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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1095, 16 August 1871, Page 2

The Charleston Herald, July 22, says; —One of those messengers by means of which '* these who go down to the sea in ships," travellers on the briny main, contrive to communicate their whereabouts, and tell of their tale 3 of weal or woe, reached our shores during the past week, having successfully buffeted the perils of storm and sea for over two years, during which period many a sad tale is on record of shipwreck and disaster; and while we hear of the monarchs of the trackless ocean combating unsuccessfully with the stormy billows, the little messenger, incased in its frail tenement of glass, comes to us safe and sound. The waif to which we refer was picked up by a Me Mulholland on the Nile Beach, on Friday last, having been driven ashore during the prevalence of the late gales. The manuscript, of which we give a copy below, was enclosed and sealed in a brandy bottle, and though doubtless the good ship spoken of, wherever she may have been then bound for, has long ere this reached her destination, and made many a successful passage, we deem it a matter of interest, not so much to our readers, as that it may be republished elsewhere in places the vessel is doubtless known, to make public the contents. To nautical men it may also be of account as showing the various " sets" of the currents through which the " messenger" must have passed ere landing on our beach, after tossing through storm and sunshine since February, 1869. — ' Ship Holmsdale, Feb. 19, 1869—Latitude, 53° 14' S.; Longitude, 55° 1' W. ; sailed from Melbourne, January 9, 1869 ; some rough weather about the 21st of January ; all well, lino weather, good breeze.—S. Bomford, passenger. —4th empty brandy bottle."

I The Dunedin Evening Star, July 22, I writes the following obituary :—With much regret we have this evening to record the death of an old and useful citizen, Mr John Gillies, whose name, though not amongst the promoters of the Oiago colonisation scheme, must be associated with those of the early settlers, and to whose continuous exertions for a long series of years the Province owes much. Mr Gillies was born in Rothesay, Buteshire, on Acri! 23, 1803, and in \m Church of (Scotland at the time of the disruption. For some time he was Town Clerk of Rothesay, and followed the pro* I fesbion of writer. Taking deep interest in the Otago scheme of settlement he emigrated with his family, and arrived in the Slains Castle on the 6th November, 1852. He shortly afterwards entered i into partnership with J. Hyde Harris, Esq., at that time the only legal practitioner in Dunedin, and was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Colony. He was returned as one of the members of the first Provincial Council, and for some time held the office of Speaker. In 1857 he received the appointment, under the General Government, of Sheriff and Resident Magistrate of the Province of Qtago. He resigned the former office in August, 1863. Iu 1861 he was appointed to the offices of Registrar of Births, &c, which he held till recently. Mr Gillies aided in founding Knox's Church, aud has been an elder since the commencement. He was oue of the earliest advocates of the admirable educational system of the Proviuce, and assisted ably in the passiug of the ordinances bearing upon it. The interest that he felt in this, perhaps the immortal feature in the colonization of Oiago, may be judged of, that on his deathbed he more frequently alluded to it than to any other subject apart from his interest in his family. He has passed away, but his work remains to he fully developed in years to come. " Well, there's something in that I " as the man said when he tried to pi}t his, £,oot on with a kitten in it.