HOKITIKA.

Evening Post, Issue 187, 13 September 1865, Page 2

HOKITIKA.

II is with much satisfaction that we are enabled to announce to the public the probability of an early sitting of the Supreme Court, at Hokitika. Mr, Hale stating in Court yesterday that in all likelihood, the prisoners ho then committed would stand their trial in this town instead oE Christchurch. This attention on the part of the Provincial .Government to one of our moat urgent requirements will be duly appreciated aud gratefully acknowledged by this community. A very great decrease in crime will we have every reason to believe, be the nesultThe object of the supply of clergymen for the West Coast i 3 just now occupying public attention in tho diocese of Chriatchurch. It is estimated that there aro, at tho present moment, nearly 15,000 persons congregated in the various districts of the Woot Coast, and, with the exception of the arrangements rei'LMitly organised by the Wesleyau body, t!"-. i c no provision for public worship. In

oid-T :¦ rcn.t"!;^ th'njhe "tai)Jin«; Committee of the diocesan Synod have determined to send to England by the nest mail for a clergyman for the West Coast, guaranteeing i' loo towards his outfit, and a stipend of at least £300 per annum. The Bishop of Christchurch is about to visit the West Coast, with the view of making arrangements for the establishment of one or more clergymen there. Just before closing, news has reached ug that tho rush up the Arnold is turning out pplendidly. I savr a man who left the dig. ginofs on Saturday, who reported parties washing ont as much as half an ounce to the dish ; ho had scon a mate of his who stood by and saw it washed out. By the same authoiity intelligence was brought of the upsetting of two bout loads of goods over one of the rapids, whereby nearly worth of flour, sugar, and spirits were lost. The new diggings are situate about twelve miles from the junction af tho Arnold and Grpy Kivers towards tho Salt Water Creek and Turcmakau river, in a gorge that miners had previously predicted would turn out well 5 and this locality must be tho one for which tho prospueling clam w:ts granted, as Mr. Revell remarked to me that, although the men stated the distance to be thirty miles inland* yet he was pretty well sure thai it could not be more than twelve miles from the Arnold, and the distance a miscalculated 0110. Surely this side of the mountains should bo named tho "Gold Coii3t "instead ef tho common place nautical term " West Coast," for turn the attention in whatever direction we may from the Bullei 1 to the mountain bordering ing Southland, nothing butono vast auriferous region extends — West Coast Times.

To those interested in aquatics, the following paragraph, extracted from Uig Nelson Examiner of the 14th August, will no doubt prove interesting, chronicling as it does the success of one of our most energetic sportsmen ;—"; — " When noticing on Tuesday the recent success of Mr. W. Robinson on the turf, wv had not seen the account of the success of another Nelson colonist, Mr. George Duppa, \vith his yacht Alarm. On the 1 2th of Ju'ie the R>yal Thames Yacht Club Ocean Race was contended for by fifteen vessels the coursi; being fi'oin Sheorness round tho Kentish Knock light-vessel, into Harwich harbor. The distance sailed was about 100 milos, with a dead beat part of tho way, and ifc was accomplished in nine hours. The Alarm was sailed by hop old master. J. Nichols, who sailed her for her former owner, Mr. Weld. There was a strong wind blowing and a heavy sea, but in running before the wind none of the steamers which accompanied the yachts could catch tho Alarm. Tho Commodore, Lord Alfred Paget, in presenting the prize, complimented Mr. Duppa on his success, and his lordship expressed himself pleased to find that the " old ship " had exhibited ptowess equal to that of years gone by. The second prize was won by the Commodore's yacht Xantha. The Alarm is a schooner of 248 tons, and was purchased, together with the Lul worth, by Mr. Duppa, shortly after Lis arrival in England, from the executors of the late Mr. Weld (uncle of our present Premier), who had built both vessels in his own ground at Lul worth Castle, Dorsetshire." The following account of a recent massacre upon the island of Eromanga, we take from the Syd-icy Empire. "By a private letter from Now Caledonia, we learn that about a month ago Captain Fletcher, who was visiting Mr. Henry's staiion on the island of Eromanga, was invited by a number of Eromnugans to the other side of the island to a fcaat. He complied, and went with a party of islanders who had accompanied him to Eromanga to the fe.ist. Alter the feast the savages suddenly rose against them, nnd Fletcher and tun natives of different islands were murdered. ll r. Henry's station was not attacked, as previously reported ; and notwithstanding tho atrocity committed on Captain Fletcher and his party, the station was considered quite safe." A wonderful result of gunpowder blasting was witnessed the other day at the Colcarrow Granite Works, situate about one mile from Par station. The granite rock operated upon was of vast dimensions, measuring 56 ft in length, 53ft in width, and 16ft in height. The hole was bored near tho centre of the rock, and charged with about 80lb of blasting powder, from youth Down. The result was that the quantity of rock fairly disengaged is of the immense weight of 0.V20 tons*. Scarcely any noise was made by tin- l-Untj although the rock was rent

in tho form of T, from top to bottom, aud lifted as by a lever from its bed. A funeral procession of an unusual character was witnessed in the town of Colac on Thursday, at the funeral obsequies of Coc-oo-coin, King of the Warrion tribe of aborigines. *• The Gcelong Register doubts if ever the mortal remains of any poor blackfoHow had* more respect shown to them. Theft was quite a procession of mourners. The body ot the old king was conveyed'on a cart, the property of the tribe— a gift from the Government — then followed as chief mourners Coo-00-coin's three sons, Jaoky, Jorry * and Dicky ; after these came Jim Crow, Gellibrand, Tommy, Johnny, and three lubras. Then came a carriage, the property of a neighbouring squatter, in which sat the, widowed 1 libra of the deceased. Then f% lowed a long lino of horses and conveyances, with farmers, tradesmen, and others withjfe whom the deceased had long been a favourite. Tho body was interred in the cemetery, the Rev. M. Cottrel reading the funeral service. The Register observes that the remnant of the tribe i» well cared for, a brick house being set apart for their use, and their wants aro well supplied. A Huffian well SERVED. — A day or two ago, three drunken Germans, in returning home, had occasion to pass a Chinese camp near Church's Flat. Seeing the wife ojjfone of the Chinese, they thought an opporttmity presented itself for indulging in some coarse observations and indecent behaviour, (laving followed the woman into the house,^ they wero met by the " lord of the manor,'*^| who peremptorily ordered out the intruders ; but finding expostulation in vain, like the man in the fable, he tried a harder argument with a long-handled shovel, in using which he dealt one of the blackguards a heavy blow on the side of the head, which was deeply cut, fortunately escaping the teni* poral artery. The man was removed, and, as speedily as possible, Dr. Malcolm attended upon the injured man who had so unexpectedly obtained his deserts, and been taught the truth of the saying, " That every man's house is his castle." — M. A. Mail, September 1. The Courier dc Marseilles relates that a g rey hound, belonging to a captain of artillory, three days back kept \iiwg with an express train in which was his master, between that city and the Knqui'favor statio^ a distance of fifteen miles. A very clever invention has just been patented by a Mr. Alfred Lonsf, who has perfected a motabolienl machine for aiding adults to acquire the power of speaking foreign tongues grammatically and idiomatically without grammars. The machine is very ingenious, and affords a never-end-ing power of varying exercises upon a few words. Take a sentence of five words — " When can your brother come ?" " Flow can*her sister go ?" These two sentences contain 32 variations of the same length. The words are written on four faces of a cube, and five cubes arc placed in a box of live stalls, one side of the box being of glass. By shaking and turning over the box the faces of the cubes seen through the glass aro changed at hazard, giving different verbal variations o£ the plirase. The great use of the machine is the variety whioli it could enable a teacher of languages to give, and the interest which by its aid he could excite in his pupils. The ancient law of burying a person dying felo tie se was, on Thursday, acted upon at Geelong. The Register notices the case as follows : — " A determined suicide was committed early on Thursday morning, in Yarra street, by a man named Henry M'Donald, but who, as a lighterman here for several years, was better known as Michael Crow. For a long time he had been an inmate of the hospital but wa9 lately discharged from that institution for drunkenness and insubordination. He obtained shelter at the house of a man» who had known him for some years, and upon deceased being called in the morning he was found to be dead, having cut his throat with a penknife which lay by his side, and this, with other evidence, left no doubt that the wound was inflicted by his own hand. The jury before whom an inquiry was held returned a verdict of felo dc se, and the coroner directed the body to be interred at midnight, without benefit of clergy, which order was accordingly carried into effect." The Otago Witnesss of the Ist has the following interesting paragraph : — " Many* o f the visitors to the New Zeahud Exh\*

|| | ..JK'J.! I'M'Him_-.l_" U_ ¦! ' ' ' hitinn will remember Iho nrti«ticnlly beautiful carvings in wood sliown, in the Furniture Court, by Mr, L. Godfrey, of tlm city. That gentleman has recently tried his chisel on a bit of Oamaru atone chipped from one of the blocks used for the new Post Office. He has produced a very pretty mural ornament, including a ro c and some native scrub blossoms ,• and the stone worked so easily and well, that the fiuihli is excellent, and a good deal of bold under-cutting has been resorted to. Mr. Godfrey thinks that the stone was more easily worked than the majority of Until stone; and that it hardens most markedly by exposure to the atmosphere.