INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4411, 10 May 1875, Page 6

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

NORTH ISLAND. WELLINGTON. The first issue of; the Patea Mad, a doublecrown bi-weekly paper, was published on April 14th by Joseph Ivess, late proprietor of the Oreymouth Star. We have been favored by Mr. J. Ivellehor, says the Wairarapa News, with a sketch of the Manawatu Gorge bridge. As the structure is now almost completed, a description of it may not be uninteresting: to our readers. The bridge is about 400 ft. long, and consists of six small spans of 40ft. centres, and a main span of 162 ft. It stands upon six piers 40ft. high, built of stone and cement, and having the bedrock for foundation. The platform immediately above the piers is composed of boiler-iron. Over this is a series of wooden trestles 20ft. high, upon which the roadway rests, and the whole is surmounted by a protective wooden railing 15ft. high. A wooden archway supports the roadway over the main span, so that if the iron platform were carried away, the roadway immediately above it would not be disturbed. The whole of the wood-work is of totara, well seasoned for the purpose.' The result of the election for Bangitikei is as follows :—For Mr. Ballance, 112 ; for Mr. Watt, 105 ; for Mr. Hutchison, 27. Mr. Ballance, therefore, is elected to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of the Hon. Mr. Fox.

e David Stuart Lyell, late Marton agent ol ® the Bank of New Zealand, pleaded guilty tc j seven chafes of embezzlement, and was sentenced to six years’ penal servitude. Masterton, says the Wairarapa Standard , • has been thronged with natives this week, the - attraction there being the presence of Mr, Y oung, the native interpreter, who is arranging with them for a reserve of 1000 acres for theii 6 benefit in the Forty-mile Bush. ? The Otaki correspondent of the Wanyanm Chronicle remarks :—“ The inland telegrapl: road from Otaki to Waikanae and Paikakari is I now complete, and the removal of the wires to the new route will be commenced withoul !' delay. The natives have nearly altogether 13 withdrawn their opposition—formerly the ohie: '° obstacle.” 1? A new hotel—the fourth —is about to b( ’ erected in Masterton, for Mr. Nicol. Th( Bising Sun Hotel at Grey town—once tin | e largest, but now the smallest in that townshij n —has passed into the occupation of Mr. Moral tain. “ Captain Blake, who has recently purchaser a considerable quantity of grass seed from thi 18 Maoris resident in the Ketemarae district e ’ which was obtained from the rich plains o: I 6 Waimate, will, says the Patea Mail, divide tht ® sum of £IOOO among the natives during tin week. The business people resident in tha' 'J quarter will no doubt find a slight improve '° meut in their business after the division of tin Le “spoil.""” se 3 . THE PROVINCIAL ESTIMATES. The following is the summary of estimator , e expenditure for the province of Wellingtoi )e during the current year 1875-76 ; j. I. Executive, £3200. 11. Legislative, £1390. HI Judicial and Police, £9025 9s. IV. Charitable ■ e £0540 12s. V. Education, £10,500. -VI. Harbors 3- £3995 10s. VII. Special, £1704 15s. VIII. Miscel ie laneous, £4332 18s. IX. Public Works and Under a takings—Native Land Purchases, £2652 ; Survey am Land Departments, £17,279 15s. ; Engineer's Depart d ment, £6259 ; Sundry undertakings, £108,144135. Bd. ■e Loads, £08,890 18s. 6d. ; Bridges, £18,710 ; Contin ie gencies for Public Works, £2000; Miscellaneou a Public Works, £4OOO. Total, £268, 63205. 2d. ° KOAD3, 13 Repairs £IO,OOO 0 ( r- Construction — y ~ Palmerston to Fitzherbert 6,000 0 ( n ~ Pahautanui to Belmont.. 600 0 I ~ Waipoua towards Forty 3 > Mile Bush 560 0 ( r. ~ Masterton to Castle Point, e repairs and part construction .. .. 1,450 0 ( L 3 ~ Whiteman s Valley-road, 6 ditto 800 0 ( 1. Roads, Bnnnythorpo 1,500 0 ( ,i „ Rangitumau 6,000 0 ( ~ North of Manchester Block .. 2,500 0 i 6 ~ Mungaroa to Waikanae .. .. 3,000 0 ( r, Emigrant and Colonists 1 Aid Society .. 3,208 18 ( r Polhill’s Gully, grant in aid .. ~ 300 0 ( - Foxton to Sandon 1,760 0 ( II Mangapakeha-road 8,000 0 C .0 Roads, Paraokaretu block .. .. 3,624 0 ( i s Deviation West Coast-road .. .. 3,486 0 C Castle Point to Alfredton .. .. 3,464 0 ( “ Masterton to Alfredton 1,304 0 C u To repay to General Government adn vances for roads made under the o. Provincial Public Works Advances ° Act, 1874 6,722 0 ( e Motoa Swamp, roads and drains .. 3,350 0 ( !, Grant-in-aid Highway Boards, expendiy turo to be approved by Executive 1 Government 6,000 0 C e Grant-in-aid road Waiknpa Reserve .. 500 0 { e Upper Taueru 1,000 0 C e Lower Valley. Wairarapa .. .. 500 0 C Bridle-track, Blaokey’s to Paikakariki 200 0 C 8 Total .. £68,800 18 6 6 BRIDGES. Construction—s Abbott’s Creek and approaches .. ~ £2,000 0 0 g Tutaenul 500 0 0 Mangapakeha 250 0 0 3 Manawatu .. 6,500 0 0 - Kahumingi .. .. 550 0 0 Rangitikei 6,000 0 0 a To repay tha General Government ad- ' vances for bridges made under the i Provincial Public Works Advances . Act, 1874 .. .. .. .. 3,910 0 « Total £18,710 0 0 9 Contingencies for public works and i undertakings 2,000 0 0 i Miscellaneous public works ~ .. 4,000 0 0 1 Total amount for public works and undertakings, , £227,042 7s. 2d. ■ AUCKLAND. . The Hon. Mr. Reynolds inspected the Southern Cross training ship on April 23, which made a special trip to the n ’ val training school at Kohimarama. Mr. ■Williams, M.H.8., Mr. Macdonald, Chief Inspector of Education for Queensland, Mr. F. J. Moss, Secretary of the Auckland Board of Education, Mr. Hill, Collector of Customs, Mr. D. M. Luckie, and Mr. Donne, M.P.C. for Nelson, were on board. The crew consists of twenty-one boys and two men, under Captain Breton. The ship was worked well. Mr. Reynolds inspected the Kohimarama school, and expressed himself highly pleased, and promised to recommend a ; new wharf being built at Kohimarama. Twenty-three boys are in the school at Graharastown. Quartz from Karangahape is expected to yield two ounces to the ton. Sir George Grey does not intend to appoint a goldfields’ secretary. The General Government has handed the Waikato roads over to the Provincial Government. Rumor states that. an action, involving £BO,OOO, is pending, regarding the Waikato railway. Mr. Vesey Stewart writes to the Echo that the immigrants for Katikati, from Ireland, will bring from £IOOO to £4OOO each. Ho says the assistance received from the Government has been of the most negative character. He hopes to sail from Belfast about the last day of April, with thirty-five families and about a hundred single women. He has applied for two ships, which he and Mr. Cochrane will undertake to fill He says if the second ship is not granted it will be a loss of immigrants to Auckland and the colony generally. Most of the emigrants desire to go in the same ship, to the same place. In the first shipment will be included families from Tyrone, Down, Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, Dublin, Kerry, King’s County, and Cork. If the Katikati settlement succeeds well, it will lead to an enormous emigration to New Zealand from all parts of Ireland. Fifteen familes, all small capitalists, hope to follow in September. Yesey Stewart says he could have found emigrants for fifty thousand acres as easily as ten thousand. He only delivered half a dozen 1 lectures. A ship could be filled at Belfast 1 every three months. The Queensland Govern- i ment, ho says, appreciate the Irish emigration, and are stealing a march on New Zealand. 1 The Katikati settlers will bring out prize ’ shorthorns, besides rams and poultry. Erai- i grants will expect the assistance of laud sur- f veyors, and temporary barracks, and raupo f whares built. Each family is willing to con- 1 tribute five pounds towards the expenses of the latter. i Captain McKenzie, of the steamer Southern Cross, was experimenting killing fish under f water, when a charge exploded in his hand, i blowing his fingers off. • George Dacre has been appointed manager 1 of the National Bank at Tauranga. 1

The skeleton of a man has been found near the Three Kings, Auckland. Apparently, deceased had been a homeless old vagrant, who had lain down to die. The medical examination went to show that death had occurred two months ago. The remains could not be identified.

H.M.S. Rosario has arrived. While on her voyage home, when sixty miles south-east of the Three Kings, she was struck by a tremendous squall from the north-east, to which point the gale suddenly went round. The storm took her aback, and almost threw her on to her beam-ends. All her topgallant masts gave way. The ship righted with the loss of jibboom, flying-jibboom, and fore, main, and mizzen topgallant masts, main-yard, and spanker gaff. - The topgallant sails, mizzen-topsails, and several other sails were blown clean away. The captain and officers report the squall to h*ave been the most severe they ever experienced. At daylight the ship looked a perfect wreck, the canvas hanging in shreds, and the fragments of masts and rigging strewed all over the ship. She shaped a course for Auckland to refit.

Six deaths occurred, all in January, on board the ship Eernglen. After passing the Lizard the ship encountered a heavy gale. On the 15th of January the jibboom was carried away in a squall. The Fernglen has a large cargo, and brings 187 immigrants, all well. Grattan McCabe thew himself over a cliff on April 29,: while insane. He has twice lately been in a lunatic asylum. He was out of employment, and it is supposed that-the fact preyed on his mind. His left arm and thigh were broken. He died shortly afterwards. Sir Donald McLean has granted £55 towards the continuing of an artesian well at Tauranga, which had been brought to a standstill at 100 ft. through want of funds.,, The quarterly 1 Customs returns of duties collected, at Auckland . amounts to nearly £67,000. The past month exceeds the two preceding ones by £6OOO, the increase being in goods on which the 10 per cent, ad valorem duty is charged. At the Waivvera hot springs (province of Auckland) a large reservoir and twelve new bath-rooms are to be constructed without delay. Hot water swimming baths are also to be erected. The number of old men in the Old Men’s Home in Auckland is thirty-three. The oldest of the inmates is over ninety years of age, and a compositor by trade. The youngest inmate is only thirty : six, but he is a sufferer from epileptic fits, and deaf and dumb. Most of the other inmates are pensioners or laboring men. The eldest of the pensioners is seventyfour years of age. Amongst the inmates is a theatrical scenic artist, aged fifty-four. Labor continues in demand in the province, especially in the agricultural districts. The whole of the immigrants lately received have become absorbed in the population, and there are still a large number of applications with the Immigration Commissioner for agricultural laborers and others at good rates of wages. The immigrants.by the ship Fernglen, now due from London, will find ready employment, if of the right sort. The election of a member of the House of Representatives for Auckland City West, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Williamson, has resulted in the return of Mr. Dignan, who polled 565 votes to 386 recorded for Mr. Dargaville. A telegraph station is now open at Hokianga, in the province of Auckland. Tenders for the city of Auckland 6 per cent, loan for £IOO,OOO were opened at the Bank of New Zealand on February 1, when it was found that a total of £497,000 had been applied for. All tenders at 98 and above would receive in full, and tenders at £97 15s. 6d. would receive about 50 per cent. It is a significant proof of the change which has taken place in the Bay of Plenty district, that a handbook has been found wanted for the use of the numerous tourists who now resort to the Botomahana and Taupo districts (the boiling springs, healing baths, geysers, &c., of that romantic locality), and that there has been found enterprise enough in Tauranga to supply it. Messrs. Langbridge and Edgoumbe, of The Bay of Plenty Times, have just published such a work, with a map of the district, and have favored us with a copy. It is dedicated to the Native Minister, to whom the public are indebted for the early opening up of this romantic country. The descriptions of the various towns and settlements in the district are given briefly, but appear to have been carefully prepared. The book was wanted, and we have no doubt its sale will remunerate the publishers for their enterprise. The Southern Cross of the 7th instant states that the Auckland and Waikato railway will he finished by the contractors early next month. The line is completed within two miles of Mercer. HAWKE’S BAY. Three newly-arrived immigrants have commenced business as fishermen, at Napier, greatly to the satisfaction of the inhabitants. A large flight of crows paid a visit to Napier on Friday, and having examined, apparently, the suitability of Soinde Island for winter quarters, winged their way towards Taradale. We hear from the building contractors of Napier that good joiners are extremely scarce, while indifferent hands, who demand the highest rate of wages, are plentiful enough. Carpenters wages are now quoted at from 9s. to 11s. per diem.

Mr. Peppercorne, the municipal engineer, has completed the plans and estimates in connection with the projected water supply. Large quantities of greenstone, in block, have been sent to Mr. Locke, of Napier, by the Maoris of Hawke’s Bay, for the purpose of being manufactured into meres, ear ornaments, &o. Many of the blocks have been in the possession of the natives for generations, but having discovered that Europeans can cut the stone more expeditiously than can the Maoris, they have deposited with Mr. Locke their treasures. According to native valuation, Mr. Locke has in his possession stone to the value of many thousands of pounds, and the Maoris are collecting money to forward him to cover the . cost of cutting and polishing the stone.

The total Customs revenue of the Port of Napier for the quarter just ended was £11,814 14s. 9d., as against £11,020 17s. for the corresponding quarter, 1874, thus shelving an increase of £793 17s. 3d. TARANAKI. The Taranaki Budget states that a contract for the delivery of 60,000 bushels of charcoal has been entered into by John Blake with the Ironsand Company. It may show that active operations are being prepared for when we state that the first load has been delivered by the contractor at the Henui already. Nine kilns more are ready for delivery from Oakura. After an experience of New Plymouth climate, extending over thirty years, remarks the News, we do not remember such an unhealthy season as the present one, in which the mortality has been so great, and has included so many in the prime of life. Most of the deaths have been, we believe, from pleuropneumonia. The hitherto unexplored country north-east of the Mountain-road, says the Patea Mail, has just been penetrated for a distance of forty miles by a party of surveyors, and we are pleased to learn that they report the land to be of excellent quality, and almost level. This being the fact, we trust there will he no delay in introducing daylight into this new country. A public meeting has been held at Manutahi (Patea district), to petition the General Government to complete the main road through tho Sand-hills; It was largely attended, many settlers having travelled ten miles to be present. Tho business people of Carlyle werelargely represented at the meeting. Ergot has made its appearance in the grass in the province of Taranaki. Two large water-spouts passed along to the south of the harbor of New Plymouth on the morning of the 22nd April.

Latest Waikato advices state that the Maori King intends to establish his head-quarters at Kawhia.

MIDDLE ISLAND. OTAGO. It is notified in a Provincial Government Gazette, published on Wednesday, that the Government will give a bonus for labor-saving machines, and for a gold-mining apparatus on an improved plan.

The natives at Otago Heads are summoning their friends to a meeting to be held there on the 24th May, to consider the steps which should be taken to secure the £2,000,000 claimed by Taiaroa in 1872 as compensation for the unfulfilled promises of the Government, alleged to have been made to the natives by Colonel Wakefield, Mr. Kemp, and Mr. Mantell. At this meeting it is intended to collect money for the purpose of defraying the expenses of sending certain of their number to England to petition the Imperial Parliament on the spot, and to request Mr. Mantell to go with them. Another handsome addition to the street architecture of Dunedin will be the building which Mr. Campbell, of the Crown Hotel, at the junction of Maolaggan-street with Eat-tray-street, is about to erect for hotel purposes, on the site where the present hotel and adjoining buildings now stand. We believe the new hotel will be a three-storey building, contain at least a hundred bedrooms, and be erected and furnished in such a way as to enable the proprietor to carry on a first-class hotel business.

At a sitting of the Supreme Court in banco, in Dunedin, Mr. Henry Smythies, formerly a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealahd, practising in Dunedin, and who has just returned from England, presented and supported a petition to be re-admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court; His Honor the Chief Justice appointed the 21st May next, at the Supreme Court-house, Wellington, before the Judges then at the Court of Appeal, as the day on which the petition is to be considered in terms of the Act.

It has been decided that the sum of £3500 shall be borrowed to complete the Invercargill Athenseum building. The stoppage of the railway works between the Bound Hill and Tuapeka. gives great dis r satisfaction. There are three contracts in this portion of the line —the sections being let to the following persons, viz., Messrs. Morrison and Co. (sub-let to McKenzie), Strachan and Hunter, and James and H. Campbell. On not one of these is a man at work. The stoppage is most unaccountable, and deserves the attention of the proper authorities. With plenty of labor available, now that the operations of harvest are over, railway contractors should be compelled to push on their contracts. The cast, excavated from one of the Kakanui quarries, of a nautilus, has been presented to the Museum by Mr. E. Wilson. There is nothing whatever remaining of the shell or any portion of the fish, but the cast made by the stone forming on the outer and inner sides of the shell before it disappeared, is complete, and is a fine specimen. The nautilus must have been very large—it would be large for a tropical specimen of the present day—the cast showing that the shell was over a foot in diameter.

The recent discoveries of auriferous ground at the Bearing Meg, between Cromwell and the Arrow, in Otago, still continue to attract much attention.

On Thursday last the Perseverance Company, Blue Spur, got off a most successful blast. The charge was 25cwt. of powder. The discharge shifted, or rather thoroughly shook, a block of ground 150 ft. ■wide by 50ft. back, and 200 ft. deep from the surface. The total cost of the blast was about £l2O, and the ground loosened will take three months to sluice away. The Tuapeka Times says that the pneumatic dredge at Clyde is still idle, and from present appearances the directors intend her to remain so.

The Ladybird went up to Dunedin jetty on April 26. She is the first of the company’s steamers that has done so.

The Tuapeka Times says that threshing operations have been commenced by a number of farmers in the district. The yield of grain generally is very satisfactory. CANTERBURY. At Timaru, on the 28th April, a coroner’s inquiry was held touching the death of the wife of Thomas Syrett Hardy. Evidence was given to the effect that deceased had, before her death, stated that her husband had struck her because she refused to go to bed ; and two witnesses deposed to having seen bruises and discoloration on Mrs. Hardy’s head, on the right cheek and temple. It was also proved by the police that Mr. Hardy had admitted having struck his wife. The medical evidence showed, as the result of a postmortem examination, that the lungs and heart of the deceased were seriously diseased. There were marks of blows, such as would be inflicted by a blunt instrument, bn deceased’s right ear and temple. The blows alone would not have caused death to a healthy person, but would accelerate death in a person in the condition in which deceased was. Henry Preston, father of the deceased, stated that Mr. Hardy had procured every delicacy in his power for. deceased, and had purchased a buggy to drive her out. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased’s death had been accelerated by blows inflicted by her husband, who was thereupon bound, over to appear to take his trial on a charge of manslaughter at the next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court at Timaru; the bail being, himself in £3OO, and two sureties of £l5O each. Labor is very scarce, and wages and prices very high. A curious church squabble is going on. The Kev. George Poster, the incumbent, for fourteen years has been resident in the parish. The congregation are trying to get rid of him. He refuses to resign. The Bishop has been appealed to, and urges Mr. Poster’s resignation, and threatens to cancel his license. Mr. Poster still refuses to resign. It is expected that the parishioners trill withhold the stipend. It is the first case of the land in the colony.

It is rumored that the General Government is about to purchase the Washdyke Meatpreserving works for a penal establishment for long-sentenced prisoners. Fifty-six applications have been received for the head-mastership of the Timaru Public School, from all parts of New Zealand, and from Melbourne, Sydney, and Tasmania. The Jewish residents of Timaru will soon have a place of worship of their own. The Synagogue will be erected in Bank-street, opposite the Wesleyan Church.

The nominations of persons as immigrants lodged with Hr. F.LeCren, immigration officer, at Timaru, from the Ist April, 1874, to the 31st March, 1875, number 619. A new arrival at Timaru, whose name is James Tucker, has distinguished himself by committing three acts of horse-stealing within a few days in that neighborhood. The horses have been recovered by the police of Waimate, and the man is committed for trial on all three charges. The last cylinder of the Waitaki bridge has been successfully sunk. The contractors expect to hand over the work to the Government at the end of August or beginning of September. The Great Autumn Handicap at Christchurch unexpectedly fell to Mr. Watt’s horse Parawhonua. The victory was a great one for the ring, the favorite being Calumny, which was backed for a great deal of money. It was mentioned by telegram a day or two ago that the ship Tinteru Abbey, which had arrived at Lyttelton from London, had brought a large consignment of birds for the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. We learn from the Times that of 100 partridges shipped, 74 arrived in good health ; of 117 blackbirds none died ; of thrushes 83 were shipped, and 74 received ; of yellowhammers, 180 were put on board, and all survived the voyage ; 120 redpolls and 110 goldfinches had equal good fortune ; 95 out of 100 linnets shipped arrived ; but out of 100 starlings only 33, and of 140 hedge-sparrows only 11, came safely to hand.

The driver of the Timaru and Christchurch coach, whose name is John Meikle, has had the good fortune of being presented on his marriage day with a purse containing a hundred guineas, by residents in the towns along the line of road which the coach travelled, in token of the esteem in which he is held.

NELSON. Hugh Jones, Esq., of the Bank of NewSouth Wales, has been presented, at the Melbourne Hotel, Charleston, with a purse of 100 sovereigns and an illuminated address, as a token of the esteem in which he is held by the Charleston community. The Grey Eiver Argus says ; —“ The Nelson Loan Bill, empowering the province to borrow £30,000, which some time ago we announced had become law, has been takep advantage of by the Government. Tenders for the loan were invited, but none were sent in within the specified time, and it was thought the money would not be obtained. At length, however, a capitalist in Wellington—through his Nelson agent—has offered to advance the money at 7 per cent, interest, and the Government have accepted the offer. Of the above amount, £27,000 will be devoted to the construction of a wharf and dry dock, and the remaining £3OOO to the completion of the new Lunatic Asylum.” A Maori named Mathews, has been drowned in the Buffer Eiver, near Martin’s Island, opposite the Wakefield-street wharf, Westport. He was crossing the river in a canoe, and when about midway, he fell overboard; he struggled for a short time in the water and then sank. A Maori, who witnessed the accident from the wharf, and James Eergusson, took a boat out to rescue him, but before they had reached the spot he had sunk. A fruitless attempt was made by the police and some Maoris yesterday evening to recover the body. Next morning it was found. About eight o’clock last evening, says the Colonist of the 3rd inst,, an accident occurred at the gasworks, by which Mr. George Garret and Mr. Thomas Harris were injured, the former rather seriously. The full complement of twenty head of stampers. is now in operation at the Inangahua Crushing Company’s, works, and everything is progressing satisfactorily. The elaborate plans for wharf and diy dock at Nelson, prepared some time since by Mr. E. Evans, late Eesident Engineer at Westport, will probably be adopted by the Provincial Government, says the Westport Times, now that the loan of £30,000 has been negotiated. The plans are most skilfully designed and elaborated in the most minute working details. Mr. O’Conor has declined “for the, present ” to accept a cheque for the sum of £123, subscribed by his friends to pay the costs in the case of Knyvett v. O’Conor. He thinks the province should pay the costa, as he was acting in his public capacity as Treasurer, and he intends to bring the matter before the Provincial Council at its next sitting. About 600 names appear on the list of applicants residing in the Buffer district, who desire to register as electors for the current year. Mr. H. M. Jackson has resigned the Provin.cial Auditorship, and Mr. Greenfield, late Provincial Secretary, has been appointed auditor, Ex-ank Engledue Eynmore, late Eeceiver of Gold Eeveuue at Lyell, has been committed for trial on a charge of embezzling £3l of Government money. Mr. Lowther Broad, E.M., was called to the Bar on April 29. Judge Gillies complimented him highly on his successful examination, and said no doubt he would prove an honor to the Bax-.

The Nelson andPoxhill railway is approaching completion.

MARLBOROUGH. One day last week, says the Marlborough Times of the 6th instant, while Mr. Ireland was engaged in digging a water-hole in the raupo swamp which has recently been laid dry, to the west of Mr. Barleyman’s paddock, in the Maxwell-road, at a depth of six feet below the surface, he came upon a piece of wood, which attracted his attention through having sundry marks on it, evidently made with some sharp instrument. It was embedded at this depth in a close compact black soil of decayed vegetation, which must have been forming long before the arrival of the first white man in New Zealand. The piece of wood has been chopped into shape apparently to answer the purpose of prizing, as with a crow-bar, having a heel to it. • There are eight distinct cuts on it, which, to all appearance, have been made with a hatchet.

Mr. Chaytor has been elected a member of the Provincial Council of Marlborough, having beaten Mr. Western. The votes were 63 and 26 respectively.

A man named William Madonald committed suicide in the Blenheimlook-upon Sundaynight by hanging himself with a strap. An inquest was held on thebodyon Monday, when, from the evidence given, it appeared that deceased was of unsound mind, and had for some time been laboring under delusions. The jury returned a verdict that deceased committed suicide while in an unsound state of mind.

Yesterday, says the Press of the 14th inst., death removed from amongst us Mr. Kelson, a gentleman highly respected by all who knew him. He had been for a long time a resident in the district, and his connection with Dr. J. D. Tripe and Captain Dalton had procured him the acquaintance of a large circle of friends who will lament his loss. Mr. Kelson had attained the ripe age of eighty-three, and for the past month or two had been unwell On Thursday, April 15, the annual show of horses, cattle, and produce was held on the new grounds belonging to the society in Maxwellroad.

The Provincial Council opened on Friday, April 23. The Superintendent (A. P. Seymour, M.H.R.) announced his intention to proceed to England by the May San Francisco mail. James Hobson, M.P.C., Mayor of Blenheim, will be appointed Deputy-Superinten-dent.

A novel competition is proposed at the forthcoming show, Mr. T. O'Sullivan having offered a special prize of a guinea for the best loaf of home-baked bread exhibited. Another condition is that it shall be made from flour grown and ground in the province. WESTLAND. Five acres for mining purposes have been taken up on the Hauhau lead, with a fall towards the Kanieri. There is every probability that a company will be formed to work a large extent of ground in that vicinity, and, with anything like the success expected, no doubt other companies will be found to work leads believed to exist throughout the district. A meeting of persons interested in promoting shipbuilding in Greymouth was held at the Melbourne Hotel on Wednesday evening, the chief business being to consider a proposal submitted to Mr. W. Wilson with regard , to the building of a vessel of a capacity of 300 tons. There was a fair attendance, and Mr. Nancarrow took the chair. Mr. Wilson submitted his proposal to the meeting, which was —to form a company for the purpose of building the vessel, the estimated capital being £6OOO. Mi - . Wilson explained his calculation and the prospects of the success of the undertaking, and received a general expression of support from the meeting. _ The desirability of encouraging shipbuilding in Greymouth, says the Argus, was thoroughly recognised, and should Mr. Wilson’s efforts in initiating this industry meet with the result they deserve, this port will become independent of other places in supplying vessels specially adapted for the port. We understand that Mr. Wilson will prepare a memorandum of association to submit to the public at an early date. As a sign of improvement in mining matters at the Inangahua, and also of the advance of Eeefton, says a West Coast contemporary, it may be mentioned that a second newspaper is to be started shortly in that district.

The Charleston Local Revenues Board has collapsed. We suppose (says the Argus), the Ahaura Board will fellow suit before long. An inquest was held on the 13th April by the coroner, Dr. Maunsell, at Piper’s Flat, Stafford, on the body of a miner named John Hen wood, who had-been missing since the sth of March last, and whose body was found floating in a shaft about eighty feet deep, with six feet of -water in it, a quarter of a mile from his hut. The body was found by one of the witnesses, Samuel Hughes, a miner, last Sunday, at three o’clock in the afternoon. Deceased was forty-nine years of age, and a native of Cornwall. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased was accidentally drowned by falling down a shaft in Piper’s Flat.