TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1370, 25 July 1885, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

A private letter received from London by the s.s. Rirautaka, dated June 3, says: —“ Mr McKelvie died very suddenly yesterday. An hour or two before he was talking with some friends, apparently in a very fair state of health." Mr McKelvie left £40,000 to the Auckland Museum, and has given several pictures and works of art to the same institution. The Ship Earl Derby, Captain Kerr, 103 days from London, arrived at Wellington on Thursday. On June 20tb, at 8 u.m. while in latitude 42 S., longitude 61, E., John McNight, an ordinary seaman ;J. Brown, G. Bahr, J. Davis. W. Wills, A.B.S. ; and H. N. Fiske, apprentice, we re washed overboard and drowned. At the time a heavy gale was blowing, and the men were engaged in < hauling the main braces, when a sea cam# fa and washed them away. Nothing could be done to save them. The proprietor of the Ashburton Mail has been served with a writ for libel, alleged to be contained in a letter published during the Wakanui election contest. The plaintiff is I. R. C. C. Graham, a nmholder, and damages are laid at £2OOO. The case will bo heard in the October sitting of the Supreme Court at Christchurch. In the Divorce Court, Wellington, on . Wednesday afternoon a decree nisi was granted in the case Grey v. Grey (heard in (camera). His Honor said the case was one of the most extraordinary ever heard in a Divorce Court. He was bound to stare publicly the grounds of the conclusion he had arrived at. The suit was one of nullity. He was of opinion that it had not been proved that either party was incapable of the marriage state. The ra- , spondent was the father of five children, and for anything known to the contrary he might have children again. Nevertheless he had in this case confessed himself incapable. To proceed upon such a confession was, no doubt, dangerous, but iu the present instance he (Mr Justice Richmond) was satisfied that the confession was genuine, and that there had been no collusion between the parties. He was satisfied that the suit was bond fide, and after the evidence he considered it would be a mockery that they should cohabit. Just as ihe crowds were returning from j a football match at Dunedin on Wednesday, a terrific explosion of gas took place in Wain’s Hotel. One of the gasaliers in a drawingroom had been allowing the gas to escape, and after putting some water in it the waiter foolishly struck a match to ascertain if it had ceased, when the explosion took place. The waiter was stunned for a few seconds, but escaped unhurt beyond a slight singeing. The glass in the front windows, and ihe Venetian blinds on them, were blown clean across the street, and the back windows blown out. As there was a regular s'ream of people in the street there were narrow escapee. The room suffered less than might be expected, owing, no doubt, to the windows, back and front, giving away. Great excitement was caused for some time, and the Fire Brigade turned out. The Auckland Chambers of Commerce have passed a resolution favorable to the*'W San Francisco Mail Service. t Otago won the Interprovincial football match against Wellington on Wednesday by 11 points to nil. At a meeting of ( the guarantors of the West Coast Railway delegates ,in Christchurch on Thursday, a resolution was passed congratulating the Government on their proposals for constructing the line. A public meeting in Nelson, though objecting to the rating proposals, agreed heartily with the other proposals of the Government rt the construction of the line. The Invincible Company (Otago), have obtained a yield of 417 ounces from 1011 tons of quartz.

A. man named Cummings has been arrested for breaking mto Kirkcaldie and Staines, drapers (Wellington), and stealing silk valued at £4O. The Otago Land Board on Thursday considered the cases of fourteen defaulting deferred payment selectors of land, and decided to call a forfeit within a month. In only one case reports are to bo obtained from the ranger as to circumstances and occupation of others. The Napier Chamber of Commerce has passed a resolution condemning the Pacific Mail Service. The Auckland Horticultural Society have sent a fine collection of apples, oranges, pears, lemons and guavas, including 200 varieties in all, to the Wellington Exhibition. The Auckland Poultry Show opened on Thursday. There was a splendid lot of Southern entries, and about 90 Southern competitors. Deal, of Canterbury, was the largest prizewinner. T. Bogan, of Port Chalmers, won the Cup for Aylesbury Ducks, With reference to the American subsidy to the San Francisco mail service, Consul Gamble says, in a letter to Mr GraveS| Aicken, President of the Auckland .Chamber of Commerce, that a large sum voted by Congress for steam subsidies, now remains in the hands of the Postmaster General at Washington, for distribution to the various ocean steam services, and as the Pacific Mail Company has the largest claim upon its apportionment, the San Francisco service must participate to a considerable extent. By the next mail he expects to learn the exact amount allotted.