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Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 270, 5 October 1867, Page 2

The heavy rains which have fallen all over the district during the last few days must have been very acceptable to the miners, after the long spell of dry weather we had lately. Washing-up, which had been for some time suspended, has now been commenced with vigor, and we expect in a. day or two to see largely increased returns of gold from every part of the^ district. We have heard very good accounts from the Arnold, Nelson's Creek, North Beach, and Saltwater Districts. New discoveries and increasing prosperity are to be heard of on' every hand, and, with a rapidly increasing mining population, we can confidently look, forward to the speedy development of the l rich resources of the district. We hope our readers will not overloqk the fact that the bazaar in aid of the building fund of the Wesleyan church commences on Wednesday next, and will be continued during the {hree following days, in the Religious Institution Rooms, Gresson street. We make, this reminder thus early in order i that the effort now being made by our Wesleyan frieuds to build a church in. Greyniouth

may meet with that amount of support which it so well deserves. We believe that for some time past those who have taken the' matter in hand have been laboring with much asßidujty ]bo make the bazaar a great success ; and wj3 are told that the goods brought tor getherfbr the occasion are both "rich and rare" — sufficiently so to tempt the money from the pockets even of the rapst unwilling.' The room will be sub-divided into stalls, each groaning beneath its., load of Useful and' ornamental goods, and presided pyer by ladies. The display is expected to be some- j thing unique, and, on that group d alone, well I worthy pf a visit. But there are other and higher grounds upon which w/2 recommend this bastaar to the attention of our readers, and cause us to wish ijb much success. If such of the public pf Greymouth.who take any pleasure in really good dramatic performances • ami were not at the JJnion Theatre last night, had attended Miss Harriet Gprdon ? s benefit last evening, iihej would have had a treat. Making due allowances for the want of stage accessories and pf many things that help to give effect to a dramatic representation, we have seldom seen a better bit of acting than the drama " Follies of a Night," played Ja§t evening. Miss Gordon, acted with more than ordinary care and effect, whilst Mr Hydes surpassed himself. Mr Keogh played extremely well — easily and elegantly ; and, Mr and Mrs Clifford rendered good service. • To.-night the performances are for the benefit of Mr Kilgour, to whom, the public are indebted for his efforts to provide ' them with amusement. We notice that a motion by Mr Carleton, for the reduction of the number of members of the Houstfof Representatives from seventy to fifty, has been negatived. Yesterday forenoon, while the fresh in the river was running at about its strongest, a bullock was seen floating quietly down in mid-stream. It made an effort to land on the shingle bed on the Cobden side, biit was unsuccessful, and was being rapidly c>rried out; to sea, when it was nearly captured by the occupants of the harbor-boat j but they allowed it to pass, as a waterman's boat, which had put off from the point, was on the watch further down. A rope was got from this boat- round the auimal's head, and it was towed ashore on the South Spit- a good forenoon's work for the lucky captors. The Panama mail arrived in town early ,on Thursday, having been brought overlandfrom Clmstchmck by Cobb's coach. The recently - appointed Inspector of Weights and Measures for Westlaud has commenced his duties in earnest in Hokitika. How very necessary his appointment was in the interests of the public may be gathered from the statement in our Hokitika contemporary, that " all day long, and lately, some distance • into the night, this functionary has. been engaged in testing weights and measures and examining scales. Some of the weighing machines used in warehouses have been found to be terribly out in their reckoning, but this, no doubt, is simply the lesultof accident, and now the Inspector is here, will speedily be rectified."- No doubt, there must be many discrepancies among the weights and measures used in this town, and we trust soon to have a visit from the Inspector. The recent effort made by the Otago and Canterbury Acclimatisation Societies to introduce salmon and trout to tLe rivers of" these provinces is thus mentioned in the report of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society :— " The quantity of trout ova furnished by the Commissioner was 800 for the Canterbury and 400 for the Duuedin Society. Little hope was entertained that any of this quantity Avould reaclr its destination alive, owing to the tooj||kward state of the ova, the mption of the steamers, and the delays and numerous shiftings, and intimation was given that some live fish would be spared during the ensuing winter, so that a season might not be lost. Notwithstanding, however, an unusually rough passage from Hobart Town, a week's delay in Melbourne and the difficulty of keeping an uniform low temperature of water during so many changes, a sufficient proportion ofhealthylooking ova has been brought Put to give a fair prospect of success. Experience has also been gained that even under such disadvantageous • circumstances precautionary measures might-be further taken contributing to success. The ova belonging to the DuneJin Society presented a less favorable appearance on opening the box, .although treated in exactly the same manner during the voyage. " We have received a remarkable documen from Mr George Simmons, auimadyertiug upon the decision of our Resident Magistrate in the case "Simmons v. Belling, " heard on Thursday last, and reported in another column. No doubt, Mr Simmons was smarting under what he considers an unfair judgment on the part of the Magistrate when he penned the letter referred to ; but that is no reason why we should open our columns to what we consider a very viruleut and quite uncalled-for attack upon Mr Revell. This is purely a personal matter with Mr Simmons, and we cannot take further notice of it, During the last few days this district, and, indeed, the whole of Westland, has been visited by one continuous storm of wind, rain, and hail, accompanied at intervals by thunder and lightning. For three or four days the storm raged with more or less inten-' sity till yesterday at noon, when there was a visible hnproveinent everywhere around, and the gale seemed to have nearly blown itself out. The result of this heavy weather has been the. stoppage of all communication — even telegraphic— with the outer world. Th e fresh in the Grey River yesterday -was considerable, but nothing serious, but we hear that the other livers south have been flooded to an unusual extent. The Saltwater River ran with more water and a stronger current than has been noticed in it for years. We were informed by an eye-witness that the rate at which the river had risen was something remarkable, considering the short duration of tha storm ;' that large trees, Svhich had stood the stories of many winters,

pn its banks were torn up like reeds and §arrjed out to sea.; and that near the mouth of the nyer, at Paroa, about 150 yards of the jfrifberglen Tramway, was under water. Gonfinnatpn of this reaches us in the fact that Cobb and Co.'s coach could not cross the Saltwater bridge yesterday, and that the telegraph wires . went down with a trer inendous land-slip which took place On the banks of the river early in the duy. The goach was left near the river, and the passengers and horses were brought back to town. We also learn that the telegraph wires were down yesterday between Christchurch and Hokitika, showing plainly that the storm which visited us has not been local, but has extended far back into the ranges. We may mentjon that the mails for this port by the Airedale, which arrived at Hokitika on Monday, and the Egmont, whjch arrived on Tuesday, have not y.et reached this place. . As the evening closed in last night the wind freshened considerably,and there were several smart squalls during the night. A ball is announced to take place at the Alliance Hotel, on Monday night, for' the benefit of Professor Dungan, when Mr J. Wright will perform some of his celebrated solos on the violin, introducing the famous " Bird on the Tree," and many others well worth hearing. It has been decided by the House. of Her presentatives that all boys educated at schools wholly or partly maintained by public money shall be trained to military drill when possible. , -.■■■■••'- We observe that a meeting of the M.U.I. Order of Oddfellows takes place this eyening, at Hunt's Club Hotel, for the purpose of taking steps for the opening of the lodge on the following week. - The following is taken from the West Coast Times of Thursday :— "On. the 26th ultimo Mr George Price, the engineer of the steamer Huutress, now on the South Spit, was ad? mitted into the hospital, suffering from a severe bruise and laceration of the toes of the left foot, caused by their being jammed between the crank and the beam of th« engine on the night that the Huntress went ashore. Yesterday mortification . set in in the four smaller toes, and was advancing so rapid that the Surgeon-Superintendent, Dr Ryley, deemed amputation to be necessary, and the operation was accordingly .performed by him — the patient being first, placed under the influence of chloroform. Although ifc is to be feared that the patient .may yet lose a further portion of his foot, yet we understand that Mr Ryley has hopes that Mr Price will escape with the loss of .the members we have referred to." ' * A 1 meeting of the Fire Engine Purchase Committee was held in the Eoyal Hotel last evening, for the purpose of considering what steps were necessary to be taken with respect to the fire engine recently arrived from Melbourne. There were present Messrs Whajl, Kennedy, Masters, Davies, and Hosie. Mr. Kennedy occupied, the chair. A general' oouversation took place on the matter under consideration, and the merits and demerits of the engine were fully considered Ultimately it was moved by Mr Davies, seconded by Mr Whall, and carried unanimously— "That the engine be sent back to Messrs Sperce Bros., by the first sailing vessel, accompanied by an explanatory letter, and the Treasurer be instructed to draw upon Messrs Spence Brothers for the amount charged." The next matter taken into consideration was the t.teps to be taken for procuring a thoroughly gool and efficierit engine, when, after a conversation, it was moved by Mr Macleau, seconded by Mr Hosie, and carried — " That Mr King, who is aboiit to proceed to Sydney, be requested by this Committee to purchase for them a fireengine, according to a letter of instruction to be given him, with the guarantee of the said Committee that his draft for the cost will be duly. honored." The meeting then adjourned. There was no business transacted at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. ' It will be remembered that the tunnel of the Christchurch and Lyttelton /Railway' was formally opened some months ago with a grand flourish of trumpets, and it was then stated that the line would be opened for traffic in a few weeks. Nothing further has been heard of the "opening day" since, but. a correspondence on the subject has taken place in the columns of our Christchurch contemporaries. One of the writers says - — "A mysterious silence_ is observed with reference tp the time of opening the tunnel ; and your correspondent of yesterday has wisely opened a subject upon which there is much speculation. Truly "it is time that the public should be made aware of the cause of the delay. No .sooner did c both ends meet' than the intelligence was announced that in a few weeks it would be open for traffic ; months have now passed away, and yet. there is a profound silence maintained as to the time of opening. Were the Government gulling, the public when such an announcement was made; or were the parties concerned not able to. judge better of the amount of labor and length of time required for the comple-. tioa of the line ? The earth embankment running out from the tunnel on. the Christchurch side is npt yet finished ; nor is there any sign of an erection for a station on the Lyttelton side. Is it true that the money voted for the Lytteltou station is gone— no one knows where ? And, is it true that there is no probability of railway communication being established between the Plains, and Port before June next ?