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Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 185, 21 March 1867, Page 2

Ajfourtli day's amusement is provided on the pretty Greymouth Course for this afternoon. The sport - commences > with a Consolation Handicap, for all beaten horses ; and the novelty of a lady-riders' race, called the Amazon Scurry, is the second event. Afterwards, a Private Match between Candidate aud Mocking Bird, for LIOO, the money for which was posted last night in the hands of Mr Donald Maclean ; a Hack Race, and probably aLocal Hurdle Race, will come off. The Stewards have liberally decided to throw the course open free, and to reduce the charge to the Grand Stand to three shillings. The fair community of Greymouth must be pleased to know that the Stewards of the Races have courteously decided to return the oompliment o£. the presence of so many ladies on the Grand Stand; by giving a ball this evening, at Mr Kilgour's ; dancirigito commence at,. 9 An excellent band, under the leadership of Mr Wright, has been engaged, and a carefully drawn-up pro" gramme of dances will be furnished for engagements to be pencilled upon. Tickets can only be obtained of the Stewards, so as to ensure a select party ; and the reasonable price of one guinea, with the privilege of inviting their fair partnersj , cannot be deemed any tax upon the " sterner sex." The Lyltelton Times t>i the 14th instant, referring to the recent" murder at Porter's Pass, says :— " The police are actively engaged in endeavoring ta ascertain who were the "perpetrators of this crime, which is at present involved iv greater mystery than ever. Not\yithstand.iug the protest of innocence on the part of the Chinese said to be implicated in it, l.aS; contained in their statement at the police court at Oamaru, we believe that they will, be brought to Christchurch, in order that the matter may be fully investigated." ; ;■. V. .. \ ''■■.-.. : We should have thought that the attractions held out at the Union Theatre would have been sufficient to command full houses, but we are sorry to say that the attendance of the public has not at all been in proportion to the merits of the performers. Last night the piece de resistance was the burlesque of the Fair One with the Golden Locks, the VFair One" being; ; played by^^^^Kate Grani,. and the Princej her loverf||?y Miss Rosa Cooper; The burlesque is an attractive one, and was fairly played, whilst the scenery (painted specially by Mr S. Fawcett) was really first-class. Miss Cooper acted wellj as also did Miss Kate Grant, and the buriesque,,;^tlie whole, pa§s^|;;off successfully,' -^WeL^hould. like to v s|| r ej : tne Company better;patronised, for.reaiiyitj|ey; : deserve it. , ■■-.-,■'•#:'•'.'■■. .' ' ■'■■■'■.■' ,■ . :' ;: .' : .'v;:''ftV','>''. '■ ■ ' ■' ,ivsCfie Nelson Examiner gives the following !l%rf gossip :— As the time of our annual races approaches, the interest in the meeting begins -toTCWttktJi, and inquiries are made us to the :--,i!vvStT-^-^^ ; i<;-'". ->,:- ■• .: ■-. .... :- : ■'..-..-:■■'

I^^^^^^M^ra tlie sport they promise. ;■ We are glad to be able to say that, to: juclge;£rom theJhnmlJßr and quality of this iiorse^,^kely ; |o|be engaged, the Nelson meet, ingof 18(57 w&i not fall short in interest to my of our races for years past. Taking the; Annesbrook stable to commence with, Mr Stafford has_ a teani of six, and we think the strongest team he has had for several "meetings. Magenta and Nebula," thatran.sd well bhe; Jother. day at Canterbury— the one a three^ear old colt by Melton, and the other i'four-y^ar old'filly by Pacific—would be no mean competitors on our turf at any time, md won two of the best events at the late Metropolitan Meeting. Omen, ft three-year aid filly, sister to Opera,;g>ron;ises tq£be a ;ood animal, and the remaining three— 'trust, frie Queen, and Julia, in their: proper places, will be no mean opponents. The Hednesford stable has seven horses in work? and, if we ire not greatly mistaken, Mr Redwood will take his full share of. the stakes. His threepear olds are Ake Ake, Gossip, and XXX., thelatter a filly by Golden Grape, out of Atlanta's', (tarn, and the first that will have raced got by Mr Robinson's imported horses. The remainder are J;wq |ou>yeaV-old&^^| Queen of the South, 6xft<j^bjjio//tjl^^^ pen i Harmony^mM^P^*!^ h Y Cam " IjQj.gejj^^^jiiPP^jolden Cloud. The old ■■Pl^^Sear^ has been going well of late, and when lie chooses to race, it: must be a • rare good animal that can baat him. The Stafford Place stable will have, .we are sorry to learn, but one representative— Corsair: This horse, it. will be remembered, ran remarkably well last year, but at the Wairau Meeting in "the spring he, did badly. ;No doubt he will now be brought out in better form. Another-Wairau stable, Mr J: Robinsou's, will be represented by Gamester, Golden Eagle, and a three-year-old filly by Potentate engaged in the trial stakes. Mr R. M'Rae has also in training a gelding by Sir Hercules, which, with only a short preparation, ran remarkably .well at our last meeting. There are several other horses beingfprepared for minor events, so that there is no doubt, we think, the meeting will be a very successful one. Dr Evans, late Postmaster-General of Victoria, is spoken of as a candidate for the vacant seat in the General Assembly for Wangftiini .<;■.. - The Westland Observer supplies the following information concerning the Okarita and adjoining districts :---". On the Five-mile, mining matters are much, the same as last week. The miners, taking advantage of the fine weather, are stripping large paddocks of washdirt, to be in readiness for the low tides next week ; however, some excellent washdirt has been raised, and a small quantity washed, which proved to be very rich. Sullivan and party continue to take out large parcels of the precious metal. This claim has paid as much as LSO a week to ' each shareholder^ and even now, we hear, it yields about LlB. They have yet.several month's work befoge the,in. Many others in the same locality are t^oiug equally welL -Water is very troublesome on^the second bottom ; however, 'it is gradually sinking'during the last few daysv A small rush has taken place on a terrace behind the back lead, at the back of Canty's store. Three claims, already bottomed, have yielded good prospects, and itgag&expected^ will pay extremely' well. Brlfflane and party have not yet bottomed. They arp down about eighty feet, gi ing through a promising wash. Great excitement prevails throughout the district, in consequence of this being the only deep shaft sunk On the old Three-mile Beach, nothing of importance has occurred this week. There are only three claims in full work. On the Waiho Beach, the nvners continue steadily at work, sOnic doing extremely well ; others making fair wages. The party of Italians working, twelve miles up this, river, and formerly spoken of, have not been to town as was expected; and of course we cannot report as to their doings. At Gillespie's Beach there is a slight increase in the population. - They now number about forty, and are all steadily at work. W,e have not heard of any new ground being opened of late." The miners appear quite satisfied with their present earaiugs, which accounts for so little prospecting being done in this district. At Cook's^River there is one party at work, who are reported to be doing well. At Hunt's Beach there are only fourteen ; making fair wages. At Bruce Bay there are thirteen, who are said to be doing well. We are sorry to hear that a well known miner, and a long resident at Bruce Bay, known as Antonie, the Greek, formerly a packer at Hokitika, is supposed to have been lost in the bush, -He left with the intention of crossing the dividing range, aud making for the Mackenzie country, on a prospecting tour, ne had with him a dog and a gun, with plenty of ammunition ; his swag weighing in all 901bs. His clog' returned about a week ago, a mere bag of bones. He has been out about five weeks, and fears are eutertained'for his safety, (hi the North Beach, Okarita, a ■ few patties continue steadily at work. There is no increase to ougjtoppuLifcion in this quarter. At Abbott; Head, last week, a p :rty sunk a prospecting paddock "'further back from the beach than their old workings, aud have obtained excellent prospeots. They are of opinion the main lead is struck. We will be able to give further particulars in our next issue." We clip the following from the West Coast Times of Tuesday : — One of the most audacious and wholesale cases of horsestealing' that perhaps occurred "in this or any other colony, has within the last few days been brought to light by the vigilance of the Canterbury police, who displayed besides a shrewdness and promptness of' action worthy of the highest commendation. On Saturday last a telegram from Ch'ristchurchwas received by the police here, advising them that three men with a mob of horses, eighteen in number, had been seen the preceeding day on the south- road. uThis circumstance was considered sufficiently suspicious to warrant a few leading aufijtiofig. as to whefe they had coini^romjwßWp^beiug from Ross Town, in WestT39^^^Htfnjj|i gave their names as Davis, Cli^^^^H^lgn, the latter being a

spectoMprohain immediately ' telegraphed back, HH§ing there was no de^ot of. horses in the Ti^pi district, and considered it piobable' that|™£' horses had been stolen -from; the paddoM at Long Ford, up the Kanieri River,. Acjan/jjupon this suggestion, the Ohristchurch ■ poUceljirrested Davis and the half-caste' on 1 suspicion of horse-stealing, and confined them separately, the result being that Vixen confessed to" haying, with Davis and Charlie, stolen twenty-six horses from the paddock at Long Ford, and drove them overland through Browning's Pass -with, the intention of se^ng the animals in the nearest market: : Only eighteen out of the twenty-six horses crossed the range, as six were lost about thirteen miles, from the paddock, whilst two feli'over a precipice in the Pass. The police immediately instituted a hot search after the third man "Charlie," who, 1 not liking the turn of events, had made himself scaroe. He was, however, arrested on Sunday, and at the same time sixteen of the horses were secured, and the whereabouts of tho ' remaining two was ascertained. Two horses out of the mob L^ are recognised, one abrownJ^MMflHflflflPP iv Revell street, butcher, the other being a black draught horse, belonging to Mr Beatty, a Waimea packer, Davis (whose proper name is Perry Benn) and Vixen are both known in Hokitika, having worked for some time in Messrs Jones and M'Glashan' stables. The latter rode as a jockey at the Hokitika races in January last. - Our contemporary, in its issue of Tuesday, reports the occurrence^ of "another probably fatal accident : — Upon Friday last, a packer, named Ryan, residing at Lagoontown, had occasion to go up the river as far as Long Ford, for the purpose of bringing in some horses which He had turned out in that locality. He returned the same night, and was seen about six o'clock in the evening near the Powder Magazine, travelling in the direction of his home. Before, however, he could arrive there, it became necessary to cross three, vary dangerous rivers. , Some': where about seven o'clock his mare, a chesnut auimal, reached her stable with saddle and ,bridle on but without her master. • Aa it was known that the mare was a skittish animal, and moreover a "bad'one " in the water, the friends of Ryan became much alarmed, and at once instituted a search for the missing man, but without avail. Intimation of the occurrence was without delay given to the police, who have ssarched for the last two days, but with no good result. It is supposed that Ryan has lost his life in an attempt to effect a passage across Middle or Fisherman's Creek. The reason- for this belief is that from this point the tracks of horses, appareutly straying in variouß directions, have been discovered, whilst on .the opposite side the tracks are together, as if the auiinals were then under command. The Wakatip Mfiil, in a recent issue, gives rather a differeut picture of the prospects of the various quartz companies to that which has hitherto been accepted. r It states that a majority of the companies have no bonafide i status, that they were got up for purposes of speculation only, and that unless many of I them cease their operations in working away at non-auriferous stone, general disaster will be the result to the unfortunate shareholders. The Went Coant Times publishes a detailed account of death by drowning of a miner 1 named Robert Armstrong, in the Haast Piiver district. It appears that on the sth instant two men, named James Owens and Robert Armstrong, started from the. North Bj.'cli intending to pr iceed a fuw miles in-* land and prospect as they went. "Verylittle food was carried, as it was proposed to return in the course of a week. They travelled about eight miles the first day, and then having reached a good camping place, su£ rounded by likely looking country for gold; the lent was pitched, and next day they started to explore the neighborhood, being cautious not to stray too far from head quarters. As the day closed in they made for the tent again, but to their surprise and alarm were unable to find it, and accordingly spent that night in the bush without shelter. At daybreak- the search was, resumed, but without success, and towards night, being guided by the sound of^ rushing water, they reached the banks of the Haast River at a point about four miles from the sea, the sound of which could be distinctly heard.By this time they were suffering severely from tho pangs of hunger, and knowing that by crossing the river tho township could be reachedyin a short time, Armstrong proposed that an attempt to ford it should be made, and without more ado entered the water. He reached the centre of the stream with apparent ease, but there it suddenly deepened, | and before he could recover himself the poor | fellow was swept off his feet and .hurried I with frightful rapidity downwards. . Being a good swimmei he struck out for the shore he had just left, but bj|§|bhig* exhausted clung to a snag that lay affSFyards from the bank and shouted for help^|j|>His mate hurried through the bush, to a, point immedirtely opposite the snag ; but by that time the cries had ceased, and neither snag or man could be se.en. Owen, of course, feared that the worst had happened, and hastened down the river to the ferry, where he was transported to the south side, and gave immediate" information of what had occurred to the police. When the sad accident became known; four boatmen started up the river, and closely scanned either side, hoping the body might have been thrown up, but returned unsuccessful. That night and the following day the north and south beaches we're closely watched by the police, but no body was discovered ; and it is therefore supposed it either became entangled amongst snags in the river, or after being swept out te sea must have been carried up or down the coast by the current, and perhapa deposited upon some out-of-the-way beach, where it may remain unnoticed for years. Armstrong was a young man, about twenty-five years of age,' a native of Enniskillen, and when drowned was supposed to. have L 25 upon his person. It is also rumored that some time ago he deposited a considerable sum of money in the Bank of New youth Wales, a,t Stafford Town. '