Provincial and General.

Cromwell Argus, Issue I, 8 June 1870, Page 6

Provincial and General.

An amusing incident, characteristic of the precocity of young New Zealand, occurred at a recent meeting of creditors, hold at the Royal Hotel, Oamaru. The meeting wis largely attended by the chief business men of the town. The two local lawyera were at their post, and the war of words between debtor and creditors was about to commence, when one of the legal gentleman discovered that there was an intruder, iu the shape of a small boy of eleven or twelve years old, in the room, who ho politely requested to retiro. The boy did not appreciate the gentle request, but with bristling hair and defiant demeanour boldly took possession of the floor, and declared that he had as much right there as "any other man." He came°as an opposing creditor. The bankrupt owed him 8s 6d, and he was not going to accept a compromise, no, not he, he knew bettor than that. A benevolent gentleman endeavoured to show the youngster that according to English law he had no right to be there, being under age. With ready wit, howevor, he stood erect, and cheekily said " so much the worse for British law ; I be a foreigner." It is needless to say the gentlemen were convulsed with laughter, and the youngster—after many threats of being forcibly ejected if he did not leave peacefully—retired, hissing between his teeth, " lie would oppose—he would send his bi« brother to do it for him." The bankrupt and his legal adviser smiled complacently when this youthful but demonstrative creditor had been ejected, and the business of the meeting proceeded.— Oamaru Herald. A miner named William Cox, suffering from a broken leg, was brought from the Greenstone yesterday by his mates, and conveyed over to the hospital. There is a curious circumstance connected with this accident, the same man having broken the same leg about six months ago whilst crossing the creek on a log situated about three hundred yards from the site of the present accident. It appears that Cox was working in the face of the claim, and a fall of earth took place, which covered him all up but his head. He was warned by one of his mates who was working on the top that the ground was dangerous, but Cox either did not hear the warning, or paid no attention to it. Fortunately the laud-slip was composed of turfy soil, and, the pressure not being very great, he was easily extricated. He was, however, in great danger of drowning before relieved, as the headrace, which had been turned on the stripping, partially inundated the claim, and had the earth which covered him been of a gr ivelly description, there is every probability that ho. would have been smothered by the water, owing to the time which it would have taken to have got him out. Had it not been that the leg was not thoroughly healed up, it is not expected that any bones would have been broken, as the stuff which came down was merely topstripping of a very light turfy nature. Much credit is due to Mr Whitten, of duffing and Whitten, for his kindness in having sent up to Stafford Town a spring van for the special purpose of bringing the unfortunate ma.n to town.— W. G. Times. The T/utmes Advertiser gives a list of the crushing of the various claims and companies (numbering 56 in ail), during, the month 11th April to 11th May. From this we learn that the Long Drive crushed 469 tons of stone, with a result of 1421 ounces of gold, or a fraction over three ounces to the ton; the Golden Crown, 585 tons—result, 885 ounces, rather better than an ounce and a half to the ton ; the Kuranui, 720 tons—result, 1733 ounces, or about two and a third ouuees to the ton. The total amount crushed by all the different claims was 6048 tons, and the gross yield of gold 10,8090z. 17dwts. llgrs. —beiug an average, within a small fraction, of loz. 15dwts. 18grs. to the ton. James Young, who received such severe injuries mmie eight or nine weeks ago, was discharged from the Hokitika Hospital last Saturday, cured. This was a case of frightful mutilation which took place in the Greenitone district. It was caused by the falling of a tree, and the particulars, aa nearly as we c*n ascertaiu, are as follows:—Young was engaged to bring down a water-race to the diggings from a distant creek, and was working alone in a forest, two miles from the nearest habitation. He was cutting down a tree ; and this, falling sooner than he expected, came in contact with another tree, and rebounded with groat violence, knocking him down and producing a compouud comminuted fracture of both bones of the right leg at its centre, with a severe lacerated wound extending through the perineum and right groin. It was bad weather at the time, and he lay beneath the tree in a wretchedly helpless condition for over forty hours, when ho was fortunately discovered by his wife, who had been out all night in the rain looking for him. When admitted into the hospital, although a considerable portion of the bone of the leg was gone, efforts were made to save the limb, and happily proved successful. For some time back all the wounds have healed up. The limb is lying in an excellent position, and a good u»fon has taken place in both bones. | jft of.

A.ii inquest wus held at Jollied Puss Accommodation House, Aimiri, Canterbury, by Count do la Pasture and a jury, of whom Mr Do Moulin was chosen foreman, on the body of a man named Samuel Gilmour, who was found dead. From the evidence it would appear that Gilmour had been employed by Mr Jones, of the Waiau station, to do some “ cob” work, and that ho was left alone in the station during the absence of Mr Jones and a man named Kean in Christchurch. During Mr Jones’ absence, Gilmour went to Jollie’s Pass, a distance of eighteen miles, and left for home, accompanied by another man as far as the Waiau. On the following Friday he was discovered lying dead on the floor of his hut, by Kean, on his return from Christchurch. No marks of violence were visible on the body, except on two Angers, which had apparently been severely bitten. Gilmour had evidently been dead some days when Kean returned, and his sleeves were turned up and his arms covered with mud, showing that when he had expired he had just left off work. It is a pr*y the attendance of a medical gentleman could not be procured, as it might have thrown light on what is at present a mystery— the cause of death.— Lyttelton Times. The devotees of Mormonism in Wellington have much to suffer. If they go to hear “ Brother Beauchamp," they are half suffocated in a densely-packed room, and on emerging are pelted with rotten eggs. The Wellington papers are saying a good deal just now about Mormonism and polygamy. To any person of either education or refinement, a religion which is composed of nonsensical quackery and the most repulsive sensuality, must be simply disgusting. Recent travellers say that Utah is by no means an elysium upon earth. On the contrary, it is described as a place where a sort of spiritual terrorism prevails, where the church takes abundant tithes, and where persons obnoxious to the saints are quietly put out of the way. Moreovei, curiously enough, the same writers arc unanimous in saying that the Mormon ladies are, as a rule, remarkably plain in personal appearance. A gentleman, three (or more) sheets in the wind, came into our office a few evenings ago, and introduced himself as “ The Poet of the Wesht?” After staggering across to a chair, ejaculating repeatedly, as though there was a charm in the very words, “I’m—(hie)—l’m—(hie)—the Poet of the Wesht I”—(the last word with a jerk to get it over)—our “jolly” visitor, who was in the greatest good humor with himself and everybody else, insisted on shaking hands. We did so, and, humoring his fancy, bowed him out as a very distim gulshed personage. Half-an-hour afterwards, we saw him sitting down on the footpath, which (it being a very wet night) was four or five inches deep iu mud, muttering to himself, with evident satisfae tion, “ I’m the Poet of the Wesht—the Poet of the Wesht.”—A queer position for a poet, truly ! —Onmara Ttm°s. Mr Fox (says the Timur u Herald) appears determined that the press of the colony shall only speak so much of the truth as he thinks desirable to bo known, and in consequence of the Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times having offended in this respect, by publishing certain unpleasant rumours which turn out to be true, Mr Fox has had the commission which he held as a volunteer officer cancelled. Two unfortunate clerks in the Defence Office have also been suspended on suspicion of divulging official secrets. A more glaring abuse of power was never perpetrated. If such things are permitted we shall next have Justices of the Peace, who happen to have the courage to oppose Mr Fox, struck off the roll. Mr Fox is only injuring himself by such foolish actions, for the press of the colony is not likely to be coerced by any Government. A fire took place at Wanganui on the. evening of the 23rd ult., by which the Commercial Hotel was destroyed. The fire originated from the explosion of a kerosene lamp. The building was one of the oldest in the town. The wind blew the flames towards the river, and the steamer Wallaby had a narrow escape. Steam was got up, and the men kept pouring water on her sails and rigging while she was in danger. As an illustration of the extraordinary richness of some of the quartz in New Zealand, we ( I Vest Coast Times) may mention that a few days ago, at the melting house of the Union Bank, thirty ounces of gold were obtained from 107 ounces of picked stone from a Coromandel reef. At this rate a ton avoirdupois would yield 9158 ounces troy of gold; worth £25,000 sterling. The process employed was that of fusing at a high temperature the entire mass with a flux that converted the silicia into a fluid glass, through which the gold sank to the bottom of the crucible by reason of its great specific gravity. On Saturday last (says the Oamaru Times) a boy named Greenfield, in the employ of Mr Gavin M'Ghie, of this town, was sent by his master to deliver some goods, for which he received half-a crown in payment. On his way tack he was invited by a playmate to take a swing, which he did, first putting the cjfn into Ins month. Owing to some jerk m swinging, ho swallowed the half-crown, rtjd has since been under the treatment ()WQrEbbs^J|^jiM^H|^H gooddesMfIyHHHHHBHB£HH|HH|