EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26634, 3 December 1947, Page 4

EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

FROM THE FILES OF THE ©tago Datlu Himes . DUNEDIN, DECEMBER 3, 1862. The Daily Times reports that a meeting was held at Hartley’s township for the purpose of making arrangements for carrying out a day’s horse racing and a series of Christmas outdoor sports. Mr J. S. Raphael moved: “That from the position this goldfield has assumed, it is highly desirable that the season of Christmas should not be allowed to pass without being commemorated in the good old English style—viz., by horse races and a-series of other outdoor sports.” Mr Menders seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously.

“In accordance with the recommendation of Mr Justice Gresson the sentence of death on John Fratson has been commuted to one of imprisonment for life.” ... A communication has been received by the editor of the Daily Times in which the Colonial Secretary, Mr Domett, acknowledges the receipt of a petition forwarded to him for a commutation of Fratson’s sentence and informs him of the fact of the prerogative of mercy having been exercised. The editor explains that there is some mistake, “for not only was no such petition forwarded from this office, but it was actually stated in our columns that we looked upon the case as one in which the evidence hau been quite sufficient to warrant the conviction and in whicn the law might well have been left to take its course.”

The Daily Times publishes the prospectus of the Dunedin Water Works Company, with a capital of £30,000, in 6000 shares of £5, payable in instalments The provisional directors were Joh” Hyde Harris. A. Chetham Strode, W. H. Cutteri, Thomas Dick, E. B. Cargill, F. J. Alderson, W- H. Reynolds, . James Paterson, and James Jones. An ample supply of pure water for the use of the inhabitants of Dunedin is aimed at.

At a meeting of the Licensing Committee a licence to sell beer and wine was granted to James Hetherington. of. the Vauxhall Pleasure Tea Gardens Anderson’s Bay. Sub-inspector Weldon said that about 20 acres of land had been taken, a good many trees etc., cleared off, and a rotunda and a refreshment bar erected. There would be fireworks in the evening and various amusements.

“Although nothing definite has occured of a warlike tendency, yet there can be little doubt that another Native war is imminent. The great meeting manifesto being issued by Matutaere. the Maori king, that no steamer would be allowed to go up the River Waikato nor should any bridge be thrown over that stream. Further, the Waikato Natives have had the impudence to diptate the conditions upon which the Waitara dispute is to be settled, one of which is that the murderers during the late war should first receive the Governor’s pardon.”

“Mr William Fox, whose name has been brought so familiarly before the public of late, in connection with the discovery of rich gold deposits in the Arrow River district, despatched from town yesterday by a four-horse team a boat capable of carrying some six or seven tons of cargo destined to trade on Lake Wakatipu.”