LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 114, 13 May 1876, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[Per Press Agency.] NEW PLYMOUTH. May 11. At a meeting of the shareholders of the Titanic Steel Company, Mr Mathieson suggested that Mr Smythe be sent to Wellington.to attend the meeting of the company to be held there. The same gentleman moved—“ That, without delay, a thoroughly skilled and practical man, accustomed to blast furnaces, be brought from Europe to blow in the furnace, and. make a thorough trial. Meanwhile, all expenditure to be, reduced to the lowest possible limits.” Several of those present urged that stops be taken to push on a trial as quickly as possible ; or, if that were not done," that the works should be! sold for what they would fetch. Mr Mathieson’s resolution, on being put to the meeting, was carried. WELINGTON. May 11. At a general meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, it was resolved ,o form a Harbor Board, and to acquire, for £OO,OOO, the Queen’s Wharf and the To Aro Foreshore of 72 acres—the Corporation control over drainage and sewerage. One-' sixth of the land is to be handed over to': the Corporation for Public Reserves. The Government is to be communicated with,’ to learn what endowment they will grant the Board, and whether they will introduce the necessary Bill into Parliament. The agricultural statistics for the pro vince show 1,800 holdings. The total number of acres under crop within the province is 432,000. Wheat, oats, and barley show an increase compared with last year ; but potatoes are falling off. The total number of acres under crop, including sown grasses, is—ln the Wanganui Electoral District,s2,Bl2 ; Rangitikoi, 70,639 ; Manawatu, 32,807 ; Wairarapa, 206,733. DUNEDIN. May 11. The Otago Education Board this morning deferred the consideration' of the numerous applications for school buildings, new schools, and appointment of teachers, owing to the Government, having no finals at their disposal. The keeper of a street coffee stall was fined £lO to-day for selling brandy, during Hie small hours of the morning, <o men who had boon drinking heavily. NAPIER. May 12. A prisoner named Rimonds, under two years sentence, escaped this morning from the hard labor gang employed at Battery Point quarrying stone for harbor works. He is not yet-re-captured. The police are after him. CHRISTCHURCH. May 12. 1 The general entries and acceptances for the Grand National Steeplechase close next Monday. AUCKLAND. May 10. Large fire.in Queen-street at 2 o’clock this morning. It was discovered in a small occupied house at the rear of the wooden block of shops on the corner of Victoria-street and Queen-street opposite the Greyhound Hotel. The fire spread with great rapidity, destroying the following premises in Queen-street Cook’s; furniture shop, the stock is insured in the Norwich Union for £IOO ; Close Bros., 1 grocers, insurance on stock, £IOOO ; Payne. l watchmaker, Syms, hairdresser, Fijian Fruit House (unoccupied), Welsman, chemist, stock insured for £450.; Bennett, draper; Turnell’s music shop, insured for £450- In •‘Victoria-street—Blue PostDining Rooms, insured for £SOO. The fire, was stopped at Montague’s brick building, which is damaged by the intense heat. The losses of the insurance Com-; panics, so far as yet ascertained, are New Zealand, £1,750; Victoria, £750; Imperial, £SOO ; Norwich Union, £6OO. Origin of ; 'the fire 1 unknown ; very suspicious. Re the fire this morning, the following is a corrected list of losses of various Insurance Companies:—New Zealand—total, £1,200 ; partial, £6OO. . Norwich Union— 1 partial, £BOO. Batavia—partial, £SOO. Transatlantic—partial, £350. Royal—partial, £I,OOO, South British—partial,£l,4oo. Standard partial, £1,500. National partial, £6OO Victoria—total, £253 (partial, £1,900. Imperial-—total, £250 ; par- ; tial, 600. The fire originated in the Fijian Fruit House, which is unoccupied'.