LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 110, 17 March 1870, Page 4

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

T^E Provincial Council is likely to meet oft the 19th of April. ' We are informed that Capt. Hutchison gave £250 for the celebrated racehorse Wildboy. Our report of the Tpwn Council of last, evening we are compelled /tajhjald. over till oarnext issue. Ohr Cromwell and Alexandra correspondents'letters, received late last night, will appear in-, our next issue. N A disastrous fire occuiTed in ©bristcaurcli y on Tuesday morning last. The total damage > is estimated at between £4000 and £5000. Mr. John White, member of the County Council, Hokitika, has presented his honorarium of £25 to the Literary Institution of that town. Sale 3 of certain unsold sections will take place at Waik'ja (S withers) on the 21st inst., and at Tapanui on the 23rd— at noon on the ground in each case. The Claude, Hamilton leaves Port Chalmers on Saturday, the 19th inst., for Melbourne via Northern Ports, and the Tararua, vig, the. Bluff, probably on the same clay. A NEW line of steamers from Otago to England, via Magellan Straits, has been projected in Dunedin, the vessels to be 2000 tons, and. to, do the voyage in 40 days. We notice that tenders are called for gravelling about 16 chains of road TPaipahi to Tapanui. Plans and specifications and forms of tender to. he obtained, at the police station, Tapanui. Five men, who had worked their passage on board the barque Nightingale from Western Australia, w,ere arrested by Sergeant Mallard, of the Water Police at Port Chalmers on susi picion of being convicts at large from that colony. We have seen a specimen of the glue manufactured Toy" My. Beissel, of Rattray-street, Dunedin. To all appearance it is superior to any that has come before our notice We trust Air. Beissel will receive encouragement iv this new industry. The first English Mail by San Francisco will close at the Post-office, Lawrence, on Thursday, the 23rd ins.t., at 8 p.m.. The postage is the same as. by Sauth.ain.pton.' The Postmaster in-i forms us that all letters not specially directed via Southampton will be sent via San Francisco. , We are glad to be informed that we were in error in stating that the Government had with-, drawn the 500,0 acres lately thrown open on ilfr." Smith's run until the declaration of the Beaumont &u,nd.red.. It, s&eins that only some 230 acres in the neighbou.rb.ood of Falconer's hut were withdrawn. The successful tenderer for pulpit and seats for the new Wesleyan Church, Blue Spur, was Mr. George, Morison, the sum being £31 12s.' The church erected, by Mr. Alex. Cormack is. now completed to the entire satisfaction of the^ committee, and, it is expected, will be opened* in about a t fortnight. Captain Beatson of the Oreti, during a recent visit to the Auckland Islands, found the skull of a horse 900 feet above the level of the soa. The captain brought it with him to deposit in. the Dunedin Museum. How this skull got deposited in such an out-of-the-way place is a matter foy speculation, The designs fcj; a residence and boarding, establishment for the Rector of the Dunedin, : High School were adjudicated upon the otherday, when that by Mr. David Ross, archetect, was considered best. The second prize was' awarded to Mr. R. A. Lawson, the architect for the Lawrence Court House. On the 9th ult.. a fir<j which resulted in the - destruction of £50,000 worth of property, broke. out iii Flood's wool stores, Circular Quay, Sydney. At the inquest it was alleged the fire. had originated by the spontaneous combustion :of New Zealand flax, a large quantity of which.' was stored; in. the part of the building where the fire was first discovered. From one of our exchanges we learn that there are no less than 1,340 oflicers employed in the Ciyil Department of governing this colony of New Zealand, This does not include the fight-, ing branch. The salaries vary from £1,700, which is the annual amount received J^JDhief Justice Arney, to the lowest, £5, whi^tt the late allowed to various postmasters. There is a requisition going round callingupon. Mr. J. C. Brown to allow himself to be put in nomination for the Bruce district.* It has already been signed by the, great majority of the Blue Spur and IFetherstones miners, and, when sent round the whole district, will be or~*v of the most numerously-signed requisitions : which^haye ever b'-.en got up in Tuapeka. The Melbourne, "Leader," in noticing the news from New Zealand, states .—". — " It is idle to talk of stamping out the rebellion, for if it.wera stamped out to-day, there would be no guaran-. tee against the starting up of some dark-skinned-patriot or truculent fanatic the day after. Patience- and vigilence will do more, than active, warfare to bring about a lasting peace." The "Mount Ida Chronicle," of the 11th inst., writes:— "The strike of the miners iit v Naseby is, we are glad to state, almp?» at an. v end, and with the exception of several claimholders on Surface.. Hill, all the miners, have commenced work, and using water at the "rate, of 40s per head per week. We trust that business will soon be in its usual busy state." Some days ago a child in Wetherstones who. had been troubled with worms was attended by Dr. Halley, whp was somewhat puzzled by the more than usually serious symptoms exhibited by such a complaint. The mystery, however, was solved by the boy passing a round worm, some eight inches in length. It appears the. child had swallowed a button some time previously, and the worm had found its r way through the. eye of the button, where it stuck and died. Dr. Halley has preserved this curiosity of the reptile creation, which may be seen, at his residence, Monteagle House. Feom Mr. Milne's letter to the "Evangelist," it appears that kidnapping is carried on very systematically at the New Hebrides. After recording a case which took place during his, voyage of inspection of these islands, he writes as follows :— " I have heard that the captain of one of those slaving vessels having come to an island where he knew Bishop Pattison had "been, •visiting, dressed himself like a bishop, went, ashore with a bible in his hand, and sang psalms, in order to allure the natives on board ; and that he thus obtained a good many." At the Waste Lands Board meeting held on the 6th instant, the Rev. William Keall applied to purchase sections 1, 2, 3, and 16, block XVII.j Havelock, for church purposes. He was recommended to apply for an acre outside, the mining reserve, of which these sections form a part. Mr. George Morison applied to purchase or lease, for coal mining, sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14 X 15, and 16, block XXXI., Lawrence. The application was referred to the Warden of v the district foi report. Mr. James Hitchie, of Waipori, made an application to purchase sections 55 and 81, block 1., Tuapeka district east, held by him under agricultural lease. The pur- - chase of area under lease only agreed to, to ba paid for within a month. Mr. John M'Crae applied-for lease of section 5, block V., Tuapeka east, to mine for, coal. A lease of 20 acres at £10 per annum was granted, with the, stipulation that the price of coal at the pit mouth -was not to,exceed 12s. 6d. per ton. In accordance with advertisement, Mr. M'Leod Nicolson held sales of town sections, during the past week, in - Lawrence, Wetherstones, Beau-, mont, Havelock, and Dalhousie. At Lawrence, there were eight sections out of ten sold at the upset price— these were outlying sections which had been offered for sale ever since Lawrence had been declared a township, In Wetherstones several unoccupied sections were offered for sale, but the upset price, viz., ss. per foot frontage, being the same charge as was made in Wetherstones'' palmy days, no doubt accounts fer an absence of bidders. In the township of Dunkeld (Beaumont) twelve sections were' sold at the up3et price of £5 per section ; upon eaehi of these buildings are erected. In the township of Havelock 26 sections were sold, with only one exception, at the upset price, viz., L 2 per quarter acre section, and L 2 per acre for rural sections. In the township of Dalhousie sections were offeied for sale, but owing to the upset price, viz., L 5 per section, being considered far too high for-a place so remote, th,ej& were no bidders.

We observe from the local paper that the Naseby people have been deprived of a privilege which it would appear they have not fully valued. Some time ago they expressed great desire to have Cobb's coach call regularly on its way to and from the Dunstan. Messrs. .Chaplin and Co. complied with the wishes of the district, ajtjwtugh we believe at some extra .expense to themselves. The advantage of a ,coach stopping at their hotels does not appeal* .to be appreciated by the hotel keepers in Mount Ida, as they make altogether exceptionally ' large charges for stabling, &c, which charges have brought forth a leuter from Mr. Chaplin in which he states that owing to the expensiveness of stabling, water, &c, he will be obliged to change the stage to the old road, and carry the mail, on horseback as formerly.