THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1869.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 536, 24 June 1869, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 1869.

The proposition which was announced in the Governor's speech at the opening of the Assembly to negotiate another war Umi, has been met -with stern opposition throughout the whole of the Middle Island, and is likely to be the means of arousing public attention to the necessity which exists for the people generally to take a more active part iv the politics of the country than they have hitherto done. In Otago we find that a strong Political Association has been called into existence, and a basis of action has been chosen, the main feaUi es of which are opposition to the proposed loan, because taxation is already unprecedentedly heavy for a young colony, and is paralysing industry; that in sharing with the North past liabilities in connection with Native disturbances the people of the Middle Island have already gone beyond every legal or moral obligation, and their liability must cease; that the means and resources of the North Island are sufficient to maintain peace and good government ; and, therefore, every constitutional means must be used to oppose the contraction of fresh liabilities on account of these disturbances. These ideas have been very generally adopted in Canterbury, where the Press has for a long time protested against this system of borrowing money aud adding to the public burdens of the Colony, for the purpose of keeping up a war iv the North, It has been pretty broadly stated that so long as borrowing is psrmitted so long will there be Native disturbances, and the question is asked where is the system to end ? The " Lyfctelton Timed" answers the questiou very poiutedly thus : — " The borrowing will end wheu the people of this island are sufficiently roused from their present apathy to take steps to forget it, At present, they shut their eyes to the evil consequeuces that must ensue from a continuous, rapid, and reckless increase of the public debt for purposes of a totally

unproductive character. They prefer ' to attend to their own affairs, and leave public business to take care of itself, J forgetting that what they are making j is being pledged to the public creditor as fast or faster than it is being made." This certainly is true, of the past, and any appearances of returning vitality on public questions, such as is now being displayed in some towns iv the Colony, must be hailed with satisfaction, especially at the present time when it is believed a dissolution of Parliament is imminent. If our telegrams are to be trusted, and we have no reason to doubt them, the Government will find themselves in a minority on Mr Fox's uorconfidence motion, and we have already received Mr Stafford's assurance that it is not his intention to resign, as he does not believe that there are men in the House able to form a Government which would command the confidence of the House, and he will, therefore, appeal to the country, In chat eveut, the questions upon which the elections will turn will be those to which we have, already referred, and it is therefore necessary that they should be well considered by the people, It is stated, upou good authority, that the members on both sides of the House, as at present constituted, have come to the conclusion that another loan is. necessary, the only question being as to the amount to be laised. But this i*esolution may be upset iv the event of an election — at least, a very strong effort appears to be making in the Southern Provinces to prepare for the emergency. We have no faith tliat this will result in anything more than a little temporary excitement, and the display of some party feeling. With the Government committed to the loan, and backed by the united forces of the North Island members, who ou most public questions usually vote in a phalanx, there is every reason to believe that another million of money is about to be frittered away in keeping alive Native disturbances. The Southern members have become notorious for their inability to vote in a body ; indeed, the phrase, " the divided counsels of the South," is becoming very common, so that little may be expected from them, unless, in the eveut of an election, every member is sent up i pledged to some scheme for the financial separation of thu klaiuls, whereby the liability of the South on account of war expenditure may cease. The details of such a scheme could be arranged upon terms which would suit the. residents in both islands, and which would neither involve the necessity for the abandonment of our fellow-colonists to the tender mercies ot savages, nor the mi!- -! posing upou the population of the Middle Island an interminable amount of liability on account of Maori wars. We would prefer to see such a scheme I advocated to that laid down in the new Otago programme, as it savors more of justice to all. Another narrow escape from fire took place yesterday in one of ihi row of houses above the pos: -office. From some cause unknown the paper above the fire-place suddenly burst out iv flames, and the house was saved by a woman havingthe presence of mind to pick up a bucket of water, which she was using at the time, and thi ow it on the flames. A general meeting of the Greymouth Volunteer Rifles is called for to-morrow evening, at the drill-shed, for the purpose of receiving arms and accoutrements. The new tramway line of Messrs Hamilton and Co. from Rutherglen to within threequarters of a mile of Card's lower store, New River, is to he opened on the Ist July. A pack-track will be made from the saddle, where the tramway ends to the store. It is announced that the charge for conveying goods (in conjunction with the Greymouth Tramway) from town to the saddle will 1 c L 3 pet- ton. A meeting of the Fire Brigade took place last evening for the purpose of inspecting the Brigade property after the late fire. Lieut. Hosie was iv command, and there was a good muster of members. The engine was taken to the Quay and the hose tested. Afttr having been repaired, it was found to be in a satisfactory state. The officers have, in the meantime, arranged to hold dry practices twice a week on Monday 8 and Fridays, which members are requested to attend, in order to become proficient in their drill. The party of miners on the Duke of Edin. burgh Terrace, and the other on the Greenstone Flat, who are engaged in sinking far the main bottom, have beeu granted by the Warden double areas of ground, iv order to encourage them in their work. The shaft on the terrace is liowovei 100 feet deep. Should the party on the flat be successful, the days of the Greenstone will return, for there is a great quantity of ground, and we hope then to see the ilafc occupied by successions of water-wheels, supplied by the Hohonu Waterrace Company, working in large companies. The Soutliern Cross has been informed that the commander of one of the vessels trading out of Auckland on the occasion of a recent trip to San Francisco, took with him a small parcel of quartz taken without prejudice from a quantity which had been tested, at the Thames by some of the machinery there, and found to yield nil or very little more. He 'had the sample crushed at San Francisco,

and treated by the dry process, when it produced gold at the rate of 35 ounces to the ton ! So much, for the comparative value of the two methods of extracting the metal. There can be very little doubt but that by the imperfect system of crushing and the faulty plans in operation for bringing the whole mass into contact with the quicksilver, a startling percentage of the gold is carried out into the "tailings." In the Calif ornian operation, per contra, the stone is ground to an impalpable powder, and proper means being adopted to bring the whole of the material into oontact with the mercury by literally shaking the mass up into a kind of dough, it is impossible for any particles of gold to escape. A meeting of the Paroa Road Board was held on Tuesday evening, for the purpose of hearing appeals against the assessment, when the following alterations were made : — John Descaciati, valued at L2O, amount struck out ; T. B. Leffiu, Rutherglen, L2O, reduced to Ll2 j W. Leffln, Limestone, confirmed ; KilgQur and Perotti, L3OO, reduced to L2OO, There were two other appeals, but no one appeared to 3upport them. The Board then proceeded with the ordinary business. The minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, and the correspondence and Engineer's report received, Mr Stansell moved, and Mr Colton seconded — " That the Engineer be instructed to call for tenders for making a four-feet packing track from Cock-a-Bulla to the Eight-mile."— Carried. Mr Hamilton moved, and Mr Colton seconded— "That the Engineer be instructed to lay off a track between the Eight-mile and Rosanna Terraces, and call for tenders for the same." — Carried. There was no other business of importance. A correspondent of the W. C. Times of yesterday states that "a rush has taken place to a large flat about fifteen miles fiom Ret!» man's. Messrs M'Leod, Wilson, jun., and party are the prospectors, and have lodged an application for a prospector's claim this day (Monday). The reports are very much coufused as to the depth of sinking and prospects obtained. The most generally credited are that the sinking is eight feet, and that the washdirt will yield about eight pennyweights to the load. 1 will, however, let you know further particulars on an early date. I The route to the rush is to follow the Mokinui I up about seventeen miles from the sea, just above the second gorge, when you strike' off towards the Wiata about four miles." The meeting of the Borough Council, which was to have been held on Tuesday evening, lapsed for want of a quorum. Capt. Whall's report on the late fire will have to be considered this evening. Amongst the notices of motion which have been given during the week is one by Mr Kilgour for discharging the servants of the Council, in consequence of the present financial embarrassments. The Tiniaru Herald says " that discoveries have been made during the month which brought to light the unpleasant fact that the Lyttelton and Christchurck tunnel, on which so much money has been expended, is vnsafe for traffic— the roofing and sides of the tuunel having been in parts badly finished off, so that there is danger of loose portions of rocks falling in. The permanent way was also condemned by the Provincial Engineer, Mr Thornton, as being badly constructed in almost every particular. Mr Paterson, Provincial Engineer of Otago, has been called in by the Government, and that gentleman endorses the opinion of Mr Thornton by saying that from £3000 to £4000 will still be necessary to be spent for the permanent security of the tunnel." In the Resident Magistrate's Court, on Tuesday, a few civil cases were disposed of. M'Goffin v. Kerby, adjourned for a week ; Crogan v. Bissel, judgment by consent ; Sarah Nickoz v. Henry Wick, claim for ' wages due, judgment by default ; Reuben Morrish v. James Johnston, claim for £20 7s Gd for wages, judgment by default ; Woolcock v. Leecher, claim for £6 6s, judgment for plaintiff.— Yesterday, Alexander Johnston was brought up on remand, charged with embezzlement, and was further remanded for eight days. We notice from a home paper that Mr James Taylor, jun., son of Mr J. Taylor, <f this town, has been appointed to the Com- i mission of the Peace for the county of the town of Carrickfergus. In our last we mentioned an accident which had occurred to a man named David Cobb, who fell off one of the waggons of the Hokitika and Greymouth Tramway, on Sunday, and was run over. We now learn that he never rallied from the effects of the ii - juries he had sustained, and died within an hour and a half of his admission to the Hospital. Everything that skill or kindness could suggest was done for him, but on admissiou to the institution he was quite pulseless, and there was not the slightest hope of his recovery. It is feared that another fatal accident has occurred in the Buller river. A Maori named Puhua is missing, and it is supposed by the Westport Times that he has been drowned. Oil the loth he went up the river, as far as the pah, in a canoe. Ou the following day the canoe was found, half full of water. The man has not been seen since, neither has his body been found. Steps are now being taken by the members of the medical profession in Christchurch to bring about a repeal of certain clauses in the Medical Practitioners' Act passed last session. The Nelson journals are very wroth at the "spiriting away" of Mr Lightband's antiseparation petition, the Colonist particularly, which winds up an article thus : — Some sage (we believe it was the English Punch) said nearly a, score of years ago that the "devil is an ass." And he was right, for roguery, after shivering on the narrow threshold that divides possible success from absolute failure, frequently o'erleaps the boundary, and falls, and fails, on the other side. Probably, no keener blow to the separation movement could have been given than that conveyed in this contemptible robbery. What will, the Legislature in Wellington say when it reaches the ears of senators.? Excluding a small per-

centage of political adventurers who li-^e by such wite as heaven has mysteriously given them, and who think to thrive on the vul* gareat agitations— excluding these, the House of Representatives is largely made up of gen* tlemen whose seise of right and uprightness will make them recoil from deeds like this, and who will think twice ere they give a large district, a large population, and many important interests, into hands whigh can descend to the employment of agents who, in the most practical fashion, justify burglary as means to an end. The Westport Times of Saturday states that some new ground has been opened within the past few days between Hatter's Terrace .and the sea beach. The first prospects were obtained in the sides of a creek between Christmas, and Hitter's Terraces, where about twq feet of washdirt were exposed, yielding five or six grains to the shovel ; the gold being of a heavier description than that got in the Hatter's lead. Several parties had pegged off claims, and are putting in tunnels. Probably, in a week, the character and value of the lead, if lead it is, will betested. The Sydney Empire concludes an svrticle contrasting the rejoicings on the reception of the Prince iv New Zealand and the Sorrows on receipt of tho intelligence of the Mohaka murders, as follows : — " flow much of the money and how much of the time exj'ended by the New Zealand colonists in the reception of his Royal Highue3s might have been more suitably devoted to the purposes of defence against the savage enemy whose deeds of ferocity and slaughter are carrying horror and despair into the bemes of the settlers may be, however, a question for the colonists themselves, and one that would have been worthy of consideration by the General and Provincial Governments." The new section of the Greymouth and Saltwater Tramway from Tainui street, through the Native Reserve and old Government Township to the junction at the Australasian Hotel, has been oompltted, and the carriages are now running. Messrs Kilgnur j and Perotti deserve praise for the enterprising manner in which they have carried on and completed this hea,vy piece of work, thereby opening up a large tract of splendid country, which will soon be taken up and cleared, and which would ere now have been studded with cottages and gardens if the original tramway company had laid down their line on this route. The office of the tramway in town h.is been removed to Tainui street, opposite the store of Kennedy Bro?.