TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4385, 9 April 1875, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

[Per Press Agency.] Auckland, Thursday. Messrs. Frazer and Tynne have the contract for repairing the Pretty Jane. The amount is £1250. Also a further contract for improving the cabin, £4OO. The telegraph from Russel to Hokianga is complete, and will be opened next Wednesday. The son of Mr. James Stewart, Government Engineer, has been missing since yesterday morning. It is supposed he is drowned. Giuhamstown, Thursday. The Queen of Beauty Company has declared a dividend of £l4l per share for the fortnight. They have resumed crushing at their own battery, although there is a scarcity of water, which prevents the employment of the usual battery power. Price Bros., of Grahamstown, are the successful tenderers for fifty sets of points and crossings. The Ohinemuri prospectors have cut No. 2 reef in their claim, which shows a good body of stone, and some gold. Mr. Masters gives as the result of an assay of a portion of stone from the Bunyan claim, in which no gold was visible, a bullion value of nearly twenty pounds : namely, four-and-a-half ounces of gold, and five ounces of silver. , The water-supply is giving signs of failing. Boilers and batteries are cui off. The present supply in the reservoir will only last the town a few days. Alexandra, Thursday. Tawhiao has not yet made his .appearance at Kuiti from Kawhia. It is reported he leaves to-day, and will be at Pekanui to-night and Kaipahi to-morrow. At Kuiti there was the largest meeting yet held there waiting him, passing their time in horse-racing, footracing, dancing, feasting, &c. WanGandi, Thursday. Thomas Aiislow was yesterday brought up on a charge of arson. Witnesses for the defence were called, and the prisoner was discharged on the ground of insufficient evidence. Au inquiry into the origin of the fire will now probably take place. The sudden arrest of Anslow has precluded the principal witness from giving evidence. Greymocth, Thursday. In an article upon the alleged complaints of the Dunedin shareholders in the Greymouth Coal Company, Grey River, the Argus defends the management, and points out that delay is the only thing that prevents the mine being profitably worked, and refers to the fact that the local directors are the heaviest holders of stock in the company as being a guarantee of careful administration. The mine and machine are in first-class order, and ready to produce 500 tons per day as soon as the railway is opened. Westport, Thursday. At the races, the Trial Stakes were won by Magenta, with Sandy 2, Lilly 3 ; the Buller Handicap by Tommy Dodd, with Yatterina. 2, and Magenta 3. Six started, and there was a good race—won by two lengths. 500 people were present. Christchurch, Thursday. In the Provincial Council last night, the Secretary of Public Works made a kmg statement respecting the working of the railways, which was deemed highly satisfactory. The Lyttdton Times this morning says, that ■while the apology in yesterday's Press re railways was very complete, a little more care would have saved the bitter mortification of having cause to publish it, and it urges on the Government to make a thorough investigation as to who supplied the information to the Press. The Times says it was supplied in a most unwarrantable manner by some official, and the public interest demands a thorough investigation. Mr. Montgomery, Preside Dt of the Executive, obtained leave of the Provincial Council last night to introduce a Bill for making over certain license-fees anddog-taxto the municipal and Road Board districts, within whose boundary they are collected. A large meeting of influential citizens was held last night to support the action of the City Council in applying to the Provincial Council for a grant-in-aid and the license fees; the meeting was very unanimous, the necessity for numerous works and drainage being atrongly argued. Professor Bickerton, speaking of the sanitary condition of the city, said the far-famed 900 stinks in Cologne were nothing compared to the number to be found in Christehurch. Last night the Jockey Club considered the action of the Dunedin Jockey Club with reference to McKay's riding of Medora at the late Dunedin races, and resolved, '■" That McKay be warned off the Christehurch course, that no horses ridden by him, his property, nominated or trained by him, or in any way under his care, charge, management, or superintendence, be allowed to run for any race at any meeting where the rules of racing as established by the Christehurch Jockey Club are in force." James Jefford, for embezzlement, bas been sentenced to three months' imprisonment; James Walker, for bigamy, to three years; William Mcßride, for assault with intent, to two years. The charge against Patrick Carey, for conspiracy to cheat and defraud, was dismissed ; George Skerry, for larceny, was sentenced to twelve months. The Lyttelton murder case comes on tomorrow. DuNEDiy, Thursday. At the District Court yesterday, his Honor Judge Bathgate delivered judgment for the plaintiff, with costs, in the case Groves Bros, v. Somerville, a suit to recover £l3l 165., price of a landau carriage. Notice of appeal was given by Mr. Chapman. The Guardian this morning has an amusing article, chastising the Times for supporting, years ago, " Master Humphrey," alias Fellowes, by publishing hiß letters on immigration.- It winds up by stating that "in a future issue we shall hold up to public contempt others of our contemporaries whose ignorance of politics, prejudices, or unpardonable carelessness, ha 3 prompted or permitted them to degrade their columns into mere vehicles of causeless slander of the country and the community which suffers them to exist." A man and woman had a narrow escape from instant death on the Port Chalmers line to-day. They were sitting on the line drinking a bottle of rum when the 2.30 train from Dunedin approached. Before the train could be stopped, the foot board of a first-class carnage caught the man on the shoulder and threw him on the right side of the rails. When the train was pulled up, both wereputina carriage and given in charge of police at the Port. Port Chalmers, Thursday. The Hon. Major Atkinson, accompanied by Colin Allan, Immigration Officer for this province, has paid a visit of inspection to the

Quarantine Islands, and has expressed great satisfaction at the accommodation there, and the fitness of the islands for a quarantine station. Intelligence has been received by the Harbor-master that two Oregon pine beams, 15ft long, a boat's chock, and some cabin sofa cushions, have been picked up on the beach in Allday Bay. Isvercakgill, Thursday. A melancholy case of sudden death occurred this evening. Mr. H. G. Ross, a well-known merchant here, had been spending the day at The Bluff, and when the train started thence at four o'clock, he appeared to be in his usual health and spirits. He seemed to drop off to sleep twenty minutes before the train reached town, and little notice was taken of him by those in the same compartment. On the arrival o£ the train it was found he was dead. The cause is supposed to have been an apopletic fit. The day has been observed by the Presbyterians as a fast day. News has been received from Orepaki of the drowning of seven men who went out in a boat to search for the body of Memphis, one of a party of three drowned at the same place a fortnight since.