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Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 281, 31 October 1867, Page 2

It is with pleasure that we direct attention to the letter from our own correspondent at Moonlight's, which will he found in another column, The source from which the in? formation therein contained is derived is from the writer's personal experience and observation in the district, aud he is no mean authority on the subject. The district ' is slowly butoteadily advancing in development and prosperity. There yet remains plenty of ground to be opened up 011 the untried terraces in the Middle Branch of Moonlight's, and these,,,in the opinion of our correspondent, will,' if properly worked, prove the richest that have yet been opened iv the district, The finding of nuggets has become so common' that the circumstance does not call for particular notice now. Last week 96ozs. were washed off the bottom of one paddock. The reefs iv the district are being properly opened up by the enterprising prospectors, and some timo must necessarily elapse before they can be got into working order with machinery on the ground, but we understand that the reefs are improving as the men go deeper, looking more solid than they did at the outcrtp, while the gold is freely sprinkled through the stone. The present summer will see machinery on the ground, and another, source of prosperity added to those already possessed by the Grey district. . ...... There were a number of ; civil ; cases »3t down for hearing in the .Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, but they, jvere all 'settled out of Court or. dismissed for non-appearance, save one — Chileott v. Seagrave, a claim of LlO 11s 6d, iv which Judgment was given by default with, costs. There was no business yesterday. It has so long been our fate to ohroniole bad weather, that we now leap at the opportunity of announcing that since our last the weather during the day has been most beau? tifully fine, with bright sunshine and un-. clouded skies — the prelude, we hope, to a long spell ef delightful summer weather. Truly the West Coast is the most fertile spot for the production of newspapers that we ever read or heard of. Scarcely a week passes but a new, light springs into existence somewhere, but how long those lights shine is quite another matter. The last-born contemporary, of which we ha\ c to acknowledge the first number, is the Neio Zealand Gelt, which, as its name indicates, is established in Hokitika, for the advocacy of the Irish cause, a#d . the denunciation of Ireland's wrongs. - ■ . I We are glad to learn that there is a movement on foot to establish a Reading-room and I Mechanics' Institute in Greymouth. The want of such a valuable institution has been severely felt during the past winter, when long dreary nights, miserably wasted hy our young men in' public houses and billiardrooms, could have been most profitably and en joy ably passed in the reading-room of the Institute. It is long since we advocated the establishment of such an institution, but although no heed was then paid to us, we are still ready to support the movement by every means in our power, so long as the motives which animate its promoters are purely ft r public good, and do not point at the temporary injury of any section of the community. We trust the movement will be entered upon and carried out with spirit and liberality by its promoters. . The Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times says that the Colonial Treasurer, " Mr Fitzherbert, will -leave Wellington by the Panama Mail on the Bth of Novenbei' 8 for London, with a view to see. what can be done in the Consolidation business. That he will succeed no one here supposes for a moment. Ido happen to know that some of those who flatter the^Government to the contrary, really regard it as out of the question. No doubt, therefore, there are also many others whom I don't know in the same position. Those Provinces who have portions of their loans to raise, will be greatly advantaged, which will be so much to the good. It is generally understood that the Crown Agents will not be the parties with whom Mr Fitzherbert will take chief council; but that the agency of some inonied house, to be fixed accoiding to circumstances on arrival, will be sought for. Mr Morison, the agent i for the Colony, leaves London in November for New Zealand." The latest news from the Thames Gold Field,, under date the 18fch inst, is as foil lows :— His Honor the Superintendent of * Auckland, when th,e steamer left the Manu-* kau, was onavisi,ttP: the Tham.es, whither he had gone for. the purpose of getting the Upper Thames natives, if possible, to open ttteir la^nd for' min\n^. purposes. Some lifrijl«\

delay appeared likely to take place before this object was attained; as Te Hirahadre, fused to allow the steamer Gemini, in which We {Jonor was travelling, to proceed up the : river, .Mr "Williamson,* upon his- arrival at Shortland, 'met about 2000 diggers in front of the Court House, and, together with Mr Commissioner Maekay, explained what steps had been and would be taken to -open the Upper Thames country to the diggers. Mr Maekay, in the course of hia speeoh, stated that the land along the beach for 10 miles north had been opened, and that by Monday nest the whole extent of country northward to Coromandel would be opened to the miners. According to the correspondent' of the New Zealand Herald, there are vow upwards of 3000 people on the Kaneranga diggings, and the miners rights already taken up exceed 1200. A coi respondent of the Wanganui Evening Herald makes the following sensible remarks respecting the practice of what is called ''shouting":— "l would suggest that those who do not feel inclined to forego the mode? rate use of intoxicating liquor, fovin themselves into a Non-Shouting Society, I feel convinced that the absurd extent to which what is technically termed ' shouting 1 is carried, is the principle cause of drunkenness. It is difficult to conceive a more absurd idea than a man should be obliged to swallow drink which he neither needs nor desires for fear of offending the person < shouting.' A greater absurdity follows, i.e x , the person ' shouted' for in the first instance (unless he have a little more sense than is ordinarily possessed by the people of this town) feels it incumbent upon him to ♦ shout' in return . Facts speak for themselves, and 1 think the most confirmed .' shouter' must see the abi surdity of his ways, and if a few influential taen. will pnly come forward and form the basis of the Society, I am confident they will meet with every support." It appears, from an answer given in the House of Commons by Mr Hurst, Secretary of the Treasury, to a question put by Mr Laird, that no nptice has been given by the Home Government to the P. and O. Company to terminate the Austoalian mail contract. The present position of Hokitika with regard to the sea encroachments must be truly alarming, if the following description of it, taken from Monday's Evening Star, he correct :— We are not alarunsts. But unless by some engineering device the sea encroachments be not kept back, and the ocean confined within the. limits of its legitimate bed, Hokitika niupt at no very distant date be submerged, and while thousands upon thousands of pounds worth of property will- be destroyed, many hundred of our most enterprising traders will be utterly ruined. Each tide, as it. rises and falls, carries with it into the illimitable,. ocean from six to nine feet of the beach upon which Hokitika stands, and men experienced in these matters tell us that if thirty or at most fifty feet more at the rear of Eevell street be washed away the lower part of the town will become a lagoon, and that the waters of the sea will join the river, and that Hokitika will be what it has undoubtedly been before— a-lake of water over which vessels will fiud sufficient depth to anchor in. •