Local Intelligence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 371, 8 July 1874, Page 2

Local Intelligence.

From some unexplained cause, our up-country parcels of the Tuapeka Times of Saturday were left behind at the bookiug office, on Monday morning. At present, this is the only explanation we can otfer our numerous readers for the non-delivery of their Saturday's paper. *Ye shall endeavor to prevent a similar occurrence in future.

We have been asked by several persons to explain certain incomplete sentences iv the report read by the Resident Surgeon, at the last meeting of the Hospital Committee. We are quito unable to do so. The words omitted in the pi in ted report do not appear in the original, and we did not feel called upon to supply what we imagined to be the words omitted.

The True Blue Loyal Orange Lodge, No. 8, Tuapeka, purpose commemorating their July anniversary on Monday next, the 13tli instant, by a grand soiree and ball. Considerable preparations are being made for the event,' which we have no doubt will be celebrated with great spiiit.

. At the last meeting of the Loyal Waitahuna Lodge of Oddfellows, the following officebearers were elected for the current half-yearly term :— Jlr. Ferris. N.G. ; Mr. Auderson, P,G. ; and Mr. Bulfin, E.S.

A public meeting was held in the Waitahuna Athenaeum on Saturday evening, for the purpose of receiving the annual report of the Committee of the Miners' Association, and electing a Committee for the ensuing year. Owing to the absence of the Secretary, no written report was submitted. The following gentlemen were elected as a Committee for the ensuing year, viz :— Messrs. Ferris, Hanson, Johnson, Evans, Bush. Bulfin, and Moggath, with power to adl to their number. Reference being made to ap. plications to the Waste Land Board for the purchase of land in the Waitahuna district, it wns unanimously resolved to petition the Board against the sale of any of the waste lands in the district. Mr. Browne, M.P.C. , who was present, referred to the system of dummyism carried on in connection with agricultural leasing, and mentioned the measures which, at his instance, the Government had promised to take to put a stop to it.

An enjoyable hour was- spent by a numerous audience at Clarks Flat School, on Friday evening last, when the Bey. Mr. Cameron gave readings from the poets. The selections were chosen with a view to exemplify religious, sooi.il, hdroic, and comic poetry, and were rendered by the rev. gentleman with much good taste and true conception, -eliciting from an appreciative audience frequent and hearty applause. The iuterest in the evening's proceedings was heightened by recitations delivered by pupils attending the above school. These were given in a most creditable manner, and were received with marks of merited approbation— one little fellow's rendering of " Scots wha hae " being re-deiuanded. The chair was occupied by Mr. Fraser, Secretary of the School Committee, who, in a few appropriate remarks, introduced the lect&rer. At the close of the lecture, a cordial vote of thanksto the Rev. Mr. C.imeron, —proposed hy the teacher— was heartily carried, as was also a like compliment to the Chairman, moved by Mr. Galbraith. "Ifc is intended to have a course of lectures at this School during the, forthcoming months. The Rev.- Mr. Skinner, of Waitahuna, has kindly consented to deliver the next, which will be on the ''Life of JKitto." Dm notice of this lecture will be given*

The crushing of twenty tons of cement for the Otago Company at the Gabriels Gully battery was completed this morniDg. The actual result will not be known until evening ; but, from the appearance of the ripples and the quantity of gold showing in the cleaning tip of the battery, the average per ton will quite cdtne up to the anticipations of the shareholders. This crushing will go far to prove the actual worth of the claim, as the cement crushed was taken from a drive five feet in depth, and not picked from the bottom, as is frequently done in prospecting. Betting on the result of the yield has been rife on the Spur this last week. One speculating gentleman waa at the battery from the time work commenced this morning, book in hand, prepared to lay odds .as to the result. From one and a half ounce to one ounce fifteen pennyweights appeared to be the general estimate of the yield amongst the takers of odds. The business done in this line was not of a heavy nature, most of the wagers being laid in half-crowns. A Derby sweep is also pending on the result— the method of procedure being a drawing of tickets in the usual manner, the prize going to the drawer of the ticket bearing the nearest approach to the actual return of gold per ton.

At the Government land sale held in Lawrence on Jllonday there were- several bona fide bidders present, whose bids had the effect of raising the average per acre to the respectable sum of £2 ss. ljd. One of the competitors succeeded by a fluke in getting a 70-ncre section at 31s. an acre, tho only one of the lot which Mr. M'lntyre, on whose station the land is situated, allowed to pass fioin him. The purchaser of tho 70-acre section referred to recently arrived from Victoria, where he disposed of some land considerably inferior in quality to his Monday's purchase for the sum of £5 an acre. We understand Mr. M'lntyre, after the sale, did his best

to secure the lost section, but all to no purpose, the " canny" purchaser quietly remarking that the land " would keep." Mr. M. Hat reports having sold yesterday, at the District Land Office, Lawrence, on account of the Provincial Government, 900 acres of land situated in the Gleukenich district, at an average of £2 ss. lid. per acre. Mr. M'lntyre. through his agent, Mr. H. L. Squires, purchased the whole of the laud excepting a 70acre section, which was knocked down to a Mr. Anderson. We are credibly informed thnt Mr. Lancaster has sold his farm and the Crookston Hotel, at

the Beaumont, to Mr. Joseph Clarke, of Moa

Flat Estate. The farm and stock, it is stated, will be handed over to Mr. Clarke's agent tomorrow. It is also rumored that Mr. Clarke is endeavoring to purchase the Spylaw StationShould he be successful in this, he will have aa uninterrupted stretch of country from the Moiyneux to the Pomabaka,

Thk Taapeka Distiict Annual Ploughing Match will take place in a paddock of Mr. J. R. Gascoigne's on Fiiday, 17th iust. The programme will appear in our next issue. The Committee this year have arranged to have threo classes similar to the Waitahuna match, and we believe these classes are to be open to all comers. A larger turn out of competitors is expected than has been for the last thr«se yeats.

At Monday's sitting of the Supreme Court, Dunedin, the following casts were heard iv addition to those reported in our supplement :— John Jenkins, charged with having wilfully and maliciously set fire to a house at Wailiola, anil John Morrison, on a cliiirge of forgery. In tho first case the jury, after an hour's deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty, and in the second the accused pleaded guilty. Both prisoners were reiuandad for sentence.

Up to the present date, 4,800 shares in the Colonial Bank have been applied for by residents in the Tuapeka district.

I\lu. James Sly, boot and shoo m.iker, late of Peel-street, intimates by advertisement his re. moval to Ross Place, next door to MessrsWalker and Gascoigne's store. The premises now occupied by Mr. Sly have recently been erected on a section formerly occupied by Mr. George Morrison, and are very convenient for the carrying on of an extensive business.

A meeting of the Board of Wardens of fcha Tuapeka depicturing district was held in the Victoria Hotel ou Saturday eveuing last. Present : Messrs. M'Uattie (in the chair), Hart, and M'Coombe. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. On the motion of Mr. M'Coombe, it was resolved that the following applications to depasture stock on the commonage be planted : C. F, Klingst, 22 ; S. Harris, 1 ; John Bray, 1 ; H. J. Martin. 1 ; E. Malone. 27 ; W.Johnston, 6 ; J. Campbell, 5 ; J. Moonoy. 1 , W. D.- Morrison, 10 ; S. Gare. 7, W. Drew, 10; T. Kell, 2. It was resolved that the Banger's attention be called to the large number of cattle and sheep trespassing on the comincnage, and also to the number of pigs at large in the district. It was proposed by Mr. Hart that the Chairman make the necessary arrangements for the election of the next Board of Wardens for the Tuapeka district. In so doing, Mr. Hart thought the last six months showed that the Board was a useless piece of machinery, and their efforts futile in the extreme. He believed two out of eveiy three head of cattle grazing upon the commonage might be considered tiespassera. He thought that the Board should communicate with the Government with the view of having a R.inger appointed for the three depasturing districts. It was absurd to think that an officer stationed at Tapanui could perform the office of Hanger . for Tuapeka, Waitahuna, and Waipori depasturing districts. It was resolved that the Chairman write requestiug the Government to appoint ft ranger for the district. The meeting then broke up.

In our last issue, we gave an account of a fatal light which occurred recently at Madinana Flat, near Ballarat, Victoria. An inquest waa held on the body of Blair, and the result the committal of Koberfc Founteiu, Stephen Fountein, and Frank Sally on a charge of manslaughter. A young man named George Bushby, the " Star " Bays, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon by Sergeant Lamer shortly before the inquest was held, and he was placed alongside of the three young men named, who were charged with having caused Duncan Blair's deatb. The evidence showed that Bushby had not taken an active part in the fight, and he was acquitted.

One of the " Topics of Talk," in the " Mount Ida Chronicle," is written thus pungently: - -' ' Apparently the few goldfields officers who arc maintained for the convenience of the miners are sorely grudged by the Government. We find now that Queenstown, a district returning a very large revenue to the Provincial

Treasury, is to do as best ifc may while <Mr. Beetham gets a holiday trip for three or four months to the West Coast, and Mr. Simpson gets an opportunity. t» test whether there is anything in his old theory that he himself, and a good bailiff or two, can overtake all the work of the <?oldfields. There is a vast difference between doing work and slumming it over, as Warden Simpson himself should know, after his report on the Millers Flat block to the Government — a report fl.itiy contradictod'by the evidence furnished, after cartful inspection, from the ground itself. Anyhow, Mr. Simpson has now charge of Clyde, Queenstown, and the Arrow. The Lakes district must be very -poor .granted .if ft fiqss nat,issept (3rth.*re^mea^."