TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5412, 1 August 1878, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

, (PER PBESB AOENCrO - Auckland, Wednesday. It is stated that the insurance companies have prepared figures which prove that more than two-thirds of the property in Auckland is uninsured. Under those circumstances it is thought probable that unless the Corporation rescind the resolution recently passed, the brigade will be disbanded. The companies say they should not be expected to provide a fire brigade any more than they should erect lighthouses to prevent wrecks, or than life offices should provide hospitals and doctors to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. The amount insured'in Auckland is less by £77,000 since the water supply has been brought into the town.

At the Gas Company’s meeting to-day a dividend of 7s. fid. per share was declared. Grevtown, Wednesday.

Thirty-two applications were put in for the custodianship of the Working Men’s Club here, and wer? considered last night. The result was that Mr. and Mrs. Cox, of Wellington, were appointed. Napier, Wednesday.

The Hawke’s Bay police are actively searching for traces of Peter Kane, whose disappearance about the time of the Woodville murder has recently been brought under notice. Inspector Scully has been out making investigations, but as yet bo clue hag been obtained. It has, however, been ascertained that Kano was at Mr. Hunter’s station, at Porangahau, on the 20th November, and the \Voodville murder occurred on the 2Srd, arid ns Kane was without a horse it is supposed unlikely that he could hnvo got to Woodville before the murder of Ollandt. A movement is on foot to get ,a drill-shed built for the two corps of volunteers. At present one corps uses an auctioneer’s store and the other, the .railway goods shed, -neither of which is large enough for company movements. It is. proposed to raise a fnpd by concerts,, and to ask Government tp supplement it. * : A work is just being completed on the Kuataniwha Plains which speaks wbu, fpr tye enter?. prise of our settlers in this district, Mr. J. Harding, of Mount Vernon, having suffered considerablo losses from drought In former years, has latterly taken' effective measures

against tho recurrence of such loss in future. He is having a canal constructed, seven miles in length, to carry water from the large stream on his property through the Pukehiki Gorge to" the paddocks . surrounding his homestead. To bring the water through the gorge a tunnel eleven chains in length had to be constructed, and this portion of the work was completed last week. In addition to the use of the water for irrigation, it will be applied ns a motive power to drive a mill aud threshing machine.

6 p.m. Respecting Kane, tho reports from the various constables engaged in the search are just in. One constable, Sergea it Maguire, says that Kane called at Captain Newman's Arlington station on December 12, throe weeks after the murder of Ollnudt at Woodville. Christchurch, Wednesday. Yesterday one hundred persons were confirmed by Bishop Redwood at the Catholic Church. Tho Acclimatisation Society have been compelled to refuse an application from Auckland for trout ova, owing to an unexpected scarcity. It is calculated the number this "year will not exceed 10,000. The land sales for July realised £157,665. The Christchurch footballers seem indifferent about tho match with Oiago. The attendance at the practice is disgracefully small, and prevents anything like decent practice. Balcldtha, Wednesday.

The fall of snow this morning was the heaviest we have had this season. The storm has not yet passed. Hokitika, Wednesday.

A public meeting was held in the Town Hall last night (the. Mayor in the chair) to consider the question of railway extension to the West Coast. On the motion of Mr. Purkiss, —That the direct line of railway connecting the County of Westland with the East Coast would be in tho highest degree advantageous, and would largely conduce to the settlement and prosperity of the colony,—it was resolved : that; the lino which presents the greatest advantages from a public point of view is that which, starting at Hokitika, should be extended throughout tho southern portion of this county via Haast Pass to Otago, and northward to Grey mouth. On this motion there was considerable discussion, several opposing the mute as impracticable. An amendment as follows was proposed, and lost on a show of hands, —That this meeting, taking into consideration the various conflicting interests, deems it expedient, lest unnecessary delay occurs through advocating any particular route, to leave the Government unbiased to adopt that which is found to be most conducive to; the general good. Petitions to the Legislature are now in course of signature conveying the above resolutions.