INTERPROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 192, 10 August 1878, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL.

["PRKSS AGENCY.! llokittKA, Friday. The Christch'urch coach, due on Saturday night last, only reached town yesterda)'. The road is in an almost impassable condition. Avalanches of snow have fallen over portions of the road, and filled thS lower gullies. Mr Cassidy, driving from this end, got nearly. to the middle peg between Westlaud and Canterbury, when the coach aud horses got bogged in the snow. He sent the horses back, aud shouldered the mails, attempting to get through on ',foot. He managed to get five miles, wading through waist high in places, and keeping the road by means of the guidance of the telegraph poles. The snow then became too deep, aud he was obliged to return with the mails and all to the Otira Hotel for shelter. Four additional road men were obtained next day, and worked cutting the snow from Sunday till "Wednesday, when a track for horses was opened, but vehicle communication is entirely cutoff. Numbers of sheep died last .week while trying to get through, and others were so famished and footsore that they had to be lifted out of the way to allow horses to pass. Sheep and cattle on the way have had no food for six days. The mails started again this morning; the weather has improved, Dunedin, Wednesday. The Tablet says the Jesuit Fathers will arrive in Dunediu next month, and open a college if sufficient inducement offer. Produce Markets:— Wheat, malting, 4s ; barley, malting, 5s to 5s 6d ; oats, feed, 3s 10dto4s. Flour, £11 to £11 10s; oatmeal, £20; potatoes, £4 ss. Mr Bradshaw reports:— Bank of New Zealand, £24 ss; Colonial Bank, £2 18s; Natioual Bank, £4; Standard Insurance, £1 2s 5d ; Union Insurance, 15s and 15s 6d ; Mosgiol Factory, £3 10s ; Guthrie and Larnaeh's Factory, £2 17s 6d; Scottish and New Zealand Investment Compay, 18s. Five thousand of Guthrie and Larnach's shares were sold in London at £1 per share premium Auckland, Friday. The Licensed Victuallers' meeting to-day discussed the action of the brewers in raising the price of beer ahalfpenny above the tanif. The members present said'that they could not sub-divide the new impost, there being no farthings, and if they put on a halfpenny, people v/Guld call them dishonest. The brewers' action was generally condemned, but another meeting is called to discuss the whole subject. Saturday. Mr Buckland reports dairy cows, £7 10s to £10 ; dry, £4 10s to £6 ; fat cattle, 30s to 36s per 100 lbs ; fat sheep, 4d per Ib. Oajiaru, Saturday. Wheat is dull at 3s 9d to 3s lod which prices it is not expected to return. Buyers are waiting for further instructions, aud are not numerous. The farmers are waiting for a further advance which buyers at present refuse. Barley is in demand at £5 3d to 5s 6d for first-class malting samples ; flour, £11 to £11 10s ; oatmeal, £20: pollard, £5 10. Chuistciiurch, Saturday. A meeting is to be held on Monday next to consider the advisability of sending a congratulatory address to Lord Beaconfield, and another for urging on the Government the necessity of opening up railway communication between Canterbury and the West Coast as early as possible. The Kai&poi Woollen Manufactory Company are making extensive additions to their premises with a view to carrying on the manufactory on an extensive scale. The first amount collected here as duty on beer was £95 2s 6d. The Christchurch brewers announce an increase in the price of beer proportionate to the amount of the new tax.