Untitled

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 54, 4 October 1864, Page 2

From an advertisement in another column, it will be seen -that 'a meeting-, of .the .friend b and supporters of the Mechanics' Institute will take place in the hall, to-morrow evening, at half-past sev.en o'clock. The report of the. committee of the institute will be submitted to the. meeting, and the new programme will be announced. It is intended to have fortnightly , lectures throughout the year,' 7aried occasionally by by a concert or other similar entertainment." These lectures, &c, will, of course be free to subscribers to the institution, and a small charge for admission will be levied on. non-subscribers. His Honor the Superintendent will , preside at the meeting to-morrow,. evening. . .. i The meetings of creditors in the .msolyent estates of Matthew-Price,- Matthew Sharley, G-. M K. Clarke, W. Roebuck, L. Cramer, M. Mendoza, and J.,Gk Hughes, which were convened for Sa-turi-''y lasfi, at the Office Of the Registrar of tlxe Supreme Court, were adjourned till the 12th in3t., when His .Honor the..J.ud£e. would be present. | A special meeting of the - Local Committee in connection with the New Zealand Exhibition willi take place at four o'clock p.m. tomorrow, in the office of His Honor the Superintendent. ; Our Riverton correspondent informs us that a public meeting was held at the Marine Hotel, Riverton, on Tuesday, 27th inst., to take steps for the formation of a volunteer corps. John Crerar, Esq., occupied the chair. The meeting was well attended by the most influential persons in the town. Sixty- two persons signed their names to the list a3 willing to be enrolled, and more are coming forward to the movement. The secretary, Mr. John Webb, having read the minutes of last meeting, (which took place on the previous Friday) the same were duly confirmed. He was then directed to communicate with Captain Junor on the subject, and the meeting was adjourned till Tuesday 4th October. The Lake correspondent of the Otago Daily Tunes reports that a well-known resident at Queenstown was drowned ou Friday last by falling out of a sailing boat, nearly opposite Mr. Tubseman's station. The deceased, James Jones (a Welshman), had been employed at intervals by Mr. Kcese, in his boat 3 ; and on this occasion accompanied Mr. Charles Broad and others to the head of the lake ; and on returning, being rather in liquor, lost his balance and fell overboard. He sank almost immediately- -all the efforts made to save him being rendered nugatory by the heavy squall blowing at t'ue time. The body ha 3 not yet been recovered. Mr. Hali, the lessee of the Christchurch Theatre, has engaged the Lyster Opera Troupe for twelve nights for £1500, with the option of extending the engagement for six nights more, on payment of £700 additional. A correspondent of the Ovens and Murray Advertiser, Mr. Joseph Edwards, of Myrtleford, communicates the following particulars of anarow escape from death by lightning : — " On Saturday evening, about nine o'clock, a ball of electric fluid, about the size of a teapot, came hissing through the atmosphere, and descending my kitchen chimney, struck one of my men, Thomas Duggan, on the back of the head, burnt a hole in his hat, set fire to his hair, passed down hiß back, burning the two woollen shirts on his back, entered the wall of the chimney, and exploded with a report equal to the explosion of a barrel of gunpowder. A boy was sitting by, asleep, but was unhurt ; he was awakened with the noise, and to his astonishment found Mr. Duggan all in flames, and totally insensible ; and ha I he not been there Duggau would in all probability have been burned to death. I have sent him to the hospital, as he is badly burnt, and appears to have lost for the present the use of some of his limbs." The Ad vertiser says : — " The man was taken into Beeehworth yesterday by the Buckland coach, and his injuries presented a very curious appearance. Some of the hair at the back of the head was burned off, and his head, neck, and ears, scorched black. A hole, through which a man might pass his fist, was knocked out of the crown of his hat, and the lightening passed down to the small of his back, where it appears to have left him, and knocked a large stone out of the chimney behind him. He remained senseless from Saturday afternoon till Sunday morning ; but the paralysis has almost totally disappeared." The amount deposited in the Dunedin Savings' Bank on Monday last, was £707 ; the number of depositors being 127. Of these, 60 were new accQunts. The promoters of the bank will doubtless be highly gratified at the success attending their efforts. . Marlborough papers contain long and gloomy accounts of the devastation caused by the recent flooding of the Wakamarina, "and its tributary streams. Deep Creek attained the unprecedented height of tweutv-six feet. The roaJs have become impassable, and Humes,, pumps,- sluice boxeai wheelbarrows, and forests of timber, of all kinds and sizes, have been floated down the Pelorus eh masse. The amount of loss inflicted on the workmen is said to be f-aimost .incalculable. The" Lyttelton Times publishes further correspondence between Mr Selfe, the agent of the Canterbury Government, tho. Panama" Company; tho Provincial Gto vornmentrof Canterbury, and Mi\ Grosbio; Ward, on the subject ot the Panama contract."" The Ly Melon Times "'in cdminentihg upon the correspondence, says : — " It will bo'seen' thftfc~£lio intcrppaitioriorC^ ton hasachieved exactly. 1 tliat success -whichi was. most to bo hopodJbr.., The .Company donofcaban-j don the contract' "with"' 'the" cololiy and accept; another fromiihe Brovihc'eSjOinH 'ft .waS not to bo oxpected that they should- do so. Nor, on "the •otherlhunardid 4he r ProvmgeafdSs&e^TßeTsadaif * -wifeh f a post!ale6nfcf^^yhich;faparfc* <£rb&& theVex4 penso, mightjhave'i-provedi a -BeriouaidifficultylHn ipoinfc-of 'managements lfkoir^objoct .waytoi:take. such a position towards the colonp'and>itha r «coih-: pany, the two parties-to the- contract, as would ou tho one hand convince tho company that the peoj pie of New Zealand disown the rppudiating: policy; ■of.the MniatrV, and'oa-tfeo ofchor^ wouia bring the* wSight of T publi6 'bpiniobi* 'booted by~a pooumaty guarasteo, to 1 - bear- upoa. tho General Assembly. Tim position they bsro bocu cr^odpwful in taking.

The actiob o£(&hterlrtlpy;ancl WfeU|ogtap B*,^tt fact, aS^!evi(ient fro®??tKecprr^p6n£lenMjfdete»mineSjtfie (%|^ able£with s reference i^Che outery^b&iit^nronopolT, that the «ratraetßrK,expreß9 their willingttesa *f**V f accent any reasonable modification of th« oondia* ,/^ once that tihe Company are.not setting, before anf object to be.gainedi ttiejjobtahv 'of an*" exclusive -position as 'monopolists^ Xp the detriment of all other persons andiGompanief interested in steamjiiayigation j^th&sejSeaa. Their desire is'to Work th*6 Panama serTioe^and ite neceftia^brWch"linei"aaTpiie whiole sernce', so as not to be at. frhe_snerey of^tl^ffcoinpanies'tifor the ,cOn» veyance of through-traffic. There is a consistent - and perfectly .pEopeiideeh* ; butfil^is >Tery §}ft° r ' ent from the grasping, Belfisb^.a£d?ekclußive, fiionopoly w]iieh.'was.imputed to<ffietn^sPhe; repjy of the company"is, v Tve think, niori^liwrM^^tiMat tha attitude^fvthe* &ojernment deserved." .. A Belf-'aßtingisiint^af^uSt^»n*condtnicted by Messia-.^s3»ttoii r and I Qoxon the,Ka^v»rau Biyer, at Cromwell; ,and')na,'u^iTratiedT4^iws^ general rejoicingßl' 7 ' ; Oh'tKe ?r ß'aT 1 Se &> day,' 5 Messrs. Barry and Bqtchery, ■nyre^eadi pre- ' sented^with a handsora^^goid of the value of twenty 'guiiieas', ln c recognifi6n of*their exertions in.destroying the; late mo'nopolycin jthe?;article of butcher^me.at. : Lo:-?rf'Cf.- i ..cfi-;.s.ti' L'lii. V-MHi^.%->ji ~ The ■JDunstan; Times rinforms.; us.,. that jar : jnan named Philip. Comeford^ recently met his death •from'the efiect^s bf^akick"fpbm l a horse. vHe was -driving a-load-of"wood~from—Mn— Garter'-B~home station ;to the^oolshßd.^hdn, one <of. the horses . in^tlie dray became refractory, and on Kis"applying ,ihe .wbip,,it kicked put yrith both hind legs, strik' iiig the poor. fellow in the abdomen. i : ' \. From tKe Wjalcafvp Mail that gold has been struck intone of the terraces- near, the head, of the .Shotover-', Gorge. . From, the, same source we are infornied that average, weekly -dividends of £12, £15, "and £20 are not "uncommon on tlie.Nokomai diggings. ,;, - ; ;. - -': ,- --' The crickefera of Queeristowh appear be.be enthusiastic in their love . of, the noble game. 'j "At a meeting of the club the ; other day, thirty "member* were admitted, and a scratch,,, match was fixed for •Thursday last. • .... - • Thejdjagpj&ojiefjiineni JSfa L^ette,,s>i^3e'pi^J^ >eT 28, contains returns of the sale, of town an I rural In tliat Province: "We ex tract Hhe folldwin'g particulars: — " (I.) Town— Landa, March, 1864 — Amount • realised, £932; 105. ;• April? -£55 ; May, £374 is. Gd. ; June, £317 ~?45. ; July, £3,412 9s. 6d (£2,512 19 6d. is applicable to Queenstown township) ; August, £1093 10s. (Mpecaki only), (II.) Rural .> Lands, March 186 1-^Amount realised £ 16,346 10s. 10d.; April,'£loi733 3"a. 3d. May, £11,233 Bs. ; June, £11,811 18s. 3d. ; July, £34,203 25. ; August, £12,332 9s. 6d: The general price per acre was 205., but in some instances thifl was considerably exceeded,' as in the Moerakisale* in March, when £3 4s. per acre was the average price paid. The Oamaru average in the same month was £1 183 ; Hawkesbury, £2 25.; Otepopo, £l-19s 9J. ; Dunedin, £1 10s. In July, the Oamaru. average was £1 45., 9d for nearly 20,000 acres. The highest average price per acre of town la-ucls -wsa realised in the " case of Mperaki township, in August last, "when it reached £141 Is. lOd. Same township's lands, in July, brought on an average £108 lis.'7d. The lands in the township of Q ueenstown were sold at so much per footfrontage o