Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 620, 8 January 1870, Page 2

! j A sale, of town and suburban sections is appointed to be held at the Resident Magis« trate's Court, here, an Tuesday the 18th inst. The numbera of the sections to be sold will be found in another column. The. Oounty Counoil meet for the despatch ' of business on Wednesday next, A rumor was afloat yesterday that Mr James O'Brien, better know as " Sunny .boy" of Napoleon Hill, had been drowned at Langdon's. Ferry. Prom enquiries made last night we have reason to believe that the rumor has no foundation whatever. Surely there are enough of cases of drowning in the Grey River without individuals causing such senseless rumors to be put afloa + , A grand pic-nic is to be given at the Coal Creek Gardens by the proprietor, Mr C. Boaae, on Tuesday next, Jan. 11. The Greymouth brass band will be present, and the tickets of admission entitles visitors to a free passage to and from the grounds. Particulars will be found in detail elsewhere. The annual meeting of the shareholders of the Moonlight Quartz Mining Company took place on Thursday afternoon, at the office of of the Company, in Tanui street — M. Kennedy in the ohair. There were also present : —Messrs. W. H. Revell, H. Kenrick, Kirton, Wy^de (Manager), and others, The report of the Manager as to the progress made during the past ysar, and tjbe. trial of the machinery was read. It stated that the machinery was now in working order j that a small quantity of stone had been put through from which ljozs of retorted gold was taken ; and that the steady crushing will be commenced next week. Mr Wylde resigned the office of manager, as a thoroughly qualified working manager may shortly be expected from Victoria. The balance-sheet showed that — " The total expenditure up to 31st of December has been L 2.234 11s, leaving a balance of capital amounting to L 1365 9s unexpended. The small amount expended showß that the works have been carried on at an exceedingly moderate cost." The report of the Directors was also read, but it contained nothing of general public interest. Messrs Revell and Winter were elected directors, aud the meeting was adjourned for a fortnight, in order that a complete financial statement may be laid before it. A man named Joseph Soniers has been drowned at Hamilton, Otago, by the upsetting of a boat ou Messrs Brenmer Brothers large dam at that place. Mr James Gray, of the White Rocks, was bathing with two other persons near the Maori ford, Kakanui, Otago, when he was observed suddenly to sink, and never rose again. It is supposed he was seized with cramp. The body has since been recovered. To-day we publish the balance-sheet of the Greymouth Sports Committee, showing the very satisfactory result that after all demands were met a balance of L3O remains on hand, which is available for the funds of the Annual : Races, which take place on St. Patrick's Day. One noticeable feature this year is that all the contributions promised have been paid, with the exception of LI 11s, whereas in former years the ' ' unredeemed pledges" used to am6unt to nearly L3O. The beach workings at Waikawa, Otago, aye turning out well. About 20 men are employed on them, and their average earnings < are stated to be IA per week. The greater portion of the gold is sent to Invercargill, . where it is sold for 4s an ounce more than is obtained for it in Dunedin. A Tokomairiro paper, Otago, states that 1 the contract for the erection of the fjght- > house at the Nuggets has now been comi pleted. The erection of the lantern has been commenced, and is expected to be completed \ t in about two months. . During the recent hot weather at Toko- , mairiro, Otago, the thermometer registered r 98 degrees in the shade and 125 in the sun. By way of Napier, native intelligence is to han 1 from Taupo. Te Kooti was at Tauraaranu on the 29 bh December, with a force r 300 strong. On Major Kemp and Topia adL vancing, Te Kooti letreatad to Rongorora, where he says he 'will make a stand against Kemp. Te Waru, an Urewera chief, has left 1 Te Kooti, and desires to surrender, hub is afraid to do so. Colonel M'Donnell has sen! r word, " Come in, and your life will be 3 spared." Te Whenuani, auother Urewers " chief, has sent word he will go to Ohinemutii 1 whenever he receives word he will be re 1 ceived. Heavy floods have prevented M 'Don J uell's and Kemp's advance. i A man named John M 'Lines was drownec i whilst attempting to cross the Mohaka river, 3 On Monday week, at Waipukurau, Hawkes - Bay, a lad named Harry Hollis, son of th< c I late Robert Hollis, was killed through a fal q from his horse. He is supposed to have beei r racing, and the horse to have fallen and rollec \ over its rider, but no particulars are to hand a The Gazette contains a notice of the ap t- pointnient of Thomas G. Macarthy, Esq., am £ John Henry, E.sq.^ of Charleston, as Justice a of the Peace. A Wellington correspondent writes :— Fo , the last ten days or a fortnight the weathe here has been of a most singular kind. Per fectly calm, very close, muggy, and opprea sive, and with, frequent thunder storms an< showers. On one or two occasions the light ning was very viyid, and at Karori, one 0 our new suburbs, it played some sprang '" freaks.. In one place l what seemed a balj <i >> fire struck a wire fence, ran along it for som y distance, then darted off to a large, tree n.ea ;hand, split it into fragments, and set tfc 5 " fragments o» fire. A servant girl who wa '6 ; cleaning knives in the house wasj struck b; 1- lightning and almoßt blinded. She manage) li to run outside and. the. heavy ra\n soon re

stored her, but sue was very much shaken, and had a narrow escape. The absence of the. wind for which Wellington ia celebrated, is by no means an unmixed blessing, for without its wind, Wellington, devoid as it is of all sewerage, would be one of the most unhealthy towns in the Colony, The odours along the beach are anything but nice after the long Qftlinjj^^ye had. The coal hulks in harbor are pu^Rd by windmills, and are visually kept quite llry by the agency of the wind ; but, as during the last ten days there lias scarcely been a breath of air stirring, the bulks have been in. danger of sinking, and gangs of meu have had to be employed to do the work which the wind haa. always performed heretofore, During the present week we were informed of a nice " little scene," which occurred in the Cobden police-court, but as our reporter was not present we withheld mentioning it until further enquiries had been made, We are now satisfied that what follows is sub stantially correct :^— When the charge of malicious injury to the machinery of Wilkie andjparty's claim, North Beach, was called on, the constable who had charge of it was cautioned by the Sergeant not to cross-exam> iue the witnesses, as "in this case the police did not prosecute." However,, the constable did ask the first witness a few questions, and elicited some inipoJH'aub information. The Sergeant then stepped in, and again cautioned him as to his procedure. \vhen the next witness had given his evidence, the Magistrate asked the constable if he had any questions to ask. The reply was in the negative, and the Magistrate, naturally surprised, inquired the reason. Ths constable then abated that he had been cautioned not to ask the witnesses in this case any questions. The Magistrate again wanted to know " what this meant," but the constable could only say that he had received instructions not to crossexamine. For the credit of the Nelson police force, and those from whom they receive their instructions, we trust that some one will be able to contradict this statement of facts*. If not, we can only say that it is one of the most disgraceful proceedings we have ever heard of in a court of justice. We regret to learn that after all the time, labor, aud money expended on the WetherBtones deep shaft, Otago, the hopes of the" promoters of that work have been disappointed. According to the Tuapeka Times, the bottom has been reached, but, unfortunately, it has not proved the subterranean Eldorado some sanguine prophets foretold. On the 20th inst., the whole working plant and machinery, &c, were sold by Mr Hay to Mr Mackey, Wetherstones, for Ll6 10s. The Committee are, of course, rather chagrined at the failure of an enterprise they have so gallantly persisted in amid all sorts of difficulties. We regret that the state of Mr Mark Sprot's health has compelled h ; in to leave for home per s.s. Onieo. An unusual number of cases from Greymouth will occupy the attention of the Supreme Court, which sits at Hokitika on Monday. The following is the list : — Charles MartaDe, assault with intent to commit a rape ; Hugo Schurbert, cutting and wounding ; William Thompson, uttering a valueless cheque and two cases of forgery ; Jane Lloyd, larceny of money ; Annie Bates, concealment of child-birth ; Charles M'Gachie and Jessie M 'Gachie, wilful destruction of property of the value of L 23 10s. The number of witnesses engaged in these cases is 33, whose conveyance to Hokitika and back, and expenses while there, must amount to a very considerable sum. The most of this expense could be avoided if a sitting of the Supreme Court were held here at intervals — say a day or two after the sitting at Hokitika. The expense to the County is a small item in the matter compared with the very great inconvenience and loss in business which accrues to 33 witnesses when they are compelled to proceed to Hokitika arid ; remain there, some of them perhaps for a week. Now that our Court-house is being enlarged, and made respectable even for a sitting of the Supreme Court, it is to be hoped that the chanpe we have indicated will be speedily brought about. At the Resident Magistrate" s Court, yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M., the case Alabaster v. Armstrong, a charge of wilful destruction of property, was called on. Mr Perkius appeared for the complainant, and stated that the case had been settled out of Court, the amount of damage done having been paid. The Magistrate could not consent to a charge of this nature being dealt with as stated. It was not the mere money vjilue of the property destroyed that was involved — the law had to deal with persons who wilfully destroyed property, and they might even be committed for trial. He ordered the parties to receive notice that the case would be heard on Monday. The Wellington Gas Works Compauy is going on satisfactorily, and the whole of the capital (L 10.000) has been subscribed. The company will probably be incorporated in the course of a very few days, and the plant will be immediately ordered.