LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 237, 15 August 1872, Page 7

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The Wetherstones Readings take place as usual to-night.

We are informed that the bridge across the Pomahaka will be completed in about a fortnight,

Mb, Matthew Hat will sell by public auction at the Golden Age Hotel, Waitanuna, to-mor-row ' (Friday) and Saturday, a quantity of drapery.

Owing to a break-down in the arrangement*, the Lawrence Athenaeum Reading did not take place last Friday night. We understand that the hut of the 161168 of readings will be given on the 23rd inst; '

Travellers after dark on the road between Mayow's and Tapanui are warned that there is V broken culvert on the middle of the road. The necessary repair* should at once be geen to by the authorities,

A' MEETING of the Tiapeka Railway Committee was held on Thursday night, at the Commercial Assembly Rooms. Present :— Messrs. H. Bastings (iv the chair), Harrop, Meyer, Ferguson, Mouat, Halley, Williams, Hay, M'Beath, Farrer, and" Hayes (Secretary). The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed, and several communications were read. The Chairman reported the result of his visit up-country, which was exceedingly satisiactory. The Secretary reported that he had forwarded copies of the petition as directed by the Committee at its last meeting ; and that those sent to Tokomairiro and Waitahuna had been returned with a' large number of signatures attached. The engrossed petition was submitted to the meeting and approved of. The Secretary was directed to forward copies of the petition to Moa Flat and Roxburgh. A discussion ensued regarding sending delegates with the petition, and a strong opinion expressed that it was highly desirable that the gentlemen nominated at the last meeting should proceed to Wellington, The meeting then t adjourned till this (Thursday) evening.

The " Waikouaiti Herald " has the following in reference to a petition, most numerously signed by all classes, "humbly praying" that the land be reserved from sale on account of its auriferous character, &c, This petition the Government have not deigned to take the slightest notice of, though it was forwarded by the Mayor with a letter directing their especial attention to it] This is the manner Provincial rulers attend to the public interests. Verily, in so far as the welfare of this district is concerned, Provincialism has proved itself anything but a good thing.

The Gabriels Bock Quartz Company intend to sink their, shaft a further depth of 10 feet, and from that depth to put in a tunnel to cut the reef. They expect to strike it at a distance of 7 feet from the shaft.

PLUMMEB, who escaped from Dunedin gaol on the Bth inst., was recaptured in Dunedin, on Wednesday, the 13th inst.

IN the report of the Mining Association, which appeared in our columns of last week, it was stated that Mr. Evans agreed with Mr. Morris' motion. It should have been Mr. Gilbert Ralston agreed, &c.

A LECTDBB will be delivered by Vincent Pyke, Esq., R.M., on the evening of Tuesday, the 20th inst,, at the schoolhouse, Blue Spur. The subject is "A Night among Dead Lions." Chair will be taken at 7 30 p.m., Lawrence time.

On Thursday evening last the southern sky was brilliantly illuminated by the Aurora Australis. The aurora appeared of a beautiful red tint, with, at intervals, bands of silvery white coruscating across.

Quabtzopous (says the "Marlborough Press") will be the proper name for certain districts in the Sound if the expectations now formed con* cerning them are ever realised. Rumors of finds of gold-bearing quart? have been rife during the week, and as the retailers have no object to serve, we may conclude that there is some truth in the reports that have been circulated. Several specimens of quartz containing gold have been submitted for our inspection, and judging them from the experience gained during six years' reeling, there is not the slightest doubt that payable reefs exist in places not now suspected.

Mb. Anthont Trollope, with Mrs. Trollope and Mr. W. H. Pearson, arrived at Lawrence shortly after one o'clock, p.m., on Monday last. They had an exceedingly rough passage between Roxburgh and Tuapeka. They started from the former place at 7 p.m. on Sunday morning, but owing to the snow storm, were unable to travel further than the Beaumont, from which place they resumed their journey at 8 o'clock the following morning, arriving as previously stated. The party proceeded to Dunedin by Cobb & Co.'s coach on Tuesday morning. Mr. Trollope will be able to give a graphic description of the Goldfields of Otago, .seeing that he travelled from Queenstown to Lawrence, including one full day's detention on account of the snow storm, in five days. The distance between the two places is about 140 miles, and the roads are, to say the best of them, exceedingly bad. Mr. Pearson must have been able to furnish Mr. Trollope with valuable information regarding the goldfields, as he has never before visited them. However, the fact that hehas existed for a number of years in that lively village Invercargill, without losing possession of his faculties, renders him peculiarly fitted to pilot a stranger through any country under the sun. Mr. Trollope, we believe, while in Lawrence visited the Athenaeum, and, of course, was highly gratified to him that the inhabitants of this far corner of the earth read sometimes. It was proposed to entertain Mr, Trollope at a dinner in the Commercial Hotel, but owing to the uncertainty which prevailed as to the time of his arrival, it did not take plaoe.

Snow, rain, and wind have followed the splendid weather of last week. On Saturday night last snow began to fall, and continued descending all night and the greater part of the following day. On Monday and Tuesday also, snow and rain fell heavily at intervals, On Tueaday evening a thaw set in ; but on Wednesday morning the weathe resumed its previuo3 wintry aspect. The ground at the time of writing is covered to a depth of several inches with snow, which in many places has drifted considerably, Of course, traffic is almost suspended, and mining and {agricultural operations are at a standstill. There does not at present seem any prospect of a change for the better.

Some petty larcenist appears to have taken up his tesidence in the Tuapeka district. On the night of Tuesday, the 6th inst., a quantity of gold was abstracted from the tailrace belonging to Whelan, Nash, and Co., situated at Wetherstones. The footprints of the thief, who seems to possess very small feet, were tracked on the following morning between 400 and 500 yards in the direction of the Union Hotel, Wetherstones road. It is to be hoped that the depredator may be soon captured and punished, and while he is at large it behoves the miners to be on the lookout.

Mb. Jeffeuy, Boss Place, Lawrence, has received the following books :— Mark Twains' Innocents Abroad, Innocents at Home, Houghing It, Jumping Frog, Eye-Openers &c. ; Davidson's Practical Mathematics , Chambers' Practical Mathematics, do,, Mathematical Tables ; Lavater's Essays ; Robertson's Billiards ; The Girl's Own, Book, .Artemus Ward in London, The Merry Circle, The Country of the Dwarfs, Leigh Hunt. O. W. Holmes' works, Rollen's Ancient History, 6 vola. ; The Library Dictionary, illustrated ; Famous Regiments of the British Army ;' Drawing Boom Plays and Parlour Pastimes ; Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins ; Parnell's poems ; Burns' poems, Kilmarnook edition ; German and English Dictionary,. Songs of Scotland, chronologically arranged, That Heathen Chinee ; Anthony Trollope'a works ; Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, illustrated ; Christmas Carrols, old and new ; Young Folk's Songs, saored, Ipianof orte ; Advice to Parties about to Many, by Rowley,