WELLINGTON.

Colonist, Issue 29, 29 January 1858, Page 4

WELLINGTON.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF THE LATE DISASTROUS FLOOD AT THE HUTT. (From a Correspondent of the Wellington Independent.) Hiitt, 19th Jan. 1858. On the East side of the Remutaka, some 20 slips have taken .place, and it will take £50 to clear and repair the road to its former position. On the west side of.the hill little injury is done, five pounds will reinstate it in;its former position. The Pakaratahi river rose about five feet higher than it had been known to do upon any former occasion. Hodder's had great difficulty in saving their horses from being drowned. It will take £50 to repair the damage done to the road between Hodder's and Collins'. Mr. Collins has lost all his sheep and has found 53 carcasses. The river was 10 feet higher than he had ever known it before. Upon crossing the Mungoroa, the river had been 6 and 8 feet above the main line of road. Nearly opposite Petre's Saw Mill, the river has made new channels, and has swept whole fields of grain and potatoes away. On this side of the mill the main road is blocked up witK?the wreck of houses and drift timber. The Maoris were picking out their apparel and goods to dry. Some of the Pakeha's, whose dwellings were washed away, it is said, would have lost their lives had it not been for the Maoris. From 6 to 10 feet of water has been rushing over the road; Mr. Barton has lost a considerable number of sheep, all the Maori pa's were well supplied with a number of sheep's carcases. Near the Silver Stream the devastation becomes more apparent, the fences are gone, huge pieces of timber lay across the road, the crops are borne down, and at the east abutment of the bridge is a log stretched across the road about six feet in diameter, but upon reaching Wyeth's, the force of the flood is marked, riot only by the disappearance of dwellings, but by the loss of life. The flood at the Silver Stream first rushes across the road in a south-east direction, and then rolls back to the river at Wyeth's, and such was the force of the flood, that it carried away several dwellings belonging to Mr. Wyeth and the inmates, who were drowned, to the number of 13. At five p.m. 7. bodies had been found, and a coroner's inquest is to sit at 2 o'clock this day the 20th, upon the bodies. The following are the names given of those that are drowned.

Mr. Stannaway, wife and five children; Mr. Charles Sillary, his wife and child; Mrs. Hagin, and her new-born infant, also Mrs. Price, the nurse; a person named Hartley succeeded in swimming to a tree, and saved'his life by hanging to the tree about 14 hours. The bodies found are, Mr. Sillary, wife, and child, Mrs. Hagin (Mr. Dew's daughter), Mrs. Price, with the infant in her arms, only born at six o'clock' the same morning, and one of Mr. Stannaway's little girls, about six or seven years old, six of Mr. Stannaway's family are ridtyet-foundi * Four of the bodies are at Blade's, the Traveller's rest, and three at Mr. Dew's*

'No lives were lost at the lower Hutt, but considerable damage has been done to property. The Aglionby Arms is tipped endways into the river, and the river has found anew course nearßuckridge'spublic house. The Hutt bridge stands, but the Waiwetu is carried from the piles and swept away.

A Temperance Meeting-was held in the Hall of the Mechanics' Institute, on Friday evening last, and was very well attended. Mr. J. G-. Holdsworth, on being invited took the chair, and opened the meeting with a very able address upon the "merits of Total Abstinence," giving a short account of the progress of the Society since its commencement in 1847, and urging upon the advocates of Temperance the propriety of using persuasive means, rather than derision or personal attack, in gaining over their opponents, a course which he regretted to say was too often resorted to by the advocates of the cause. After which, a Temperance melody having been sung, he called upon Dr. Florance, who delivered some^v6ry telling remarks;upon the-physical and pathological evils resulting from the use of alcoholic stimuli on the human'con-

stitutipn. The Rev. W. Watkin then addressed the meeting, dwelling ( more particularly upon the moral and social evils of intemperance, and was listened to by the audience, with very marked attention. After which the Rev. J. Woodward addressed the meeting with a few practical illustrations upon the beneficial results arising from the abstinence from the use of Intoxicating liiquors. The meeting then closed by singing another Temperance melody.— Independent, Jan. 20. We have received a letter from Mr. Cobham, addressed to the Wellington Steani Navigation Company, complaining of tfie steerage accommodation afforded by the steamer Wonga Wonga. We have rib doubt if Mr. Cobham will forward a copy of his letter to the agents, that every satisfaction will be given him; as we are convinced that they are in ignorance of what is stated by him ; but which, if found to be correct, will no doubt be immediately remedied. However, should his representations not receive due attention, we shall be happy to publish the correspondence relating to the matter.— lbid