LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 181, 27 July 1871, Page 5

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

- J .-5 l Ke English mail .via S*n Francisco closes at the Post-office, Lawrencp, on "Wednesday, the hUnd'August, at 8 p.m. t... "'■-,"•• ". "The ship Jean 'Sands, from Hong Kong, ai'rived at'th'e Otago Heads on Tuesday afternoon with 316 Chinese .passengers for this port only. ' r -Another ship was to leave Hong Kong for Otago •!^n May .'with about $30 Chinese, and other reskid on, in all to take about 1700 for this province alone. *• '^ A HaVelock correspondent iniornis us that * ; tne' claim l . Ojh tihe Hill, the scene of what was Sffccieibett'as'a "'new rush," shows great hopes of turning out something good. Tlie prospects

;,• are said to be, '.extremely encouraging. If it turns out well. there can be no/floubt of the P 'benefit th*? 'district will reap from it. Smith fcjafid '-Co. '-washed Up" last week, £164 worth of 0 gold being the result; Nation, Mayer and Co. ••jateo'tiaifa good washing up. PeaVson, Hamil- { tpn and Co., have commenced their new mode jOf working. ,with hired men, and anticipate , jwasmng "up once a month. Brown and Co.'s ' ; Steaii) TJirasher is in full work in Mr. Grant's farm. It appears to do the work admirably. A Correspondent, writing from Tapanui, .assures us there is no truth in the report that .thgr storekeepers,- in that district intend appropriating, in liquidation of her late husband's ' '.debts, the fund collected for Mrs. Buntine. :, "."The following characteristic advertisement {..appeared. in the ' " Dunstan Times"' of last week :— ''For sale, by private contract, a first - class buggy and saddle horse. Only cause of '• *ale— reduction of salary by Provincial Govern- - -jdent. Apply te the undersigned. —Vincent . JPyke." .". . & . We have bad the pleasure of inspecting a 1 "iswpply of new hooks receked by Mr. George r tjef|ery. - , Amongst them we .observed some ' r.jjbjaul;iful;r .jjbjaul;iful ; new. editions of standard authors, { /|han(feofliely abound and 'very suitable for preMnts,

J»YK£."

The Provincial Council-, having been in session nearly two months, was prorogued on Thursday last. Soon after the Council assembled, a statement giving a summary of the business of the sessson was read by the Speaker, as follows :—: — Length of session, 57 days ; sitting days, 37 ; messages from His- Honour, 13 ; petitions presented, 70 ; notices of questions, 54 ; notices of motions, 317 ; bills introduced, 30, bills passed, 25 ; addresses and resolutions forwarded to the Executive, 154 ; papers laid on the table, including correspondence and reports, 125 ; divisions, 88 ; committees appointed, 16 ; reports from select committees, 40. The New Zealand Gazette of the 10th inst., contains the following notifications :- -Mr. H. W. Robinson is appointed Registration and Returning Officer for the electoral district of Mount Ida for the election of members of the House of Representatives, in the room of Mr. Vincent Pyke. —Sittings of the District Court of the Otago Goldfields, in lieu of those heretofore appointed, will be held as follows : — At Naseby, on the 13th September ; at Clyde, on the 18th September ; at Queenstown, on the 25tb September ; and at Lawrence, on the 17th October.

On Monday afternoon, a man named Duncan Ross was riding a young spirity hosre along the Waitahuna Road, when, from some cause or other, the beast fell and rolled over his rider, who received some severe injury to his hack. As soon as assistance was obtained, he was brought to the hospital, whero, under the direful treatment of the Resident Surgeon, we are glad to learu he is getting better.

In our report of the ploughing match, which appeared in our last issue, an -error occurred in the prize list. The 4th prize in the senior class should have been stated as £2, and that which appeared as the 4th should have been the sth prize, which was awarded to W. M'Gilvray, ploughman for Mr. Peter Robertson. We omitted to state in our report that the horses that took the prize for being best shod, were shod l>y Sir. Middlemiss.

The opening of the new Presbyterian Church, Blue Spur, will take place on Sunday next, 30th instant, when two sermons will be preached by the Uev. Dr. Copland— in the afternoon at three o'clock, and in the evening at half-past six.

"We anticipate another bumper house on the occasion of the performance of our Christy Minstrels, which comes off to-movrow evening, in Biistiugs' Assembly Room. Eulogy on our part is quite unnecessary, as our local celebrities have already made for themselves a name as familiar as household words. For particular, programme, &c, we refer our readers to the advertisement in another column.

On the 2lst instant, the contest for the office of Mayor of Dunedin took place, when Mr. H. S. Fish, junr., was re-elected, with a majority of 129. Mr. Goodall was le-elected for Tokomairiro; for Cromwell, Mr. Taylor was returned; for Queenstown, Mr. Hallenstein.

. A meetino of owners of property situated on the north side of Ross Place was held in the Royal George Hotel, Lawrence, on Thursday evening: last to consider what steps should be taken to protect their property, which, owing to the accumulation of tailings at the mouth of Gabriels Gully, is liable- to be flooded. Mr. Jamison occupied the chair, and about a dozen property holders were present. Several resolutions were passed, and a committee appointed to draw up a report framed upon the resolution's, to be presented to the Government through the Town Cpuncil, The resolutions pointed out the urgent necessity which existed for something being done, as the evil was every day increasing. They also showed that if the creek were diverted to the foot of the hill, and a retaining wall constructed, a considerable portion of land would be reclaimed, the sale of which might be an inducement to the Government to cany out the work at once.

The building of the cloth manufactory at Mosgiel is now completed, and about half the machinery is fitted up.

Fiji' now boasts of a Government Gazette, which is headed " Cakobau Rex."

The usual monthly meeting of the Hospital Committee wa<* held on Tuesday evening, at the Commercial Hotel, Mr. Simpson being in the chair. The Surgeon's report having been laid before the Committee, the Chairman said it was necessary to make provision for next month's payments, and he would thank gentlemen present for suggestions. The Hon. Treasurer, Mr. Farrer, having explained that the Government had promised to pay the subsidy due to the Hospital by the Ist of October, Mr. Gooday moved, at the suggestion 'of the Chairman, "That the Secretary see the contractors and servants to the institution, explain to them thje unhealthy state of the finances, and request them to allow their accounts and salaries, to -stand over until the Ist October, at the current rate of interest, viz., 8 per cent." Seconded by Mr. M'Kimmie, and carried. Some unimportant business being transacted, the meeting closed.

In anticipation of the early establishment of j telegraphic communication between Australia and Europe, one of Keuter's agents, Mr. Henry M. Collins will shortly arrive in Melbourne for the purpos of making arrangements to supply the colonies with a daily resnme of all important European and American political, financial, "and general information. Special prominence will be given to such news as is of interest to the various colonies. It is stated in an official form that perfect impartiality will be displayed towards all subscribing journals, and no paper will be excluded from the right of joining the service. It was stated the other day at Newcastle (N.S.W.)hythe Rev. Mr. Fison. a Wesleyan Missionary to Fiji, that out of a total population in the group of about 200,000, about 105,000 are cannibals. , "We beg to congratulate the weather upon having succeeded in making itself appear absurdly eccentric during the past week, it having been pleased to favour us with snow, rain, «old, and heat in disagreeably quicU .succession, .

A fire, which took place in a jeweller's shop in Wellington lately, is laid to have been caused by a rat gnawing some matches. The Athenanim Headings came off on Friday evening, but owing to the bad state of the weather — the rain, in fact, coming down in torrents — there was but a thin attendance. The programme having been gone through, as far as the limited amount of readers present would allow, it was proposed to prepare the room for dancing, which was accordingly done, and several ladies and gentlemen who had attended spent an hour or two very pleasantly. The " Daily Times " of Monday records one case of suicide, one of attempted do., two of sudden death, one of atttempted fire raising, and one accident. One of the cases of sudden death occurred at Port Chalmers, the accident at Wftikouniti, and the rest of the cases at Dunedin. The "Times" also announces the death of Mr. John Gillies, E.M., an old settler of 20 year's standing, in his 70th year. The usual Wetherstones fortnightly readings take place this evening. The Christchurch "Press " states that during the month of June last, the Canterbury Meat Preserving Company sent away as much as 120 tons of preserved meat and tallow. Since the beginning of the year up to June 17th, 98,588 ounces of New Zealand gold have been shipped from Victoria. It is generally known that the Hon. Mr. Yogel is the fortunate holder of a number of shares in the celebrated Caledonian claim. There has been a report current that he had forfeited his interests by non-payment of calls, but an Auckland coi respondent of the "Greymouth Star*' contradicts this statement, and says :-- " I have seen the books of the Company, and have seen the receipts for Mr. Vogel's dividends on 14 shares, £1680 to this date, and more to follow. If he sells out now he can i cleai £3-jOO or more on his interests."

A mixed Government, consisting of both whites and natives, lies been formed at Fiji. An Executive wns formed without the whites being consulted. It holds office solely from King Tliakoiubau, and is regarded by the whites with great indignation as a coup d'etat, inasmuch as its members are new men. They are as follows :— Mr. Burt, late of Melbourne ; Lieutenant Woods, -of New Zealand ; Mr. Supar, of Adelaide ; Saviantha, the King's brother ; Timothy, the King's son ; and Messrs. Smith aud Hennings, unofficial members. The whites are acting vigorously in the matter. A diggings correspondent of the "Grey River Argus " says : —We lately had a case of Lynch law in the township. A darkie, named Ellis, having beeu suspected of stealing some wine, the pioperty of .one of the hotel keepers, a few of the boys took it into their heads to try him. He was accordingly charged with the offence, and after some delay he pleaded guilty, when he was sentenced to receive three dozen lashes, which were administed on the spot by one of the judges. The lashes were laid on with a right hearty good will, a long and coarse split shingle being the instrument of torture. I believe it did him more good than going to prison, aud certainly cost the country less. He skedaddled the same night. Cobb & Co. have notified to all newspaper proprietors with whom they have v. business connection, that after the end of the present month they intend to make a charge of one penny on each newspaper sent through them, and that existing arrangements will cease. We regret this, as it will necessitate our adding postage to the usual subscription. When will the Government see the necessity for considerably reducing, if not totally abolishing, this tax on knowledge ?