OUR AUCKLAND LETTER.
(feoh ode owx correspondent.) Auckland, Sept. 6.
The leases of the allotments on the old Supreme Court site, at the corner of Queen and Victoria streets, were sold last week, at least the six fronting Queen-street were. They fetched good prices, but not so good as expected. No. 1, or the allotment with double frontage in the two streets, brought £9 ss. per foot per annum, the others only fetched £4 per foot per annum. Messrs. Barnett and Bevy, wholesale grocers, were the purchasers of No. 1. The other allotments were withdrawn for the present. The late rather sensational rise in the shares of the Union Beach claim has only been partially sustained during the last few days. From 80s. they have dropped to £2 10s., which is the present price. That there was good reason for the spurt was shown by the result of the crushing of the SOOlbs. of specimens taken out. This was Tllozs. of gold. At present they are timbering up, and have stopped taking the stuff out, but it is said there is still an excellent show on the face. A most determined but unsuccessful attempt to “bear” the market was made on Saturday. Two telegrams were received in town by a well-known broker, stating that the claim had been “jumped,” and instructing him to sell. The news soon spread, and caused a good deal of surmise, but the general opinion was that under the present Act such a thing was impossible, and very little decline in prices was experienced by the scrip. On Monday it turned out that the rumour originated from the fact of the Cross correspondent and a waterman having pegged out some of the land claimed by the Beach Company on the beach below high water mark. Everyone says that this “ jump ” cannot be sustained ; but even if it is, the run of the gold is away from the sea, so that it would make very little difference to the mine.
You heard by the Hawea of a passenger having gone overboard, it was believed intentionally, between the Manukau and New Plymouth. The man’s name was Davis, and he was well known, I understand, in Wellington. He had started as a photographer in Auckland, and been very unsuccessful. His money affairs were in a bad state, and the failure of his efforts to provide for his large family had no doubt impaired his reason. I was speaking to him a few days before he went away, and noticed how despondent he was. A subscription was made for his wife, which resulted in a few pounds being given to her before she left in the Phoebe yesterday for Nelson.
It seems we have not nearly done with that Constable Axam who made himself so conspicuous during his short career as a police officer in Auckland. Since he left in the brig Moa for Newcastle on the 19th of last month, several charges of forgery have been laid against him, and by the Last trip of the Hero a fellow-officer was sent in pursuit of him. The Hero left on the Ist September, and would arrive probably on the 7th, by which time the brig would be nineteen days out. The latter being no clipper, it is most likely the steamer would arrive in time for a telegram to bo sent to Newcastle to arrest Axam on landing. The alleged forgeries
consist of endorsements to bills- on which money was procured. The abominable impudence of this fellow appears more plainly every day. His last performance was about as cool as any. It appears he owed a widow woman £5 18s. for groceries, which he had omitted to pay for when he was going away. The woman heard he was on board, and went off to the vessel in a waterman’s boat. Arrived alongside, she demanded her money, on which Axam (by the by, his right name is Barclay, not Axam at all) very politely informed her she had made a mistake in asking him for her money twice, and produced the bill receipted. The poor woman in vain declared it a forgery ; the rascal merely jeered at her, and pitched the receipt into the boat, saying she was welcome to that if she liked. ■ Having no speedy summons—she had been unable to procure one, Giving to the death of the R.M.—she had to let her creditor go off smiling. Axam is one of the finest looking young fellows imaginable. He stands. about 6ft. 3in., and is excellently proportioned. His step is military, and he has a clear' open expression of countenance, which would impose upon any one. _ . When the Hero was lying alongside the wharf the chief steward, Mr. Caddy, was arrested for smuggling playing cards, and -fined £25 and costs, the receiver, a hand on board the Thames steamer Hauraki, being fined a similar amount,, No great importance would attach to the circumstance had not something else occurred which has not been reported in the Auckland papers. One of our most respectable importers, it is known, was caught attempting the same game through the agency of a lady who came over by the boat from Sydney. But he was not fined. Oh no ! He knew the customs of the port, and kept his weather eye open. Directly he found that the box which contained the contraband goods was going to be searched, he despatched a messenger off to the Customhouse to pass a sight entry for the case and contents. This, of course, was accepted ; and when the cards were found, the merchant was Very properly indignant at being accused of smuggling. The thing was very cleverly done, and the perpetrator was rewarded by going Scot free .on payment of the full duty. There is no knowledge so useful to a general as knowing how to ■ cover a retreat. A man of singular habits, named Costello, who used to be the messenger at the Provincial Government offices, tried to commit suicide last Sunday week by cutting his throat. His wife had obtained a protection order in consequence of his drinking propensities, and it was after reproaching her bitterly for exposing him that, he made the rash attempt upon his life. He did not succeed in even dangerously wounding himself, but he has had a bad attack of delirium tremens since, which has prostrated him more than the injury. He is being attended to in the hospital. A very extraordinary case of a whole family being poisoned took place on Friday, the 3rd inst. A Mr. Grace keeps several goats at the : foot of Mount Eden, close to the gaol. On the day mentioned some custards were made by his wife out. of some “ beastings,” as the thick rich milk is called which is given by the animal immediately after kidding. The wife and four children partook of them at ! breakfast, and when the man returned from his work in the afternoon he found all his family prostrate, and in great pain, accompanied by violent vomiting and purging. One child who had gone to school was similarly taken. Medical aid was procured, but in spite of every attention one of the children died during the night. The rest are now recovering. Strange to say, there was no inquest held, the doctor being of opinion that the animal had eaten tutu or some poisonous substance, which had contaminated the milk. This theory is borne out by the fact. that the goat has been ailing badly ever since. Mr. Grace had got it firmly in his head that someone had poisoned the milk maliciously, but there is no ground for this whatever.
There is a probabilty of the Improvement Commissioners and the Committee of the Mechanics’ Institute arranging a transaction of great public utility. Our present Institute is by no means an imposing structure, and a more commodious building is badly wanted. The Commisioners want to carry one of their new streets through the site of the present Institute, and at the same time they have at their disposal a fine brick building close by, which was wont to be used as a Wesleyan chapel, and will do splendidly for a Mechanics’ Institute. It seems to have just struck these two bodies that an exchange might be effected to their mutual advantage and that of the city. Nothing has yet been settled, but meetings have been held to consider the project, which is favorably entertained. The mad steamer City of Melbourne arrived and left, with Captain Brown’s usual punctuality, and the English mail, on Thursday and Friday. The number of passengers all told was only forty-six, so that the little steamer was not inconveniently crowded, as she usually is. A stowaway was found on board after leaving Sydney, and was prosecuted here by the agent of the A.S.N. Co., and received a fine and a term of imprisonment. The s.s. Star of the South, the hard-worked old iron boat belonging to the A.S.P. Company, broke down on her last voyage to Levuka. She left here on the 19th ultimo, and got as far as half way on her voyage, when the shaft of her propeller snapped in two close to the stern pipe, and she was rendered helpless for steaming purposes. Captain Palmer wisely determined to sail back, and reached port again, withloss of twelve out of seventy-five cattle, bn Saturday morning last. The passengers give a most dismal account of the voyage, but it could scarcely have been expected to be pleasant under the circumstances. The shaft is being repaired, and the vessel will leave again in a few days. Perhaps you may not have heard anything about our rising Pakuranga Hunt Club. You must know then that this club is rapidly becoming very famous here, and boasts as its members nearly all our Auckland swells. Owing to the difficulty attending the procuring of a good pack of harriers, beagles have to be put up with, and very good substitutes they make. They are kept out at Epsom. Mr. W. McLaughlin, a wealthy farmer at Papetoitoi, is the master, and does the courtesies of the hunt in good English style. During the last season the meets have been twice a week, and there have been rarely less than twenty horsemen present. The narrow limits of the land on which hares are to be found has proved a serious obstacle to the sport up to the present time, but measures are how being taken to distribute them, and it is anticipated that it will not be necessary to go over the same land more than twice or three times next season. On Saturday last the show meet of the season took place at Mr. James McCosh Clark’s place, at Remuera. Here nearly 100 sat down to a substantial luncheon, and afterwards joined in a “ drag ” hunt over about five miles of country. The crowd of spectators was very numerous, and included about fifty ladies, most of whom appeared in well-appointed vehicles. The hunt was riot without its sensations, for there were two or three ugly falls at the stone walls which abound at Epsom. One of the first to come to grief was Mr. Percival, the secretary, who went a cropper into a waterhole, fortunately without receiving any other damage than a bruise on his hip and a coat of mud. A collection was made for the funds after the run, which was liberally responded to. The once famous Caledonian Goldraining Company held its meeting last week, when it appeared that the expenditure and receipts during the half-year had been alike, within a pound. The only dividend declared went to the directors, in the shape of £250 voted as honorarium.
The Thames Gas Company at its meeting on the same day declared a dividend of 5 per cent, for the half-year. This was less than was expected by 1 per cent.
The contract for the now museum has been signed, and the contractor (Mr. Dickson) is to start the work at once. The cost of the now structure will be £3377. The Waikato Times says, and every one else says, that the reduction of freight on coal conveyed over the Auckland and Mercer lino to 7s. 2d. per ton, will bo a boon, not only to consumers in Auckland, but to the producers, whose enterprise has hitherto been cramped by the high price of carriage, which
-has rendered it .impossible, for them to compete with foreign rivals. It is quite time that the resources of our coalfields were utilised. If our . mines were : properly opened up, there is no reason why we should import a ton of coals from Newcastle. ■
Spring has at length appeared up here. We have lately had very strong westerly gales, which are supposed to have been the equinoctial galea set in rather early. They have been followed by two. or three last days of warm growing rains and sunshine.
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New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4517, 11 September 1875, Page 3
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2,162OUR AUCKLAND LETTER. New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4517, 11 September 1875, Page 3
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