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Grey River Argus, Issue 251, 22 August 1867, Page 2

A rumor was in circulation on Tuesday to the effect that a new rush had taken place in the neighborhood of. Canoe Creek. From a person who passed through the district a day or two ago we learn that nothing was known of the alleged rush when he left, and that only some 50 or CO miners were at work in Canoe Creek. I We learn from the West Coast Times that the Criminal Sittings of the District Court commenced on Tuesday morning, before his Honor the Judge, E.: Clarke, Esq. The following prisoners were tried. John Hartey, was convicted of stealing in a dwelling house, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labor. William John Price, pleaded to a charge of larcenj, and was remanded for sentence. Joseph Sutton was acquitted of stealing money in a dwellinghouse, butwas on a* subsequent indictment convicted of stealing la gold watch and chain,

and was sentenced to nine months' hard, labor,. Gerard Wagner received a sentence of twelve months' hard, labor fop larceny. The priminal sittings will be resumed this morn?' iijg at eleven o'clock. Mr Button has been retained by the Bank, to assist the Crown Prosecutor, Mr O'Loughlin, in the case of. Chas. E. Gundry, charged with the late robbery from the Union Bank at Grftymouth. The Nelson Provincial Gazette oi tho 12th inst. contains the following notification :— The Superintendent directs it to be notiiied that the vqters of the District pf Cobden, having neglected or omitted to elect the reV quired number of persons to act as a Local Committee of Education for that district, he has, in accordance with the provisions of the 10th section of the Education Act, 1803, appointed Henry Lucas, William Boase, John William Hail, Seth' Doane, and James Thompson members of the Local Committee of Education, for the said District of Cobden. It being cpnsidered desirable that the delegates from the Annexation Committee should meet the deputation from the Hokitika League at the meetings proposed to be, held by the latter in this district, Messrs Whall and Harrison will attend at Rutherglen on Saturday evening, instead of this evening, as previously announce^. There appears to . have been another serious defection from the Westland Separation League. The following letter to the President of the League is published in the Hokitika papers i — " Hokitika, 17th Aug., 1867. To the President of the Westland Separation League. Sii — We,, the uudersigned, being members of the' Westland Separation League, have the honor to request that our names may be taken from the list of the members of tho League. Our reasons are few and simple, We do not endorse many of the sentiments expressed in the petition so lately sent forth by tho sub-corn, mittee of the Council of the League. We do not approve of the haste with which a matter of so much importance was pushed to its completion, and are of opinion that a document professing to utter the wishes and feelings of the thirty or forty thousand inhabitants of this district should have been submitted to the closest scrutiny and deepest consideration of all portions of the community, before it was published as the petition of the people of. Westland. We do not sympathise with the prayer of tho petition, which requests that a separate Province, with its cumbrous and costly machinery, may be erected in this district. We consider that the prosperity of this district will be achieved more quickly and more surely by a course of proceeding after Separation shall have been obtained, widely different from that proposed by the Council of the League, E. Prosscr, J. P. Klein, James R. Anderson, Thos. R. Proctor, James Browne, James M'Beth, W. A. Rees, Jno. Higgin, William Henderson, Ferdinand Upham." The public meeting that was announced to be held last evening, for the purpose of hearing the two delogates from the Hokitika Separation League, did not come off. An advertisement in the West Coast Times of yesterday states that in consequence pf the inclemency • of the weather the meetings at Greymouth and Rutherglen, originally fixed for Wednesday and Thursday, will be held on Friday and Saturday. The Hokitika papers state that John Vincent, against ' whom sentence of death was recorded at the late sitting of the Supreme Court at Hokitika, for assault with intent to kill, has had the sentence commuted to twenty years imprisonment with hard labor. A correspondent asks us if the propriet( r of the Saltwater Bridge is entitled to charge two shillings for permitting horsemen to pass over the bridge. We understand that the owner of the bridge has no legal right to charge any toll whatever, and we would suggest that he should at least make his charge reasonable enough to prevent any one grudging to pay it. He may otherwise find himself in a wrong position. Tho Government have introduced a Bill to prevent the influx of criminals. No person who, by reason of any conviction against him: , ia not at liberty to reside in Britaiu or in any British possession, or who obtains a pardi n on condition of leaving such possession, is to be admitted into New Zealand. The proceedings to be taken against those suspected of belonging to this class are certainly of a very summary description, and seem to us to be capable of injurious interference with the liberty of the subject through mistaken identity, ignorance, or malice. Any constable or Justice of the Peace may summarily apprehend a new-comer on suspicion, bring him before two Justices, and have him sentenced to removal, within seven days, to the place whence he came, or to imprisonment for three years. Now, the apprehension must perhaps be summary, and also the expulsion ; but surely some more simple method of appeal might be admitted than to the Supreme Court. As the forfeiture of any property taken with him may be made to depeud upon the reasonableness of a suspected person's appeal, we think that liberty to appeal to a Resident Magistrate, with reasonable time to procure witnesses, might be granted as an alternative. A letter from the member for Cobden, Mr Donne, complains that we did not publish his reply to the strictures of Mr White upon his proceedings in the Council. Mr Donne has sent us a full report of his speech in reply, which, out of consideration to our readers, we decline to publish in full. The following condensation may, however, satisfy our correspondent. Mr Donne commenced by accusing the Provincial Secretary of a disposition to oppose any change or improvement upon the gold fields, and told the Council that his critic Mr White had a "warped and distorted mind." He considered Mr White's remarks to be highly insulting, not to say cowardly. The patience with Which Mr White had said he had listened to his (Mr Donne's) speeches .was not a rare virtue — certain animals being proverbial for that sort of thing. (Laughter .) Mr Dcnne denied having ever transgressed 1

the rules of debate, and expressed his deter- .. minationto be undeterred by. anything Mr White might; say from urging, the claims of the district; he represented,/' Perhaps the resolute intelligence with which he (Mr Donne) had pressed gold fields' matters on the attentiqn of the House,, and the sueoeos that had attended his efforts, had oxcited envy in" Mr White's breast. Mr Donne con* eluded by replying to the -taunt of hia being an .unqualified member in the following terms :— The honorable member had alluded to him as "unqualified," -and that he did not know whether he might be permitted to sit another session. He might inform the honorable member, this much was certain, that whether he (Mr Donne) sat in the Council again or not, that gentleman would note.be consulted on the subject. It might, interest the honorable member, howevej, to be told that he had found the mental labor and anxiety pf his position so great, in fighting the cause of his constituents against such odds, that he was personally indifferent about aitting anothep session, and had enter-' J tamed the thought* of resigning his gharge. His conduct in this would not, however, be influenced by the member for Waimea south, and if he found his eftjprts to advance the prosperity of the gold fields were approved of by his constituents, he should consider himself sufficiently rewarded, We learn from our Hokitika contemporary that a Berious accident, happily unattended with fatal consequence, but resulting in injury to a lady, took place on Monday on the Kanieri Tramway. About three o'clock iv the afternoon, as a carriage was cording flown the tramway into town, and when near Manuel's, a large tree suddenly fell . across the carriage, smashing it to pieces. The horse and driver escaped unhurt, but the only passenger, Mrs M'Kenzie, received a. cut above the eyes, and was bruised about several parts of the body. She was at once conveyed to her own residence, and a messenger from the company despatched to town for Dr Derinott, who, on hurrying to the Hokitika Terminus, fouud a special carriage waiting to convey him to Mrs M'Kenzie's house. He found her suffering from the shock to the system, but lie does not anticipate that any serious consequences will result from the accident."