GENERAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 903, 21 December 1871, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

A drunkard, who lately made his appearance at the firaharastowri Police Court, pleaded in excuse that he " had been drinking to the memory of the immortal Shakespeare, and had taken rather too much." The plea did not save him. Those interested in Orepuki as a goldfield, will be pleased to learn that a higher price is given for the gold yielded by that district than for thatproduced anywhere else in New Zealand. We (" Southland News ") have information from one of the banks which buys most of the gold, that it averages on assay close on 23 carats. Two steamers and five sailing vessels are employed in the timber-carrying trade on Lake Wakatip, and a third steamer is in course of construction. A good many miners are at work at Whitechapel Flat, at the junction of the Arrow and Kawarau rivers. The prospects are reported to be excellent. A correspondent of the Auckland " Morning News" writes :—" I am informed that one member of the press, who had made himself conspicuous lately, considers it necessary to walk the streets with a revolver in his pocket." All Middle Island correspondence under the Immigration and Public Works Act must in future be addressed to the Resident Minister at Christchurch. Mr Moorhouse is appointed Secretary for Crown Lands. Mr Haughton ha'S teen appointed Commissioner of Water Supply for the Qtago Goldfields—it is said without salary. Hugh Blackmore, a &hepherd at the Bluff, who was supposed to have committed suicide on the 27th ult., really did so on Thursday, cutting his throat with a butcher's knife in the stable of the Eagle Hotel. Mr Steward addressed his constituents at Oamaru on Thursday. A unanimous vote of confidence was passed. The new Choral Hall in Symond street, Auckland, was burnt early on Sunday morning, the 10th inst. A bottle of kerosene and oil rags were found, clearly indicating incendiarism. No clue has been discovered of the perpetrator. A reward of £IOOO is offered. The property was insured in the New Zealand Office for £ISOO Another fire on the following Tuesday night destroyed Hawkswood's foundry and eight cottages. The remainder of a large block of wooden buildings was only saved by great exertions and the absence of wind. Insurances : Royal, £350; Victoria, £3OO ; New Zealand, £75. The wreck of the s.s. Ahuriri has been sold to a Mr Rossbottom for £ls. The Auckland Provincial Council has voted ,£'2oo towards a female reformatory. Major Campbell has gone to Dunedin to report on the accommodation available there for the sitting of the General Assembly. Messrs F. D. Bell and E. W. Stafford have voluntarily consented, with the concurrence of the Provincial Executive, to surrender, without compensation, 7,000 acres of their run, situated in Mount Ida Valley, Dunstan, for the purpose of agricultural settlement. The land to be selected comprises some of the best land in the district, and will shortly be thrown open for selection under the Goldfields Leasing Regulations. This is, indeed a praiseworthy example. A sitting of the Supreme Court is now being held at Napier, and the trial of Kereopa has commenced. A telegram, dated Napier, December 8, states: —" Mr Colenso, in a long letter to the " Herald," argues against the execution of Kereopa. Every exertion is being made to procure proper evidence against him, and Mr Commissioner Clarke (Resident Magistrate at Tauranga) and nine witnesses are expected by the Keera this evening. At the adjourned examination yesterday, Kereopa expressed a desire to be taken to where Mr Volkner was crucified, and there to be crucified himself. This is very ominous. The •' Otago Daily Times " says : The "Nelson Colonist" has lately undertaken tho role of moral censor, and has been lecturing the press of the Colony in general, and those papers that do not hold its own peculiar views in particular, on honesty and good behaviour. As is the case with most persons aad papers that make a loud

profession of virtue, the Colonist pays little attention to practising its own precepts ; and accordingly in its issue of November 28th we find no less than 25 paragraphs taken word for word from the " Daily Times " without acknowledgment. Nor is this a solitary instance; for the Colonist is a constant offender in this respect, and yet to read its remarks one would imagine it was the only respectable paper in the Colony—a Lot in the journalistic Sodom.