At this juncture Mr Justice Gillies applied for a \ear's leave of absence, and it w?.s arranged thit Jtid.e Ward should act as his locum t'lirn*, and Judge Broa I take the position of District Judge for the Middle Inland. There are twelve places where he will be required to hold Courts, namely. Nelson. Weatp-ut, Ktefton. Grey mouth, llokitika, Ashburton, Waimate, Timaru, Oaniaru, Lawrence, Quceiistow n and Invercargill. Our attention was lately called to the utterly neglected condition of the old burying ground on the eastern terrace. The grievance is nothing new. and efforts have been male more than once to git such a discreditable state of things remedied, but the most that was ever done, if we remember rightly, was the putting of the fence a little ship shape. We made a personal visit to the place last week, and, to our surprise, found no indication, beyond three posts, that any ground had ever been enclosed by fencing ; nor, for that matter, were there any signs that the spot was the resting place of a few cf the earliest pioneers of the then re nowned Wakatipu coldticld, except that there arc some half score slightly raised mounds (a few with rough slates stuck on edge at each end) and two graves surrounded by the remains of a paling fence. On one of the latter-mentioned graves is what sawyers would call an outside slab of totara, lying on its side loosely against the railing, whilst about a chain distant, lying in a swamp, are two or three red bir h boards nailed together, whL'h served as a tombstone prol ably for the other grave. Both stones —or rather boards —had been painted, but as nearly the whole of the covering has worn off. it would have been impossible to trace or decipher the inscriptions were it not that the wood below the once painted letters stands out from its noe wei ther-beaten surrounding. On the one hoard is the name of John Griffin, who died 10th July, ISC3, aged 20 years: and on the other that of Patrick Saxton, who died f!rd Api il of the same year, aged 22 years. Singular to relate, both young men were natives of Co. Clare, lieland, and in both cases the crude structures were erected in affectionate remem brance by their re«|»eotive brothers, Patrick and John. 