INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 375, 9 June 1868, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

A young cadet volunteer very nearly shot some persons in Nelson the other day, by carelessly discharging his loaded rifle. The Mq.il says : — " It appears thai on Wednesday afternoon a rifle loaded with ball was discharged in Manuka street, and the ball passed in very unpleasant proximity tp two individuals whp were walking in Brook. street at the time. Efforts were made by the pofipe to discover the culprit, but we believe without success. This morning, however, during the sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court, a gentleman presented himself before that functionary, stating that his son— a member of one of the Cadet Companies — had spontaneously confessed himself to be the delinquent. In order to, relieve the public mind from any uneasi: ness on the subject, he had thought it right to acquaint the Magistrate with the fact, and at the same time to entreat his . indulgence for the lad, under the circumstances of his voluntary admission of the offence. The Magistrate acquiesced in this view pf the. matter, and urged the propriety of making some regulation by which the rifles used by the Volunteers, or at all events by the. Cadets, should be deposited in the Orderly Room whenever the parades, &c. , are concluded by which means the recurrence of such, acts of thoughtlessness on the part, of the boya would be avoided." Ih.e Daily Times supplies the following ;, -=r"A statement was recently published, in the Oamaru Times, that 'there ar§ rumors in town of the discovery of a payable gold field in Oamaru ;' and some, particulars as to wha<, was known in, Oamaru were added. There seems to be reason to conclude that a payable gold • field has been discovered in the Oamaru district } but there is nothing known as to result of the official inquiry, and nothing to cause excitement at present. We give the following as the substance of what is knqwn in Dunedin on the subject ; but we do not give it officially, or as absolutely reliable, :— Last week, two men, it is said, applied to the Government to be allowed to see the maps of a district between a pass, which they called '•Dandy's,' and the Marawhenua river. The men stated that they had been pro^ specting for some weeks ; that they had found ' better gold than there was on the Mount Ida, side of the range $ they also, stated that there, was plenty of excellent sluicing ground ; and that they had been, making capital wages. The men stated that they had 'settled down' to work, and were sure they could have done excellently ; but that when they were cutting a tail-race, a man came on the ground an 4 claimed, as private property, jand through which about 100 yards pf the race would have had to be cut. The men, as we hear, stated that they offered to pay highly fox the land, or for the right to en% the race; but that the claimant would, not accept any of their terms. Then the, men started for Dunedin, to inquire intcj the matter. They pointed out on the map' as the site of their working, a spot where, there is no sold land ; an,d whiiph spot is not within a gold field or a Hundred. The situation of the spot indicated by the men is, said to. be on th.c Marawhenua, river, seven miles from. Graham, and Cook's station, half-a-m(ig We.s,t.'o| the Marawhenua hundred: line, and quarters of a" mile sp.uth of Trfig Station G. The men promised to put in a, letter of application ;• and we are told, that " whatever could be done to secure them 'protection,' under the circumstances, , should be done promptly. They did not, however^ keep their promise, and they have probably returned to^their work. "We must repeat that nothing is known at • present which should induce people to attempt to get up a 'rush' to the sujt posed new fields." F. J. Moss, Esq., of Dunedin, has been appointed a Justice of the Peace for th© colony. • : . The following commissioners, the Honor Judge Johnston, his Honor Judge Rich, mond, the Hon. Ponsonby Peacocke, C. Haughton, and J. O'Nejll, Esq. , have been gazetted to, inquire into the state of the gaols of the colony, with a view to the establishment of a general penal settle-: ment. The death of Mr BL A. Julius, member of the Otago Provincial Council for the town of Oamaru, is announced. He died at the Criterion Hotel, Dunedin, from the effects of a severe cold, caught while, attending to his legislative duties in tho Council Mentioning the melancholyevent, the Otago Daily Times, of the 2nd instant, says: — "Mr Julius was first returned to the Provincial Council at the. general ejection early last year. His, political opponents were not less his, friends than were those with whom he/ acted in concert ; and both sections of t\e Council will agree that, by his death, the Province has lost one who promised worthily to take a prominent position in : Provincial politics. The deceased gentlen^an enjoyed the confidence of his coni stituency in the fullest degree; and Oamaru will not easily replace its late representative, The Soutliern Gross, of June 2nd, states — "The development of the auriferous wealth of the Thames district has been, prosecuted with unabated vigor during the past month, although the wintry weather experienced has somewhat militated against prospecting being carried on for many consecutive, days with any degree of comfort. Thei claims proved gold-bear-i ing are. now steadily worked ; machinery is being extensively erected ; and shares in spme of the richer claims have changed hands at astonishingly high figures. As an instance of this, we may here mention that a. quarter sleeping-share in the Shot-, over, which was bought eight months ago for LIOO, was sold a few days ago for *L 2250. New discoveries are being made weekly. of auriferous ground, not alone confined to the Hauraki district. A rush has taken place to Kennedy's Bay, consequent on the discovery of alluvial gold th,ere ; the district has been proclaimed a gold field, new townships surveyed, and at last dates there were about 500 diggers on the spot. We have also to report the discovery of the precious metal at the Wade ; and quartz, supposed to contain gold, was also been met with at Papakura and the Kaipara. We learn that auriferous quartz has been discovered in the neighborhood of Rangiriri, specimens of which have been brought to town by Mr Moorhouse, brother of the late Superintendent of Canterbury. The discovery is said to. be of a very promising character." The New Zealand Herald of June 3 says: — "During the past week upwards of 16QQ ounces of gold have been brought u.p by the steamers Tauranga and Midg%

from the Thames. A handsome building has been erected at Shortland for the Union Bank of Australia. Thore is ample accommodation afforded for the usual departments ; alao for gold-buying and smelting. The Bank of N.evy South Wales is about to erect banking premises at Shortland. A thirty-roomed house is about to be erected at Shortland (Thames), which indicates not only the prosperity of the place, but the want of extended house accommodation.. Mr Christie had sold a share in Hunt's claim for L 2200, Mr Hunt himself being the purchaser. We have beeu reliably informed that on the 21st ult., after the sale was made, quite 1000 ounces of gold were taken out pi this claim in the space of a couple of hours. The quantity of gold exported from the Province of Auckland during the quarter ended March 3 1st was 8405 ozs. ; value, L 26,47 6; of which 6050 ozs. was exported to Great Britain, and 2366 ozs. •to New South Watea. A new church, named St. George's Church was opened at Shortland, on May 24, by the Yen. Archdeacon Lloyd, of Auckland."