THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 260, 12 September 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1867.

No better proof of the richness flf thie Moonlight diggings, and the established resources of the Grey district, could be asked than the specimens of quartz which were yesterday brought to town from reef No. ,2 f Moonlight Gully, by the well known prospector Mr P. Qi Caples. This reef was recently discovered by My Caples, who had been prospecting in the neighborhood for some time, and on the 22nd ult applied for an extended area, and deposited several specimen's in the. Warden's office. On the 29th. ult, Mr Warden •■Jyjghtbaiul granted the applicants a prospecting claim of 300 feet frontage on the supposed run of the reef. The party censists of six men, and since the granting of the prospecting claim they have gone to work jn .earnest to tesjb the value of their discpyery. The reef cropped, out on the surface for a distance of about 150 fact, and selecting a portion of this the men commenced a shaft aud are now down 12 feet, and finding that the reef improves as they go, becoming m.qre s,olid and substantial looking, while the gold continues to be found richly sprinkled through all the stone. The specimens taken fj-oni the reef at that depth are not so richly impregnated with the precious metal as those which were taken from a boulder which had dropped frpni the reef on the surface ; but they ai,o rich enough to satisfy the party who have been lucky enough to find the reef that they care now upon "a good thing," and they have determined to thoroughly test it. For this purpose they are putting on a number of men to work night and day shifts until the shaft is down 50 or 60 feet, when fresh specimens will be taken from "the solid," and tested prior to the putting up of machinery. Mr* Caples is also waiting for " a spell " of summer weather, in order to guage the exact amount of water-power he can depend upon during the year. We are happy to add that Mr Caples, who is no mean authority on such matters, is confident of the increasing prosperity of the Moonlight district, and speaks of its resources in terms of the highest praise. He has prospected nearly the entire Middle Island, and says he has never yet seen a district he liked so much, or which gave such plain indications of being rich in mineral wealth as that piece of country north of the Grey, includiug Moonlight Gully, Canoe Creek, Fox's, and many other known diggings. No man ha done more for the development of the golden resources of New Zealand than Mr Caple3, and we are glad that there is now every likelihood of his being a partaker of the wealth which he points out as waiting for energy of prospectors to obtain. He will be ■in town for several days, and will be gAd to show the specimens we have .spoke&ukto any person who may desire to see them; » We are glad to find that the Annexation Committee are pursuing the.ir work with vigor. A sub-committee yesterday made a partial canvass of the Government Township for subscriptions to defray the necessary expense of carrying Out the objects of the movement, and in a short time received the amount cf L4;">. This is a very gratifying result, and shows the Committee that the inhabitants of Greymouth are thoroughly in earnest in their desire for Annexation to the J Nelson Province. The sum mentioned by no means represents the a.mount which is expected to be raised in the Government Township, while the, Maori Township has not yet been asked to subscribe. This will probably be done to : day or tormorrow, a id we anticipate that a sum equal to defray all the expenses of the movement will be subscribed without the slightest difficulty. We u^rge upon the Committee tho necessity of proceeding earnestly with the work they have taken in hand, and allowing no "grass to grow under their feet" until the Grey District is part and parcel of the Province of Nelson. '."'»/.' The weather during tho past few days hue, been very fine— bright sunshine during the day, and clear frosty moonlight nights. Everything has, in conseijuenc.e, assumed a more cheerful aspect ; business is improving, and we hear from the outlying districts that prospecting is going on with a vigor which must soon show very agreeable results. The two steamers Egmont and Gothenburg, which sailed from this port on Tuesday morning for Melbourne, took away between them a further shipment of over 5000 ozs. of gold, the produce of this district. Mr Wright, District Surveyor of Otago, in his report to the Department, estimates the , length of water races for mining purposes in £he Queenstown and Upper Shctover War. dens' Districts at 1 70 or ISO miles. The cost of these, he calculates, would not amount to less than L 30,000. The grand and final effort made by the members of the Church of England in this town to clear the debt off their recentlyerected place of worship has, we are happy to say, resulted successfully —so successfully, indeed, as to leave a very respectable sum on the credit side of the ledger, after clearing away all liabilities and claims against the finished building as it now stands. This was accomplished by means of a " Gift Auction," which j'££ ielaon' TfreMayiiight in Nathan's "'store, Werita street, and conducted by Mr Donald Maclean, who volunteered his services for the occasion, and to whom much of the success of the auction must be attributed. The articles sold, which were of every conceivable description, and in some instances of considerable value, were contributed, or collected, or canvassed for during the previous week by a committee of the members of the Church, both male and female, who certainly did their duty efficiently— judging by the display made both before and during the auction. -The saleroom was crowded during the evening, the bidding was spirited, and although in most cases little over the actual value of the goods was obtained, yet in some instances fabulous' amounts w&ra

received for trifles, as for instance a fl rad" dish," which was sold nearly twenty times, realised 29s 6d, and which turned put to be something else. Every persun seemed to be in good humor, which was sustained by the bon mots of the auctioneer, and money appeared to be yers plentiful, especially at an extemporized bar, where curious combinations of liquors were sold, and "no clmnge returned." The amount wanted by the church was LBO, but on Tuesday night there was received fronvthe sale of goods L 97 17s Cd, andfrom tb;e|^Lls 83— making a total of LI 11 5s (iip eleven o'clock it was found that the wfcole of the goods could not be disposed of that night, and it was determined to continue the sale, which was done last night, and the amount raised was L 63 14a 611, making a total of L 175. We learn from one of our Hokitika, contemporaries that another very desperate attempt at escape was made on Monday morning at the Hokitika Gaol, a$ the Cemetery, by. a man named Harley, who was undergoing a sentence of twelve months' imprisonment, with hard labor. When the prisoner was obseryed by the warders running in the direction of the bush, three shots were fired at him, one of which took effect, and he pucldenly dropped to the .earth. On being picked lip he was found to have been struck by a buljet, a large portion of the skull being completely denuded of the flesh. . Dr Young was immediately senjt for, and arrived with all possible haste, when the man's injuries were attended to. It was found on a close examination that they were not likely to prove fatal. The bullet, ft is supposed, rebounded on striking the skull, and so sajr-ed the unfortunate man from being killed. • A correspondent of the TuapeM Press reports that Mr Watson, mauagec of the Pomahaka Statjon, had a narrow escape from being drowned while lately crossing the Pomahaka river. Mr Watson, who had crossed the river safely in the early part of the day, found on hie return that the water had risen ten feet j but having particular business to do in the morning, he took off his clothes, and jumped on his horse. The current beiug very rapid, they were carried down a considerable distance, and twjee both horse and rider wert under water. Mr Watson, thinking his weight impeded the progress of the horse, threw himself off, and held by the stirrup until after a struggle with the stream, they bqth landed. He jwde home in a state of nudity, and despatched a man across the river in a boat for his clothes. The weather lately in the Dunstan district, Otago, has beeu of «i more settled' character, the hard frosty nights having given way to a seasonable humidiby, and once more the water races are bringing in their full supplies. At the Nevis and CampbelVs gullies, mining operation have been generally resumed, aud from both places the yield pf gold is highly satisfactory. The last few months have been a trying time for the miners and storekeepers; the former have been reluctantly compelled to submit to a long season of idleness, and the latter have had to give any amount of credit to keep the unfortunates in "tucker;" however, a bright state of things has dawned, and a few weeks will witness a season more prosperous than ever. This summer there will be a little, outlay in the construction of works necessary to carry on mining operations. Most of the water races have been completed, as well as the cutting of extensive tail races ; so that attention, instead of being directed to the means of getting gold, will be directed to the actual object itself. We have received our usual letter from oui Dunedin. correspondent, but the principal items of news contained in it have already been published. By it we learn that Mr Towers, late of the Royal George Hotel, has been elected to -represent Bell Ward in the City Council, in room of Mr John Barnes, resigned. Meetings of the unemployed are being held in the Octagon, the presiding genius of which is Mr J. G. S. Grant. The Carandini series of concerts are successful. Business has been a little brisker during the ■week, consequently 011 the re-opening of the roads from the milder weather now prevailing. On the gold fields the diggers are resuming work, with the certainty that during the coming summer there will be a scaicity of th,at indispensable element, water for sluicing and other purposes. The ship Silistria arrived from Glasgow in the beginning of the week, bringing, in addition to a large general cargo., about 100 immigrants, 40 being young women, all of whom were taken for domestic;" service duriug the first day after they were brought up to town. The Oberliu was at the Heads, with a cargo of sugar from Mauritius. The Resident Magistrate sat on Tuesday afternoon to hear a, number of civil coses which had been postponed to. that day, owing to his temporary absence in Hokitika. The only one which was of any interest was another " goose oase, " in which W. J. Coates sued James Johnston for L 5, the supposed value of two geese, said to be unlawfully taken possession of by the defendant. The case was a complicated one, and the evidence given in a very round-about fashion. From what was stated it could be gathered that Jack Harris, under the belief that certain geese in the river belonged to Johnston, and were straying, proposed to bring them home for a consideration. The terms were accepted, the geese brought to their supposed home at •tfoimstepJa, > and the bringer received as a present one of them for his trouble. Shortly afterwards, the present plaintiff, W. J. Coates, missed certain of his. geese, and it then transpired that it was his property that was driven up to Johnston's. The defendant now acknowledged the "mistake" by paying L 2 into Court as the value of the two geese . but the Magistrate, after expressing a very strong opinion on the conduct of the parties concerned in the case gave judgment for the full amount of Lo and costs, The following cases were also disposed of : — Thos. Jackson, v. J. Harris, adjourned for one week, in consequence. o,f th.c of the defendant ; Strike and So.n v. Ann Hogan, judgment by default for L 3 8s; Same v. AnneOsborne, judgment by default for L 3 13s j James

Da vies v. Henry Wicks, dismissed for nonappearance j Cohen and Co. v. Geo.,Doddj Hokitika, judgment for L 8 7s 2d. Edward Freheyv. John Graney, dismissed for nonappearance ; S. S. Marshall v. Isaac O'Don* nell, claim of L 7 Os 6d, judgment for L 3 12a Id and costs ; John Osken v. Capt. Donndjik claim ofL7 08 4d, judgment for-L5 Is, bjPg the amount paid into Court, along with a setoff for the balance. 'There were also several cases settled out.df Court. Yesterday was.a blank sheet day* in the Police Court.