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Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 2, 15 May 1863, Page 2

It has boon questioned hy some "Victorian miners whether the present bed of the Shot, over is the original one, and the subject, it would nppear, -will shortly be definitely determine;!. The Lake. Wakatip Ufail, of the 6th instant, says : — " An application has been made to the Government for the grant of an area of twenty acres in the Shotover Gorge, on the part of a company about to be formed in this district for the purpose of thoroughly prospecting and, if possible, working the Gorge. It hns long been a matter of doubt among miners if the present bed of the Shotover Kiver below Arthur's Point is the original one, and it, is the opinion of several that such is not the fact, but that the river ran through the Gorge itself into the Lake, diverted from that course, through volcanic agency, into that it at present occupies." "We are hippy to learn that MrLy.il and five men have started for Dog Island, to prepare for the erection of the iron lighthouse which may be shortly expected from England. The party are well found in stores, tools, etc., and were taken as far as the Bluff by Cobb and Co. Intending passengers to Dunedin are reminded tha^. the s.s. William Miskin will sail for Otago, calling at the Bluff, on Monday next. The steamer Edina may be expected very shortly from Melbourne. From Southland, she will, in the first pl.ice, proceed to Dunedin, but, if sufficient inducement is held out, it is the intention of the owners to place her permanently in the trade between Invercargill and Melbourne. Messrs. Henderson, Bonar and Co, are the Invercargill agents. The steamer Keera, well known in the Australian trade, will make hei first appearance in New Zealand waters before long. She is intended for the trade between Invercargill and Dunedin. Some six months ago, "we stated that the Riverton moorings seemed to have taken up a permanent position on the Invercargill Jetty. There they still remain, and to all appearance are likely to, for some time to come, thus entailing great loss and inconvenience to the ship-masters visiting Eiverton. Only four lives have been lost by this neglect ; when that number has been considerably increased, perhaps it may be thought ■worth while to shift them to their proper position. Last night two very fine nuggets were shown to us, which were btought to town by a gentleman just returned from a prospecting tour in this province. The locality of the "find" is at present a secret, but we hope shortly to be in a position to give further information on the subject. We are permitted to state that they were found within, the province. The New Lowther Arcade is beginning to assume a business appearance. Ten shops are now in course of erection, twelve or fourteen more will be started in a few days, and probably before a month the whole of the ground will be covered. The enterprising proprietor, will, we think, have no reason to grumble at his share of success.

The class of meat now offering is by no means what it ought to be. "We speak feelingly, the edges of our teeth having been turned by fruitless endeavours to masticate what was sold to us as prime beef. The mutton is slightly better, but not much.

Yesterday morning as a female passenger by the Sir William Eyre, who had just landed from the Aphrasia, was standing on the new extension of the Jetty, she by some means managed to tumble down through One of the numerous openings between the planking. Captain Cheyne, of the Aphrasia, who happened to be standing by, jumped down on one of the cross pieces and rescued her from her somewhat perilous position. Beyond a good " ducking" and a slight fright, she sustained no injury. The Jetty planking should be completed without delay.

There is a scheme on the tapis for constructing a tramway from the end of the Jetty to a point near the Custom House. We cannot at present speak definitely on the subject, but the advantages which it offers over existing arrangements are so great, that every one must give the project cordia 1 support.

A clever capture was effected oa Wednesday by one of the police. A " young man from Victoria,*' having the unmistakable clean-shaven and black wide-awake appearance peculiar to gentlemen of a certain class, succeeded in entering a tent and stripping ifc of the greater part of its contents. The police got wind of the transaction at abont noon, and before four o'clock the theif, who gave his nam c as Peter Dempster, but is better known by the distinguishing soubriquet of "Peter the E'aC," had lus name entered amongst the arrivals at the police depot in Tay-street.

A«cidents Rre beoome of pretty frequent occurrence on Lake Wakatip. The Mail says : — On Monday morning (4th inst,) about ten o'clock, one of the most distressing accidents occurred that has yet taken place upon our Lake, which resulted in loss of life. It appears that a party of miners and others, numbering in all six persons, left the ' Twelve Mile' in the boat Cheviot, the property of Mr. Stewart, of the 'Twelve Mile,' en route for Queenstown, although at the time of starting the woather was somewhat boisterous, consequently making it a rather hazardous trip. Upon arriving at about two miles from the Queenstown Reef, a sudden squall caught the boat and precipitated the entire crew into the Lake, the boat at the same time, turning bottom upwards, and in this state eagerly clung to to by the mea in the water, and it was in this trying position that John Baker, a German, relaxed his hold upon the boat, and after catching for an instant at one of his mates, sank to rise no more. The case of this man appears most singular, as lie was reported to be a most excellent swimmer, and sufficiently points out the danger of this inland sea. Mr. Campbell's boat — also of the ' Twelve Mile''- happily was not far behind the Cheviot, and seeing the accident, bore down upon the scene of disaster, and happily succeeded in rescuing the men from their perilous position, without any further loss of life. Great praise is due to Win. Campbell and Angus M'Coy, for their strenuous efforts to relieve and save the men, as also the readiness and expertness that characterised the movements of the police boat, under sergeant Bryant, and the Young America belonging to Mr. llees."