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Southland Times, Issue 1686, 7 January 1873, Page 2

The past week has been unusually prolifio of accidents, no less than four cases having during that time found their way into the Provincial Hospital. On Monday, 33ch Dec, a laborer from the railway camp at Oteramika was admitted with a severe injury to the foot ; he was followed, on Tuesday, by a seaman from the Ottawa barque at the Bluff, who, by a fall from the rigging, had dislocated bis hip joint. On the same day, a seaman of the barque Celestia, falling on the wharf, sustained rupture of a severe character ; and in his turn he was followed by a laboring man, who had the misfortune to fracture his* collar-bone. S > great and urgent have become the demands upon the space and accommodation of the Hospital, that the Conmittee have found it necessary to make a temporary addition to the staff by the employment of a wardsman. The in-door patients now number twenty-one, and in presenting their annual report to the public — which will be mate out some time during the present month — the Committee will De able to submit a very strong case on behalf of the institution, which has been been for some months past full. | Constable Sullivan, stationed at the Bluff, very cleverly apprehended a deserter from 11. M.5. Dido, early on Monday morning, on Co w Island. A runaway seaman from the Ironside was put on board tbe Wallabi at Dunedin, in charge of a policeman, but in&nagei to give his guardian the slip, it is supposed between Dunedin and Port Chalmers ; at all events he was not to be found when the Wallabi arrived at the Bluff. Mr John R. Cuthbertson has been requested by the Government to undertake the selection and forwarding oi samples of wool from Southland for the Vienna exhibition. Exhibits will have to be despatched from Invercargill by next S uez mail. The nomination for the Waihopai district takes place on Monday next, and as yet no candidates have been formally announced. The apathy exhibited by the electors in thus neglecting to see that suitable candidates are brought forward cannot be too strongly condemned. Wben the : importance of the interests? involved, an 1 the shortness of the time allowed for making the necessary arrangements are considered, it will be seen that some decisive steps should be taken I without delay. At the meeting of the Land Board on Tuesday the foUowing applications were granted : — W. Lawrence, 49 acres, Oreti Hundred ; John Thomson and Sons, 106 a?res, Winton Hundred, and 150 acres, Oreti Hundred. The unsold sections in block 45, town of Invercargill, were reserved as a site for immigrants' barracks. Ou sv.d,»j tho a^^iio-.tion of John, David, and James Spenee for 2000 acres in the Oreti Hundred, was postponed till next meeting, at the request of Mr Pratt, on behalf of applicants, to enable them to increase tbe area applied for. Survey of sections 14, 15, 16 and 17, Wairaki district, was passjd. The application of A. S. Begg for a flax reserve on the Mataura, in Oteramika Hundred, was declined, but applicant was informed that protection would bs granted over 500 acres in event of his putting up a mill. The hiring of the Messrs Brogdea & Sons' immigrants per Bebiugton by Invercargill employers, which called forth a letter in our columns from the resident agent of the firm, has been commented upon by our contemporary, the Dunedin Morning Star, in somewhat severe terms. It is right to state that since the publio have had explicit information regarding the wishes of Messrs Brogden & Sons as to the hiring of their immigrants, the conditions they desiderate have been, as we are informed, willingly complied with by employers. The Treasurer to the Hospital requests us to acknowledge the receipt of £4 5s 6d, being church door collection at Presbyterian Church, Riverton. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Friday, Heffernan v. Smyth was an application that the defendant should be bound over to keep the peace, complainant alleging that he was in bodily fear in consequence of threats used by Smyth. The case was dismissed, with costs £1 ss. John, Michael, and Alexander Ross, three brothers, appeared as complainants and defendants in four actions for assault. Alexander Ross was fined £2, and £2 8s costs, it having been proved that he jumped upon Michael Koss when he was lying on the ground. AU the parties were bound over to keep the peace for six months, in their own recognizances of £20, and two sureties of £10 each. On Monday Martin Halloran, Dugald M'Donald, and James Dillon were fined 5s each for being drunk and disorderly. Harvey v. Dean was a claim for £3 12j 6d for the preparation of certain documents connected with a mining lease. There was a dispute among the parties as to the person liable for the amount. Mr De.m was sued as connected with the association of lessees, but plaintiff was nonsuited, with costs, 19s. The children of the public school at Druid's Grove had their New Year's treat on Saturday, 4th inst., when a large number of neighboring settlers and some from the distance of Long Bush assembled to help the youngsters to make merry. Mr John Helm kindly lent a fine paddock for the occasion, with just as much of the features of level and incline as woul 1 assist the sports. The annual prizes were distributed in the schoolroom, and with football, swing, and athletic exercises generally, there was no lack of amusement. An abundance of the palatable refreshments in which youth delights, was provided and consumed, washed down with sundry mugs of tea, necessary and enjoyable by reason of. the heat of the weather. Games and royatering were kept up until far on in the evening — Mr White (teacher) and some of the neighbors ofliciating as stewards and directors of the [ ceremonies. J,

Our Bluff correspondent informs tas that a Mrs M'Dougall has been seriously" injured by a bull, the property of Captain Thomson, which it seems was permitted to go at largo, although long considered by many persons to be dangerous. The animal was standing with some other cattle in a gateway which Mrs M'Dougall wished to pass through. She took up a stick to drive him away, when he charged her, his horns fortunately passing on each side of her waist, and tossed her into the air. He was ultimately driven awav by a passer-by. Dr M'Clure, who was sent for, reports that besides soine severe bruises, Mrs M'Dougall has sustained fracture of several ribs. The woman's husband, David M'Dougall, strange to say, had several ribs broken by an accident a few days previously, so that the calamity falls heavily on tho family. The bull was subsequently shot by constable Sullivan. Mr Alexander Grant, of Havelock, died from the effects of sunstroke on the Waitahuna road on the 31st ult. , It is rumored that the new Otago Land Board will comprise the names of Messrs J. L. Butter--1 worth, Hentry Clark, A. W. Morris, W. A. Tolmie, and A. C. Strode. Our readers may remember a paragraph which went the round of the colonial press some lima ago regarding Mr Shaw, at one time a member of the firm of Harnett & Co. The Ross News has received from one of Mr Shaw's friends another version of the affair, which it believes to be correct. Mr S. made, while in San Francisco, an agreement with a Mr C. to start a newspaper in a country town, in partnership — Mr S. to give his labor, and Mr C. a fixed weekly sum in money. Mr S. accordingly started the paper, and after two months, finding no money forthcoming from his partner, gave him notice that he would discontinue the publication within a certain time, unless the promised contributions were forthcoming. Accordingly, he waited the stipulated time, and not getting any reply, agreed with the mortgagee and possessor of the plant for its use, and brought out another paper. On this Mr C. appeared, and brought an action against Mr S., which was dismissed, without even counsel for the defence being heard, so frivolous did the complaint appear. A Wellington exchange says the Rmgitikei and Manawatu district is literally a land flowing with milk aud honey. Of the latter there is no doubt, as the district has long been famous for the quantity and excellence of the honey it yields. Considerable quantities have been yearly exported, and last year one person alone sent away no less than two tons of honey. This year, however, the yield is unusually great. The bees have been enabled to commence storing honey much earlier this spring, and the quantities of blossom and flowers have been more luxuriant than for several seasons back. So plentiful has honey become, and so easily obtainable, that its general consumption in the households of settlers seriously interferes with the import of sugar into the district. We are pleased to learn that Mr A. Smith, of One Tree Point, recently sold several of his 1 Leicester sheep at very satisfactory prices to a buyer from the Lake distriot. Some samples of piper made from New Zealand flu are exhibited in the Melbourne Ex. hibition. A Marlborough correspondent of the Dunedin Morning Star, moralises as follows : — Four years' prosperous tim<«, ~»«— j- « *-u u.^ondcii, tne country opened and pirtirdly sett'e 1, customs revenue almost doubled, labor dear, railway bands living, as a rule, from hand to mouth, and, when tluir occupation is gone, becoming a fl mating population without a home, and adding no inconsiderable it-jm to our crimin il roll. fo exPremiers, who qualify for Finance Ministers by soiling their eftects sav^ a portmanteau and a gross of paper col'ars, these considerations may be of no eff'ct ; but to those who have mado these islands the home of their choice, and the nursery for their children, such probabilities should have weight and careful consideration When such an event takes place, your correspondent will retire to " Pearson's Paradise " — 'yclept Stewart's Island — and live on potatoes and fish. An Auckland telegram in a contemporary states that is understood that the result of the Government inspection of the Nevada is satisfactory, aad that the vessel will leave port thoroughly seaworthy. The following is from a recent issue of the Poverty Bay Standard : — We have been favored with a sample bottle of the petroleum oil which abounds in the district some thirty miles west and north of Gisborne, on land recently occupied by Captain Bead. It is somewhat dirty in ap pearance, and burns, in its primitive stiite, with a sharp, lurid flame, emittin_ an unpleasant odor. We have confident hopes of this industry being added to the increasing products and wealth of the colony before long, as the purification of the oil, by processes known to the trade, could easily be accomplished. The experiment in sericulture made at Nelson has, the Examiner states, proved a success. Several hundred mulberry trees were j lauted last year, and it is probable thut as many more will be planted during the ensuing year. The General Government having remitted to the Provincial Executive the carrying out of the projected sludge channel at Niseby, Mr Simpson, the Provincial Engineer, is to be despatched thithor at once to go over the grouwd, and to arrange for letting the work in small contracts. A meeting of the Railway Committee will be held this evening i-i the Council Chamber at halfpast seven o'clock.