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Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 223, 17 February 1874, Page 4

A rumour was prevalent here on Saturday last that the Provincial Executive had resigned. The reason was not, .assigned, but it was hinted that the two chiefs, Messrs Turnbull and B’.stings. could not ag' «e. -We think tiie later insinuation a very unlikely one to have any foundation in truth. It is reported that an arrangement has b en completed whereby the miners may send their gold through the various Gold lieceivera for transmission to the Melbourne mint. Mr J. D. Ross lias sdd his interest in the 'Wanaka saw-mill to Mr I). MacKeilar, of Cromwell. The polling for the election of a, surgeon to the Duns an District Hospital took pi ce at Clyde on. Saturday last. Nearly 200 votes were in all recorded. The result was : Thomson, 112; Stirling, 80. Dr Thomson was therefore declared duly elected to the .office. T'r Scott was also nominally n candidate, but a'l the interest was centred in the two candidates wo have mentioned, We would particularly direct the atten-'-tion of the Cromwell ratepayers to the, notice of motion given by Cr Hayes at the last meeting of the Council. If is certainly vague enough" to bo assented to by the’ other Councillors without committing themselves to anything, hut the intention of the motion is well enough understood, nevertheless. If a 'number' °f the ratepayers could only be indue d to attend the next regular meeting of the Town I'omVoil, when, the .'tho'ion will be discussed, perhaps the effect would be to cause the motion to receive due consideration. We hope a large dumber' of citizens will take the hint. - ,V..... , ; ;

; l.MivJules k Fotvtftinfi> of Cromwell, has started a , newi mdnatryj that of wino-tnaking. tVq lnyl displeasure pf (inspecting his stock and 1 plspi la?t weelf, .and wq can assure, ptir readers that with very primitive appliances indeed, he' has succeeded in making a very palatable wine. He has made altogether about 1000 gallons, we should think; Our re.yders are reminded that tbfe Kennedy family’s entertainment will lie given on Thursday evening. The Messrs Kennedy have griined the' highest praises wherever they have Visited,’arid we have not the slightest doubt they •/rill attain- the same result in this place. Particulars of the entertainment can be seen in our advertising column*. . ; We have heard a rumour thatrit. t» the intention of Dr Stirling to settjfe at Cromwell as a medical practitioner. We cahoot say whether there is any foundation for the report, but from the expressions of pleasure with which the report is received on all sides, we should certainly think the Cromwell district would be a good field for the exercise of Dr Stirling’s abilities

i The Cahmdini Company gave two entertainments last, week in Cromwell, On both occasions, they were well patronised. The character of the entertainments, it need hardly ho said, was of the highest kind, and took all the better with the audiences which listened to them when contrasted with -some of the performances to which they lately have been condemned. to listen and to witness. The same company also gave entertainments at Clyde on Friday and Saturday evening’s, which also proved great suecesses*. YYe learn with much pleasure that the bank? in this town will in future he prepared to cash the vouchers by which the men employed Upon the roads are paid. As one passed through our- hands to-day, we may mention that it is u -pessary to have the voucher desired to be cashed marked ami initialled by the District Engineer in red ink. It will be remembered that some tittle ago we urged that, some arrangement of this kind should he adopted to protect the men in the Government service from the necessity of hawking their vouchers round the town and district. ? There is very little quartz reefing news of any importance t« give. this week. The ♦ Elizabeth Company are busy crushing at their own mill. They will not wash up till Saturday The Star-and-Oak mdl is still on stone from the Star. It will probably clean up about the end Week,, when payable results are anticipated. Of the week. The results are not expected to be anything great The United Star-and-Oak -have made arrangements with Ranch k Brothers for a twelvemonths’ supply of water for crushing purposes. The parties, could not at first agree dll the subject, and as it is at present the only available supply, it appeared atone time that both the Star and Oak men would have to lie thrown out,,of. employ. The differences, however, were ihapjnly adjusted. The price paid, by the Star-and-Oak and the Elizabeth .companies for the snpplv, which does' not' muck,’exceed, one eighth of a sluice-head, is five pound's a week?The John Bull Company washed during the Hast, week. The result has not been made known, but one.of. the shareholders informs us that a call of £lO per one-twelfth share has been made. A report was current that Mr Logan’s machine was stopped on Saturday by some accident, which happened to apart of the engine. The accident could not have been se,rjops» as the battery was going all right yesterday.—The Young Australian have got about 109 tons now lying.at the machine ready for crushing. They will crush, we believe, about 200 tons.

The District Court sat yesterday. We have not heard any particulars of the cases which came before the Court, hut we understand that the first hearing in re the insolvency of Mr 11. In id is would come before the Court. Arrangements have been made by some of his creditors to oppose the application. This was a step which was highly necessary, and one which, if taken a little oftener and wiblya little m re determination than has hitherto been shown in insolvency eases; would tend to considerably lessen the number of candidates for the “ whitewashing" business. There is no doubt that an impression has got abroad that the chief difficulty in getting oneself declared an insolvent lies in the preliminary process ; and the notion has got so firmly rooted in people's minds that creditors think it is no use making any opposition to a would-be bankrupt’s application. It is thought that to pursue any other course would only be throwing good money after bad. The conseqvence is. that men who are careless in the way (if paying their debts adopt a very easy tone with their creditors, and if in anv way pushed will make their words good by filing their schedule. We can personally vouch for the fact that one man who owed us the large sum of two pounds ten shillings, on being asked for the money, declared he would pursue the course above pointed out if he were pressed for the immediate payment of his debts by his creditors. Is it a good law, we sometimes wonder, that familiarizes men so much with the intention of turning bankrupt, aa the last instance exemplifies ? We offer no opinion as to the justice of opposing Mr Inglis’s application, but we do sincerely hope that it will become a more common practice to do so than hitherto. If a man gets broken down by sickness or unforeseen difficulties, -by all means let creditors show mercy to him. But if, as in this case, the applicant happens to be a young man, single, and who has enjoyed uninterrupted work, let us have, at least, some explanation of the reasons which induced him to declare himself a bankrupt. T °t be too hard on Mr luglis, we would add that it is our earnest hope some creditor or creditors will see it to be their duty to ask an explanation from the Aitcliison brothers of their reason for declaring themselves insolvent. They are young, strong, able-bodied men ; they have had, we should *bink, a tolerably good share of the work that was going ; and they have never, we should suppose, suffered from a day's illness in their lives. Why, then, was it necessary for them to become bankrupts ? The thing is gettjng somewhat scandalous. We cannot help thinking that it should be made ir» per afire upon insolvents to publish the amount of their debts *nd of their assets when filing their schedules. »ud that the same pearghing examination should take place which does at Home. It strikes us rorobly fowa* caies would ooaok.

The Daily Times says that a quantity of fining ( is being made, consisting yf, Bpoft.;pipuig, 11. inch diameter, for sluicing pijrposc'p, tii the oi dbr'of; Messts Grayson aiid.Co,, ISaseby. Messrs William Paterson, Samuel' GoMutbn, and Robert Pritchard are the candidates for the office of Mayor at Arrow town. ■ The election takes place to-day. Mr H, Graham was also nominated, but it was not received on account of an informality.

We are informed on good authority that Mr W. Pyle, of St. Bathans, intends to open an agency at that, place for the purchase of gold ; the price he will begin with being £3 15s. 61 per ounce. Some of our wealthy storekeepers might do worse than follow the example. The revenue derived from Crown Lands in Otago, exclusive of Southland, during the financial year ending 31 at December, 1873, was : —Land sales, £154,724 18s. 2d. ; assessments on stock, £59,892 2s, lid. ; miscellaneous, £8917 10s. lOd. ; total, £223,534115. lid. At the last Waste Lands Board meeting, the District Officer of Clyde transmitted the pe ition of Theodore Russell, under clause' 29, to purchase a piece of land occupied bydiim in Pern.-, broke. The petitioner was informed that the Board had no power to act in the matter, ‘f To day is the Chinese New Year’s Bay. Last night the “ Ch. nines” in our neighbourhood duly celebrated the advent of the New Year by firing off crackers, and otherwise celebrating the happy time, after the fashion of their country. We shall carefully examine the records of the police court on Friday next, to see if any of the Celestials have been civilised enough to get drunk on the occasion. Mr J. A. Preshaw’s well known Newfoundland dog, “ Hylax,” was drowned in rather a mysterious manner on Sunday last, a little below the Cromwell bridge. He was swimming about, catching sicks which some of the youngsters were throwing in the water, when suddenly he disappeared in an apparently harmless eddy. He only came once to the surface before altogether disappearing. From a contemporary we learn that Mr Shepherd addressed a large meeting at the Arrow on Wednesday night last, under the auspices of the Miners’ Association ; Mr Harris. President, chairman. The meeting strongly approved of the amended Gold-fields Bill. The Bill will be recommended to the Premier to pass next session. Mr Shepherd obtained a unanimous vote -of thanks. He denounced the obstructive influence of certain Otago gold-fields members last session. The meeting agreed with him.

We have much pleasure in directing attention to Mr Hawkes’ letter in another.place. On again reading our remarks in. “ Quart? Mining Memoranda,” we can easily see how the inference could he drawn that Mr Hawkes had been remiss in furnishing his directors with exact information as to the claim. , Further, we mav say,‘the writer of that particular portion of the Memoranda assures ns that he had no intention of casting blame upon Mr Hawkes in making the remarks complained of. There were about 500 members of the Athenaeum present at the meeting held at the Drill Shed on Wednesday evening to discuss the question of keeping the Institute open for a few hours on Sunday. Towards the end the meeting became,very rowdy. The motion that the Institution should not be kept opei on Sundays was lost, only 242 voting for it, while 252 voted for an amendment to the effect that the readingroom should be open for four hours each Sunday as an experiment, the Committee having power to abandon the experiment in the event of a very small attendance, or injury to the Institution. The amendment also provided that none of the employds of the Institution should be forced or induced to attend on Sunday, and that the read-ing-room should be kept open during those hours that would least interfere with Divine service.— Daily Times.

The following is a. copy of a letter addressed in January last to Mr Coldough by the Secretary of the Bannockburn Miners’ Association : —“ Dear Sir, —I have been directed by the B. and 0. R. M. A. to write the Warden mienr. mining lease applications at the Bannockburn, requesting him to name a day when he shall viwt the ground, etc. As this his been done principally through Mr Owen O’Neill, stating to the meeting i f Committee-men that the Warden and the applicants were inclined if possible t r > make the visit a private one and with as little publicity as possib e, you will therefore understand that the Miners’ Association (B. and C. R. ) will only be too glad to have a continuance of your assistance in the matter.— l am, etc., Jas. AITCHTSOX. P.S. —Of course 1 have written the Warden. Mr O’Neill a’so stated that you desired the B. and C. R. M. v. to write him (the Warden).” It is only fair to state that Mr O’Neill has been shown the letter before publication, and that he denies having made any statements at an Association meeting which could have given the -Secretary justification in writing such a letter. We shall certainly await with some curiosity the explanation of the reason why the Warden came to be charged with such conduct. We can answer for one of the appliea ts thattheiusinua i m made is in the highest degree untruthful, and so far as t he Warden is concerned we should hardly like to try the effect of inducing him to favour improperly any applicant or applicants.