COLONIAL EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 469, 26 December 1849, Page 3

COLONIAL EXTRACTS.

Storm in Maitland. — Yesterday (Tuesday) the weather was excessively sultry in the morning, and afterwards a great westerly wind arose, and clouds gathered. After two o'clock there was every indication of a thunderstorm, and the wind lulled, but it was not till near (our o'clock that the storm burst. A violent gust of wind, nearly amounting to a hurricane, then suddenly arose from the north-west, which in a few minutes changed to south-west, then backed round to the north-west, and once more changed to southwest, at which it continued blowing for some time. During these changes the wind blew in gusts of uncontrollable fury, unroofing several houses in the town, partially or wholly blowing down chimneys, and in one case actually nearly blowing off the upper story of a building. The last was a wing of the Boston Brewery, Bulwer-street, in which is placed the large cooler, and the walls of which are consequently almost entirely composed of weatherboards in frames, so hung that at will they can be all opened to allow a iree draught of air through ; the further end of this wing is built up to the caves with a substantial brick wall. Against this wall of weather-boards the full force of the wind came, and although, as Mr. Cadell assured us, the irames were all open at the time, the building was seen to rock once or twice, and then to suddenly heel over, the wall being left two feet out of the perpendicular; the brickwork at the end split, one part accompanying the weather-boards, while the other remained attached to the gable-end wall ; the roof also accompanied the weather-board portion, and slid evenly over the gable wail, scarcely disturbing a brick in its passage ; the eastern brickwork which was disturbed fell out into Mr. Rourke's yard. In the twostory house inhabited by Mr. R. P Forster, High-street, two chimneys fell with .a loud crash, neither of them foaunately falling inwards, although the bricks from one fell on and damaged the roof. The chimneys were also blown down in a house in Elgin-street. A window iv the Catholic Church received some injury, and a wooden window in the Free Scotch Kirk was blown in. A barn belonging to Mr. Thompson was entirely unroofed, and numbers of buildings lost shingles, weather-boards, and sheets of bark, while one or two old ricketty wooden buildings were blown down. In the gardens many trees were uprooted or branches torn off, and fruit was blown down to a great extent, while some cabbages in a garden near the Falls were uprooted and took a flying leap across the river. We hear several trees in the immediate neighbourhood have been blown down. Up to a late hour last evening we had heaid of no injury or accident to any person. In East Maitland the wind partially unroofed several buildings, and blew down several temporary erections, and also blew off ■ crots from the roof of the Catholic Church. A barn belonging to Mr. Holcorab, senior, was blown down, and another belonging to Mr. Hickey. In Morpeih we heard that the vails of a brick building commenced some' time since by Mr. Anlaby, but discontinued, tf«w blown id. Ws understand Mr. Cadall

and other .persons, think the injury to the Boifon Brewery was caused by a stroke of lightmug, and not by wind ; but we could tee no mark or appeal ance to justify (he supposition. , — Maitland Mercury.

Bubra Burra. — We congratulate the. shareholders of the Burra mines on the very successful cotnpletiou of their stsam-engioe, 80-horse power, which was set to work on Saturday last, at three p.m., as by its mean* they will be enabled further to develope the extraordinary riches of that great mineral de- , posit. Although about forty horses have lately been constantly employed on whims for raising the water, the miners were tantalized by the view of still richer ores under their feet, but which they could not get out on account of the very wet nature of the ground. This the engine will now enable them to do with certainty an 1 regularity. The engine- shaft/ • splendid piece of workmanship, is thirty-six fathoms deep, being six fathoms below the lowest, or thirty fathom level. The quantity of water now raised is about 120 gallons per minute : and as the power of, the engine is equal to more than quadruple this quantity, the water for the next 100 fathoms may be considered as completely under control.*— South Australian Gazette.

A Curiosity. — A common black glass bottle was picked up on the beach, by a waterman, on Thursday last, presenting an appearance sufficiently singular to have excited the cariosity and interest of a number of persons, who have inspected it. The bottle haa become the nucleus of a cluster of oysters, the shells of which had adhered to it, and grown round the smooch surface of the glass, the shells in each instance becoming perfectly concave from the convexity of the bottle, and form so much a part ef the hottle itself that it would be impossible by any method to detach them without fracturing the glass in pieces. The curiosity has been lodged in the Reading Room °f the Mechanics' Institute. — Geelong Advertiser.

Yorke's Peninsula. — Accounts from tbis^ part of the colony are still unsatisfactory in regard to the relationship of the two races. The blacks are carrying on their depredations with more impunity than ever, and seem to set the small body of police stationed there at defiance. Mr. Jtmes Coote's nephew was severely wounded in a late encounter at Bowden's station ; and other settlers had to run the gauntlet with showers of spears, boomerangs, waddies, &c, successively, while the whites, seemingly cowed with the late prosecutions in the Supreme Court, have merely I escaped the best way they could, thus render* ing the savages more daring and reckless than ever of the lives and property of the formet. It is doubtful whet, er Mr. Coote'a nephew will survive his wounds, but we have oo^ beard that the police have adopted any efficit ent measures ot redress. — Adelaide Times.