INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 379, 5 August 1874, Page 3

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Nkyv Plymouth, July 81st. The enquiry into the wreck of the Paterson was i oncludcd yesterday, and the Court handed back the officers of the Paterson their certificates. In the case of tho Eliza and Mary, it was intimated that judgment would be given on Thursday next. A rata tree, twenty-two feet in diameter* has beau found on the road at the back of the mountain, about fourteen miles from town. Invebcabgill, July 31st. An influential meeting has been held respecting the Southland pastoral leases. Great dissatisfaction was expressed at the proposal made by the Provincial authorities to introduce deferred payments on the runs, in violatiou of the Act of 1865. A petition has already been sent to the Assembly, and a further statement of the case is now on the way up. A number of runholders have published advertisements cautioning persons against applying for land on deferred payments ou their runs, as no laud on runs can be legally sold under the Deferred Payment System. They announce that in case of any such application being made it is their intention to oppose the same, and if necesBary take legal proceedings for preventing such sale and ejecting the purchaser. Bluff, July 31st. At the survey of the brig Carl, it was reported that 85 feet of her keel were broken from the stern, The water flows in and out of the hold. Considerable damage has been done. It was recommended that she should be sold for the benefit of all concerned. Wellington, August Ist. The steamers, sailing vessels, and hulks of the New Zealand Steam Shipping Company are to be advertised to be sold separately by private tender on the 22nd inst. August 3rd. The ship Conflict has arrived from London, with 461 Government immigrants on board. The passage out occupied 95 days. Ten deaths occurred on tha voyage —one of the crew, two adult passengers, and seven children. Auckland, August 3rd. A private correspondent telegraphs to the " Cross" that " Judge Ward was several hours before tha Enquiry Committee, and made a statement in general terms like that contained in his telegrams. He insisted that there was either gross jjartiality on the part of Judge Chapman or gross negligence. He contended that as a barrisfcer-at-law, he (Judge Ward) was entitled to practice as counsel, and that the order Judge Chapman gave ex parte, permitted the inspection of all telegrams passing between him as such counsel, and his solicitor and client, to the prejudice ot the aereudant. This fact entitled him to complain of partiality in this particular case. He spoke of the intimate relations between Judge Chapmau and Mr. llacassey, and the general public dissatisfaction regarding these which prevailed in Dunedin, and as his private business was interfered with by JuAgo Chapman's order he complained. He possibly was irritated at the moment by the extraordinary illegal nature of the order, and telegraphed accordingly. Regarding Judge Chapman's excuses, made od rescinding the order, that it was made in the hurry of business, Judge Ward said there was no colourable warrant for such a statement on the records of the Court He said that in cases of orders in Court, Judge Chapman was in the habit, ou application being made, of asking. " Are all papers right," and being answered in the affirmative to say, "Take the order at your peril." If gross partiality had been waived, in this instance, it was gross negligence on Judge Chapman's part. With reference to one or other of these points, that similar orders for the inspection of telegrams had been made, Judge Ward declared that manifold repetitions of such wrongs did not warrant the wrong order complained of, and said that all were equally illegal. At the close of the examination some amusement and hilarity were produced by this question, which T. B. Gillies put with his well-known sardonic twinkle:—"Did you in Dunedin, Judge Ward, say you had had a row with all other Judges, and now you were to have one with Judge Chapman ?'' Judge Ward : "I c annot recall such a statement, but it is very likely 1 did, for there was this dispute imminent—and what you may choose to call a row, happened years ago with the other Judges " The Committee does not appear to be making much head way. Westpoet, August 3rd. Tho tides on Saturday and Sunday were unprecedented in height. The lower part of the town is flooded, and the sea is encroaching a long distance. The houses in Kennedy streee are untonable, and more of the rivar bank has been destroyed. Cheistchttch, August 3rd, Mr. De Bourdel reports :—Buyers of National Insurance, £1 8s 6d ; National Bank, £3 10s; South British Insurance, £2 10s ; Shipping Company, £1; Standard Insurance, 12. Sellers—National Insurance, £1 9s ; National Bank, £8 15s ; South British Insurance, £2 Us; Shipping Company, £1 5s ; Standard Insurance Company, 12a 6d; Bank of New Zealand, £17 12s.

A cui'ious attack upon a child is reported by the "Buninyong Telegraph":—" On Monday a. cerious calamity happened to the infant son of Mr. E. Russell, of this town. The baby was left for a moment lying in the cradle, and shortly afterwards a cock was discovered on the cradle picking the child, who presents a heart-rending appearance from the injuries received from the rooster. One side of the face is very much scratched, and behind the ear on the same side a quantity of flesh has been torn away. The little sufferer is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances." An emigrant colony of about 3000 souls left Liverpool on sfch March in the Caspian for New Brunswick, Canada. The New Brunswick Government, represented by Mr. Thomas Potts, has made all the necessary arrangements for their reception and settlement, the lands having been allotted and prepared. A Woman in reduced circumstances, apparently a widow, forty years of age, threw herself from Clifton Suspensionbridge into the Avon beneath. The tide was low, and the body, which turned over and over in its descent, fell on the bank of the river on the Gloucestershire side,, about two feet from the water's edge. Life was of course extinct. This is the ninth suicide commited from this bridge since it was open for traffic in December, 1864. A Stran.ge Ceeemoky. — The " Times" gives an accout of the strange practice of "flogging Judas Iscariot" which the Portuguese sailors went through recently in the London Docks. This consists in belaboring a wooden image of Judas Iscariot, roughly carved, and clothed in an ordinary sailors suit, and a red worsted cap. The image is first hauled into the fore-rigging, after which the aailorß go to Mass ; on their return it is ducked three times into the water, hoisted on board, kicked round the deck, and lashed to the capstan, when the crew, in a high state of excitement, belabor it with knotted ropes till every vestige of clothing is ripped off the wooden, back, when the effigy ia burnt,