TELEGRAPHIC.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2277, 22 April 1886, Page 2

TELEGRAPHIC.

Dnitbd Press Association,

Wellington, April 21. .An influential deputation from the Wairarapa district waited on the Minister of Justice to-day with' a petition signed by 798 residents, praying for the release of John Freebody, recently convicted and sentenced to two years' hard labor for cattle stealing. They stated Freebody. was innocent of the crime for which lie was sent to gaol, and that in anything ho did he was altogether the dupe of another person. The Minister Baid the object of tho deputation was very commendable, and he would make the fullest enquiry into the statements placed before him; The Government Insurance Association this afternoon disoussed the question of of the.reconstruction of the Board, Three propositions were submitted, viz,, Bell's and Reid's proposal to hand back tire control to the Government, Graham's and Vogel's proposal for three elected members and three official members, and Fisher's and Shannon's proposal .for wholly elective members or predominant elective power to be secured to policy holders, The discussion was adjourned, but immediately after the annual meeting the policy holders throughout the colony are to be asked to vote by proxy upon these three propositions. This afternoon the Minißtbr of Public Works received a telegram from Mr W. Butler, Native Lands Purchase Commissioner, stating that the two chiefs, Topia Turoa and Wiremu Turoa, who had pre viously refused to sign the deed of sale for the block of land in King Country along the route of the trunk railway, had now done so, and that arrangements for purchase of the block by the Government were complete, block is known as tho Waimaramii, and contains 400,000 acres of good land, The Public 'Works Department have in good course of progress a road from Pipiriki, a villago some distance up tho Wanganui river, to Ohakone, a point where tho Trunk Railway touches, This road is about the southern boundary of tho Waimaranui Block, and where the contracts'for the North Island Railway are . again progressing, most of the material for tho i'.terior parts under construction'will be sent to Pipiriki up the Wanganui river by specially imported steamer, and thenco by the newly formed road to Ohakone. The Government have received a letter from the Waimea Railway. Company asking that further concessions bo granted in taking over the lino, Tho Governnieet have replied making a final offer for taking over this railway but tho terms aro not made public.

WEiLiNGTON.'this day. Between four and five thousand persons attended the prominade concert givfin on tho Queen's Wharf last night in aid of tho Taiaroa relief fund. ... AucKiANn. '• . .On novoml occasions during tlio pa's' : ' sage of the Wairarapa from Sydney sudden and unexpected risings of the sea were experienced, leading to the conclusion that they were the result.of some volcanic action in tho direction of Tonga., Dunediij, this day. Ann Pearco, an old woman, recovered £IOO from corporation for having broken her leg by falling over a gas pipe left in the street,

Ohmstoihjroh, this day. A fourteen roomed house owned and occupied by Georgo Coleman, near Belfast, was burjit down. The property and House was insured for £7OO in the Australian Mercantile Union, and the furniture for £(100 in tho Standard. The cause of the fire in unknown. Kaikoura, this day, A considerable difficulty is being experienced in dismantling the Taiaroa. Wakatu brought some of her fittings away _ yesterday, but it is feared the quantity of salvage will not amount to a meat deal before the vessel breaks up. Napier, this day. Mr Stout addressed a meeting last night. He sajd in his speech he considered the conduct of certain members in the Houbo last session as disgraceful and dishonorable. In requesting the Government to retain thejr seats afierthe rejection of the' Custom's, tariffj ho'was ready and wiljing to tender his resignation, and was now fully convinced that tho Government should have resigned,' Whatever was said about Sir Julius Vogel, ho had placed the finances of the Colony in a sound position, and ho would now state for the first time that notwithstanding the depression all over tho world, tho Government, he believed, would meet Parliament with a surplus of £37,000.