THE NORTH.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1096, 17 August 1871, Page 2

THE NORTH.

The arrival, last evening, of the 8.8. Star of tlie South, has placed us in possession of files to the 14tb instant. Appended will be found a summary of general news. The latest shipping and

commercial intelligence will be found under their respective heads. IMPORTANT NATIVE INTELLIGENCE. The Tauranga correspondent of the Southern Cross, under date sth instant, supplies the following:—Authentic intelligence was received at Tauranga, on Friday, August. 4, that Te Kooti, with a number of armed followers, was actually in the neighborhood of Whakatane, and purposed making an attack on that place. He was said to have been joined by 20 men of the Ngatikahungunu, a Napier tribe, and also by several of the Uriwera. The garrison in the redoubt at Whakatane consisted of six of the armed Constabulary, who were kept constantly on guard with double sentries. A reinforcement of five men, under Captaiu Gundry, were sent from here to-day, and five were sent from Opotiki, In addition to this defensive force there are a number of loyal natives, composed of the Ngatipukeko and Ngatiawa, but these could not be relied on for guards so well as Europeans. It is a pity a branch wire has not been carried to Opotiki; it would be invaluable now. LATEST THAMES NEWS. The Grahamstown correspondent of the Southern Cross, uuder date August 12, telegraphs the iollowing:—Rich stone was out of the new leader in the low-level chamber pf the Caledonian last night. The total amount of gold lodged on account of the Caledonian Mine this week is 1,928 ozs. The West Coast Company's mine was sold to-day by Mr James Craig, for the sum of .£2OO, ftlr James Langford was the buyer,

A patch of excellent specimens was taken out of the American Eagle Mine this morning. Fair specimen stone taken out of the Bellmount big lode last night is now on view at the Company's office. The fortnightly return of gold for the ICuranui Company is 144|ozs, The three weeks' crushing for the Aiburnia Goldmining Company has yielded 1630z5. of gold. A patch of rich stone was taken out of a small leader in the bottom level to-day. The week's crushing fv>r the Queen of Beauty has resulted in a return of 34ozs. of gold. The sharemarket is heavy, very little business being done. Caledonian shares closed at £IBO ; Thames, £35 ; Tookey, £'62; Central Italy, £2 10s; Otago, £4 2s 6d to £4 ss. PERJURY. At the Police Court, Auckland, Solo mon Freedman, charged with committing wilful and corrupt perjury, in a case of asserted highway robbery, recently tried at this Court, was remanded until Tuesday, August 15, on the application of Mr Sheehan. —Mr Joy applied for bail on behalf of prisoner.—Mr Sheehan, for prosecution, oljected on the score of the magnitude of the alleged crime.-—Prisoner was allowed bail in his own recognizance of £2OO, with two sureties of £IOO each. PUKEKOHE. A correspondent in the above district, writing to the New Zealand Herald, says:—The weather here has been very stormy lately; dead timber has been blown down, killing many cattle of the settlers ; it has cleared up these last few days, leaving us a legacy of mud about 2 feet deep on the road. Wheat has been put in by almost every settler, but not in large quantities ; it is not looking very well on account of so much wet, but, if dry weather continues, will no doubt recover. SERIOUS ACCIDENT. The Southern Cross, 14th inst., says; —A serious accident occurred on board the s.s. Hero on Saturday morning last. It appears that a man named Bioomfield, who had intended to work his passage to Sydney, was engaged in the hold assisting to discharge the cargo. Several iron boiler doors had been placed on the sling, and when they were hoisted some 4 or 5 feet, one of them slipped out, falling on the head of the unfortunate man Bloom - field, knocking him down, and very severely cutting his scalp. A cap was at once procured, and the man, who was in a state of insensibility, was removed to the hospital. Yesterday afternoon Bioomfield was progressing favorably, though not considered quite out of danger. DEATH BY DROWNING AT TAURANGA. The Tauranga correspondent of the Southern Cross writes as follows: —On Monday, August 1, Mr E. G. Hall, superintendent of telegraphs under Mr Floyd, Electrician, engaged in the construction of the line from Tauranga to Katikati, started from Te Papa to the telegraph camp, between one and two o'clock in the afternoon. He was on horseback, and carried on his shoulders a bag which is described as having been heavy. In addition to this weight, he wore long boots, both of which circumstances are believed to have contributed to his untimely loss. His route lay along the beach past Otumoetai aud Bethlehem. Mr McSweeny, who lives at the last-named place, observed him pass a little alter low tide, and took notice of the manner in which he was equipped. He was then making towards the ford at the mouth of the Wairoa, which is here very wide, and to persons unaccustomed, very dangerous; full of quicksands and water so deep that at the lowest tide a few inches more would compel a horse to swim, It must have been very shortly after Mr Hall was seen by Mr McSweeney, that a Maori, coming from an opposite direction on the Te Puna side of the river, saw a horse, saddled and bridled, emerging from the water, but no rider was to be seen, He caught the horse, and gave intelligence at the nearest habitation, and this was at once communicated to Mr Floyd, who, after an ineffectual search, reported the occurrence to the police at Te Papa. A party were immediately sent off in a boat to search for the body. They were not successful, and the search, still coutinued by natives, has hitherto been unavailing.

On sth August a party returned without having found the body. Another started again the same day, and no efforts are being neglected to ascertain the actual fate of Mr Hall, and to recover his remains. It is said that he carried a sum of money with him to pay the men working on tbe line. FATAL ACCIDENT AT OPOTIKI. The New Zealand Herald, August 10, says: —The schooner Opoiiki arrived in harbor yesterday, from Opotiki. Captain Baker informs us that a fatal accident occurred there on Friday last. A whaleboat, with Messrs M'Pherson, Talbot (2), and John Fox, was coming over the bar, and capsized. The men endeavored to cling to the boat, but it continued to rol over, and with greatest difficulty all excepting Fox managed to reach the shore. The body of Fox has not been recovered. NARROW ESCAPE. A Waipu correspondent writes to the New Zealand Herald that, on the 16th ultimo, while the family of Mr R. Fin- . layson were assembled in the house, a thunderbolt struck the chimney, tearing part of it down and going out through the side of the house. Mrs Firilaysori was rendered senseless by the shock, and the eldest son, a grown-up young man, was deaf for some time. But both even* tually recovered. Fortunately the chimney was built outside the wall, which, possibly saved the house. Altogether, it was a most providential escape. THE MISSING SCHOONER AURORA. Much to the satisfaction of the people of Port Albert, the long over-due and supposed lost schooner Aurora arrived there on the 6th instant, having, in con« sequence of the boisterous weather which has been so long prevalent, occupied nearly two months on her passage from Auckland to that place. Her arrival created quite a stir, and on the following day the stores were besieged by a crowd of Maoris and pakehas, all eager to obtain supplies. Flour and sugar went off at a rapid rate, the supply of those necessaries having, for some weeks past, been very limited. MISCELLANEOUS. A Gas Company is in process of formation at the Thames. The Kaipara railway is at last, it is said, about to be commenced ia a few days. The new aviaries at the Acclimatisation Society's grounds iu the Ibmain at Auckland are now completed. The inconvenience and delay caused by the scarcity of powder at the Thames ia not, it is stated, likely to last long, as several shipments are now on their way. Gold of the value of .£112,583 was exported from Auckland on the 12th inst., for London and Sydney, A shipment of some pure-bred stock —sheep and bulls —for Honolulu and San Francisco, was made at Auckland on the 10th inst, by the Nebraska. At latest dates from Auckland, a charge of arson against a man named James Leonard was being heard. The death of the friendly chief Tamati Waka Neue, at the Bay of Islands, is, announced.

The Otago Times, of the Ist instaut, says:—The plauet Venus was visible yesterday in daylight, from shortly before 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Should the afternoons be clear, this planet will be visible for the next three weeks, as it attains its greatest brilliancy on the 20th t when its shape will be that of a fine crescent. The Otago Times takes the Auckland Whaling Company as a text for a leading article in a recent issue, and exhorts the Dunedin people to form a company, and seize upon some of the wealth of the surrounding seas, A native of India—a Zemindar of Bengal —has offered a prize of =£so for the best novel representing the condition of the Hindoo poor. This is with a view of improving matters, seeing the effects of fiction in Europe. The Standard presumes from the letter that native writers are to compete, and wonders what kind of a mortal a Hindoo Pickens, will be. Humorous literature flourishes in Ger* many. It has at present thirty-two humorous newspapers, with an aggregate circulation of 285,000,000 copies. There is a sylvan curiosity in Georgia, Two pine trees, five feet apart at the base come together thirteen feet above, fornv jpg a single ton,