INTERPROVINCIAL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 36, 11 February 1880, Page 2

INTERPROVINCIAL.

[Press Association, j Christchukch, Tuesday. Mr Conyers, with his secretary and other oflice rs of the department, leave here finally for Dunedin on Thursday next.

The Government have accepted the tender of Mr W. D. Reese for erecting a male ward at Sunnyside Asylnm in continuation of the contract already on hand. The total cost of the two contracts now held by Mr Reese amounts to £29,000. A man named John Arthur Evans was drowned on Sunday at the Waimakariri Gorge. He went in to swim with his mate, and the latter came out to dry himself, leaving the other wr shing himself. Suddenly Evans was missed, and search was made in vain for upwards of an hour. On the same morning a yotihg man named William Acliffe, a blacksmith, was drowned at Waikari. The deceased, who was a good swimmer, jumped into a hole twelve feet deep, and on rising made an attempt to swim back again, and was drowned. It is believed that he had a sudden attack of cramp. The Volunteers and Engineers have presented Sergeant-Major Manning with a handsome tea and coffee service as an ac^ knowledgment of the interest taken by him in promoting discipline in the corps for the last six years. Pastor Cbiniquy lectured at Prebbleton lasfc night to an audieuce of over 600. The subject was "Home Education," and in the course of the lecture he strongly deprecated the present system of education in our State schools. At the first annual meeting ofthe Temperance Hotel Company yesterday, a resolution was carried requesting the Directors to continue the calls according to the prc.pectus, so as to proceed with the erection of the hotel as quickly as possible. Iq the Marlborough district a preparation called Little's chemical fluid has recently been tried on 300 scabby sheep, with excellent results. The matter is creating considerable interest in the district. Wednesday. James Stevens, a storekeeper at Alford Forest, who was committed for trial a few days ago for the larceny of a number of shirts, pleaded guilty yesterday at the Ashburton Court to having an illicit still on his premises, and was fined .£SO. ' .Tbe Native Commission sat yesterday in the late Provincial Hall, when the examination of the Rev J. W. Stack was resumed as to the Maori understanding of the reserves or promises of reserves. -, At its rising the Commission adjourned to Dunedin, where it will sit on Monday next. Mr Izard is at present at Dunedin working up the case for the Maoris. The Union Steamship Company have presented a cup of the value of thirty guineas to be shot for at the Nelson prize meeting. On J. S. White's farm at Ohaka, near Kaiapoi, the crop from 60 acres bf barley has just been threshed, and yielded 4,222 bushels, equal to 70 bushels per acre. On some of fche farms the crop of wheat will yield sixty bushels per acre. On a Maori run near Woodend, in the same district, Mr C. Watson has a paddock of beans estimated to yield 95 bushels per acre. In Waverley, in the same district, Mr Whiteford, R M., gathered in his garden strawberries and white currants, six of the former weighing one ounce each, and the currants being -of the size of small cherries. On Kaiapoi Island, the average length of the straw is six feet six, and some of the crops will yield 80 bushels to the acre. A conference of newspaper proprietors interested in tne Press Association, opened here this morning at 10 o'clock. Dunedin, Wednesday. The Corporation received forty applications for the appointment of a youth for the gas department at a salary of £50 a year. Lewis Drew, master of the schooner Awaru, has been committed for trial for killing seals out of seasou at Auckland. Hamilton, Tuesday. The Waikato Times announces that the Governor haa purchased at a satisfactory figure which it is nofc at liberty to quote, the thoroughbred colt Tomato, dam Lyra, by Thunderbolt (English). The Times Alexandra correspondent says that Rewi and Tawhiao met on Sunday at Kopua. Oamaru, Wednesday. Sergeant Ross, of the Otepopo Rifles, and Volunteers Harding, Morris, Bandsman, and King, of the Oamaru Rifles have entered for the Association meeting at Nelson, and probably one or two others may go. Wellington, Wednesday. Sydney Smith, better known as "old Smith ," au old resident, died lasfc night at the age of eighty. It is stated that His Excellency purchased half his interest from the drawer of Foul Play in North's £2000 sweep on the Wellington Cup. Hawera, Wednesday. Sir Dillon Bell and Sir William Fox, who are both in Hawera, have engaged Mr Fur-, long's house for tbree months as a residence Mr Bryce visited the Knipipi camp yesterday evening, and went as far as Kaupokonui to inspect the site for the new camp, which had been selected by Colonel Roberts in the early part of the day. A move forward to Kaupokonui is expected to-morrow. The works are being vigorously pushed forward, and pay day passed at the camp without a Bingle drunk. The weather continues exceedingly hot, and the dust is something fearful. Palmerston North, Wednesday. The total proceeds, clear of all expenses, of the concert in aid of the Irish relief fund were .£47, and a cheque for that amount was sent to the proprietors of the Wellington Post. New Plymouth, Wednesday. The Taiaroa arrived here at 6 o'clock this morning, and left afc 8 a.m. with the San Francisco mail. The captain could not pick up the land owing tothe mist. Passengers : Miss Beamisb, Mrs O. Meard and child, Messrs Haselden, Young, Fox," Paulding, Claughton, and Lee. Westport, Wednesday. Stewart,** who assaulted McLean, gave himself up to the police this morning, and was remanded till Friday, when McLoan will be able to appear. Thirty-five pounds were collected at the Catholic church on Sunday for the relief of the Irish.