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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4129, 15 June 1874, Page 2

The Luna arrived at the wharf at 8 o’clock last night from the Manukau. She brought Lady Fergusson, Captain and Mrs. Fergusson, and the Rev. Mr. Hare, and their suite, numbering thirty-two. His Excellency himself is on board his yacht, which the Luna towed out of Manukau harbor, and is bound for Nelson, where he will make a short stay. His Excellency is accompanied by his second aide-de-camp.

The following tenders were received for the Grey Gorge Bridge of the Brunner Railway ;—Accepted —E. B. Garven, Greymoutlr, £1595. Those declined w’ere —T. W. Huugerford, Greymoutlr, £1024 ; Nottle and McMillan, Greymoutlr, £1950 ; William Smith, Hokitika, £5209 ; Keith Bros., Greymoutlr, £5521 ; John McLean, Greymouth, £7IOO ; G. H. Cheverton, Greymoutlr, £BIOO ; Dent and Dartuell, Greymouth, £10,981 ; and E. Lockington, Greymouth, £6091.

The following is an approximate list of the immigrants expected to arrive by the Waikato, now due :—Married couples without children : 8 laborers, 8 farm laborers, 1 brickmaker, I shoemaker, 2 carmen, 1 bricklayer, and 2 engine drivers. Married couples with children : 5 laborers, 2 bricklayers, 17 farm laborers, 2 carters, 3 painters, 2 blacksmiths, 1 plasterer, 5 carpenters, and 1 tanner. Single men :26 laborers, 1 carpenter, 3 lads, 1 coachman, 1 baker, 2 blacksmiths, 2 bootmakers, and 27 farm laborers. Single women : 29 general servants, 4 housemaids, 1 nurse, 1 dressmaker, and 5 young girls.

The late gales have done some damage to the road at the junction of Mulgrave street and Thorndon Quay. The tide has forced its way inside the w'oodcn breastwork, and washed away a considerable portion of the roadway, leaving large boles, which are dangerous, especially at night. As it was, the road was not too broad for the traffic, and now it is much too narrow.

The Wanganui Herald reports the death of Mr. Peacock, at Manawatu —a young man who had settled on a small farm, and who had received a £IOOO instalment of a legacy of £12,000. He was found dead in a field after having been missed for some time. Hame Te Hira, one of the Auckland convicts sent down to the Dunedin gaol for safe keeping, in company with Haley and Plimmer, was a passenger by the Phoebe from the South, on route for Auckland. Te Hira was convicted of murder in Auckland a few years ago, and was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to imprisonment for life. It is rumored that he is to be released upon his arrival in Auckland.

A man named Evans, a carter, met with an accident on Saturday evening by which the small bone of his right leg was broken. Evans was going home with his dray, which was standing on Lambton quay, and in jumping on to the shaft he fell to the ground and the wheel passed over his leg. He was promptly conveyed to the Hospital, where the injured limb was attended to, and he is now in no worse condition than lamenting the loss of time which the accident will cause.

The adjourned meeting of the vestries of St. Paul’s and St. Peter’s, for the purpose of discussing the proposal of another Anglican Church in the City, will be held this evening at eight o’clock, at the offices of Messrs, Bethune and Hunter.

Trade at Foxton is increasing considerably. Early in the past week there were four sailing vessels loading there - the Lyttelton, the Mary Helen, the Hunter, and the Rose of Eden. The Government wharf is only forty feet in length, and the consequence is that great interruption and delay occur. The Napier, for example, was detained not less than five days on her last trip, from being unable to get alongside the wharf, although she could have discharged her cargo and re-loaded again in a few hours. The attention of the Provincial Government might well be given to this subject. A considerable increase of the wharf accommodation is now necessary to meet the growing trade of the port. A lost child, about two years and a-half old, formed the principal care of the City police force yesterday. The constable on the Willis Street beat watched the diminutive and friendless urchin for about two hours, while it gambolled about the footpath in the neighborhood of Captain Pearce’s drill-shed, and no anxious father or distracted mother putting in an appearance, the constable and the foundling retired to the watchhouae to discuss the sumptuous fare of the force. The youngster, oblivious of the affections and home ties of the family group in which her absence had created a blank, attacked the roast con a more, and chimed in with the merriment of the stalwart guardians of the peace. “The Luck of the Roaring Camp” would about depict correctly this special instance of the affinity between burly manhood and funny babyhood, but the ■way iu which the highway waif punished the “ duff ” was the most amusing feature iu the event of the day. Seriously speaking, parents should take greater care of their children. In many ways a child of such tender years might lose its life, and, between the culpable feeling and the regrets, the parents would experience many a sorrowful pang. The truant in this case was taken every care of, and during the evening was “ called for ” by a brother and sister little older than herself. The total number of immigrants by the s.s. Atrato, which reached Port Chalmers a few days ago, was 7G2, of whom only 159 wore for Otago, the others being for Canterbury. Of the immigrants, not fewer than 2SO wore children, and of these again not less than 180 had been more or less afflicted with measles during the voyage. The Natives iu the neighborhood of Walngougoro, says the Wanganui Herald, arc going iu for four-horse coaches, three or four of which arc now owned and driven by aboriginal •Tchus, who exhibit considerable skill iu the handling of their teams. Wo learn that a meeting of the Education Board will be held at eleven o'clock this forenoon,

The ordinary fortnightly meeting of the City Council, adjourned from Friday evening, null be held this afternoon, at the Provincial Buildings, at four o’clock. The London Sjicctator publishes an ode of Welcome to the Duchess of Edinburgh, from the pen of Mr, Alfred Domett. We have not seen the poem, but the Otayo Guardian describes it as decidedly superior to the “ Welcome" by the Poet Laureate. Hew premises for the Bank of Hew Zealand have been opened at Marton. Describing them, the Wanganui Herald says : —“The building has been constructed by Mr. Wm. Aiken, and is a most handsome and conveniently arranged structure. The design is not a local production, hut was slightly altered from another. The manager’s residence is connected with the Bank premises, and the whole forms a very superior building, which will alike prove an ornament to the township, and a credit to the contractor. CANTERBURY. The rain caused small freshes in all the northern rivers on Thursday. At noon it was telegraphed that the Waiau was rapidly rising. The Ilurunui and Waipara ■were flooded, and the Ashley was so much swollen that the coach from Leithfield, reaching Kaiapoi at 2.20 p.m., returned immediately, instead of waiting till 5 p.m., lest at the latter hour the river would be too high to cross. The Waimakariri was not much affected, being only discolored. An inquest was held at Messeut’s Hotel, ou Thursday, before C. Dudley, Esq., coroner for the district, touching the death of Thomas Swan, who committed suicide at the Ashley Gorge flax-works, on Wednesday morning. According to the report in the Globe, evidence was given by a witness named Freshwater, who identified deceased, that deceased had lived in a hut with seven or eight other men. They got up at seven o'clock, leaving him in bed. Heard one of the men asldng him how he was. Deceased replied he w r as better, and would do very well. The reason he asked him was because deceased said the night before the devil was after him. He was shaky in his limbs and wild-looking. He gave him a glass of rum and water before he went to sleep on the previous night. He went to him at ten o’clock to give him some breakfast. He called to him, but getting no answer, he looked and found the deceased’s hands covered with blood. There was also blood about the bed, and he saw deceased had cut his throat, and was quite dead. A razor was lying open and covered with blood near his right hand on the bed. He had known deceased several years. He occasionally went off drinking, and suffered from delirium tremens. He had been absent from the mill for the last eight or nine days in Christchurch, and had returned in a bad state. Deceased had not quarrelled with any of the men. Mounted-sergeant Mullin stated that on receipt of information that a man had cut his throat, he went to the Ashley Gorge flax-mills, w’here he saw r the deceased's body in the bunk lying on its left side. The hands and bedclothes w T ere covered with blood, and an open razor as described by last witness was lying by his side. The wound on the throat was a deep gash on the left side of the neck, extending from the ear to the wdndpipe, and evidently such a wound as could be inflicted by the man using his right hand. The jury returned a verdict that deceased committed suicide while laboring under a fit of temporary insanity brought on by drinking. OTAGO. The Times is informed that a valuable discovery of copper ore has been made in the Roxburgh district. The newspaper intended to be published at Balclutha is to be named the Otayo Leader. It is to appear ou the Ist of July. The Inspector of Nuisances in Dunedin has, in future, except in special cases, to give 24 hours’ notice before summoning. The grievance of being summoned without warning in nuisance cases is thus done away with. Four new railway goods trucks, recently constructed by Messrs. R. S. Sparrow and Co., are now used on the Dunedin and Port Chalmers line. The Times states that they have been pronounced to be most creditable specimens of Colonial manufacture—equal in every respect, and superior in some, to the imported article. Excepting the wheels and axles, and one or two other pieces of the ironwork, the whole of the material used about them was provided by Messrs. Sparrow and Co. After many vexatious delays and annoyances, the passengers of the Surat have made a final effort to test tiro validity of the unauthorised sale of their luggage. Again an adverse verdict has been given, and notice of appeal followed, but to what purpose (remarks the Times) remains to be seen. The cost of litigation alone will soon swallow up the small relief afforded to the unfortunate immigrants by this ill-fated vessel. John Dods, who was tried some time ago, at Oamaru, for making a false declaration with regard to the value of a building which had been destroyed, and when the jury disagreed, has again been tried and found guilty.