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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 212, 5 February 1866, Page 2

The Daily Times of the 21st January, says : — "Mr. R. H. Forman, late Sheriff of Otago, was arrested yesterday on board the Susannah Booth, when she was leaving the port for Sydney, and he was at once brought up to town by Sergeant Mallard. We understand that the charge against Mr. Forman is, in substance that he failed to account for different sums of money received by bim as Queen's bailiff. " There has been unusuaUy severe weather in Otago during the past week, as it wfll be seen from the foUowing, which we cUp from the j Waikouaiti SAerald, of the 31st ult. : — " We are much grieved to learn that one of our neighbouring runholders, Captain Montgomery, of Stoneburn, has BUBtained a very severe loss, viz., that between 300 and 400 sheep that had just been shorn, perished through the inclemency of the weather, on the night of the 19th instant. We are informed that snow feU during the night to the depth of 18 inches." There has been another flood in the river Hokitika, in reporting wliich the correspondent of of [the ALyttelton Times says: — "The Government Wharf has sustained damage to some extent. The fuU force of the stream is now setting oh to it, and the action of the water has, in some places, scoured out the sand to below the bottom ofthe piles, which are then only held in their places by the planking and the ties at -the top. The south channel of the river was much enlarged by the fresh, and unless something is done at once to stay the cutting away of the shingle, our wharf and town wfll certainly be left dry, and property to the amount of some hundreds of thousands of pounds rendered utterly valueless. A dam is spoken of, and I beUeve that Mr. Balfour, the marine engineer, is of opinion that it is the only method of effectually removing the danger." The foUowing from the New Zealand Advertiser is a sample of mild, but cutting recrimination : — " When the writer in the Independent is called upon to refer to this journal he goes mad. He is hable at aU times to fits of ungovernable rage when an opponent steps in his way, but when he is the unwilling witness of success achieved by an adversary he becomes frantic. EspeciaUy is this the case when the opponent will not degrade himself by resorting to -he Billingsgate vocabulary for the most abusive language. It is a pity that this should be so, but we suppose that such inflictions must be borne with fortitude. Our contemporary in his issue of Saturday last has abused us very freely. We do not, however, complain, and can only say that we will not caU him names in return. We could say a great many very nasty things, but we do not like to be offensive, and therefore are silent. The Independent says we are ' snobs' — that we are not gentlemen, nor are we even respectable — that we never won gold medals, nor did we ever go to school — that we are disreputable, &c, &c. Our contemporary may be perfectly right. We -wfll not contradict him. ' The tree shall be known by its fruits. It is weU that the Independent should be everything wliich we are not. We heartily congratulate our friend m>rm ■<= birth, in» euucatum, «uo. mo cA.-i.-ome gentility. We stand upon our own merits — we do not pay foi pride with truth. This is the Advertiser' a replj to the Independent's personal attack." We have to acknowledge the receipt of ten shillings from Mrs. Gundry, in favor of the Palestine Receipt Fund. Our Oamaru correspondent says : — " We have lately been experiencing some very fine weather. Nothing of any moment has transpired for some time past here. There is to be a pubhc meeting on Thursday next (to»mprrow), for the purpose of considering the question of a Municipality in this town. The Waitaki has been exceedingly high at one place, by Messrs. Julius' , station ; it is swoUen to such an extent that a piece of flat country, known as the "Barren Flat," is rendered impassable. A few days ago an accident occurred, which might have ended seriously. Messrs R. Juliuß and Munro attempted to cross in a buggy one of the creeks, but the current was so strong that the vehicle waa upset ; Mr. Munro swam to the opposite bank and pulled himself out by some flax, so saving his life : Mr. Julius kept hold of the reins and was drawn out by the horses. The fore part of the buggy only was brought to shore. At the particular request of our Presbyterian friends, we intend to pubhsh the report of the conference of the ministers belonging to that denomination lately held in Dunedin. It wfll appear, in instalments from day to day, during the ensuing week, in the Southland Times, and be pubhshed in full in the next issue of the Weekly Times. A meeting of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society was held at the Princess Hotel on the 2nd inst. After some considerable discussion had tnken place, it was resolved to dissolve the society, inasmuch as the agricultural interest had not given adequate support, and many of the committee had left the Province. After the meeting terminated, several gentleman interested in the progress of Agriculture and Horticulture resolved themselves into a committee for the purpose of organising another society.