TELEGRAMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1197, 17 February 1880, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

, (per PRESS ASSOCIATION.) : ; j WELLINGTON. . February 16. j The first meeting of the Royal Commission on Native Affairs will be held at Oeb, on Thursday, the. 19th inst. -TJie interpreters and shorthand writers have been instructed to be in attendance, and leave hero to-morrow morning. The Naval Brigade will Send about 150 men to the Review at Christchurclr at Easter. The inhabitants of Picton have subscribed LIOO in aid of the Irish Distress Fund, which will bo forwarded to Wellington for transmission to Dublin. | Mr. Johnson, Relieving Officer, has reported to the Colonial Treasurer the approximate estimate of the unemployed in

Wellington, which is as follows :—Carpenters, sawmill hands, &c., 112 ; iron workers, 115 ; coach builders, smiths, &c., 20 ; plumbers and gasfitters, 28 ; painters and paperhangers. JIO ; printers, 12 ; laborers, navvie j&e 500 ; clerks and drapers' assistai t-yoO At an inquiry held.at tjh<|yffut£as to the origiiLtpf tli£ recept. fire alt r|turue#;a ver'dicflpiarsojragganst Snd added! a ager cegsijfring the&i&aranoe coafdanies fol^br-jS^ring the4jflil Uags ■; l£j L i V DUNEDIN. February 16.

Over 7000 ounces of gold have been sent down by escort during the past two JHiJHExpw&acjrdnd lasjiy Roofrs'ppf.-ar-"rivedln'lJune'clin by special tram"at""4.so jthey werejoined by the Commissioner for ■tlfe Middle- 4 lsland Railways, under whose _ "AFout" 350" hands 'engaged on the unwill be- knocked- ofE-immediateLy by._order of the Government.

The high wind on Sunday did considerable damage to the crops in the Tokomairiro, Clutlia, and Tuapeka districts, i February 17. ;

A bush fire at Kahiku destroyed Potter's old mill and 200 acres of bush recently purchased for L6OOO, besides LSOO worth of sawn timber. !

Messrs. Fulton, Clark, and Fergus are certain of election to the vacancies in the Education Board.

The Dunstan School Committee bring; the compulsory clauses of the Education Act into operation on April 15th. M'Loughlan has been committed for trial for the manslaughter of James Robertson, near Roxburgh. Extensive frauds have been discovered: in connection with the sale of spurious gold by Chinese at Cromwell. The manager of the Colonial Bank there detected a parcel of 90 ounces, containing one-fourth spurious gold. Ah Sin has been arrested at Naseby through Chinese influence. The banks at other places have purchased small quantities. It is believed that an extensive spurious gold manufactory exists. CHRISTCHURCH. February 16. The Sunday trading case was further adjourned in consequence of the press pf work ; there were several cases of illegal fishing for trout, but they were nearly all dismissed on technical points, or in consequence of the prosecution not producing sufficient evidence. February 17. In a lecture given by him last night in the Oddfellows' Hall, Mr. Mosley refuted at length Pastor Chiniquy's assertions re the Irish Famine, and read extracts from American pamphlets as to the disposal of the money collected by Chiniquy, other matters connected with his life.

On February 24, a match will be rowed on the Heathcote estuary between crews from the Canterbury and Heathcote Rowing Clubs. Distance, two miles and ; a half.

A woman named Minnie Edwards, who escaped from the Addington Gaol on February 5, was recaptured yesterday in a house at Addington. TIMARU. •! j- 17.; At an inquest held at Albury last evening on the body of Thomas Adamson, agdd eleven years, who died on Sunday at midnight, the evidence showed that the dieceased was discovered insensible three miles from his father's residence at five o'clock in the afternoon. He subsequently had several fits. A verdict of death from sunstroke was returned.

Pastor Chiniquy arrived to-day, and was escorted by a powerful body guard of Protestant clergymen and Masters of the Orange -Lodge.: H.e .lectures to-night in the Presbyterian Church! Heavy rain fell' last evening, and the weatlier' is

; •' - AUCKLAND. - - February 16. On Saturday -last 'a brutal criminal assault was Committed-by a Fijian : on a little girl of five years of age, the daughter-' of- Mk Geo ; Smith, 1 ih- Bishopfs paddock, Parnell. The police gave chase,, and. fh"e I? perp9tratbr u rari- inter 'a swainp near Kohemarima. The police get boggel and the follow escaped to the bush. A file ;of p'd'licefßan- surrounded a swanip all Saturday?•and -Sunday :night,;. but the Fijian is supposed to have escaped. It is; the; same; : busK*. that": Winiata-got into. To-day the police . are . scouring the country, and the telegraph has been put iil w motion : ,.warning- the police in the out .district,.. _ i . ■

The 'teachers are" moving... to" obtain a Toonffor a lib'raryrri the training' college. It is isaid ? that the Mormon : elders have converted two. or three persons here. They held .Mormon , service, again yesterday. r -i _ Archbishop Steins performed Pontifical High /.Massyesterjday,";. and co'hfimed a iarge number of> children.. An attempt was made to set fire to R. Allen Webb's house. The fire was discovered on the verandah after the family had retired. They were aroused by a neighbor, and put it out. February 17.

The management of the Theatre Royal undertake to give a performance in aid of. the Irish Relief Fund. At the Police Court Ebenezer Hastwell and Wm. Peck, charged with a breach of the Customs regulations by evading the duty on a box of tea per ship Fernglen, was fined in a mitigated penalty of L 25 .:

Arrived at Russell—Rotomahana, from Sydney, with 130 passengers and 610 tons cargo. She left Sydney at 6 p.m on the 12th. For the first two days she hadj a head sea and foggy weather. : A skeleton has been found in Kaukapakapa Bush. It is supposed to be the remains of a man named Butler, who was lost there 20 years ago. A pair of boots, mossgrown, with a piece of gold lace were found near the skeleton. ; BALCLUTHA. \ February 16.; By a violent gale which continued yesterday afternoon and evening immense damage has been done to crops, the ripe oats uncut being fully threshed out. A fire raged in the Kaihiku bush. Potter and Doull's old saw mill buildings were destroyed. The house of Moffat,:a settler, had a narrow escape. : HAWERA. ! " February 16.; The road is to be widened by clearing away the fern 10 feet on each side the formation, previous to the constabulary shifting camp. , WESTPORT. February 16. j At the Resident Magistrate's Court-, W. Stewart, for assaulting Mr. M'Lean, was committed for trial at the District Court. I KELSON. | February 16. • , ; A man named Marshall, 30 years of, age, who leaves a mother, a widow, and; four children unprovided for, was drowned at Collingwood, whilst attempting to cross the river in a canoe. Deceased arrived in the Colony about three months ago, and came with others to work at the Wallsend Coal Mine, Westport. He took a wrong ford, and was capsized. j Preparations for the Rifle Association matches are in progress under Armorer Christie. Wooden buildings for thU officers' mess, huts for sleeping rooms, and a telegraph office, are under construe-

tion. A bricked well has been sunk, and 12 targets are being put in position, with sunk butts, to prevent a shadow being thrown on the target. William Hogg, a local poet, but also known throughout the Colony, died at th.e Hospital yesterday, aged 76 years.