LAST NIGHT’S WIRES.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 38, 12 January 1884, Page 2

LAST NIGHT’S WIRES.

[Per United Press Association.] Wellington, Jan. 11. Nothing has yet been decided as to the fate of the girl Kata Boyle. The question of her disposal will be duly considered by the Government on the report being received from the learned judge who tried the case, but so far no report has been received from his Honor. A sitting of the Supreme Court in the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes jurisdiction is fixed for the 14th irist. The following is a list of the cases for hearing :-~Edwards v. Edwards and Bennington, rule nisi; Elwell v, Elwell and Phillips, rule absolute; and Pizzy v. Pizzy, rule absolute. Balclutha, Jan. 11. A four-roomed house and furniture, belonging to Mr. Mcßride, a carpenter hero, was accidentally destroyed by firo this afternoon. It was insured for £lOO In the Victoria office. Patea, Jan‘ 11, A man named Stephen Wilson was killed in a ballast-pit on the railway this afternoon by a fall of earth. Auckland, Jan. 11. Captain Fisher, formerly of the barque Loongoona, has been appointed Deputy Harbor Master. The Hon. E. Mitchelson, left for the north yesterday. He intends starting for a trip through the Waikato country on Monday next. After visiting Hamilton and Cambridg, it is his intention to return to Auckland via Te Aroha and Thames. Mr. J. W. Carrileed has been elected a member of the Board of Education. Tim Whiffler, Fusileer, Ugly Buck, Trenton, and Sir Bedevere have been shipped by the Rotomahana for the south. At the Board of Education the estimate for the ensuing year’s expenditure on education submitted was £BB,OOO, of which the cost of the proposed new school buildings is £BO,OOO. Dunedin, Jan. 11. Major Cantley is expected to arrive tonight, and the Governor will go down the harbor to-morrow, to make an inspection in connection with the defences. His Excellency was on the ground for a short time at the Blueskin Show, having been on a visit to the Hon. G. McLean, in the neighborhood. It is stated that the Kakanui, a locallyowned steamer, is ashore at the Bluff. No declarations of insolvency were filed this week. Christchurch, Jan. 11. The Supreme Court criminal sittings close at seven this evening. During the day, Joseph Pritchard, for indecent assault, was sentenced to four years’ penal servitude. John Wheeler, for sheep-stealing, got two years* imprisonment, with hard labor. Auckland, Jan. 11. . The Hon. J. E. Mason, of Tainui, Fiji, an extensive tea planter in that Colony, is at present at Auckland. He arrived by the Penguin, and brought samples of his tea with him for the purpose of bringing it before the attention of Auckland tea-merchants. At present Mr. Mason has a market at good prices in Fiji, equal to what he produces; but as more recently-planted portions of his garden, about sixty acres in extent, come into bearing, the time will soon come when he will have to obtain a larger market than that which Fiji affords. During the next week Mr. Mason intends to have a public liquoring of the tea, so as to draw the attention of the trade more fully to what Fiji can furnish. Count Strickland, who arrived by the Rotomahana, was commissioned by the Council of Malta to deal with the subject of immigration of Maltese to New Zealand, a subject which was introduced by M. De Cesare, who was here in the beginning of last year. Count Strickland is a Maltese nobleman, and a considerable landowner there, and as he was leaving for a tour round the world he was commissioned by the Maltese authorities to act in pressing the matter of emigration, Malta being very thickly populated. Count Strickland’s father was an Englishman, and he was mostly educated in England. He comes accredited by Sir F. D. Bell, and before he left London he consulted with Sir Charles Clifford, formerly of New Zealand, and others with whom he was acquainted. It will be remembered that the Hon.

Mr. Bollerton oonnented to the Introduction of some thirty or forty Maltese, who were to be settled to the north of Auckland, to coni' mence the cultivation of oranges and other sub-tropical crops, which they and their fathers have been accustomed to cultivate. Count Strickland thinks the number spoken of by Mr. Kolleston is far too small to do any good either to Malta or New Zealand. He proposes that either some landed proprietors should guarantee work for a certain, time to the Maltese, with some land for themselves, or that a special settlement should be formed. Count Strickland and Mr. Mitohelson are going to Wellington, where he will have an interview with Mr. Bolleston, in whose department this matter lies. His desire is that the offer of a special settlement should be made in the first instance to the Maltese authorities, and if they cannot see their way to take it up, that it should be made to a number of gentlemen in London, some of whom are interested ih Malta and some in New Zealand, and who would advance the funds necessary to start the scheme.