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Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 563, 26 August 1869, Page 2

The annual election of one Councillor for each Ward is appointed to take place on the 9th September. The nominations must be made on the 31st inst. The retiring Councillors are, for the East Ward, Mr Masters ; Middle "Ward, Mr Ashton ; South Ward, Mr Strike. As yet, no geutlemeu are spoken of as probable candidates. A wholesale system of committing depre dations in the poultry -yards and fowl-houses in town has been carried on for some weeks past. There is scarcely an hotel-keeper who has not suffered severely, some having lost as many as thirty fowls within a very short period. A reward of £10 is now offered in our advertising columns for information that will lead to the detection of the thieves, and it is to be hoped this will have the effect of bringing them to justice. The third meeting of the Band of Hope took place last evening in the Wesleyan Church. There were between 70 and 80 children present, and a very successful meeting was the result. The Greymouth Quadrille Assembly now meets every Thursday evening at tho Volunteer Hall, at eight o'clock. In order to make the company as select as possible, a Committee has been appointed, to whom the names of all who wish to attcjnd must be submitted. The usual fortnightly meeting of the Grey River Hospital Committee was held last night, but up to nine o'clock there were only the following . gentlemen present — Messrs Lowe, Kennedy, Moss, Gilmer, Arnott, and Perkins. After some trouble a quorum was got together. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The country subscription-lists were ordered Jo be printed and circulated. Messrs Kennedy and Gilmer reported that they had not quite finished the canvass of the Upper V'ard, but so far had collected £90 12s, with promises to the amount of £12 19s Gel. Messrs Max. well an.d Maclean had collected in the Middle Ward, £43. Cs 4d. The Lower Ward has yet

to be canvassed. The report of the Committee on the general management of the Hospital was laid on the table, and the consideration of ifc deferred until the next meeting. Mr Lowe, on behalf of the Nelson Government, stated that he >vas empowered to pay the sum of £150, (the Nilson moiety of the additions to the Hospital), whenever the Westland Government paid its share. The Secretary was instructed to write at ouce to the County Chairman for the balance due, as the building is now completed, and the money urgently required. The Visiting Committee reported that there were thirtythree patients in the Hospital, and that the building was overcrowded. The new Ward was ordered to be opened immediately on being passed by the Building Committee. A letter was read from the Secretary of the Hokitika Hospital Committee, asking that the maintenance of an alleged Greymouth patient should be paid. The Secretary was instructed to repudiate all knowledge of the claim. The remaining business was unimportant. A private letter received by a gentleman in Christchurch by last mail from England, states that Sir George Grey, with his niece Miss Matthews, intended to return to New Zealand in August. This letter is dated May 23. ' The Canterbury Press is informed that on the 19th instant a new ship will sail from the old country, commanded by Captain Rose, late of the Mermaid, and which will bring to our shores 280 Welsh immigrants, the larger proportion of whom are about to establish a flannel manufactory on the Heathcote, whilst the remainder will embark in fanning parsuits. These newcomers will, we believe, receive a hearty welcome on their arrival, commencing as they will a new branch of industry, and thus affording valuable aid in developing the resources of the province. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Cobden, on Tuesday, James Maloney and Thomas Fisher were charged with assaulting Jeremiah M'Carthy in a public-house at No Town on the 19th inst. It appeared that the affair had been a public-house brawl, in which blows were freely exchanged by all parties. The defendant Fisher was discharged, and Maloney was remanded for a w»ek, for the production of additional evidence. Iv our last we announced the appointment of Mr F. Guinness as chief clerk to the County. It now appears from the proceedings of the Council on Monday, that a resolution was passed to the effect that no official appointments were to be made without the sanction of the Council. The appointment referred to will, therefore, require to be confirmed before it is gazetted. The set of boring-rods belonging to the Nelson Government, which were lost in the river, have been fished up by the Harbormaster, and restored to their owners. It is to be hoped that steps will be immediately taken to gazette the recently-erected Greymouth gaol. The building has been passed by the County Engineer, and will probably be paid for soon. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M., two drunkards were fined. Yesterday, before J, Greenwood, Esql, J. P., three drunkards were fined 10s each, and one £1 for an indecent exposure. Mr Warden Revell yesterday paid a magisterial visit to the Arnold district. From the Charleston Herald we learn that two dams have been carried away during the past week, in consequence of the heavy rains — one at Candlelight Flat, the other at the Four-mile — causing much damage to the claims in the immediate vicinity. The one at Candlelight contained an immense quantity of water, and, we are informed by some of the miners working on the flat, that had it burst during the night some of them would no doubt have been drowned. On Tuesday evening the creditors of the Borough Council, in connection with the ltoad Board debt, met by invitation iv the Town Hall, when the following terms of payment were offered by the Finauce Committee of the Council : — Bills at six and twelve months, bearing interest at the rate of 12 per cent, from the date of the bills ; with the understanding that should the Council become possessed of funds in the interval that the bills would be taken up. These terms were unanimously accepted by the creditors present. A Sydney paper of the 31st ult. gives the following item of theatrical news :— By the Aiicklond steamer, which will probably sail to-day, Madame Duret and Mr Le Roy take their departure for New Zealand, after a long and successful sojourn in this and the adjoiniu>< Colonies of Victoria and Queensland. Madame Duret and her husband will be welcome to the lovers of the drama in New Zealand, as being actors of tried merit, and of great reputation in their profession. The heat in India of late appears to have been fearful. In a private letter received in Dunedin from a gentleman in Calcutta, the writer says : — " We have had a most trying hot season this year. Men who have been here thirty years say they have never known anything like it for intensity and long-con, tinued uninterruptedness. I saw a gentleman two days ago who had just come. down from up-country, who says that hardly a train comes in but some one is found dead ■with heat-apoplexy. The only way he could stand it, during the journey, was by putting his head under the water tap at every station, and having a wet towel round his head between stations. The East India Railway Company have for some little time back 'kept ready-made coffins, of assorted sizes, at all the principal stations in case of emergency." During the consideration, of the Petty Sessions Act Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives, Mr Cracroft Wilson said — "If any honorable member would bring forward a resolution for purging the list of Justices of the Peace of the Colony, he would have his support. He knew from what he had heard of several persons on the list that the Colony would be benefited by their being removed from it, and in his opinion the sooner it was done the better," Mr Dillon

Bell followed and said—" He was glad the attention of the House was directed to a matter which, at the present moment, was a crying evil to the country. As one of the oldest Justices of the Peace in the country, he constantly felt, and did feel now, that the bench had been disgraced by some of those who had obtained the Com mission of the Peace. Not very long ago he had heard a report of one of the Justices of the Peace having been . found one day' in a state of drunkenness in one of the principal towns of the Colony, and that, on a subsequent day, he had taken his seat ou the bench, as a Justice of the Peace, and fined other people for being drunk. He had made enquiry as to the accuracy of the report, and found that it was true. He hoped that the House would legislate On the matter, and that there would be some support given to the Government to. take steps towards purging the Commission of the Peace, and only placing persons on it who were really fit to administer justice. " The Dunstan Times of the 14th inst. states that a narrow escape from drowning occurred on Friday last to Andrew Williamson, one of the men employed on board the Clyde dredge. It appears he was engaged in working the spoun, with which the dirt is brought from the bed of the river to the deck of the dredge, when the stop broke, and precipitated him headlong into the water. Being unable to swim, he sank below the surface of the water, and was carried with the current about oue hundred yards before he was rescued by some of the men who immediately I on his immersion jumped into the boat and put off to his rescue. When overtaken and picked up he was insensible, and remained so for some time, though every means was resorted to to restore consciousness. We are happy to state that he is again at work, apparently none the worse for his ducking. In consequence of the carrying of the Government resolutions to send home Commissioners to obtaiu the assistance of English or Ghoorka troops, Mr Wilson, Mr Gisborne, and Dr Featherstou are the gentlemen named as being likely to be offered the post of Commissioners. Although Mr Wilson's Ghoorka resolution has been carried,; very few people imagine that there is the slightest probability of Gitoorkas ever actually coming here, or that it is seriously intended either by the House or the Government that they should come. They might, however, if Mr Wilson was sent home with only one co-Commis-sioner, and it is quite understood that he has been promised one of the Commissionerships. To prevent his peculiar ideas doing any harm, however, he will no doubt be provided with a brace of colleaguas, and Dr Feathei stone has of course claims which cannot be overlooked. Mr Gisborne is known to be anxious to visit England, and as it would be difficult to fiud a much better man he will very likely be Commissioner No. 3. The Town Council of Alexandra, Otago, appears to be anything but a "happy family," judging from the description given by a correspondent of the Tuapeka Times, of a scene which took place during a recent meeting of that body. It appears that at the late election the Town Clerk recorded his vote for the Mayor, claiming his right of doing the same as occupying municipal property, viz., the ante-room attached to the Council Chambers. This formed one of the grounds of complaint in a petition presented to the Council, and, discussed on the occasion under notice. In the course of this discussion, Councillor Jack said that "the anteroom was built, no doubt, for the Town Clerk's convenience, and it was never the intention of the Council to take rent or levy rates on the same, aud he considered that the Town Clerk' had made a false statement in answering *he question (before receiving his voting paper) contained in section 21 of the Otago Municipal Ordinance ; whereupon the Town Clerk jumped from his seat and struck Councillor Jack in the face with his fist. The Mayor was the first to interfere. He caught the Town Clerk, and with some difficulty kept him off Councillor Jack. The blood flowed freely from Councillor Jack's nose for some time, and the floor of the Council Chamber, 1 believe, had its first coat of paint in the shape of blood."