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Otago Daily Times, Issue 290, 25 November 1862, Page 4

A meeting of ratepayers of Bell Ward (No. 3), is to be held -to-morrow evening at the Royal George Hotel, at 7 o'clock, for tlie purpose of selecting fit and proper persons to represent the ward.

A general meeting of the shareholders of the steam ship Victory company is to be held on Thursday, at 12 o'clock noon.

•Mr. George Fajvcett's version of "David Copperfield" was produced at the Princess Theatre, last evening, to a very good house. It seamed to be very successful, and is to be repeated. The good old musical piece, " Tiie Waterman," was nicely done, all the original songs being given by Mr Sherwin and Miss Emma Neville.

Depositors in the Provident Institute of Victoria who may not yet have proved their claims should take steps to do so. Messrs Kenyon and Maddock, of Dunedin, have instructions from the official assignees, and can supply the necessary forms and afford every requisite information. An advertisement on this subject appears elsewhere.

The meeting of the Provincial Council is fixed for to-morrow (Wednesday), at twelve o'clock noon. In consequence o£ the Council Chamber being still occupied by the Supreme Court, the Council will meet in the Schoolroom of the Firsfc Church (Dr Burns'), which is, we believe, being specially fitt ed up for the occasion.

We understand that the Athenaeum will shortly have an addition to its library of about £150 worth of well selected books, now 011 their way from England. The invoice has been received by this mail. We publish elsewhere a letter respecting the institution, which, owing to press of matter, was omitted from our issue of yesterday.

We observe that Quick's Express for the Dunstan will start this morning from the office of Messrs J. Jones_ and Co., Manse-street, at ten o'clock.

Cobb and Co. announce that they will this day dispatch a five-horse coach for the Dunstan, to do the distance through in three days. The coach will start at two p.m., taking passengers'

swags,

The condemned convict, John Fratson, continues calm and in good health ; but he is evidently keenly anxious for news from Auckland, in the hope or belief that the movements here in his favor will secure a commutation of his sentence ; and for some days he has been heedless of his religious instructors.

The special jurors summoned iv the cause of Lckning v. 'M'Zachlan, are required (as they will fi'id by an advertisement elsewhere), to attend at the Supreme Court at ten o'clock on Wednesday morning. Two causes were taken at yesterday's sittiug.la Hertslet v.Joseph, the plaintiff obtained a verdici for L 25 for the wrongful conversion of a pug-mill. Morriwnr. jßhre»fricd, was an action upon an I O U, but resolved itself into an ordinary horse case, it being plea-lei that the I O U was given for a sound liorse, and that none such had been delivered. The C^urt rose after the conclusion of the plaintiff's case.

By way of Melbourne we are told by telegram tbat Mr Crosbie Ward has communicated with the Sydney Chamber of Commerce on the subject of tbe Panama route. We hesitate to believe what, if it be trae, amounts to a glaring breach of the understanding arrived at between Mr Crosbie Ward and the Otago Government.

It is amusing to see the mistakes made in the home papers when chronicling colonial events. The Australian and Neto Zealand Gazette, a paper published in London, and professing to be a reliable organ oa Australian and New Zealand affairs, speaks of Sir George Grey having successfully quelled a feud amongst the " Ngapuhis in the Waitara District." The discrepancy is only that the tribe referred to live some two hundred miles or more from the district they are alleged to belong to.

In our issue of yesterday, appeared a paragraph to the effect that according to tlie letter of our Special Correspondent, the next Escort from tiie Dunstan might be expected to bring down 12,000 ozs. By a mistake, the paragraph in reference to this subject was omitted from the letter. -It ran as follows :—" The Escort will take down about twelve thousand ounces, if the horses are fit for the duty. The route ma the Tuapeka is allowed on all hands to be a most ill-chosen one, and offers great facilities for repetition of the deeds of a Gardiner. and a Garrett. To anticipate the amount of gold the Escort is likely to bring down, is a matter of serious difficulty, but this amount can be safely stated. One Bank already holds by purchases, and on deposit 4,500 ounces. It has surpassed the expectations of your reporter, that so large an amount of gold should be likely to be sent do vn by the Escort, of the 26th inst., when the very excitable and fluctuating state of the population is taken into consideration. To compare the returns of cho population, and the yield' of gold is a fallacious way of estimating the value of this gold field. / The miners hold on so earnestly to their gold in the hope of higher prices, and without considering the number of those who are walking about endeavoring to obtain some information of these new rushes, no return based upon the population and the fortnightly Escort, eari give a safe guide on which to base conclusions."

A romantic drama entitled - The Carpenter of Rouen, was produced at the Theatre Royal last evening. Th e s t or y is much the same as thafol he opera of * Les Huguenots," but is, of con se fuller ln detail Mr Holt was the old carpent ' Marteau nnd Mrs Holt was MadelemL, £ heroine of the play. Several of the situations and especially that of the induction of Antoiue to the secret society-which in the opera is fohowed by the great chorus, «the benediction of he poignards''--were very effectively done • and the drama generally went well.

Captain M'Lachlan desires us to say that the credit of securing the horses when they broke 100 ! on board the Omeo is due to his first Mr Martin who, under his directions, went down below for the purpose. The work was one of 2 ordinary difficulty, the horses were wild with fear and tliere was considerable danger from their kicking The Omeo had to lie to nineteen h oUrs whilst the horses were being secured. The Government have succeeded in purchasing the small steamer Avon, at Lyttelton, for 2 purpose of placing her on the Waikato Kiv er The price agreed on was £1,725.

Another squabble has occurred amount tb. natives. The "Daily Southern ct^ says :—' We have been informed that a dim culty, which may lead to hostilities between the Cabbage Tree Bay natives and a section of the Thames natives, has arisen. Some time a J the Cabbage Tree Bay natives became possesstd ofthe cutter Margaret, valued at £800 They placed her under the command of a young chief named Hatapaka, who made a trip uu the Thames. A native woman, wife of Wm * Riki was a passenger on the down trip, and W ap . lka was accused of having committed himself iv «ore way with her. The Thames natives seized |h e Margaret and beached her, keeping an armed guard, night and day, to prevent her bein-»- re moved by force. They demanded £SOO in" cash for the injury done, on account of Riki's wife or else they declared they would keep the vessel' We understand that £400 have been of^-red but his sum has been refuse. A new pah lw S ben constructed on the Thames, and strongly fortified, at Waikawau, the boundary of the kind's territory on that side," °

Some inconvenience has, it appears, been experienced by foreign residents in New Zealand and by others having correspondence with the continent of Europe, owing- to the feet of all the mails from countries on the European continent via Marseilles, for the Southern portion of New Zealand, being forwarded in one packet to Wellington, there to be diviJed aud distributed to the several Provinces. Southlaud, as being the most remote from Wellington, experienced the greatest annoyance from this practice, aud Mr Getsow, of Invercargill, addressed a complaint on the subject to head quarters. In reply, Mr Qeisow received the following letter, which is published iv the " Southland News " .—

General Post Ofiice, Auckland, 23rd October, 18G2

Mr F. H. Gsisow.

Sir, -I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your fetter of the 23rd August, respectimi the delivery at Southland of the Marseilles portion of the Mail from the Continent of Europe; and in reply I am directed to inform you that the del iy complained of in the French Mail delivery has since bean obviated to a certain extent. The French Post o;fice decline to make up mails for each separate Province of New Zealand; but the Southern portion of the French Mail is now opened at Dunedin instead of at Wellington, as heretofore.

I have, &c.,

G. Elliott Elliott.

Oa the 31st ult., an important public meeting was held at the Masonic Hotel, Taranaki, his Honor the Superintendent in the chair, for the purpose of considering the propriety of appointing a deputation to wait on Mr Domett, the Colonial Secretary, on his arrival there in the Storm Bird, to ascertain from him, as far as possible, the intentions of the Government with regard to the place. After much discussion, the following resolutions, proposed by Mr H. A, Atkinson, seconded by Mr I. N. Watt, were adopted by the meeting . —" Tii-.it a deputation be appointed to wait upon the Colonial Secretary to obtain from him information upon the following points .—l. What prospects be can hold out to the settlers of Taranaki as to their being able to re-occupy and cultivate tlieir lands this summer. 2. lu'the event of His Excellency not considering it advisable on Imperial or Colonial grounds to reinstate the Taranaki settlers upon their farms this summer, what action the Government will be prepared to takewithaviewto.placing the Taranaki people in a position to bscome once more a self-support-ing community. 3. What steps the Government intend to take with regard to the .£200,000 voted by the General Assembly for the purpose of reinstating the settlement of Taranaki aud its inhabitants. 4. Whether if the settlers, towards the end of the summer, deem tliat they are obliged to leave Taranaki, the Governmant would be prepared to assist them, and to what extent. And, also, to obtain any further information in their power upon the present and future prospects of: the scfctietnsnfc ; to impress upon the Colonial Secretary the demoralising influence ofthe present system of relief; and the advisability and desira'-ulity of distributing the money voted by the Assembly for reinstating the settlement of Taranaki aad the inhabitants immediately, as the best means of effecting the object the Assembly had in view." The following gentlemen*were then appointed to form the deputation: —W. K. Hulke, EI. R. Richmond, T. Good, 11. A. Atkinson, T. King, T. Hirst, J. T. Upjohn, R. Greenwood, I. N. Watt.