Untitled

Grey River Argus, Issue 121, 20 October 1866, Page 2

Greymouth has been so long without a tug that the arrival of the Challenge yesterday -was quite an event. She towed iv the joiig-detaiiied Harriet and another small schooner, and will this morning tow put the Mary Stewart. The schopner Harriet, from Melbourne, which has been nearly a fqrtnight waiting putside to be towed in, -was brought into the river yesterday by the Challenge, which tug had come up specially from Hokitika for the purpose, ghe brings a heavy ca.rgp, of general merchandise. . The non-arrival of the William Miskin is \ causing grave fears for her safety, which the following paragraph from the Otago Daily Times is calculated to strengthen :—" The captain of the schooner Elfin, wjiich arrived yesterday from Hokitika, reports what is suggestive af a wreck, He spates that at sundown on \Vednesday, when lie was eight miles to the eastward' of the Solander, he saw a sail or blanket waving from the S. W. corner of the small island. T])ere was no breeze, and he was uiiable'to make out any- ■-..■ thing more." The s.s. Taranakj made a very rapid run from Melbourne, being only 108 hpurs on the passage. The Egmont, which had been detained off Hokitika for six days, sailed for the Bluff on Tuesday afternoon. The Late Captain Raxdall.— The , Daily Time* of Saturday contains a report pf the inquest on the body of the late Captain Randall , of the P.N.Z. and A.R.M. (Jo's steamer Otago, which was held on Friday afternoon by Mr T. M. Hocken, coroner at the Provincial hotel, Port Chalmers. Airs Randall's evidence was exactly in accordance with the facts mentioned in the telegram repeived here p,n Thursday evening. Philip liiley, second steward on board the Otago, was examined and William Clayton, the chief officer was briefly 'questioned, without being sworn. > either of them added any fact to what has already bepn published, •■-;' except that Mr Clayton stated that in two years and a-halfj during which he had sailpd with the deceased, he had peen the deceased in a fit twice. The Coroner stated that Dr Buchanan and Dr Menzies had been summoned; b,ut they had called upon him and explained tjiat they could not give evidence of any value, as Captain Randall was undoubtedly dead before they were called on to give assistance. Snph being the case, he had not thought it necessary to require the attendance pi either flf the gentlemen. John Drysdale, a duly registered meucal practitioner at Port. Chalmers, by whom a postmortem examination had been made, described the appearance presented by the heart, lungs, and brain, and said that he had no doubt that death resulted from apo : plexy. The jury at once returned a verdict to that effect. The funeral took place about half-past three ' o'clock. The body was borne from the morgue to the provincial hotel, and thence to the cemetery, by the crew of the Otago; some of the officers being pall-bearers. Amongst those who follpd were Mr Clayton, th,e chief officer; jtfr Brodrick, company's agent here; Captain Thomson, Harbor Master, and Captain Dickie, his assistant ; Captain lienner (Wellington), Jago (Lipness) M'Kinnpn and Malcolm ; Messrs Bradshaw, Hau<rhto,n, and O'Neill, M.H.R. ; and a number of residents in Dnncilin and Port Chalmers. The Rev. K.G. Edwards, of Sfc. Paul's Church, Puu-. cdiv, officiated. We arc gratified to learn that Qaptain Kennedy, late \n command of the Colonial Government s.s. St. Kilda,. has been appointed to thp P.,N.Z., and A.X.M. Compaiiy's s.s. Lord Ashley. Captain Kemiedy is one of the oldest masters on the coast of Kew Zealand, having originally commanded the s.s. Wonga Wpnga, and subsequently several steamers belonging to the Intercolonial Company. As an able, experienced, and courteous '.Ulcer, Captain Kennedy has fewequals in New Zealand, as all who have travelled with him will testify, and we are dad that the Manager of the P..N.Z., and A.11.M. Company has been enabled to secure his services. It will bp recollected that Captain Kennedy left his former command in order to take office as Warden of the Marine Board, and when that institution became virtually .defunct he t ok command of the St. , - Kilda. We cannot think that the Gover'nk ment has treated some of the pflicers of the M Marine Board fairly, and we would recoin T ■ mend those whp have been dismissed almost summarily, tp bring their grievances under the notice of the Legislature next session. the meantime, it is well to know that H^Oaplaiu Kennedy will not be thrown out; of W emplo3 T meut, although his services have been dispensed with by the Government. CapB^\j^jn Kennedy wjlJ .ci'<-««*«l Captain HagJey

in "ommand of the Lord Ashley, the latter gentleman taking the s.s. Taranja, vice Captain Ferguson, appointed Marine Superintendent to the Panama. Company at Mcl- > bourne. — Wellington Advertiser, sth inst. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Hoki- I tika, on Tuesday a case pame before the Bench whicli js of spine importance to agents of steamers. A person named Nolan sued Mr White, the .agent of the Panama Con. T pany, for expenses incurred by plaintiff since the detention of the steamship Tararua. The plaintiff deposed that two of his mates and himsejf paid .their pasgagp money to Melboxirne per steamship Tararua, and that they were to have started on the 10th inst., but that defendant subsequently altered their tickets, substituting the name of the steamship ' Egmont for that of the Tararua. By defendant : There was no exception made as to wind and weather. Another witness corroborated the statement made by the plaintiff. The defendant alleged that he hadbooked the plaintiff on the usual terms. It had been utterly impossible to. get p,\it tp, the steamers in the roadstead dunug the last few days, and since witness had bopkefi plaintiff no steamer had crossed the bar. If the steamer had been detained by h^m h,e would, as agent of the company, have felt himself bound to pay the amount demanded ; but this detention was owing to causes over which he h.ad no control. His Worship said that, as this was an important case, he would not give judgment till the following d»y.