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Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 181, 29 April 1873, Page 4

The Gazette of last Wednesday contains the promised proclamation of a new ward in the Municipality of Cromwell. Maeandrew Wardas it has been named by the Town Council-is formed by the division of Kawarau Ward into two, the line of division commencing at a point in the Kawarau Rh-er, crossing i\l elmure-street where it forms an angle, and extending along the boundary-line between sections 9 and 10 and 33 and 32, block HI; then across Enniscortstreet and along the boundary-line between sections 3 and 4 and 17 and IS, block V; thence across Donegal-street to the ceutre of the street lino ; thence along the centre of that street line to the town boundary. At the close of the cmrent municipal year the citizens will be called upon to elect two Councillors for Macandrew Ward—thus increasing the total number of Councillors to six. We regret to hear that our townsman Dr James Corse is suffering severely from an the effects of an attack of epilepsy.

The Rev. A. B. Todd of Oamaru, and the Rev. J. Ryley of Otepopo- the members of a deputation appointed by the Synod to visit the outlying districts of the Province upon an evangelistic mis&ion—arrived in Cromwell on Tuesday afternoon. Mr Todd preached in the Schoolroom the same evening, and intimated that Mr Rvley would conduct divine Service in the same place on that night week (this evening). In the course of a brief address at the end of the service, Mr Todd stated that himself and colleague had left home a fortnight before, and during that time had been engaged in missionary work at various places along the route between Palmerston and Cromwell. They had conducted worship at every available opportunity, proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation in many localities where the sound of the gospel is seldom heard. From hence they intended proceeding to the Wakatip district, and would return homewards by way of Cromwell, Lake Wanaka, and Morven Hills station. Altogether, their tour would extend over a period of five weeks. Mr Pyley also briefly addressed the congregation, expressing the pleasure he felt at seeing so many present, and urging upon his hearers the great importance of regularly assembling together for divine worship. After an interval of exactly four weeks, rain began to fall heavily on Wednesday night, and continued intermittently till Saturday morning. Never was autumnal shower more welcome and refreshing, or more directly productive of benefit to all classes of industry in this district.. A week's crushing from the Heart of Oak-was cleaned up a few days ago, and yielded a little over 24 ozs. We are informed that the raising of stone from the mine was temporarily interrupted owing to the workmeu.having encountered a rather formidable bar of mullock ; and this fact accounts for the srnallness of the .quantity of stone put through the battery. The ''mullock has since lieen penetrated, and the men ' are again at work on a solid reef of considerable thickness. The stone looks promising, but its richness has of course yet to be tes'ed. Yesterday's mail brought us a note from Mr T. L. Shepherd, M.H.K., M.P.C, intimating that gentleman's intention to address the electors at Kidd's Hall on Friday next, at halfpast seven p.m., and requesting us to make known the fact by means of a " local," Has Mr Shepherd forgotten that our advertising columns are the proper and legitimate channel for such announcements? We learn that Mr MacKellar's contract for the formation of the mountain track hence to Cardrona, is expected to be finished by next Thursday. In fair weather, with a fast-walking horse the journey between the two places may be accomplished in about five hours. We have h j ard many complaints as' to the rugged character of that portion of the route between Mr Bhanl"'s farm and the trig, station on the summit of the hi l !,—a distance of nearly four miles. As something over £l3O of the amount appropriated for the work is still unexpended we presume the Government would, if applied to readily sanction a small disbursement for the additional work required to make the track reasonably safe and serviceable. The approaches to the Kawarau Bridge are now completed on both sides of the river. That on the south side—for which Mr P. H. M'Ardell was the contractor—ascends by an easy gradient to Hichavds's hotel ; and its formation involved no inconsiderable amount of difficulty, a portion of the roadway near the pier having to he Wasted out of the solid rock to the height of sixteen feet, ami the width of the road. Mr M'Ardell has performed his contract in a very creditable manner. (The Dunstan Times of the 4th inst. stated that this piece of rond had not then been commenced, the truth being that it W»a at that time more than half finished. So much for our contemporary's veracity.) The excavation for the roadway forming the approach on the north side was an undertaking of considerable magnitude, many hundred tons of huge houlders having to be broken up and removed lafter the sand and gravel had been sluiced away. Mr MacKellar has contracted to erect the superstructure of the bridge, and should no unforeseen contingency occur, the work will 1 e completed and the bridge opened for traffic by the 4th or oth of June. Yesterday afternoon, as Mr Goodger was driving a two-horse express past the Welcome Home Hotel, a young dog rushed out and hit the heels of the near horse, causing the animal to plunge violently and frighten the other one, which had only been in harness once or twice before. The consequence was that the horses became unmanageable, Mr Oondger was thrown out, and the express quickly capsized. Fortunately, Mr Goodger escaped serious injury, j out the vehicle and harness were considerably j damaged. j Mr T. L. Shepherd, M.F.B. for the Dunstan, addressed the doctors at Tinker's Gully, Drybread, on Saturday last: Mr W. Holmes in thechair At the close of Mr Shepherd's speech, Mr Wdliam Day moved, ami Mr Stephen lieid seconded, -the following resolution, which was carried unanimously :— *' That this meeting is of "pinion that Mr T. 1,. Shepherd has ably represented the district, and expi esses its entire confidence in him as member for the Dunstan. in the House of lieprcbentatives and Provincial Council." The Rev. Mr Drake announces by advertisement bis intention to deliver the concluding part n f h ; s lecture on "Mary, Queen «f wts," in the Town-hall, Cromwell, next Thursday evening. Mr Drake also purposes lecturing °n the same topic at the Schoolroom, Bauuockb«rn, on the following evening—Friday, the 2nd Proximo. At a recent sitting of the Waste Laud Jowd, Mr J. D. Feraud, of Monte Christo, claimed £IO2O for valuation for improvements rawe on lands held under agricultural leases which had been cancelled bv the Hoard. The claim was not agreed to. and MrT. L. shepherd was appointed valuator on the behalf of the ward. Mr Feraud has since named Mr J C dapple as valuator on his behalf.

It will be remembered that on the 19th December last a resident at Deep Creek, named Mrs Harvey, lost her life through falling over a precipice into the Kawarau. No trace of the body was found until last Thursday, when it was discovered by a fossicker on the south bank of the river, about a mile and a half below M'Nulty's hotel. The body was reduced to a mere skeleton, and was found firmly impacted, head downwards, between two ledges of rocks, about fifteen feet above the present level of the river at thai point. Some vesrices of clothing still clung to the skeleton—sufficient, we beiieve, to enable the husband to identify the remains of his unfortunate wife. The two rings worn by Mrs Harvey at the time of t'ie fatal occurrence were found on the fingers of the left hand. It seems probable that the woman, in falling down the precipice, had sustained serious if not mortal injuries through coming into contact with project ing rocks, for the left thigh bone was found to be fractured above the knee. Sergeant Cassels proceeded to the spot yesterday, and having obtained assistance, succeeded with great difficulty in conveying the-remains along the river bank to the chair at the Natural Bridge, where the party crossed the river about eight o'clock in the evening, and afterwards carried their melancholy burden to Mr M'Nulty's hotel. Owing to the illness of Dr Corse, Mr W. L. Simpson, R. M. and Coroner, had to be summoned to bold the inquest, which takes place to-day, at the Roaring Meg. The Colleen Bawn crushing, now going on at Logan's battery is expected to be finished on Thursday. A parcel of thirty or forty tons from the old Royal Standard claim (vvhich is now under new proprietorship) will be put through immediately afterwards. Speaking of the manner in which the Provincial Government advertise their land sales, the Daily Times, after calling attention to the fact that in other Provinces such sales are advertised in newspapers, asks this pertinent question :—" How would any member of the Executive, who desired to part with some property by auction to the best advantage, like if an absolute sale of such property were to take place after notice of the sale had appeared in the Provincial Government Gazette only ?" The Roxburgh correspondent of the Tuapelca Times writes to that paper as follows :—"I do not often attack Government officers, but on this occasion 1 feel I would be lacking in my duty if I did not bring under public notice the conduct of the C'yde telegr tphist. On Sunday, the 6th inst., Mrs P. T. Kitzgerald- who had been confined a short time previously—became dangerously ill. There being no medical man m the district, Mr Fitzgerald asked Mr Hale, the telegraphist, to telegraph to Tuapeka for Dr Halley. This was about one o'clock. Mr Hale did so, but it being after hours could get no answer from the Tuapeka office. Mr Hale then tried Clyde, from which stition he received an answer. He stated through the wires that the message he wished to send was urgent, and asking the operator to go to Dr Sterling to tell him to proceed at once to the Teviot, aud at once telegraph what s;eps should be taken pending his arrival. The Clyde telegraphist said " Wait a minute." Mr Hale waited at the instrument for fully two hours, but the operator at Clyde never returned, therefore no communication could be obtained till 5 o'clock, at which time Mrs Fitzgerald had died. The Government ought certainly to take notice of this, as though the message was sent after hours, feelings of common humanity ought to have induced the Clyde operator to have given the message to Dr Sterling. It will not be a pleasant commentary upon the efficiency of the electric telegraph department of New Zealand, to have to chronicle that a woman had died leaving a family 0 { ten children, through the caprice of an operator." Provincial red-lapeism (siys the Taapeki Times) has long been a fruitful source of complaint, but in spite of all remonstrances continues as r mpant as ever. More particularly is this the case in matters pertaining to the gold-fields. Agricultural leases are never issued until two years after the granting of the appl cation, ami in some cases the leases almost expire before the necessary documents are prepared. Reference has been made on former occasions to the Coa. Creek leases, which have not had the effect of stirring official lethargy into action. Some cases have recently come under our notice of a more flagrant kind. In October last, an a; plication was made for the transfer of an agneultura' lease. The rent was paid up to the end of the year, and the documents forwarded in the usual way. As no reply was made to the application, the parties concerned made personal application at the Government offices, and the sleepy official after some search pioduced the doc munis, bat was unable to state how they came there, or what was to be done with them. At erconsulting two or three brother red-tapis's, it was discovered that the Warueu's repoit was not lo 1 e found, and another half-year's rent hj d accrued, so that proceedingsha>l to be commented denovu, with the lively p ospect of 1 emg completed in another six months. \ case wh'ch was investigated in Lawrence and decided upoi, and which, from the circumstances required p.oinpt atttn tion, was found to be in a similarly unsatisfactory state ; and it was only upon reference to the political head of the department that the officials could be br tight to undeistand what th y should have previously done. It is no iht multiplying instances, and we will enmdudp. hj) expressing a hope tliat the energetic .Secretary for Lands and Works will galvanise tiie officials under his control into modera'ely viral human beings, and so redeem the reputation of the Provincial Government offices, which are now in verity places des jms perdw.