CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1724, 24 July 1883, Page 2

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night.

Fhk ship Oxford is at the Heads. She las signalled that there are cases of fever >n board, but nothing serious. The Fine Art Exhibition was opened this afternoon by his Excellency the governor. Among those present were ihe hon. Messrs Whitaker, Rolleston, Dick and Oliver, Sir Wm. Fitzgerald, the Mayor of Wellington, Archdeacons 3tock and Sharp, and the hon. Mr Pharazyn, M.L.C. The Governor, in opening the exhibition, expressed his pleasure in assisting in a movement which was so commendatory. The exhibition, he said, displayed a considerable amount of artistic talent in the province, led he hoped it would only be the first of i number of this class of exhibitions, to be held at the principal centres ot DuneJin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland, as well as the smaller towns. [n declaring the exhibition to be open, lie could only express his great desire that this exhibition would be the pioneer bo many such institutions. Such would tend to develope the talent which lie was 3ure existed among the artists of the jolony.

George Frederick Smith, of Southbridge, has applied to the Government For the reward for the discovery jf a payable goldfield in Canterbury. It was he who submitted samples }f wash-diit to Dr. Sykcs. The field sxtends a'ong the Ninety Mile Beach, From the Rakaia river, auriferous layers af sand may be traced, high north and south, lor more than sixteen miles between high and low water mark. The leposit of workable sand ranges from three inches to three feet, with an averit;e deposit of eight inches. Mr Smith 3stimi»tes the yield at £4 a man a week. Ec has found a second deposit of equally rich sand, extending from the beach ilong the western shores of Lake Ellesmere for a distance of two or three miles. Some claims have been pegged out, each man taking a length of 80 feet. Four men have taken up a lease of ten acres under a prospecting license near the Ninety Mile Beach.