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Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1596, 24 July 1874, Page 298

•Auckland papers record the death, after two weeks' illness, of an old Wesleyan minister, the Rev. George Buttle. He first came to the Colony in 1839, and was one of the first resident Wesleyan preachers in the Colony. He leaves a widow (his second ..wife) and a large family. As a supernumerary he has been actively engaged up to the time of his last illness. His funeral, which was largely attended, took place on the 13th • inst.' '■"' Want of Louse accommodation is seriously "felt in Wellington. A correspondent of the Tiibune complains that while landlords are making fortunes, men with smair salaries and large families have to pay such high rents that they are gradually lapsing into absolute poverty.— He complains that old.lodgers, of seven or eight months standing, have either to submit to an extortionate advance in terms, or turn out to make room for some of the " semi, journalists," and " camp-followers of the' Assembly" who infest the city during the 'session. At the nomination for Waitemata which took place on the IGth inst., Mr Von dcr Heyde, Mr J. S. Macfarlane, Mr Mr Stoney were proposed, but Stoney retired. Mr Rees made a bitter attack on • Mr. J. S. Macfarlanej with reference to a handbill, which the latter admitted circulating regarding Rees. One of the most exciting scenes ever witnessed in Auckland took place at the meeting, Rees continuing a slashing attack on Macfarlane, the latter threatening to strike him. A breach of the peace was feared, but was avoided. The show of hands was —Von der Heyde, 26; Rees, 23; Macfarlane, 7. A poll was demanded. In the Supreme Court, Wellington, on 21st July, in the case of Galbraith v. Harding, a motion was made for arrest of judgment, and for a rule calling on plaintiff to show cause why the verdict entered for plaintiff in this case (action for nondelivery of certain sheep, tried at "the nisi prim sittings, Napier), should not be entered for defendant. His Honor refused to grant the rule, but with leave to. move in the Court of Appeal.—ln the libel case of Steele and Keogh v. Hutchinson, editor of theTribnne, a demurred was made to the defendants' pleadings. Mr Travers appeared in support of the demurrer ; the Attorney-General opposed. -His Honor reserved judgment. Strong feeling is expressed in Wellington, regardiug the sudden dismissal, without notice, of a valuable public servant— Pilot Anderson, whose place it will be difficult to fill. "No cause," says the Tribune, "is assigned ; no complaint has been made. Of course neither was necessary—the man is poor, has no big friends, no one to exercise a little, of that backstairs influence which is found so useful in Provincial business, and it would be manifestly absurd to suppose that ten years of remarkably efficient service should call for any consideration in his favor. We are free to admit that the man lias been guilty of an indiscretion—he has had the stupidity to think that skill, sobriety, and long service would be recognized by the present Provincial Government, and in following out his conviction he has had the temerity to settle down, and like a good colonist as he is, encumber himself with a wife and family." ■ The Southland News reports that the remains of a man unknown, found some months ago in a clump of scrub near the Wallacetown and Riverton road, have now been found to be those of a printer E. B. Webb, who came out in the Cissy to Lyttelton as a cabin passenger some eighteen months ago. He worked for some weeks in Dunedin, and gave some particulars of himself to his landlady. He belonged to Colchester, and his family at one time possessed considerable property. Before leaving Dunedin he destroyed his books, papers, and portraits, wishing, as he said, to obliterate all trace of himself. The landlady saved from the fire two portraits—one being a likeness of himself, which has been since instrumental in fixing his identity. Last winter he was seen—a forlorn and ragged wanderer —near the clump of bush where the remains were afterwards found, and obtained relief from some people living in the vicinity. The story is a painful one, and it is hardly necessary to add that the unfortunate man is another of the many victims of intemperance in this colony.