Local and General News.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 134, 5 September 1868, Page 3

Local and General News.

Mails will close for England, via Panama and Suez, this day (Saturday) at 4.30. p.m. The unusual quantity of rain which fell on Monday and Tuesday last Hooded the Grove Road worse than on previous occasions. The rivers did not, however, overflow their banks in Blenheim.

The meeting of the Mutual Improvement Society was again postponed until Tuesday evening next, when Mr. Johnson will (weather permitting) contribute an essay under the singular title, “ Where is the Soul during Sleep ?” The favorite ketch Falcon, respecting which our Wellington correspondent, in another column, is pleased to speak favorably, left here yesterday morning, and arrived in Wellington at 4 p.m, making a smart passage of 5 4 hours. Bank;. —We learn that the Directors of the Hank of ’New Zealand have become the owners of the very eligible site opposite the Post Office formerly owned by' the Union Bank*. Humour says that the new bank wilFlje proceeded with immediately. f We learn that the services of the Mahakipawa have been accepted by his Excellency the Governor ; and chat CO stand of arms and accoutrements, with one years supply of ammunition, have been received this week in Ficton for their use. It is expected that Gaby, Esq , will be appointed Captain. / Rea"ln y”the Rev. Father Larkin’s career on ? the West Coast seems to be one of disappointment. The unkiudest cut of all was applied to that gentleman some days ago, when the Government purchased by auction ids private residence at Stafford Town, in order to convert it into a Court House.— Weekly News. , A meeting of the townspeople ■jvas called for Saturday evening last to consider the propriety of engaging a night-watchman, but in consequence of the rain it was adjourned till Tuesday evening; but again the rain prevented the attendance of the promoters, and consequently the movement has died out. We are informed that the police patrol the town for the greater part of every night, so that the step above alluded to will probably not be deemed necessary. /We understand that Messrs. Robinson and Tlenwick have this week disposed of their splendid property, known as the Birch Hill Run, to Mr. Warren, of Christchurctr^Cne' estate comprises about 90,000 acres ; of which 20,000 are freehold, and the remainder held under lease from the Crown ; 20,000 sheep, and all the improvements, which are said to be of the most modern description. The purchase money is .£27.000 cash-

Another Fire. —On Saturday eveuing last, about midnight, the bridge over the Omaha was discovered to be on lire. Mr. Sweeney had occasion about the hour named to cross the bridge, when he noticed nothing unusual. On returning some quarter-of-an-hour later, ho found a flame a few feet high on the upstream side of it—the end Of the flooring outside the main stringer being on tire. He immediately ran and spread the alarm, and Messrs. Waruer, John T. Robinson, and others hastened to the site ; Mr. Robinson carried a bucket with him, and succeeded in extinguishing the flames, which, from the appearance of the place, must have been extensive. Of course it is impossible to conjecture how it originated, and it is very unlikely to be the result of accident. On - the other hand, it is quite improbable that there can be such a miscreant living capable of committing such a purposeless piece of mischief, especially at' such an untimely hour.

,An crrmMms paragraph, which first appeared in the Nelson Colonist, is now going round the journals of the colony to the effect that, “Mr Johnson, formerly of Dunedin, and late of Marlborough,” has taken a printing plant to the Fijis for the purpose of starting a newspaper. The proprietor of the Express now finds it necessary to state that he is not the person alluded to. Mr. Thomas Johnson, his younger brother, who, after a stay here of a year, left in March, 1857, being the person who left Dunedin in the Banshee for the Fijis. r

A Nelson contemporary states that Mr. Nathaniel Edwards, of that city, arrived in Wellington some days ago, for the purpose of enlisting the co-operation of capitalists here in the matter of the Brunner coal mines. We fear that “our capitalists,” devot ng their time, energy, and money, as they undoubtedly do, to the furtherance of works of public interest, such as patent slips and graving docks, will hardly be enticed by the flourishing prospects of the mineral question.— Post.

Postal Services.—The Postmaster-General, in reply to a question from Mr. Stevens, relative to steam postal subsidies, stated in the House on Tuesday, that notice had been given to determine the existing contracts in accordance with the expressed wish of the House, and new tenders had been called for. The result had been somewhat disappointing, as, although, he had endeavoured to make the two services light, the tenders received, that for the one service being from one company, and that for the other from the other company, showed an increase on the present subsidies in the one case of 17 per cent., and in the other of 72 per cent. ; the Postmaster-General added that these were terms which the Government could not accept. — Independent. The Fenian Member.—The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, writing on July 22nd, thus describes the appearance and style of a West Coast member while speaking on the Treason-felony Biil :—“Mr. Timothy Gallagher followed in a style far more fitted for a digger’s drinking crib than a Chief House of Legislature. He talked about a man ‘ going in for a little bit of a burst,’ about ‘ chokee,’ about “300 Fenians being any day as good as 600 loyalists -pretended lo3'alists —when it came to a push,’ and a great deal of similar stuff. Mr. Bell took him and others to task about stirring up the dirty waters of the past, passed a welldeserved laudation on the Ministry for what they had and had not done during the Hokitika troubles, and told Mr. Gallagher and his friends that the loyal people of the colony required that the Government should be armed with the fullest powers necessary to preserve the quiet, peaceloving colonists from the terror occasioned by such persons as those who took part in the late illegal doings. Mr. Bell did it in his best style.”

Murphy’s Creek. —One of our friends visited the scene of operations at Murphy’s Creek on Thursday last, where he found the workmen resuming operations, which had been delayed by the fresh caused by the warm rain and melted snow on Monday last. The channel is now open to the Wairau river for a width of about 14 feet, and a terrific torrent of water is running through it from the Opawa. The fresh carried off above 1000 yards of earth laid outside the banks of the cutting, at the end nearest the Opawa, besides several barrows, tools, &c. Since Monday the workmen have been staying with Mr. Jellyman, who is himself working at the cutting, and expressed an opinion that the work would be a benefit instead of a detriment to his property. We regret to hear that, notwithstanding the great relief afforded by the creek in its yet incoinpleted state, the Opawa has done considerable damage in the Spring Creek district. A) r. R. Robinson has lost 80 acres of young wheat, which has been carried entirely away. Mr. Reeves has also sustained great loss, as well as several others. “ Ou u selves as others see us.”—This sentence is well illustrated by the following extract from the Wellington Evening Post :—“ The sportloving inhabitants of the Pelorus district will have to find some other means of excitement, now that the alleged Maori rising has collapsed, leaving nothing behind it but traces that some one had taken a “x'ise” out of the Marlborough authorities, in order to obtain from a too paternal Government a quantity of rifles and ammunition to match, &c., and the formation of a local volunteer corps. It turns out that the constable stationed at Havelock was not aware of any expected danger until he received a telegram from the Government, stating that succour was coming in the shape of arms and ammunition. The Marlborough Express —a most readable and creditably got up paper, by the bye —says that one Houghton, storekeeper at Felorus, is answerable for all this “ado about nothing,” having sent a private telegram to the Government at Blenheim, commenting upon expected danger. The Blenheim Contingent, therefore, marched “up the hill, and marched down again”—probably, however, at public expense. This Mr Houghton is the same who was collecting funds for the Fenian cause some months ago.”

County ofKaikoura. —We learn from the Kaikoura Herald that on the 20th ultimo a not

rYgTy s numerom meeting was held at Kaikoura, for the purpose of considering and adopting a petition to the General Assembly praying that the district might be created a County. The document presents no very prominent features, but describes the isolated position of the town of that name ; and the difficulty of communication with “ the seaport towns, Blenheim and Pieton,” rendering it necessary to obtain supplies from Wellington, or Christchurch, or Lyttelton; the good quality and plentiful quantity of unsold lands described as “of remarkable fertility, and easily getatable ; with other certain means of sufficient revenue to support the system of Local Government as now existing in Westland and dually proposes to “ hand over the direction of all harbors, wharves, gaols, hospitals, &c., within the County,” to the General Government. C. K. Keene, Esq., J.P., occupied the chair, and the meeting was addressed by Messrs. H. Ingles, W. Smith, of Mount Fyffe, and others. A complaint was made that when Marl borough separated from Kelson, the price of laud was lowered to enable sheepfarmers to buy laud, and in reply to Mr. Smith the chairman stated it was not in-

tended to follow this example, Oa the motion of Mr. Paisley the petition was adopted, and Mr. Keene undertook to present it.