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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 74, 31 May 1866, Page 3

The West Coast Times has obtained the following particulars of the lines of telegraph now laid in New Zealand : — Hokitika to Christchurch, 170 miles — Proviucial Government of Canterbury, proprietors. Nelson to Christchurch, 287 miles ; Christchurch to BlujfF,4l4 miles — General Government, proprietors. Dunedin to Tuapeka, 74 miles; Tuapeka to Duustan, 72 miles — Provincial Government of Otago, proprietors. Dunedin to Port Chalmers, 9 miles — Driver, M'Lean, and Co., proprietors. Christchurch to Lyttelton, 8 miles — General Government, proprietors. The line between Hokitika and Greymouth, 2o miles, is now in course of erection, and is expected to be open to the public by the Ist of June. The telegraph cable to connect the Middle and North Islands is expected to be laid and communication established about the beginning ©f 1867. In the North Island the only telegraph in existence is the Military Electric Telegraph connecting Auckland and Onehunga with Te Awamutu, one of the military depots on the Waikato, about 120 miles from Auckland, and is under the management of the Koyal Engineers, Enterprising men of capital from the southern part of the colony have been here durfng the week, and have made arrangements for several pieces of private land, and will begin sinking shortly. So that if there is oil in quantity to be had, it may soon be expected to be brought to the surface, where it will certainly receive a cordial welcome — T. Herald, May 26.

Joseph Crele, probably the oldest man in the world, died in Caledonia, Wisconsin, United States, 27th January last, aged 141 yeara. He bore arms at Braddock's defeat, was an old man when General Jackson defeated Pakenham at New Orleans, venerable when Taylor whipped Santa Anna at Buena Vista, and yet was not too old to rejoice when Lee surrendered to Grant. He was born of French parents in what is now Detroit, and his baptism is recorded in the Catholic church of that city ; and was a resident of Wisconsin for about a century. In 1755, at the age of 30, he was first married in New Orleans. For some years he had resided in Caledonia with a daughter, born when he was 69, by his third wife. Up to 1864 Mr. Crele was as hearty as most man of 70. He walked well, chopped wood for the family ; went to all elections, and from the time he first voted for Washington he had always voted the straight-out Union ticket. He had no bad habits, except that he was an inveterate smoker. He was above the medium height, spare in flesh, and a century ago must have been a man of sinewy strength. Latterly a feeling of loneliness s.addened hifn, and he remarked that he feared 'S.h.a.t perhaps " Death had forgotten him ; " but he added more cheerfully that he felt sure " God had not." — New York Herald. Sebastopol. — The St. Petersburg Gazette gives an account ofthe annual banquet ofthe defenders of Sebastopol, which took place on the 26th of February, General Todleben, who was present, gave an interesting account of the impressions produced on his mind by a recent visit to the scene of his heroic defence. He visited the cemeteries of the Russians and of the Allies, and said that both were maintained in a becoming condition.