Local Intellingence.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 434, 13 February 1875, Page 2

Local Intellingence.

On "Wednesday last the laud in the WaikakA Hundred on the defern d pnymerit system wus open for application at the vaiious land offices.* Th^reaie in all twenty-seven sections ojien. and some twenty applicants applied sit Lawrence for most of these sections. It is expected there will be at least 100 applicaiious for the lot at the different offiefs. The twenty above refered to wrote to the Waste Laud Boiiid through Mr. Squires, asking if it were possible for the Board to postpone the day of application for land in the Wuii'iihee, Kaiwera, Pukerau, and Kuriwao Hundreds until after the balloting for the Waikaka laud, so that those who were unsuccessful at 'the hallot foi it, might have a chance of obtaining a piece of land on either of these other Hundieds mentioned. The reasonableness of this request, we should hope, will induce the Boaid to accede to the wishes of the petitioners. If the desire of the Board is to give the poor man a fair chance, it cannot do otherwise than postpone the day for receiving applications for the Hundred inferred to. If not, no doubt the land will revert to the runholder, and settlement will be defeated.

Mining operations at the Blue Spur are in full swing, both iv the tunnelling and sluicing claims. The North of Ireland party have about twenty hands employed, and are diivihg their machine night and day. The Nelson Co. are similarly employed, and both on the Gabriel's and Munro's side of the Spur the clauk of the stamper* is now unceasing, Sundays exce<«ted. The Otago Co. -will commence crushing as soon as the erection of their battery is completed. "Wages at the Spur are now 10s per day, and a few good hands, who understand underground work, can find steady employment, although several have already been taken on by the Nelson and North of Ireland Cos.

The Provincial Secretary— Mr. Donald Reid —has been making a tour of several of the Hundreds about to be opened. On Tuesday, the 4th instant, he visited the Heriot Hundred situated in the vicinity of the Dunrobin Hotel, Switzers and Tapanui Roads. Mr. Barron, the surveyor, is getting on well with the survey of this Hundred, which will be opened in time for those who take up laud to have it broken up and ready for cropping next spring. We hope that Mr. Reid will, after this visit, be still further convinced of the importance of -throwing open larger blocks on the defened pdyment system, so that the man of small means mny be placed upon a somewhat better footing than he has been heretofore, and 'enabled to obtain a piece of land without so muchi circumlocucion as the present arrangements eutail.

In our article in last issue in which we enumerated the various Dunedin industries, we omitted Messrs Hallenstein and Cos., one of the the firms who employ a large 'Dumber of hands. The statistics from which we quoted gives the number as 200, bub we understand they now employ even more than that number.

'i'HE high winds on Wednesday have done a large' amount of damage to ripe grain, especially to crops- that were just ready for stacking, as the grain, is then easily shaken out of the husk.

This new Town Hall had a narrow escape from being destroyed on Wednesday between the hours of one and two o'clock, Mr. Needhatn observiug smoke issuing from the doming, immediately ran to the spot and found some shavings burning between the joists, no doubt caused by some carelessjsmoker thiovving away a lighted match amongst them. Mr. Need ham at once extinguished the fire without any damage being done. <\Ve must here mention that there is a fire plug in front of the building, but owing, ,to a lot of mortar having been allowed ,to, run JLnto i,fc. two members of the fire brigade were occupied fully ten minutes clearing it out before the hydrant could be fixed. We trust more, care will be taken of this plug during the progress of the i'own Hall building as there is no telling at what minute fire might break out, when a delay of ten minutes might prove disastrous.

One of .our respected citizens nearly poisoned himself the other night, through taking by-^nistake 1 a* ' diaught from a bottle containing disinfecting fluid. It seems be was under medical treatment, and had his medicine bottle standing side by side with the other one, and made the mistake in the dark. By at once applying a powerful emetic, we are glad to say any serious ' consequences were quickly preventedl

Mr. Archibald "Valentine, of Waikouaifi, writes to the ", Times" stating that he distinctly heard the song of the blackbird in the Kilmog Hawkesbury. and Pukutapu bushes.

Mb. William Hale, a grass seeds man at Nelson, informs the *' Colonist "that " alfalfa " grass is only the common lucerne, the seed of which can be procured from all respectable seedsman. The Califofnians send but this seed in its Spanish name. The above entirely coincides with what Mr, Pressley of the Lawrence Nursery stated to us some time ago. Mr. Pressley sowed some of this much vaunted seed in his nursery, and now that it has grown up he cannot distinguish any difference between it and the ordinary lucerne, "

SOME of the largest and finest apricots we have seen in the Tuapeka distiict are grown by Mr. Jeffery on a fine tree trained up the back wall of his house in Ross Place, The tree is situated in a very sheltered position, and has been very prolific this season. The only thing required to enable people in this district to grow fruit of the very best quality is shelter. Thft soil appears to be well adapted for fruit trees, as they thrive well everywhere around, and nothing but that shelter which is to be obtained from trees and hedges will ever protect -the gardens from the tempestuous winds which sweep round these hills and valleys and carry everything before them. We have ample illustration of tbe truth of these remarks in those few gardens in the district where fruits and flowers sHfe brought to perfection.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Goodfellow, one of the contractors for the Havelock section of the Tuapeka railway, had one of the small bones of his right leg brokeu at the works at the bridge, which is being erected across the Waitahuna river at Havelock. It appears Mr, Goodfellow was assisting some of the men in preparing to move the frame on which the " donkey " is worked for driving the piles of the bridge, and while standing- close by, the hbok on which the " donkey " was suspended bioke and the heavy weight was precipitated to the ground. On its descent it cut a three-inch board in two, as if it were a thread. Mr. Goodfellow, in his en. deavor to escape, fell over a piece of timber, when the heavy weight of metal caught him over the ankle, forcing the foot into the sand, and breaking one of the small bones above the ankle. Dr. Stewart was soon in attendance, and had Mr. Goodfellow conveyed to

Lawrence, where 7 he will receive every attention. We trust he will soon beiable to resume his duties.

Mr T. Keid, editor of the London " Sportsman ," was recently presented with a purse containing 200 Boys. The presentation was made owing to his being about to relinquish his position on that journal as editor.

OOR contemporary, the " Guardian^? has been favoured with a copy of a letter addressed by Mr. T. Calcutt to the Chief Commissioner o? the Waste Lands Board, and which the Boatd refused to receive, ' the members unanimously resolving that it be returned to the jjriter, with a request that he should confine his remarks to the business submitted to the consideration °^ the Board. JPnder tho circumstances, " the " Guardian " thinks it manifestly would be discourteous to the Waste Lands Board, and extremely unfair to the Chief Commissioner, to publish Mr. Calcutt's epistle, and therefore declined to do so. Our contemporary expressed no opinion as to the epistle itself, except that it is of such a nature that no respectable journal would publish it after its rejection by the Board. Both the "Daily Times" and the " Evening Star,"' however, published the letter, and we think they are pretty respectable journals in their way, at all events, we do "not mind risking the respectability we claim for ouiselves by giving the letter a place in the report of the Board's transactions. The only individual the letter holds up to ridicule, according to our reading of it, is the writer himself.

An accident happened at the Chain Hills tunnel on Wednesday last, by which two mon named Thomas Kerr and Patrick Dempsey were killed on the spot, and two others seriously injured. The two who were injured were named Turnnge and Wedlock, and were at once taken to the Dunedin Hospital, the former had both his legs broken, and the latter one. Kerr's head was split open and his neck broken ; and Dempsey's skull was split open about three inches wide. Seven or eight feet of blue stone fell from the roof of the tuunel and covered" the four men resulting as stated above.

The Invercargill Races commenced on Thurday. The following were the winners of the various events : Maiden Plate, Digger ; Publican's Purse. Atlas ; Ladies Purse, Unknown ; District Handicap, Kuriwao ; Commercial Travellers Stakes, Sir Tatton.