LATER NEWS FROM HOKITIKA.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 233, 22 July 1865, Page 3

LATER NEWS FROM HOKITIKA.

The steamer Bruce, which arrived at Port Chalmers on Sunday last, brings intelligence from Hokitika to the 12th inst. She is reported by the 4 Daily Times' to have had a most boisterous passage, and to have encountered severe gales and heavy seas along the coast, and behaved as only a well-found and strong sea boat could. She brings back a considerable number of passengers. When she sailed the Dancing Wave, Cymraes, Jane Lockhart, Jeannie Dove, and another small craft, name unknown, were in the offing. The three-masted schooner Sir Francis Drake had struck on the bar, and was subsequently hove on to the beach, where she has become a total wreck, nearly all her cargo being lost or damaged. The Esther had gone on shore the previous day, and had also become a total wreck; both vessels going to pieces in a few hours. It is stated that at present there is only 7 or 8 feet of water on the bar at high water, and there has lately been a very heavy sea on at frequent intervals. The 11,000 ounces received by escort had been depatched by the Wallaby, which had sailed on the same day as the Bruce. The steamer Nelson had been got off with some difficulty and sailed for Nelson on the previous day. Neither the Lloyd's Herald nor the John Bullock had arrived. The wreck of the steamer Ruby had been dismantled, and Captain Leys, with Captain Fox, of the Sir Francis Drake, return as passengers by the Bruce. By the departure of the Bruce and Favorite, Hokitika is of course left without a tug or passenger steamer, and great difficulty will no doubt be experienced by vessels proceeding there. A meeting has been held for the formation of a steam-tug company, and a committee appointed to forward the same. We make the following extracts from the • West Coast Times': —

The Sir Francis Drake, from Dunedin, brought the merchants here a large and valuable cargo, being estimated at from £4OOO to £SOOO. This is by far the heaviest loss that has been inflicted on importers as yet, a very large proportion of the goods being uninsured. A good number of miners have left the Kanieri township for new reported rushes on the Grey. The miners at the Eight Mile are more satisfied lately and are making good wages. The Woodstock miners aie all doing well. The men always appear to be at steady work, but nothing rich is spoken of. The Maoris have nearly succeeded in clearing some agricultural ground they have taken up, which is described as admirably suited for a market garden. From Waimea another considerable rush of miners had taken place for the Grey. The report is that " the claims in the vicinity of the township are being worked steadily and systematically, and although none of them are turning out a pile, are mostly paying wages." The Warden had left Waimea for an official tour in the Grey district. . . Overland communication with Christchurch is now an accomplished fact a piece of information that will doubtless be received with considerable pleasure by our fellow townsmen more especially by those in business, who have been the chief sufferers by the delay that has lately characterised the transmission of letters, and who will now have a chance of communicating with the other settlements without a possible intermission of six months. Mr Flowers a gentleman well known on the Christchurch side of the country —arrived here on Saturday last with the first mail from Christchurch. Messrs Cobb &c Co. have accepted the mail contract for six months, for the sum—we believe—of £7OO, and Mr Flowers was despatched by that firm on the pioneer trip, leaving Christchurch on Tuesday morning, in company with Captain Anderson. They arrived on Saturday at Hokitika at about half-past three o'clock, accomplishing the whole journey in four days and a half, of which nearly a day was lost waiting for conveyance down the Teremakau. Mr Flowers informs us that when all the necessary arrangements are made, he has no doubt that the trip could be managed in three days; what he has done at present may be looked upon as little less than marvellous, considering the nature of the country. The Otira and Teremakau rivers were both high at the time, and on one occasion he had to swim the former river with the mails on his back.

The 1 Tuapeka Recorder* of the 14th says:— 11 For some time past rumors have been floating about that the question of Major Croker's removal from the district was under the consideration of the Government. These reports were at first considered incredible, but latterly they began to assume a more reliable shape. A communication received from the Goldfields Secretary yesterday puts an end to all doubt upon the subject; and we very much regret to add that it appears to be the intention of the Government to deprive Tuapeka of the services of this able and efficient Goldfields officer. If Government is bent upon flying direct in the teeth of every resident within the district, then we are bound to loose Major Croker; but if, on the other hand, the unanimous wish and earnest desire of the district can influence the matter, Major Croker will not be removed. Already the subject has been agitated, and in the course of the next day or so, some very decided stand is likely to be taken."