SOUTHERN NEWS.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 194, 23 May 1872, Page 3

SOUTHERN NEWS.

(From papers per s.s. Wellington.)

A girl, aged two years and nine months, named Mary Costello, died at Hokitika on

April 27, in consequence of having taken some chlorodine which had been left within her reach.—Extensive plans for the irrigation of the Canterbury plains have been laid before the Council of that province.—Eighty-nine deaths occurred in the Dunedin Hospital last year, and half of them were the result of consumption and heail disease —Tiie Otago police force and escort service is estimated to cost £12,000 for the ensuing year. — Duriirg the first four menths of the year 45,925 ounces of: gold, valued at £183,G27, were exported from Hokitika.—A very excellent movo is being made by some Napier citizens for giving some sort of entertainment to the children attending tho Pakowhai school,as well asto their relatives and other natives, on the Queen’s birthday. —lll crossing the Otago river the Wellington coach capsized. The passengers, including two ladies, and mails, got a thorough soaking, but no one was hurt. The letters and newspapers were saturated, and required baking before they con hi be read.—.Mr Gisborne lias written to Dr Featherston, requesting him to arrange for the shipment of a quantity of salmon ova, if possible, to the Bluff, from the Clyde. The ova cannot be obtained till the end of the year, at which lime they will be procured and packed—probably under tHe supervision of Mr Frank Buckland.—A man, named Paul Millar, recently died at Hokitika of want and exposure previous to bis admission to gaol, to which, out of mercy, he had been sene as a vagrant —The Marlborough Express says ;—“ At Alexandra, a well was sunk by order of the Borough Council ; hut when the rock was reached, gold was found instead of water. The waslidirt was two feet thick. It is proposed to hand over the shaft for mining.”—At the meeting of the Wellington Council this evening Air Phnrazyu asked the Provincial Secretary if it is the intention of 1 lie Executive to take action lor tho immediate formation of a road between ' Whnngnvmi and Tnovo. either directly or through the General Government, with liie view oi cuahhug \Voaogauiii u< sm.iv in the advantages which are expected to arise, from the recent discovery of gold at ruin,a.—There has been much litigation recently in Otago regarding some of tho ■hums at Skippers. There is no doubt, however, that Skippers has been wonderully rich, and that between several [tarlies of miners a large amount of gold e jual to £IOO,OOO or £lso,ooo—was taken out and shared, within two years, i 'tween less than a dozen men.—A letter uis iteen received by tho Superintendent of Taranaki from Mr E. M. Smith, Welington, stating that if the Government •■.’mild give him a lease of six miles of tench, and the right to make charcoal on 5,000 acres of bush land, and eighteen moutlis’ monopoly, lie would guarantee to raise a company with £30,000 to work the h-on san l.—Telegrams received fro a Westport state that the block of buildings which includes the Empire Hotel is in imminent danger. The sea had made '•onsiderablc further encroachment, and it is feared that the entire block of build-ino-s on the west, side of Gladstonestiver. will he destroyed, if not immediately removed by the owners. A return shows the total number of sheep in Canierlmrv on that date to have been 2 503 745 of which 1,110,927 were males •uid 1',386,818 females, the gross increase, as compared with the number rn tire p»o----vinen on tire same day in 1871, being 51,687. It is stated as a noteworthy fact that tlm increase, in the number on farms is much larger in proportion than oit tho vims. The "Dunedin correspondent of tho Grey River Argus writes “ A most extraordinary suicide was perpetrated at Waiknka a few days ago. The party, a miner, lived in a hut alone, and before ho hanged himself put on a complete suit of woman’s apparel—stockings, bools, cheroisr*, gfnys, petticoats, and over all a black silk gown ; while to keep the rope from hurting him, or breaking the skin of his neck, Ire had folded a towel neatly so as to come between the rope and his neck. He bad been dead for some time when found. Verily (lie man must htnc been most methodically mad.”—The Bendigo (Otago) correspondent of the Cromwell Argus writes :— “An interesting relic of our Maori predecessors itr this valley was found by two young men, searching for eggs in a cave at the hack of Wakefield. After crawling some distance through tlio narrow aperture, the cavern suddenly widened out to a good size, and standing against the ‘-ide they found a Maori paddle. It is neatly finished, is in an excellent state of preservation, and appears to be made ol kauri pine, and, as I am not aware that any of the wood grows in this island, a wide field for conjecture is opened as ti bow it may have got into the locality in which it was found. Possibly further research may reveal the remains of its grim owner,”—A man named Johnstone was engaged with some logs when a Large log took a slide on the iron rail, causing one of the cant hooks to strike Johnstone, and before he could recover hims-jf roll'd completely over him, crushing every bone in his body, disintegrating the bowels,. and leaving him nothing but a lifeless

wifisß—<ion.th was instantaneous. Three or four of the other hands narrowly escaped.— Sneakin'/ of spcyeli. s made by Mr Br-ig-(Dn on the W*st Coast, (lie Wellington Post, of the 13th says that “though the whole speech throws blame on ail the estates of the colony, not excepting the fourth, definite charges against individuals are wanting. The strongest opponents of tin* Government have made no sever"r charges against Ministers titan has Mr Rrogden. lie says his firm had aet> d most honourably with the colony, and had introduced into th • money ! market of Rowland some assurances of 1 faith in New Z aland ; an 1 after speaking of his having ‘com*.* from homo r ,,pves<-ntiug an imp**rtn>.t company who had to make rail wavs on land t rms, to work them for 33 years, and to receive only interest to a certain ext- nt, lie says: —‘ To limit operations to such an extent as £500,000 seemed deception.’” Tin* Post, continu s “ II" say.*, the leeli: gs 1 of the Assembly were so different on his I arrival here ‘to what they had been reI presented in London,’ that h-* wrote home I to countermand certain monetary nrrange--1 nienfs he had made before coming out. Aft r misrepresentation we hear of delays. 1 He had been her.*, to his annoyance, for six months, and all that had been done was tbe making of one and a half miles of the Waikato roads. It was not his fault, but there was some screw loose in the Government’s management. He was : quite prepared, and had brought out a staff ! and plant with him to nerforni his arrangeI uients. He had tri-rl to work pleasantly with the Government.’ "