OTAGO.
(From the Baity Times Jan . 1 to Jan. 7 inclusive,')

This week’s Provincial Government Ga zette contains proclamations setting apart 100,000 acres of land at Martin’s Bay, and a similar area at Preservation Inlet, for the proposed settlements at those two places. A Tokomairiro paper states that blight, apparently of the same nature as that peculiar to cabbages, &c. ; in this province, has made its appearance amongst oats in many fields throughout that district. It is to be hoped the recent heavy rains will have the effect of putting a stop to its ravages. We understand that the sugar recently taken to Wellington by Detective Thomson has been analysed by Mr Skey, and that no indication of the presence of arsenic, or any other poisonous substance, was discovered in it. The sugar in question was used by Mr J. L. Gregory’s family, and was supposed to have occasioned the death of his infant. Mr Skey’a analysis consequently confirms Dr Hocken’s. We may add that the sugar was the Victorian Company’s No. 2. A rather long and continuous wave of earthquake, rather than a shock, was felt in Cromwell about 4 p.m. on Christmas Day. It lasted, says the Argus, for a minute, and our informant says he was lying on the sofa, and thought at first some one was shaking the side of the house next to him. The wave was also felt at Queenstown, and though earthquakes there are common enough, this one attracted attention owing to its duration.
