INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4322, 27 January 1875, Page 3

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

NORTH ISLAND. AUCKLAND. ■ A boat from the Naval Training School at Kohimarama came up to the wharf the othar morning. The five lads who were oarsmen were only recently committed to the institution, but already there are visible signs of improvement in their appearance. That they have also learned how to row aboat was evident by the style in which they came up to the wharf, one little fellow especially feathering his oar in a manner which would not have disgraced a professional.

On Monday, a meeting of the natives who had agreed to join the .Thorn en Native Volunteer Company was held at the American Theatre, Shortland. The project of starting a native • volunteer company . here was mooted some time ago, and forty-four natives put down their names as willing to join, and these were submitted to the Native Minister, and approved of by him. It was agreed on all sides that Mr. W. H. Taipari should be elected captain, but the members of the proposed company met.on Monday to elect the first and second lieutenant. Hoani Nahe acted as chairman of the meeting. Aihe Pepene, Kaika Whakarongotai, and Matia Poono were nominated, and the voting was then-proceeded with, each member making a mark opposite the name of the man whom he preferred. Aihe Pepene, a. son of Aperahama te Reiroa, was elected first lieutenant, and Kaika Whakarongotai Becond lieutenaat. At the conclusion of the election, the whole party adjourned to the Shortland Hotel, where the newly-elected officers " shouted " for the men. Here the officers returned thanks for their election, in neat and appropriate speeches. As we have stated before, this is the first native volunteer company that has been formed in the colony. The men are not to keep their anns at home, but are to lodge them in the orderly-room. J. A. Wilson, Esq., the Government Land Purchase Commissioner for this province, will arrive shortly. He intends settling with his family in Gisborne. The prospects of the Petroleum Oil Company in Poverty Bay appear to grow better from day to day. The shaft is now down eighty feet, in a thickish blue clay, with a good flow of oil and gas. 'lt is reported that Messrs. Hohner Bros, are about to procure from England a new iron steamer suitable for the Thames trade—one capable of performing the journey in about three and a half hours. '

There is an instance at Poverty Bay of the longevity of horses in New Zealand, where triere is a mare thirty-five years of age. This fine old mare has a foal at foot at the preseut time, and shows few signs of breaking up; She was originally imported from Sydney by Captain Reed, of Gi3borne, who traded her away to the natives of Poverty Bay. After many years the mare again became the property of the Captain, who regards her with no little interest.

A very flattering testimonial was presented to Lieutenant-Colonel Lyon on Wednesday last, at the Hamilton Hotel, previous to Iris departure from the Waikato, by the principal settlers there. On Thursday afternoon, at the Constabulary, Barracks, Hamilton, the-same gentleman was presented by the SergeantMajor, on behalf of the men, with a very handsome watch, chain, and locket. The following inscription was engraved on the case of the watch :—" Presented by the non-commissioned officers and constables of the Armed Constabulary in tho Waikato district to LieutenantColonel Lyon, on his departure from the command."

Incendiaries are growing bold, says the Southern Gross, and that ia not surprising considering how time after time our Criminal Court proceedings fail in arson cases to bring home guilt, and vindicate the law by punishing the criminal. Last night the fire-bell was rung again, and again was the discovery made that some loose material in the yard of Messrs. Porter and Co., off O'Connell-street, had been set on fire. This was the same place but in a different corner of the yard where a fire was discovered : about the same hour on Saturday night. Occurring, as these two circumstances havo done, in the same place, and within eight and forty hours of each other, there is no escape from the conclusion that some wicked incendiary has been at work on both occasions.

A man has been apprehended, says the Southern Cross, for a heartless robbery of £l4. He has lately been boarding, with his wife, at his mother-in-law's house, in the neighbourhood of Princes-street. Whilst staying there, he learnt that a little store of hard-earned money was deposited in a certain drawer. This ho extracted, and deserting his wife, shipped as a seaman on board the brig Derwent, which sailed for Newcastle. As soon as the loss of the money was discovered, a warrant for his apprehension was granted and placed in the hands of Detective Jeffcry, who, " from information received," followed the Derwent in the police-boat. He found her becalmed in Eangitoto Channel, proceeded on board, arrested his man, recovered £lB of the stolen money, and brought his prisoner back to Auckland.

HAWKE'S BAY. On Wednesday week a middle-aged man, name unknown, walked on board the brigantine Helen, lying at the outer wharf at Napier. He took off his hat and coat very deliberately, and then saying "here goes," jumped into the hold. He fell to the bottom, a distance of some twenty feet, and sustained considerable injury on the back of his head, and other parts of his body. An attempt to commit suicide by drowning was . made on Sunday afternoon week by a woman named Mrs. Searles, one of those unfortunates " known to the police," of whom there are, happily, not many in this community. The woman, who, it is said, has been drinking lately, jumped into the water not far from the railway station, where it is not very deep, but sufficiently so for a person with determination to drown without much difficulty. A resident of one of the cottages in the neighborhood seeing the occurrence, went to the rescue/and pulled her out. She was subsequently handed over to the police. At midnight on Thursday week a destructive fire occurred at Meanee, by which three buildings were burned down. The property destroyed consisted of Mr. Neagle's store, a two-storey building, valued at .-£-150, containing stock valued at £I4OO. This was insured for £IOOO in the Victoria, which office re-in-sured half its risk in the Standard. A blacksmith's shop, worth about £2OO and uninsured, was totally destroyed—there was no insurance, and nothing, saved. The dwellinghouse of Mrs. Clarke, adjoining, and valued at £75, was also burnt to the ground, but the furniture was saved.' In this case there was also no insurance. The fire is said to have originated amongst the goods in the upper store of Neagle's premises, but how it was caused is at present unknown. Another good old chief has departed this life. We allude to Iharaira Te Houkainu, o£ the Ngatiporou tribe, East Cape. At the time of his death, which took place somewhat suddenly at Te Kawakawa, on the 13th instant, the deceased was quite a venerable old man. He had, for many years, been justly held in the highest repute among his people for his goodness and kindness of heart. During the frequent inter-tribal quarrels which occurred on the East Coast, some forty or fifty years ago, although he was then a young man, many a time his voice swayed the councils of war. From the advent, of the Pakeha, he became a staunch adherent of the Government, on whose behalf his influence over his tribe was always directed. He was ever foremost amongst the chiefs in staying thoughts of secession to the ranks of the rebels. And there are few Europeans, who have partaken of his hospitality, but will remember with regret the death of Houkamu, the Ngatiporou chief. A very serious accident occurred on Thursday to one of the recent arrivals by the Bhip Clarence, who was employed on the railway works at Paki-Paki. He was engaged quarrying, and while in the act of stooping, an earthslip took ..place which completely buried him. His fellow laborers immediately set to work to extricate him, and succeededed in doing so before he was smothered, but the unfortunate man, who is from the Shetland Islands, was found to have sustained severe injuries, the chief of which are dislocation of the hip and fracture of the thigh bone, just above the knee.

An extravagant price is not asked for votes in the borough of Napier, if this may be taken as a sample of the free and independent : Five electors offered to plump on Friday for one candidate for the small bribe of a drink apiece. The weather wa3 hot and dry, but even the heat of the atmosphere, says a local journal, scarcely accounts for the demoralisation of these voters.

The sheep imported by Mr. Melville Smith, which arrived by the Jung Frau the other day, were shorn recently at the stores of Messrs. Routledge, Kennedy, and Co. The rams averaged 171bs. per fleece, and the ewes 91bs. The ewes evidently had only about five months' growth of wool on them. The sheep were not in high condition, and the wool was devoid of yoke.

MIDDLE ISLAND. OTAGO._ A discovery, which promises to be one of very great importance, has just been made on the lands of the Kaitangata Coal Company, at a Bpot known as Capstick's Creek.. In sinking for the purpose of testing the strata for the proposed branch line to Kaitangata a seam of coal was struck, : which has since been ascertained to be not less than twenty-one feet thick. ' -■ CANTERBURY. A little girl, three years of age, a daughter of Mr. Myers at : -Waikiwi, met with a premature death by drowning in a waterhole in her father's brickfield on Sunday afternoon. She had been playing with a sister two years older than herself, and in the course of their amusement the two little ones parted company. The eldest went home alone, and on search being made, for the youngest, she was found quite dead in a waterhole, into which she had probably fallen while enjoying her innocent play. Dr. Ernest Low has died at Akaroa, the victim of excessive drinking. NELSON. ■On the 15th instant a little boy, the son of Mr. F. H. Pickering, was attacked in the streets of Nelson by a cow 'and severely hurt. The animal charged him and wounded him in the neck with her horn, which penetrated to some distance, and it was almost a miracle that the little fellow was not killed. • MARLBOROUGH. ' home time ago the Government promised that the Bui Pass should be explored, with a view of ascertaining the practicability of carrying a bridle track and the telegraph line by a shorter and inland route between Flaxbourne and Kaikoura. The desirability of the latter object being to avoid the effect of the damp salt .air. on the wires. In accordance with this arrangement, says the Express of the 13th inst., Mr.. Lemon recently despatched one of the most efficient officers of the department, Mr. S. Macallister, to explore the country. The result we beliove will lie that between Flaxbourne and Hapuka the line will be removed inland at one or two points. We ; believe ho found that a good lino was practicable between Flaxbourne and the Clarence by crossing the Kekerangu and Woodbank runs for ft distance of twenty miles, crossing the Clarence near tho proposed site for a new bridge, about two miles up that river; beyond it there is three miles of bush on the Limestone Creek, between Kairuru and | the main range, thence clown a leading spur to the sea. coast, and coming out at a point about five miles south of the Clarence, and north of Look-on Point. By this route a good road will be obtained, which will also save a considerable distance. So far as the Bui is con-' cerned we understand that the .cost would render it quite impracticable, as it would require about sixteen miles of bußh and sidings to be cut, and would not shorten the distance appreciably. After two clays spent in that locality Mr. Macallister was obliged to abandon the exploration.