NORTHERN NEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1153, 25 October 1869, Page 2

NORTHERN NEWS.

"We take tbe following telegraphic summary from our Northern exchanges: — Wellington, October 18. The Airedale arrived at Nelson last night, having Encountered a severe S.E. gale on the passage from Auckland. The John Perm and Keera have had to put back to Taranaki for shelter. Mr Yogel was a passenger by the Airedale. The Superintendence election is engrossing considerable attention in Auckland. Large numbers of passengers continue to arrive at Auckland from Sydney and West Coast. Mining mattera'at the Thames all quiet. The share quotations are low, and few shares are changing hands. The miners are, therefore, setting in again to work their claims. The Natives are quiet in the Waikato and throughout the North. The Governor and the Hon. Donald M'Lean went to Kaipara on Friday. The Court of Appeal met to-day, but the proceedings were unimportant. Tne Government have received 2000 Snider rifles by the Electro, and 500 are coming in the Melita. A Gazette issued to-day notifies the extinguishment of the native title over the Manawatu Block, the area of which is estimated at 220,000 acres. Nelson, October 18.

Auckland news is to hand by the Airedale. The goldfields generally are in a prosperous condition, and it is estimated that the yield of gold will increase during the summer, as a number of the mines and claims are not yet properly working. Great gambling in shares is goin<r on, and as the companies are now making calls, the share market is glutted. Another account, however, says that the share mirket is healthier.

The following is the latest news from Taranaki:— The Natives are putting in their crops, which is a good sign. Mr M'Lean's visit has done good, and the natives have more confidence in the Europeans now than they had six months ago. The Pioneer Steel Works commence operations in ten days. Flax machines will shortly be working at Opunaki, and Mr Parns and other gentlemen have gone to arrange with the natives for a supply of flax. The Waitara mills now turn out over three tons of fibre weekly. Gold is reported to have been found at Patea, the prospect being specks in the black sand. '** "WEfcLiNcrroiT , October 19. The case of Surflen and Another v. Smith, Sheriff of Otago, occupied the whole of the time of the Court of Appeal to-day. The decision of the Court below in favour of the defendant was confirmed. '„ " • ♦ The following is taken from Auckland papers : — Major Heaphy is to be appointed Warden at Coromandel. The Defence Minister will shortly visit the Waikato and Ohinemuri.

52 dead bodies have been actually got in the three engagements with Te Kooti ; his whole force not being more than 250 at first. There must have been many wounded, and he must be now where food, and ammunition will both be scarce.

Mr Alexander Kennedy, formerly Manager of the Bank of New Zealand at Auckland, ha 9 passed his final examination in the Bankruptcy Court, and received his discharge. Colonel Thompson, a creditor for £16,000, withdrew all opposition. In the absence of the ordinary mode of administering the law at Coromandel, the summary code of Judge Lynch has been brought into requisition. A few days ago two men were caught in the act of stealing grog from a store, and, to show their disapproval of the larceny, the miners tied the thieves to a tree, and meted out punishment in the form of a dozen lashes each.

The only news from Tokangamutu is that five hundred natives, consisting of Ngatimaniapotoa and Ngatimakutus, nave left to take revenge uponTe Kooti forhiß murders ia the Taupo country. Kve hundred natives have left the Waikato within four days for Taupo, or Te Kooti's whereabouts. Tawhiao and his people are very much annoyed at his conduct, and no doubt they will overhaul him within the next month, and make him pay for all his misdeeds. By a significant and suggestive pantomime of the hanging process, it seems that Captain Paircbild, when Tauroajmd his party were embarked at Patea, intimated to the old chief what his fate might be. In Tauroa's minute account of events in the Court, the incident, with all the accompanying gestures faithfully repeated, was given by the old chief to the amusement of the Court. It evidently left a very unpleasant impression on Tauroa'a mind. — „ -..-=.- Great inconvenience is felt by the trading portion of the community at Coromandel owing to the scarcity of specie. Though the boats often bring down some £30 to £40 worth of silver and gold at a time, it is no sooner there than it is gone. Cheques are at a discount, and till a branch bank is established there will always be this difficulty. Several hundred pounds' worth of wages are paid at Coromandel weekly, and as cheques are of no value there, the money has to be obtained from Auckland at considerable risk and difficulty. A meeting was held at the Theatre Boyal, Shortland, on the Bth inst., to take into consideration the advisability of bringing the townships of Grahamstown and Shortland within the operation of the Municipal Corporations Act, . 1867. The meeting was numerously attended, and Mr James Bojrd was voted to the chair. A resolution was carried to memorialise the Governor to declare the district a municipality under the Act of 1867, with a mayor and corporation. The di?idends paid from the G-olden Crown claim (about three acres) from the 6th August, 1868, to the 6th August, 1869, have been £55,000. Paid for machinery, £5,000 ; expenses of wages, &c. f about £8,000. The average yield per ton of quartz was upwards of lloz. of gold. It is now proposed to take out 100 tons per diem, and to employ sufficient machinery to crush it. The yield of quarts would be about 30,000 tons per annum, and is expected to yield three-quarters of a million sterling. To show that even the mania for scrip has reached to uttermost parts of the land, and to exhibit the many useful ways in which it is turned to account, the Thames Times mentions that, from a private letter received in Shortland, from one of the bush settlements, we find that some enterprising storekeeper has initiated the system of giving scrip in lieu of bullocks and all sorts of farm produce. This is sharebroking with a vengance. ■