LATEST NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 687, 21 July 1870, Page 3

LATEST NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

ARRIVAL OF THE STORM BIRD. GOOD THAMES YIELDS. NEW FLAX PROCESS. By the arrival of the s.s. Storm Bird we have later Auckland papers to the 13th inst. The Herald say : The hubbub made by the Hau Haus at Aotea has turued out after all, rather a tame affair. The gentlemen who established their store upon native land did it with their eyes open, and although deserving of every credit for their enterprise, as well as pity for their misfortune, their loss must rest on themselves. As usual in such cases, rumour exaggerated the affair into a threatened Hau Hau rising, but such an idea appears to have been quite baseless. The latest from Napier tells us of the complete disorganisation of the Uriweras, and the capture of the entire winter stores. We append below the result, as far as it can be definitely ascertained of crushings at the Thames for the past month, showing that the reward (for June, 1870) of the combined efforts of labor and investment of capital, has been nearly 11,430 ounces of gold. Mr W. E Harcourt, who recently returned to the Thames overland from the East Coast, via Ohinemuri, states that while passing through Parakawai, a Maori village beteen Whangamata and Mataora, on the East Coast, he was robbed of his tent, tools, and swag, by a party of natives belonging to that district. Mr John McLeod of Auckland has invented a plan by which to dress the flax leaf without injuring the fibre, as is commonly the case, and has succeeded in bringing it to perfection. The process of dressing and bleaching may be shortened by two weeks in three, and a sample, white, fine, and strong; free from acid and green

coloring may be produced ready for the market within one week of the cutting of the leaf. Mr McLeod will take out a patent for his invention. A Cotton Company has ! e >n found in Auckland. Capital is £IO,OOO, and the whole of the shares have been taken up. About 15,000 acres, of land have been purchased at Nandy Bay, on the south-West point of Viti .Levu, on which a ginning point was at the time of the purchase, and a small portion is in cultivation.