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Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 85, 17 August 1868, Page 200

It « calculated that one-fifth of all the money investel in "British.'railways has been lost, owing to gross mismanagement The Tubo Tubo Mokai Business.— The "Wanganui Herald says : —*• We hear that a commission will shortly be appoin ted to enquire into certain matters arising out of the Turo Turo Mokai affair. The clouds are gatering darker and darker over the reputation of Major Hunter, and if the charges made • against him are untrue, it would be well they were refuted as soon as possible. With respect to the question —Who was in command? the superior officers themselves were not aware who was. Hunter commanded the troopers, and Yon Teinpsky the infantry, and it would appear that each considered his command independent of the other. It is said that Hunter objected to move, although asked to do so by Yon Tempsky, and that the latter then threw the sword upon the floor and jumped upon it. It is quite true that one of the troopers shouted out for Hunter to “go back to Waikato,” and that the cry was taken up by the whole of them; The news is also confirmed that Hunter never got out of bis whare. He said the firing was all nonsense. Father Roland distinctly, saw the flashes of the firing at Waihi.”

The New Imperial Bbonze Coin.— The Sydney Mail has the following:—Considerable doubt and misapprehension appearing to exist in reference to the new bronze coin, shortly expected from London, and as to the effect which its introduction may have upon the private tokens which have done duty for a long time past, as substitutes for the Imperial penny and halfpenny,—we are requested to. furnish the public with the following information —“ on authority.” The Imperial Government have arranged with the Colonial Government to send out a shipment ol bronze coin, of the nominal value of ten thousand pounds, on Royal Mint account, to be placed in the Branch Royal Mint here for distribution and issue. This coin will be issued to the public at its. nominal value—that is to say, two hundred and forty pennies for. the £ sterling , and will be conveyed by the Deputy Master of the Mint to any part of the Colony where required, free of cost to the purchaser. With respect to old Imperial copper coin (if it be approved of by the Deputy-Master), its full nominal value will be paid either in money or bronze, as desired by the sender —the cost of conveying the old coin to the Mint falling upon the oonsigner. With respect to “ private tokens,” they also will be accepted by the Mint, at their nominal value to a certain amount, and for a limited period after the arrival of the new coin (amount and period not yet defined) provided these token have been actually in circulation, —are of good copper, and are of proper weight. No advice has yet been received by the Government of the actual shipment of the bronze coin, but it was ready for shipment in April last.

Resignation of Mb M a okay. —We regret to learn that Janies Maelcay, jun., Esq., C.C, and Resident, Magistrate, ha 9 sent in his resignation to the General Government. Mr Mackay was. certainly the most useful officer in the service of the Government connected with the Native Office, and had all others of the officials connected with that unpopular department been of the,same stamp of men as Mr Mackay, we should neither have to deplore its uselessness ; nor the . mischievous tendency of its action. . The reason, of Mr M.ackay’s resignation, -as . -far as. we can learnj is the neglect.of the’Government, at Wellington to fulfil its engagements with ihe natives* -We have heard, for instance, that at the Thames .the. natives have hot yet received the payment due to them for J.une, thoughlong since collected from the miners. .The" money, must needs be shutdown to "WVlUngton and gifted through the Treasury scales before being returned to Shortland. This' system must, be altered, and the, whole, management and control of. the goldfields must be 1 left entirely with the provincial authorities. We would speemlly draw the attention of otir members |vt /W’slUhgtqn to thw., matter/ It M-’.ii merely to the Province,;but to the. miners and natives. The. Auckland; gold-fields must: not andi cannot be managed from WEllington. —New Zealand Herald, 6th Augußt.

GBEAT in the shape of a live seal is now- on view ah the ..British Hotel. : The animal was caught pn Wednesday on the beach at lOnehunga " alive and kicking,” and “ showed, fight ” when it. was attempted to eatohhim. ; This novel visitor..was.first .ohservediiwe. understand, .by .a person named. Brymner, theassistanee of two or three bf his mafces, whom-he .called .to .the. scene of,action, succeeded in securing theorize, and, bringing it into town safely by one of Hardington’s omnibuses this afternoon, where it arrived in good condition, and was placed in an outbuilding in the yardi It is' noyv at the British Hotel, andcan'beseenat the charge of sixpence a head, and will ho doubt prove an attractive exhibition.— Evening News. . , ‘7'i, TJnixmely End .of a Divbb.— A person named Worthington, calling himself the “ Star Diver of the. World,” performed for the last time on the River Derwent at Derby. Amongst other feats he, was : announced to jump from a height of 120 feet into the river. He concluded the first portion of his performance successfully, and then jumped into the river. , In his progress downwards his body made three evolutions, and a medical gentleman on the bank remarked to some, of the bystanders that he was a dead man. Worthington, fell heavily on the top of. the water on his side, and at once sank to-the bottom of the river. The people seemed to expect that he would rise to the surface, as was his custom, and some minutes had elapsed before any efforts were made to recover the body. ■ At last Mr Smith, of Little Eaton, dived into the water, and after several unsuccessful efforts, succeeded in bringing the lifeless body of Worthington to the surface. Four medical gentlemen who had be#n witnessing his performances promptly attended him on his being brought to the bank, but their efforts were unavailing, as he was dead, the opinion being that he died from, concussion whilst diving. His mother and his two brothers were present, and were spectators of his untimely death. The height of the jump was about 90 feet. Worthington, by his skill in diving, had saved five persons from drowning.

How to Cleab the Decks.— We take the following from a recent number of the Southland News:—A laughable accident happened, last week on board one of the crafts lying alongside the jetty. It had been decided to “tar down” the .rigging, m order, it would seem, to provide employment for the “ ship’s husband,” or man in charge (the remainder of the crew being ashore). Now this process of tarringdown affords only tolerable occupation in fine warm weather—the workman having to perch as best lie mav in the different parts of the rigging; the tar, too, being apt to be stiff and difficult to lay on when the air is frosty. Such was the case when, early ia the morning, “ Jack ” came on deck to commence operations.. His first act after breakfast was an attempt to pour some tar from a large can into a smaller one, but this was impossible, the cold having hardened the “British paint” to the consistency of pitch. To remedy this, Jack resolved to place tlie can on the galley stove, first carefully driving in the bung to preveut boiling over. In order not to lose time, he next took leave to .visit a neighboring hotel, to get a drop just to keep the cold out —calculating, of course, that by the time he returned the tar would be nicely , fluid and warm-to the fingers. While he was away—perhaps he stayed away longer than he at first intended—the galley fire did all that was expected from it. and a little more. First, it heated? the contents of the can .up to boiling point, and then it “ got up steam,” or gas inside, until it blew out the bung with-a bang, and up flew a jet of tar high as the masthead, flaming, and sputtering like fireworks gone mad. What the consequences might have been we need not speculate, for, as luck would.have it, two or three mea from other vessels promptly brought buckets and extinguished the flames before any material damage was. done. Judging from the appearance, of the spars and deck, the scalding fluid must have been projected with immense force. It has been suggested chat- a contrivance based on this aecidental discovery might be used with advantage to “ repel boarders.” There is no doubt that, properly : placed, it would “ clear decks ” in a very brief space'of time, but the difficulty would be how to control the bituminous jet.