OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4460, 6 July 1875, Page 3

OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.

(FROM OUR OWX CORRESPONDENT.) The topic next in importance to the battles of the Superintendent with Dr. Pollen and Mr. . Mackay, is the news from Tairua. During the last three days the £2 paid-up shares in the prospectors' claim have gone up to double the par value, in consequence of the rich hauls M specimens which are continually telegraphed being taken out. The reefs are spoken of as very different to Thames reefs, and are said to contain a great quantity of coarse nubbly gold. Three tons of this stuff has been sent round to Grahamstown to be put through the mill, and the result, when made public, will largely influence the further rise or fall of the shares. The Ajax claim, situated in the portion of land obtained by the "jumpers," is also said to have good prospects. Wild reports are flying about, but you would not thank me to give them currency. It is not too much to say, however, that from present appearances, another Caledonian is not at all an improbability. Prospectors are now employed testing the Tairua River for sluicing purposes. The Star makes the occasion of the Thames -fcjnineis having had to come to Sir George Grey for relief a test for preaching the advantages of provincialism to the residents of the goldfields. Mr. Mackay, smarting under press criticism, has addressed a letter of cautiijn to the Thames Advertiser as to publishing random statements purporting to be utterances of Sir George Grey. The Adrertiser replies that the statements were taken down in shorthand, and they are not at all afraid of being able to substantiate them. Mackay's friends say that this declaration was what he wanted to elicit. JXr. W. G. Turner continues his advocacy of the tramway system. The subject has received much attention from our local authorities, who would not have anything to do with it when introduced by Messrs. Owen, Jones, and Co., some months back. But Mr. Turner removes the difficulties, raised by his opponents, in such a clever manner, and states the advantages of the system so clearly and forcibly, that now all the most influential men in the place deem the construction of street railways in Auckland not only advisable but imperative. Mr. Turner has within the last two days published a letter in which he details his scheme. Here is what he sa y S : —" In Auckland I propose to lay down a double line throughout the whole of Queenstreet and to the railway depot, having branch lines running from Queen-street up through Wellesley-street, or one of the streets running parallel with "Wellesley-street, having the least orade, through Hobson-street and round by the nest available street into and through the suburbs of Newton and Ponsonby ; and in time round by the new extension of Custom-house-street ; also into and through the suburbs of Parnell, Newmarket, and what is known as Breakwater-road, on the line of railway, thence into Mechanics' Bay and up the straight cut to Parnell, thence by Parnellroad to Newmarket ; also out of the city "into Karangahape and Grafton suburbs, by the next available route. I shall require from the City Council a franchise for twenty-one years to maintain and run said cars on said tramway in accordance with the Act. I propose to be limited in the charge for carrying passengers to the sum of fourpence for each passenger for all distances."

A reference in another portion of this letter to the large profits made by 'bus proprietors, called forth hot rejoinders from Messrs. Quick and Crowther, who conduct nearly all omnibus traffic in the place. They both_ disclaim having made much out of their carriages, and defy Mr. Turner to prove that they have. All I can say is that if they have not, they have .a reputation which they do not deserve. To-day the City Council had a special meeting, -when they decided that the city should have tramways, and that applications from contractors for constructing and working the lines should be at once called for, the time for receiving the same extending to the 21st July. A distressing accident occurred a few days ago to a little girl ten years old, the daughter of Mr. Craig, plumber, in Hobson-street. She was playing near the edge of the cliff at-the end of the street, when she lost her balance and fell over the precipice on to the beach. She was taken np insensible and conveyed to her home by a fisherman who saw her fall. She is still in danger. The appointment of Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane as agents of the Union Line of Steamers gives great satisfaction. The Hawea is expected to arrive on Sunday, and to leave on her first trip South on Tuesday. The Auckland Model Training School, recently established at the Choral Hall, is progressing rapidly. The number of pupils is increasing, and great results are expected from the system of teaching employed. I may have more to say about this another time. Poor George Thome, jun., is allowed no rest since his certificate wa3 suspended. Mr. Ivey, the manager of the Bank of New South "Wales, has published two letters, written by Thome to the bank in Sydney in July last year, couched in a most abject strain, praying the directors to withdraw their opposition to his.bankruptcy, and confessing that he had acted " in madness" in paying his other creditors. The Cross founds an article on.the letters, and holds up Thome to additional opprobrium. An action has ' been brought against the Queen of Beauty mine by a miner named Smith, to recover £16,000 damages for breach of contract, in not allowing him to work out a. drive in -the mine, which he had undertaken to do on the understanding he was to have the gold from all the dirt he got out. The defendants pleaded that the agreement was an informal one, inasmuch as it was signed by only five out of six proprietors. The demurrer to this plea was argued a day or two ago before Mr. Justice Gillies, who had given his decision for the plaintiff, but his Honor expressed his impres- , sion that the point was a very nice one, and he should like to have the opinion of the Court of Appeal upon it. It is probable you may hear more of the case at Wellington. The meetings of the Highway District Boards are coming on, and several of the suburban districts, notably Ponsonby and Parnell, are working themselves up into a great state of fuss in anticipation. Ponsonby has already held two preliminary meetings, at which a lot of rubbish was talked, as well as some sense. It is astonishing how' disinterested all the candidates for the popular suffrages make themselves out. In many respects* it is Dickens's "Election for Beadle" overagain. We have advertisements appearing ia the papers like this, "Electors of Parnell don't be led away by pretentious know-nothings, but stick to Strange and good drainage." " Electors of Ponsonby ! "Vote the ticket. The platform is equal distribution." Party feeling in some of the districts runs very strong, and we expect to see some fun at the elections. The terms on which the Harbor Board loan has been floated give satisfaction, and it is now stated, on good authority, that the work of constructing the dry dock will at last be begun. It is quite time, for the project has been so long before the public that the delay has become sickening. The contractors are making good progress on our new provincial hospital. The foundation courses are all in. The building when finished will be a plain oblong, with cross transept, and will be 226 ft. in length. In the mortar which is being used in the brickwork,

ground scoria ash has been substituted for sand, on which it is said to be a great improvement, possessing adhesive qualities of considerable tenacity. A very sudden death occurred at the new hospital works on Monday morning. A man named Edwin Lamb, in the employ of Mr. Taylor, contractor, was cutting a piece of stone, when he was observed to fall down, apparently in a fit. His fellow-workmen, under the direction of Mr. Taylor, who was on the ground, carried him at once to the hospital, but he was then quite dead. The deceased had been an out-patient of the hospital, and had received treatment for fits of an apoplectic character before the one which carried him off. The Harbor Board have decided to make an alteration in the existing system of discharging the cargoes of vessels at Queen-street wharf. At present great confusion is caused in very busy times, especially when the Hero comes in. Last time she was here several English ships were stopped discharging, to enable her to get away with despatch. This favoritism has°called down general indignation, and is not likely to be displayed again. The recent floods in the North have again raised the question of timber floatage. On the Kaeo river, at Whaugaroa, much damage has been done by floating logs to the settlers' fencing, &c, and "One of the Sufferers" complains very bitterly to the Herald of his inability to get any satisfaction from the owner of the timber. The contractors for the Auckland Waterworks are pushing on the work rapidly at the Western Springs. The formation of the reservoir at the corner of Ponsonby and Karangahape roads is also going on most satisfactorily, so that no time will be lost when the necessary plant arrives from England. A most encouraging analysis of the fireclay from the Miranda district has been made by Mr. Tunny, the Provincial Analyst.