THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1866.

Grey River Argus, Issue 71, 26 June 1866, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1866.

We have to remind our -readers that the Nomination of Candidates for tho representation of the town of Greymouth in the Provincial Council takes places on Thursday, at noon, at tho Warden's Court, Blaketown. The poll (if any) will take place on the follawing day, between tho hours of nine a.m. and four p.m. The question of qualification of voters remains undecided as yet — in fact, however tho election bo conducted it must be to a certain extent irregular. But we believe that no difficulty will be raised by the Council in tho way of tho West Coast members taking their seats. We may say that it is extremely probable that the holders of uncxpired business licenses and miners rights, of six months standing, will be allowed to vote. In onr next issuo we expect to be able to state""dennitely wliat the^ conditions of voting are, meantime we feel tolerably certain that the qualification will be as stated above. There was no business transacted of any importance in either Greymouth or Cobden Courts on Saturday or yesterday. In our last we briefly mentioned tho discovery of the gold stolen from thes.s. Bar. won in April last. Since then we have received our Sydney files; and we find that our statement was substantially correct, as will be seen by the following extract from the Sydney Mail 61. the 9th inst. :— "lt will be in the recollection of our readers that on Tuesday, the 10th April last, an extensive robbery of gold was found to have been committed on board the Barwon on her voyage from Hokitika to this, colony. The Barwon, under the command of Captain Lowric, arrived at the Commercial Wharf on the evening of Monday, April 9, having brought to 23,160 ounces of gold — 11, 000 ounces &nf which were consigned: to the Bank of New South Wales, the remainder to the Oriental Bank. On the following morning, whilst the gold was being removed from onboard, it was discovered that one of the boxes, coa-

taining 1000 ounces, consigned to the Bank -of New South Wales, was missing. Suspicion fell upon three persons— Charles Nixori,steward; William Smith, assistant-steward; and Margaret Daniels, stewardess— who were charged at the Central Police Court with having committed the robbery, and, after several remands, Smith and Daniels were committed for trial, Nixon being discharged. At the late sittings of the Criminal Court a 1 postponement of the trial was granted; and ' on Tuesday, May 29, detective Bowden was despatched to New Zealand to procure additional evidence and information. About 3. o'clock on Thursday afternoon, such informamation was given at the detective office as led to a search being made on the Queensland Company^ Wharf by detective Elliott, who succeeded in finding the gold buried but a few inches below the surface of the earth, in the angle formed by the fence and the Custom-house officer's box, and not far from where the Barwon lay. The gold was found deposited in the original bags, some of which, however, had decayed, and the gold had got mixed with the soil ; both soil and gold were carefully placed in tubs and removed to the Detective office, where it will be washed and weighed. It is believed that the whole of the gold has been recovered. Strango to say, the d t ay after the robbery wj>s discovered, detectives Bowden and Elliot were engaged searching on the other side of the fence which separates the Quesnsland Company's Wharf from the Commercial Wharf, aud within a few inches of the spot where the gold has been found. The ground where the gold was found buried consists of loose coal screenings, which arc easily turned over and trampled down again without making much show, and this wUI partly account for tho spot not having been detected bafore. Numbers of people were on Thursday congregated on the wharf ■witnessing the operation. " The communications which wo continuo to receive from the up-country diggings show that they are all in a thoroughly healthy condition. We are inf ormed, on undoubted authority, that a continuous stream of population is setting in to the Little Grey diggings, and that the number of miners passing Mitchell's Accomodation House is at the rate of nearly fifty a-day, and very few are returning. The Bishop of Christchurch is at present on a visit to this district, and on Sunday last preached twice in the Religions Institution Rooms to large and attentive audiences. Yesterday he proceeded up the river to f isit some of the diggings, and it is expected that should he return to town in time he will preach again in the same place next Sunday. Whilst upon this subject we would vr o 'e upon the Managing Committee of the Religious Institution Rooms the necessity for .at once proceeding .with tho lining of the building in order to make it in some degree comfortable. Now that winter is upon us this work is urgently demanded, as, in its present unfinished state, the building is so cold as to render it almost an impossibility to sit and listen to a sermon of any length. We commend the Committee for the work they have abready done, and we would not have asked them to do more did we not understand that tho debt on the building is already nearly all wiped off, aud wo are sure the public will not keep back a few a&ditional pounds to complete tho work they have so well began. On Friday evening a densely crowded audience assembled at Kilgour's theatre, to witness the performance of the celebrated sensational drama "The Octoroon," and to pay a compliment to Mr Tom Fawcett, whose benefit night it was. The mere attempt to produce, on such a stage, and with such limited appliances, a drama of tb c character of the Octoroon speaks a good deal for the confidence, of the management *in their ability to overcome the difficulties of presenting the drama decent!} 7 . But we were certaiuly not prepared to find that so really legetimate a success was possible, as was the performance on Friday evening ; and wo fancy our feelings of agreeable surprise were shared by all the audience. : The cast was suitably arraj'ed to the capacity of the various performers, and the entire pei*formance passed off with much success. We.understand that the establishment of a daily mail between Greymouth and Hokitika has been postponed sine die, owing to the high rate of the tenders for the conveyance of the mails. This is much to be regretted, 1 for the present bi-weekly service is utterly unsuited tp the requirements of the community. It is to be hoped the Government will keep the tenders open until a reasonable offer is. made. We are glad to obsei-ve that Madam Sohier's wax- work exhibition is now open in this town, at Kilgour's Union Hotel, for a short time. It embraces the figures of many well known and notorious characters, which will no doubt be received with interest by the inhabitants of this town. / The supposition that wo indulged in, that Shere was a probability of the men concerned in tha murders of the storekeeper, between Wakamarina and Nelson, being the same that arc suspected of the murder of Mr Dobson appears likely to prove correct. Information has been received of the arrest, by the Nelson police, of the notorious criminals Burges3, Kelly, and Sullivan, the following particulars of _ .which we take from the West Coast: Tivics'oi Saturday :— il The Nelson telegram, which we published in yesterday's issue, contained matter of tho utmost importance, in connection with the fate of poor Mr Dobson, although, , at the time we were not aware of it. But when scrutinised by the police it was found pregnant with significance, through the similarity of the, Christian names .with those belonging to Burgess, Sullivan, . and Lcvi, for whpse arrest warrants had been issued on the charge of cousiriringtomurderMr E.'B;Fox, in the Grey district, 1 As we hdve before related, fortuitous circumstances saved that gentleman, but there is too much reason to believe poor Mr Dobson suffered in hia stead. It was the alias ; of Levi which first raised the suspicions of -the police herej that notorious, scoimdrel being familiarly known by the name of.

" Phil,'.' and this induced Inspector Broham I to at once telegraph a description of the gang to Nelson ; hoping it might correspond with that of the parties who were under arrest there. Between one and two o'clock a telegram was received in answer, which we have the opportunity of publishing 'in extenso' — 'Nelson, June 21st, 1.8 p.m. The men now in custody are' Kelly, Burgess, Sullivan, and Levi, under remand for suspected murder in this province.' This led to a roply from Inspector Broham, which was duly answered as follows: — '3.16 p.m., Kelly and Co. are at present remanded till Saturday ; but we do not intend to let them go.' Such an assurance was, doubtless, quite in accordance with the wishes of Mr Broham, who at once despatched officers provided with the necessary warrants to Nelson per Kennedy, and we exceedingly regret her unavoidable detention through the weather ; for on their arrival there some light will be in all probability thrown upon the mysterious disappearance of Mr Dobson. It appears that the departure of this gang for Nelson was strongly suspected by our police, as tho latter had heard that a plot was organised by some of the Grey desperadoes to rob the Colliugwood Bank. Of this the Nelson authorities received immediate intimation, and being thus placed upon the 'quivive" a close watch was kept, which doubtless in a great measure led to the arrest of the four men for suspected murder. Had they remained at large there is not the slightest doubt that the bank would have been visited in due course, as they were evidently journeying overland and making for Collingwood." Mr Inspector James and party have returned to town after being out for several days, dragging for the body of Mr Dobson in the rivers arid creeks in the vicinity where he is snpposed to have been murdered, but no traces of it were found. Tho party was out during the severe, storm which swept over this district on Thursday and Friday last, and their efforts were much retarded by the sudden rising of the rivers and creeks. On Thursday night the Arnold River rose six feet, and ran with such a rapidity that the drags could not be sunk to the bottom. Tho party had a fine opportunity of dragging the Still Water, but nothing was found. There cannot now be the slightest doubt that the missing gentleman has been murdered and buried, as it is well known that the suspected parties, who-" have now been arrested in Nelson, carried a spade with them.