The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1866

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 118, 21 July 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1866

In the Resident, Magistrate's. Court this morning, W., H. Barton was fined; 10s. for allowing his horse to wander,. in the streets. Hclaire Montguillet was charged with selling spirituous liquors contrary to- the conditions of his license, which prescribed that he should not sell within six miles, of- another licensed house. Solomon King, servant of Mr. Phillips', who has a licensed house on the Sherry River, stated that he had bought spirits at ; defendant's house within the last, three, months. Defendant's house was not six miles from that of Phillips's,, it was only three miles distant. He judged- by. walking the distant in an hour. Mr. H. Pitt, for-defen-dant, called W. Ryan who proved that defendant had resided in the house since the license was granted in April last. The de-. feudaii t had been informed by the Government that he was residing within six miles of another house. The magistrate held that the license was for a particular house, but as the defendaut had received notice that his selling was illegal, it was his duty to stop selliug and apply, for. another liceuse. Agnes Thompson complained against T. R. Berry for assaulting and abusing her. Defendant denied the abuse in a most voluble manner, but the magistrate would not believe him, saying he must be cured of his intemperate habits . and. offeusive conduct. He should biud him over to keep the peace for 3 months, himself in £20 and two other sureties of £5 each. Defendant promised amendment if the magistrate would not be severe with him, but the latter refused to listen to his promises. Mr. Burnett in his report on the Grey and Buller coal, states that West Coast coal is fifteen per cent better than either average North of England or N. S. Wales coal ; and very much superior indeed in the matter of clinker and ash. This is. of great importance to the Panama service. The distance from Wellington to the Isthmus is expected to occupy about twenty days. Engines of 500 horse-power will probably consume about 50 tons per dny, and 1,000 tons will be required for the run. There would cousequeutly.be a saving of 150 tons if West Coast coal were used. Mr. W. Hogg's lines on the Mauugatapu tragedy, have been lithographed by Messrs. Hodgson and Friend. The lithograph is well executed, and the verses possess no ordinary merit. Telegrams from Dunedin state that the Commercial Bank has suspended payment, and that a run has taken place on the Bank of New Zealand, Bank of Otago, and Union Bank of Australia. The run on the banks i originated in the unfavorable commercial intelligence received from Eugland, by the mail. The Provincial Government of Marlborough, has contributed £200, towards the Mauugatapu Search Fund. - : The Auckland, papers state that a fire has taken place in Durham-street, supposed to be caused by an incendiary. ■ Frorn a recent New Zealand Gazette we learn that the Act, 18.66, which was receu tiy -passed by the Marlborough Provincial Council has been- disallowed by the Governor.

• -;•* The M.^Press .has th'e folio wing r^— Tjre-raae /Wilson, taken.: up op suspicion by Sergeant Emerson, about .ay fortnight since, ""as being . one. of the, murderers, of Miv Dobson at -the West Coastj and afterwards charged, with. es-_ capihg from the gaol at -Greymouth, was discharged,, as^no. evidence was forthcoming. A3,., to his connection, with either. If the poor fellow., is .. innocent,, this . is a very hard case, and is only, jpstifiable, fi;om the desire of the authorities- to, watch narrowly every, suspicious, character, who may ..be, found at this time Qf.excitement,;in.a district so. near* the locality^of the late tragedy at theMaungatapu. The Press has the following on Old Ned the Bellman :— Poor Old Ned who rung tqechanges so. merrily, in^ Picton, when our streets wer§ busier than they are now, and at his death bequeathed £200 to the hospital, . is to. be. honored,, at; last. His Honor the Superintendent has ordered his grave at the cemetery to.- be. fenced .in, and a ; head stone erected to his memory, leaving room for his old chum Jamie, who is. at present engaged . in, au important watercress and general car-, pettbag speculation, in Nelson, w but, who. is expected to return to his old quarters soon by sea, -, • -. ; - .-,.... .•...-, . •„ • . , : • .->.. • The. Hokitika Chronicle regrets to record a melancholy, accident which occurred at the Taipo River '.resulting.' in the drowning ;of an intelligent, little lad, aged, aineyears, tho son .of Mr ; .Greviille, of the Taipo Accammodation House. One of Cobb and Co.'s grooms having occasion to cross the stream rode oyer on, . horseback, the boy riding with him to take back the. .horse. The two crossed.in safety, .and the. boy mounted the horse :,to*j. return, but. when about, half-way. across the stream the horsestumbled, and the young rider was thrown from his seat into the stream, and almost instantly disappeared beneath the rapid current, before the few affrighted .lookers-on. could render the slightest succour. The most strenuous efforts were made to recover his. body, but without.success. Great sympathy is expressed:for the bereave^, parents, the poor boy having been a favoritV with all who knew him., , The. Lyttelton Times states that tenders are invited for the erection of a building in the Lyttelton Domain, to serve as a museum". The dimensions of the. proposed building, which will be constructed almost wholly- of brick, and will be fire-proof, water-proof, and dust-proof, are 50 feet 6 inches by 30 feet. . It is proposed to. erect monupieuts in Christchurch and at Greymouth to the memory of Messrs. VVhitcombe, Howitt, Townsend, and Dobson, explorers of the Western portion of the Province of Canterbury, and who all lost their lives in the service of the Province. Mr. Howitt was drowned some three years since whilst exploring the Grey country, Messrs Whitcombe aud Towusend, comrades of Dr Haast on his first expedition to the West Coast, died through cold and starvation and the tragical fate of Mr Dobson, whilst in active service, will long remain fresh in the memories of the iuhabitants .pf Westland. The melancholy interest attached to the fate. of these gentlemen, is sufficient to cause a cordial con currence in the object desired to be attained. - We (Auckland Herald) learn that the Government intend to bring in a law on food similar to the one which prevails at home, for it is high time that the public of this colony should be protected against the acts of unscrupulous traders. It is notorious that mauy articles of meat and drink are largely adulterated with unwholesome substances;, if it was only .flour ..in our. pepper, . or chicory in our coffee, or even cayenne in our snuff, we might put up with it, but when it comes to sulphuric acid in our brandy, that is too much. Many of the diseases we suffer from in the magnificent climate we ..enjoy in Auckland, result from adulterations aud impurity in our food. We learu from the . Auckland Herald that, Albert Klaprodi, the well-known "Russian Count" in this town, was brought on shore by the Water Police, from the s.s. Lord Ash- . ley, about to, sail for. the South. He was given in charge by Captain Ponsonby as a. stowaway, but at .the same time there. wei;e, others on board. w.ho^infprmed the Count that he was wanted ou particular business.'

The Aucklan d. Herald . say :— o ur Middle Island and Wellington opponents have alvvays expressed themselves 'very angrily\ against the formation of an " Auckland Phalanx ;" yet it seems that even now such things are done by southern members. We ought not to forget that it was from the south and from Mr. Weld that Auckland learned the value and power of the Phalaux. The Advertiser of the 11th says: — A meeting of southern members of the House of Representatives was held on Monday afterr noon, at which eighteen gentlemen were present. The proceedings of the meeting have not transpired, but we believe the intention is to take some joint action ou important questions affecting that portion of the colony. Their determination will no doubt leak out in the future course of the business of the session. The Auckland Herald says : — After considerable political coquetting the great William Thompson has consented to be conveyed in one of her Majesty's ships of war to Wellington. The Esk sailed up the Thames on Wednesday last, aud took the illustrious Tamehana on board. It is really a consolation to recognise merit, it is so scarce in these days. . We might almost say it were well if only a few such men were to be found in our colonial society. Is there one ? From the proceedings of the Taranaki Provincial Council, published in the local journals, we. see that the advisability of takover the confiscated lands in that province from the General Government has been discussed. At a recent meeting of the Council, the Provincial Secretary introduced a series of resolutions, settling the terms on which the Provincial Government would be willing to take over the confiscated lands ; the basis of sncli terms being, that the General Government should baud over to the province the unencumbered portions of such lands, either at a fixed price, or subject to. the payment to. the Colonial Treasury of a definite proportion of the proceeds of. these . sales. The consideration of the resolutions was adjourned to a special sitting on a future day. We learn from the Herald that the Taranaki Petroleum Company has received its long-expected boring apparatus. The manager, who was expected to arrive with the boring apparatus, did not come, though for what reason the company is not aware, as no letter has been received from Mr. Doyne on the subject. The Kaiuma has arrived with the necessary timber for a derrick, &c. A contract for sinking a shaft to the depth of 50 feet on the beach to the north of Mokotahi.has just been let, and work begun. An accident occurred at the Alpha petroleum well while the boring was going ou, one of the rods broke short off in the shaft ; but, the part of the apparatus that was thus left in the shaft has been recovered. Boring operations are temporarily suspended nutil a spring pole has been fixed, which is now being prepared, and will be ready in a day or wo. The Auckland Herald states that a new, and as it may turn out, perhaps very important discovery has been made by Mr. McCullough, on his estate, at Maogapai, being no less than a seam of fire clay, which has been found ten feet from the surface, and within forty yards of the channel of the Mangapai river. When it is remembered that iu the old country this clay is usually found to overlay a stratum of coal, the value of its preseuce may be better understood. Mr. McCullough has sent us a sample of this clay, and also a half-cwt. of it to the gas works for trial. We (Herald) are informed of the fall of what is commonly called a thunderbolt in East Tamaki, on the 27th ultimo, in the grounds belonging to Mr. A. Martin. The electric fluid entered the ground near a large gum tree, whose roots it tore up. It had passed over the home steads and grounds of several settlers in its progress. The accounts we have of this phenomenon are a little curious. One gentleman told the reporter that he had the ball of fire actually in his hands, and another that he felt the "electric fluid pass down through him." Two young men were knocked down and two calves were killeclV