INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1563, 10 March 1887, Page 4

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

The Mercury Bay Timber Company lost £492 on the last half year'a operations. The Press Association has referred Messrs McMahon and Leitoh, who are threatening an action for libel, to their solicitors. It iB stated there is a hitch regarding Mr Waterhouse's appointment to the Acting-Speakerehip of the Legislative Council. The Constitution Act Interpretation Act 1878 and Standing Orders are in conflict, and o'V"«iment still have the subject under coi.» uoiuiion. Three men had a narrow escape in the Wellington harbor on Sunday. Their boat upset near • Ward Island. One managed te Bwim ashore, but ths others, who could not swim, were clinging to the boat for nearly an hour before any help arrived.

The Corporation laborer, Sandilands, who suffered most by the recent adventure in a Dunedin sewer, is in a serious condition, erysipelas having set in, and blood poisoning is feared. A miner named Alex. Ross was found dead in his claim at Blue Spur, West Coast, on Friday 'afternoon. He was almost covered by a fall of earth. At the Onehunga races (Auckland) on Saturday a great public disturbance took place over the running of Capella in the Novel Race. Capella was a firm favorite for the race, and was heavily backed on the totalisator, but her running was not at all like her previous form, and at the close of the race a large and excited crowd surrounded the totalisator, threatening to smaph it. The tumult was quelled and the stewards met and resolved ,to disqualify the mare for six month* and" fined the rider, Fergus, £5. At one time a free, fight seemed inevitable. The jockey had to use bis whip to defend himself from violence.

' The Cbristchurch.City Council has appointed a Committee to arrange a public meeting to initiate proceedings with reference to the celebration of Her Majesty's Jubilee. . Some 15,000 acres of agricultural land, belonging to tUe f Wellington ana* HManawatu Railway company, were submitted to auction at Wellington on Tuesday. The land is situated between the Shannon and Tokamariri station! on tbe company's line. '8660 acres 'were sold, realising £15,613. Nothiog is known at Wellington with regard to the rumored appointment of Sir Cecil Raikes to succeed Sir William Jervoie. ' Neithe'if Government or the Governor's Private Secretary have heard anything, and are inclined to believe it a mere transactory rumor. Sir William Jervois' time is not yet up.

Mr Loughrey, tbe Wellington City Engineer, h»B drawn up a report on the waterworks confirmatory of the statements already made. He considers the water must be shut off for a fortnight to thoroughly repair the race and defective sluice. The repairs and alterations he suggests would cost £7OOO. A gentleman known as Dr Brady, and who stated that he was special correspondent to to the Sydney Herald, fell in the street at Oaehanga on Tuesday afternoon, and died in a few minutes. The cause of death was at first supposed to have been apoplexy, but it subsequently transpired that he had stated at the Imperial hotel, Auckland, where he had been staying, that he intended to commit suicide. No heed was paid to his state* ment. He posted a letter io a mourning envelope to his wife in Sydney.

At half-past five o'clock on Tuesday morning, a fire occurred in the premises of Robert McPherson, cordial manufacturer, situated at the corner of Worcester Street and Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch, whereby the proprietor lost his life and the building and plant were totally destroyed. McPherson and his son and daughter were sleeping on the premises, and all got safely out of the building, but McPherson, believing his daughter had Dot escaped, ran back into the burning building and was overpowered by the smoke and fumes of the chemicals. The insurances on building and plant amount to £I3OO.

By the fire at Gisborneon Sunday those burnt out were :- -Coffey, bootmaker ; McLennon, jeweller; Miller, barber; Nusmyth, working jeweller; Scarle, tailor ; Wilson, Albion Club Hotel; Ward and Cress well, solicitors; DeLautour, solicitor ; the Union S.S. Company ; Native Land Settlement Company; Loan and Mercantile Company : Westrup, commission agent; Ferris, Native Interpreter ; Berry and Daniels, commission agents; and Claike, butcher. On th« up town side of the street the fire was checked at Good's jeweller's shop, which, with Adams' stationer's shop, was gutted. On Tuesday another fire broke out in Stevenson's stables, the buggies and horses in which were got out, but the harness was destroyed. The lots over insurance is estimated at over £4OO. The offices of McDougall (solicitor), Grant (surveyor), Oregon (imrveyor), McDonald (solicitor), and the Southern Crosß Petroleum Company were also destroyed.

The affairs of the North Dunedin Church were before the Dunedin Presbytery on Tuesday night. There was first p petition from those who were up till recently members or adherents, praying for a« inquiry, and alleging that the state of matters in the congregation had been, and was increasingly, becoming a scandal to the cause of Presbyterianisrn. There iwas a petition or protest from the present imerabers and adherents holding that the 'other petition was incompeten , and !could not be received. There was also a letter of the minister, the Rev. A. C. Gillies, resigning the pnstorate, accompanied by a letter of office-bearers of the church resigning office, as they felt sure those who had left the church would come back and renew strife. After a long discussion as to which document should be taken first, it was eventually decided to accept the minister's and office-bearers' resignations, and the memorial wbb shelved. A protest against this course and wanting an appeal to the Synod was disallowed.

The new lattice girder bridge over the Molynoaux (Otngo) was handed over by the contractors to the Government ou Monday. The bridge is the first of its kind in the colony. It h™ three spans of 115 ft each, and two 49Jft, the total length being 461 ft. The contractor for the ironwork is Mr Anderson, of Christchurch, and it was all prepared on the ground from raw material, a small foundry being erectsd for the purpose. The bridge was opened by a party of ladies and gentlemen invited by Mr Anderson.

The Minister of Justice sprained his ankle in alighting from a carriage- at Wellington, and will be confined to his house for fome time.

Messrs White and Lovett have declined to take up their contract on the Northern Trunk line, the amount of which waß £53,000, Their deposit will be forfeited, and the work goes to Messrs Anderson and Co., of Christchurch. Healey and Ready, boarding-house-keepers, and Bradbury, store-keeper, Woodville, were convicted of Bly-grog selling at Manawa u u Gorge, and fined £SO, or a month's imprisonment. The Government intend stipulating in the tender for the big railway bridge over the Teremakau on the Hokitika-Greymouth line, which will shortly be let, that all ironwork be made in the colony. Thore were only five competitors for the Bowen prize essay this year. Hamath Michael Blake Marshall, of Nelson College, is the winner.