Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 627, 25 January 1870, Page 2

The public meeting called for last night to consider the distribution of the County's revenue was, by resolution passed at the Committee meeting yesterday afternoon, postponed until this evening, when it will be held at Gihner's Hall, at 7.30. At the conclusion of the proceedings, a public meeting will be held of all interested in the forthcoming Greymouth annual races, for' the purpose of electing Stewards for the current year. We understand that the drawing in the art union of the Thames Investment Company will take place on the 29th. No tickets will be issued in Greymoutb after twelve o'clock this day, so that intending investors should apply at once to the agent, Mr G. W. Moss, Albert street. Mr Bagafc, the Secretary to the Victoria Racing Club, will visit the various ports of New Zealand by the s.s. Gothenburg, to arrive on the 31st inst. he will be prepared to offer advantageous terms to. owners of race horses to be sent to Victoria to the club for the season 1870. • Mr John Hamilton (the Greek) met with a serious accident on Thursday, 20th inst. He, was returning to tho Ahaura after paying a visit to his farm down the river, in company with Mr Thomas Terry, and when close to the town his horse stumbled and fell. Mr Hamilton was jerked from '4s seat, and before he could recover, his feet Mr Terry's borse, which was coming on behind at a smart pace, ran over him Dr Cooke was immediately in attendance, wheu it was found that two of Mr Hamilton's ribs were broken... He is progressing favorably. The return crioket match between Hokitika and Greymouth will be played here about the second week in February. Two little girls, the children of Mr B. W. Daniels, Queenstown, Otago, have had auarrow escape from being poisoned by eating tutu berries. The prompt admiuistrationof an emetic, it is said, alone avprted fatal consequences. A meeting has been held at Charleston for the purpose of establishing a public library. The adjourned meeting of the Borough Council was held on Saturday morning at ten o'clock. The annual statement of receipts and expenditure, and assets and liabilities, was passed. It will be found published in another column. One chain of the coal- wharf was l«t to D. Maclean and Co. at I A per year. As the Mayor was. about to proceed to Wellington, it was lesolved, on the ino'ionof Mr Wickes, seconded by Mr Strike, to authorise him to seek an interview with the Government for the purpose of endeavoring . to obtain for the Borough Council power to > lease the unsold auriferous lands within the Borough for mining purposes, and, if possible, to. have them declared a municipal reserve. Commodore Lambert has received instructions from home to give every assistance in . his power to the colony. Over twenty . different parties, varying from two to five men each, are engaged on the beaches near to the Racecourse Hotel, near Charleston, washing black, sand. Some of them are making as much as LI 2 a week per man, while all are earning more than wages. Great indignation has been' expressed in Auckland, because the cab-driver, who lately killed a man by furious driving, was let off wifh a fine of LlO. We are informed that Mr Watt has pur : . chased Mr 11. Stafford's. mare Nebiila. In Auckland a man has. been bound over to keep the peace in two sureties of £10 for boxing his young wife's ears becausashe was playing " kiss in the ring." A private letter from England states that the new Bishop of Auckland had met with an accident by which his leg had been. hurt. His, leaving Kngland, it is said, will be delayed a month in consequence. .. A cont act has been entered into, for the erection of a Boman Catholic Chapel at Cromwell, Otago. The price is L3BO. Almost all the young trout have disappeared from the ponds iv the Acclimatisation Gardens in Christchurch. A handsome Jewish synagogue has just beeu completed at Wellington, at a cost of about LI2OO. It is situated on the Terrace. .A great deal of rowdyism is going onat the Thames, and it has been found necessary to increase the police force there. The first dredge was to be launched on the Shotover, in Otago, last Friday. The Cromwell Guardian speaks of this as a most important work. The price of nobblers was lately l.educed to 3d each at. Upper Waipori, meals to Is, and stabl-ug wts made free, iv reveuge agaiust certain liotelkeepers who have combined to support a cheap b itcher from Tuapeka, who has guaranteed to supply mutton at 2£d per lb. for six ujoutlm against the iuteresbs of a squatting lord, who is jdso possessed of hotel property. " It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good/ and at present travellers and minors receive the benefit, as Waipori had always previously been noted for high prices. At the Itcsideiit Magistrate's Court on Monday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., 11. W., George Evans was charged with being. drunk and disorderly, and assaulting and resisting tho police in the execution of their duty. He rt sisted feo violently that he aevorely bruised Constable Fliuma<;an's hands, and lie was

only taken by the aid of the. night-watchman. J For the first oifence he wag lined T4 or 48 hours' imprisonment, and for the second LI or three days' imprisonment. Francis Downing admitted having been drunk and incapable, and was iined 5s or 2-4 hours' imprisonment. Matthew Callan was charged- with disorderly conduct in the public street. He was abusiii i his wife, and the constable ' saw him knock her down twice on lliohmond Quay, Fined LI. Susan Callan was charged with a similar offence. She had been screaming on the street between three and four o'clock in the inorning, and previous to this she had b,eeu very disorderly in her own house, She admitted the offence, was fined LI, and cautioned as to her future behaviour. J. Pelander, Mason, and Peter, were charged on the information of Samuel Williams with wilfully and maliciously filling in and destroying a drain-vaoe of the value of L 5. On the application of Mr Perkins, the case was remanded until Monday next, to allow a survey of the ground to be made, The Mount Ida Chronicle says th§ Otago Provincial authorities have recommended to the General Government the immediate extension of telegraphic? communication to l^aseby. The Southern Cross— Mr Vogal's organurges that the next session of the General Assembly, which will probably be opened about May, should be held in Auokland, The OfQjawell Argus, (Otago) of Wednesday las.t, tells us that the heat at that place for the previous week had been intense— the thermometer standing in cool shade at 95 degrees, and in the sun at from 120 to 130 degrees. The Provincial Council of Marlborough is dissolved. The Mnvistery declined to recommend his Excellency to accede to the petition for the removal of Mr Eyes from the Superin tendency, consequently he remains in the office until his successor is elected. . Dr Hector was at Patea on the 29th Deoember. He writes that he has visited the eastern slopes of the Kaimanawa ranges, but has been unsuccessful so far as the positive discovery of gold is concerned. The Southern Cross has received a piece of information which is. highly important. Mr John Watson, who came into town to. meet his brother, who arrived from Sydney in the City of Melbourne, has made n. discovery which will probably have a most important effect on our export trade. Some time ago he found a plant which had all; the appearance of being suitable for manufacturing into material for rope. He tested some of it, and found that it produced a very excellent description of fibre, and was surprised, on inquiry, to learn that it was Manilla hemp. The plant has beeu growing in considerable quantities for years in the localitj', and it is supposed that some seeds were stwn by some captain of the numerous ships that used to visit the North. We are informed that the specimens- -of • ■■Manilla hemp found by Mr Webster, are of a very healthy kind. The W. C. Times reports the mysterious disappearance of a young man, named Marshall, a clerk in the Union, Bank, Hokitika. The cause of his disappearance is not known, arid it appaars that his accounts are in the most perfect order. It is said that the New Zealand Gove;n. meat guarantees payment of the- charter of the steamers engaged for the California mail services, and that they also contemplate having a submarine cable laid from Sydney to the West Coast. The appointment of. Jackson Keddel?, Esq., (of the firm of Broad, Haughton, and Keddell), as Field Warden at the Thames, is cciinrmed, and we are informed that he will enter upon his new. duties the first week of February. He will, of course, retire from the firm above-named. The Thames Advertiser of the 14th inst., was requested to state that a number of gent Jemen, formerly; parishioners of the Eev. Father L.-irkins (who is on a visit to this place), are about to form themselves into a committee to .give him. a token of their esteem and respect, and that it has beui informed that the above gentleman, as tLe Catholic pastor of the Waimea district, n the County of Westland, was uuiviraal'y. beloved and respected by his parishioners. In a recent telegram it was announced that the. body of a European had beeu found murdered in the Waikato. The following are the details :— John Lyons was. engaged erecting a fence on the banks of the Puniu stream, which is a tributary of the Waipa. While so engaged he had divested himself of his coat, in order to be able to work .with greater freedom. The coat lay on the fence near where he was working. A native named Kiharoa, who saw the coat, seized it and ran away ; and Lyons, who observed tbe act of the. native, pursued him for a shoit distance in order to recover his property He succeeded in overtaking the thief, and a scuffle ensued, in which the native drew a knife and stabbed Lynns, iv such a manner as to disable him. The villian then got the a: c with which poor Lyons had, been working and tomahawked him. frightfully about the head. Having killed Lyons, the JVlro.i stripped the body and threw it into the river, where it was subsequently found. Some miners playing " poker" in a tent at Ohinemuri, the other day, had a quarre 1 , when oue, named John Kinna, was shot. The following details are from the Thames Advertiser: — The players were James Sheridan, John Kinua, and Joseph Heynolds. Sheridau, who is iv charge of a tent belonging to a man named Allan, had won some money pre-vi<>u.-ly, which, on Wednesday and, Thursday night, he lost again. About five o'clock on tbe morning of the 13th inst., during the game, Sheridan had a goorthand, and pulling out L 5 which belonged, it is said, to Allan, he staked it. Joseph Eeyuolds, who had four queens in hishaud, took up the bet, and won the money. Sheridan at once rose, went down to the river side, and as.ked the loan of a revolver from a man named Dixon, saying he wanted it to shoot the dogs who were "stealing his grub." He then went back, presented the pistol at Ecynolds and said, "Give me the L 5 or I will shoot you.''

I Kinna, who was near, said,- "You —?—, shoot me." Sheridan at once fired at Kinna, the ball entering -his side, He . then turqed and presented the pistol at Reynolds, who took the L 5 out of his pocket and laid it down. This Sheridan lifted, and went off. Some of the men then dressed Kinna's. wound as well, as possible, and sent him down to Shortland, where he was received into the hospital. Sergeant Lloyd at Qiifie communicated with Mr Puckey,'\vho wrote a strong letter to Ea.patii cUreobiughim to give all as-:< sistance he bould to the police. Poligemen were at once despatched, and it is likely that the culprit will soon be captured. Kinna, the man who was wounded, is an American, and Sheridan a native of New South Wales. At latest dates the wounded man wag pro-; grossing favorably, and two policemen, with three natives, were, on the track, of Sheridan. The following tram.\vay ; accident .at the , Thames is recorded in the loc^il papers :— A little after halkpast niuq o'cLiqk on the 13th instant, about twenty of the men employed? on the tramway at Tararua were giving the last trial trip of the splendid carriage erected under the superiutendency of Charles Q'Neill, Esq, , and were goin.g at a speed of two or three miles per hour, and were entering on the curve . a little below Gibbons' or the Flora Macdonald battery, when, by some caus.e or other', which ia not yeb fully known, , ' wag overturned, and fell down the embankment about five feet, when its. progress was arrested by the trees. A few feet more down the line and the cars and occupants must have been hurled iuto the creek— a distanceof twenty =five feet — when the los 3of "life; must have been terrible. As it is, most of the men are severely cut by the glass, andj with the exception of one man, Bennett, who f.-actured his leg, and is attended by Tr Weekes, the men have every cause to be; thankful that the accident tookplace where t did. ■■■•■■'■ '