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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 130, 4 August 1866, Page 2

We learn from the New Zealand Advertiser, August Ist, that the debate on separation has ended, with a majority of -M votes to 18 in favor of an united colony. The debate lasted five days, and 40 members spoke. The Advertiser adds : —Let us, however, trust that the minority will accept their defeat now, and that, having frittered away so much valuable time in useless discussion, the House will set itself earnestly to work to carry out those important measures which are essential to the welfare of united New Zealand. One month of the session has passed, ancl what haa been done ? Nothing,

or next to nothing, beyond the affirmation of an abstract principle, and we demand of the representatives of the people that they should now go earnestly to work to perform the duty that they owe to their constituents. A steamer, from the North, was signalled as we were going to press. The Nelson authorities says the G. K. Argus, certainly deserve praise for tho spirited manner in which they endeavor to meet the necessities of their gold-iields. Our paper contaius an advertisement calling for tenders for the construction of self-acting punts across the Arnold and Ahaura Rivers. It is much to be Avished that the Canterbury Government would follow the footsteps of its neighbor iv the carrying out of those works needed, for the development of the country. A writer in the N. Z. Advertiser, in alluding to the attempt to introduce the Murray cod into the Wauganui district, states, from his owu knowledge, that the cod is a voracious destroyer of the herring, and had better be given np by the Acclimatisation Society. The writer copies the Australasian of the 16th ult., which states that the cod hides close under a log, or among the rushes, till his prey is sufficiently near, and then lie ruthlessly pounces on it. The telegraph poles and wires are beiug laid in the streets of Wellington. The telegraph office will be in the building lately occupied by the N.Z.S.N. Company. The N. Z. Advertiser says a letter has been received from H. H. Stephenson, stating that he cannot come out with a team of English cricketers, but that Willshee is likely to undertake the task. The Lyttelton Times intimates that tha Legislature is likely to appoint Judge Johnston as senior judge of the colony during the absence of Sir G. Arney. We learn from the Tarauaki Herald that five wells have been opened at the Sugarloaves, one has reached a depth of 90 feet. Vogel's well has reached a depth of 17 feet, and that of the Petroleum Company 20 I feet. The workmen express their disbelief in Dr. Hector's theory and predictions, and I confidently look forward to a satisfactory resnlt from their labors. Persons posting letters for America by the Panama steamers, have to pay double postage, and the letters must be prepaid. A writer of tho N. Z. Advertiser suggests that each member of the General Assembhy. should set apart ss. out of his honorarium of 20s. per day, to have the debates fully reported. The jury before whom the inquiry was held, ou the bodies of the persons drowned in the steamer Cawarra, atNewcastle,N.S.W., complained of Lhe unsatisfactory arrangements of the lifeboat, and suggested a more efficient management. Twenty-seven bodies have been recovered. * The work of repairing the machinery of /the telegraphic cable lost in Cook Straits, has been entrusted to Mr. E. W. Mills, who has undertaken to find the end of the cable. The Advertiser states that Captain J. V. Hall leaves Sydney for Auckland on the llth August, and that he will proceed home by the Rakaia, on the Sth September. 11l I health is the cause of Captain Hall's return. The recent half-yearly report of the New Zealand Fire Insurance Company, states that a dividend of 10 per cent, has beeu declared among the shareholders. The capital actually paid up is £35,000; the reserve fund, -819,521 ; balance on profit and loss, £13,548 ; investment, £62,900 ; fire premiums, £14,010; marine premiums, -£9,668. The Wellington Advertiser calls attention to the notice from the Provincial Government, in the Nelson papers, stating where tickets of admission wili be issued to ladies desirous of being present during the examination of the prisoners charged with the Maungatapu murders, and thinks the ladies are particularly flattered by the attention shown them. We see by the Hokitika papers that Sampson Jacobs, Samuel Jacobs, and Lawrence Jacobs, well known in Hokitika as the proprietors of the Jockey Club Billiard Saloon, have been discharged from custody. It will be remembered that they were charged with

having stolen a valuable pin aud other articles from a dwelling adjoining the saloou. A wituesss named Hyams proved that the pin in question (which had been found in the prisoners' possession) had been found iv the right-of-way by him, aud that the prisoners went --halves" iv it. A telegram from Dunedin, dated on the 27th ultimo, states that Mr. Dyer, M.P.C. for Tokomairiro, has failed with liabilities to the extent of £13,000. Donkiu, charged with the embezzlement of the money of the Dunedin Waterworks, has been committed for trial on five different charges. We perceive that Mr. Chevalier is now exhibiting his drawings of New Zealand scenery in Dunedin. We (Times) understand that the prize essay of £'50 for Southland as a field for immigration, has beeu decided in favor of Mr. Murray, late manager of the Otago Bank. An offer (the only one), which has been accepted by the committee, was made by Harnett & Co., to print 500 copies, demy Bvo gratis, on condition that the copyright might be reserved to the printers for six months, Mr. Beauchamp, the hon. member for Picton, contemplates bringiug under the notice of the General Assembly the necessity which exists for placing a light iv proximity to the mouth of Tory Channel. According to the G. li. Argus, the rush to the Saltwater bids fair to be one of the best rushes that has occurred for some time iv the Grey district. Although, as in every other easily accessible new diggings, there is a certainty that it will be overdone with respect to population, we may predict that there wiil be lucrative employment for hundreds of men for mouths to come. A return is published in the Otago Gazette of the 4th July, received under the " Cattle Ordinance, 1864," for the year ending 28th February, 1866, representing a total of 23,329 head of cattle. This is considerably under the number depastured within the proviuce, the loth clause of the Ordinance being inoperative when cattle are kept ou enclosed land, thus raising a great obstacle to its utility as a statistical medium. TJie number of cattle landed at Port Chalmers from 30th September, 1865, was 1881, The numb-s-----killed during the year will amount to uear 12,000. The condition of tiie cattle in most districts ofthe province is on the whole satisfactory, but fat cattle are still scarce. The L. Times reports that a fine young whale, supposed to be from a year to 18 months old, aud about 28 feet iv length, was captured on tho beach immediately to the north of Sumner. The young monster had ventured 100 near the "shore, and fell au easy victim to the lucky captor. A bill lias been introduced by the Government in the House of Representatives, and has passed its second reading, fbr increasing the facilities for the administration of justice on the West Coast gold-fields. The Canterbury Press of the 21sfc ult., says :— The most important of the bills yet brought forward is the District Courts Bill, by which the power of judges in those courts is extended in civil cases to £250, and in criminal cases so as to equal that of the English quarter sessions. It is especially to apply to the gold-fields, where the amouut of legal business is large, and the visits of a Judge of the Supreme Court infrequent. But a difficulty seems to be found in bringing it iuto practical operation from the smallness of the salaries attached to the office ; Mr. Stafford mentioned that two professional gentlemeu had refused the offer of a District Court Judgeship ou the West Coast for that reason . Such a difficulty, however, may be removed, if the economical spirit of the House will permit, in a very simple aud expeditious manner. On Friday (says the G. R. Argus) last a man named Thomas Reves, who had been employed as a porter at the office of the Bank of New Zealand at Okarita, was brought up before the Resident Magistrate at Hokitika, charged with being implicated iv the robbery of gold from the bauk some weeks ago. No evidence directly inculpating him was produced, but he was, at the request of the police, remanded until the 28th. We believe that the prisoner was apprehended en the strength vof a statement made by Sul-

livau, who, in confessing his knowledgeof the circumstances of the Okarita Bank robbery, mentioned the man Reves as one of those concerned in it. The correspondent of the G. R. Argus, writiug from Nelson Creek, gives an interesting account of the progress of sluicing undertakings in that and the adjoining districts. He states that in uone of the diggings in that part of the Grey district hae the "bed rock" form the bottom ofthe claims, the gold having been found on cement or .soft sandstone. He is of opinion, and his opinion is a very reasonable supposition, that deep sinking would richly repay the miners, and probably reveal a richer source of gold than auy yet discovered. Passages from London and Glasgow are granted by the Provincial Government of Otago to the friends of colonists on a guarantee that the passage money will be repaid, by instalments, within six months after arrival, i The usual cost of a passage is £14. Iv the case of female domestic servants, only onehalf the passage money is charged, the other half being contributed by the Government. For several days past the men of the District Engineers department have bee industrioutly taking the levels of the main and side streets at Greymouth a circumstance which would appear to augur favorbly with regard to the formation of -the roadways. We believe it is contemplated to form a metalled cartway twenty-five feet in width from the footpath; aud we have also heard it mentioned is a probable event, that the river bank is to be piled from the new wharf to the lower end of the Government Township. So many good things are rather hard to believe, but i 3 not Mr. Moorhouse, Superintendent, and did he not promise that something should be dono for Greymouth ? A case, which savor 3 strongly of suspicion, has been reported to the police of Greymouth. A man representing himself as a newspaper vendor, reported to the police on Saturday, that he was stuck up by two men, near the Stillwater Creek, on his way down from the Arnold, and robbed of £35 in money, and three letters entrusted to him by some persons at Maori Gully. He stated that two men presented themselves before him on the track, one of them aiming a pistol at his head, and demanded his money. He also stated that he saw three others a little way back iv the bush. Subsequent inquiries, aud the suspicious conduct of the complainant, lead to the belief that the story is a pure fabrication, possibly framed for a special pnr- | pose. He has abruptly left Greymouth, but will, no doubt, be accounted for by the police. It is believed oue of the letters of which he was alleged to have beeu robbed contained money — a significant circumstance wheu taken into account with the inconsistency of his statements concerning the affair. The Westland Observer (Okarita) says : — We recently reported the mysterious disappearance of a miner named Timothy Kirby. It was suspected at the time of the occurrence that the missing man had been drowned while suffering from delirium tremens, he having left the store in which he was living at the Saltwater beach, unknown to any one, and almost in a state of nudity, only his blanket being found on the beach, close to high-water mark, ou the morning after his disappearance. This suspicion seems to have beeu a correct oue, for his body has this week been found ou the beach near the Waita, and has since been brought to Saltwater, where Constable Halliday has proceeded for the purpose of ascertaining all necessary particulars. The G. R. Argus has heard it mooted that should the diggings in the neighborhood of the Saltwater River turn out to be what they are expected to prove — extensive and permanent, it would be worth while to provide easy and cheap communication betweeu them aud Greymouth by means of a canal. We are informed that it would be comparatively easy to cut a channel eight feet wide from the head of the lagoon, at Blaketown, to the Saltwater, and then to connect this with the lagoou near the present diggings. Perhaps, however, a tramway *would ?as easily and cheaply constructed, and there can be but little doubt that such an undertaking would

prove profitable should the diggings continue. The Taranaki Herald of the 28th ultimo states : — The remarkable mildness of the weather has undergone a sudden change, and a sharp frost ou Wednesd-ey morning reminded us of a fact we had almost forgotten — that it was winter. So mild a winter as the present one has uot been known for some years. The Hawkes Bay Times is happy to be in a position to announce the cheering fact that efforts are being made to erect a Church of England on the Eastern Spit. A list has been opened, and we believe that a goodly sum has already been collected ; but much more is yet wanted, and we sincerely trust no exertion will be spared on the part of the good people of Napier to secure such a desirable object. It is proposed, we learn, to use the building as a school-house during the week days. The Okarita paper gives the following accouut of the mining operations in that district: — From the different diggings,, and from the localities recently prospected, there is generally favorable news. Even the Five Mile Beach, which has been thought to be thoroughly tested aud taken up, has been a source of a little excitement, a rush ou a small scale occurring there on Monday, when a number of fresh claims were taken up on ground at the south end of the beach. Some experiments have been made at the same bsach by Mr. Williams, who recently brought from Hokitika an apparatus invented by him, and which is expected to be capable of extracting a larger proportion of the gold than is usually obtained by the ordinary process of washing, but we have not heard how the experiment has progressed. At the Three Mile Beach one or two hew claims have recently been taken np, with good prospects. The Waikouaiti Herald, Otago paper, is informed that a smart shock of an earthquake was felt by several residents in Waikouaiti on Thursday evening last, at 20 minutes past 10 o'clock." The vibration appeared to be from south to north, and lasted some seconds.