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Dunstan Times, Issue 219, 6 July 1866, Page 2

An accident happened to Mr David Jones, a shareholder in that valuable min--1 ing property known as Pruminy and party, 1 Alexandra, the facts are these: —Mr Jones, while travelling between Black's No. 1 and No. 3, was benighted; the jour--1 ney by day is not the safest as it is studded by shafts sunk by miners. Despite the : precaution adopted by Mr Jones of riding ' slow, he suddenly found the horse going from under him. and springing from the ■ saddle he escaped the fate of his steed, which fell headlong to the bottom of a deep shaft; upon collecting his bewildered senses, he procured assistance to rescue the poor animal. A number of miners volunteered their services, who soon discovered that their philanthropic mission was of no avail—the poor animal being dead. The 'Daily Times' says:—We hear that there are, or probably will be, three candidatesfor the vacant seat for the Lindis district in the Provincial Council, viz.:— Mr D. F. Main, Mr Fulton, of Oamaru; and Mr France of the same neighbourhood. There are three or four electors on the roll for the district, and one of them ' will pretty certainly not be able to give his vote, as he will be attending to his duties as a member of the House of Representatives. An equality in the number of candidates and of electors will certainly ( be a novelty. i The high northerly winds and the heavy rains that have fallen of late, have had the , effect of causing an unprecedented rise in I the river for this time of year; we are ' much afraid it will be the means of making ! our next escort much smaller, ncverthe- f less, we can console ourselves that the £ season is not so far advanced, but that we ' may expect the river to assume its usual ' low level, when the hidden treasure so ' eagerly sought for by all, will be brought ' to light, and in the end, remuneratively ( pay those who so perseveringly and assidu- * ously persist in making its banks their E source of incon\3 ; we must and do admit, 1 that these continual risings must try the s patience of the most Job-like among ' Us, but yet we t*unk they are wise in remaining where a certainty of an '

verago wage can be made—the adage of the rolling-stone, ought to be acted uy to more than it is, by the diggers in general—we have no lack of instances of the ill effects of rambling. We refer to those who spent their means in buying experience at the West Coast. We admit without hesitation, the Dunstan district is poor in comparison to what it was, but we would ask where, either in Australia or Otago, is there a district that is paying so high an average wage as this, and where the same amount of comfort is obtainable, the fine climate we are blessed with, and the easy nature of the workings, conduce to make it the place of all others for settled and happy homes. The ball at Alexandra on the evening of the 29th ult, in aid of the school funds of that place, we are happy to say, was a perfect success, tripping onthelightfantastic being earned till the small hours of morning, when the company all parted, highly pleased with everybody and everything. Unfortunately, the weather was anything but propitious for a journey from one town to another, or a much larger number of the inhabitants of Clyde would have been present. The search for Mr Dobson, which has been prosecuted with ceaseless perseverance and care, has for the present been abandoned, as not the faintest clue has been discovered of him if living, or his body if he has been murdered. The bush has been examined by a large party of surveyoi-s, police, and Maoris, and it is the opinion of ali that, had the missing gentleman met only with some accident he must have been found. But evidences have been found which strengthen the opinion that Mr Dobson has met foulplay. During the search some masks, evidently those used by bushrangers, were found not far from the track, and it is knowji that a gang of desperadoes were in the district through which Mr Dobson had to pass, and on the same day. The Government now offers a ! arge reward for the recovery of the body, and for such information as may lead to the apprehension of the murderer or murderers.—' Grey River Argus.' We draw tin attention of our reefers" to the the following :—A. new crushing machine especially constrcted for pros|.c«t ng paries hi>s had a trial in Melbourne. The scientific gentlemen who were present expressed th ms.lves satisfied with the result. It, can be driven [by either (-team, Wat< r, or hj >rse-po\ycr ; it consists of a battery of t'utir stamp* 130 each, and at the t.vs) crushed ten-hu!idiod-we : ght if stone in two hours The machine is so constructed that its heaviest piece weighs only ahout two hnndred pounds. It is es'imated the ci.it o" the machine will be about £'lso. Mr Thomas Carlylc upon the occasion of his being installed as Rector of the Il'dinburgh University, referring to money, says: —"never was money more abundant, nor :lid men ever know less what to do with it. Few men know what benefit to get out of their money; it is more a curse than a blessing to them, and they would be better not to have it; though he did not expect that to be generally believed." Unloubtedly it is not the universal belief. We notice the attention of the mercantile world is directly called to the subject )f flax. The New Zealand Flax 'phormium ienax,' is likely to be put to uses it is so idmirably adapted. This reference is jspecially directed to the manufacture of lacks and bags ; the exhorbitant price paid or the imported article, ranging from one ,o two shillings each ; has, for a long time, jeen a source of discontent, the consumers laving in the long run to pay the piper. In undertaken of this kind would doubtess pay, it not only would remove an ndirect tax, but would give employment 0 a considerable number of our population. I The ' Weekly New.*,' A uckland, thus :omments upon the New Zealand Civil Service Commission. It says;—" In the New Zealand Gazette,' of the 30th May, ire find the Civil Service Commission aplointed, and to our mind, it looks very ' nuch like a farce. The Commissioners i I re I)r Knight, Mr Gisborne, Mr Seed, |' ,ud James Major Spence. The last named ' ;entleman is from Victoria; the other 'ommissioners are New Zealand Gover.i- - nent officials, under two of whom at least \ he system they are called upon to reform i ias grown up. Mr Seed is an able and ' indent public servant—and for that mater Dr Kinght and Mr Gisborne are the ' arae—but we do not think he is the proicr person to appoint on such a commis- c ion. We know nothing of Mr Spsjice ; * iut, however, able and discreet he may be, ' the Government stroke' has three to one 1 its favor." ,

We are informed that a rich reef has just been opened at the Twelve Mile, Arrow. A demonstration on the occasion of the inauguration of the Panama Line, was made at Wellington, on the arrival of the Itaikora, the first of the new line, in the shape of a public ball and supper, the chambers of the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives Were used for the occasion. Amongst the company were his Excellency the Governor of New Zealand, the Honorable Charles Cowper, late prime minister of v ew South Wales, the Lord Bishop of Wellington, the members of the present Ministry, and between 70 and 80 others, including the principal legal) political and other celebrities. The Tuapeka Mail will in future leave Clyde on Wednesday mornings, returning the following day; by this arrangement we are put in possession of mail communication with Dunedin every alternate clay. The new contractor Mr Wni. Smitham, will doubtless be pretty punctual in the time of arrival, if we may judge from the efficient manner in which he conveyed the mails, for the space of two years, between this and Queenstown. Letters now leaving Dunedin by the mail on Wednesdays, can be replied to by the mail leaving Clyde on Fridays. s ?[This improvement upon the old system is something considerable, and we are only sorry that people cannot avail themseles of the advantage. We are informed that the Government have made arrangements with the Land Board, so as to dispose'of town allotments outside a given boundary, at the upset price of L 8 per acre. This arrangement will be of great assistance to the new Municipalities by adding considerably to the amount of rateable property. Most residents in the goklfield township will doubtless avail themselves of the opportunity of acquiring a site for a suburban residence, at so cheap a rate. The Government are pushing forward energetically the work of removing the Nevis Bluff, on the Main Line of Road betwen C omwell and Queenstown. The Road--I'iiigineer, Mr Walter Greenlaw, under who?e supervision the vorks ore leing carried on, fee'fl confident that, in" the shoit ~paee of two months he fcill huvi the load so far completed, that, with the exception of a horse track about the eighth of a mile in long hj, bo rut iri ly open for the traffic of vehicles. The only thing wanted being the placing of the punt-i upon the river by the hs-<es. The eonvey aire of goods by pack-horsea or bkigh fir the ; short distance of an eighth, of $ wii&n'tH certainly bo a vast imp'ove-metit upon our present means of reaching the Lake district:-, und wi 1 be Cut si.leted a giat boon pen ling the fi ,nl completion of the road. With the works in such a s'.:;te of forwardness, the Government should at once make it compulsary f>r the lessees of the punts to place th«m on the river at once. On Monday the ICth inst., Mr Wi'son Grey, R.M., will preside at the CourtHouse, Clyde, to hear the c ;ses in tho'onehundred pouuds jurisdiction of the Resi-dent-Magistrate's Court. We are given to understand that, in consequence of the del : cienccs of Mr Warden Worthington of Waitahuna, the Government aie about initialling a searching euquiiy into the aecounts kept at. the various ramps on the goldfie'.ds, for this purpose Mr Perry accountant at the Provincial Treasury will pay a visit, to the goldrields at.d audit the various Wardens' accounts; also to introduce a new system of bookkeeping where such a ccurse may he found ncces'arj'. This is a matter which should have been looked to long since ; the system of book-kceping'by the goldficlds'authorities being doubtless a most inefficient one—while at the same time there are tffueis in the various departments whose business habits and knowledge of accounts are so limited, that a boy of twelve years of age, possessing no better qualifications would fail to procure a situation in a merchants counting-house in any of our huge cities. The ' ?an Antonio (Texas) Herald' is charmed with the serene peace that prevails in that city. It states that, "with the jxception of 1 5 or 20 fights and the exmange of a few friendly shots without any mfortunate results, nothing has happened >f moment for two days." A curious menage has just been estabishetl in the Jardin ties Plantcs. Tn an [ron cage have been placed a young lioness, an Algerian wild-boar, and a little log. This last is quite the master, the lioness generally amusing herself with teasing the boar. When, however, the lioness too far, the dog interferes and reestablishes order. General De Peystcr, of New York, re:ntlyga\o a dinner in that city to Cap;ain Labouche, formerly of the British irnty, on his 100 th birth-day. Captain Labouche was one of the guards on Nawleon at St. Helena. Many officers and nen of letters were present.