THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1867.

Grey River Argus, Volume V, Issue 301, 17 December 1867, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1867.

Yesterday, being the anniversary of the Province of Canterbury, the various public offices and banks were closed. The first regular passenger train passed through the Lyttelton tunnel on Monday, the 9th inst. Over 700 passengers, booked during the day. An Auckland paper of the 3rd insfc. states | that Barry and party, who have be^n prospecting the ranges at Mercury Bay for the past fortnight, have reported most favorably of alluvial deposits, and have struck a, goldbearing reef which bids fair to excel in richness any claim on the Karaka. It is also stated that the party have picked up the shovel, pick, and dish of the prpspeefcor Paget, who, it will be remembered, was drowned by the capsizing of the schooner Rapid, whilst en his way to Auckland, with two bottles of alluvial gold, in ordor to claim ( the Government reward of L'ZOOQ. We believe that there has not yet been a meeting of the recently elected Hospital Committee, and that in consequence the affairs of the institution are getting into dis" order. It is very desirable that the gentle men chosen to act on behalf of the public in the management of the hospital should attend to their duties. Our neighbors on the Nelson side of the river will not be entirely behind hand in the festivities of Christmas week. We notice that Messrs Leslie and Sweetman, North , Spit, intend giving a ball on Friday night, and that on New Year's Day the boatifeh will bold a series of races. **^*" The Wellington Independeg£z(yi : — "lfcis said that Sir George Bi,ven, who, it will be ! remembered, upojvee'eiving official notification of his apointment to the governorship [ of New Zaliind, commuuicated his intention j of aroirigin Wellington about the middle of tis imvnth, has put off the date of his departure from Australia, and will leave Sydney by the January Panama steamer. Should he do so, Sir George Boweu will reach Wellington about the same time as Sir George Grey> who proposes sailing for Europe en tbe Sth prox. We have, however, got so accustomed to erratic movements t»>ibt!£>;xrfc of Governors, that we should feel in no way surprised were this conjunction of two Sir Georges not to occur. " Should tbe present delightful weather continue we may expect the ensuing Christmas halidays to pass off very pleasantly, The Sports Committee have arranged a very attractive programme of amusement* in the town and on the liver, and the various gardens in the suburbs will offer temptations to those who prefer the. pleasures of the country. The .neighborhood of Greymouth affords many suitable localities for picnics, and we understand that several of th*>se pleasant i excursions will be got up. The Westport Times publishes the following as the latest news from Mokihinui-: — " A geatteman has kiiutty given us the following infopmaijipn that c,amo from Mokihinui yest terday by Cobb and Co.'s coach. He states that a shaft ivas bottomed on the flat (on WecfaescJayj a 6 the oack of t&e township of Mokihinui, and a dish of the washdirt gave a prospect of 7 grains of gold. He also states that a great number of claims were iranier diately fcaken up, and if the present fine weather continues a great number of the shafts will be bottomed, and the ground properfy tried. We hope it may turn out well, as it will give a large number of miners employment, and also a fresh impetus to business, which unfortunately is at the present time much required in the district of Moki* MninY' We believe fcbab a sum of mojiey lias been subscribed sufficient to cover the cost of re placing the footbridge across Boundary street. It is expected that the bridge will be completed some time during this week. One of the earlier vesivleuts of Greymouth, Mr James Fislier, died on Saturday' hist, after a somewhat protracted illness. Mr Fisher had been suffering from a complication of disorder.?, but we understand that disease of the heart was the ultimate cause of death. The deceased was interred at the Cemetery yesterday, a good many of the citizens following his remains to the grave. Tize Nelson Dolonht grres it as a current rumor that the Rev. C. L. Maclean (late heacUraaster of the Nelson College), who has interests in the township of Westport, is likely to be a candidate for the new seat i» the Provincial Council, winch the enactment of last session added to the representation of the Buller district. We think it very probable that Mr Maclean will be elected. As yet no writ has been issued for this or for the other new seat given to the Grey district." The Melbourne papers announce the sudden death of Mr Peter Snodgrass, representative of South Gipps Land in the Legislative Assembly. Death, it is believed, was $he result of aneurism of the heart. From a miner wfto has recently vetwtued from the Seventeen Mile Beach, we learn there has been a considerable" increase of population on the various beach diggings between Cobden and Brighton. Moat oi these men appear satisfied, and gold is getting more plentiful. We are happy to state that the directors of the Nelson Coal Company are now fatty determined upon developing to their fullest extent their splendid mines up the river In order to obtain the most reliable information they have sent over a mining engineer of great experience, Mr Simpson, who has had the management of some of the largest and most important claims on Ballaarat. Mr Simpson has arrived here, and we understand has already made a preliminary survey of a railway on the Canterbury side of the river, fes in tho event of the line on this side

being more ecoriomical of construction, the Company -will endeavor to secure the Canter- - bury mine or cc-oyerate with the other Company for the construction of the railway. We learn that the sum of .£IO,OOO is already available for the railway, and that the Company h.ave determined to lose no time in commencing the work. Mr Simpson iuforms us that. up to the present time the directors and shareholders of tl«e Company have remained in great ignprance of the condition and prospects of the mines, and he hopes that the result of his visit will be to cause the com r pany tfl expend all the papital necessary to devejope the mine to its fullest extent. A contemporary writes :— " Jt %yould appear that Prince Alfred lias as miicb claim to a cordial welcome from the Irish as from the Scotch residents of the colony, as far as titles are concerned, for he is Earl of Ulster as well as Duke pf EdinbiFg, {jncl the Irish title is th,e first mentioned in the following notice from t^e court news in the flluxtmted London News, fif the 36th May, 185G :— 'On the 24th. instant, her Majesty was pleased to confer the following titles on his 1 Royal Highness Alfr-pd Ernest Albert, Knight of the Garter awl Knight of the 1 Thistle, and his heirs male for ever :— Earl of • I Ulster, Earl of Kent, and Duke of Edin--1 buryh.'" 1 \ Dv Hector has retmmad tv Wellington from his tour through, the centre pi the .North 1 Island. He has passed right through the 3\«.upo country, and journeyed amongst the i 3 rebels bnt he reports the country as being quite peaceful, and the natives, desirous of seeing settlers amongst then}. i A telegram from Wellington states that an Otago minor named Grove, of Tnapeka, c has been prospecting near Jtoa#i*t*&»*Jr c last three we|ks withjhgg -'other men, partly c at the cost of J^'Govei'innent. He reports k having^cyfid a field sufficiently rich to give szj^filiings a day to a tew hundred men, The £-old is said to hu,ve been found in creeks, but there is no quartz. The prospectors statement is not implicitly believed in, as the district lias been so often unsuccessfully prospected previously. The Dayleaford Express s;iys that "Mr Rody Morau, of Glenlyon, has received a : letter from the Doner'szhill Station, Cloncurry Uiver, Queensland, ihibeA lasfc Sfpteuiber The writer says fch.ifc he had been to the new diggings 6n the Cape Paver, and saved ten ounces in tcu weeks. He left because the ground was only a patch, tmvi there was no water. Allotments in Burketown put up at auction had, considering the place, brought very high prices. A Mr Ht>hu,es and two ob)i3i*sliar\ been jwoßpeofcing two months np the Leichardt Kiver, and returned after finding payable quantities of sold. There was snru after the shearing to be a rush to tho spot, and the writer had resolved to Ixj one of the crowd. The gold was found ia a cliaiu of mountains, between the (lulf and Cooper's Creek. The discovery by Captain Cadell of the Liveipool lliver had coused great excitement. Everyone who had. rorae out by the ' ' track from the Lyncl River to the Gulf said ' there was gold all about the Gilbert River." The Wellington Independent says : — The " notification which was issned by his Excellency just prior to his leaving, bringing the Westland County Act into operation, has in some me.asijre taken the colony by surprise. Tb&'flaw in tho not was swpp 1 * 86 '! to be faial. 3 It declared that the Westland Council should consist of seven members, bub it made provision for the sitting of nine. To ordinary ' minds thcTG was no -way of getting out d$ tl>B difficulty but by fresh legislation. Had the error been purely clerical, the Clerk of Parliament might have stepped out of the strict line of his duty and altered it ; but it is a quesfcion on which opinion is by no means single, whether the word " seven" is the error, or whether four members Lave been given to a particular district instead of two. The question as to what alteration is to be , made, is one which the Legislature can alone constitutionally determine. But doing things constitutionally is not the Premier's forte. He has u'ttfe patience for unravelling the knot, he likes to cut it. He ha 9 done so now . The Act is to be brought into force, and the Legislature asked to cover the illegality next session. Every step taken under iie direction oi the short)y-to-he-e)ected Council will be illegal, and will require an act of indemnity.