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Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 205, 14 October 1873, Page 5

The monthly meeting of the Athenaeum Committee will be held this evening. Oats are now selling in Cromwell at seven and Sixpence per bushel. Report says they will be still higher. Mr Chappie reports having realised very satisfactory prices at the auction sale held by him on Saturday last, of Mr Matthews' furniture, &c. We invite particular attention to the advertisement in another eolumn calling a meeting of all those interested in forming a Building Society in Cromwelk Owners of likely three-year-olds are reminded that the nominations for the "Cromwell Derby" will be closed on Friday, 17th October. The Derby will be run on Saturday, 27th December, at the annual meeting of the Cromwell Jockey Club. On our seventh page, we reprint an article from the Hokitika evening paper on the Haast rush. Later telegrams state that steamers have returned bringing back the Warden arid a number of miners, who report very unfavourably concerning the lush. Our readers are reminded the Wanaka Races take place on Friday and Saturday next, beginning on the first of these days punctually at 1 p.m. A good meeting is expected ;at least, if the number of Cromwellites who keep speaking of going to see them is any indication. There are altogether about thirty contracts advertised in the last Provincial Government Gazette. Amongst them, we see as yet only one affecting our immediate district,—for repairing the Gentle Annie Bridge. Local contractors are reminded that this day week is the the day for receiving tenders in Dunedin. It is about a month now since Mr Allanby went to the Hospital at Clyde, and since that time we are informed the germs of consumption have developed themselves to such an extent that not the slightest hope is entertained of his recovery. It need hardly be said that every cire and attention is being paid to the unfortunate gentleman.—Just as we were going to press, a telegram was received in Cromwell stating that Mr Allanby died at two o'clock this morning.

In consequence of Mr Fraer's resigna tion of the Mayoral office, a fresh election has been appointed to take place, if rendered necessary by the nomination of mnre than one candidate, on Wednesday, the 22nd insfc. Several citizens have been mentioned as likely candidates for the honour, but no one of them has as yet definitely announced his intention of standing. Messrs Dawkins, Goodger, Taylor, and Jolly have each been named as possible candidates, although we rather fancy the list will be a little smaller on Friday first, the nomination day. Tn addition to 7786 ozs. 10 dwts. sent from Clyde on 6th October, the Escort took the following quantities into Duuedin, from the places mentioned :

We have heard a rumour that the resi-1 dents at the Cardrona intend to memorialise the i Government to spend the sum of £4OO upon the main road between Cromwell and that township, instead of a track via Kirtlebum. We can fully understand their desire, if such be the case, to improve the main dray road, for it stands much in need of improvement, but we can hardly understand their consistency in proposing to turn over to another purpose "the sum intended for a track for which they have been petitioning ever since (we think) tlie year IS(>7, and for which they sent a petition not later than last July. It must only be a rumour. A Cardrona correspondent informs us that the long standing dispute between Cottar and the miners at that, place has at length been settled, by the latter paying the sum of £3OO for ten acres of the agricultural leasehold held by the former. The Emtire, Banner of War, and Great Extended companies were represented by Messrs Yeldham, Halliday, and Ilussell, in conducting the negotiations with Mr Cottar. Mr Stratford, the Warden, acted as arbitrator, and the conclusion of this disagreeable business is greatly due to his media'ion. It is to be hoped that no more agricultural leases in that district will require to be bought out at the rate of £oo per acre. A recent traveller on the Queenstown road has been relating to us what he calls a good instance of woman's devotion. Her husband, it appears, is working on a certain portion of the road which is notorious for the frequency of the land-slips which take place. }ome time ago in fact, while working in this place, he was struck and considerably injured by a stone which rolled off the face and fell upon him. To prevent the recurrenceof such an accident, his wife has been sitting patiently from morning till night for the last fortnight on the outside edge of the road, ready to give warning should any loose stones from the top of the bluff appear to threaten danger to her husband underneath. Meanwhile the husband is able to pursue his work at, the foot of andclosc to the almost perpendicular bluff.

Further Ministerial changes and disagreements are rumoured in Wellington. The great pigeon match which was to be held in Lawrence on the 15th inst., has fallen through. The Auckland Mosquito is the name of a comic weekly periodical which will mako its appearance in Auckland shortly. A telegram has been i-eceived from a former resident of Grahamstown from Port Darwin. He says the diggings are a failure* and he returns by the first opportunity. At the last meeting of the Waste Lands Board in Dunedin, the following was the only item of business transacted of interest to readers in this district: "Request of Mr John O'Callaghari, that his deposit of £5, made on application for a coal lease at Cardrona, should be returned, the around not having proved payable. -Refused." A Christchurch telegram dated Oct. 8 says:—"The immigrants per Celestial Queen, numbering iSO, were, with the exception of three families, all engaged three hours after the barracks were thrown open to the employers. The following Were the rate of wages given : Married couples, £55 to £GS, and found ; single men, £4O to £SO, and found ; carpenter's, 10s. per clay ; single women, £2O to £25, and found." The Provincial Council, moved by Mr Oliver at its last session, empowered the Government " to obtain as soon as possible, the services of a competent geologist,'' for the purpose of I completing the geological survey of the Province* j begun by Dr Hector. We understand that Captain Hutton, F.G.S., for many years connected j with the Colonial Geological Department, has been appointed Provincial Geologist.— Stat. The Lyell correspondent of the Grcj/\ River Argus says he would "not be in the! slightest degree astonished to hear of a new and | extensive gold-field being discovered in the un- j known ranges lying between the Bnller and Mohikinui rivers. A party of miners have ap-j plied to the Survey Department for all the information that can be gathered regarding the nature j and lay of the country, with the full intention of making good use of it this summer." The Mount Ida, Chronicle is disposed to think that Mr Pyke took upon himself a serious responsibility when he so vigorously condemned the Gold Miniug Bill. "It is far easier to condemn than to build up, and we shall look forward with no little doubt and anxiety to what measure Mr Pyke will propose hotter than that which he was so ready to jump upon. It was an easy matter to put down Mr Shepherd—it was merely taking advantage of the humour of J the House. More than that will, however, be required of the member for Wakatip." We are in receipt of the second instalment of the story of " Wild Will Enderby," and we are pleased to find that it fully keeps up to the standard reached by the first number. In this book the life of " Wild Will," prior to his j arrival in Otago, is related, Harry Grey being, j as might have bren expected, only the hero's as- I sumed name. We are told how " Wild Will" submitted to the inevitable lot of mankind and fell in love; and how he fell into the nearly as inevitable trouble, —a woman, of course, being at the bottom of it all. The story breaks off, as is usual with these monthly parts, just at the very pHce when the reader's interest is highest. The Times, in reviewing this part, says :—" If we i are not mistaken, we may expect tint Mr Pyke's j work will have a more than Colonial circulation. It owes its attraction not merely to the fanii- i liarity which is everywhere manifested with the places and men spoken of, but to a keen and penetrating knowledge of human nature." We understand there is every probability that a bridge for foot-passengers will shortly he erected at or near the Nevis Crossing. Messrs Cowan and Stewart, of the adjoining stations, were intending to erect a sheep-bridge at the Nevis Gorge at their own expense, but we believe these gentlemen are quite willing to join with the Government in erecting a more substantial and convenient bridge at the Crossing, provided the Government bear the extra expense. Mr Bastings, GoMfi-elds Secretary, on being communicated with, intimated the intention of the Government to give two pounds for everv 'one subscribed in the district, provided the work was of public utility. Respecting the public ' nature of the work, there can only be one opi- I nion, and we think the opportunity should not 1 e lost sight of by the inhnbitantson the Nevis. They can depend upon £IOO at the very least from the gentlemen above-mentioned, and if a few pounds more wore subscribed by the peonle themselves- say £so,—there would then be £450 available for the building of a bridge. We have heard a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed from many quarters at the w;iy in which some of the Progress Committees on certain portions of the gold-fields are doing their work. They are said to be composed, in many instances, of interested parties.—that is, persons who make it their business to contract for the works under their own charge. In other cases, it is said that storekeepers make it their business to get upon these committees for the purpose of employing men upon the works who may happen to bo in some way or other indebted to them. So far as we have heard, these charges do not apply to any of the Progress Committees which have, been in existence in this district ; indeed, j there has only been one—the Cardrona Progress Committee—and it is generally acknowledged that it has done its work pretty well. We think | it necessary, however, to make these remarks, as I the system is likely, especially at the Nevis, and j also at the Cardrona, to be further extended | than it hitherto has been. Not only is it likely that, works to which thev partly themselves subj scribe will be placed under their charge, but it j is very probable that works wholly paid for bv ; the Government will be entrusted to them. It is. therefore, of the utmost importance that only j men of the burliest integrity, (they may. of cottrse, be storekeepers or publicans,) should be ! elected by the residents in any district, to serVe |on Progress Commitecs. If once the confidence iof the Covernment is shaken in the good and ! honest management of these committees, it Will j be a very hard matter to get any public w<>rks i carried on at all.

Mr Hugh Knight, a bank clerk in New 4 Plymouth, Taranaki, fell back dead from heart disease the oilier day just as he had balanced his accounts. In the course of a speech on the Provincial Loans Bill, Mr Vincent Pyke described the Cabinet as an overboiled potato dropping to pieces of itself. Mt' Williams, the English consul at Samoa, has arrived in Auckland. He reports the discovery of rich quartz reefs on that island, about three miles front the port. A tremendous hailstorm Occurred on the plains to the westward of Burnham, Canterbury, a few days ag;o. . '['ho hailstones lay on the ground to the depth of five inches. Tlie Wellington Correspondent of the" Daily Times writeß as follows:—"Not content with throwing out tlie Provincial Loans Bills, the Council next day followed suit with a Municipal loan Bill—the one introduced by Mr Pyke to alow the Corporation of Clyde to borrow money for the erection of a bridge ; the amount to be secured on the rates and 011 the tolls of the bridge itself. Mr Jewell moved that this Biil be read a second time that day six months, and the motion was carried, greatly to the disgust of nearly all the Otago members in the Lower HoUse." Nothing neW has been heard of the proposed copper and silver mint, Ministers having evidently thought better of it ; but Mr Vincent Pyke, who is evidently of the opinion that, if the mountain can't go to Mahomet; Mahomet can be taken to the mountain, proposes that New Zealand gold be allowed to be exported in bond to the Victorian Mint, there to be coined and returned, paying duty afterwards on its true ascertained value. This would-, of course, be a severe blow to the banks hi their gold-buying capacity, and will, doubtless, meet with str'enu" ous opposition from their numerous supporters in the House ; but it commends itself to the common sense of everyone, as the miner will thereby be assured of getting full value for his dust, ahd the Colony reap all the advantages of a mint without the very heavy outlay necessary to establish and maintain such an institution. Mr Vogel for the present, has declined to give a favourable answer, on the ground that it would have the effect of doing away with the gold duty, though we do not see why it should, as the gold would be retained in the shape of coin, and would have the duty deducted before it was returned to its rightful owner ; but doubtless the question will bear fruit before long, and Mr Pyke is entitled to the thanks of the mining community for his attempt. —Gn-i/ Itiver Argus. On October 8, a serious accident Occurred in Princes-street, Dunedin, whereby four men received injuries more or Jess severe. From the Times we take the following particulars :-■ "Pedestrians in the vicinity of Princes-street cutting, shortly before eleven o'clock yesterday morning, were alarmed by a loud crash of timber in front of the building in oolirse of erection for Messrs Thomson, Strang, and Co. The scaffolding in connection with the top storey—a height of about forty feet from the ground-, and on which were two plasterers— was observed to have given way at one end, and, in a moment swayed and fell, with one of the men clinging to a pole, by which he was thrown into the street. There : was at once a rush to the spot, and three men | were extricated from the (Übris, and sent to the ! hospital in an express. A horse passing by at j the time shied, throwing its rider, but without injuring him. The cause of the accident is attributed to two projecting cornices at the top of the building overbalancing, bringing with them I an upper tier of brickwork, Which falling on the scaffolding, caused the whole to give way. The two men on the scaffolding were George" Benton and William Smith (plasterers), and those underj neath it Peter Ramsay (plasterer) and Frederick I Caley (labourer). Three of the men, as stated above, were taken to the hospital, and Smith was taken to his own residence. Benton was found to be injured most severely ; but in no case is there danger of fatal consequences, and all are progressing favourably.

OZS. ( Iwts 0 St. Bathans fiflO 0 1190 18 Macraes 137 4 Total 109 4 2787 6