It is reported that a sample of good grit st'ine, has been obtained in tho Oamaru dis trict, of the same description as that used for piers at Home, aud therefoYo well suited for the proposal breakwater. It is stated to be harder and heavier than tho Port Chalmers stone, and it could be delivered at the jetty at far less cost. The ]/>cal Committee at Wcthcrstenes have resolved to call a public meeting, "to devise tho best means of supplying the township with water for domestic and sani tary purposes, also--for protection against fires." The Hon. Secretary of the Dtmctiin Atlienteuni has received information that the London agent, Mr Parsons, h.is shipped on board the Chile, "nearly 200 vols, of choice books, many of them new." Ry the last Panama mail, a number of bound volumes and pamphlets issued immediately prior to tho despatch of tho mail, wero received at the institution. Competitive designs for tha erection of the new Masonic Hall are now'advertised- for. Tho site iv Moray Placo is being rapidly cleaved ; so much of Church HiU as covers, it being tolerably free from rock. .Mr James Richardson is publishing a set: of twelve photographic views. of different stations in tho Province and Colony. Many of tho scenes are very picture-epic, and from the portable size ot the photographs, thoy will form very pretty additions te albums. Oil the 13th inst, at Palmerston, Mr James Stenhouse, of Burnside Farm, had seven stacks of corn and a quantity of posts and rails destroyed by firo. A correspondent of the Wuikoaaiti. Hfrail states that thy tiro was purely accidental—that Mr Stcuhouso was burning somo grass iv tho same field in wliich the property destroyed was placed, and that the tiro spread and gained tho mastery. It is estimated that about 700 bushels of corn wero burned, comprising live stacks of oats, ono of wheat, and ono of barley. Had it not been for the strenuous exertions of a man named Scbcinuigs. it is believed that tho dwelling-houMJ and its contents would have been destroyed. Frederick Ford, an apprentice on bo?rd the slrp Vicksburg, died in tho Hospital on tho •Jillh ult, of consumption. The funeral, which took pk.ee on the 22nd, was attended by Captain Strachan, with tbe other appren tices belonging to the ship, and several pfnt'einon, friends of Captain Strachan. 