. me buyers were :-Bun 119 b, Mr B. 1 aylor ; 148 and 148 a, Messrs J. and T Maben; 181 a, Mr H. Holmes ; ISIa, 188 b, and 188 c, Messrs Thornhill Bros.; 198 a, 198 b, and 199 c, Mr C. Basstian; 302 a, Messrs Ellis Bros.; 302 c, 119 a, 207, 146, and 191.* ... W Zealand Agricultural Company; 300 b, £Surwood Estate, Mr A. C. Begg.

TPROM THE "PRESS. ] WELLINGTON, December 20. Mr Whitaker will be back in tame to receive Sir William Jervois about 18tnol next month. Nothing definitely is known yet as to the return of Mrßryce and MrEc-l-leston. Strict reticence is preserved by the Ministers in Wellington as to the content* of Wahanui's reply to Mr Bryce..An unauthorised version of its POx^J o™** 0 ™** currency here, but Ministers will not oven admit that such a letter has been received at all. I have strong reasons, however, to believe that this is the case, and tiiat the purport of the communication was unsatisfactory in character, that is say, it indicates considerable degree of unanimity on part oi the Kingites in regard to continuing an attitude of procrastination and passive o Instruction. Wahanui seems to have recognised that he committed a blunder m his tactics by assuming such a prominent ancl dictatorial tone at the last interview, practically proving Tawhiao the nominal K.mg. lie has evidently been well tutored by certain advisers, and is falling back upon the old devico of a waiting game, thus endeavoring to force his opponents' hands.