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Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 822, 8 June 1871, Page 2

Wo rectify ai error in the evidence as reported of the witness Patterson in the case of Askew v. Stitt Brothers. In reply to plaintiff's counsel as to whether the witness was a tenant of Askew's, Mr Patterson is represented to have said, " I am a tenant of Askew's." His actual words were, " I wot a tenant of Askew's." The Charleston escort arrived in Westport yesterday morning. The Bank of New Zealand and the Union Bank of Australia forwarded parcels of gold for shipment to Hokitika. It is as well that the public of Westport should nnderstand that the fire bell at the engine-house will be rung previous to meeting of the Brigade for practice. A slow peal will then be tolled, and that between seven and eight, o'clock on the night of meeting. Mr N. Salomon, of Dunedin, arrived in Westport by the steamer Kennedy with a large assortment of jewelry, wjjgbh. he will exhibit until Wednesday next St the Empire Hotol. On Thursday, the 15th inst,, he will proceed to Charleston, where his stock will be on view at the Melbourne Hotel. Mr Salomon's selection of jewelry, watches, and silverware comprises articles of the most elegant design and costly manufacture, which he is offering at remarkably low prices. William Morris is the successful tenderer for the stone contract. The quantity at present decided upon to be deposited is 1000 tons, and the average price is 4s ljd per ton. In the R.M. Court, Westport, on Tuesday, a few civil cases, were disposed of. In the case of West v. Levi, a judgment summons had been issued calling upon the dedefendant to show cause why he had failed to pay the sum of £4 18s due to the plaintiff. Levi was examined, and stated his inability to settle the demand. His Worship ordered a payment of 10s on June 10, and i'l per month afterwards, or in default 21 days' imprisonment. Poingdestre v. Bonguelmi—claim for £8 —was struck out, neither party appearing-. Lawson v. Atkinson—Claim for £1 Is, the amount of freight upon goods conveyed to the Old Diggings. The defendant denied liability, and, according to the plaintiff's evidence, he should have sued conjointly with his partner Crowle. The plaintiff was nonsuited. Wilson v. Peter Kerr—Claim for £3 2s for goods supplied. In this case the plaintiff obtained judgment, by default in the amount claimed and costs.

The following additional recommendations have been agreed to by the Otago Mining Conference. —" That the annual rent payable under mining leases be reduced to 20s per acre per annum. That all assignments of mining leases should operate from the day of execution, subject to the condition that the assignee shall prove to the satisfaction of the Warden that all rent has been paid up to the day of such assignment. That bush reserves should be proclaimed -within Goldfields, and that the same should be exempt from sale or leasing. That the sum to be deposited by an applicant for a jxold-rnining lease shall not exceed £lO. That clause 56, of the Goldfields' Act, 1866, should bo amended by providing for the compulsory establishment of a Mining Board for the Province. That goldfields, proclaimed towns, and other centres of popidation within goldfields, shall have set aside commonages for the use of the people for pastoral purposes. That the Legislature favourably consider the desirability of the Government causing to be laid on the table of the General Assembly an annual statistical report, similar to that laid before the Victorian Legislature by the Minister of Mines for the Colony of Victoria, and that the said report should bo circulated as widely as possible, not only in the colonies, but in Europe; and that His Excellency the Governor be requested to forward a copy of such report to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies." The first number of a comic periodical in the style of '* Punch" will shortly bo published in Dunedin, The Otago settlement of Martin's Bay is languishing through the neglect of the Government of that Province. Recently an indignation meeting was held there, and two men were sent as deputies to urge the Government to send supplies to the Bay. The men, when they arrived in Queenstown, telegraphed to the Government, reporting most favourably of the prospects of the settlement, but the want of provisions was stated to be a great obstacle to its progress. The Balclutha correspondent of the " Bruce Herald" states that the country districts are swarming with men willing and able to work—men who are wearing the shoos off their feet without finding sufficient employment to enable them to buy another pair."

Tlitj construction of the bridge over the Rangitata river, Canterbury, is being actively proceeded with. The work of sinking the cylinders was to be commenced on the 25th ult. Messrs Harris and Hewitt, the champion pedestrians, left yesterday (says the Christ - chnrch " Press," of May 27), per Rangitoto for Dunedin, to fulfil a short engagement in that city, at the conclusion of which they will return to Christchurch, en route to Hokitika and the West Coast. Hewitt's half mile race will take place at an early date after their return to Canterbury, and notwithstanding the distance to be covered in so short a time he is very sanguine of being able to do it. Bird remains in Canterbury, and is in active training for his twelve-mile race with Austin, taking a spin of seven or eight miles every morning on the racecourse. Austin and Pentecost, who have been on a trip to Tiinaru, recurned to town last evening. They report the gathering there as fairly successful, although the weather somewhat interfered with the enjoyment of the day. _At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Hokitika, on Friday, Peter De Loree appeared on remand charged with the robbery of jewelry at Rosstowh. The evidence given at the previous hearing, by sergeant major O'Donnell, was read over'by his Worship, who stated that with reference to that information there was no evidence against the prisoner, and directed his discharge. The police then applied that his Worship would make out an order respecting the gold found on the prisoner, but he stated that he could not. Mr Plannagan, the police officer who was despatched to Melbourne to effect the arrest of Mr Hurst, the defaulting Secretary of the Paroa Road Board, returned to Hokitika on Sunday by the Omeo, unsuccessful. It appears that the officer in Melbourne who had charge of the case had mistaken Mr J. E. Jones, lately connected with the " West Coast Times," for Mr Hurst; and, after dodging him about Melbourne for week—in fact, becoming his very shadow, he was coolly informed of his mistake, and, much to his annoyance, the real Simon Pure was by this time able to evade for the present, the just merit of his delinquencies. Tho Legislative Assembly of Victoria is thus composed, as regards the nationality of its members. There are thirty-three Englishmen, sixteen Irishmen, fifteen Scotchmen, four Welshmen, eight Australians, one native of Newfoundland (Mr Crews), and one Canadian, the latter being Mr Burrowes.

A writer in the Nelson " Mail" of May 27th says:—The news recently received from the Perseverance mine affords a pleasant contrast to that which has come to us from Wangapeka. There is a vast difference, and a most agreeable one, between " not a speck " from thirty tons of quartz put through the battery, and an ounce from a single dishful, and there is a corresponding difference between the anticipations of shareholders in the Culiford and the Perseverance mines. There really seems to be some hope that the latter is to be the means of creating an improvement in the state of affairs in Nelson, and that it will, by the success attending its working, lead to a fnrther development of the quartz reefs of Collingwood. The winze from which the excellent prospect referred to was obtained extends in the direction of the ground held by the Decimal Company, and consequently they may reasonably hope to have a share in the good things that seem likely to fall to the lot of the Perseverance shareholders. A well-to-do farmer of asocial disposition, residing within a hundred miles of Castlemaine, once, when under the inspiration of ids cups, lashed himself into a fury at the low price which was offering for wheat last season. He even then (states the "M. A. Mail") went the length of registering a solemn vow that he would keep his wheat for ten years rather than sell it under a figure which he named. Instead of the market improving, down and down went the prices, and his good-natured companions, embracing the opportunity for playful irritation, kindly bantered him on all convenient occasions on his rash imprecation. Unmoved by all their jeering sallies he would not in the moments of calm reflection verge one iota from the vowmade in the heat of mental excitation. As matters have turned, the outcome of his freak is this : That he never got drunk for better purposes; that he was wiser under a cloud than all the wise men looking clearly and intelligently into the future! He has not stored his wheat for ten years, but has sold it for £2,O'M more than he could have done when he took the liquor and vow. Lalor, a customs locker, has been committed for trial, charged with being connected with the recent opium and kerosene robberies from the bonded warehouses in Melbourne.

Rich, a publican in Westland, was recently charged with a breach of the Pawnbrokers' Act in having taken articles of jewellery in pledge. The evidence on the part of the police was that the accused had advanced money on jewellery to two women—Fanny Tapscott and Annie Brown —the assumption being that he had made a charge for the accommodation. Fanny Tapscott deposed that some months ago, Rich advanced her £2 103 on a pair of earrings and a gold brooch, but denied that any arrangement was made for payment of interest. Annie Brown, to whom the accused had lent <£3 on a gold chain, ring and brooch, similarly denied that she was to pay Rich anything beyond the money she borrowed. As the Pawnbroker's Act makes it an essential condition that interest must be paid on pledges to constitute pawnbroking, and as it was not proved that the accused had made any charge of the kind, the case was dismissed. Recently the neck of a moa was found at Clyde in an excellent state of preservation and forwarded to the Colonial Museum at Wellington, where it has been dissected. The specimen is eighteen inches long by eight inches in diameter, and some of the vertebrae are bound together by the dessicated muscuUr tissue of the left side, on which also the inieguraent still remains. Tho skin is of a light-brown color, and wcli preserved ; the surface showing deep folds such a3 are seen in the necks of the pachyderms. ; The skin is about an eighth ot an inch thick, and is made quite "rough by conical papillse, from tho apex of which a double-headed feather springs by a single quill, as in the emu, and therefore not lfke the kiwi. The longest feathers preserved are on the back of the lower part of tho neck, and are only two inches longer, and evidently incomplete Tho rest of the feathers have been broken off short. Tho edges of tho skin arc quite friable and soft, and the ripht or exposed side of the vertebral column is perfectly clean and freo from all tissue. From this it may be judged that the right side has undergono thorough decay, while the left has been preserved by dessication, as in the case of tho Tiger Hill specimen. Owing to this valuable discovery, our scientific men will now be able, no doubt, to depict the Dinornis in his proper plumage,