GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 872, 10 October 1871, Page 2

GENERAL NEWS.

Under the heading " A Bluff Lr. vanter Bluffed," the "Independent" furnishes the following particulars of the arrest of the alleged absconder: Block:—In the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday a brusque, military, and continental looking man, of extreme proportions, was charged as being' identical- with one: Block who had left his creditors in Hobart Town to deplore the loss of some'£10,000; Inspector Atcheson produced the de*' scription from the Hobart Town Police " Gtazette*'! which gave the height, weight, and appearance of the missing man with great minuteness, to all the conditions of which the prisoner I tallied so \vell as to leave little doubt that the right man was in the right ; place. Physically the prisoner is a well made man, and his gait quite justifies that part of the description whi< h - describes him as having been a.French' soldier. Some attempt at deception had been: made, the. whiskers, de| scribed as being full, having been taken off altogether. Evidence was given as to the correctness of another part of hia description, which-said that the defaulter ispoke broken English, for on Inspector Atcheson announcing 1 to the bench that he expected Detective Propstring in the Alhambra; the prisoner said; in verjy broken Eaglish, " I dink you. are. under un large ■mistake 5 I know nutting of you Mr Topstring, Nobstring, Bobstring, or what :you [ calli.him'/' ;His Woßship,n granted the remand. The; prisoner is] a member of a firm which, as announced in our telegrams a few days ago, failed in Hobart .Town (for/.the (amount mentioned above under very suspicious circumstances." Mr Prop string, a member'of the Tasmanian detective police force, arrived in -Wellington subsequently by the s.s. Alhambra. ! '•; 0 £) yj J T.yll Hi Gold prospecting is proceeding at Tauranga. A party organised by one or two public-spirited, gentlemen in Te Papu, started for Kaumai on the 30lh ult., for the purpose of prospecting fop gold, which, ia known to.exist there.' The place is 'a spur of the great Coromandel range, i Some interesting tables connected with the 'census of the colony ihaVev Just been published. We quote the figures showing the number of horses, cattle, and sheep iri the' different proI vinces :—Horses: Auckland, 11,620 ; Taranaki, 1,825 ; Wellington, 11,246; Hawko's Bay, 4,357 j Nelson, 4,518; Marlborough, 2,646; Westlandi 759 j Canterbury, 17,654; Otago 25,804. Cattle : Auckland, 80,443 ; Taranaki, 7,966; Wellington, 75,202; Hawke's Bay, 17,485 ; Nelson, 20,602; Marlborough, 8,860 ; Canterbury, 79,022;

Otago, 131,609. Sheep: AucKlfod, 210,760; Taranaki, 24,281; Wellington, 714,094; Hawke's Bay, 904,146 ; Neiso'n, 523,558; Marlborough, 604,808-,, Westland, 4,588; Canterbury, ,2,905,701; and Otago, 3,751,445. . ton amThe accident to Mr Shepard, coach proprietor, proves fo have been of a more serious character than was at the time supposed. 1 Mir'Shepard, we regret to say, .has 1 died from its •effects at Wanganui. ' The "Independent," referring to the deceased's •career, says:—There; are not a few in the colony who will remember Mr Shepard as driver on the Ballaratand Geelong road, in what are known as the early-days of Victoria as a goldfeld, and there are more who had made Ms acquaintance while acting for Cobb and Co. in Otago, or while driver of the coach between Christchureh and

Hokitika. In this island, Mr Sbepard was the pioneer of coach communication between Wanganui and Taranaki, and it was while in the exercise of his arduous and often dangerous duties on the primitive road between these two places that he met with the accident which resulted in his death. Mr Sbepard leaves a widow and three of a family, for whom, it is said, he was so far prudent and fortunate as to have wade provision by a life assurance policy some months, ago. We have not learned precise particulars as to the place to whrch he was removed after the occurrence of the accident, but it is probable that be will be buried in WanganuL It was intended to commence the destruction of the hull of, the wrecked brig Hindu at Invercargill last week. A torpedo containing about a hundredweight of powder was to be exploded under the fore-part of the vessel. This, it was hoped, would give tier a dislocating lift, -aipd result in the drift snorelard of the detached fragments. The operation is a trovel erae in this colony. The Secretary v>f Customs, Mr Seed, I in his antoual report of the Marine Department states that the number of casualties that occurred during the year !B(>9-70 was -38 ; the aggregate tonnage 3297$ and the' number of lives lost 12. In LSro-2 there were 28 casualties, tonnage 3322, and num-ber-of lives lost'2B: of these, 18 were ■caused by the foundering, after collision with the Enterprise, of the steamer Tauranga, in July, 1870. The wreck statistics of each of the two past years show that fewer casualties have happened in "these years than during either of the two previous jears. In 1 *recked, of ,4254 tons, and 28 lives tost. In tons, were wrecked, and 2b lives were lost on our coasts. With u view of preserving an accurate record of all trreeks, -mi. showing at a glance the localities at which they occurred, Mr Seed has bad a chart prepared ; it is modelled on the plan of those that are annually issued by the Board of Trade for the United Kingdom.. In addition to the wrecks, it shows also the position of the Kew. Zealand lighthouses, and the character of the different lights, whether fixed or revolving, &c., and the distance at I which 'they can be seen. ■..;; , , m j ■ ■ j..,, , . , ; The following;are the proceedings of the, j Court of Enquiry into the stranding , of the barque. Tell and steamer, li<ady Bjrd. In the case of the iTelh-7-J'That the, master showed negligence in not shortening sail immediately that he observed signs of a southerly squall...coming,up, and that he ought not at the time to have attempted to beat out. of the harbour, knowing his vessel was slow in wearing and staying, and, that his crew was but a very indifferent one." In the case of the Tiady Bird:—" That taking into consideratioE.the state of the tide iit would, appear, that the master stood rather too far over towards Barrett's Beef audi that whilst tacking the wind suddenly changed*! which caused the vessel: to miss stays;, and in consequence of there not being sufficient room either, to i wear, ship or veer out cable, the vessel, by the joint action of the wind and: tide was driven on to the rocks" The nautical assessor. (Capt Johnson)* who • was at the enquiries, concurred with both the findings.,:. • ; I . . , , ~! . A number, of milkmen: have been summoned at the Mayor's Court, Dunedin, for-having unstamped measured.'; These being' the first Icharges for theoffence of late,' they were dismissed on payment of costs and forfeHiJre of measures,' the latter being done in 'accordance, .with- the Act. Persons keeping - unstamped weights TO measures were,:it was mentioned, liable to a penalty: of £lO. The Soman Catholics in Nelson have presented Father Chareyre, with a gold watch as a testimonal of the esteem had earned duping the period of his ministrations there. The addressed was on vel|um,, very beantifull engrossed'in old English! characters by Mr A. M'Keller Wix, who had displayed much taste arid skill in the Work,®The rev. gentleman proceeded on the following day Oct. !, to the West Coast, where, for the present, he will be stationed, '-■'•' The following is ajcopy, of the " remarkable" letter from the' Government of New Zealand referred tn in a recent Malbourne telegram.' Copies of the same letter were sent, to the Governm«nts of New'Sdtttn 'Wales,' South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania. « is dated September'2,'and signed by Mr Glsbornev—"ln regard to the talifornian Mail Service, I have the nonour to inform you that, pending more vessels being put on the line, »nd the connections, being placed on

a more satisfactory footing, the Government of New Zealand, at the request of the contractors for the Californian Mail Service, have agreed to allow the contract steamers arriving at Auckland from San Francisco to proceed to Australia, and that we shall be glad, during the next four months, to carry mails for your Government by those steamers free of cost. In the course of two months, the Government propose to send to New South Wales a representative to confer with your Government on the whole subject of the Californian Mail Service." ~. .