The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 19, 22 January 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1878.

Thb Zealandia, with the San Francisco ' mail, arrived at Auckland this afternoon, but too late for her telegrams to reach ua in time for to-day's issue. A telegram from Melbourne, received just before we went to press, shows that the complications in Victoria are gradually increasing. Mr Berry evidently is determined to bring matters to an issue. Mr. Thomas Harley and Mr Israel Pickard were nominated to-day as candidates for the vacancy in the City Council. The polling will take place on Tuesday, the sth of February. The rateable property of the City of Nelson is valued this year at £53,226, against £52,321 in 1877. Last year the Governme it schools were included in the valuation, the amount being £161, but these having been made exempt from rates by the Education Act they are not now included in the valuer's returns. Thb annual treat to the children attending the Christ Church and All Saints' Sunday schools is to take place (weather permitting) to-morrow, where they will be conveyed by train to the island at Allington, where they will picnic. Should the weather prove wet, or even doubtful, the picnic will be postponed until Saturday. We direct attention to the sale by auction to-morrow at Mr Gibbs' residence, Nile-street East, by Mr Mabin. There has long been a desire to open up communication between Nelson and Westport by a good coach road, and with this object in view the Road Boards on this side have been pushing on the works in their districts, and the road through the Hope Valley is now, we understand, in capital condition; indeed, so far as we can learn, the journey from here to Hampden is now attended with but little difficulty, and from there to Reefton the road is likely to be made very soon. Between Reefton and Westport, however, an unexpected obstacle in the way of completing the chain of communication has arisen. At the junction of the Counties of Buller and Inangahua there is a small piece of country which is repudiated by both. Were the land in question valuable and of good quality the probability is that there would have been no dispute about it, or, at all events, if it had occurred it would have taken a different shape, and each County would have iusisted upon claiming it instead of endeavoring to prove that it belonged to the other. But, as it is, this little patch of no man's land is, like a good deal more of the land in the Provincial district, utterly worthless, and moreover the road that rung, or should run, throngh it is extremely difficult to keep in repair, and consequently, as we learn from a Reefton paper, "the Inangahua County Council alleges that the area is within the Buller County, and the Council of the latter argues that the boot is on the other foot, and in the midst of this contention the disputed portion of road has lain neglected." A surveyor has been despatched to clearly define the divisional line between the two Counties, and it is to be hoped that his decision will be acted upon, and that this break in the road between the two principal towns of the Nelson district will no longer be suffered to exist.