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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 140, 5 June 1876, Page 2

Australian moneyed men are looking after land in the Patea district. The Wanganui Herald states that the Q-overnment have called upon all those officers against whom charges have been made of strong partisan conduct during the late elections, for explanations, Amongst those called upon " to explain " is Major Willis, th 6 Resident Magistrate of Rangitikei. At Timaru one day last week a surf boat containing 140 sacks of oats touched the beach and filled. An attempt was made to drag her ashore by steam power, but the tackle broke, scattering the bystanders and breaking a man's leg. Two butcher men whilst trying to reach a meat truck on the Point Railway at Timaru the other day let two other trucks loose on an , incline on the main line. The train from Timaru met them going at great speed. The enginedriver stopped and reversed the train£ narrowly escaping a fearful collision. - The men are to be prosecuted. The New Zealand Times says:— Upon Messrs G-isborne, Knowles, and Seed presenting themselves to the Superintendent they were informed that every facility for obtaining information would be afforded them Mr Pitzherbert said he had been opposed ! to the abolition of provincialism; but now that the people had declared so thoroughly in favor of the change, the only thing to be done was to assist in inaugurating the new. condition of ; affairs. ' The Thames Advertiser of the 2nd inst quotes bur article on the Richmond Hill silver mine, and gives the following information regarding what is being done by Mr Masters, : who took .with 2J tons of the ore for the purpose of submitting it to a fair test: — "Mr Masters is now erecting blast furnaces, in which the ore will be reduced by smelting, for which it is exceedingly suitable. It is believed that the copper in the ore, amounting to about 18/ per cent, will pay nearly all the expenses of working, leaving the . silver as profit.' Silver is at present worth about 4s 4£d' ; per ounce, so that it would seem that each ton crushed will yield a profit of £60. It will be Mr Masters' endeavor, in treating the ore, to produce a commercial article having about lOOOOzs of silver in the ton and worth about £250 a ton. This article will be in pieces ot about lcwt each, which will not re^ quire bagging, and each block can be strictly assayed. The furnace will be completed in about six days, and a most practical test can then be made, and a method of working established."

A meeting was^ htely held in Lono!pir for: the purpose of discussing the subject lof opening up the interior of Africa Ho commerce. A paper was reafi by ; Mr Donald Mackenize who pro\p<)S.ba to open commercial highway from a point opposite the Canary Islands to the north bend of the Niger at Timbuctoo a distance of 800 miles, by removing a belt of sand and admitting the waters of the Atlantic to a vast depression in the Great Desert, having an area of 120,000 square miles. Timbuctoo would thus become a sea-port about 2000 miles from England, and North Central Africa would be brought within available range of European harbors.

(For [continuation of Newt see fourth page.}