LATEST TELEGRAMS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1209, 24 November 1882, Page 2

LATEST TELEGRAMS.

[per united press association]. WELLINGTON, This Day. 1 The Secretary of the Post Office furnishes the following memo, regarding the burned mails for the United Kingdom which left here via ’Frisco in August last. The mails were put on board the Guion steamer Alaska at New York on the 11th September, and found to be on fire next morning, at 9.30. There the officials from the New York Post Office investigated the case and came to the conclusion that the fire had originated in a bag from Sydney, and they kept a small tin I box found in the ashes which had apparently I held something combustible. The result of ' the clearing up on the voyage, the steamer i being on the point of departure when the fire I was discovered, shews that 13 bags of the j mails from New Zealand, Fiji, Tasmania, : and New South Wales were either totally or 1 partly burnt. Two of these were from Fiji, ! two from Tasmania, one from Sydney, and two from H.M. ships. There were collected of the remains six bags of newspapers in good order, and one damaged to such an extent as not to be able to be dealt with. One of the letter bags was good and one of them damaged, and in two containing worthless fragments and ashes of valuable articles there were found a gold and a silver watch and chain and locket in a box, one ring in a box, 2 rings loose, a brooch, another ornament not specified, £lO and sixpence in money, and 2 knitted shawls, and some other trifles of little worth. The mail from New Zealand to Loudon and suburbs was uninjured. The registered letters from London forward, that is for all other places in England and Wales, except Liverpool and 168 offices served through Liverpool, were almost all burned. ; As the letter bill of this mail was also burned ■ it cannot be said how much ordinary correspondence suffered. However, an average weight of the letters arrived safely. This mail originally contained 10,654 letters, inclusive of 237 registered. The bags of letters made up of remains, consisted of six bundles of New South Wales letters, are very little damaged, and about 1300 letters damaged from New Zealand and New South Wales ; these were all whole enough to be enclosed in official envelopes at the foreign department of the general post office, and sent out for delivery. The returned letter department subsequently found 130 more to be able to be delivered. Five . registered letters from New Zealand were very much burned. It is not said whether so much as to prevent their delivery, but the three referred to below seem to be some of them. It is supposed that one bag and its contents, letters from New Zealand, were altogether destroyed, and it appears that 1 bag of books and 30 newspapers were so much burned that only parts of the bags were left. Of the letters partly destroyed, but sent out for delivery from the returned letter office, three were registered and ten contained bills of exchange, money orders, etc. One of the registered letters was from New Zealand, from “Minnie,” of Pokeno Valley, and it contained money. The origin of the fire destroying those with valuable property is not known. The remains in the Returned Letter Office not able to be disposed of there fare 67 letters, and some photographs, j books, etc. There was found a money order, No. 8264, Auckland, on Peterborough, for I one pound. All the valuable property, re-

mains, etc,, will be disposed of by delivery to addresses and otherwise as quickly as possible. All correspondence going to England for transmission abroad is enclosed in the mail for London itself, On this occasion, therefore, it did not suffer injury. It is not stated in what proportion the mails for London and forwarded to Glasgow and Dublin suffered, or whether those for the two latter places suffered at all. It seems most likely they did not. Messrs. Murray, Roberts and Co., to-day, received the following cable dated London, 21st November, 1882 :—The fourth series of sales opened to-day with an average attend- • ance of buyers. Crossbreds have declined | one penny per lb. Other descriptions have i declined half-penny per lb; market irregular. In the Appeal Court this morning, the case ! of Connor v. Mackay (Dunedin) was oonclu* i dod. Judgement being reserved. The argument on the points reserved by j Judge Richmond in the Conspiracy case of j Adams was commenced. Mr Fovwood who ’ took over tlio case from Mr Ollivior, appeared in support of the convicion being quashed ' Messrs E. Shaw and Gully supporting the ; conviction. The court is still sitting.

DUNEDIN, This Day. Mr Larnach is now definitely out for the Peninsula. Catherine Anderson died at Deborah Bay yesterday under suspicious circumstances. The Equitable Insurance Company’s allotment of shares will be posted early next week, The delay is owing to an Act of last session necessitating the alteration. In the articles the Association Company has taken permanent premises. The following officers were installed at the Good "Templars Grand Lodge : —W.G.T' Bro. J. W. Jago; W.G.C., Bro. Rev. Roseby; W.G.v.T,, Bro. Geddes, (Victoria); W.G.S., Bro. Cameron, (Dunedin); G. Treas., Bro. H. Bennett, (Christchurch); G.C., Bro. Lennox, (Victoria); W.G.M., Bro. Allworth ; Superintendent Juvenile Templars, Bro. J. T. Smith, (Christchurch) ; Bro. Rev. Kingdon (Geelong), P.W.G.T. The next session to be held at Sydney in 1885. Arrived— Wanganui, from Greymouth* CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Thomas Besson, resident agent for Arthur Briscoe and Co., Dunedin, has been committed for trial for embezzling £5O. The Industrial Association is collecting information from iron founders as to the possibility of manufacturing railway plant in the Colony. A man named Carthy, recently from Dunedin, was drowned at Sumner while bathing. AUCKLAND, This day. £2OO worth of jewellerv, stolen from the steamer Wellington, has been found planted in Freeman’s Bay. W. Moyle, an old resident was found dead in his bed. A verdict of apoplexy from excessive drinking was returned. A similar verdict in the case of Charles Byrne, found dead in the street yesterday was given. The Waste Lands Board have recommended the granting of a lease on conditions to the new Iron Smelting Company of iron sand on the Manukau beach, The Choral Society have been requested to send a contingent to the forthcoming musical festival at Melbourne, but have declined. Joseph Pitner, who joined the Austrian Army just before the Battle of Waterloo, died recently at Puhoi, aged 87. The Church and the Rev. Mr Smith’s parsonage, at Pollock, was burned on Tuesday last.

The police have recovered £2O worth of jewellery, stolen from the s.s. Wellington, under a house in Freeman’s Bay to-day. Te Kooti has called a meeting, to be held at Te Kuiti, and Tawahiao will be present. Mr F. D. Fenton, acting on behalf of the Government, interviewed Te Wheoro and Natives at Whatiwhatilme yesterday, and explained that the Government were prepared to allocate lots of Iqnd to landless Waikatos. Tuonui, who was the principal Chief present of Ngatimana and the Ngatimaniapoto Natives, asked time for consideration amongst themselves before replying, and are now in consultation, CAMBRIDGE, This Day. At a large meeting of Natives attending the Court this mormng, an invitation was read from Tuwhlao asking them to meet him at the Waohl settlement, 45 miles south of Cambridge. It was agreed to accept the invitation, and for that purpose the pronative men were deputed to apply, at once, for an adjournment of the court from the 20th December to the Bth January, It is understood that this is one of a number of meetings Tawhiao proposes holding throughout the King country to elicit an expression of opinion as to the course he should follow’ under existing circninstances, Judgment was given to-day in Waohl, Case No. 1. Ngatiahia was awarded twofifths ; Ngatainaihi two-fifths ; Ngatamatea, remaining one-fifth of block, An influential I’equisition for re-hearing of disappointed claimants will be made to the Chief Judge. The successful claimants have disbursed £lOO in liquor, so that the whole place is in a fair way of becoming a scene of dissipation,