Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 104, 5 July 1866, Page 2

The mail for Picton, Wellington, and South, the Australian colonies, United States, aud Europe, via Panama, by the Taranaki, Avill close to-morrow, at 10 a.m. •

This afternoon the sum of £500, promised to the discoverers of the bodies of the victims of the Maungatapu murders, was distributed among the Volunteer Search Party, at the Trafalgar Hotel. The sum was distributed amongst 89 persons, making an average Of £5 1 5s: each. The volunteers were subsequently addressed by Dr. Williams, Mr. Kempthorne, and Mr. Saxton. We must postpone our report of the speeches till tomorrow.

A meeting Avas held in the Lower Wakefield Schboh ooni, on Monday last (July 2), to'take into' consideration the necessity of appointing additional magistrates in Waimea South. Mr. Squires was called to the chair, and opened the proceedings by reading the notice, (signed by Mr. Augarde and Mr. Bonnington) calling the meeting. Sis gentlemen, viz.: Messrs. Baigent, Tripp, Martin, Shepherd, I/ynes, and Colt, were then chosen as the parties suitable in the opinion of the meeting to form the proposed new bench

of ;ra&^istrates. 1 Mr. Augarde was also proposed, but declined. On the '■' motion pf the Rev. F. Tripp, it was further resolved that it is necessary there should be additional constables appointed to reside in the district." A committee of three was chosen to take the matter further in, hand; The G. R. Argus, has an account of the examination of H. Jones, supposed to have stolen 600 ounces of gold from the Bank of New Zealand, at Okarita. We give the evidence :— lnspector James said — I arrested the prisoner on a warrant in Greymouth, on a charge of having purchased from a man named Richard Banner, a quantity of gold, supposed to be a portion of the 600 ounces stolen from the Bank of New Zealand, at Okatita, on the 22nd May last. I cautioned him in the usual manner, and on searching him I found on his person £788 in notes, and sundry other articles. On Saturday last, he admitted having purchased 80 or 81 ounces of gold from Banner, at £3 1 5s. per ounce. He said he did not remember the date, but it was somewhere between the 29th of May and 2nd June, and that Banner received some goods as part payment, namely, one bag of flour and half a side of bacon. He also said that on the same day he purchased the gold from Banner, he also bought 140 ounces Of gold in amalgam from a man who gave the name of Sullivan ; that both Banner and Sullivan told him they obtained the gold at Saltwater Creek ; and that Banner told him he would supply him weekly with a parcel of gold, as he was doing well at Saltwater Creek; but he told Banner that he would purchase no more, and advised him to go to Mr. Broadbest with any more he might have to dispose of. — By the prisoner : I am sure you said you bought 140 ounces from Sullivan, because I took the figures doAvn in pencil in your presence. You did not seem to wish to keep anything secret ; you said you would give me all the information you could. You said the meu Avere all strangers to you, aud there were other two men with Sullivan, but he Avas the man who sold the gold. The prisoner Avas remanded. The West Coast Times says : — " The late gold robbery on board the Barwon has not been unattended by good results, for it has warned ship-owners and captains of that which is almost certain to occur should the precious metal confided to their care be not carefully stowed and guarded. Determined to use the utmost precaution, and prevent the repetition of such an affair on board their vessel, Messrs. Macmeikan and BlackAvood have fitted the Gothenburg with a neAV iron safe, of novel construction, and capable of containing 70,000 ounces of gold. It is fixed by itself in a small room adjoining the captain's cabin, aud no one is permitted to either open or close it save the captain himself assisted by one man, for ifc is so contrived that two men are required to£ lock or unlock it. A massive lock secures the door, across which runs a heavy iron bar, that extends through the bulkhead into the captain's stateroom, where it is fastened to the ship's side by a large padlock, and this bar has to be first removed ere the key can be inserted into the other lock ; and the keys, both' of the room and the safe never leave the captain's possession ; and through the peculiarities of the fastening and great strength of the safe, to open it Avould be impossible, without their aid. We are glad to find that the Gothenburg has been the first vessel to introduce this reform, and think the patronage of the banks would be well bestowed in rewarding it." The W. 0. Times of the 23rd ult., thus describes the weather at Hokitika: — The severity of Thursday night's gale has not been exceeded by any which has within our recollection visited the coast, and we are only surprised that the town withstood it so well, for, so far we have not. heard -of a single disaster to- buildings. The shipping in the river Avas also excepted, although one of the night's occurrences placed them in imminent jeopardy, the extentof which was not known until morning. - Notwithstanding that the rain, during some hours, fell in "shee,ts," there was only a moderately heavy freshet in the river ; it was, however, sufficiently powerful to bring down ( several snags, oiie-

being an immense green tree complete, with branches and roots. ; We -quote from! the Westland Observer, that upwards of 11,000 ounces of gold have been shipped from Okarita by the steamer Bruce, between the 3rd and 23rd of June. The Westland Observer states "The first bonded store in Okarita has been opened by Messrs Coote Brothers <fc Co. The building is a commodious and substantial erection, is conveniently situated for shipping, occupying the section next to the Empire Hotel, and though not yet extensively used, no recent shipments having arrived, will no doubt, in course of time, be found to be a great convenience to the trade of the port, and be proportionately appreciated." The Hawke's Bay Times describes a mirage, on Wednesday last, between the hours of 12 noon and 2 p.m., one ,of those aerial spectacles knowu as mirages was distinctly visible on the horizon, over the Mahia Peninsula and Portland Island. The scene varied from time to time and included a great many objects, some of rather a grotesque character, aud others representing natural appearances — rocks, trees, etc. The Lyttelton Times has heard of a fat lot. We hear that a sale of 2,000 wethers, from the station of the Hon. Ernest Gray, was made by Messrs. Miles & Co. for the West Coast, the sheep averaging 62£lbs in weight. We learn from the Southland Times that the Bluff Harbor aud Invercargill Railway is approaching completion, and will be opened in the course of a few weeks. The Government have had the question of the Northern Railway under, consideration. The railway engineer and chief surveyor have returned after roughly marking the line from Wiuton to the Lake District. They report that the line will be readily constructed at a small cost — that very few engineering difficulties need be expected. It is scarcely to be hoped that this line will be immediately commenced ; but there is reason to believe that it will be proceeded with at the soonest possible period. It is said that the English mail took home a notice that the New South Wales Government would discontinue their subsidy towards the Galle service at the expiration of the last contracts. The Canterbury Press will be glad to play a game of chess with any other newspaper in the colony. The moves on both sides to be printed iu the papers playing as they occur, and each paper being allowed to take any advice it wishes to obtain ss to the moves. Any newspaper accepting this challenge is at liberty to take the first move playing with the white, on condition of playing a return match giving the move to the Press. The Wellington Independent says : A petition praying his Excellency the Governor to exert his prerogative and pardon Mr. Edmund Wyatt, who is now in gaol undergoing a sentence of six months 1 imprisonment with hard labor, is now in circulation, and very numerously signed. It will be in the recollection of our readers that Mr. Wyatfc Avas tried at the recent Criminal Sittings of the Supreme Court for embezzlement as a bailee, and that much sympathy was felt for him owing to the fact of his having committed the offence when terribly harrassed for money, and under circumstances which led to the belief that he was at the time not perfectly conscious of what he was doing:. The Lyttelton Times of the 20th ult. has the following : — Yesterday afternoon a very clever capture was made by Sergeant Nill, of our police force. The young gentleman in question is named Sturge, he is well knoAvn to the police, and was only out of gaol three days ; he had completed a term of imprisonment for tAvo or three convictions of forgery. It appears he had paid a visit to Christchurch and immediately resorted to his old method of raising the Avind and began by forging cheques ; he. then found his way to Port. A telegram was received by the police officials, aud means were resorted to effect his speedy capture which was effected about 3*30 p.m., on Norwich Quay. The following is from the Mining Journal: — That California will ere long be well known in the markets of the world as a tin-produc-ing country appears to be now beyond question. At Temeseal mines, in San Bernar-

dino, two or. three well developed leads i'ihave been discovered. "The ore -was 1 sent from San Francisco, is a; red oxide, worth 30 per cent, for tin. The average of the ore as it comes from the mine— a four feet vein — is fully 15 per cent. The W. C. Times has the following remarks on the capture of the criminals now in custody in Nelson :— lf the moment has come in the history of the West Coast gold-fields, in which the community are threatened with the presence of any number of hardened and desperate criminals from the other side, everything will depend upon the prompt capture, and signal punishment of the pioneers of the gang. We give great credit to the police for the energy with which they have acted, and congratulate them that they have so useful a servant at their command as the electric telegraph. There is little room for doubt that the right men have been. laid hold of; and desperate villains they must be, if one-half the crimes with which they are charged are brought home. It is to be hoped that the ends of jnstice will not be frustrated, and that a beacon of warning Avill be held out to the scores of similar characters who are doubtless ready to follow if the first bold venture prove successful. If -we can only succeed in closing the doors of the West Coast against this class — and that can best be done by teaching them that they will get more blows than booty here — these diggings will succeed in maintaining the character they have established, as the most orderly and law-observing in the world. A mysterious disappearance seems to have taken place at Okarita. Concerning it the Observer of that place says : — A man, of whose name or antecedents nothing is at present known, has disappeared under somewhat mysterious circumstances, which are now being investigated by the police. Information of the matter was firsr conveyed to the police by Mr. Allen, a storekeeper near the Saltwater Creek. He states that a person of tall figure, and whom he understood to be an Irishman, but of whom he knows nothing more, called at his his house, and was accommodated with a bed. He had apparently been drinking to excess, but no serious suspicion seems to have been entertained as to his sanity. On Wednesday morning he was missing, haviug left the house during night, taking only some of his underclothing, some money which he had in his possession, and a blanket. His blanket was found during the day lying on the beach, and among the many conjectures which are made as to his fate, there is a fear that, in a fit of delirium, he has thrown himself into the sea, his body getting carried aAvay by the surf and the set of the tide. The citizens of Hokitika are about to elect a municipal council. Nine members are to be elected and six have accepted requisitions. Messrs. Shaw, Eicke, Bartlett, Findlay, Bouar, and South, complete the list of avoAved candidates. Messrs. Kennedy, Sprot, O'Driscoll, Cassius, Maynell, Robinson, and Rees, are spoken of as likely to come forward. Mr. Prosser will be put in nomination. The Geelong Advertiser states that kangaroo shooting has become a profitable game during the last month. Messrs. Niffnecker Brothers have had two men constantly engaged skinning and curing kangaroos on Mr. N. Black's station. A smokehouse has been erected, and smoked kangaroo hams have already been bespoken at a remunerative figure to the extent of one ton and a half weight. They also intend to make sausages in the same style as followed in Germany, viz, well smoked and duly seasoned. They also find a ready sale for the skins. Messrs. Niffnecker ■ spent the greater portion of the last winter in the same pursuit ; and as this is a new branch of native industry, it is to be hoped that it will be duly encouraged.