Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 780, 21 April 1870, Page 2

Interprovincial Items.

As a proof of the dull times in Tuapeka, a local paper is informed that the jail is tenantless. A correspondent of the Lyttelton Times suggests-that a bonus of £I,OOO should be offered by the Provincial Council of Canterbury, for the establishment of a paper mill in that province. He thinks there is a great waste of flax, tow, and oilier suitable raw material for paper. On Monday, 4th April (says the Nelson Examiner), a little girl about 12 years of age, named Catherine Win, daughter of Mr John Win, of Waimea East, got on a horse at her grandfather's, Mr Humphries, of Wilford Farm, to ride it to water. The horse stated off at a trot, which threw the child heavily on the ground, and it is believed she must have alighted on her head, as, she complained of a pain on the crown of her head. Shortly after the accident the child became unconscious, and remained in that state until 7.30 a.m. the! next day ? when she expired,, '

If (says the Wellington Advertiser) jnp Colonial army is likely to prove expensive, what is to be said about our Coonial navy? We were recently informed mat Lieutenant Woods is at Manukau* ivith a large number of people, who are nominally surveying, but are really doing lOthing but eat, drink, and sleep at the expense of the Colony. So much for the Edith, bought some months ago at Sydney, rhere is the Sturt, which wjll probably be jmployed carrying native prisoners and meir guardians from nursery to nursery all the winter. We have the St. Hilda, laid up, except for an occasional ;rip to a lighthouse. And, lastly, we have i Luna, recently bought at Auckland for 610,000, which broke down on the first ;rip after she became the property of the Dolony. How much does this navy cost iltogether? We trust a strict account of t will be exacted in the next session of Parliament. We take the following from the Marl, Dorough News, 6th April:—The inquiry into the burning of the Hera was concluded )n Thursday last, and the additional eviience confirmed the statements of previous witnesses. There was no new point 3licited, although a close questioning took place, especially in regard to the steward. Et appears that at the close of the second mate's watch he called the steward, who was :o succeed him at four o'clock in the morning. The steward remained some 10 or L 5 minutes in the forecastle before he went 3n deck, and immediately he did so he felt the smoke, and on examination found it proceeded from the after and main hatches, ind ventilator, but chiefly through the main batch. The following decision was |iven: —"That from the evidence it appears mat the fire broke out in a bale of flax on me starboard side, a little behind the after hatchway, that there was no evidence to mow how or by what means the fire originated. The suggestion of spontaneous jombuetion appears opposed to all the principles of reason or experience. In spon-* ;aneous combustion the focus of heat would De near the centre of the heap, and the ieat would radiate on all sides. From the avidence it appears that no heat or close ?mell had been detected below as late as ;he day upon the night of which the fire ;ook place, while in the provisioa room, which was separated frorn the flax by a :hin bulkhead only no heat was felt until some hours after the fire was discovered. After the fire became known, the captain ind officers appear to have exerted themselves to the utmost to subdue it, and when all hope of saving the vessel became lost, every exertion was made to save as much of the apparel and cargo of the ship is possible. And in our opinion no blame is attributable to the officers and crew of ;he ship." It is somewhat remarkable mat whenever a fire occurs where flax is stored a cry is immediately raised that this last article of our industry is the cause; but every inquiry that has been held, both in Australia and New Zealand, after the fullest investgations have been made, lias failed to prove anything of the sort j ind the numerous experiments that have oeen miade and the scientific opinions given, mow on the contrary that it is one of the safest cargoes that can be shipped. This inquiry has naturally been watched with »reat interest by our settlers, many af whom are engaged in flax dressing, and looking forward to that product being the main staple of the province. The inconsiderate and unwarranted alarm given when it was first heard that the Hera had 3aught fire was calculated to make all interested feel uneasy, but that feeling was allayed when the first witness was examined, and it is not likely that they will be 30 easily alarmed in future. The Wanganui correspondent of the Wellington Independent writes as follows; —On Thursday evening, 7th April, one of the largest meetings ever held in Wanga* oui took place'at the Odd Fellows' Hall, sonvened by the Waitotara settlers for the purpose of taking into consideration the iction of the Government in issuing the arder allowing the return of loyal natives to the Waitotara district. This order has ffiven great umbrage to the settlers, as they consider, and no doubt just y, that if a few natives are allowed to return, others will come also, and it being impossible to distinguish beiween friends and enemies, the settlers will always live in a state of insecurity. Moreover, they say the order is, issued in the face of Mr Fox's positive assurance that I ho Waitotara should be a district prohibited to the natives. The meeting was unanimous in passing resolutions condemning the policy of the sq*

vernment, and the speakers plainly intimated that if the order is not rescinded the settlers will form an organisation to protect themselves, and, if necessary, take the law into their own hands independent of the Government, for, as Mr J. llandly remarked, "we might as well be hung by Government as tomahawked by the Maoris." Copies of the resolutions have been forwarded to Mr Fox, and we all wait anxiously to hear what course the Government will pursue. Perhaps in the future history of the colony a time may arrive when a man will not be considered as approaching his second childhood who believes in the political honesty of a Government.

A Cromwell paper of the 2nd April says:—The first birth at Martin's Bsy took place on the 12th March, the wife of the Rev. J. MTntosh, Presbyterian clergyman at Greymouth, being safely delivered of a female child on the Hollyford Sandspit, where the passengers of the Charles Edward had taken refuge. The infant, who first saw the light on this inhospitable shore, is to be called Martina Whitworth, in remembrance of the place of her birth and of the gentleman who acted in his unwonted capacity of medical attendant on the occasion. Mother and child, both of whom are doing well, proceeded by the Kennedy to Hokitika on the 18th ult. We (Wellington Independent, April 9) regret to notice in our obituary of to-day the demise of an old and respected settler, Mr William Luxford, who died at Ber hampore Farm, on the 7th inst., at the advanced age of 74. Mr Luxford arrived iu the Adelaide, in the year 1840, and has since that time been a resident in the city of Wellington. The following is from the Wellington Independent, 9th April:—"On Tuesday night or early on Wednesday morning the public pound at Marton was entered, and a -valuable dark bay filly branded FE stolen. It had been impounded for trespass by Messrs Alb worth and Nicholls. The natives had much admired the animal during the day, and it is supposed they .opened the pound by a false key, as the lock -iViis not broken. Mr Coleman, the poundkeeper, on discovering the los3, telegraphed the particulars to Wanganui and Rapier, but it is to bo fea;ed the natives have carried off the animal into the interior, from which place there is little chance of

recovery." The Tuapeka Times learns that a Bicycle Club is being organised in Lawrence. The Grey River Argus of the 2nd inst., snj's that on Thursday last a most unfortunate and melancholy accident occurred to two men, David Dick and Dugald Cameron, whilst blocking out ground in a tunnel at Cariboo Creek, a branch of the Cock-eye. It seems that they had been engnged since Christmas taking in this tunnel, and got in upwards of two hundred and seventy feet, and not finding anything payable at that distance, turned back to block out a narrow run of gold tiat had been crossed when they were 90 feet from the mouth. Every precaution had been taken to secure the ground by timbering it in the usual manner, but on Wednesday last, when they were working alongside of Borne old ground, they first perceived it to commence running from the reef. Everything was done to stop it, and it wasthen considered safe to work ; but on Thursday last, an hour after dinner, a large body of earth gave way, smashing three sets of timber, and burying Cameron and Dick. The other mates gave the alarm, and the men from the adjoining claims soon came to lend helping hands to extricate the un fortunate men. Tons of earth must havt: come down, and up to the time the messenger had been despatched to town to rrive the necessary information to the police, they had not been recovered. It is needless to say that this melancholy accident has cast a gloom over the whole district. Cameron and Dick were very much respected by all who knew them. Both were in the prime of life, sup posed to be unmarried. Yesterday morning Mr W. 11. Reveil, District Coroner, left town for the scene of the uccident, in case his services were required. On arriving at Marsden, he was informed that the bodies had been extricated late the previous evening, but both men were dead. The bodies were shortly afterwards brought down to Marsden, where the inquest was held, and a verdict of " accidental death " was returned by the jury. In the afternoon, the remains of the unfortunate men were buried in the Marsden cemetery, and were followed to their last resting place by the whple population in the neighborhood^

' The Timaru Herald states that the total cost of the buildings erected by the New Zealand Meat Preserving Company at the Washdyke may be reckoned at fully £2OOO. That is exclusive of the cost of land.

The following telegram, dated Dunedin, April 15, appears in the Wellington Independent :—A telegram frcm Queenstown says that great excitement prevails about Martin's Bay, and a road engineer left this morning by steamer, with about thirty men, to form a track. A report received here says that a prospecting party from Canterbury had found payable gold 20 miles from the head of Lake Wakatipu. Numbers of diggers, including Mr Fox, the discoverer of the Arrow diggings, have left for Martin's Bay.

The Wellington Independent, April 16, says :—-The Star of the South, with the Wanganui contingent, and 31 Hauhau prisoners on bo?rd, which was expected on Thnrsday, did not arrive here until yesterday at noon. She at once proceeded to the head of the bay, and the prisoners immediately landed at Bhodes' wharf, and under a strong guard of Constabulary marched up to Mount Cook Barracks, where accommodation has been provided for them. These 31 individuals are the men recently captured by Kemp and Ropata, and although some of them are old and decrepit, most of them are strong able-bodied savages. Several of them are well known miscreants, and four have been identified as Chatham Island escapees We presume they will be tried here, and those who escape severer punishment be sent to join the Tangahoe hapu in improving the harbor and other public works in Otago. Major Kemp, Topia, and their 370 Wanganuis, will, we believe, be sent home in the Government steamer St, Kilda on Tuesday next. They will be landed here to-day and accomodated in the Mount Cook Barracks till their departure. Their return to Wanganui is to be celebrated by a grand korero. Yesterthey remained on board the Star of the South, where they indulged in a war dance or so, and made the welkin ring with their yells of deliaht when boat loads of JcaiJcai were sent on boird.

The Tauranga correspondent of the New Zealand HeraJd writes as follows under date 6ih April:—An inquest was held last week on the burning of the large stack of hay belonging to Captain Skeet, before Major Mair and a jury, and of which, G. A. Douglas, M.P.C., was fore : man. The enquiry was a lengthened one, but nothing came of it, the jury returning an open verdict. My own belief is that the disaster occurred by boys playing with matches, too frequently the case here.—My son, who came in from Whakatane yesterday, informs me, that ju3fc before leaving that place, a whaleboat came in for pigs and other provisions ; from the persons in her, he learnt that at least 100 men were killed at Waioreka, when Te Kooti was surprised there, and upwards of 300 prisoners are now rationed at Opotiki; of course, this includes those WJiakatoheas who were taken by Te Kooti recently at Ooape. —As an instance of the expense of living in this part of New Zealand, I may mention that the Militia engaged in roadmaking at the "Wairaapu, on making up their accounts for the month, found that it had cost them exactly IOJd per diem per man, and they assure me that at that at that cost they lived well. This, of course, is the effect of combination, and having a good caterer. Yet they believe it would even be less if the Government would pay monthly instead of at uncertain periods, as at present. A. few days ago they received pay for nineteen days ending January 31, and are now working in the third month without the slightest inkling of when they are to be paid. The corps, known as the Tauranga cavalry, have pay due to them from the Ist January, and only a day or two since, they were, without exception, struck off pay, not by paying them, the usual course adopted when the relationship between employers and employee ceases, but by simply discharging them and their horses. To discharge troops without paying them is bad enough, and would obtain nowhere but in New Zealand. In case of troopers it becomes a really serious matter. Young men purchase horses with all the adjuncts, and suddenly . all these are thrown on their hands, and Government says, "You may go—we want you no longer." The trooper expostulates, and is told to go and work with the Militia. The expense of his horse and , accoutrements are in no way considered ; nor are these expenses a trifling matter with him,

The Kev. David Bruce, Presbyterian Minister, Auckland, purposes an early visit to the mother country.

The barque Kate, which left Auckland for Sydney on the 9th inst., was the bearer of 3,264 ounces of gold, valued at£1>3,550, shipped by the Bank of New Zealand. "Jame 3 San Quin," alias "Ah See," alias "Flash Jim," the Chinaman an account of whose career we quoted recently from an Otago paper, has, we observe, been committed for trial at the Supreme Court on two charges of obtaining money under false pretences.

According to a Nelson journal, the General Government placed £250 in the hands of Mr Gray, who left Auckland in the Wonga Wonga on the 2nd inst. for San Francisco and Sew York, in charge of the mails, for the purpose of procuring birds, plants, and animals in California for introduction to New Zealand.

The Bruce Herald states that during the late floods at Inch Clutha a resident, whose early days were spent alongside one of our most famous Scotch salmon streams, found a young salmon imprisoned in a pool which had been left by the retiring waters of the river. He at once transferred the young hopeful to the Clutha's rushing stream.

It seems (says the Tuapeka Times) the fair sex are determined not to be outdone by us men. We have read of female doctors, lawyers, soldiers, &c., but we don't remember ever having heard of female jockeys, but the following incident, reported by the Cromwell Argus, will show such is the fact, even here in New Zealand: —At the Maori Point Races, held somewhere near Lake Wakatipu, the race in aid of the Queenstown Hospital was won by Miss Kirk's bay fill? Flora, ridden by Miss Kitty Kirk, beating a field of twelve ; and further, it is stated the race was won solely by the really skilful jockeyahip displayed by the fair rider. The Wairarapa Mercury, 13th April, says : —A placard stuck up at Mr Bannis ter's, Masterton, war/13 all Pakehas not to travel through the line of road recently cut at the sole expense of Mr John Rutherford, as it passes through the tor ritory of Wi Waka. From what we can gather, it appears that the Government, some time ago, gave Wi Waka a Crown Grant for 1,000 acres of land, situated at some short distance from Ma'sterton, and that they made a tremendous blunder in not reserving any right of road through it. The Maoris, being hard up, want to turn this error to advantage and get a small amount of ready money, to allow oilers to proceed through their laids. The Maori* also threaten to cut down the bridge over the Whangaehu River, on Luxford's line. The gossipping correspondent of the i Wellington Independent writes as follows! to that journal, under the heading of " On' the Beach " :—" On the Beach, the talk is that Ropata's boasted capture of 800 prisoners has dwindled down to an actual capture of 31 men and 69 women and children—that 200 of the so-called prisoners were ci devant friendlies, who exhibit a singular tendency to be captured by whichever party is in the ascendant, and who sometime ago underwent that ceremony at the hands of Kooti. On the Beach, the wonder is, whether we -ire to be treated to a second edition of the expensive farce of a state trial. The only man likely to be gratified by the repetition is his Honor the Judge, who is supposed On the Beach to be rather fond of the opportunity to air his law and learning. On the Beach, the people wonder what is the meaning of Kemp, Topia, & Co. returning home while Kooti is still at large. Not long ago the talk was that these gallant defenders of our hearths and homes had announced their determinrtion to follow Kooti into the sea if necessary. The Aveather was warmer then, however, and the temperature of the sea higher. This may account for the change, or the stoppage of pay and rations may be the cause. On the Beach, people can't say, but it is thought that Kemp and Topia must have heard of the great King of France, who with 20,000 men marched up the hill, and then marched down again. There was a great shortness of cross-buns On the Beach last night. It wasn't the fault of the bakers, however, for how could they calculate on 400 and odd additional con sumers ? At least, it is said that the Maoris, prisoners and all, were regaled with the special luxury of the day —of course at the expense of a paternal Government. Such is the story On the Beach."—The policy of " flour and sugar," to native prisoners, it would seem, is to give place to the more enlightened one of " hot cross buns " S