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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 21, 25 January 1868, Page 2

It is announced, by order of his Honor the Superintendent, that the 2t»th anniversary of tbe province, which occurs on Saturday next, will be kept on the following Monday. With the exception of the customary Foresters' Fete, we have not heard that any other preparations are in progress for the celebration of the day. The following telegram from Invercargill, dated Saturday last, is published in the Otago Daily Times, and furnishes further information with reference to the wreck of the General Grant on the Auckland Islands, the particulars of which appeared in a telegram in this journal on the 14th* inst.: — ' Tbe belief of the possibility that'Mr Brown, and the boat's crew, which left Auckland Island on the 22nd January, 1867, for New Zealand, has beeu driven on to Campbell Island or some other, caused a movement among the residents here, to have the Amherst equipped and sent on a search. The Provincial Government has now undertaken the whole responsibility of this expedition. The Amherst is to be equipped and sent to examine all the islauds in the vicinity of the Aucklands. She will probably sail from the Bluff on Tuesday. Every attention continues to be paid to the survivors. The Times further says: — We are informed that the Colonial Secretary has for some days been in communication with the Superintendent of Southland on the subject of the loss of the General Grant, and has provided means for the maintenance and passages of the persons saved. It is supposed that when the Amherst left there were no other persons on the Island. It is, we believe, the intention of the Government to propose to the Assembly, next session, a vote for the establishment of a depot at the Auckland Islands. We perceive from our Wellington files that M. and Madame Simonsen and party arrived at that city by the Rangitoto, and were to give their first concert on Thursday evening. We understand that they wil probably visit Nelson in a fortnight's time. *

The Rangitoto, W. H. Bax, R.N.R., cleared Port Phillip Heads at 5 p.m., 12th iust, and arrived at Wellington at 11. 30 a.m. on the 23rd. She left that port at 3. 30 p.m. on tbe 24th, steamed easily all night, aud arrived outside the Boulder Bank at 4 a.m. this day. As Aye have already announced, a meeting will be held this evening at the Nelson Hotel, for the purpose of considering a proposition by Mr Cawood, a miner of large experience on tbe Victorian goldfields, with a view to the prospecting of the Maitai Valley. The chair will be taken at 7 o'clock by Mr Elliott. We may mention, in corroboration of the belief that gold exists in the valley in considerable quantities, that a specimen of quartz, richly impregnated with gold, was found about three weeks since, in the rivetbed, which is now in possession of Mr Akersten, M.P.C., who will exhibit it at the meeting this evening. The medal awarded to Mr J. Webb, as the exhibitor at the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition of specimens of Nelson cloth, manufactured by the Messrs Webley of this city, arrived by the Rangitoto, as didjalso one of those allotted to the Messrs Harley, of Raglan Brewery, for their specimens of hops and beer, the other, for some reason unexplained, not having beeu forwarded by the present opportunity. Dr Giles, the Resident Magistrate at Westport, when giving judgment in a case in his Court on the 21st inst, made an observation which may perhaps serve as a warning to persons under a cloud. He said that according to the Insolvency Act, 1867, persons disposing of their property within three months previous to declaring themselves insolvent were exposed to the charge of felony, and liable to conviction and imprisonment for a period of three years. Tbe Westport Evening Star of the 21st thus notices a meeting held on the preceding evening by one of the candidates for the representation of that township : — Mr Goodwin met the electors at Trimble's Nelsou Hotel last eveniug, and proved to tbe entire satisfaction of the large audience present, that he is not a fit and proper person to represent this constituency in the Provincial Council. We should have reported his address had it contained even one sensible suggestion, but having listened to it attentively and failed to detect anything but sound, we decline to inflict our readers with it. The Westport Eveniug Star of the 21st says that a numerously signed requisition bearing the names of most of the influential residents in the town has been presented to Mr J, V. Smith of the firm of Messrs Fleming Parry and Co., Gladstonestreet, who has acceded to th 6 request of the memorialists. Mr Maclean has declined to be put in nomination.