ADELAIDE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 127, 29 May 1872, Page 2

ADELAIDE.

Three-fifths of the shares in the transcontinental railway are taken up. The hon. John Baker is dead. Wheat, ss. lid. Two ships are chartered to load for Englaod.

Skeleton Found. — Mr. C. S. Maokie, of the Lavingtou station, Rakaia, informs ua that on May 13, as be was mußtering sheep on the back of the run, be came across the skeleton of a man. The skeleton was tying on its back, and there were Wellington boots on the feet, but beyond that there was not a vestige of clothing to be seen. The place where it was found is distant about seven miles from the Rakaia. — Times.- ■'',•■:■;. • .> •■■■■■ „■> ;■•■ i ;:..-!. 1.-: A- Waif from, : the SEA.-r-rThe Evening Star (Canterbury;) on 1 Saturday last the following extraordinary document with regard to the lost ship ; Mat6aka; ! The document ,was, picked up, in,, an ordlhar.y wine bottle on the ocean beach, pear Dun- : edin, in February last, by a Mr. Shephard '

and his son, and by them given to Mrs. Ewmpry, of Akaron, who brought it to the Lyttelton Times office. It is written with a lead pencil on a small piece of pnper about six inches by four, apparently the leaf of a note-book. The pnper has been folded double, aud is considerably frayed at tho outer edge and along the lines of the folds. The document is now in the possession of a Mr. Murray. There is no actual signature. Part- of tho writing is illegible, The Matoaka cleared the Customs at, Lyttelton on Monday, May 11, 1869. She was towed outside the heads at daylifiht on the 13th May, am] sailed at 4 p.m. the sume day. She was therefore 318 days out on the day that the document purports to have been written by the first mate. "1870, ray6elf, Ist mate, and 8 or 9 A.B.s are in the long boat S.W. of New Guinea. The passengers are all lost. Trusting this will meet . . . Picked up this bottle when drifting about. — First mate." — Captain Stevens, it is well known, had a strong presentiment that the vessel would meet with some disaster, and had provisions in all' his boats before the ship sailed. An American Steamer Blown Up. — The following is from the News of the World .-—Cairo,. 111., April 11: The steamer Oceanua from Red River to St. Louis, when near Brook's Point, 30 miles above here, at 4 a.m., exploded her boiler, blowing her upper works almost entirely away, immediately after which the wreck took fire, burning to the water's edge. The pilot of the steamer John Lamsden, lying a few miles below, seeing the light from the burning wreck, manned a yawl and proceeded up the river. He found a small party of survivors on the head of the island, but passed on to relieve those on the wreck. Ten or twelve were clinging to the wheel, but it dropped before he reached them, and all but four were lost. He found a deck passenger near the shore badly scalded, who died before he arrived at Cairo. The steamer Belle of St. Louis, bound up, took nearly all the survivors. The boat had abont 40 cabin and 35 deck passengers, making with the crew about 100 persons on board,. 80 of whom are supposed to have been lost. Fisher, the carpenter, describes the effects of the explosion as terrific beyond conception, the whole upper works being lifted bodily, and falling on the boat and in the water completely shattered.

The Scandinavian Immigrants. — The Wiiirarapii correspondent of the Evening Post writes: — Adjutant Cleland, Mr. Arnot, and Mr. Perry have just returned from a trip to the newly formed Scandinavian settlement in the Forty Mile Bush. They were much pleased wi(h their journey, and both surprised and gratified at the progress which had been made at the settlement,- considering the short time it had been formed. It comprises between eighty and ninety persons all told, of whom some five or six are Englishmen, and the remainder Norwegiaus and Danes. The cottages built by the latter have been made very comfortable, each having a fire-place, and some of them having mats on the floors which the women have plaited very neatly.out of New Zealand hemp. An apparatus for baking scones, brought by one of the Norwegian families from their na ive home, much attracted the visitor's attention, beiDg so much more handy and suitable for the purpose than anything which has been in use amongst us for similar purposes. The womeu and children appear contented and happy, and the men were employed in falling bush on the main line of road. They have taken the work by contract at 255. per chain, for which small .sum they undertake to falL the timber a chain in width, as well as length, and stump a portion of it level with the ground. This price is much lower than it could be done lor in any other part of the province. Of the three nationalities the preference is given to the Norj- wegians, as the men and women who hail from Norway appear to be more at home, more handy, and better suited for the position than either the Danes or the English ; but probably this may be owing to the former having been selected from the country districts, and the latter from the seaport towns. It is to be regretted for the sake of these immigrants, and also . as a bar to the success of the settlement, that the land which is to be allotted to them is distant six miles from where they are located. But there was heard none of ihat grumbling which is supposed to Le a characteristic of the English, and which would certainly prevail in an English settlement under similar circumstances. It is perhaps too soon to pronounce any positive opinion as to the success of the present experiment, but from the reliable reports of visitors I infer ihat there is every prospect of its proving successful.