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Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 825, 1 February 1868, Page 2

Native Lands Court. — This court will be opened in Wanganui on Wednesday next the 5th of February for the hearing of claims, a list of which appears in a Provincial Government Gazette of Friday, 24th January. Accident. — An accident occasioned through, we believe, the purest inadvertence, occurred on Thursday last at the rifle butts on the race course, during rifle filing by some of the members of the Wanganui militia — who were practising prior to the firing for district prizes. It appears that a man named Flowers was at the butts marking, while several others were at the 500 yards range firing ; when after one shot having been fired, Kelly proceeded to take aim without noticing that the marker had come out to repaint the target ; the shot was fired and the bullet struck Flowers behind the knee and then passed in a traverse direction down the leg coming out again further down the calf. He was immediately conveyed home, where, under the hands of Dr Brewster, we understand, he is progressing favourably towards recovery.

Suez Mail. — The last Suez mail failed to catch the mail steamer at Melbourne and so has not yet been despatched on its journey further than Australia. Fire. — A fire broke out in one of the outhouses at Newtonlees Farm — Mr John Morgan’s — about nine o’clock on Thursday night and consumed the building with its contents. The fire was seen for a considerable distance round. There is nothing known to account for it. Mr Morgan, himself, was from home, and will not return until to-day. The property was only partly insured ; to an amount, indeed, which will bear no proportion to the loss.

The Tornado and Earthquake. — In connection with the severe visitation to St. Thomas in the West Indies, we are enabled to add the following extract from a letter written by one who was there, describing a deed of devoted bravery when ruin, clread, and death were upon land and sea. It is told that when the hurricane began the captain of a Spanish gunboat cut away his masts, and then steamed about the harbour picking up the drowning. After thus saving about eighty lives, the poor fellow was himself washed overboard. P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Company. — In a report of the Directors of this Company, dated Nov. 29, it is stated that the receipts for freight and passage money on the Panama line, for the three months from December to March averaged £2900 per month, have since been maintained at the monthly average of £4300. This progressive increase would, in the opinion of the board, have been much greater but for the unfortunate effect on the through traffic between England and New Zealand and Australia, caused by the outbreak of yellow fever in the West Indies. As, however, that exceptional hindrance to the full development of the traffic has now entirely disappeared, the directors feel every confidence there will be a much larger increase in the returns.

Visit of the Duke of Edinburgh. — Much expectation is naturally aroused at the probability or otherwise of the Prince coming to Wanganui. Although it would be an event to be hailed with satisfaction by all, it is yet uncertain, to say the least. The manner in which our contemporary was making all the preparations was rather premature, and the announcement that the Reception Committee of Wellington had decided on the Native gathering being held at Wanganui, created some surprise at headquarters, and if any of these gentlemen had seen the announcement it would have been a piece of news for them. Should the Duke of Edinburgh pass on his way without visiting this district, undoubtedly he will lose the sight of the best settlement in the colony. Yet it is not beyond the bounds of conjecture, as we took occasion to mention some considerable time ago on this same subject, that under the guidance of Sir George Grey, the visitors may come from Taupo down the Wanganui River, in which case the river steamer Moutoa might be pressed into the service with advantage, when the Prince en route to Wellington would stay some time in this district, which of all others, whether viewed in the light of present advancement or past history, possesses as much of interest as any other. Then, it is to be hoped, should such an arrangement be made, the people of Wanganui will join without regard to local enmities to give a loyal welcome as a united settlement to the Prince. In the prospect of such an event something should be ascertained from the authorities in Wellington on the subject — and to do this rests with the Town Board, whose province principally it is to inquire of it. The Reception to Mr Fox. — At the public meeting held last night, several matters of (properly) a private nature were freely discussed. It appears that the design of a few friends of Mr Fox to give him a private dinner, is thought to interfere with a public reception. On this point parties have split, and the proverbial danger of falling between two stools is to be feared. No one in this town, we daresay, will underrate Mr Fox’s abilities or be backward to give him his due for the stand he made in England for the Colony — this is a matter for which the whole colony as much as Wanganui will be ready to record its approbation ; but to disagree on giving a welcome as a friend or in another sense is only to be regretted by the parties themselves. Besides some certain truths which inadvertently cropped out, one or two are significant : Mr Watt tells us after it is over that the dinner to Mr Fox in being called a non-political one is only applying a misnomer to it. Not so, if Mr Fox’s appearance there, his feelings, and even his expressed wishes, are to be believed ; this must surely be a mistake, but this hint of what might have been, will be useful for what is to be, and people will now be careful to know whether they are welcoming Mr Fox as a settler or a polititian. Mr Fox, we dare say, will not be much obliged to Mr Watt for the left-handed compliments he was playing him last night, in styling some of the colonial minister’s moves as imprudent and requiring all the ingenuity of his backers to push him through. Meanwhile, we suppose, there is to be a Free Banquet, or a five shilling dinner for the million in Wanganui, and also, we daresay, us the committee cannot keep Mr Fox all the time he is in Wanganui, his private friends may meet him and give him a welcome after their own fashion.