LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Kumara Times, Issue 1116, 28 April 1880, Page 3

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[united press association.]

CHRISTCfIURCH, April 26,

A man named Terence Wicks was sentenced to a month's hard labor for begging. Several begging letters, one with Mr Guthrie's name forged were found on him.

Wellington, April 26. Government have received advices from London that £1,100,000 of the five million loan, has been converted into 4 per cent, inscribed stock, under thh Consolidated Stock Act, 1877.

It has beeti finally decided that the Greytown portion of the WellingtonMasterton,railway will be opened .on> 14th prox< .: , , -

.-.■•■•;• , , Auckland, April 26. Te Ngnkan expresses his surprise at the vast change in Auckland since he visited it in 1855. Mount Eden and Mount Hobson are still standing but he says everything else ! is changed. Today he was taken on a visit to H. 11.5. Cormorant and Wolverine. After his interview with Mr Bryce, he aays he hopes to visit Auckland more frequently.: .: i At the Hay market a number of race 'horses 1 , which competed at the autumn meeting,' were put up for sale : Saunterer. was sold to Gallagher at .£6!; Vampire,, withdrawn ,at £105; Eversley, £4O;. Hilarious, £240; bay yearling colt out of Occult by Pacific, bred by'Stafford, of Nelson, withdrawn at £3l.

Intelligence from Samoa by the Nautilas states' that on the 13th April Mahetoit was annointed Kingof Samoa. On. the, following clay the Steinbergher party hoisted a flag and threatened to. rebel, and unless the representatives of foreign powers interfere, affairs may result seriously.

SUSPECTED INCENDIARISM. Napier, April 26. There wasj a great sensation caused in town this morning when it was discovered by the boy who opened the Corporation offices, that the floor of the oflice was in a blaze. He called assistance Wd the flames were subdued before any material damage had been done: It was found that about a gallon of kerosene had been poured over the floor, table, and -books kept by a clerk named Shaw, and empty bottles which had contained kerosene were standing in a corner. It was beyond doubt-the' work of an incendiary who was determined to burn the building' down; for the.cocoanut matting in the public room as well as ; the mayor's office wa?" well .'soaked with oil, The fire was just distinguished in time and had evidently not. been burning long. The police set to work to make inquiries and found that it was the annual -gjjjitclay and the fact thai a number * books and counterfoil had been pulled down from a shelf and after oil had been poured over them ranged round Shaw's books in open order so that they would, readily burn, directed suspicion pointed . to him. lie was in the office and was most active in suggesting theories to account for the fire, poiuting out footmarks on a table below a window which nobody else could see. At last he seemed, to become conscious that suspicion pointed to him, andat once he went to'the mayor and confessed that he had embezzled money belonging to the Corporation and had falsified the ; books to hide the defalcations but he denies laving set the place

on fire. The police have since discovered that Shaw purchased kerosene in the bottles which were found in the room from Manoy and Co.'s on Saturday.

Shaw is well connected and hos hitherto borne a good name. He was at one time a runhokler in the country but for several years past has heen in the employ of the Corporation. About six months ago he was appointed rate collector and it is supposed that the defalcations have occurred since then. He states that he has no idea how much he has emhezzh d, and it will take several days for the auditors to find it out, though several specific embezzlements has already been discovered. Shaw has wife and large family, and much sympathy is expressed for them. He has never lived in a fast manner, and nothing occurred to rouse suspicion before the fire, the general belief is that he got gradually into debt, and on being pressed by tradesmen, took the money from the notes and then altered the books to correspond with the amounts he paid in. His salary was over £2OO a-year.

April 27. Shaw, clerk and rate collector to the Corporation, was this morning brought up and remanfded on a charge of setting fire to the Corporation offices yesterday morning. ...