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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume III, Issue 87, 14 April 1868, Page 2

A special meeting of the Board of Works was held this morning at 10 o'clock, at which all the members were present, with the exception of Mr. D. Burns, Mr Bentley in the chair, for the purpose of reconsideriug the tenders which bad been brought before the Beard on the previous Thursday evening, one of the contractors, Mr J. B. Walton, having refused to sign the agreement. It was, therefore, resolved that the contract of Mr. Alex. Adams, for the widening of the Haven Road, for £120 17s. should be accepted. Mr Adams is consequently the contractor both for this work and the construction of the culvert-bridge near Saltwater Bridge, amounting conjointly to £306 Is.

A correspondent expresses extreme astonishment at an announcement which appeared in our report of the Board of Works' meeting on Thursday last, to the effect that it had been resolved by the Board the ' the pipes conveying water to the mill lead should be taken out, as in consequence of the completion of the Waterworks, there was no further need of them.' Our correspondent characterises this step as a piece of senseless ofliciousness which is likely to result in very serious risk to the health and safety of the city, since the water cannot be spared from the Waterworks for the flushing of the sewers, and in case of fire, and any accident occurring to tne pipes of the Waterworks, the ,'supply of water would be altogether inadequate to the emergency. Such an accident might, he suggests, occur through the bursting of the pipes, or in time of flood, and he condemns the action of the Board in very unmeasured terms, as being altogether uncalled for, and as likely to endanger the health of the community, by the choking up of the drain, and hints that it has its origin rather in the gratification of the petty feelings of individual members of the Board, than in any unanimous desire to consult the public good.

We are informed by the Secretary of the Board of Works that, finding that considerable dissatisfaction has been evinced by the public with reference to the taking up of the pipes conveying water from Mr Campbell's mill lead, orders have been issued that the work shall be suspended for the present.

We are requested to correct an error which appears in an advertisement of this morning's Examiner, with reference to the hour at which the Lady Barkly will leave Motueka on the 21st instant, which is of some consequence, the arrangement having been made with an especial view to consult the convenience of those members of the Provincial Council who may desire to be present at the opening of the Session on that day. The Lady Barkly will leave Motueka at 7 a.m., and not at V p. m. on that day.

We are requested to remind the parishioners of Christ Church that the election

of Churchwardens and Vestrymen fo r that parish for the ensuing year will take place this evening at 7 o'clock, at the Bishop's Schoolroom.

We would remind our readers that the annual general meeting of the Nelson School Society takes place this evening at the Provincial Hall at 7 o'clock, the Right Eev. Bishop Suter in the chair. The tea meeting will take place at the schoolroom at half-past 5 o'clock. We learn that a telegram has been received this morning by Mr Askew, stating that the Necromancer, which was sunk in the Wairau river some time ago, has been raised, and will leave for Nelson on Friday next, weather permitting. The Nathan Troupe made a very successful re-appearance last night, at the Oddfellows' Hall, in the presence of a crowded and highly gratified audience. The weather was exceedingly threatening, but in spite of this circumstance, the Hall was filled in every part. Little Marion appeared for the first time in Nelson as Felix O'Callaghan, on ' His Last Legs,' and kept the house in convulsions of laughter with her really wonderful impersonation of this part, a task on which the late lamented G. V. Brooke did not think it beneath him to exercise his magnificent powers. The other characters in the comedy were well sustained by her sisters and the remaining members of the Company, and the absurd burlesque of 'The Happy Man,' which is another of the little prodigy's most favorite parts, and which has often been performed here by the Troupe, was received with as much favor as if it had been produced for the first time. The interlude included some pretty dancing by Miss Selina Nathan, and Mr Chambers, and also a duett for two cornets, very nicely played by the Masters Nathan, accompanied by that skilful musician, Mr E. Salaman, whom we are glad to welcome again to Nelson, in his usual effective style. The company make their next appearance on Thursday evening, under the patronage of his Honor the Superintendent. It seems more than probable that that august body, the House of Representatives, will number amongst its ranks at its next meeting, what appears to be a rara avis in the North Island, a Fenian pur et simple. The election fsr the representation of Westland North in the General Assembly is almost certain to result in the return of Mr Gallagher, in opposition to Messrs Home and Donne, both members of our Provincial Council. Three-fourths of those entitled to vote at this election are notoriously Fenians, and mostly located at Addison's Flat, where the late riots took place, and where Mr Gallagher polled an immense majority of votes. The honor of representing this constituency may therefore, after all, be a very questionable and perhaps ultimately prove a dangerous one. It may not be generally known that the probably successful candidate is a miner, a resident on that now notorious locality, Addison's Flat, and that he has distinguished himself on various occasions by his vehement enunciation of those highly democratic principles which have lately been in vogue in that region. It is, therefore, not unreasonable to surmise that, ere long, an avowed exponent of Fenianism will tax to the utmost the powers of patience and wonderment with which the honorable members of that august assemblage are supposed to be eminently endowed. From late advices from the West Coast it would appear that Fenianism will soon be a thing oi the past on the Canterbury side of the Grey River, butserioua troubles are apprehended on the Buller and on some other of the Nelson Gold-fields. Officials, we are told, make no secret of the difficulties which «may at any moment arise, and for which, in spite of the loyalty already shown in Westport by the friends of law and order, they are far from being adequately prepared. It is more than probable that the old faction fights which have been such fertile cause of bloodshed and misery in the Emerald Isle, may be revived on the West Coast, as a large portion of the mining community seem of late to have allowed various causes, entirely foreign to Fenianism, still further to inflame their already highly excited feelings, and thus disturbances and other evils attendant on party excesses, may be expected, to take place at no very distant date. There can be no doubt that the late fracas at Westport between Mr Coromtfsioner Kynnersley and the late editor of a local paper will find a find issue at the

next sittings of the Supreme Court in this city, Mr. Kynnersley having been served with a writ in which damages to the amount of £1000 are claimed. We understand that the defendant proposes tendering a small sum into Court, as the amount of the actual damages, such as medical) bills, &c, paid by the plaintiff, niesides the £150 already subscribed by* residents of the district for the plaintiff, it is understood that a further sum will be raised, in order to defray the expenses of the action. As might have been expected, the story relative to the second attempt upon the life of the Prince at Sydney turns out to be a ' canard.' The Sydney papers of the Ist and 2nd inst. are silent on the subject, as they also are with reference to the Prince's departure on the 4th inst The Sydney Morning Herald of the 2nd April, states that H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh had on the previous day spent several hours at Woollahra in pigeon shooting, the Duke being very successful, killing nearly all his birds. A telegram in the Sydney Morning Herald of the 2nd inst. states that the remains of two hawkers, named Pohlman, have been found below Narandera, near Wagga Wagga, the bodies burnt to ashes in an adjacent scrub. The skulls were tolerably perfect. A dray, with £200 worth of property, was left, but the horses were gone. The fearful dead is shrouded in mystery.