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Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 172, 19 February 1867, Page 2

We Mere infflrmed the other day that the Greyinputh Boring Company had placed what was deemed a prohibitory price on the hire of their bpring plant. But Avefindon enquiry that so far from tins being the case the proprietors of the tools are. anxiqus to deal very liberally with the miners, We have been requested to state that they will be glad to allow the use of the plant to" suitable parties without direct charge, on the condition of sharing in any discovery that may result from the use of the tools. This arrangement appears to be a very eqiiitable one, .and should indupe prospectors to. come forward and second the efforts of the Boring Cpmpariy to develppe the resources of the district. . We have to remind all the wholesale dealers in wines and spirits, that the new Licensing Ordinance compelling them to take out wholesale liceuses is now in force, and that the police have instructions to summon all who neglect to comply with it§ provisions, A very wanton and disgraceful piece of mischief was perpetrated sometime on Sunday evening, by some person or persons unknown. A waterman's boat, the All Nations, was cut adrift from the beach opposite RichmonfJ- Quay, and would have been carried out to sea aijd lost had it not been found by a fisherman just inside the bar yesterday morning, This is the second time within eight days that the same boat has been cut adrift, and o.ther instances of the kind have occurred. It is to be hoped the scouudrels will be discovered and punished, The Lake j Wakatip Mail says: — As showing the rapidity with which settlement is taking place in this portion of the Province in the matter of cattle and sheep-farming, we may mention that a drover from Oamaru brought for sale on Saturday some forty cows (dry), and that they met with a prompt salent an average of Lls. ' The demand, or rather rush for them, was so extensive that four times the number could have been sold. This is certainly an encouraging feature. The buyers were people interested in mining pursuits. A certain, and more than even anticipated, success seems to await the first Greymouth Annual Races. That there are sure to be X>lenty of horses to compete; despite- .the' youth of West Coast sport, has been already proved by the exceedingly good entries at the late Hokitika meeting; but thft most sanguine of our local promoters of the national pastime have been dubious as to the possibility of obtaining a tolerable Tunning ground. "We are glad to inform the public, however, that the. Clerk of the Course has had the good fortune to find a site which presents peculiar facilities in every way that would be desired. It is close to the town, being just at the first bridge on the Twelv'e- ? fMile track, and dame nature seems to have in tended ifc for the pn rpose of fch c promised Recreation Reserve, as it is level; sound, wellturfed, very lightly timbered, and will allow of a much larger circle than that run. round at Hokitika, besides having a capital centre for cricket practice. Tenders for the necessary clearing, and also for erection of a Grand Stand, are advertised over our leading column, and any fuither information than there conveyed can be obtainedfroin Mr F. D. Hamilton, who. seems determined that the second West Coast Races; shall add another leaf to the turf laurels he has so many years been laboring to earn and wear in the colonies. . '-■"■''■' The heat appears to have been excessive at Auckland. The Southern Cross remarks :— During this summer w.e have had in Auckland a very unusual preponderance of northerly winds, and in consequence much sultry weather.- Persons who have resided in Queensland says that, although the thermometer there Bhowed a much higher range of temperature, they did not feel the heat more than they have done here lately. The black-bulb thermometer, which may be supposed to represent the "heat felt by a person dressed in ordinary clothing, marked on Saturday. 114 degrees ; on Sunday, 112 degrees, and Monday, 118, degrees. The thermometer in the shade showed 87 degrees on Saturday ; on Sunday, 90 degrees ; and on Monday, 92 degrees. In consequence of the late rains and heat, mosquitoes are very numerous. It is very necessftry that the public should bear in mind that a registrar of births, deaths, and marriages has been appointed for Greymouth, and that all infractions of the law relating to registration will be visited by heavy penalties. Ministers of Religiou are^specially reminded that, they are liable to a penalty of L2O for each time they read the service over bodies, the death of which has not been duly registered. The same penalty may also be inflicted on the owner or occupier of the house in which aa unre. gistered death lias occurred. The followiug mining intelligence is supplid by the Brighton Times of Saturday : — We are glad to be in a position tp state that the mining prospects of this district are of the most satisfactory charecter, although the uninterrupted fine weather during the past week have proved somewhat disadvantageous so far as the supply of water has been concerned, the quantity being rather insufficient for some of the claims which have recently been got into working order. Payable gold was struck on Wednesday on a terrace immediately to the rear of the .township', A

hole was bottomed to the depth of about 100 feet, which turr od out gold in greater quantities than any other hole bottomed in thedistrict, the depth of wash dirt varying from two feet six inches. It is reported that payable gold has been struck up the river, but no definite information has been received on the subject. There can be no doubt, however, but that there is abundance of gnld in the looality, and we may shortly expect to hear of some good finds. At the Welshman's terrace matters are assuming a very healthy aspect, the various clainirholders having properly set in and opened the ground after a very tedious and 'laborious task of falling timber, cutting slabs, and timbering securely the ground. Some of the claims recently bottomed to the north have turned out remarkably good prospects, and fair prices offered for shares, but the holders preferring to (< see it out," are not disposed to sell unless at very high rates, As an illustration of the richness of the ground, we may mention that Geordi's claim yielded last week no less than 90 less 3dwts. of fine gold after going through the purifying process of retorting. This was the result of eight days work of four men, and from the nature of the ground, the shareholdera anticipate a dividend of no less than LISOO a man . A township is now going up in the midst of the diggers claims, about twenty places of business being already up, and nearly as many more in course of erection, many of which are substantially erected of woodland iron. At St. Kilda business transactions .; are firm, and good prices are asked and obtained for the goods vended, which may be accounted for by reason of the miners pa the terrace securing the gold, , lit Travellers: by the Tramway are informed by an advertisement; that for the future the carriage will only stop to take up and set down passengers at the regular stations on the line, the practice of pulling up being attended by severe strain on the horses and productive of more delay and inconvenience) than the chance traffic along the road will warrant. : . . ■ : . The latest news from the Haast River is supplied in the following paragraph in the West Coast Times of yesterday ;— "The arrival of the Bruce from Haast River has not supplied us with any further intelligence concerning the prospects of the new rush. A general quietness, and inactivity still prevails there, nothing new having been discovered, and the hopes entertained that new ground would be opened further inland have so fari not been realised. We were, however, informed by a gentleman who arrived in the Kennedy on Saturday [last, that a party of men sold 2ozs of shbtty gold to a storekeeper at the Haast township, and stated it came from a place situated at no great distance from where the river issues from the mountains on to the plains. The news of this find; was soon bruited about, and in consequence thereof nearly a hundred men started up the river iv search of .the -.locality, but whether or not success attended them is yet a mys,tery."~ ■ -■ -■ „ \ ■./ . Mr Kilpour appears determined to" make the Union Theatre the place of amusement par excellence of Greymouth, judging from the excellent talent he strives to secure; Last night a newly organised company, including Miss Rosa Cooper, Mrs Crosby and several other well known and appreciated artistes, commenced a fresh series of performances, which we.trust will be well supported by the public. To-night Mrs Crosby' makes her fir.it appearance. . By a typographical error in the footnote to a letter signed " Resident," relating to the Maoris, in our last issue .the word "-had >l was printed instead of "have." The note should hav& read, "at any rate they have a medical officer, " Sic. ' Our readers have already been made aware that a man named McGregor alias Baxter, formerly a constable at Hobaro Town, had surrendered to the' police at Lytteltori, stating . that he was guilty of an atrocious murder some time ago. We learn from the Christ-; church papers that on the 12th instant,' the self-accused ■murderer npw seeks to deny his first confession. The report; says':— Allan McGregor -' alias James Baxter, was, charged' before Win. Donald, Esq., R.M., with the murder, (oh his own confession) of George: and Mary Tickucr, at Hobart Town, February, 1860. Sergeant Baker produced a letter, re-, ceived from liobart Town, stating that: a detective would be sent oveFtp investigate the case, aud applied for a remand, which was granted. The prisoner was asked if he had. anything to say why it should not, be. granted. He said he thought the police haji had plenty of time, as : he believed he was at spa the time the murder was committed (thus, denying his former confession.) The Resi-. deut Magistrate said that the letter referred, to told quite a different tale— thatithe prisoner was. staying in the neighborhood, and was frequently absent. at night., A remand was granted for one month. , An adventure, which might have been at-, tended with serious results, occurred at the Saltwater Creek on Friday last. Four men, whose names are Morris, Williams, Dyer, and Davidson,. went out through the surf to see if they could 'catch any fish ; they successfully crossed the bar, and very soon landed a fine fish of about ten or a dozen pounds, when one of their number suggested that he should swim ashore and procure better tackle, matches, and- some food. He did so, and landed all right. After having fixed on his head the things which he had to take out, he starter! againf pi the boat, which he reached safely, but with everything wet. They fished for some time, and on attempting to come ashore again, the boat capsized, but they all fortunately swan ashore, one of them, being much exhausted. We take the following froni the Westport Timesoi thes 13th in^taiit •— "ln mining matters we have nothing fresh to report, but we are happy to say that things generally areprogressing favorably. From up the river some very nice parcels-have come in* from five ounoes to a pound weight, -but no finds of any special, note, have been made. The up river people, however, seejnsi^generally satis-: fied, if the fact of their ooming d.oAvn and re;burning at once with provisions can be taken

as,any criterion. We belieye mo3t firmly," as we have stated before, tjiat a Jirst-class gold field, sufficient to employ hundreds of onen-at' least will yet beiopehed along' the Buller, Whether we are right ox* not time only can tell. JFrom the Karamea we have j no news to speak of, and.this PJ ai i-esappears neither ' to advance nor retrograde. Few people are coining away, and few are going, but there are people in the district, sanguine enough to believe that a large rush is imminent. Whether their confidence will be justified remains to be seen. From the Mokihinui, nothing new has transpired, and whether the Norwegian has or has not told the truth is yet undecided. ■ There is not a doubt that some parties in the neighborhood are at least making good wages, but that is all that caii at present be said of it. At the . Waimangaroa things are far more promising, and a number of men are now; busily. a,t work with every hope of bejng well remunerated for their labor, Owing to circumstances we are unable to send a special reporter as we intended, and must defer a detailed account for another week. Already; however, some nice pieces of gold have baen got from the prospector^ 1 claim, and the party are most sanguino as to the future yield." We notice that MrUCharles Broad,, lately n charge of one of the Otago gold fields districts, has been appointed Resident Magi • trate at Brighton (Fox's), a.nd has ; commenced his duties there , It was very generally believed that this appointment had been, or was to be, conferred upon Mr Harry [ Kenrick, and that gentleman has certainly reason for considering himself trifled with in the matter. The appointment of; Mr Broad has, we believe, been made by the General Government without consulting the provincial authorities.^ Mr Commissioner Kynnersley had definitely offered the post to Mr :Ken* rick, aud urged him to proceed to Brighton without waiting for the appointment being gazetted, Fortunatexj r ; Mrl^eioricU did not do so j and fortunately, also, for Greymouth he is not now likely to leave the district, .; / It appears never to. rain biit ; it pours at Hokitika, The West Coast Times of Friday s.ays :— " The arrival of three vessels from Tasmania, laden with the produce of that fertile island, has quite glutted the market with fruit and vegetables, which f6r a time at least should be obtainable at moderate prices,^ Fourteen hundred and ninety cases , of fruit in an excellent state of preservation/ were landed on the wharf and sold by auction yesterday at rates that we fear will be hardly considered remunerative by the importeis, as the prices realised for cases of beautiful plums, apples, and pears did not exceed 7s 6d each on the average." ;r ; With regard \o the Separation; petition tix* be presented to the Governor at ■ Dunedin, the Daily Times says :— The petition to be presented to his Excellency the Governor, praying for Separation from the North Island, has been signed by nearly 2000 persons, is mounted on cloth, ■ and bound round "the edges with blue silk ribbon, . f It is very elegaut, and has been engrossed and iQuiniiiated % Mr O'Brien, architect and ?civil engineer! The expense to which the Messrs Ure and Hay have gone in preparing this petition is, we understand, over thirty pound?. We have heard it said that it would be somewhat in bad taste to present to the Governor, who should be regarded strictly as a visitor, a petition on a question of pure colonial politics. At first sight there seems something in the objection ; but, in point of fact, what is proposed is merely following out a custom common to all British colonies, and we are w clined to think that Sir' George Grey will regard the direct presentation of the petition to, himself as reqpgnition by the inhahijtanta of Dunedin -that his visit is not one of mere . .compliment, but thai he' vmlied 'to make' himself personally, acquainted with their desires and requirements. In our last issue a letter appeared, drawing attention to the condition of the natives residents ih Greymouth, and offering suggestions , respecting the administration of their income. : The writer was evidently lynaware of the facts of the case, of which we may now in. /form him and the public.: The Greymoutlv Maoris draw one-thisd; of, the whole income of the native trust so far as the rental of land in. Greymonth is concerned, and, considering that there are only about JLG adults entitled to share in, this, there is no reason -whatever that they should at any time be reduced to the iinpecuhious state bijr correspondent ref presents, them to bein. On the Ist October last the sum of L6QO was ijaid over to the Maoris, by Mr Mackay, Commissioner of Native Re-, setves, and this sum was for the purpose of purchasing proyisions, &c,, vp t to the end of October, which is.at the rate, of 30s per- head per week. We . believe, Mr. Mackay did at one time contemplate making arrangements that would secure the proper expenditure 1 of their money by the/Maoris, ' so far, at least, as the supply of necessaries is concerned, but ! fcr some reason or other he did not carry out hisintentiori. For the last eighteen months the Maoris have enjoyed, the services of a regular medical officer, Dr Jackson, and they are supplied with medicines without charge. Their poverty just now is simply the result of reckless extravagence ; for whenever they have plenty- of money, they are never satisfied untU they have spent it. From a private letter from Orepuki, a Southland paper quotes— "H left het& three weeks ago in a boat, bound for Price's boat harbor, thirtyior forty miles from this place. There were seventeen of them, and their object, was to pro&pect the beaches about-there. They are expected; back daily, as they had only three weeks "tucker" with them. . There is another party over the Waiau, at a place called Mussel Beach. They had been out six weeks. It is believed they have struck payable goldj in fact some of the "knowing ones" assert they are. sure they have, having arranged a system of smoke signals with them before they : left '; l however, •we shall know all about it in & -few- days more. ■.;•;'. ■„.-.:;■-.- .■■;•"'.' ':''■■ ■';:'': '■<■' —'. ■"'■■-■: A correspondent of the Taramki Herald at>White Cliffs; gives theL following account of two expeditions that have been undertaken into the interior in search of gold :— tf Froh.v the very final day of our location here ccrtaifi'

signs, •vf ell known to the experienced digger, led to the opinioii that a gold-bearing country existed .-■& the eastward .of the White Cliffs : the deposit borne down by the streams had a likely look aboutit, aiid some trials were made of the stuff, but without success ; however, more extended prospectpg. .ww.;de« . termined upon, but deferred until such times as military service waa over, aud the country deemed fit for exploration. Of late a party of No. 6, off pay, consisting of Messrs" Rott;? Gregory, Tom .Miller,^: Gerrard, and J;| Milne, hstve made two fHps into the country eastward of these^.ranges, remaining out on each occasion several days. On Sundayevening last they returned from iheir second journey, and|will, after a week's spell, return to their 'pMspect' again. The party very wisely obseWfi a proper caution when speaking of their 1 ; discoveries, lest idle and unfounded reports as to thfeir s*uccess should get noised abroad ; but I believe I am right in saying, that if thgy have not found tho precious metal itself, they have such pro* mises of .its existence as incite them to persevere, and it is to be hopedvultimate success swill crown their labors.'^ J. '■<_'- -\ { '■•■".• The Treasurer of the" Grey River Ilospita begs to acknowledge jh&. receipt of £lfc amount collected by^r#anies Payne :attv Brighton, on behalf of the, ia^it^tioh. : >3' The West Coast Times of^Sativday says^:^A veiy narrow; escape;fvom a 'serious conflagration occurred yesterday afternoon pp the premises of Messrs Towers andEvereste> "Weld-street. It appears that Mr Tow;era ; was using a lighted kerosene lamp for the : mixture of a decorating preparation whe a his attention being diverted he turned suddenly thus uppetting the lamp which shivered to fragments, and the liberated oil being iguited by the burning yvick, burst into a furioua flame. The lining of the shop and ceiling immediately caught fire,^ and the 'destruction' of the building seemed inevitable, but help being at hand and water available the catastrophe was happily averted, although riofe 'before the interior of the shop had been partialty consumed. Yesterday's West Coast Thnes stkys :— "A telegi-am. from Ohristchurch, received by Inspeetc'r Brohani on Saturday, contained the, information that the body of a man, who had evidently been miirdered, was found the preceding day on" the West Coast road, ; between Craigieburn ■ ; dnd" Ennis' station, '■■ From the appearance? of the corpse it wasassumed that the deed must have been committed three weeks ago. A piece of paper with the name " Clayton" written on it, a tomahawk stained with blood, two pairs of ■ moleskin trousers, an American shirt, and a ■: tin billy were found near the remains, which * are, described as those* of a man about 3Q years of age, with sandy beard and prpriii- -; nent teeth, and sft 7in in height. So far ho 5 clue to tie murderers had been discovered, but the Christchuvch and^ealey police were most actively prosecuting the search for the perpetrators of so foul a-crime," [We may add that subsequent ciroumstances point to the probability of the deed having been cbin-initted^by;anian-named'eooke,^^^^w^ since was brought before thi' Magistrate herd under suspicion of lunacy. Cppke, who has, been arrested, was the person who. gave information of the murder to. the police.] ;"