Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 283, 5 November 1867, Page 2

The officers of the Provincial Government of Canterbury in Wfistland have, we believe, received • notice that their services will no longer be required by that Government after the 31st of December next. This is only a step in the organisation of the departments of the Government of Westland, for the em2>loyces of the Canterbury Government must first be freed from their engagements before they can accept office under the Government of the County of Westland. No doubt many of these gentlemen will retain their present offices, while others will be transferred to situations on the other side of ranges. We take the following from the Brighton Times .-—The only item of intelligence from the" South of any interest is respecting th^ country being tried in the direction oOj£^) back. It appears a shaft has^gll^^' , on each side of the prosi^j^ 1 hoiio ™°- 1 duffers: This htec^j^*'* c^ims, both , pmntment, and, . JPP the greatest dxsap- I •l jßt pi)tins the prospectors, BBBBißk^^hE iA^esv^bE 10 . *c . •V -

population have abandoned the place, tho_roughly satisfied that no payable lead exists. One party coutimies there, and expect to bottom during the week. Their claim is to the north of, and in a direct line north and sonth with, the prospectors. They are very sanguine of success, so that there still renmins a hope of the place turning out something. The Bank .of New Zealand, with its characteristic enterprise, has opened an agency on Waite's Pakihi, and is also about to erect a splendjd building at Westport in whjch to conduct the Bank's business. During the last few days Oreymouth has been without a Resident Magistrate, Mr Price haying gone south for a time, and Mr Eevell not haying yet exhausted lv's leave of .absence, The petty eases have been disposed of by Mr Johns.on, J.P., but the more serious eases have all been remanded for a few daj's. Our readers, Protestant as well as Cajtho.lic, will rejoice to hear that the shfp Commodore, by whjch the Very Rev. Father O'Reilly left for .England., arrived at Graves.endonthe ljflf August. A Dunedin J;elegrain in the Evening Post states that the O£agq pepple are making great preparations for the reception of his Royal Highness the D.uke of Edinburgh. The Caledonian Society have written, through the Governor, to the Prince, requesting his presence at a special gathering in his honor, and a regatta on a grand scaje is couteu.r pfcited. v The Ecclesiastical Intelligence, which appears in the Times of August 13, states that | the vicarage of Doultiug, Somersetshire, with ' the chapelries of East and West Cranmore and Downhead annexed, value L 640 per annum, has been presented to the Right RevE. $ftbhouse, D.D., late Bishop of Nelson, New Zealand. We trust that we may be permitted to infer from this announcement that the Bishop's health has so far Unproved as to allow hub #gain to engage in active parochial duty. A foreigner named Vincent Fideo, has been murdered at Switzer's Diggings, Otago. He was strangled, and then robbed. The two men last seen in his company have been arrested on suspicion. Another murder in the same province has taken place at the Kawarau Gorge. In this instance a Chinaman named Ah Hung has been found dead with all appearance of violence, supposed to .have been murdered by his mate, a Chinaman named Fiah Chung. Deceased is supposed to have been robbed of L2OO. Men have been arrested on suspicion, The Provincial Council of Canterbury has been further piwogued to the 3rd of January, IS6S. It is at last definitely announced tbat the j tunnel between Christchurch. and Lyttelton I will be open for traffic on, or a few days after, November 15. This does not mean that the line wilt be completely fiuisbed by that time, but simply that " arrangements have beeu made " for forwarding wool an I other goods at certain rates. It is satisfactory at all events to .know that the line can be made available for through traffic, the great advantage of which will be at once apparent. The contractors are prepared to take charge of wool for conveyance from the banks of either the Selwyn or the Rakaia to the ship's side. Another fatal accident has taken place at the Hnrunni River in this province, of which th.c following account is given by the Press! — "On Tuesday morning last, about seven o'clock, three men wer^ attempting to cross the Hurunui in a dray, and on reaching the centre of the ford the horses refused to go i forward. The current was strong at the time, owing to the late heavy rains, and the vehicle was capsized and its occupants thrown into the stream. Two managed to get safely out, but the third, a young man named James Anthony Oroker, was drowned The body was not recovered till about two hours after by a man named Smart, who fouud it lying on a spit in the river about a mile and a half from the scene of the accident. The horse and dray were washed about threequarters of a mile down the river, and the horse was found quite dead. Sergeant Barlow, of LeithfieM, arrived soon after the body was found, and it now lies at Lei th field for the inquest, which will shortly be held.' We understand that, by invitation, a large number of our leading townsman met the Hon. John Hall and Mr Sale en Saturday evening, at the private lesidence of the R,esi' dent Magistrate. Although the proceedings were of a private nature, we may, without any breach of confidence, say that the meeting was for the purpose of eliciting an expression of opinion upon the wants of the district, and affording the inhabitants an opportunity | of supplying Mr Hall with all the information I they could. Thus the conversation embraced many subjects, and various opinions were freely expressed ; the result of which — if properly accepted by the powers that be — ought to go far to mitigate many of the evils under which we now labor. The Company recently formed for the working of the coal deposits at Preservation Inlet have (says the Otago Daily Times) chartered the cutter Lapwing, now lying alongside Dunedin jetty, and intend shortly to despatch her to the Inlet with a party of men for the purpose of surveying the ground which, has been leased to them, and of further proving the extent and character of the coalbeds. Mr Coates will either proceed with the vessel, or otherwise join the party, as surveyor, and Mr Hutchinson, of Shag Point, will accompany them as practical supervisor of such mining works as may be undertaken. A few minutes after the departure of the s. s. Rangitoto from the Queen's wharf yesterday, says a Wellington contemporary, some passengers that had booked by that vessel, were seen rushing -down the wharf just in time to witggsjTcrie steamer well away, and un djS¥^ full head of steam, bound outwards, rtwo of the disappointed passengers were ladies "Who had Tlkced their children on board the vessel, Shortly before her departure, and hadjuprudently returned to town thinking profbly that the fact of the most precious partM their belongings, being safely on board wtß somewhat ensure their

c'lanpe of being in t^^^fdr the anno!HKJ^ hour, at their earnest and oft repeated ens| treaties, Captain. Benson humanely ordered j jbhe return signal to be hoisted iit the nuas." . head of the Company's flag-staff, but the Itangitoto had made the best of her time, and the signal was unperceived. The .children thus left without any guardian will,-" Wfthoufc doubt, be well taken care of, but it js to be hoped that their impiudent parents will take warning, and be more .careful in future when similarly situated. We understand that in pursuance of the promise made by Mr Stafford in Committee of Supply, the number of Resident Magis.trates in Otago has been considerably reduced. The Magistrates at Port Chalmers and Toko r mairiro j(Messrs Mansford and Dewe) have received a fortnight's notice, and <«, similar I intimation has been given to ISlr .the Clerk to the Bench at Port Chalmers. A petition signed by upwards of 400 people has been forwarded to the Government, praying for the retention of Mr Dewe's services as Magistrate for the united districts of Tokomairtro and Glutha."" In our last, we gave a quotation from an article published in the West Coast Times, which commenced by stating that "the town lauds of Hokitika, Greymouth, and Okarita were offered for sale by proclamation in the Gazette of the 4th September." W« have since examined the Gazelle referred to, and find that the proclamation in question refers only to the town lands of Hokitika, and makes no reference either to the towns* o. Greymouth or Okarita. We published the paragraph referred to in good faith on the authority of our contemporary. It will be seen by "announcement in another column that a meeting of the subscribers to the Religious Institute and the general public is called for Thursday evening, at eight o'clock, for the purpose of taking the necessary steps to convert that building into a Mechanics' Institute and Beading Room. A very determined case of suicide is reported by the Lyttelton Times, of the 31st ult : —On Wednesday morning last a man named Herman Hanamahn, a German, residing near the Church Bush, at Kaiapoi, was found shot dead on a road leading to Mr John Perrin's. Beside him was found lying a gun, to the trigger of which was attached a piece of flax, strongly tied to the right foot. He was found by MrT. Skelton, of Kaiapoi, who at once gave information to the police, and Sergeant Hursfc of Kaiapoi loos, charge of the body, which was found lying on its back, the butt of the gun pointing to the feet, and the muzzle to the head. The gun had been recently discharged. The shot appeared to have penetrated the mouth at the riglit side, and found Its way out a little above the lftft ear. Death must have been instantaneous. An accident occurred yesterday morning on board the p.s. Dispatch, whereby one of tha firemen, named Simon Fraser, got his arm broken while working among the machinery. He was attended by Dr Morris, who set the wounded arm, and the patient is now, we understand, progressing favorably. We learn from Christchurch that on th« forenoon of Sunday, the 27th ult, the body of Staff-Sergeant Thomas Boyle, Drill Instructor to ths Canterbury Kifle Volunteers, wa? discovered in the ditch near the junction of the South Town Belt and the Windmill road. When found, deceased was lying on his face in the ditch, the water being oaly about two or three indies deep. Life was quite extinct. At the inquest it was stated that a piece of stick about an inch long, and a piece of suet the size of a thumb nail were found in deceased's windpipe, which might have caused suffocation. From the position of the body it is sujjposed that the deceased had been leaning over the ditch and fallen in. The 2Tew Zealand Gazette, of October 21, notifies that James DuPre Lance, and John Chailes Watts Ilussell, Esquire 0 , having for two successive sessions of the General Assembly, without the permission of her Majesty, or' of the Governor, signified by the Governor to the Legislative Council, failed to give their attendance in the said Legislative Council, their respective seats in such Council have thereby become vacant. With reference to the recall of the Governor, the following despatch has been received from the Colonial Secretary by the last mail : — It is dated " Downing street, August 22, 1567. Sir — Yon were informed by my despatch No. 37, of the 18th of June, that you would shortly be relieved from your duties as Governor of New Zealand, and that yen would be apprised of the time at which your successor might be expected to arrive in the colony. I have now to acquaint you that I have submitted to the Queen the name of Sir G. Bowen, the present Governor of Queensland, as your successor in the government of New Zealand, and that her Majesty has been pleased to approve of the appointment. I regret that lam unable at present to inform you definitely of the time at vvhicli Sir Ci. Bowen may be expected to arrive in the colony, but I have desired him to give you as long a notice as is practicable of the probabldtime of his arrival." A very sad occurrence is recorded by the Canterbury Press of-the 29th ult.:— A most melancholy death, attended by most distressing circumstances, occurred here on the night of Thursday last to a Mrs Dixon, the wife of a carrier living in this township. Mrs Dixon had given birth to a child about nine days previously, and was suffering from the effeqta , of herconfinement, being subject to occasional' fits of delirium. On the evening of Thursday site seemed to be better and more composed. During the night, while her attendant' was asleep, she got out of bed, dressed herself, and went out of the house. The night was very dark and wet. A general search was J made for uer the next day, when late in the I afternoon her body was discovered in one of the wells in the neighborhood. Her husband was absent at the time of the occurrence, and reached home only in time to see the corpse of his wife carried to his home.