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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 457, 26 January 1869, Page 2

The duty collected at the Custom House, Westport, from Ist October to 31st December last was as follows: £ s. d.

and the amount collected at the Warden's office 3 during the same term for Miners' Rights, Business and Publicans' Licenses

and as Miscellaneous Receipts, was £5554 17b 2d, making a total of £16,777 10a 10d. This does not include the amount realised on land sales in the district, It may well be enquired what proportionate amount has been expended by the Government 'in the district during the same ; term. Our attention-is directed to the sale of the schooner Enterprise on Wednesday next by Messrs Robertson and Co., auctioneers. This is a handy little craft for the Mokihinui coal trade or other coasting purposes, and we understand that the hull, gear, sails, and "fixings" are to be disposed of without reserve. It is not improbable that we may see a line of tramway laid dowfl between Westport and the Orowaiti river before many months. Several parties have expressed their willing ness to take shares in such an undertaking, and Mr Jones, of the Bridge Hotel, has offered to take nearly half the number of shares required for carrying out the entire speculation. The ground being level all the way, and there being plenty of timber at hand, the cost of laying the rails can be easily estimated. For the present, one carriage and a couple of horses would be sufficient, and it is believed by those best able to judge that the passenger traffic alone would pay good interest for the capital invested. Some time ago Mr Courtney laid down, between Brighton and St Kilda, a tramway which is not now in use, and if the owner of it could be treated with reasonably, as, doubtless, might be accomplished, and the rails shipped at a small freight, the contemplated expenditure might be considerably lessened. A meeting is intended to be called at an early date for the purpose of discussing and testing the project. A man named M'Kirdy, who had only come out of the hospital on Saturday, after recovery from an accident by which he broke his leg, met with another accident on the same day, and again broke one of his legs. A pleasure trip was intended to have been made on Sunday had the steamer Wallabi arrived in time, and a considerable number of the inhabitants were on the alert in the morning, contemplating a pleasant trip over the bar, and the hope of securing a few sealskins at the Steeples, where the seals are said to be very numerous. Though there may be no more harm in cruising over the Buller Bar on a Sunday than in taking a trip down the river Clyde, Or traveling by rail in England, which are weekly occurrences, we imagine some week-day holiday might be more appropriately selected for such a pleasure trip, when many, whose scruples would prevent them doing so on a Sunday, might be induced to join a pleasure party.

The tender of Messrs Stitt Brothers for the supplies of groceries and provisions to the Camp and destitute poor lias been accepted, in accordance with the terms advertised, and the tender of Messrs Powell and Co. for the supplies to the Gaol has also been accepted. Messrs Dutton and Anderson, being the lowest tenderers, have received the contract for the supply of bread. The trial, at Hokitika, of George and John Lewis, for conspiring to defraud creditors, has resulted in a verdict of guilty against both defendants ; but as John Lewis, who had been admitted to bail, did not appear when called on for sentence, the recognizances entered into by his sureties (£IOO each) were ordered to be estreated. The Judge, in sentencing George Lewis to six months' imprisonment without hard labor, remarked to the effect that the sentence was lighter than it otherwise would have been because he (the Judge) believed that the defendant had, to a certain extent, been a tool in the hands of his more guilty brother, "who," said his Honor, " had he appeared before me, I should have certainly sent to a road gang." We {N. Z. Herald) understand that Henry Wrigg, Esq., the recently-appointed Auckland Provincial Eug'ueer-in-Chief and goldfields engineer, has received notice that his resignation has been accepted by his Honor the Superintendent, whilst on the other hand we are informed that no such resignation was tendered by Mr Wrigg. The office of chief engineer will, we presume, be handed over to Charles O'Neill, Esq., the recently-appointed engineer of tramways on this field. The Government have, it seems, taken an economical turn with the new year, and purpose uniting the two offices. Mr Wrigg was offered the provincial engineership at a per centage, in lieu of salary, but believing, we presume, that the Government had little to spend independent of the goldfields, this offer was politely declined. The various alarms of sharks frequenting the bay (says the Dunedin Evening Star) have not been without reason, as the capture of one this morning proves. It took place under the following circumstances. As warder James Carson was going with a gang of prisoners from gaol to the dredging machine, he observed at some 50 yards distance from the shore, what appeared to be the tail of a shark above the surface of the water. He at once ordered the crew to row quietly up to the object, at the same time taking four men with him to the bow of the boat. When close enough, a sailor, named Murray, who was among the prisoners, dextrously made a grasp at his tail, and jerked it on to the gunwale of the boat, where it was laid hold of by the three others, the animal at the same time writhing powerfully and bellowing loudly. Mr Carson secured the shark—for such it proved to be —in this position by fastening its tail by a piece of chain to one of the thwarts. In this way the boat was rowed to the dredge, where the shark was dragged on deck and killed. It is what is known as a blue shark, 7ft 6in long, and supposed to be about two years old. The death of Mr F. B. Franklyn, once the proprietor of the Melbourne Herald, but perhaps better known in his capacity af printer's broker, is announced in the Melbourne papers. There are few Victorians who have not heard of Mr Hopwood, the founder of the now important border town of Echnca. He is dead too—and like Mr Franklyn, he has been called away from a career of usefulness.

Late intelligence from the South African goldfiolda states that numerous traces of gold have been met with but no payable field has yet been discovered. The fare from Fort Durban to the diggings is L 26 each by oxwaggon. An accident, which might have been attended with fatal consequences to human life, is reported by the Hokitika Daily News. A well known packer named Alexander Birss, packing for the Hau Hau Company to the Blue Spur, on his return journey, by some means got off the track, and in following what he believed to be it, came across a hole which had been covered with bags and earth by some Chinese miners. He was riding in pack fashon, with his feet in pack leathers, instead of orthodox stirrups, and as the animal on which he was seated began to decend the abyss, hind quarters downwards, it took him all his time to get his feet free and jump off on terra firma; the steed going downwards, at once to the bottom of the shaft, some forty feet, and being killed on its descent. A much more narrow escape from probable death has rarely occurred on the West Coast or elsewhere. In the Dunedin Supreme Court, last week, Mr Smythies presented a petition for a dissolution of marriage between James Patrick and Julia Clare. The petition stated that the petitioner was married to Julia Clare at Ballarat. Victoria, in June, 1854, and that they came to reside at Dnnedin in the month of February, 1863, where he carried on business as a baker. In 1865 he went to reside at Hokitika, and left his wife at Dunedin, with three children, in possession of a furnished house, of funds sufficient for the maintenance of herself and children, and also sent her other supplies from time to time. On returning to Dunedin, in March, 1867, the petitioner found that his wife had left his house, and was living by prostitution, and subsequently discovered that his children were residing at the Asylum for the detitute poor. The petition was accepted.

Customs Duties .. 7872 17 11 Merchant Shipping Act Fee3 0 6 0 Arms Act Fees 19 3 0 Light House Dues 32 14 6 Gold Duty .. 3297 12 3 £11,222 13 8