Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 779, 18 April 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

It seems strange (says the Wellington Daily Advertiser) that the first mail steamer yia the new route to San Francisco should leave Wellington at midnight. Dqes it not forebode something gloomy for the Empire City ? Truly Mr Vogel is doing everything he can to cast a gloom over the place. The New Zealand Herald is greatly pleaded to hear that the lease for. twentyone years of a piece of ground in Mechanic's Bay has been promised by his Honor the Superintendent as a site for a woollen manufactory; and that the projector has written by the Wonga Wonga to America for the plant, which is expected to be in full working order by the end of the year..

With reference to the Wanganui bridge we learn from the Chronicle; that Mr Hales, Government engineer, having arrived, operations will be carried on with vigor. There is already more than sigus of active progress. "We find the following in the Southern Cross, 7th April:—lt has been reported to us by one of the men who came up by the ketch Cambridge, which arrived here on Monday from Kikowhakareve, that on Thursday last a very serious accident occurred at the saw mills at Port Charles, by which a man named James Tolmie was killed, and another named Louis Kingstone severely, if not fatally, injured. The following are the particulars of the occurrence, so far as we have been able to learn : —lt seems that the proprietors of the Port Charles saw mills had determined to take advantage of the late rains in getting down the creek a number of logs to the mill, and that the logs, while being floated down the creek, had got jammed, so that they stuck fast against the bank on each side. Screwjacks were resorted to, in order to get the logs separated, which apparently was easier accomplished than anticipated, as one of the logs rolled over the unfortunate man Tolmie, before ho had time to get out of its way, crushing him to death in its passage. At the same time Kingstone was injured, having, ic is said, his arms, and one of his legs broken. As there was no resident medical gentleman in the Port Charles district, one of the workmen named Thomas Banks was instantly despatched to Coromandel, to give information'to the authorities there, and also to: procure the services of some doctor to attend upon Kingston. Banks had just arrived at Kikowhakarere as the ketch was leaving, and the urgency of his mission of course prevented him from giving fuller particulars of this sad accident. Little hopes seemed to be entertained by Banks of the ultimate recovery of Kingstone, as the injuries he had received were of so serious a character; and, as a log also had partly passed over him, it was anticipated he may have received internal injuries not at once observable. Tolmie was a man of about 30 years of age, unmarried, and of much more steady habits than the generality of bushmen, and much respected by his fellow workmen. At all times occupation in the bush is a hazardous and dangerous employment, but, if the reports of these accidents be not greatly exaggerated, it wim'd seem that the Port Charles saw mills have had their full share of melancholy occurrences. It will be remembered by our readers that only a short time ago the proprietor of these mills, Mr Pollard, was lost iu the bush, and his remains af er wards partly found in the creek and in the bush adjoining.—The man Kingstone has since been brought up to Auckland in the cutter Tiritiri, and now lies in the FrovincialHospital. An accident (says the New Zealand Herald, Brh April) happened about 7 o'clock last evening in Hobson-street, which resulted iu the instant death of a valuable horse, the property of Mr Robert Richards, of Howe-street, Newton. The horse had been taken home shortly before 6 o'clock by the owner, and had been partly unharnessed from the Newton express cart, when he made a sudden bolt and dashed away into Pitt street, down Hobson-street, turning into Wyndham st., from thence along Albert-street and Custom House-street, and so on to the wharf, never once stopping. An attempt was made to stay his progress at the entrance .to the wharf, but without effect. The animal continued at headlong speed to the very extremity of the wharf, when not seeming to like the idea of a plunge into the sea, he came to a sudden standstill, shaking and trembling with fright. The owner very shortly came up and the horse and cart were taken back to Newton, but the animal had no sooner been unharnes ed than he made another bolt, and had got as far as the Old House at Home, in Hob-son-street, when he ran full butt against the shaft of a cart coming from the opposite direction, which entered his breast fully two feet, and the horse immediataly dropped down stone dead. Under the bead of " Supposed Discovery of a Silver Mine," the Cromwell Q-uardian (Otago) of a recent date, says : —Yesterday afternoon, W. J. Barry, Hutton, and Butler called at this office and exhibited a number of specimens, heavily impregnated with a metallic substance, understood to be silver. In appearance it bore a striking resemblance to that metal j -still we aye not in a position to make an authoritative assertion upon, the poi,nt. Gfhe

statement of the prospectors is that they were following up a quartz lead on one of the adjoining ranges, when they came upon the lode cropping up to the surface. It is enclosed in a well defined casing, and has been traced for a distance-of 200 yards. The lay of the country is east and west, and that of the vein north and south. The precise locality was communicated to ns under the non-publication pledge, but we may state generally that it was taken out of a hill in good repute as regards mineral resources, situated not more than eighteen miles from Cromwell. We trust the discovery may turn out right, meantime we are in a position to *ay that steps will be at once adopted for settling the question. According to returns furnished by the Customs authorities, the export of gold from the Thames during the month ending 31st March, 1870, amounted to 12,074 ozs. 8 dwts. 6 grs., valued at £41,703. The duty on the same amounted to £1,509 ss. 6d. The Auckland "Morning Advertiser" and the Grahamstown "Evening Star," the publication of which ceased a week or two ago, consequent on the failure of Mr W. Shaw, have been resuscitated. We believe that the publication of the other two papers belonging to the same firm (Harnett and Co.) —the Thames Times and the Leader—will also shortly be resumed. A new evening paper —" The Mail"—is now issued from the Thames Advertiser office. The price for a single oopy of the Daily Southern Cros3 has been reduced to 2d. According to a Waikato correspondent of the .New Zealand Herald, the King natives say they do not care about Te Kooti coining into the Waikato district, as in that case they would have to give him protection—much against their will no ! doubt. The Harapipi (Waikato) correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, under date 6th April, says:—Everything has been so quiet in this district lately that there has been nothing happening Worth reporting. The crops have all been harvested, and the weather has been most favorable for the operation ; and, for the most part, the return has been satisfactory to the growers. The past season has been the driest that has been known in the Waikato for many years, and the river Waipa is so low that the steamer has not been able to get up for the last fortnight; a great deal of inconvenience is caused thereby.