LATEST INTERPROVINCIAL.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 995, 13 August 1872, Page 2

LATEST INTERPROVINCIAL.

The ship Merope arrived at Lyttel-. ton from Loudon on the sth instant, after a passage of 83 days. She brings 214 passengers, all in good health. The second of the large bridges over the Canterbury rivers south of Christchurch, the is neat completion. The bridge is expected to be altogether finished and out of the contractors' hands in about three weeks, except that, in terms of the original agreement, the contractors are liable for its repair and maintenance for a period of three months from the date of its completion. There only no* remains to bridge the Waitaki, the boundary river between Canterbury and Otago, to enable the journey between Christchurch and Duuedin to be made in safety in all weathers, except in times of very heavy rain, when evea smaller rivers become flooded and dangerous.

The ' Lyttelton Times' says:—" We are given to uuderstand that the arti--zans lately employed in the erection of the Rangitata bridge have formed themselves into «, company* for the purpose of extracting geld from the M olyneux river, Clyde, Otago, on the pneumatic principle. The company comprises one carpenters one black* smith, two boiler-makers, and a mechanical engineer. They purpose taking all necessary material and machinery to Clyde, and there build a suitable craft to carry the machinery and cylinders. They calculate Upon bsing able to extract ihe wash-dirt no matter how flooded the river may bo, and as they will be able to shift these cylinders as the grouud is worked out, the loss on material will be small when compared with the dredging machines tow in use on the Clyde, which yield their owners a handsome annual profit, although some seasons (iu consequenceof floods) averaging only two months work in the year. Mr M. M'Lennan, the engineer of the company, is at present negociating for the engine and machinery requisite for the work, and ha 3 proceeded to Duuedin to secure a goldmining river claim on the Clyde." Mr Vogel has at leugth grown tired of the shameful manner in which the San Francisco Mail Service has been performed, and has written to Messrs Webb and Ben Halliday, informing these gentlemen that for the future they will be held strictly to their contract. Our Postmaster-General says: "It appear* to me that you have departed from the terms of your contract little by little, until you consider yourselves at liberty to pursue with reference to the working of the service, just that course which satisfies your own convenience." Mr Francis, Premier of Victoria, has written officially to Mr Gisborue, informing him that the Government of Victoria will not recemmend Parliament to ratify the provisional contract made by Mr Duffy. The * Post' says :—" The Colonial Architect has reported on the state of the Government Buildings which state he asserts to be an exceedingly unstisfactory one. In fact hon. members are informed, that it is by no means certain that during the course of some stormy debate the reof of the House of Representatives may not fall about their tars. It seems that during the past two years dry-rot has made sad havoc among the white pine of which the building is principally constructed. In the roof over the House of Representatives, out of niuety-two rafters twenty are of red pine and all sound the remainder being of white pine, forty-four of which have dry-rot, and twenty-eight are apparently sound. Temporary supports are being introduced to prop the roof up for the session.

The Wave Queen, from Bristol, with railway plant, has arrived at Duacdin.

!Port Chalmers railway trains cted to run in six months, expected that the Clutha line completed as far as Green i six months. p Neville, and the Principal of )logical Class, will sail from this month, •ies of exhibits, representing »ral wealth of the Province ef has been prepared by Mr Chemist, for the Thames jd, Province of Auckland, ill open about the third week ist. It consists principally of is of auriferous quartz from of Collingwood and the Inalso of alluvial and refined es of silver, copper, lead, fcine, iron, iron pyrites, arsenic, and r, in their crude, as well as (plumbago), and coal, besides the derivative products—in rds of eighty, accompanied by Nelson Province showing the ;s of the minerals. 8 annual local meeting of the iland Loan and Mercantile on, held in Auckland, Thomas sq., chairman, eulogised the 1 satisfactory progess of the , and the development of its The report shows a net r the year, including £I6OO brward from 1870, of £19,555