AUCKLAND ITEMS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XIII, Issue 589, 25 June 1868, Page 3

AUCKLAND ITEMS.

HUE AT ONEIIIJNGA.—THE COURTIIOPSE HOTEL DESTROYED. (Prom llic Daily Southern Cross, Lilli June.) [lnformation was received in town yesterday by Mr Commissioner Naugbtou that a fire bad occurred at Ouehunga at half-past three o’clock yesterday morning, by which the Court-house Hotel, owned and occupied by Mr H. Powning Stark, was totally destroyed. The firs is said, to have been first dis-

covered by Miss Stark, who at once aroused her parents, and thy whole of the inmates were soon in a place of safety. At the time of the fire there were eight persons residing in the building, viz., Mr and Mrs Stark, and four children ; Mr Skeeao, a lodger ; and the servant. So rapid was the progress of the flames, that it was as much as the inmates could manage to do to save their own lives ; and the whole of the household and personal property was totally destroyed, the only things saved being a few clothes from one of the back rooms. A large crowd of people collected round the scene of the conflagration, and every assistance that it was possible to render was most willingly given. The family found shelter for the rest of the morning in the house of one of the neighbors. Police-constable Lloyd was on the spot, and rendered very valuable assistance, We learn that the house was insured for the sum of AGOG, in the office of the Royal Insurance Company; the goods and furniture destroyed were, however, unfortunately uninsured.

Our Oitelmnga correspondent writes; ‘ —“ Thu lire was first observed at the back part of the house, the wind at the | time being strong from the west. The 1 ! whole building was soon iu a blaze, 1 and, in about half-au-hour, nothing remained of one of the must substantial j built houses, but two out of three , chimneys. One fell very quickly ; at ihe same time a loud report was heard, ' supposed to be caused by come gun- , | powder, in flasks, belonging to a gentleman staying there, which must have ; exploded iu the fireplace of the fallen 1 ; chimney. "We regret to say the un-j' fortunate proprietor, Mr H. P. Stark, i |was unable to remove anything, aud had to make the quickest escape possi-j hie with Mrs Stark, family, and house-1

hold. The furniture, bar Sittings, uud j 1 stock were uninsured; the building is ! insured in the Uoyal only one-fourth| of the original cost. It was built by I the former proprietor, air S. J\ kVil-j; Hams, in 186-1, at an outlay of X‘2,-100. The three houses opposite were occupied by Messrs Quinn, Driver, and , Walker. For some lime it was doubtful whether they would not have to share the same fate, but owing to the strenuous exertions of a few persons under the direction of constable Lloyd, they managed to keep the roofs and j ■liter parts of the houses saturated with] water. As it was, the front of the j buildings was considerably scorched,! and the canvas-top verandah of Quinn’s! was soon destroyed. The fire was first' discovered by one of the daughters of, ■Mr Stark, who observed the flames! coming through the flooring of her bed-] room. It is not known for certain! which room it originated in—so ra!pid were the flames that no time, as 1 above stated, was allowed for anything ibut to escape with their lives.] j Amongst the things destroyed were a j considerable sum of money, and other ! valuable articles, belonging to Mr I ISkeeue, who was residing there. The following gentlemen were conspicuous in rendering assistance; —Messrs Da- ] vies, Krimner, Codlin, Couch, Gillmau, . Simpkins, Captain O’Connell, with a few others. "We mention this as there ' were several who preferred lounging | with their hands in their pockets, which . speaks badly for men in emergency like I the above catastrophe.”

STORM AT HASTINGS (TATU CREEK.) The New Zealand Herald, .June 15, says : —By the arrival of the Mary Ann from Hastings (Tapu Creek) yesterday morning we learn that the gale which proved so destructive at Shorthand was also severely felt at Hastings, a number of tents being blown into ribbons, and one or two buildings in course of creation blown down. The schooner Julia and cutter Mary Ann, which had just finished discharging their cargoes, were driven ashore. The Mary Ann succeeded in g ating off again without much difficulty, but the J ulia is still high up in the sand. On Saturday last herballast was thrown overboard, but this did not have the eject of floating her. Another attempt is to be made this morning, l ano if unsuccessful, she will probably have ito remain there for some time.

OPENING OE TUB PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, AUCKLAND. (From the New Zealand Herald, IGUi June,) The twenty-third session of the Provincial Council was opened yesterday. The chief business was, of course, the delivery of the unerring speech of th-> superintendent, winch touched upon several questions of interest and importance. Throughout the whole speech the fact becomes painfully evident that whatever may be the intentions or desires of the Government to con tribute to this or that work, it has no means at its disposal of carrying them out. W 5 do not sey that the- Province is in ; A vent, for it has the means to pay the public creditor—the General Government takes good care of that —and it can keep up, and will doubtless continue to do so, the necessary work of ad a blistering the Government within its bounds. It is no! longer able, however, to perform those various functions which, rightly or wrong-' ly, it was wont to do, and which, while it was able to do, all men spoke well of it i subsidizing ol the several districts in the' mutter of education, public improvements,; and other matters, and iu the support ofi the sick, poor and insane. ;

It is plain that the people- of this Pro vmce arc being brought, whether they will or no, iace to face with local self-govern-ment m one of its phases, that of local taxation, and it will be their own fault, if led away by the advocates of centralism, the paid tools and unpaid dupes of the Genera! Government, they neglect to insist upun ihe right that taxation and represeniat ion shall go together, as his Honor puts it, “to preserve to the Province, in its integrity, the right of legislating In theiz own local allairs so far as the Constitution -let permits.” *****

In concln.-i.m we cannot but quote from the concluding paragraph of the speech words which are well worthy the attention of every thinking man whom interests a«* at stake in a very eventful crisis of tire colony—that, “in the present critical crisis of on" ailairs, the people of this Province, and their representatives in the General Assembly and m this Council, will be loitud united in asserting and maintaining then Just rights and privileges, and will not consent to any proceedings which womd have the eli'ect of destroying our present institutions until they arc satisfied that a belter term of government bus been carefully considered and matured. 13 MINING MATTE;:S AT Tills THAMES.

(Inyii the Thames Advertiser, 1:1th June.) Tun Epsom Independent Claim includes eight men’s ground, adjoins (hellappy-go-luL‘k\, and Lord Nnljou claims. The ground has been got info good working order, and several well defined gold-bear-h:ivo been opened. A reef some seven or eight feet in width, which is believed to be gold-bearing, has likewise been opened, and the men are now engaged iu sinking a shaft upon it, with Kfl'cel of a profitable return. 1.. e Columbia, Claim, Moanatairi, has ocen worked for two ui'mlis by the preset.! shareholders as six men’s ground, oaiing peen previously taken up and abandoned as worthless by several parlies, ihe nearest machinery is that in course of erection fe. r the Homeward Hound Gold Mining Company, on the ground of the ol the Deep Lend Claim, which will prove very serviceable to surrounding claims when the complement of stamp heads have been fixed.

llio Towney Claim is a name given to tvro men’s ground, situate between the Homeward Emm! and Hobson's Parkboundary pegs on the Ivuranui ranges. The men have struck the Hobson's Park leader, which is two feet in thickness, and j [have consequently a good show for the short time they have been on the ground, i A shaft lias been carried to a depth of 100 j itcot and a drive put in to a distance of I SO feet. Leaders have' been opened to a ■ depth of GO feet, and some seven or eight i [tons of quartz: have been taken out ini ireadiness for a crushing. I The Deep Lend is acldm of seven men’s j ground on the Ivuranui hill, and adjoining: the boundary pegs of the Ivuranui Com- i pane's mines and the Homeward Hound! Mold Mining Company. A crushing of 1 10 tons of rough stone and mullock, fronT which (lie most likely looking stulT had! been taken, yielded fiveouiK- s to the ton-1 ■ There are some 70 tons of quartz on the Around in readiness to be crushed on the! j completion uf the Homeward Bound machinery, a site for which has been supplied by the shareholders of (his claim. One of the Mason’s patent quart z-crusli-ing machines, has been temporarily erected at the rear of the Bank of Australasia’s promises, Pollen-street, where it is available for miners desirous of testing its capabilities.

The shareholders of the Comet Cl iiim, Tapu Creek, brought up nine cwt of stone from (lie reef on their claim this week to be crushed at Shortland. The sample of stun did not contain a single specimen,| but was selected as a s.unplo of the uenendj Held of the reef. The result of the crushing was a yield of 11 ounces 17Jwts 21grs. ofretortad gold. We are requested to explain that the ton of stuff crushed by the shareholders of the Golden Cun (Into New Found Out) Claim, at M‘Leod’s machine, which yielded a little over two ounces to the ton, was scarcely a fair sample of the general yield of the claim, as the stuff had been on the ground for several months, and was taken out of the claim long before the leaders were discovered to be so highly auriferous. Fresh patches of rich stone have been opened, and some splendid specimens are being got out of the ground. Tile Bank of Ireland Claim, Waiotahi struck a very promising loader on their

trniunil yesterday, and exhibit soma L-plo'iidid speemic-us of quarts taken from it. An equal half share in the Dawn of i 10 no Claim changed hands yesterday for T3SS. 3 Messrs Graham’s and Goodall’s crush* ing machines were at standstill yesterday, owing to the state of the roads preventing the claimholders getting down their quartz.

DESTiIUCTIVE STOHM AT THE THAMES.

Tm; Thames Advertiser, June 13, says : Uu liurrsuay evening one of the severest storms we have experienced passed over the district, and was attended with considerable damage and great inconvenience to a number of the community who were exposed to its full force. The gale commenced early in the evening, the day having been showery throughout, and increased in violence until after midnight, when it gradually lapsed. The wind was nearly j north-east, and passed over in violent •gusts, tearing down numberless tents in i which the miners and their families were : preparing to rest for the night. To attempt j re-erection in the face of such weather— Tor (he wind was accompanied by frequent ,hc-avy squalls of ruin—was out of the ques* ■ tioii, and so the unfortunate occupants had had to take refuge niih their neighbours woo were fortunate enough to possess a weather-board building, or whose tent was so admirably llxrd as to withstand tho violence of the wind. In some instances tents were sent rocket-lite into tho air, and in others razed instantaneously to the ground, to tho surprise of the occupants. A t VvTiiotahia a large weather-board building, in course of erection for Mr Lodvard, was literally blown to pieces by the force of the wind. Tho building, which was 46 feet long, had been completed with the exception of shingling. On the Xaraka a dwelling-house was lifted oil’ the blocks, and deposited a short distance away. At Shortlund portions of galvanised iron roofing and loose timbers were ilying about in all directions, rendering the streets dangerous to pedestrians. Streets we have said, but they were mere streams of mud, and, we fear, will continue so for some time to come. Unfortunately, the improvement Committee have other work to perform, and decline to devote their attention *-0 so practical a scheme as that of mending our ways.