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Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 595, 9 November 1869, Page 2

This being the anniversary of the Prince of Wales Birthday will be observed as a general holiday. The banks, courts, and public offices will be closed, and business generally will be suspended. A cricket match will be played on the Camp Resei-ve, at eleven o'clock sharp, between two elevens of the Greymouth Cricket Club and others. The following is the correct list of the sides chosen :— Dr Lee's side : Dr Lee, Messrs Horton, Thomas, Cochraine, M 'Dougall, Browne, M'Keever, Hoare, Fauckner, Wright, and Barnett. Mr Strike's side: Messrs Strike, Paul, Guinness, Poole, Boden, Kenrick, T. ; Kent, Hogg, Gleeson, Broadbent, and Mace. We learn that a rush has taken place to ground which was mentioned in one of our correspondent's letters about a fortuight ago, lying between the Saltwater Creak and the old lagoon lead. We expect to be in receipt of full particulars as to results in a day or two. It is high time that some steps should be taken by the Borough Council for the removal of the old Blake Town Bridge, which caused the boat accident on Saturday evening. Some of the broken piles are standing up ont of water in a very dangerous position, aud it would not cost much for labor to have the ruins thoroughly removed. The following is the result of the election of two members for the Grey District (Nelson side) in the Nelson Provincial Council, which t«/ok place on Friday last. We.have already published the returns at Cobden, and now give them from the whole district :—

The official declaration of the poll took place yesterday, when Messrs. Franklyn and Mackley were declared duly elected. As will be seen elsewhere, a meeting was held last nightat Co'oden to protest against Mr Fraiiklyn's return. Among the passengers by the ship J. N. Fleming, which recently arrived at Port Chalmers, were twenty men who had been engaged in Glasgow for projected boilingdown and meat-preserving establishments. Mr Moodie, the agent of the Glasgow firm who have entered on the enterprise, has for some time past been engaged in making preliminary arrangements. It is proposed to set up establishments at Kakanui, Oamam, Invercargill, C'utha Ferry, and Timaru. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, before W. H. Kevelt, Esq., R.M, John Hawker, charged with having been drunk and incapable, was fined L 2 or four days' imprisonmeut, as he was a frequent offender. Charles Rhodes was charged, on the information of Richard Shannon, with having made use of insulting and abusive language, calculated to provoke a breach of the peace. He pleaded that he had ample provocation, from the manner in which tie complainant had annoyed him about a business matter. He was fined LI and costs. A smart earthquake shock was experienced in Christchurch and neighborhood about six minutes to one o'clock on the morning of the 3rd inst. The direction is generally stated as being from north-west to souih-east. Signs of progress in the usages and arts of civilisation are not wanting at the Fijis. The first step towards the establishment of a Customs' tariff has been taken by the clu'efs of Bau, who, at a meeting held for the purpose of considering the matter, agreed to impose a duty on spirits of three dollars per case, or eighteenpeuce per bottle, An addition also has been made to the amusements of Levuka, where au American bowling saloon has been established. Billiards wure introduced into the place some months ago. Oue of the narrowest escapes from the death of a family by drowning that it has ever been our duty to record occurred on Saturday afternoon, on the. Lagoon at the South Spit. Mr Harry Kenrick, Clerk to the Resident' Magistrate's Court, with his wife aud four children, and accompanied by his brother, Mr Tom Kenrick, Warden's Clerk, had gone out fora pull on the Lagoon, and had dropped down as far as the rive?. Returning, they had to pull hard against the ebb tide, and consequent strong current running out of the Lagoon. While shooting through one of the spans of the old Blake Town bridge an oar had to be unshipped, and before it could be replaced the current cmght the bow of the boat and drove it broadside on to one of the piles of the bridge. Instead of the boat staviug in, as was expected, the old ricketty bridge came down 0... top of the boat and swamped it, throwing all its occupants into the water. A struggle for life then ensued, as they were all in deep water, and none of them could swim. ; and what took place for a few minutes is not very clearly recollected, but Mr H. Konrick certainly caught hold of a pile which had.

fallen on the boat with one hand, and Mrs Kenrick with the other, aud she, in her turn, was supporting one of the children aud trying to keep its head above water. Thinking that the boat would right, Mr H. Kenrick pushed it from under the pile, when the boat turned completely over, and he caught an oar, which supported him, until the boat drifted down against him, when he got on the keel with hia wife and one child, and was drifted about forty yards below the bridge, but the strong current prevented them getting ashore until Mr Gleeson arrived to the rescue in a boat. In the meantime, Mr Tom Keurick had been struggling to save the other three children, and by a gallant effort succeeded iv keeping a hold of them, while all he could do was to stand against the strong current. The cries of the party soon brought assistance, and Mr Chestenuan speedily came to the rescue, got out his canoe, and tock the children ashore. All the party were then safe, and we must say that, considering the circumstances, a more providential escape never came under our notice. The Wairampa Mercury writes: — "To show the mildness of the season, we may mention that the Maoris have been busy the last week, catching a kind of fish similar to the trout, in the Waipona river, they state that they never were able to catch them in this mouth before, owing to the quantity of water there always is in the rivers during this month. They prophecy a dry hot summer with the rivers (already sufficiently low), entirely dried up." A public meeting for tho purpose of making arrangements to hold sports in Greymouth was held about a week ago in Gilmer's Hotel, but owing to the limited attendance, it was re3olved to adjourn the meeting till last night, so that a good working committee could be elected ; but from the apathy displayed by the residents, the meeting was not held — not more than half-a-dozen individuals being present, who, after waiting for sorce time, left the room. It seems s-trange that Greymouth should be so far believed in tills particular in not providing sports! at Christmas for the amusement of those who come from all quarters of the district at that season to spend their holidays, and avail themselves of a week's relaxation from their hard every-day life. No doubt they wil* s .ek other fields and pastures new, and as Hokitika, Westport, Charleston, Ahaura, and other places are providing sports, these centres will naturally have the ad-lition of those who would otherwise have visited Greymouth. We hope that the business portion of our community will consider this matter and yet take steps -to provide at Christinas the usual sports. The following is an extract from a letter written by Mr Comiskey, late of Greymouth, from the Thames gold fields, to Mr Cassius, his late partner here :— " The people surely must be mad to keep coining here. Ido not know what they are going to do. Ninetenths of the claims on the Thames are not worth a 2>enny. I could name hundreds of claims that have been formed into companies and tlieir scrip sold at big prices, that are not worth anything to-ilay. Unless something turns up soon, there will be lots of people i^JaJ to roturu to ll«>kitika." Very satisfactoiy news has been brought to town from the Golden Hill claim, which adjoins the famous Moonlight claim, and also holds ground on the opposite side of the creek. Practical miners have been at work for some weeks going over this company's ground, and last week they came across two quartz reefs, one of them three feet wide, on the opposite side of the creek from the Moonlight claim. A piece of quartz, large enough to be easily carried in the hand, was knocked off the reef and brought to town. It was tested by experienced persoiiS in a mortal", and gave a first-rate prospect, fine gold being seen in abundance. . The result was considered so very satisfactory that additional men have been put on to sink on the reef and drive, in order that it may be fully tested. THe whole of the company's ground has not yet been gone over, and something better may yet be struck. A meeting of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade was held in their hall, Boundary sti pet, last evening. There was a very good muster of officers and members. After some explanation from Captain Whall as to the working of the couplings, the Brigade proceeded with engine and apparatus to Mawhera Quay, in order to have practice. The new stand pip* 1 , manufactured by Engiueer Sewell, was fouud to work admirably, and gave much satisfaction to the Brigade. Thi3 pipe, which is 28ft. long, and cost £17, was fixed temporarily opposite the Albion Hotel, one end in the rivei and the other projecting from under the planking. In this position the suction hose is easily coupled on to the staud pipe, and a great saving of time on the old method as the coupling was completed and a jet of water produced last night in about twelve seconds. It would be a great benefit to the town, and security to the inhabitants if five or six stand pipes were provided and' distributed along Mnwhera and Richmond Quays. The Brigade, after playing jets of water along the front buildings from Kilgour's Hotel to the Albion Hotel, packed up, and' processed homeward. The New ZealaM Ecaminer, a paper devoted to New, Zealand affairs, and published in London, recommends Colt's revolvers, in whicli an important improvement has beeu made, as a suitable weapon for use in tho North Island. On Saturday, says our contemporary, there was an exhibition at the Crystal Palace Rifle Ground of a remarkable, an-) at the same time simple, improvement in the Colt's well known revolver. The time having arrived for the abolition of caps and nipples, the Colt's Company, have cut away ajl such things, and made their revolver a central fire one, aud have, by the addition of a simple band, made it also capable of extracting either loaded- or empty cartridges, and, by an ingenious arrangement of parts, have placed at the service of the professor an apparatus for the reloading of the shells. As our readers must be aware, it is the making of thc.se that constitutes one

of the great expenses of ammunition. After the pistol has been fired, by the turing of an band, an extractor is brought to bear upon the empty shells, and by the mere cocking and snapping of the pistol they are one by one expelled ; then by ibe removal of a slot or " key," the chamber ia removed, and the loading apparatus takes its place, and by the help of its various parts and the ramrod the empty shells are reloaded. The chamber can then be replaced, and the pistol got ready for action. In the trial on Saturday everything that was promised to be done by or rather on the part of the pistol was satisfactorily performed. As a bush weapon it would prove of great service .to those who have now the hard work of finding aud fighting the rebellious Maoris of New Zealand, as they would not be reduced to Kuch entire dependence upon ready-made cartridges as they now are— the inventors assuring us that each of the shells may with safety be guaranteed as good for twenty shots. We recently announced thai for the present the negotiations, with regard to the construction of the Nelson and Cobden Railway had been broken off. Since then the General Government has taken an interest in the matter, and has addressed the following letter to the Suprintendont of Nelson : - "Sir, — The Government have observed with regret a statement in the Nelson newspapers to the effect, that the negotiations for the construction of the Nelson and West Coast Railway, authorised by the Provincial Council of Nelson, to be entered upon in England, have not been successful. It has occurred to the Colonial Government that the Commissioners whu are about to be sent to England on behalf of the Colony, may be in a position to assist in promoting your railway. Recognising, an the Colonial ' Governmen- do, its importance, both from a Provincial and also a Colonial point of view, the Government have great pleasure in offering to instruct the Commissioners, bhouLi you desire it, to ascertain whether anything could be done in the matter. Should difficulties exist at present, it is probable that the Commissioners m,iy be able to come to some arrangement by which, with the approval and aid of the General Assembly, such difficulties may be overcome. I have, &c, W. Gisborne."

Jobden 1 Ah aura r apoleou 102 53 40 2 Total 129 74 58 31 Franklyn Majkley Boase ... Wilkie .. 14 7 18 29 13 14 0 0