LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 191, 30 August 1854, Page 2

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.

A meeting of the subscribers to the fund for getting a survey by Mr. Hughes of a road from Lyttelton to the Plains, was held at the Canterbury Hotel on Friday evening last. Mr. Blakiston was appointed chairman and Mr. Alport, secretary. After the " Report" given in our paper of Saturday had been read, and the plans and sections submitted, the following resolutions were adopted:— Moved by Mr. Alport, and seconded by Mr. Le Cren,— " That the Report and Plans for an available road to the Plains now laid before the meeting be adopted, and the subscribers pledge themselves individually and collectively to use every effort to carry out the same."—Carried unanimously. Moved by Mr. Le Cyen, and seconded by Mr. Tribe,— • : . "That a Public Meeting of all parties interested in the subject of a road of communication between the Port and the Plains be called by public advertisement, and that the chairman be requested to communicate with the members of the Provincial .Council individually, inviting their attendance on such occasion. Such meeting to be held at the Lyttelton Town Hall on Monday evening, Sept. 4, at seven o'clock precisely."—Carried unanimously. Proposed by Mr. Swinbourne, and seconded by Mr. Davis, — ' " That Mr. Hughes be requested to make a copy o.f the Plan, and that it be forwarded to the Provincial Government, together with a copy of that gentleman's report."—Carried unanimously. ' Proposed by Mr. Swinbourne, and seconded by Mr. Tribe,— "That, a Committee be appointed to prepare details for the public meeting above referred to, consisting of Messrs.Blackistoh, LeCren, Waitt, Pratt, Davis, Alport, and Swinbourne." Moved by Mr. Waitt, and seconded by Mr. Pratt,— 5? That the thanks of the meeting be presented to°the chairman for his kindness in presiding over the meeting." resident magistrate's court, Wednesday, 23rd August, 1854. Heaphy, v. Day. —This was an action uncertain slanderous words spoken by Mr. William Day upon the Jetty at Lyttelton on the 24th of May last, the day of the Regatta. Mr. Dampier appeared for the Plaintiff and stated that the Plaintiff had brought this action in the Resident Magistrate's Court rather than in the Supreme Court, in order to challenge enquiry and in vindication of the slander imputed, arid that the case might be tried in the immediate locality where the parties were best known, and where Mr. Heaphy had resided ever since the foundation of the settlement, and that the Defendant might have every possible opportunity of proving his words if he entertained the remotest belief that there was the slightest foundation for the imputation made. His object was public contradiction, and not the recovery of damages. Defendant had already exp-essed his regret to the Plaintiff, and offered to make apology, but which Mr. Heaphy, however willing to accept, declined, unless made under circumstances fully as public as those under which the slanderous words were spoken. The Defendant, Mr. Day, then stepped fo*> ward, and stated he was exceedingly sorry lor the offensive observations made to Mr. Heap by on the occasion alluded to-i-fhat be never had or ever heard the slightest reason or foundation for any such imputations against Mr. Heaphy as the expression implied. He had known Mr. Heaphy for some years, and never found the remotest imputation upon his character in any way. He, Mr. Day, was therefore desirous to make Mr. Heaphy every apology, and amends in his power, and now begged to express his exceeding regret at the circumstances, aiul to tender his apology. . Mr. Heaphy then accepted the apology, ana stated his object in bringing this case before the Court was to challenge enquiry and investigation, and not damages, and that he was quite ready, after the statement and apology made by Mr. Day, to accept a nominal judgment to cover bis expenses and the Court,

Judgment for 405., and costs accordingly given, and the parties left the Court apparently upon good terms.

Christchurch. — Wakefield v. Bourne. — This was a case under the summary ejectment ordinance of New Minister, in which the plaintiff, Mr. Felix Wakefield, sought to eject .Charles Bourne on the ground that he was in occupation of land to which he had no right or title. On the information being read, the bench called upon the defendant to produce the title by which be occupied the land in question, which, it was not denied, belonged to the plaintiff. Bourne produced an agreement for a lease of the premises given by Mr. Jerningham Wakefield to him. The Magistrates considered this sufficient "primafacie evidence of his right" to occupy the premises, and therefore held that the defendant had produced a sufficient justification for his occupation. Under these circumstances it was decided that the penalties imposed by the Ordinance could not be put into force. Case dismissed. By the Thomas Worthington we have Otago papers to the 12th inst. Both this vessel and the Clulha, which arrived at Otago a few days previous to the former vessel, it appears, brought several passengers from ft the Diggings." The Thetis was advertised to sail for Canterbury and Wellington in about ten days.

Akaroa Bridle Road.—We learn from $. correspondent that the track has been cut •through the bush, and partially cleared of ;the fallen timber, from the head of Akaroa Jiarbour to the saddle dividing the valley of Kaituna and Port Levy. The survey party are now encamped in Purau valley, cutting up to the Sugar-loaf Peak; and if the present fine weather continues, it is expected that the track will be open as a foot-road by the end of the present month. Monster Tree. —The cuttings along the ,brid,le-track to Akaroa have discovered a monster tree of most gigantic proportions : it is of totara, and measures 37 ft. in circum.ference. We understand steps have been .taken to preserve this specimen of the primeval forest. !

Wellington-.—Mr. Fox has issued an address to the Electors of the Hutt, (Mr. Wakefield's constituency,) requesting their votes in the event of a dissolution of the House of Representatives. The brigantine JEolus arrived in this harbour on Thursday last from Melbourne, after a passage of fifteen days. By this opportunity we have received Melbourne papers to the sth' inst., and Captain Pratt has obliged us with a copy of the Liverpool Albion of the 16th May, brought by the clipper ship Lightning to Melbourne, and which is six days later English intelligence than we had previously received. The news, however, is not of a very striking character. The Northern Daily Times of the 13 th May gives as a rumour a report of the capture of Cronstadt by Sir Charles Napier, with the loss of 3,000 men. The Times of the same date is silent on the subject, and the Weekly Despatch of the 14th directly contradicts it.— Wellington Indep. - Tabanaki.—The following is an extract of a letter received by a merchant of this Town by the last overland mail from Taranaki. The event to which the extract alludes had naturally created considerable anxiety in the minds of the white inhabitants ; but it is said that little or no alarm was felt by them, as the quarrel was entirely between the natives themselves:—

"On Thursday last there was a collision between two parties of the Puketapu tribe of natiyes, one was desirous of selling and the other was against the selling of a Block of Land ; the result is, that five of the sellers have been killed, and twelve others wounded, the casualties being all on one side as they were unarmed, -save with bill-hooks, while the other side had firearms. Amongst the slain are two chiefs named Paora te Kopi and Taitua another ; Rawiri Waiana is dying, having had a ball clean through his lungs. We do not anticipate that the Europeans will be involved in the dispute; but we expect a commotion amongst their relatives at the South."-?— Wellington Independent.

The following Returns of Revenue and Expenditure are* extracted from a Government Gazette published on the 26th inst. ACCOUNT OF THE REVENUE COLLECTED IN DEPARTMENTS OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY, In the Quarter ending 30th June, 1854. Compiled from the Periodical Returns furnished by the heads of the several Departments. Customs: T . Ltttelton. Akaroa. Gross Receipts 1317 15 31 18 2 Retained for service of Customs' Department - 205 4 ° 31 18 2 Net Receipts ... ... ••• ... 1111 '7 5 Payable to the General Government ... 370 12 6 Payable to the Provincial Government ... 741 4 11 Post Office: Gross Receipts ... 49 12 4 19 2 Expenses during quarter 69 11 1.1 Net Receipts. .... ... ... ... 19 2 Payable to the General Government .... 0 9 9 Payable to the Provincial Government ... 0 19 5 H. G. Goulahd, Provincial Auditor. Account of Revenue and Expenditure for the Province of Canterbury, For the Quarter ending 30th June, 1854. Receipts. •. ■ Lttte_ton. Akaroa. Total. Customs . . . , . . 741 4 11 741 4 11 Crown Land . . . . . . 1044 12 4 1044 12 4 Fees and Fines, Resident Magistrate's Court 39 14 8 8 13 8 48 8 4 Registration ■'. . . . . . 32 2 2 32 2 2 Auctioneers'and Publicans' Licenses . . 590 0 0 65 0 Q 655 0 0 Harbor Department* 5 10 0 5 10 O Incidental Receipts . . ... 5 0 6 506 Post Office . . . . . ' . . 0 19 5 0 19 5 Total receipts . .' . 2458 4 7 74 13 1 2532 17 8 Expenditure. salaries. Contingencies tota_. Superintendent's Department . . . 116 13 4 12 10 0 129 3 4 Provincial Council 35 15 JO 45 15 7 81 10 7 Provincial Secretary's Department . . 75 0 6 35 3 3 110 3 3 Treasurer's „ . . . 112 10 0 15 6 2 127 16 2 " Auditor's „ . . 12 10 0 ■2 16 0 15 6 0 Solicitor's „ . „ . ■ 20 0 0 20 0 0 Registrar's „ . . . 125 0 0 7 5 0 132 5 0 Resident Magistrate's „ . . . 6 5 0 1 18 10 8 3 10 Sheriff and Gaol „ . . . 2-7 12 0 22 11 4 50 3 4 Police „ ... 110 11 0 418 3 115 9 3 Medical „ . . 54 0 0 54 8 0 108 8 0 Charitable Aid . ; 37 8 3 37 8 3 Coroner's „ . . . 717 0 717 0 Harbor „ . . . 71 o■[ 0 41 710 112 710 Inspector of Sheep „ . . . 18 15 0 —— 18 15 O Education „ , rlO4 0 0 104 0 0 Immigration „ . . . 100 0 0 100 0 0 Public Works „ 1012 11 5 1012 11 5 Printing „ — 119 17 2 119 17 2 Census „ . . . —— 55 7 10 55 7 10 Post Office „ 18 0 4 18 0 4 Akaroa 68 4 0 0 5 0 68 9 0 Total Expenditure ''. . £833 15 4 1719 7 3 2553 2 7 Balance in the Treasury on 31st March, 1854 . .£1792 9 5f Receipts during the Quarter . . . .- 2532 17 8 4325 7 1 Payments during the Quarter . . . . • 2553 2 7 Balance on 30th June, 1854 . ... • £1772 4 6 Balance in Lyttelton Treasury . . . £ 1654 5 10 Balance in Akaroa Treasury . . . 117 18 8 £ 1772 4 6 * This is the balance of Pilotage Fees remaining after payment of the proportion due to the HarborMaster. t In the account of Revenue and Expenditure for tlie Quarter ending 31st March, published in the " Gazette" of the 31st Maylast, an unavailable balance of £3 Os. lOd. was erroneously carried to accouut as part of the available balance at Akaroa on the 31st December, 1853. The available balance on the 31st March should therefore have stood thus : — At Lyttelton £1695 2 S At Akaroa 97 6 9 Total . . . 1792 9 5 H. G. GoonAND, Provincial Auditor.