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Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 204, 7 October 1873, Page 5

Our Court reports will be found on our third page. We have much pleasure in noting that the Government has determined to spend £450 in erecting school buildings in Cromwell. Mr Harwell, of Queenstown, has been appointed architect,of school buildings between this place and Queenstown, and will shortly have the plans ready for proceeding with the buildings proposed. On Saturday morning last, about eleven o'clock, the whole township was alarmed by the happily unwonted sound of the fire-bell. Fortunately, however, it turned out to be only Mr Shanly’s chimney on fire,—although a chimney on fire in a wood and iron township is a sufficiently serious matter. By the exertions of two or three present, the blaze was speedily got under. At a meeting of the Cromwell Jockey Club, held on Thursday evening last, to consider what steps should be taken in re the disqualification of Reay by the Lawrence Jockey Club, it was resolved unanimously to sustain the action taken by that Club, and to disqualify Reay for ever from riding or running horses on the Cromwell course. The Club was occupied for a long time in considering the matter before they came to a decision. During the discussion, the manner in which the disqualification had been removed from Reay by the Dunedin Jockey Club was very freely and unfavourably commented upon, seeing that it had been so clearly proved that Atlas had been jostled at the Tuapeka races in such a manner that it was almost a miracle that he escaped without his legs being broken or his rider killed. A serious offence like that deserved a punishment that would be felt. We are informed that Mr Stuart, of the Bannockburn Ferry, has established a Store on the other side of the Garrick Range Saddle. Mr Stuart’s intention is, of course, to supply the men employed upon the Carrick water race, ihe store is built in such a way that it can bo easily removed from one place to the other as the works progress.

du We are ridwvfln a 5 position to confirm onf report relative to the expenditure of £4OO oh a track to the Cardrona; The route chosen will probably be bn either side of the Kirtleburn. If he has'tot -Irhady done so, the District Engineer will probably inspect the route in the Course ofthe week. While speaking of this track, it may not be amiss to notice that miners appear to he extending their operations in the same direction. We see by the report of cases in the Warden’s Court that water rights have been grautedfrom the Kirtlebum and Moonlight Creeks, and that parties are applying for extended claims on Moonlight Creek. On Sunday evening last, the Rev. Mr Drake announced that some,person had generously offered him a section of, land for a churoh site, and the aura of ten-pounds to assist in erecting it. The rev. gentleman further inti* mated that a meeting would be held to consider the matter. It certainly is not at all creditable' so the Protestant bodies in this district that they have no proper place wherein to hold worship. Last week we received a sample hag of coals'from the pit lately opened by Mr Stuart at the Bannockburn Ferry. The coal appears to us to be of a quality quite equal to any obtained from the other pits in the district. We regret to hear that one or two accidents took place during the Races, though fortunately none of them are likely to be attended with. serious Consequences. Mr Kidd’s Was the most serious, and has resulted In confining that gentleman to his room for a few days. While driving his buggy round to the front of his hotel before starting for the Course, the front seat gave way, not having been properly fastened, and the consequence was that Mr Kidd and his grandson were thrown violently out upon the street, Mr Kidd being more hurt in trying to save the little boy from injury. The ponies in the buggy, as a matter of course, immediately bolted, and got as far as Murray-Street, where they were very smartly stopped by Mr Walker, of Mount Pisa Station. Mr Kidd felt no inconvenience for the moment, but he was nevertheless sufficiently injured to oblige him to keep his room,, as we before said, for a few days.—-In returning home from the Races on the second day, Mr Ballard received a bad fall in consequence of his horse rearing and falling backwards upon him. Except being rather severely bruised and shaken, he was all right next day.—Another individual had a severe fall on the road coming home, hut it was entirely in consequence of bis own reckless and furious riding, and cannot be described as an laccident. He may ride in a more discreet fashion in future, so on this occasion we shall mention no names. We are informed that Mr Fraer has definitely arranged to leave Cromwell for his new sphere of duties on Wednesday, the 15th instant. We have heard that the members of the Corporation intend to take some steps in the way of some public recognition of his departure. Somebody’s cow has taken to wandering through the town at night. Its example will be followed without doubt by many others, till the practice gets unbearable. We would direct the attention of the ovyners of cows to Section 3 of the Impounding Ordinance Amendment Ordinance of 1873. By the courtesy of Mr Inspector Moore, we are able to give the returns of the gold forwarded by Escort from Clyde to Dunedin yesterday morning :

ozs. dwts, Queenstown 1774 I Arrow.. 848 18 Cardrona 503 18 Cromwell..;.. . 3038 3 Clyde ; 250 0 Alexandra... 628 0 Teviot ..i... 743 10 Total 7786 10

From the Dnnstan Times of Friday last, we take the following account of proceedings in the District Land Court, held at Clyde on Wednesday, October 1, in connection with the application of Messrs Loughnan for a pre-emptive lease on the Mount Pisa rim;—“ Messrs Loughnan and Co. made application for lease of 640 acres of pre-emptive right on Rim No. 243, Mount Pisa. Mr C. Colclough appeared on behalf of the Cromwell Miners’ Association, to support objections lodged, on the ground that the application, if granted, would interfere materially with mining interests, as no outlet was left to run the debris from the back country, Mr I. Loughnan intimated the difficulty had been met by amending the original survey. (Plan of new survey produced.) Mr Colclough said the objection was now upset, and, with permission of the Board, he was prepared to withdraw it. The objection Was accordingly withdrawn, and the application granted.” There is no fresh news of much importance relative to the rush to the Haast River. Several steamers have sailed with both cargo and passengers for that place. News from the Haast is daily expected. The Miner’s Right Extension Bill, introduced by Mr Pyke in the Llouse of Representatives, and Which was lost by a majority of ten, proposed to authorise the holders to exercise the same within the Gold-fields in any part of the Colony, For the Bill there voted, of the Otago members, Bradshaw, Maeandrew, Thomson, and Pyke; against, Bathgate, M'Glashan, Keynolda, Shepherd, and Taiaroa.

The New Zealand Gazette of the 25th ult., contains the following notification Mi W. L. Simpson has been appointed to succeed Mr Pyke as Registration and Returning Officer for the General Assembly electoral district of Dunstan. "V ' if At the last meeting of the Waste Lands Board, in Dunedin, Mr John Hurley applifedfW purchase section 1, block 1, Cromwell. It was decided that the land, owing to its situation, should be sold as of special value, under the 85th clause of the Otago Waste Lands Act, at £l2 per acre (the Superintendent consenting). We find the following in a Dunedin paper, which will be of interest to residents in this district“ The Vestibule and Refreshment Rooms connected with the Queen’s Theatre have been let to Mr Joseph Harding. Prom the plan showing the fittings and decorations for the large room hitherto used hy the Friendly Societies, there is good reason to believe that when contemplated changes are completed, it will have been transformed into a comfortable and well appointed caf A ”

Messrs I. Hallenstein & Co., of Queenstown, have purchased the drapery business which has been carried on by Mr M‘Death in Lawrence, for the last ten or twelve years. This enterprising firm, in addition to their extensive establishment at Queenstown, have business houses in London, Melbourne, and Cromwell. The Lawrence branch, we are informed, will be under the care of the managing partner, Mr Fraer, who has so successfully managed the Cromwell business for the last five years. From the well-known go-ahead policy displayed by this firm in their large and varied commercial enterprises, we look upon their advent in Lawrence with considerable satisfaction. Although Mr M‘Death has sold his business we trust it is not his intention to leave Lawrence "where he has made so many friends ; let us rather hope that he Will devote part of his capital in the development of some of our local industries.— Tuapeka Times. Wanganui, the Evening Post says, “now boasts of the possession of an eccentric Town Engineer named Millar—a gentleman who dispenses with all prefixes to his ancestral name, but loves to add to it the mysterious letters F.S. A. Mr Millar is chielly celebrated for having designed the lamp posts of the city of Dunedin, and embellished them with a motto, presumably Latin, but the exact meaning of which no one has yet bean able to determine. This gentlemen has, it seems, recently been surveying Virginia Water with a view to utilising it for the supply of the town of Wanganui. He has published his report, and has selected as a motto the 15th and 16th verses of the sth chapter of Proverbs :—“ Drink water out of thine own cisterns, and running waters out of thine own well. Let my fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of waters in the streets. ” The Wellington correspondent of the Daihj Times has the following :—“ The new Dill to fix the salaries of the Judges and to raise those of Ministers, passed through the House with very little debate, except a kind of chaffing one as to the reason why Maori members of the Executive should only get £4OO a year, while their white colleagues received £1250. It is significant that the schedule of Ministerial offices includes a new portfolio, that of Minister of Mines.”

A team of Auckland cricketers start on a tour through the Provinces in about a month’s time. First, they will play a Dunedin team, then proceed to Christchurch, and thence home by Nelson and Wellington. The team comprises some first-class players, including a gentleman who was at one time captain of the Cambridge eleven. A well-known character in Auckland—a bagpiper generally known as “Scotty”—has come to a tragic end. While playing at a picnic on board a steamer, having taken too much whiskey, according to his wont, he fell overboard and was drowned, tte went down, the account says, “ blowing his pipes to the last.” Dr Hanst, the Director of the Wellington Museum, at a recent meeting of the Philosophical Society, contributed some valuable additions to the palaeontology of New Zealand. 11 e has become possessed of some enormous bones of an extinct bird, and from incontrovertible evidene proves that there existed in New Zealand a bird of prey contemporaneous with the moa, and of as gigantic proportions. An engine on the Grihamstown and Tararu tramway ran off the ime and over the sex wall on September 30. There were trucks laden with quartz, and one passenger carnage b. hind. The weight of the former kept them on the line, and the engineer stoker jumped off and escaped unhurt. The passengers were not hurt. The engine was slightly damaged.—On October 1, again, a fatal accident occurred on the Una Co.’s tramway. A truck broke away, ran down an incline, and killed a girl named Andrews, eleven years of age, who was crossing at the bottom. She was knocked to pieces. The Well ington Post says' that it is rumoured in Wellington that a painful scandal in connection with a member of the Legislature and honorary member of the Wellington Club is likely shortly to form the subject of legal investigation. The Committee of the Club is already said to have taken action in the matter.

A telegram in the Dunedin Evming . Star, dated Wellington, September 30, says : ‘‘Mr M ‘(J ill i-/ray, M. H.R., delivered a lecture last evening, in the Presbyterian Church, on ‘ Science and Religion.' immediately oh leaving the church be was served with a summons j for indecent:*' to girls on the terrace. The case comes blf oh Thursday.”— A telegram dated Goto- '' ber 2, says t—“ The case of Parker't). M'UillL " vray, iu Which the defendant was charged with an indecent assault, was called in the Resident Magistrates Court to-day, but the prosecutor 'did hot appear.” * ' To those Unacquainted with the circumstances. the scene presented on Tuesday, 23rd hit., of four Chinamen on horseback, under strong escort, riding up Peel-street, was very amusing. Here were four harmless creatures who had been guilty of the grave offence of sinking a few holes in the 10,000 acre block of land, said to he non-nilriferous, lately sold in the neighbourhood of Tapanui, some 40 miles distant from Lawrence, convicted of minitig on private property, and fined in the amount of £6 ' each—more money Ave guess than they have earned for some months past—and in default of ■ payment, brought to LaAvrence at the expense of the country, Each of course had to bo provided with a horse, and two mounted constables were required to see them safely lodged iu Lawrence gaol. Had they been sentenced to three months, some good might have been got out of them, As it is, they will only be getting properly acquainted With their work Avhen they will he set at liberty. Verily thewwa r s of our J.P,’s are inscrutable. -- - Tudpeka Times . An invention has just been patented in England to secure safe railway travelling at a hundred miles an hour. This invention is an addition to engines, carriages, and permanent wavs, to enable trains to reach their termini in from two-thirds to one-half of the time Usually occupied. A part of the invention consists of a middle guide of wrought iron, supported ou strong standards or brackets. This mid-line is to stop the engine or carriages from going off to the right or left, or moving upAvard and downward, and even in a collision the carriages are not to be heaped on each other, but kept on the line. The 'greater security Avould, it is said, enable trains to be run at a much higher rate of speed than is possible at present. The Avriter of “ Home Gossip” in the Thames Evening Star Avinds Up a long letter concerning the .Shah of Persia and his doings both private and public, with the folloAving : “ With regard to the * impression’ the Shah has made in return for all the ‘ impressions’ we have ; been bestoAving upon him, I can only say that all of us Avho have eni oiled ourselves in the order of the bath arc agreed that he and every member of his suite Avould be decidedly the better for a little—no, not a little, but a good deal of—soap and water.”