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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 485, 1 April 1869, Page 2

Our 'Wellington correspondentjtelegraphed to us the intelligence that, by the Ruahine, information had been received that the Duke of Edinburgh would not arrive in the colony before the 6th inst. This is confirmed by a telegram sent by the Colonial Secretary to the Superintendent of the Province, and, it is aloo ota.to<l «»«<<. lilo liuyai IllyUiicsa'a stay in the colony will be shorter than was at first contemplated. The telegram is as follows :—"The Governor has been informed by the Duke of Edinburgh that H.E.H. will leave Sydney on Ist April, will be in Wellington on 6th or 7th, and, that owing to recent instructions from the Admiralty, H.R.H's. visit to New Zealand will be shortened, and he will leavo Auckland about 15th May." The Separation Committee met on Tuesday evening. Mr E. White was in the chair, and there were also present Messrs M'Dowell, Reid, Tyler, O'Conor, Bullen, Humphrey, Lloyd, and Munro. The draft of the petition intended to be presented to the General Assembly was again revised, and, except some slight alterations to be made, was finally agreed to as representing the views of those favourable to the establishment of the County of Westland North. With these alterations made, it was directed to be printed, and circulated for signature. It was further agreed that the Financial Committee should at once commence the collection of subscriptions, and a deputation was appointed to proceed to Charleston, and to coalesce with any committee appointed there.

When the steamer Beautiful Star last arrived in this port, she was short of a fireman, who, it was supposed, had remained on shore at Wanganui. It appears, however, that he has been drowned, Ms body having since been found in the river. His name is not stated.

The Rifle Volunteers, after drill on Tuesday evening, had a moonlight parade, marching out of town to the Orawaiti Bridge, headed by a fife-and-drum band. Mr Jones, of the Orawaiti Hotel, is not a volunteer, or much of a military character, but he is of opinion that these moonlight parades might be repeated with advantage.

The residents of Wallabi street have lately and frequently been annoyed, at late and early hours, by the outrageous conduct of a man and woman of doubtful character who occupy one of the houses there. Every second or third day, the inhabitants are aroused by fighting, swearing, screaming, and cries of "murder" both inside and outside of the premises; and two days ago, an assemblage of about forty people was attracted by such a scene in broad day, and by the spectacle of the pair fighting, and rolling in mud covered with blood. A police constable was present, but his presence seems to have been productive of no proceedings except a re* petition of a similar disturbance of the peace at a later hour.

TheWestport portion of the English mail received by the Eangitoto was brought from Nelson yesterday by the steamer Lyttelton. w Eef erring to the mail, the Nelson ■evening paper says:—"lt would seem that the Post Office authorities in London had received no official intimation of the collapse of the Panama Company, as we hear complaints on all sides of the non-arrival of

expected letters, and, on enquiry at the Post Office, we find that the number of letters received on this occasion is not much more than half what is usually received from England. Persons having correspondents in India are put to considerable inconvenience by the Indian mail not being sorted, but the whole of it put into bags addressed to Dunedin. The Rangitoto has on board the Indian correspondence for Nelson, which will have to go first to Dunedin, and then back here, an arrangement which is far from satisfactory to the parties concerned."

Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donnell has returned to Wanganui, and the Times says that, though he has resigned his appointment as a commander, he has not resigned his commission as an officer. It is also stated that he does not resign in consequence of domestic affliction, but on account of circumstances which will shortly be made known, when the people of the colony may judge between him and his persecutors. The Wanganui papers notice the erection of several new places of business by persons who were sufferers by the late fires in that town. One of the women who was taken prisoner at the fight of Otoia states that the notorious deserter Kimbell Bent was shot through the jaw on that occasion. The Bishop of Nelson was a passenger to Nelson by the steamer Murray yesterday, after a visit of several weeks to this part of his diocese, during which he had been indefatigable in preaching and lecturing, and in visiting members of his Church. The total amount of duties received at the Custom-house, Westport, during the month of March, was £3540 15s lOd. Of this amount £2331 0s 3d was paid as import duties, £1203 2s lOd as export duty on gold, £l2 7s 9d as light dues, £2 5s under the Arms Act, and £2 for other duties. The export of gold for the month amounted to nearly 10,000 ounces. We have received from our Charleston correspondent a report of the match played by the Charleston Cricket Club on Easter Monday, but have not space for it in this number. He sends also the following items: —Messrs Dwan and Co., agents for P. G. Macarthy, sold the Oddfellows Hotel last week, for the sum of £3lO cash to Mr Wm. Carr, who intends carrying on a first-class restaurant business, in addition to the hotel, which is now undergoing extensive alterations. The residents are expecting to see a public meeting called in a few days for taking steps to secure Separation from Nelson, it being generally reported that one or two of our leading men intend to do so.

By figures furnished to us by the Postmaster, Mr Winstftnley, we learn that the total number of letters received at, and despatched from, tho Post-office, Westport, for the year 1868 was —letters 109,445, newspapers 54,351. The total number of mails wuwlvod "Tlfl /l»spof/>Vii»d was 9591, onrl tlio total number of registered letters received and despatched was 1331. Money orders were issued to the number of 780, representing an aggregate amounting to £4204 ss, and there were paid 158 orders, of the value of .£7lßlos 2d. The figures relating to the Savings' Bank Department give satisfactory evidence of economy, and of the large extent to which that Department is patronised by the public. The total number of deposits was 432, amounting to £7533 12s. The withdrawals were 214, amounting t0£2932 0s lid. In the Warden's Court yesterday, the Warden disposed of a large number of applications for registration and protection. There were fourteen applications for races, one for a tramway, six for tunnels, three for residence sites, and a number of others. Several fresh applications have been received from claimholders on Christmas Terrace, where gold has lately been struck. There was a boat-race yesterday, on the Buller. The race wa3 between a boat named the " Two Friends," pulled by Hans Larrsen and John Richardson, with young Bush as coxswain, and a skiff named the " Mosquito," pulled by the water-man "Charley." The distance was from Powell's Wharf to Leslie's Brewery, and back. The " Two Friends ', won the race by several boats' lengths. We regret to learn, as we do by the Glasgow papers received by yesterday's mail, that Mr Angus Ambrose, of this office, has sustained a painful bereavement in the sudden death of his father through a lamentable and distressing accident. From the report of the accident which appears in the Glasgow Herald, it appears that Mr Ambrose, senr., who was a man of seventy years of age, was crossing from Glassford street to the Trongate, when he was knocked down by one of the White - vale omnibuses, two of the wheels of which passed over his body, causing instantaneous death.

An immense amount of interest was excited among the members of Court Concord, A.0.F., Grreymouth, last week, by the case Hope v. Ashton, which was heard in the Resident Magistrate's Court. Both, parties, says the Argus, were Foresters, and the one brother sued the other for £2O as damages sustained for detaining a double ticket for the Foresters' Ball which lately took place in Gilmer's Hall. A nice point was raised during the hearing of the case, which was tantamount to this, that communications or transactions which take place within societies established under the Friendly Societies' Act were privileged and could not be repeated in Court. Two of the witnesses refused to answer questions of this nature, and were told by the plaintiff's solicitor, himself a Forester, to decline to answer, but they were very sharply told by the Magistrate to answer, or he would take other means to compel them. The questions were quietly answered. In the case judgment was given for the defendant with costs, as the Magistrate considered that as both parties were bound by the rules of the Society, and as the defendant detained the ticket by order of a Committee of the Society, he was quite justified indoingjsc.

There has been again some excitement in Hokitika, about the death of a married -woman, and the medical profession seem to be blamed for neglect. Dr Dermott refused to attend, because " he had not been used right" —because he had not been previously paid bis full charge j Dr Beswick was " not -well;" and Dr Acheson -would not go where Dr Mourillyan was, "for a sackful of gold." Finally Dr Dermott and Dr Beswick did attend, but the woman and her child died. Mr Bidgood, of the Twelve Mile, in the Grey District, was missing from Friday to Monday last, and search parties started out, but he has since turned up, in a very weak and emaciated condition. The Oddfellows and Foresters' fete held at Hokitika on Easter Monday appears to have been a great success. The committee will be enabled to hand over about i>3oo to the Benevolent Institution. In the 200 yard g race, open to all comers, there were six entries ; Wright taking the first prize, beating Duncan and Howe by three yards. In several of the other sports Greymouth men seem to have been the victors. Great interest seems to be taken on the Greenstone with regard to sinking the deep shaft on the Duke of Edinburgh Terrace. A meeting of miners and storekeepers has been held, so as to carry out the undertaking. A good prospect has already been obtained at a depth of 35 feet.

The registration boxes were closed yesterday, and the new electoral roll for the SouthWest Goldfields will shortly be made up and beoome known. As yet we have no means of knowing the exact number of claims made in any of the districts, but, judging from the number of application forms printed at this office, and the number filled up at the same place, we should think that at least three hundred applications have been made at Westport. We learn also that nearly two hundred applications have been made at Charleston and Brighton. A distressing fatal accident occurred at Wellington last week. A son of Mr Arthur Knowles, aged twelve years, was returning from fishing at Kaiwarawara, when Brown and Boss's omnibus coming along, and being met by a trap just at that juncture, the lad, endeavouring to extricate himself from the difficulty, ran under the feet of the 'bus horses, and was trampled upon, two of the wheels of the vehicle passing over him. He died on the way to the hospital.