THE PROVINCES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 125, 30 June 1870, Page 6

THE PROVINCES.

A very graceful present, according to the native custom, has recently been made to the relatives of William Thompson by an Auckland merchant. Shortly before his death, 'William Thompson made a present to this gentleman, who, however, has recently had the present fitted with a suitable design, bearing an inscription stating that the present given by William Thompson is now returned to that chief's relatives, as a mark of respect for that late chief. — " Grey Eiver Argus." The want of an Executive would really seem, in the working of the Council, to be an improvement; the Superintendent, this session, has received a degree of support which would not, we venture to say, have been accorded him had he been surrounded by members of an Executive Council.—" Hawkes Bay Herald." More inroads of the sea, and destruction of property at Westport, is thus recorded by Tuesday's Times: — "The very rough weather that on Saturday and Sunday abated yesterday morning, the wash of the waves inundated the streets in the vicinity of the beach. Very few houses have been flooded on this occasion, and the damage happily falls altogether short of what was experienced about a month back. At the lower end of Gladstone-street the beach continues to disappear so quickly that the removal of the remaining buildings has ceased to be a doubtful question. The cottage recently occupied by Mr. Limbrick was sold at auction by Mr. Munro on Saturday for £14, and premises adjoining, the property of Mr. Levi, for £11 10a Mr. Patterson, the bootmaker, was busy taking down and removing yesterday. The Robert Burns Hotel, a two-storey building is in jeopardy, and was sold at auction yesterday. At the upper end of Gladstone-street some damage has been sustained, as also in Wharf-street. The action of the sea has loosened and detached portions of the river bank, diminishing the narrow strip of thoroughfare occupying the river frontage ; and unless some remedy or protection is speedily applied, the removal of the present line of buildings will become necessary. A contemporary tells us that some of our dusky brethern have extemporised a toll bar in the neighbourhood of Otaki, and levy black mail at the rate of sixpence a head from all passengers, in order to pay themselves for some labour they have expended in repairing a piece of road. Europeans naturally object to this impost, but the lords of the soil are inflexible when "hick-a pennies " are concerned, and objectors have to ride round by the mouth of the river, involving a detour of several miles. Five gentlemen, who accidently met in Trafalgar street, Nelson, on being weighed and measured, gave an average height of 6 feet 1 inch, and an average weight of 17 stone 11 lbs. The tallest man was 6 feet 1\ inches, and the shortest, 5 feet 11 inches; the weight of the heaviest was 24 stone 3 lbs, and the lightest weighed 11 stone 11 lbs. Two were Scotchmen born, the remaining three were New Zealand bred, but of Scotch descent. The disgraceful state of the graves, in the Patea district, of those who have fallen through the late disastrous war is deserving of more than passing notice. The graves of those who were killed at Turuturumokai, Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, and other places, were almost immediately fenced in, to prevent them from being trampled on and defaced by horses or cattle. Since that time many have fallen at Otauto and other places in the neighbourhood of the Patea, and have been buried between the townships of Patea and Carlyle. Not a cross to mark their last resting-place has yet been put up, nor has the ground been fenced in ; many of the graves are almost totally destroyed by the cattle, which are constantly camping on the remains of those whose memory should be held sacred. The "Wanganui Chronicle," of the 2nd instant, says :—": — " Late on Tuesday night a policeman was sent down amongst the natives at Putiki, looking for Kemp, Topia and Mete Kingi. He (the policeman) was the bearer of a telegram for each of the aforementioned Maoris from Mr. Fox, telling them that James Wood, Esq., at the Customs, was authorised to pay them £500 on account of pay due to them. At this, both Topia and Kemp were very indignant, and refused to accept less than the whole amount dve — something like £15,000. They left by the Wanganui yesterday morning to see Mr. Fox about the matter. Topia is angry, and is not likely to be so easily talked over as Kemp, and notwithstanding all that has been said about the loyalty of this chief the fact of the Government not being in a position to keep faith with him, may turn him against them again; for after all there is no doubt but that his friendship is dictated by mercenary considerations. This is really a very curious state of affairs. Mr. Fox himself engaged those meu, and agreed to pay them a certain wage for doing certain work. It is quite true that they have not done much good, but for all that a bargain is a bargain, and they are legally entitled to the wages for which they stipulated. It is quite evident that there is a screw loose somewhere "in connection with the finance of the Government, despite all Mr. Fox's

talk at Dunedin and Christchurch He told the people there how very: economical the Government had been in Defence expenditure, and what a lot of money they had saved, but it is. a significant commentary upon this that the Government should be a defaulter in reference to the payment of those natives. An effort is being made by some of the Rangitikei settlers to raise a sum of money by subscription for the purpose of enabling Walter Tricker, who was recently liberated from gaol, to re-establish himself and family in a home of their own. Tricker possessed 500 acres of land, which was fortunately secured to his family before the trial; but, despite this, he is now practically seriously in debt The expenses connected with his trial, which were advanced at the time by some of the settlers, and have to be repaid, the cost of the partial support of his wife and family during the lengthened imprisonment, and the fact that the fences of his land have all fallen into disrepair, account for this. In short, Tricker is very poor, and his neighbours are trying to lend him a helping hand. — " Grey River Argus." A nice little scene recently took place in the Nelson Provincial Council, in which Mr. O'Conor, one of the members for Westport, was nicely " taken down." The " Evening Mail '* says: — Mr. O'Conor, who, from his imposing appearance and commanding tone of voice, is known among his brethren of the far West as " The Son of Thunder," arose to put certain questions to the Provincial Secretary relating to contracts for works at Westport which were not being carried out according to specification. One of the questions was couched in terms not the most respectful, and some of , the members objected to its being put, ! but the Secretary — and I thought I j could see a merry twinkle in his eye — stated that he was perfectly willing I to give a reply, and he did so. He read a telegram he had received from i the Engineer down there giving the names of the tenderers, among which appeared that of Mr. O'Conor, but his was not the lowest ; he then read the instructions he had telegraphed back in reply, to the effect that the lowest should be accepted if satisfactory ; and he then gave us the contents of the final telegram from the Engineer — " Lowest safest of all." Judging from Mr. O' Conor's countenance, I am of opinion that the answer he received to his question was not in accordance with his anticipations, and I am further of opinion that the impression left upon his mind was that there were circumstances under which even the search after knowledge might be pushed too far. The Wellington papers continue to | be very wroth at what they call the "Miserable Hall contract job," because Auckland is made the port of call for the San Francisco line of steamers. In a recent article on this subject the "Advertiser" thus "reckoned up " the present Ministry : — " Some 2000 years i ago a very celebrated man was called an honourable man, and his colleagues were characterised as all, all, everyone of them honourable men Our New Zealand Ministers are by courtesy, and after a lapse of 2000 years, still called 'honourable.' We think that the Yankee word of 'smart' men would really convey a more accurate designation of their peculiarities from the ordinary run of their fellow-settlers. Who dare insinuate that William Fox has not times without number proved himself a really first-class smart fellow? Second on the list, who dare dispute but that the sermonising ponderous Gisborne has so played his cards that he has shown that he is not wanting in smartness. With reference to the immortal G-izzy, we are conscious that his biography, more particularly the official part of his career, deserves a special biographer, for the benefit and instruction of young New Zealand. It would also add an interesting chapter to ' Human Advancement.' Like his friend Fox, he is a representative man, not, however, of cool impudence and personal vindictiveness, but of the better and gentler part of our race, and possessing a good deal of the cunning which is sometimes supposed to belong to the fairer part of creation. With regard to Donald M'Lean, we can hardly class him as one of the very smart ones. Although his lot for a short time is with some of them, he is what is better understood as a cannie lad. Last, not least, is the illustrious Julius Yogel, of the " Southern Cross," late of the "Otago Times," and formerly of we do not know how many i other newspapers. Well, Julius was always thought a smart fellow, and perhaps will always continue to try and do smart things ; but in his last attempt we fear for his fame that he has put his foot in it." An inquest was held at Jollies Pass Accommodation House, Amuri, on the 18th ultimo, by Count De la Pasture, and a jury, of whom Mr Dv Moulin was chosen foreman, on the body of a man named Samuel Gilmor. From the evidence, it would appear that Gilmor had been employed by Mr Jones, of the Waiau station, to do some " cob" work, and that he was left alone on the station during the absence of Mr Jones and a man named Kean in Christchurch. During Mr Jones' absence, Gilmor went to Jollies Pass, a distance of i about eighteen miles, and left for home on the sth ultimo, accompanied by another man as far as the Waiau. On the 13th ultimo, he was discovered

lying on the Aoor of ft hat, dead, by Kean, on his r^tui4 from Christchurch. No marks were visible on the body, except on two fingers, which had apparently been severely bitten. Gilraor had evidently been dead some days, when Kean returned, and bis sleeves were turned up and his arms were covered with mud, showing that when he had expired he had just left off work. It is a pity the attendance of a medical man could not be procured, as it might have thrown some light upon what is at present a mystery — the cause of death. The jury returned an open verdict. — " Nelson Examiner." Some amusement was caused in town on Monday by Captain Clinskill, of the brig Magnet, who is always open for a joke. While anchored off the bar, his crew caught several albatrosses, and he brought them into port, announcing to likely purchasers that they were Cape Horn geese. The knowing ones said nothing, until a local baker snapped at the tempting bait — only 10s. each — and carried off his prize ; but the "chaff" of his friends soon induced him to return them to the joker, admitting that he had been sold. — " Grey River Argus." A contemporary writes as follows: — A fore-and-aft schooner, called the Lulu, has just arrived in Auckland, after completing a fine weather cruise around the New Hebrides Islands. On the vessel arriving at one of these islands, called the Mallicollo, Mr. Young, a passenger, went on shore, and met with a very warm reception. He boldly went amongst the people, who had evidently never seen a white man before. They turned him round,, and examined him all over, and ; were particularly interested in the make of his clothes. His pipe, too, was the cause of loud and long wonderment. After staying lor a while, Mr. Young prepared to go on board, but the moment he got in the boat some dozen of arrows were fired at him. A light skirmish was kept up for a few moments, until Mr. Young discharged his musket in the air, when j the whole bevy scampered away. The I arrows are made with cane, about four feet in length, and tipped with six inches of finely pointed human bone, artificially pointed. Mr. Young had been visiting these islands for the purpose of trying to obtain labourers for the flax mills in Auckland. He succeeded in getting twenty-seven strong j able fellows, who have been engaged for Messrs. Blessiugton and Walker's I flax mills.