INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1155, 3 March 1874, Page 4

INTERPROVINCIAL NEWS.

The municipality of Naseby proposes to borrow £IOOO for the purpose of building a Town Hall. Such buildings have proved good investments at country municipalities in Otago. The Clyde Town Hall, the best public building out of Dunedin and costing £IOOO, returns a dividend of 20 per cent per annum on the original out hay. The Coromandel Mail of tho 17th instant, relates the death of Mr 11. Millctt, civil engineer, and who formerly lived at Quceustown, being then assistant engineer to Mr 0. Wright, of tho Otago Survey Department. Tho Mail says:—Mr Millett was sitting on a chair on his verandah wheu he fell br,ck and t ahno3t immediatelv

expired, tho cause being, we understand, heart disease. For some time Mr Millett has been in delicate health, and wo believe that an insurance policy on his life was refused a short time ago, Mr Millett, who had previously been in Otago, camp to the Tmunes about live or six years ago, where he was for some time assistant engineer under Mr Charles O'Ncil. lie was afterwards for several years engineer in charge, during which time ho gave great satisfaction to tho Government and the public by the ability and diligence he displayed in his work. About six months ago, when the General Government was being strongly pressed to push on with the water supply scheme for the Thames goldliold, about which there has been so much delay, Mr Gillies suggested that Mr Millett should be employed, as a thoroughly competent engineer, intimately acquainted with the district. The Minister for Public AVorks adopted the suggestion, and Mr Millett was appointed. Mr Millett was much esteemed by all who came into contact with him, on account of his quiet gentlemanly demeanor and his obliging conduct. Ho was a native of the south of Ireland, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He was 50 years of age. The Mayor of Christchurch has distinguished himself by giving a graud banquet, and Christchurch papers give full details of the feast and elaborate surroundings. The event celebrated was the opening of a " low level drain" for the more effectual drainage of the city. It has boon said that Englishmen celebrate everything by a dinner, but we do not remember hearing of any occasion when the opening of a drain was celebrated by a commemorative banquet. It is true that many events of less importance have been so honored, and the Mayor of Christchurch deserves credit for showing that he believes that cleauliness is next to godliness in a city as well as personally. The landlord of the Queen's Arms Hotel, Queonstown, Otago, now publishes a list of " fashionable arrivals."

Great mortality has prevailed in Wellington. The death rate of last mouth was double that of the corresponding' month of last year. For this month it has been more than that of last February.

A smart arrest was made at the Wellington pier on the arrival of the s.s. Murray from Napier. She reached the wharf between 11 and 12 o'clock ; and at twenty minutes to 11 a telegram bad been received by the Inspector of Police, stating that a fisherman named Charles Simmons, who was wanted for obtaining £'2o under false pretences from a man named Carr, was supposed to be in her. Sergeant Monaghan waited for the arrival of the vessel, and when she touched the wharf he weut on board. The description contained in the telegram enabled him to identify Simmons, who was arrested and removed to the lock-up. It was rather a close thing as to whether the steamer would arrive before the Sunday hours for keeping the 1 olograph Office open, and Simmons, if he knew the hour during which messages were transmitted, must have had on anxious time of it.

The Wellington Post says :—" One of the best possible stakes man can have in a country is a large family. Property can be sold, the owner take the proceeds and depart. A large family is not so easily disposed of, and no man will be likely to take a greater interest in the welfare of the colony than ho who is tied to it by a family, who has to look to it as the future home of his children, and who depends upon the progress of the commonwealth to enable him to earn a liyinoand provide for his offspring." We (N.Z. Mail) understand that whilst correspondence was proceeding between the General Government and the Provincial Government of Wellington upon the subject of the Bridges, Koads and Other Works Appropriation Ordinance, lately passed by the Provincial Council, appropriating £-30,000 on account of an anticipated loau, it was discovered that the Provincial Auditor had signed a warrant for the whole amount appropriated. This is likely to lead to his dismissal ; and it is also likely that the ordinance will be disallowed. The "armed navvies" in the Waikato district recently set to work on the Auckland and Waikato railway arc said to be earning golden opinions from the settlers round about for their steady behaviour and good conduct. Drunkenness is quite unknown amongst them.