Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 527, 3 June 1869, Page 2

It was reported yesterday that a new rush had taken place to new ground which had been opened in the neighborhood of Callaghan's Creek, but the particulars are not yet to hand. A meeting of the Presbyterian Church Committee is to be held this evening, at i Johnston's Melbourne Hotel. Hcnochsberg and Co. 'a smelting works are Inow being erected on the Great South Road, about a quarter of an hour's walk from New Plymouth Post Office. The election of officers of the Greymouth Volunteer Rifles wiU take place at a meeting of the. Company, to be held at the drill-shed' to-morrow evening. At Huiranpi, a son of Mr John Raymond has been scalded to death, through a kettle full of boiling water falling off the fire, and its contents being poured over the child. A meeting of the Separation Committee was held last evening at Gilnier's Hotel— Mr M. Kennedy in the chair. The petition to the General Assembly was finally adopted, and will be transmitted to Wellington per s.s. Alhambra on Friday. The remaining business was unimportant. Wo believe an illustrated chromo-litho-graph map of Greymouth is in course of publication, which promises tc eclipse anything of the kind hitherto published in New Zealand. The illustrations, which embrace most of the merchants' and hotelkeepers' premises,, will be copies of photographs expressly taken by one of our local artists. Tho plan is correctly dra^n by Mr Cooper, and when mounted on linen, varnished, &c, with rollers, will doubtless be a valuable souveneir of the West Coast many years hence. We learn from the Daily Times that on the baivks of the Kaikorai River, there are now in full operation two flour mills, partly driven by steain.powcr ; four wool-scouring establishments, and two flax dressing mills, employing a considerable number of hands. An adjourned meeting of the Greymouth Local School Committee was held yesterday afternoon in the Council Chambers. Present — Messrs Keogh, Parkinson, Glenn, aud Thomas, the latter in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. Messrs Thomas and Glenn reported that they had canvassed the town west of Boundary street, and found that 204, under 15 years of age, resided there. Messrs Parkinson and Keogh reported having visited the town east of Boundary street, and found there 271 children under 15 years of age. The numbers attending the various schools were reported as follows : — St. Patrick's School — i.n the roll, 73 ; average attendance, 41. Mr Thorn's School— average attendance, 40. Mm Fairhall's School — average .ittendiince, 20. Mrs Johnston's School — on the roll, 40 ; average attendance, 28. Miss O'Connor's School — average attendance, 12. The Committee were of opinion that an allowance of 50 should be made for omissions, which would br' lg the

number of children in town up to 525. The following motions were then agreed to : — Proposed by Mr Parkinson, and seconded by Mr Keogh — "That the Committee are of opinion, mid recommend, that school .accomniodation should be provided for 250 children. " Proposed by M r Glenn, and seconded by Mr Parkinson — " That a building 30 feet by 60 feet he recommended as suitable to accommodate the above number." Proposed by Mr Koogh, and seconded by Mr Glenn — " That Messrs Thomas and Parkinson ascertain the probable cost of such a building, with two brick fire-places, desks and forms." Proposed by Mr Keogh, and seconded by Mr Glenn — " That £250 per annum lie stated as the probable remuneration for the teacher." Proposed by Mr Parkinson, and seconded by Mr Keogh- -"That the Committee report to the County Chairman that no arrangements have been made between this Committee and any of the existing schools, but would recommend that some arrangement be made with St. Patrick's School, as it is conducted in a very satisfactory manner." The Committee then adjourned until 4 p.m. on Friday. The Nelson papers report the sudden death of Mr James Cook, of Eiwaka, one of the first settlers in that Province. He came out on the preliminary expedition in the Will Watch, which sailed from Graveseud on the 27th April, 1841, arrived in Wellington on September 4th, and. entered the harbor of Nelson on November 3rd of the same year. Had he lived until November next, he would have been twenty-eight years in the Province. A roan named 'William Simpson was carried in from the Eight-mile to the Hospital on Tuesday evening, suffering from severe injuries caused by a tree falling on him on Sunday last. On examination it was found that he had sustained a compound fracture of the right leg and other severe injuries, but he is now progressing favorably. He was brought to town by about fifty miners, who carried him in relays the M'hole way. They deserve great credit for the readiness with which they always come forward to as&ist their unfortunate mates. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday there were only a few unimportant small dfebt cases heard. Yesterday J0h .... Miller was charged by the Inspector of Nuisances with allowing two hoi ses to wander on the streets, and was fined 10s and costs. The case Elizabeth. Kevcll v. Thomas Gath was called on, but there was no return of the service of the summons, although it had been in the hands of the police on the Nelson side since the 20th ult. It was stated that the defendant was in town, and a fresh summons was to be taken out. Alary Buggy v. Deuis Buggy ; no appearance, case dismissed. A report, says the Taranaki Herald, has reached New Plymouth, through a native, that the Mokau natives will commence lighting against the Europeans at the end of June, and not before. Tito Kowaru, we hear, is without ainnmnition of any kind, and his followers are getting very dissatisfied. We hear that they have expressed th<ir willingness to surrender, if they thought they would not be killed. Tito Kowaru wishes to make for the Mokau, but the friendlir.s are determined to intercept him if he does. While we in Greymouth are paying lOd. and Is. per Ih. for mutton, we read in the W. C. Times that mutton should be, and, indeed, is, retailed cheap in Hokitika, for sheep are being almost given away. A large number were admitted to auction on Tuesday, and fetched only from 3s. 6d. tc 9s. per head ; those at the latter figure being really good. When the value of the skin is taken into cons'deration, it is certain that the butchers have an ample margin for profit, even if they sell at million prices. In Dunrdin. the. other day, half-sheep were being retailed at. Is. and joints at 6*l. each. ■ The Superintendent of Nelson cabled a public meeting after the session of the Pro vincial Council had closed., and soundly lectured the Councillors, especially the West Coast representatives, for some ol their actions. Speakif gof the reductions which they had made in salarie^, he said:-- There should be no mere cheeseparing, as was shewn over the West Coast items ; for in an expenditure for salaries o* s,ome LIO,OOO or L 12 ,000, the large reduction*of L 37 10s was only made. They seized on one unfortunate officer, of course made no inquiry, knew nothing about it, and reduced his salary. In so doing the Council were most unfortunate, and I will state vhy. Mr Dent, whom many of you may know, has been for some time in the service of tho Government, and being an old coal miner, we put hun in authority to manage the coal-mine, in addition to his othei duties as road overseer ; and very well he had managed the mine, though receiving no remuneration for so doing. I had wished to increase his salary, but having reduced others 1 did not do so, yet the Council in its fit of economy, tookLSO off Mr Dent's salary. Now the loss of his sei vices to the Government might result in hundreds or thousands of pounds of injury being sustained, so I shall tr.ke care — although his salary has been reduced — that he is properly remunerated. I state this case in order to show that the reduction was made without reason, without inquiry. The usual fortnightly meeting of the Grey River Hospital was held last night at the Albion Hotel. Present— Messrs Lowe (in the chaiv), IJevell, Maclean, Greenwood, Hamilton; Gilmer, Masters, Lapham, Perkins, Amott, Paikinson, and Kenrick. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The Visiting Committee reported that 16 patients had been admitted during the month, 14 discharged, and two died, leaving 24 in the hospital. The accounts for the moi)i;h, amounting to L 249 10s 9d were passed, and ordered to be paid. The Treasurer reported having received L3O from the Oddfellows' and Foresters' Fete Committee, and also having received the subsidy of LIOO for the month of April from the Nelson Government, but not from the Westland Government. A conversation took place with regard to additional buildings for the hospital, and the Secretary was instructed to w rite to the County Cha' man for tho amount

voted at the last session. A unanimous vote of thanks was accorded to the Oddfellows, Foresters, Eechabites, and Volunteers, for their valuable donation to the hospital (L3o)j the proceeds of the late fete. Messrs Greenwood, Gi'mer and Parkinson were appointed the Visiting Committee for the month. A conversation took place regarding the annual meeting, and it was agreed that two canvassers on behalf of the public be appointed to each Ward to colleot the annual subscriptions, previous to the election of thenew Committee. The f unda thus raised will bV., at the disposal of the Committee to be elected next month. The following gentlemen were appointed :— Upper Ward— Messrs Kennedy and Nichol. Middle Ward — Messrs Sheedy and Maxwell. Lower Ward — Messrs Ashton and Moor a. A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the business. On the day of the piorogation of the Nelson Provincial Council, the following resolution was arrived at: — " That this Council would be wanting in its duty towards the penple whose interests it represents, if it failed before the close of the present session to enter its most earnest and emphatic protest against any further division of the Province, being convinced that such division coul I only lead, among many other evils, to the costly and needless multiplication of offices, and consequent addition to the burdens of the people generally, without conferring any special benefit on any portion of the Province." A man na i ned John Viebrook, residing hi theHalswell district, was accidentally killed in Oxford Terrace, Chriatchurch, the other day. It appears that he was driving a horse and dray laden with timber, and when near the junction of the Terrace with Cashel street, the horse bolted, galloping towards the Hospital. Deceased seized the reins, and with another man named Henry Moiss, used every effort to stop the horse, but without avail. They ran by the side of it until opposite St. Michael's Church, when, by pome means the timber in the dray struck them and knocked them both down. Deceased fell under the wheel, which passed over the upper part of hia chest and neck, and Moiss had a very narrow escape. Those who witnessed the accident raised deceased from the ground, and carried him direct to the Hospital, but he died just as they were entering the building. We recently stated that grave suspicions were entertained that Mr Sampson had been drowned while riding between Westport and Cha-leston. On this matter the Westport Times of Saturday says : -Another accident happened on Tuesday at the Totara river, midway between Westport and Charleston . Mr Isaac Sampson left the latter place on horseback, and was Jast seen to the southward of the Totara by one of Mr Loring's men. Afterwards Mr Loring found a brown horse -the horse which deceased had ridden —washed up on the beach to the north of the Totara. Active search has since been made by members of the police force from Westport, but no trace of Sampson has been found. On the night before he had been present at a ball in Charleston, and started too fatigued and excited to undertake the careful crossing of dangerous rivers. Another death by drowning is thus reported by the Westport Times : — On Thursday the police received information from Robert Cross of a fatal accident to a man named John Haw, one of the men employed by Mr Bray, the contractor for the formation of the track along the perpendicular cliff on tho Buller river known as Hawk's Crag. The men were at work blasting the rock. There were two charges^one of which did not explode. Haw was in the act of going to ascertain the cause of its failure, although warned by Mr Bray, and, when in the act of doing so, m' slipped over the rock, fell into the river, and disappeared. The deceased, who was a native of Yorkshire, had for some time resided in the Buller district. The accident happened at four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon.