TELEGRAMS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 12 November 1880, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

WELLINGTON. November 11

It is understood that Government has decided to reduce the railway charge for the conveyance of timber by threepence per 100 feet, such reduction, however, to apply only to timber carried for the purpose of export. Instructions will be sent to the Acting- : Agent to secure space at the approaching ;wool exhibition, to be held at the Crystal :Palace, Sydenham, for New Zealand competitors, who will simply have to consign their exhibits to the agency, London, where they will be duly cared for, exhibitors paying only the freight to London.

Sir Wm. Fox is expected to arrive in Wellington to-night to confer with Sir F. Bell and Government regarding the settlement of matters connected with the native difficulty. It is uncertain whether the Premier will be able to go to Auckland to meet Sir Arthur Gordon. DUNEDIN. November 12. Mr. Wm. Drysdale, drysalter, dropped down dead in George-street yesterday. He was suffering from heart disease. Councillors Fish and Ross were nominated for the city mayoralty to-day. CHRISTCHURCH. November H, A draft of stud merino rams and ewes from Tasmania,' bred by J. Gibson, of Bellevue, and others, were sold by auction this morning and realised excellent prices. The highest price merino ram was 190 o-uineas, and the sale realised about L3OOQ, AUCKLAND. ' November 12. Kauri gum having risen by L2 per ton, large quantities are coming in. It is rumored here that the withdrawal of the Government proclamation over the Patetere lands will be gazetted to-day. The Waste Lands Board purpose to commend Parliament to impose an export duty on kauri gunjj and issue licenses to dig similar to miners' rights. A fire broke out in Williams' bakery, Grey-street, last night, through hot ashes being left in an exposed place. The damage is slight, as the fire wps quickly extinguished. NAPIER. November 11, The fact of Mr. Cajr, C.E., having received notice that his services will be dispensed with after the Ist January, is taken as indicating a total stoppage of all railway works. The settlers in the bush townships have had next to no work for the last 12 months, and now they are not only unable to pay instalments due on their lands, but in many cases are reduced to absolute want. They have no other possible means of earning money, as they are long distances from any market for produce, while they cannot leave sections and seek work elsewhere without forfeiting them, and thug losing the labor of years. In the House last session, Mr. Ormond obr tained a promise that a portion of the vote for the unemployed should be spent in the bush districts. Hitherto the settlers have waited patiently, but now, being on the verge of starvation, and having exhausted their credit at the local storekeepers, they are holding indignation meetings, in order to obtain a fulfilment of the promise. The local clergy paint the position of the settlers in pitiable colors, and the County Council is doing its best to find work in the neighborhood to relieve to some extent the existing distress. WANGANUI. November 12. Mr, Proctor lectured last night to the best audience ever gathered together in Wangatjui, and met with a hearty recep* tion. NEW PLYMOUTH. November 11. At the Supreme Court, NicholM'Carthy was charged with perjury committed in the Resident Magistrate's Court. The jury found a verdict of not guilty. Judge Richmond remarked this morning that, from the number of challenges jn the empannelling, it wag almost impossible in a small place to get an impartial jury. He was apprehensive that it would be necessary to have a modification of the jury laws, or justice would be seriously endangered. The remedy, he said, was when a eharge was brought against an old settler in a small district, I;he case should not be tried in that district. John Fraser Bell pleadgd guilty; to falsifying the registration of a child's birth, and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. GRAHAMSTOWN, November J2. As the result of an agitation initiated hero with reference to the Patetere Block, a monster meeting will be held shortly to adopt a memorial to the new Governor on his arrival in the Colony against the giving of Vice-Regal assent to the withdrawal of the proclamation. There are now sixty prospectors at the Te Arolia goldfield.