WELLINGTON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 380, 25 June 1856, Page 6

WELLINGTON.

Loss of the Cutter " Kawai "—Mr Nairn, a gentleman residing at Porere, a station on the East Coast, about 30 miles north of Cape Turnagain, arrived in town yesterday morning, and brought the melancholy intelligence of the wreck of a small vessell which is- -supposed to have gone down op, posite Porere, and it is feared that all hands ??-o°ou, must ha*e'been drowned/■ On tne2Bth May, a mast, sails, and other spars, evidently belonging to a cutter, were washed ashore, as well as three half chests of tea and several pieces of planking. A bag filled with sand, and paper mashed, was picked

up by Mr. Nairn. It proved to be the mail bag, but the contents were in sucli a dilapidated state that he found it impossible to make t>ut anj correct direction. The only one that he could decipher was a portion of a direction on a letter addressed to Mr. Caverhill. Mr. Nairn gave directions to the natives at Porangahau, previous to his departure for Wellington, to make every search they could for the cargo and. the bodies of the crew if they should be washed up. From the articles that have been washed ashore, and the address of the letter to Mr. Caverhill, a letter having been despatched by Mr, Lyon, of this place, by the Kawai to that gentleman, the unfortunate wreck is supposed to be the cutter Kawai. The cutter Kawai, Captain Sinclair, sailed from Wellington for Port Victoria about the 16th May, with a full cargo, and amongst other articles were tea, timber, &c. Shortly after her departure from hence she must have encountered the late S.H. scales, and, it is thought probable, that not being able to proceed to the south, Captain Sinlair, from his thorough knowledge of the coast, had run for shelter to Cape Turnagain or Ahuriri, where the accident occurred. Captain Sinclair was one of the oldest and most successful coasting masters sailing out of this port, and was .universally respected by all who knew him, and his loss will be deeply regretted by a large circle of friends to whom he had endeared himself by his affability and kindness of heart. Captain ' Sinclair has left a wife and family to deplore his loss. — Independent.

Passage of the Remutaka.—Most of our readers are aware that for the last ten years a mountain range has been the barrier that has stood between Wellington and the fertile plains of the interior of this Province ; and the little inland traffic that has been maintained with Wellington has been conducted by means of pack bullocks and a bridle path ; a mode cf locomotion not at all conducive to the rapid advancement of the colony. This great inland road and main artery of the Province has been in progress for years, and cost many thousands of pounds—it passes through alluvial valleys and rocky defiles ; il crosses rapid rivers, and ascends, with a most easy grade and serpentine course, the Remutaka range of mountains, and terminates in the great valley of the Wairarapa— is now open for traffic by drays. Mr. Kempton was the first to pass over en last Tuesday, with his dray of six bullocks, and dray laden with a ton of goods, en route to the Small Farm Settlements. This road is forty miles long, thuty-five of which is as good as a turnpike road in England.

We trust the Provincial Government will now, without any delay, push the road through the Forty-mile Bush, and if there is yet a small patch of land in that bush uripurchased (which we believe to be the case) we earnestly hope our Superintendent, while at Auckland, will secure the services of Mr. McLean to effect its purchase, or otherwise great mischief will bo the result; for we hear of settleis who are determined ', now the road is open through the diificulty country, to push into the interior in search of new lands, which they will occupy purchased or not purchased; should this be done, and Mr. Roy displays the same energy and talent on the Road through the Forty-mile Bush that he has displayed on the Rcmutaka line, the future of Wellington is safe.— Ibid.