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Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 185, 27 May 1873, Page 4

We have received a copy of the new Gold-fields Bill, and shall take an early opportunity of noticing its most salient features.

The heavy rain which fell during yesterday afternoon and evening has caused the rivers to rise many feet above the level at which they have remained for the last four or five months. 'i-The beams'of the Kawarau Bridge are. nearly all suspended in position on the wires, and at the present rate of progress it is expected the whole structure will be completed in about, a' fortnight.

"We have received a letter bearing the signature of "Justice," but we do'not see that any goofl would result from publishing it. The person referred to was previously convicted in Dunedin under another name.

We are desired by the Committee of the Brass Band to tender their grateful acknowledgments to the ladies and gentlemen who kindly gave their assistance at the concert on Saturday evening, the 24th inst. Mr John Woodward, a miner well known at Bannockbum, stumbled in a boggy place at Carrickton on Wednesday last, .and the fall unfortunately fractured oue of his legs. He was taken to the Thmstan Hospital on the following day.

A very handsome and complete map of Central Asia, issued as a supplement to the Australasian, has been forwarded to our office by the proprietors of that paper. Such a map is of peculiar interest in the present condition of affairs in the East.

By late elections, the Vogel Government have received an addition of three to their list of supporters. For Nelson suburbs, Mr Richmond has been elected ; for Lyttleton, Mr Webb ; and for lnvercargill, Mr Cuthbertsoil, — all avowed supporters of the present Ministry.

We regret to hear that a rather serious accident happened to Mr James Marshall, working manager of the Carrick Water .Race, a few days ago. Mr Marshall was riding homewards from Cromwell to the Bannnckburn late at night, in company with Mr E. Tupker, when his horse stumbled, and the rider fell heavily on his head. Insensibility supervened, and Mr Tupker returned to Cromwell for Dr Lake, who, on arriving at the scene of the accident, administered restoratives, and happily with good effect. Mr Marshall was afterwards conveyed home, and is now slowly recovering.

Mr J. Siedeberg, Clyde, owner of the steam dredge "Salaminder," writes to ns as follows :—"SIK,—I read in the Morning Star of the 23rd hist., under the heading 'Mining Intelligence,' taken from the Cromwell Akgus, that the dredge Salamander had been sold in Cromwell for £2l 10s. The dredge that was sold was advertised as the Shenandoah, while the dredge Salamander is a steam dredge owned by me, and is not sold ; neither is it fur sale at present. I request you to correct the error, and cause it to be corrected in those papers which have inserted it as stated above.—Clyde, ! 2-ithMay, 1873." ' ' ■' ' v .- .'

lri the of a letter to the Dunedih Star, speaking of Cromwell, Mr T. L. Shepherd says:—lt is " one of the most important inland towns in the' Province, although less, important than it will be in the future ; and it will, in my opinion, be the centre of a thriving community of miners, when the Blue Spur will, in the Tuaipeha district, be a tradition of the past." ■

This is how the local paper deals with the members representing the Mount Ida district in the Council :■—V For our part, we wash our hands of any action the electorate of Mount Ida may "take in. returning once more Messrs Arm. strong and Mervyn, or members holding similar views,, entirely adverse, not only to the district they represent, but to all material advancement throughout the province."

The New Zealand Tablet of a late date says:—"We hear that Bishop Moran contemplates making the following offer to the Government : A new school being acknowledged as a necessity in town, he proposes that if the Government provide him with a suitable site in a central position, and aid in paying the salaries of the staff, he will undertake on the part of the Catholic community to spend £2OOO on school buildings within two years."

The Chief Inspector of Customs at Auckland recently obtained samples of beer from all of the principal breweries in the Colony :—From Wellington, 4 samples ; Canterbury and Otago, 22 ; Auckland, 10 ; and Nelson, 6. After being analysed, they were all found to be free from adulterants of any kind. This number of analyses having been performed upon samples selected unknown to the brewers who manufactured the beverages, with such satisfactory results, speaks very favourably of the character of Colonial brewers, and shows that they provide good and wholesome malt beverages for those who desire them. °

A remarkable instance of presence of mind occurred at Auckland a short time ago.' Two young men were fencing, when, by an unlucky stroke, one of them had his left eye forced out upon his cheek. Tn his agony he ran to some friends, and begged them to return the eye to its socket " before it got cold," but finding that his friends were too scared to help him, he walked to a mirror, and actually put his eye back himself. He then drank two glasses of brandy, and lay quiet for three days. Afterwards he went about bis ordinary avocations. Tlis own statement is that, barring a little indistinctness,o! vision in the extruded eye, he suffered no inconvenience.

The employes of one of our morning contemporaries (says the Auckland Evening Btyr) have, followed the praiseworthy example of .'the local'warehouses in instituting a "blasphemy box".for the benefit of the Orphan Home. The box measures Gin. x sin. x 4iin., and the rule is that a penny shall be deposited by every utterer of an oath or obscene word. In seven hours after the introduction of the box its weight had increased wonderfully ; towards morning it was more than half-full, while at eleven o'clock next evening there was room for no more, and a pile of seventeen coppers stood by its s'de, and the overseer was busily engaged in improvising an iron bucket as a money-box for future offerings. The employes must have a great idea of providing for the fatherless, or "copy" in that office must be woefully unintelligible.

The Auckland correspondent of a contemporary says:—"Perhaps your readers maybe interested in knowing something of Mr Mackay. He is an able, energetic man, whose influence with the Maoris is very great. He has earned that influence by a thorough knowledge of their character, language, and habits, and has maintained it by a bold ami open front in all his (lea/ ings with them—never giving away one jot when thinking himself in the right. By this means he succeeded in getting the telegraph line through to Tauranga from the Thames, and has also succeeded in purchasing more land from the natives for the Government than any other man in the Province. During the last few months he has in this way purchased over half a million of acres, chiefly at Whangamata and about Coromandel, He has also acted as agent for many of the chiefs in taking their land through the Lands Court, but has taken no part in politics beyond the Provincial Council, where he sits as representative of the Thames."

In the Provincial Council, a few days ago, the Hon. John Bathgate (Minister of Justice!, in one of his .attacks, characterised Mr EeMs position when dismissed from the Provincial Secretaryship as reminding him of an old story, from which he (M r E.) might draw a moral. The story was that an old Scotchwoman had allows a calf to suck " hca coos," but after all it only turned out a calf. The tables, however, we« rather severely turned upon Mr Bathgate by Mr Stout remarking afterwards that the lion, member had told them a story about "twa coos suckling one calf, but it was quite unnecessary for them to go back to the pages of ancient b' 3 ' tory f«-r an illustrat.on, they having ft $M example before them in the person of the honorable member, who was in the position of nn t been'suckled by the Provincial Governments' Provincial Solicitor, and by the General Government as Minister of Justice. The remainder the analogy was so palpable to honorable met"' hers that it would be unnecessary for bimj* Stout) to say more ou the subject; "'