INTER-PROVINCIAL ITEMS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 745, 20 December 1869, Page 3

INTER-PROVINCIAL ITEMS.

We (Thames Times) were shown by a aentleman in charge of one of the batteries in th» Moanatairi Creek, a small heap of stuff, which he had washed out of some tailings, from stone passed through the battery. This heap was nearly all pyrites, which contained a la-ge percentage of gold, and could not be saved by the present crushing batteries. This gentleman has invented a little series of tables by which the pyrites are further treated, and mixed with a quantity of mercury. From about a dozen handfuls of these pyrites so treated, over six ounces of gold were obtained. It is the opinion of this of gentleman that most of the pyrites on this field contains more gold than is usually thought to be the case.

A man named Tremow, was drowned in the Ohiwa Biver, near Opotiki, on the 19th ult. He had started from Opotiki to attend a marriage that was to be celebrated at a Maori settlement near the river. The ceased was on horseback and it is supposed that in crossing the river, his horse must have plunged and thrown him. Active search has been made for the body, but it had not been recovered at the date of the last accounts.

Three men, M'Laughlan O'Brien, and Sullivan, concerned in causing the death oJ Patrick Kirk in a street row at Charleston were tried at Nelson on the 2nd inst. for manslaughter. Sullivan and O'Brien wert acquitted, and M'Laughlan sentenced tc two years' imprisonment. The Wanganui Times says: —The following beats Cousin Jonathan by chalks Nearly a year ago a gentleman in Wanganui compromised with his creditors, and under a legal document promised to pay e dividend every sis months from and afte; a certain day. He has just remitted from the Thames Gold Fields one shilling as the first six month's dividend!! That, posi lively, protects him, as the legal document does not specify any particular sum to be paid every six months!!! He demands from the " Trustees " a receipt for the remittance, and we demand from them qui dividend out of the one shilling. A Waipu correspondent of the Southern Cross writes, November 29—" Tne wheal and oat crops have a very fine appearance. and promise a goodly harvest; but the scarcity of rain is unfavorable to the maize and potato crop, and to the pastures ii: general. It is pleasant to see permanent export improve year by year, the index tc sure prosperity—wool, gum, and now we hope soon to "see 11 ;x sent in good _ quantities from here, in addition to the for >nor large exports of cattle, dairy pro uuce, pigs, sheep, fowls, eggs, &c. The flax mill is progressing rapiply to wares completion and" it will utilise a g >oc deal of what used to be d stroyod in eiean ing up the land fur cultivation." A young man named Caseoigne, whe was staying at Wright's Hotel, at the Port got out of his bed on Saturday, November 27, about 2 a.m., and rushed up to town. Arrived at the Nelson Hotel, m Bridgestreet, he dashed through one of the windows into the house, and then through another window into the bar. The police we-e on his track, and soon secured him when it was found he had cut his wrists most severely, and was bleeding profusely. Dv Vickerman was called up to his assistance, and after bandaging the wounds sent the sufferer off to the hospital. So violent was he while the bandages were being applied, that it was most difficult to staunch the bleeding. The foolish young man is is of a good family, and was brother, we believe, to Mr Grascoigne who, wiih his wife and family, were murdered at the White Clill's, north of New Plymouth.— Nelson Examiner.

One of the Kaimanawa explorers writes to a contemporary as follows with reference to the Taupo springs :—The hot springs were such a curiosity that all hands determined to visit them ; the go-there and back would not occupy above four hours, and the prospect of a good wash was too tempting to be resisted, and all hands except Richards, who had seen them before, visited them, and partook of potatoes cooked both by steaming and boiling, and excellent they were. The ground round about is so hot as to bo almost unbearable with bare feet, and the natives simply dig a hole, put the potatatoes in, cover ihem up, and leave them there; in a short time they are cooked. Meat and vegetables are cooked in the same manner. The holes whence the water springs arc from three to twenty feet in diameter, and most of them boil furiously, with a noise like a mill. On some occasions they throw up water to a height of two hundred feet, and the noise is like thunder. Several of the party had a swim in o'ie hole where the temperature was not quite up to the boiling point, but the bottom in the centre was like a hot cinder, and could not bo touched by the bare foot. Near this hole is a Maori image fixed on she spot where a native slipped through the crust, and has never been seen sinca. A constable also broke through the crust some short time since and was very severely scalded. A whole native village wa3 smothered here some time ago, only one man escaping. The body of the chief onl> was afterwards recovered, and is, I believe, buried near the spot where the accident occurred. It is a most wonderful place, and worth any amount of trouble to see.

With reference to the crops in the Wairarapa district, the local journal remarks as follows :—This season is the most favorable for grass and harvest that has been seen for a long time past. Feed for stock has never been more abundant, and although shearers and haymakers grumble at the diurnal showers, we can saiely say that the settlers had never bettor prospects before them of an abundant haivest,

! At the recent sitting of the Supreme Court in Canterbury the man named Smyth, a publican, accused of the murder of his wife, was found guilty and sentenced to death.