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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 482, 25 March 1869, Page 2

Information, has been received in town of some new ground having been opened on the |banks of the Buller, about six miles on this side of the Lyell river. It is stated that with ten feet stripping, excellent prospects have been obtained ; but reliable particulars are not yet to hand. We publish elsewhere a telegram, via Dunedin and Greymo-ith, of the news brought by the Tararua. Our correspondent at Greymouth to whom we are indebted for the early transmission of the news adds:—" The other news is unimportant. The Duke of Edinburgh is expected at Hokitika in the end of April. Great preparations are already being made."

A special escort came up from Charleston yesterday, with gold for the Union Bank and the Bank of New Zealand. A man named Michael Hayes was brought up at the same time, to be transmitted to the Lunatic Asylum at Nelson.

The Bishop of Nelson will hold divine service at the Court-house tomorrow forenoon at eleven o'clock j and in the evening, at halfpast seven o'clock, His Lordship will hold service at the Masonic Hall, the use of the hall being given for the occasion by Messrs Tonks and Hughes. In the evening there will be a collection in aid of the funds of the Westport Hospital. There was a good muster of the Volunteers at the Company Drill on Tuesday evening. There were thirty-five members present, and the rank and file were put through a few company movements by Acting-Ensign Downe. We understand that the contractors for the supply of uniforms to the company, will supply uniforms at the same price as that paid by those members who are already provided with uniforms. New members of the company should send in their "measures" immediately. The Separation Committee met on Tuesday evening, at the Post-Office Hotel, when a rough draft of the petition to the House of Representatives was brought up by the subcommittee appointed for the purpose of drawing up the same. It was decided that the draft should remain at Mr Tyler's office for one week for the inspection of such members of Committee as have not had an opportunity of perusing it. A subscription list was opened in the room for the purpose of defraying the necessary preliminary expenses. in obtaining signatures to the petition, and having it engrossed. The members of the Committee subscribed £2 2s each. In the course of next week the petition is intended to be presented to the inhabitants throughout the various districts on the goldfields for signatures, and no further delay will take place in having it forwarded through the Chief Secretary, for presentation to the General Assembly.

In the Warden's Court, yesterday, a large number of applications for protection of tunnels, dams, tail-races, and other works, were disposed of. An application for leave to ground-sluice at Ballarat Terrace was made by one party, but two others objected to it, and the Warden postponed his decision until the ground should be examined by the surveyor. It is intimated by the Warden that all claims, &c, will be protected during the Easter holidays, from the 26th to 30th inst., both inclusive. After the Ist of April, all accounts against the Provincial Government must be furnished monthly and in duplicate. Some of the new buildings erected on the scene of the late fire in Timaru are completed, and the main street is beginning to assume its wonted appearance. The buildings are all of a better character than the previous ones. Frogs have multiplied in Auckland to such an extent as to become a perfect nuisance ; and a gentleman living in the neighborhood of One-Tree Hill asserts that lately he saw as many as 100 frogs sitting composedly round a waterhole. A Canterbury gentleman lately bought 1000 sheep in the Timaru district for £lO, or rather less than 2|d each. The body of a man named James Boss, who had for some time lived on the West Coast, has been found on the Ocean Beach, Dunedin, washed up by the tide. At the inquest, the jury returned a verdict of " Found Drowned." A sort of alligator was lately seen in a lake at Otaki, in the North Island, and is known to the Natives by the name of " taniwha." Considerable interest is taken in the matter, as none of the other New Zealand lakes is known to contain such a specimen of animal life. Dr Hector has sent up a supply of large size shark hooks, and these attached to floats and baited with mutton have been set in various parts of the lake, but as yet without success. A careful examination of the lake margin has established the fact that the monster is a purely aquatic one, and does not quit the lake for an occasional visit to terra firma. Should the fishing result in a capture, there will be a great commotion in the scientifio world, for geology has not as yet disclosed any remains of such an animal as the taniwha must be, if it answers the description given of it by those who have see n it. Mr George Ryland, chief steward of the s.s. Airedale, hashadone of his thigh-bones broken by his horse falling upon him, when riding from Dunedin to Port Chalmers. Mr Dean, who had held office as managerof the Commercial Bank, Launceston, for twenty-three years, has been obliged to resign in consequence of having permitted advances to a relative involving a loss of £20,000. A new alluvial geld-field is said to have been discovered on the River Cam, near Campbell's Ranges, not far westward from the Henrietta Plains, Tasmania. The discoverers were a party of four men, who had been prospecting for some weeks. The sinking is from three to fourteen feet, but the washdirt is thin. The gold is fine, and not as nuggety as that obtained at the Den diggings.