LOCAL NEWS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 38, 18 April 1866, Page 2

LOCAL NEWS.

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. TUESDAY, APKIL 17xn, 1866. Present : All the members except Messrs. Parker and Burn. The Speaker took the chair at 5 p.m. The minutes of the last meeting, March 15th, were read and confirmed. The Speaker laid on the table the report of the Provincial Auditor, containing the Treasurer's yearly statement, and. the certificate of the Auditor in regard to its correctness. PETITION. Mr. Kingdou presented a petition from Matthew Batty, praying the Council to investigate his claim to compensation for sacrifices made hi the discovery and working of a coal-field at the Grey. He moved that the petition be read. The Clerk then read the petition. It was to the cfieet that the petitioner had been encouraged to open and work a coal-field by the late Superintendent. The coal-field would not in all probability have been discovered without the presence of a large population, or worked without a large capital and plant. The petitioner at great risk and expenditure of time and labor, opened the coal-field, and when on the verge of success, was required in December last, to give it up to lebsees. He complained that the Superintendent did not render him the proper assistance in getting the work valued, the amount £1,100 not compensating him for the loss he had sustained. He called on the Council to see that justice should be done him, and that strangers should not be allowed to reap the reward to which his labor had entitled him. MESSAGES PROM TUE SUPEEINTIiNDEKT. The Speaker announced several messages from his Honor the Superintendent. ' Message No. 7 enclosed various returns for sales of land, depasturing licenses, assessment lees, rents from runs, etc. Message No.' B enclosed the Gazette containing the surgeon's uniLussistant's report of the hospital.

WELLINGTON.' Netv Zealand Patriotic Ftod.-^Qitt fellowcitizens have not confined their interest in the above fund to verbal wishes for its success," bat most of them have dropped in their mite. Within- the. past week a sum of nearly £i DO has been collected, and that added to the amount already advertised, gives "a total of £1,330. , '. " Maryborough's Subscription "to the Patriotic Fund. — A meeting has been held in the Court House, Picton, the Superintendent of the Province presiding, in connection with the Patriotic Fund. £23 were subscribed ere the persons present retired. The Parliament House. — It is the intention of the Government to make certain alterations in the Chamber of the House of Representatives,' and in other parts of the Government Buildings.- - Specifications are now on view at the office of the .Under Secretary, where tenders for the work will- be. received until noon on Tuesday. — Wellington. Independaat, April 14. . . RIVERTON. .. . About twenty ounces of gold Has been, brought in during the week by diggers; and a storekeeper sold about twenty ounces more. At present there are sixty men at work on the old ground iu the bush, about thirty bit the beach near Mr. Hurst, aud nine out'prospectiug towards the Waiau. . Lanardo's, one of the first, and most successful propecting parties is again among the rauges. All the claims now being worked are payiug from ten to fifteen shillings per day per man ; the beach claims are very rapidly worked out, the gold being only found iu a breadth of a few yards aloDg the high-water mark. Southland Times. The Chinamen whose arrival m this' district was notified some time ago, have left the ground at first taken up by them, and set to work along the Wetherstones Flat and up Gabriel's Gully. In the gully they vare working in three different parties, and from all that can be learned, they seem to be .doing pretty well. Since their first arrival-Hi -this place, their numbers have been augmented by something like 30 or 40 more. Up : to.'tjie present time they have conducted themselves very well, aud certainly the housing accommodation they have provided for themselves, both in point of comfort and cleanliness, will bear comparison with that of the majority of European diggers. — D. Evening Stan The s.s. Thane. — Messrs. Owen, Smart & Co. have laid on the steamer Thane for Napier, to sail on the 19th instant. .We .understand this vessel will be kept in the trade should sufficient inducement offer. She will go into the Iron Pot, and will therefore ' be a most suitable vessel for the service in which she will be employed. — Wellington Paper. Biting off a Woman's Nose.— -E. Macarthy was charged with assaulting M.' A. Swau, of Palmer's-fplly, Eatcliffe Highway. — The complainant said : the prisoner was fighting with another girl, aud I went between them, aud told Ellen not to fight. The prisoner immediately turned on me, and seized me by the hair of the head. She tore my bonnet off, and struck me several times about the head aud face, got me down and fell upon me. The prisoner then seized my nose with her teeth, and bit it off. — Knowles. a police constable, said the prisoner was on the ground aud bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth. The complainant was standing by in a state of great sufferirig/witk her nose off and bleeding, — English Paper. Sudden Death. — On. Wednesday evening last Mr. James Cubin, Steward of the p.s. Moutua, walked the streets of Wanganui. in his usual health, went on board and retired to rest as usual, and yesterday morning was found dead in his bed with as placid a countenance as if in a quiet sleep. The deceased was a native of the Isle of Man, born in 1836, aud therefore in the prime of life being only 30 years of age. — Wanganui Times. The Wanganui Chronicle talks of reviving the agitation for separation. It says—" The Separation Committee of Wanganui invite the electors of the several districts interested in this matter to meet them ou the -evening of Thursday next, aud receive an aceount of their stewardship. A lull aud' very ably drawn report will be submitted to the meeting, and it now remains with the public to decide what further steps shall be taken. Nothing that has occurred, so far as we can see, should lead to any hesitancy iu thecourse to be pursued." ' • ' ' " '