THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1868.

Grey River Argus, Volume VI, Issue 434, 24 October 1868, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1868.

Owing to a pressure of other matter, we are compelled to hold over our usual leader and many matters of local interest. We ai c in receipt of our files from Queensland and New South Wales to the 15th instant, by the s.B. Auckland, and from Melbourne to the 17th instant, by the s.s. Rangitoto, but the news contained in them is not of an interest - ing nature. We believe the Resident Magistrate wa3 summoned yesterday to the Eight-mile, New River, to hold an inquest upon the body of a child, connected with whose death there are some very Biispicious circumstances. The particulars have not yob transpired. On Saturday last, a meeting of miners was held at the Eight-mile Terrace, New River, in connpetion with the general movement throughout the district against the sale of auriferous lands. Several resolutions similar to those adopted at the recent meetings on this subject were passed, and a copy of them signed by 250 miners was drawn up and sent by a delegate to Greymouth, to be laid before the public meeting held last Monday. Owing to the flooded state of the rivers, the document did not reach town in time, and was laid before a meeting of tho delegates, which was held yesterday, that being the first meeting held Bince Monday evening. Wo have recently published a series of letters containing warnings to the Nelson Government with regard to the state of Hie workings iv the Brunner Coal Mine, and the frequent explosions of fire-damp which take place in the mine. The statements contained in "A Miner's" letters have, curiously enough, been corroborated by a letter wh'ch recently appeared in the Ballarat Courier, from Mr John Usher, the late manager of the Mine. It appeal's that it has been proposed to form a new company on Bolla.rat to work tho mi,ne, and Mr "Usher advocates an increase of its capital in order to overcome the present difficulties in working the mine, by introducing a proper system of ventilation and workiug. He writes: — "If the promoters of the now company about being formed in Ballarat for working the Brunner Coal Mine, Grey River, New Zealand, would increase the capital from L 30.000 to LfiO.OOO at least, there would be some probability of

the affair being parried to a successful issue. Having recently examined the Grey River coal field, and. the mines thereon, together with the country through which one or more railways will have to be constructed in the Grey Valley, &c, I have no hesitation in making tin's statement. Perhaps it is not known that the Brunner mine is in a highly dangerous state, owing to the sudden dis. charges, on a change of wind, of inflammable) gas, ami is now worked by safety lamps. The present (most primitive) winning should, be abandoned, and a fresh one commenced simultaneous with the line of railway." The latest news from the centres of the Native disturbances, is of a very alarming kind. Telegrams from Wellington to the West Coast Times says that serious news has been received from Hawke's Bay. The Hau Haus have massacred a party of Native scouts in the pay of the Government, and are approaching the settled districts in great force. The Star of the South has been chartered to bring in all women and children from the coast settlements. The Friendly Natives are mustering strongly to revenge the death of the scouts. There have been disturbances amongst the Natives in the Thames district, on the subject of opening the Upper Thames to diggers. Hostilities have commenced, and one Native has been killed. Great distress exists amongst the mining population at the Thames. Elsewhere we publish the prospectus of the new Polynesia Company (Melbourne and Fiji). The shares are £5 each, 10s. payable on application, and 10s. on allotment, with further calls of 10s. per share at intervals of not less than three months. The special advantages to be gained by those who take up this first issue of shares are free grants of land on the following scale :— For every twenty shares, forty acres ; and one town lot of half-an-acre to every subscriber for fifty shares. The agents in town are Messrs D. Girdwood and Co., and it is announced that the share list will close on Wednesday, the 28th instant. The New Zealand Gazette of the 10th insfc, contains the appointment of Evan Prosser, Esq., Mayor of Hokitika, and Edward Masters, Esq., Mayor of Greymouth, to be Justices of the Peace for the Colony. The General Assembly was prorogued on Tuesday last, and we learn by telegraph that all the Westland Bills have been passed. One of these— the County of Westland Actdissolves the present County Council, and provides for the election of a new Council, the first meeting of which takes place in December. The crowded state of our columns to-day prevents us from reviewing the various alterations contained in the new Act, but we will do so on an early day. We understand that tho s.s. Auckland lauded the Gourlay Family at Hokitika for a theatrical tour through New Zealand. They will pay Greymouth an early visit. The first sale of town sections and suburban and rural lands in this district takes place on Tuesday, at the Court-house, and we believe that plans of the land then to be exposed for sale can be had from Mr Kenrick, on payment of a small sum. It will be seen from the report of the meeting of the Road Board that that body yesterday protested against the sale of any land on block 2, South Beach, as it is known to be auriferous. We publish to-day telegrams of the news brought by the Panama mail, which ought to have appeared in our lasb. This requires some explanation. We, in company with most of the newspapers in the colony, receive these telegrams under contract with the General Government. The mail steamer arrived in Wellington harbor at G - 30 p.m. on Wednesday last, and the telegrams were forwarded to all the newspaper offices in the country that night, except to ours, because the Greymouth Telegraph Station closes at 5 p.m. ! It is usual throughout the country for these offices to be kept open till 7 or S o'clock, or at a time when the English, mail is hourly expected, to be visited at intervals during the evening ; but this does not appear to have been the practice at the Greymouth office on the occasion referred to, and the consequence is tbtit the English telegrams passed through this station to Westport on that evening, and were pnblished both in Hokitika and Westport before we had received auy intimation of the mail's arrival. We trust that greater watchfulness will be exercised for the future. Several miners returned to Westport by the Charles Edward on her last trip from Auckland. Regarding them the Westport \ Times says : — Some of the passengers.by the Charles Edward speak unfavorably of the prospects of this last great rush, and from their statements ; we are led to expect a good few diggers will return this way by the John Peun, on her next trip. The following letter which has been shown us, is from an old experienced miner, who recently left this district, and whose opinion may be relied upon as honest. He says:— "I write you the i following to let you know what 1 think of Auckland and the Thames Gold Fields. In the first place I don't believe in the future of tho Thames Gold Fields, there are a few very good claims, but hundreds of duffers. There are hundreds of men (many of them from the West Coast), walking the streets of Shortland every day in tho week. The country is pegged out for miles, in the neighborhood of Shorthand and Grahamstown, but very few of them are at work, the most of them are registered, and after a trial of perhaps a day or two, application is made to the Warden for protection for three months for the alleged purpose of getting machinery — I forming a compauy to work them. The West Coast miners are very dissatisfied with the diggings j many of them will return immediately. Any man making L 3 per week on the Coast should not come here with tho view of making more. L 2 per week is the wages here for diggers, or laboring men on the diggings, and there is little or no work to be had. Carpenters are getting 9s per day. You can generally tell what a new rush is by the rate of wages given. The best restaurant in the town of Shorthand (Barnell's) charges only eighteen-peuce per meal, and the same for beds. This is not like what it was on any of the rushes in Otago or on the Coast, that I have been at. The Auckland .papers keep puffing the Thames up as the finest gold field ever discovered, but they know very Jittle of gold fields, and thia th/sy will soon n'nd cut." ;