Local Intelligence.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 458, 25 March 1857, Page 7

Local Intelligence.

No Mail again—We seem singularly unfortunate in our postal communication, i.he European's mail, which, reached Australia m about sixty days, is yetunreceived by us, though

a hundred'days old. -It'had arrived in Sydney on the 17th 'February, when thte Eliezer left-; it had arrived-in Auckland,when the;Erm left; it had arrived in Nelson when the .Taranaki leit; so we suppose that our portion has-been sent to Wellington, for we have had no arrival .thence. The negative history of the journey of ( a mailbag from London to Canterbury in 1857, showing how news always came to hand of ,the non-transmission of the mails, would be an interesting record for the post-office1 of dur-future days. ' Census. —According to the 'Census Ordinance, 1851,' to-day is the day appointed for leaving the schedules at every house in the colony, to be filled up .by the householder on the 31st instant. There is a penalty of £5 attached to the refusal to fill up the schedule, unless the householder is unable to write, or to' the giving of false information. a Magistrate.—Another mail has come from Auckland, and the ' Dedimus,' under which the Justices of the Peace appointed in the Commission of the 20th December last, must be authorised to act, has not yet made its appearance. Other official letters and documents have, however, been conveyed by this opportunity. The province at large is under punishment, except such offenders as may be amongst us, and they have a good chance to escape. It has been very difficult to form a bench in Lyttelton; and even in Christchurch, where magistrates are somewhat plentiful, no , attendance could be secured last Tuesday week, and a large number of cases were adjourned till yesterday, when by a kind of re-action about fiye justices were on the bench and about twenty cases were got through.

The Phaeton, a large ship, with Chinese passengers and tea from Hongkong, has been totally lost in Gruichen Bay. The crew and passengers were saved, but the cargo will be entirely lost. She was laden with tea for the Melbourne market. Sl-avonian Literature.—A. joint-stock company has been formed in Moscow, for the most part of Russian men of letters, for the publication of 'tile earlier productions of Slavonian, and, more particulaily, of Russian literature. Telegraph to Algeria.—lt is stated in the ' ludependance' of Brussels, that it is intended to carry the line of telegraph from France to Algeria, direct from Marseilles to Algiers, without passing by Sardinia. -. ' Great Destruction by Fire.—Accounts from Warsaw.state that the town of Reishow, which has' lately been destroyed by- fire, and whioh, after i Rhiew, was the second commercial town of Voihynia, contained at the time more than a million bushels of wheat, which were consumed by the fire. In the neighbourhood of Lublin, a portion of the forests have been burned down.