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Grey River Argus, Issue 61, 2 June 1866, Page 2

Our Twelve-mile correspondent sends the following information :— Mr Warden Lightband has granted a inspecting claim of treble the ordinary size to Messrs Moore, Barter, Purkis, and Patten this morning. Prospect averages two grains to the dish, with two feet of wash-dirt (on sandstone bottom). No stripping. The name of the creek will be the Caledonia. It is about 14 miles in length, averaging in width 14 feet, and during the late dry weather contained two to three sluice heads of water. To reach the claim you follow the Government track from Moonlight for about one mile, crossing two creeks, then turn into the bush to the left hand. There is a beaten track for about one mile, then following the main creek about six miles up you arrive at the forks, take the. left hand branch, throe miles above which the prospecting claim is situated. The prospectors consider that the ground at present opened will not support a population of more than 200 men. It is a very likely country— with terraces and m.'idj. hills. The sample of gold is bright, neither fine nor coarse, and is pretty regularly distributed. The usual weekly meeting of the Improvement Committee was held on Tuesday evening, at the Albion Hotel. There were present Messrs D. Maclean (iv the chair), Wickes, De Hainniifct, Moss, James Macfarland, and Payne. The hon. secretary read a memorial he had prepared for transmission to the General Assembly, praying for the separation of the territory lying to the west of the Tereraakau Saddle, and north of that river from Canterbury to Nelson. Ho also read a petition which had been prepared for presentation to his Honor the Superintendent of Cautcrbury, asking for" the extension of municipal powers to Greymouth. Both petitions were considered and adopted, and the hon. secretary was instructed to obtain signatures to the same. After some discussion relative to the finishing of the footpaths, it was agreed to pay the contractor's account in full, and also the amount of the bellringer. A letter was read from W. H. Harrison, Esq., offering himself, on certain conditions, as a candidate for the representation of /jrreymouth in the Provincial Council. It was resolved to call a public meeting, tti.be held a Kilgour's Hotel this evening, and to I invite intending candidates to bo present. The hon. sec. was instructed to write to Mr James, Inspector of Police, with reference to the employment of prison labor on the streets. Th-3 meeting then adjourned. We are glad to state that the Postmaster has appointed the store of Messrs P. F. Smyth and Co.to.be a receiving office' for letters and the sale of stamps. will prove a grea^cnnvenierjce to the inhabitants of thelower>nd of the Government township, / '■-...

Mr H. W. Bracken was fully committed for trial on Wednesday, on the charge of manslaughter, , His brother . Christopher Bracken, .against whom a charge oi malicious assault was pending, was discharged from custody, the charge not being proceeded with. Mr Rees made a powerful defence on behalf of the prisoner, but the Magistrate remarked that the question he was called, upon to determine was, whether the prisoner struck the blows which resulted in the death of the deceased. Although there was no direct evidence on that point, the- surround- ' ing circumstances left no doubt on his mind that prisoner did so. After reviewing the evidence of Christopher Bracken, called for the defence, Mr Eitzgerald observed that he did not eousider that the prisoner's counsel had established his defence, that the entry of the deceased and his mate had been of a burglarious nature, such as to justify the violence used in ejecting him ; and in support of this view commented on the very slight nature of the fastenings which- secured the door, said to have been burglariously broken and entered. Prisoner's counsel here asked the Magistrate whether he was satisfied, from the evidence, that any blows had been struck. The Magistrate replied that the evidence of prisoner's brother, to the effect that he had seen prisoner with an unbroken gun in his hand, in the passage, and at that time had also seen deceased uninjured ; while shortly after he had assisted in removing the deceased, insensible, to the street, and had seen prisoner with the pieces of the. broken gun praised so Btrong an inference of the fact as to make it his duty to Bend the case to a jury. The following are the only items of intelligenceintheOtagopapers to hand, per overland mail. Our dates are to the 25th May : — On the 23rd a fire broke out in the premises of ■ Messrs Bntement Brothers, Rattray street, but it was extinguished before much damage was done. The Tuapeka Recorder states "since tho announcement that gold had been struck in the deep shaft at Wetherstone's Flat, a number of extended claim applications for ground in the vicinity have been lodged with the Warden." The WelUnr/ton Independent says : — "Mr Julius Yogel, like the Union Jack of Bulwer's story, is celebrated for originating some of the wildest speculations that ever made cautious and practical business men stand aghast. It is not very long since he proposed that Great Britain Bhould lend the colonies £35,000,000 sterling every five years, for 100 years, and proved to his own satisfaction that, by charging a half per cent guarantee on that sum, it might easily pay off its own national debt. Mr Vogel's latest scheme is, however, of a more feasible character. In a lengthy communication to Mr Stafford, just made public in the Nelson Examiner, he proposes to colonize and render profitable the coniiscated lands of the Northern Island by means of a gigantic lottery. Mr Vogcl also proposes to defend the country by means of 1000 volunteers, who are to get £1 per week for^three years, and a grant of land ; and he further Buggests that the Provinces of. Auckland, Taranaki, and Wellington should unite each in giving apportion of land for the scheme, it being premised that' tho General Government should hand over the confiscated lands to the Provinces for 2s Gd an acre. Finally, Mr Yogel wants a job, and oiieis his services lo cany out the plan in England for a commission of ten per cent. We heard of tlrs scheme some three mouths ago, but as it was only a private proposal made to the Government, we did not think the affair should be discussed at that stage. Nor need we say much now,- because the ingenious speculation of Mr Yogel ha 3 been knocked on the head, .vt first the Government deemed the plan feasible, if materially modified, but those interested soon discovered from the doings of the Land Court, that it could not be adopted. The fact became apparent that, when the claims of friendly natives were satisfied, the amount of confiscated land left would be very small — much too small, at all events, for a trial of the lottery colonization scheme. The project h.\s, therefore, been definitely abandonee 1 ." ' The improvement of the means of communication between Greymouth and the diggings in the Arnold district is a subject of tho deepest interest to all concerned, as it affects not only the miners, whose labors are heavily taxed' by the high rates of carriage, but also the traders who supply tho articles consumed. At present the miners, not only of the Arnold, but of all the up-country diggings, have to depend almost entirely on the river as the only means of transit, for the few roads in existence are both circuitous and abominable in condition. An opportunity is now offered of reducing the distance between Greymouth and Maori Gully by nearly two-thirds of the length of the present track. It appears that a track can be cut, from a point about three miles from Greymouth, direct to Maori Gully, a total distance of about seven miles, the existing road being about seventeen. A memorial has been prepared bringing the matter imdeY the notice of the Government, and urging that a work of so much importance may be at once carried out. We are informed that a track sufficiently substantial for packhorses can be formed for • about two' thousand pounds. As. Maori Gully is the key to a large and important gold field, it is much to' be desired that the proposed new road should be made. It would be of immense advantage to the district, and wouldj by reducing the cost of supplies, materially forward the development of the rich auriferous areas in the Arnold gold field. We have been allowed to inspect the plans for the new Court House, which is to be erected on the Police Reserve. The building, although not very extensive, will be at . least convenient, and a vast improvement on the present disgraceful hovel in which Mr Revell is compelled to sit. It is to consist of four divisions, a court room 18ft by 27ft, a room for the Resident Magistrate 14ft by 10ft, and two clerk's rooms 10ft by 10ft and 10ft b/'!-2|fc -The building is to be of wood, 'the heig»hifcAvaUa being 12ft.

The dramatic company at Kilgour's Theatre have played to very fair houses during the week, taking into consideration -the inclemency and wetness of the weather. Amongst other novelties they have recently produced has been ' ' The Corsican Brothers," which was really well played, and with an effect that, considering the limited stage and" few - appliances at command, reflected the greatest credit on the management. On Monday night, Mr Towers, to whose untiriug efforts much of the success of the company is due, takes his farewell benefit, prior to his .departure for Syduey. . Mr Towers is an actor of great versatility and "merit, and d jserves the warm recognition of the theatregoing public/ The amusing burlesque of " Cinderella " is undergoing rehearsal, and will be .produced «a Monday. The London correspondent of the Canterbury Prexs says : — '"Ah invitation has been received from Australia, asking an eleven of gentlemen cricketers to go out and play, a series of matches next Christmas. I suppose they will pay you a flying visit, though J J rather doubt the possibility of getting up a good team, as gentlemen have so many more engagements than those who make cricket their profession. Among those who are mentioned as likely to take part in the expedition, I have heard the names of Mr .It. A. Fitzgerald (the popular hon. sec. of the M.C.C.), who is is a tremendous hitter, and the Hon. C. G-. Lyttelton, son of Lord Lyttelton. The latter, at all events, wovild receive, I imagine, a welcome in Canterbury of which he might be proud." We have reason for believing that great necessity exists for increasing the police-force of this district. It- is well known that several desperate characters have recently arrived in this part of the Province, and it is almost impossible to exercise that surveillance over their actions that is necessary with the limited number of men at Mr Inspector James's disposal. It is of the greatest importance that more adequate pro? tection' should be afforded, especially in the up-country districts, where the temptations and opportunities for crime are so numerous. We trust .that the . police-force will:. "be rendered efficient in numbers with as little delay as possible, otherwise serious outrages may be anticipated to occur during the winter months. The following is from Mr Warden Kyni nei'3ley's report of the visit he recentiy made iuthe Woodpecker to the Pakihi, in company with Fox's prospecting party,. We copy it from the Nelson Colonist of the 25th ult. :— "We left the Grey in the Woodpecker on Weduesday, May 9,- at daylight, taking eighteen men, and two mentis' .provisions for each man, sawn timber for boxes, tom-plates, saws, axes, and other materials, tools and mining implements ; and the weather being very line and sea smooth, and a light breeze off the land, we were enabled to keep close in shir_\ We first examined the Pororari,. bnt could not discover any perceptible opening through the beach, and I being satisfied that the steamer could not enter it, we proceeded to the Ana-o-Matiiku, where we found that the entrance to the river was too narrow to be attempted by the | steamer, but that there would be no diffi. 1 culty in landing on the beach. We then, proceeded to the Waitakeri, which I had been informed was the largest river of all, and the nearest to the Tukiniu Downs; and arrived off the mouth of it 'at about 2 p.m., bnt found that although it.was apparently a stream of considerable size, the mouth of it was shallow, . rocky, and dangerous. We anchored near the entrance, and hoisted tho boat out, but could not find any place suffi- . ciently sheltered to laud safely through the surf in our small square-sterned . boat, although a good whaleboat might have landed easily. Fnding both the Waitakeri and Ana-o-Matuku to be impracticable, although both sheltered by rocky points, I thought it useless to go on to the Totara, which empties itself at a point on a straight sandy beach, without any shelter whatever ; and being desirous to land the men before dark, we returned immediately wifeli the boat in tow to the Ana-o-Matuku, at the mouth of whichthere is a large cavern, and anchored in four fathoms, sandy bottonij in Fox's Bay, inside Seal Island, and landed the men and materials without any difficulty on a small sandy beach at the south end of the bay. Fox's Bay is something like Port • Elizabeth, but more sheltered, and is a very fair anchorage, for small steamers ; sheltered from the westward by Seal Island, and from all but northerly and north-westerly winds. I think that boats could always land safely except in' northerly or north-westerly winds, or when blowing so hard from the S.W. as to send a heavy sea through the narrow channel between Seal Island and the point of the main land. We examined tha mouth of the Ana-o-Matuku from the beach, and there appeared "to be quite enough water in it for a small steamer like the Woodpecker, but the entrance is too ziarrow to be attempted Avith safety. We re-entered the Grey in the Woodpecker at daylight on the following morning, having been very fortunate in the weather ; but although the weather at the time was all that iould be desired, the cir- j cumstanccs were not altogether favorable for enabling us to form a fair estimate of the J capacity of these rivers, for the previous long-continuance of dry weather had made all the rivers unusually low, and the prevailing S.W. winds had silted up the bars "to such an extent as to completely biock up the mouths of the smaller streams. I have no doubt that at high spring tides after Borne rain, if no great sea was running, a small handy steamer of light draught could enter either the Pororari, Ana-o-Matuku, Waitakeri, , or. Totara; but none of these rirers could be depended on under ordinary circumstances, nor would any great advantage be derived from entering them, for if a large gold field were opened at Tukinui Downs, a roadcosld be easily made and supplies obtained, from the Buller, while further south goods .could be landed at Fox's Bay, and to Punakaiki Point, ten. miles soufjh of Fox's Bay, pack-horses can already be taken from; the Grey. Any reports that I may receive.Irony Fox will be forwarded, " : .'

A public meeting, under the auspices of the Improvement Committee will be held at seyen o'clock this evening, at Kilgour's large room, Union Hotel, ''for the purpose of initiating steps for the election of members to serye in the forthcoming Provincial Council." The wiits for the. election of five members of the provincial Council for the West Coast have been received by Mr Sale, the Returning Officer. The members are thus distributed : Hokitika 2, Greymouth" 1, and tW gold-fields comprised in the electoral district of ' Westland 2. The nomination at Hokitika fa 'fixed for the 3rd July, and the poll, if any, on the 4th, and the. nomination for the gold-field« is fixed to take place on the* 2nd, and the poll on the -6th. The day of nomination for Greymouth has been fixed for the 28th June. We are requested to draw attention to the prosx)ectus of "the Brunner Lake Grand Trunk Water Race Company which appears in our fourth page. . . The Westland Observer gives the following ' account of Bruce Bay :— " Bruce Bay, as the head-quarters of a gold field, may be said to be again thoroughly deserted. Officially it is so, for there is no warden, and there is no camp. The Bruce, after a stay sufficient to admit of her taking on board the police and others, returned to Okarita on Saturday last, and on the same evening proceeded to Hokitika, conveying the constables hither:' By storekeepers and diggers, the township, such as it was, is all but literally deserted. Only three or four stores were visible, the owners preferring to run the chance of finding a market for their few goods there, than of incurring the expense of removing them. Of the diggers, it was said that a few who luul remained had proceeded to the Paringa river, and some of them had returned after a' brief absence with sufficient gold in their possession to enable them to procure accessions to their supply of stores, departing again with the same to resume operations. It is also known that among the storekeepers who returned, one brought with him fifty ounces recently purchased from. diggers who: bad come in from the neighborhood. It is to be remembered, however, that from Bruce Bay to Jackson's Bay, and further south, miners have for months past come in occasionally with quantities sufficient to secure the presence of a few stores, but not with any. amount to encourage numbers to" accumulate in the localaties prospected." No business- has been transacted at the Resident Magistrate's Court, Cobden, during the past two days,, in consequence of the temporary absence of Mr Warden Kynnereley\ at the Twelve-Mile. - . -V; A telegram in the West Coast JFimes states . that on the nightof Saturday last, .the office of the Bank of New South Wales, at Nelsojj^ was entered by burglars. Ingress was effected^ by lifting one of the window-sashes. The thieves had, however, a fruitless job, for they . found nothing they, could carry away. :'.'. The recent favorable intelligence from the ' Little Grey diggings his had the effect of inducing a good number of miners toTi>roceed thither. Several parties started on Thursday, and others have followed; There ap- ':-. pears to be' no doubt that thia- gold field ft capable of supporting a considerable population, y, ' . " We take the following from the' "JPeir Coast Times of Thursday :—" Yesterday afternoon, an accident, which might have been of a serious nature, occurred in th-J river. Two men — one, we believe, a boatman, the other a passenger — were, crossing in one of- the whale boats that ply between Lagoontowii and Hokitika, when in <?ne- of the severe squalls that prevailed all day, the boat was suddenly upset, and both the occupants precipitated into the water. Neither of the men seemed to be expert swimmers, yet they managed ' for some time to keep afloat, the younger of the two by clinging to the upturned boat, the other unassisted. The current, which was running fast at the time, was gradually carrying them towards the mouth of the river, when- a boat put off from the shore Just intime, for the sake of the older man at least, who had several times sunk under water, and was fast losing both consciousness and strength when rescued. He was ultimately carried to the Steam-packet Hotel in an exhausted condition, His companion in the accident was little the worse of the narrow escape he had from a watery grave. Shortly after the above had taken place, an- empty, boat was seen to be sweeping down with the current to destruction amid the breakers, when it was saved and brought safely ashore." The West Coast Times states that an infor"mation is about to be laid against the men P.urcell, Donovan, and Hourigau, ..for having on the morning of the 22nd ult. , Imglaridusly entered the Queenstown: Hotel, under circumstances which have been made kown in connection with the case of manslaughter against Mr Bracken, ' ' " •'< The late Melbourne-news is unimportant. ' the following items are contained in S:telegram from Sydney, on the 21st May > — "The Prince de Conde's health is worse. At the Criminal Court to-day, Crookwell, Lee,Weaver, Berryman, Owen, and Slattery, for Kaymond's Murder, were sentenced to death. The Singleton and Wollqngorig jnall robbers were sentenced' to ten years' hard "labor, Bertrand was brought up at the' Supreme Court Criminal Sittings, and, on application the judge- granted a postponement of the trial to, the 13th August . Bertrand stated to the Court' that on ihe former he did not consent. to haying._a portion of^^^ evidence read over. Michael I^poney, psra^P broker, has been convicted lof receiving stolen property, and sentenced to three years' hard labor. ' ---••--