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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 36, 10 February 1873, Page 4

A Queensland telegram states that flour at Ravenswood is £90 a ton, £110 at Charters Towers, and £150 at the SevenMile diggings. An Auckland paper says : — The peach season has now fairly commenced, and the wharf ia now daily thronged by the .'noble savage/ earning an honest penny, with which to buy rum, flour, and tobacco. How the peaches manage to retain thefr

flavor after being" laid upoD, sat upon, and slept upon, is more than we can sayl ;•' j A Nice Character. — A young man, •known at the Thame** some time back as William Bray, and who was for a brief period cleric in the Batik of New Zealand, has turned up in another part of a distant colony. This Bray, alias Miller, having swindled everyone who would permit himBelf to be swindled at the Thames and in Auckland, levanted and went away to Tasmania. A warrant was forwarded to Hobarton for the young man's arrest, but he escaped through an informality. A long account of the impostor's doings appears in the Northern Argus. He appears to have represented himself as a Congregational Minister, afterwards as having had several thousands of pounds left him. Upon the strength of his clerical appearance and the rich legacy, this youug man obtained credit for a large amount for jewellery, bijouterie, costly books, and the like. Towards the close of his career be had taken to giving cheques which were not honored on presentation. Then he was taken up and confessed to his many rascalities. The end of Bray is not yet known, as when brought up at the Police Court he was remanded for tbo purpose of allowing time to the prosecution. — Herald. The Westland County Council, a few days since, resolved to accept the proposal of the Superintendent of Nelson, that half the cost of the work should be secured upon tbe mine on the Nelson side of the G-rey, and the other half upon the. reserve on the south side, "ou condition that a sinking fund be established on account of construction of railway, and a first charge of not less than 2s. per ton be levied on all coals raised from either mine, to be devoted to said sinking fund." The following reply has been received from the Colonial Secretary's office; — " Unless the couditions attached to the resolutions re Brunnerton Railway are withdrawn, I am afraid they will constitute a serious obstacle to the work being proceeded with. The County Council will, therefore, have to reconsider and amend its resolution, otherwise there is very little hope of the line being proceeded with until next session of the Assembly. — Westport Times.

A Gentleman, who bas lately been ou a visit to the Waikato, among other things writes :— " The whole country is looking splendid, and the crops are on the whole, as fine as anything ever seen here before. The Waikato land is like most of the land in the North Island — yery patchy. For thousands of acres you will ride across land tbat would grow almost anything while the next patch for a few miles will be bare and sterile. But there are immense tracts of land covered with nothing but fern, which, by the expenditure of a little money, could be turned to good account. Then there are swamps which only require draining to form splendid pasture land. Iu the vicinity of Te Awamutu tbe land is magnificent, while tbe climate is simply delicious. Tfae views to be [obtained from some of the mountains are lovely. Perhaps the most striking theme of interest in the whole of my Waikato experiences was the cemetery near Rangiriri, in which are taking tbeir last sleep so many gallant Englishmen who lost their lives fighting in the memorable battle of Rangiriri, wbich proved so disastrous to the British arms. The cemetery is now kept in excellent order. I parted from it with a very sad heart.