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Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 253, 30 September 1865, Page 2

An error crept into our report of the Superintendent's speech given in our last issue. Instead of promising to have the lapsed vote of £750 placed on the Estimates again, his Honor said as Queenstown had not received it and other places had, we should be the first considered in the event of a sum being again voted for school buildings.

The petition of the miners of the Arrow district to his Honor the Superintendent states "It is a matter of the highest importance to us to obtain our provisions at as reasonable a rate as possible, and we think that the cost of living would be very materially reduced if the Main Road, now in course of construction, would be carritd past Arrowtown ; and we trust that your Honor will think our request reas-nable when you consider that the mining population of this district is about one-half of the whole population of the Wakatip goidfield, and the probability of it being largely augmented consequent upon the discovery of valuable auriferous quartzreefs." The memorialists also request that a reasonable sum would be expended in repair of track to the Twelve-mile, and that a sum which had bstn placed on the Estimates for the road to the Cardrona would be at once laid out. His Honor's attention was also called to the subject of the removal of old and well tried officers ; and the memorialists hear " with feelings of the gravest apprehension of the reduction of our Warden, and that another gentleman has been directed to hold periodical courts in the outlying portions of the Arrow district." We desire to remind the licensed victuallers that the new quarter comes in force on the Ist October; and that, for the first time, the new Act, in all its stringency, will be enforced. According to various notices given from the Bench, it is desirable to remember this fact. For the purposes of the goldfields election for members of the General Assembly the Twelvemile, Arrow, under the new title of Macetown, lias been proclaimed a polling place. We should have been glad to have seen Skipper's, Moke Creek, and the Bucklerburn added to the list, so far as specially regards the Wakatip but this was too much to expect from the hands of a Government guided as they were by the advice tendered to the:n. The 4 Gazette' notifies that the Queenstown and Arrow Court-houses are the polling places for the Queenstown district election. The copper ore works are proceeding vigorously. Already good headway has been made, and some magnificent blocks of ore have been met with. The contactors are driving through a landslip, but the character of the ore obtained is one that leads to hopes of a vely satisfactory and permanent nature.

We have received some verses from a correspondent at Mauri Point, regarding the introduction of Chinese into the Province; but we must decline them, as unsuitable for our columns. The case given in our last as Louttit v. M'Lain should have been Louttit v. M'Lean. With great reluctance we have to inform our readers of a fact most discreditable to any civilised community, in connection with the banquet given in honor of the Superintendent's visit, that the Press was not invited, and that we are indebted for our report to a gentleman who happened to be present. The same remark applies to the luncheon at Mr Goodwin's, Maori Point, which, we are sorry to say, our reporter attended at his own cost. The inhabitants of this town and district will learn will extreme regret that they are about to lose the services of Mr Dick, the much respected and esteemed postmaster. Mr Falck, from the Arrow, will take charge of the Queenstown post-office, and Mr Harris, well known at Wetherstone's, and at present chief clerk at Lytteltori, will take charge of the Arrow. Sergeant Bryant, who has so sedulously filled the duties appertaining to his office here, as Serjeant of the Water Police, retires from the O service to-day, owing, we believe, to some misunderstanding with his superior officer, Mr Percy, in connection with the attempt to relieve the Expert steamer, at Frankton, in the police boat. The circumstances are fresh in the mind of the public. Sergeant Bryant has been relieved at his own request. He has gained the goodwill of the inhabitants generally, and has also received an excellent testimonial from Mr St. John Branigan. Our Maori Point correspondent, writing on Thursday, states:—" It is my painful duty to record the death of a miner in Skipper's Creek, named JosiahTear. On Sunday, last deceased went with some friends to Skipper's Point, and while returning home in the evening along the narrow edge of a race above the creek he slipped, and was precipitated some 350 or 400 feet below, breaking and crushing both legs and feet. His back was also severely injured. Deceased was much respected by his friends and mates, and is highly connected in Launceston, Tasmania. The inquest was held on Tuesday last, when a verdict was returned— 4 That the deceased, Josiah Tear, was killed by a fall which he received in Skipper's Creek, Upper Shotover, on Sunday, the 24th instant.' His age was 26 years." The publication of the various addresses presented to his Honor the Superintendent in the form of a Blue Book, and laid before the members of the Provincial Council, would afford a good opportunity of forming correct judgment of the several requirements of the various goldfields and their districts. We hear that Mr Peter M'Tavish had a narrow escape in crossing the Shotover, as, in attempting to cross the river at Foster's Ferry, ho had to swim his horse, which eithar fell or stumbled in the passage. Mr M'Tavish had a pleasant ride on a warm day in very wet clothes, suffering no other inconvenience.

Several changes affecting the powers of the delegated authority entrusted to the Superintendent of Otago over the Goldfields, are announced iu the * Gazette.' The tenor of them is so important that we reserve their consideration to another issue. We trust Mr Gillies, the returning officer, or compiler of the Electoral Lists of the Province, will distribute the same as soon as possible, through the Province, on and after the Ist October next. A very important meeting has been held at Tuapeka, for the purpose of protesting against the introduction of the Chinese. Similar meetings are to be held throughout this district i n the course of the ensuing week. The 4 Evening Star' says:—"We understand that the convict Jarvey has been buoying him■elf up with the hope of a reprieve, and has urged some of his friends to take steps for petitioning the Governor on his behalf, although those who have visited him have used every effort to couviuce him of the utter hopelessness of any attempt to interfere with the sentence. During the last day or two he has been excessively dejected, and apparently inclined to reconcile himself to the impossibility of escaping the fulfilment of his sentence. He has been attended by the Rov Mr Connebee and other ministers of religion, but the vain confidence of the criminal that his life will be spared has, it is 6tated, deprived their ministrations of any desirable influence. It is, however, the opinion of those most intimate with him, that the prisoner will make a confession of his guilt." The ' Daily Times' mentions that " the cause, Little v. Branigan, was tried in the Supreme Court on the 21st inst., and it resulted in the discharge of the jury without a verdict being given. The plaintiff, Margaret Little, who figured in the Jarvey case, sought compensation from the Commissioner of Police for illegal arrest and imprisonment, in having caused Sergeant Mallard to take her from on board the Alhanibra, in which she proposed sailing for Melbourne under an assumed name. The facts were published at the time. Miss Little sued Mallard, in the Magistrate's Court, and obtained damages for an assault, or for taking her from the steamer. At the present trial the plaintiff was allowed to amend the record, to meet her case, by adding a replication of fraud to a plea of accord and satisfaction—in other words, by pleading that she had been tricked into signing a document which was a most explicit undertaking not to bring any action against Mr Branigan. The Judge, in summing up, put this part of the case in a way which may faiily be interpreted as a declaration of his belief that there was no fraud, but that Miss Little thoroughly understood what she signed. The jury were out of Court nearly three hours and a half, and were then discharged. It is no secret that nine of their number were, from the first, agreed on a verdict for the defendant. The case may be tried again this session, after the Special Jury causes, or at a future Bitting, as the plaiDtiff may be advised."

The Mount Benger correspondent of the 'Tuapeka Recorder' says:—"Mr Aylmer left on Thursday, Mr Stratford having arrived to re* lieve him temporarily. Who the permanent Warden is to be, I cannot say, but people begin to hope that their eyes will be once more gladdened by the sight of Mr Simpson. Such an arrangement would secure for the Government the hearty thanks and goodwill of the community." Of the Canterbury Escort the ' Nelson Examiner' says:—"The Government of Canterbury have determined on expending £13,000 to £15,000 a-year on the escort, to bring the gold obtained on the West Coast to Lyttelton for shipment, when the banks, who are the purchasers of it, so far from requiring the organiza. tion of snch a force, have stated their intention not to incur the risk of sending the gold by a road so beset with dangers against which there is no possibility of insurance, while they can couvey it from a wharf on board a steamer, when it is at once covered against all risk. Yet with almost a certainty that the banks will refuse to send their gold to Christ church, the escort has started for Hokitika to try and tempt them to do so. Such a wanton waste of public money (£13,000) we have never before heard of in New Zealand, as it can serve no possible object but the gratification of a silly vanity." The Wellington correspondent of the' Nelson Examiner* gives currency to the following startling statement: most strange of all aspects of the political questions now engaging attention, is that Wellington members by no means stand forward as Ministers' firm supporters—nay, there are many who firmly state that defection has already taken root among them. If this should be so, let Wellington look to the future, for the rod she makes will certainly visit her own back." The * Nelson Examiner' adds a little more light to the recent hoax played upon Thatcher, and says" The dinner went off exceedingly well, and was followed by the customary speech, making. In due course a case containing a watch was presented, and Thatcher returned suitable thanks, when 10, on opening the case, instead of the gift he was led to expect, he found only a toy watch, of the value of sixpence. Thatcher took the joke good humouredly, and promised to wear the watch as long as it would go.