COLLINGWOOD.

Colonist, Issue 54, 27 April 1858, Page 2

COLLINGWOOD.

■■-' [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.}" ', :■:■ 23rd April, 1858. The Annual Licensing Meeting .was held in the Court House on the 20th instant. Seven applications were received, all were granted, so that for the ensuing twelve months we shall have seven public houses in Collingwood. The license fees amount to about £250. /The steamer brought over the German Band to perform at the opening of Mi. Ingham's house, under the. sign of the " Traveller's Rest." We had- the most numerous attendance of ladies 1 have yet seen in Collingwood, although there were three or four balls the week previously. Every one I believe enjoyed himself thoroughly, and all went on well till a little after midnight, when as the story goes, (for I was. not there) one of.the bachelors in the company made some remarks that were considered insulting to the ladies present; an indignant husband knocked him down, and they had a scuffle outside; another bachelor came to the rescue of the: husband, thinking he was getting the worst of; it, and attempted to separate therm He was struck by a fourth party, and following his antagonist into the kitchen to retaliate, found himself in the hands of the police,the individual he was seeking being one of tnem. The result you will see in the report of the case I .enclose. I have mentioned the cause of the disturbance as reported here because it did not come out in evidence. It is I believe a very serious; charge assaulting the police in the execution of their duty; but in a country like this where there are so many strangers going to and fro, unless the police are in uniform how are they to be recognised as on duty. A detective police corps may be necessary, but an individual should certainly know

whether he is striking an ordinary man or a policeman. The one case may be summarily disposed of, the other, as in this, may cause months'of anxiety and suspense to a man before he can learn his fate. The finale of this evening's amusement at Ingham's did not present so goodly a number assembpng there aa On the following evening, when I noticed prosecutors. and defendants dancing amicably together. : Gustavua Ware, a digger belonging to the Island party, was found drowned in Slate River on Monday morning. On the previous evening he was going up the River in. a punt with a mate, when the punt suddenly went down. Deceased could not swim; his mate swam ashore, but could hot save him.

I see by the Wellington papers the Southern Gross took home from thence over 500 ounces of Aorere gold. If this had been the produce of their Province, they would have done what you and yjduY contemporary ought to do, make some mention of it in your issues for transmission home. We don't want.any puffing; but we look -for some notice at your hands when an export like that per Duchess of Leinster, for instance, amounting to more than 2,500 ounces, leaves for the mother country. Our yield now, I believe, amounts to nearly two ounces per week per man. VI find the remarks in my last letter with reference' to the Anatoki District, fully confirmed by the principal settler in that neighbourhood, he having repeated-, ly acknowledged it was a shicer. A constable is required in that neighbourhood, the lnaoris are far too, impudent. A short time since there was a grand pullhte match here, the subject, was an unfortunate wiqdw,. who happened to fdhcy»- maori residing here, belonging «'to another, .tfcibjs. The Mtftupipi folks laid hold of her ohithe on.c side, her! husband's friends on the other.; After ; nearly: dislocating her arms and legs, arid an enormous quantity of korero, she was left here; but as they could not get her, they took (according to native custom) a canoe belonging to her husband's friends. Our Native Secretary, Mr... Mackay^ during hi 9 last visit to Motupipi, told them to return the canoe. They said he had no business to interfere between maoris of different tribes, they would not stand it, that the Government at Tafariaki let the maoris fight amongst themselves, and at Hawke's Bay also, and that they wbuld shoot him or any constable that attempted to remove the canoe, and so the matter rests at present—the maoris here claiming it, tta others refusing to give it.lip. It must certainly be a great honor to be a Native Secretary, for as t6 the salary—when one day he goes to the Forks at Slate River to settle disputes amongst them, a day after starts for Takaka, and takes into custody a.maori who had escaped the police here, finding his own horse and forage, and all for a-year,—it must be very profitable, besides neglecting his own affairs. Every official in a gold country ought to be well paid; it is the case elsewhere. We had hoped better things from the Council than the treatment our Resident Magistrate has received. His salary was to be £300 per annum, and little enough too for a gentleman to live on, It is very pleasant for honorable members to feel they have the power of sitting in a comfortable chair after a good dinner, and in a patriotic spirit of economy proposing that £50 be knocked off so and so, 6d. per diem off the signalman, and after, growling terribly at being called together at an unseasonable period, go four times to the vote and then leave the question undecided, as much as to say they had better be poking the fire at home. On the matter of the Magistrate's salary, it is hardly consistent that having previously offered to the magistrate two situations, one of £300 the other of JS2OO, the former being accepted by. him, one pf the members of the Executive should vote for a reduction of £50 on their own Estimates, at the same time adding extra work to the office. We want ah alteration in the Land Regulations, applicable to the wants of the District. Persons intending 1;o become occupiers of land should have the option of purchase without going to auction, and purchasers should be enabled to. select f their land and pay for it here without the trouble and expense of going to Nelson. It is very well'fbr persons having friends in Nelson r manage their business for theni; but manyia; nxahresidihgl^fe Has never seen Nelson. You cannot offer too m^ny facilities to induce parties to settle in the country. The farmers on the worn-out land in |he Waimea would do 1 well to look at this country now it is being cut.up into sections,and a good[line of road traversing the valley. ■' •-'-

_ I had hoped before this to have advised you of the removal of the snags^ so detrimental to craft coming into or leaving the harbor. ;? The Harbor Master has no funds at his disposal to do this' necessary work. .... -T There is shortly to be a meeting of the inhabitants to endeavour to get the road through the bush repaired before the winter sets iri;. OurOiggings are so flourishing that there are not * half-a-dozen men in government employment on the roads. Their labor might for a time be advantageously spent on this road. I have heard of. nuggets of 2 and 3 ounces being found at the Upper Forks. A number of men are working there. I will advise you further in my next.