LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 133, 25 August 1870, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

A special meeting of the Town Council will be held this evening. The usual meeting of the Lawrence School Committee will be held to-morrow evening. Accokdino to General Assembly telegraphic information the annual expenditure on the water supply for goldftelds has been limited to £160,000. "We beg to draw the attention of our readers to the important telegraphic information from our Wellington correspondent— There appears come hope yet of the various petitions from settlers on the goldfields receiving some consideration. We are requested, by the treasurer of the fund for the benefit of Mrs. Eichards, to acknowledge the receipt of the following subscriptions towards the fund, viz. :-Mr. Barton, Solicitor, Dunedin, £1; Mr. A. J. Smyth, Tapanui, ss. A Hokitika telegram states that a Few persons have banded themselves together and styled themselves " the Westland and Otago Annexation League, their object being to annex Wesfcland *o Oifcagp. They purpose calling a a public meeting'shdrtly, WjE beg to call the attention of our readers to an advertisement in another column, where it -will be seen that Mr. R. W. Oapstick, of Tokomairiro, Auctioneer, will sell by public auction Mr. Tyson's property, situated on the Waitahuna road. As Mr. Capstick states in his advertisement that the horses, &c, need no comment, we can only hope there will be a good attendance. We have carefully perused in the " Hansard '» the much talked speech of Mr. Brown's on the Hundreds Ac£ and we feel hound to say that it is by far the Ablest delivered -on the subject. If our contemporary the " Times "* does not publish it in full, wb shall do so next wuek, so that the electors may have an opportunity of judging whether all the locals penned i>y Mr. Maeandrew or ins clique .are true or £alsa,— "Echo/'

The English mail via San Francisco will close at the Post-office, Lawrence, on Tuesday next, the 30th inst., at 8 p.m. On and after Friday next, the 26th inßtant, weekly mails will be received and despatched to Tuapeka Mouth. Received at 12 noon; despatched, 3 p.m. It will he observed from advertisement that a meeting of those favourable to the temperanc c movement will be held in the Athenaeum tomorrow evening. j We have been informed that Mr. W. Wilfred TPilson, Banister and Solicitor, late of Dunedin, and who for some time past has been practising in Auckland, has some thoughts of returning to Otago in order to settle at Clyde, where, it appears, there is a good opening for another legal gentleman. The Tuapeka Railway and Water Supply Committee are using every endeavour to give their projects some practical shape. The hon* sec, Mr. Gooday, has favoured us with copies of letters foi warded to the Colonial and Provincial Secretaries, which we shall publish in our next issue. The new footpath in Whitehaven-street is now finished as far as the bridge near the hospital, and is very creditable to the contractor, Mr. Downey. Our loving pairs here in Lawrence will not now be under the necessity of always walking round and round the block, or on the Wetherstones road. We are glad to be informed that Mr. Haughton's recommendation in the report of the unemployed, which we published in our issue of June 15th, is likely to be adopted, and a general labour agency in Dunedin, with branch offices in country towns, established, aud the telegraph made use of for the purpose of communication between them. From a telegram in the " Daily Times " of yesterday we observe that the Otago Hundreds Regulation Act Amendment Bill (Mr. Macandrew's) was passed through Committee on Tuesday night. Messrs Bradsbaw, Mervyn, Haughton and Brown strongly opposed it, and moved ! numerous amendments, all of which were negatived by large majorities. The Bill was read a third time, and scut up to the Legislative Council. We have found it impossible this week to insert the report of the case M'Kinnon v. Lancaster, which occupied the attention of the Resident Magistrate's Court the whole of Monday last. The charge made against Mr. Lancaster, of maliciously killing a cow, the property of Mr. M'Kinnon, was one of the most absurd that we have ever heard brought before a Court, and it is only because of the seriousness of the charge that we think it necessary to publish the evidence io show its absurdity — this we shall do next week. Fkom a Cromwell letter we received last evening we learn that Kennie, accompanied by Detective Farrell, passed through that township on Sunday last on their way to the Gentle Annie. It appears that instead of losing the parcel of notes and gold at that place, as previously said, Rennie confessed to have planted them, and they had gone to lemove it. The same letter informs us that M'Lennan, the policeman implicated in the robbery, attempted to dash his brains out against the wall of the cell in which he was confined. The police, to prevent him committing any violence against himself, put him in chains. It will be observed by advertisements in another column that Mr. J. K. S. Keen has disposed of his druggists and dentists business to Mr. George Jeffery, of Ross Place, and that Mr. Jeffery has secured the services of Mr. Leary, of Dunedin, Chemist and Dentist, to conduct the business for him. We heartily trust that Mr. Jeffery's new enterprise will be successful. Mr. Keen has also sold out his auctioneer's business to Mr. M. Hay, and announces that he has now abandoned all business save that appertaining to his position as clerk to Mr. M'Coy, to whom he is about to article himself. We sincerely hope that we shall, at the end of three years, see Mr. Keen a member of the New Zealand bar. A bather amusing incident occurred immediately after the case heard before the Resident Magibtrate the other day of M'Kinnon v. Lancaster. It seems that Mr. Lancaster had a yearling brought np to the Courthouse for the purpose of practically proving that an animal could not be pithed or speared without blood flowing from the wound, and had the animal tied by the legs outside the Courthouse till the proof was required. The animal happily was not wanted as a sacrifice to prove the defendant's innocence, the case being so weak, so the beast's legs were untied, and he was put on his feet. On regaining his trotters, the yearling — no doubt one from the ranges who had never seen a civilized community before -stared wildly around, then suddenly made a bolt down Peel-street. A noble specimen of the equine species was hung up in front of the Camp Hotel on a post, with his head turned down the street, when suddenly our noble yearling spied him, and apparently being proud of his freedom, made a desperate charge on the poor unconcious innocent's posterior. The horse was ot course surprised and indignant at this unwonted at* tack, and commenced lashing out vigorously with his heels. The yearling being frightened at the warm reception be received, turned round and made a bound in the direction of the Shamrock Hotel, not for the purpose of shouting, but of rushing a gentleman who was attempting to impede bis wayward progress. Considering himself to be infra dig, we mean in for a dig if he stood there much longer, the said gentleman made a most precipitate retreat. Several people at last managed to turn the animal down the street, where it rushed on its headlong career till it smelt bread, and suddenly stopped. The valiant baker immediately came out with an iron rod, and tried to drive away the infuriated animal, but all to no purpose. The beast having been well bred wanted some more, and was very loathe to quit the vicinity of a place where he could get some. At last assistance arrived, and amidst the cries of children, shouts of men, and barking of dogs, the cause of so much alarm was driven away, and peace was restored in the usually quiet township of Lawrence,