WELLINGTON.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 35, 17 February 1877, Page 3

WELLINGTON.

Wednesday. Arrived — Wakatipu, from Sydney, Passengers for Wanganui— Mrs and Misses Caldwell. She brings 29 steerage passengers, and'27o tons of cargo for all • ports. The Hon G-. McLean and Dr Lemon returned by" her; The original, scheme of forming an opposition gas company has again revived. - . " . , John McCarin, recently sentenced for rape, received thirty lashes this morning. Owen Kane also received thirty-five lashes for a similar offence. The men suffered severely and groaned loudly. :. , Friday. About 2 o'clock this morning afire was discovered m the hold of the ship Himalaya alongside the wharf. The smoke and heat were so great that it was impossible to get down the hatches to work, and an entrance was effected to* the after hold, where the fire was, by breaking through the cabin. For several hours there were four streams of water playing into the hold before the final extinction of the fire. The ship's watchman was picked up dead below, and is supposed to have fallen dbwnithe hatchway and got smothered. Two^men of the Central Fire Brigade were also picked up senseless m the hold from suffocation, but they recovered.' A great portion of the cargo has bejj^destroyea. It is impossible . at pri^^ro estimate the damage, which muai^fcyionsiderable. Latee. The City Corporation have determined , t§> call for tenders for the extension of . the Queen's wharf immediately. The job mil be a twenty thousand pound one. After careful-examination of the hold of the Himalaya to ascertain the cause of the fire, the. balance of opinion is m favor of spontaneous combustion * .amongst a quantity of straw m which a portion of the cargo was packed. The sections m the Sandon district for which there were opposing applicants , were put up to auction to-day. The purchasers and prices are as follows : — 134 acres, £148, J. T.James ; 200 acres, £250, D. McKenzie; 200 acres, £250, L.C.Easby; 200 acres, £250, D. Sinclair; 199 acres, £258 14s, Bismarck and another ; 176 acres, £220, W. Hawkes; 82 acres, £86 2s, E. Irwin; 102 acres, £112 4s, J. Badcock ; 200 acrjes, £300, T. Swanton ; 300 acres, £310, W. Fraserj 200 acres, £300, Chas. Loudonf 200 acres, £330 Bs, T. Currin ; '200 acres, £330, A. Kidd; 200 "acres, £50' Bs. Kidd.