THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 656, 2 April 1870, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1870.

The steady incro ( se which is taking place in the prosperity of this port is clearly shown by the following figures. The revenue for the quarter ending 3lst March was L 14,615 3s lid; while for the corresponding quarter last year it was L 13.235 Is, showing an increase of L 1330 2s lid. The total revenue collected at the Greyra.outh Customhouse during March was La 138 Us lOd. The most numerously attended meeting evor held at Napoleon took place on Wednesday evening, when Mr Franklyn, M.P.C., addressed his constituents. A special report of the proceedings will be. found in another column. The County Chairman recently gave notice that all applications for renewals of publicans' licenses, which expire on or fourteen days before the 3rd May next, must be. lodged at the Resident Magistrate's office to-day. Another reading of the. Act is that renewals, of all licenses which expire between this and the September sitting of the Justices must also be applied for to-day. It is a disputed point, but publicans would do well to protect themselves by sending in. their application. On Thursday last a most unfortunate and melancholy accident occurred to two men. named David Djck and Dugald Cameron, whilst blocking out ground in a tunnel at Carrjbao Creek, a branch of tho Cock-eye. It seems that they hail been engaged since Christmas taking in this, tunnel, and bad got in upwards of 2(iO. feet, and not find iig anything payable at >hat distance, turned, back to block out a narrow run of gold that had been crossed when they were 90 feet from the mouth. Every precaution had been taken to secure the ground by timbering it hi the

usual manner, but on Wednesday last, when fclu-y were working alongside of soiua old gi'fjuml, they first perceived it to commence rnouing from the roof. Everything w.-is done to stop it, and ifc was then considered safe to work ; but on Thursday last, an hour after dinner, a largo body of earth gave way, smashing three sets of timber, and burying Cameron ami Dick. The other mates then gave the alarm, and the men from the adjoining claims soon came to l.'iid helping hamls to ex'ricata the unfortunate men. Tons of earth must have come down, and up to the timo the messenger bad been do" apatched to town to give the necessary information to the police, they had not been lcuovercd. It is needless to say that this melancholy accident has cast a gloom over the whole district. Cameron and Dick were very much respected by all who knew them. Both of them were in the prime of life, and sippiecil to be unmarried. Yesterday morning Mr W, H. lievell, District Coroner, left town for the scene of the accident, in case his services were required. On arriving at Marsdcn, he was informed that the bodies had been extricated Jate the previous evening, but both men ware dead. The bodies were shortly afterwards brought down to Marsdon, where the inquest was held, and a verdict; of " accidental death" was returned by the jury. In the afternoon, the remains of the unfortunate men were buried in the Marsden Cemetery, and were followed to their last resting place by the whole population in the neighborhood. The Postmaster received topographic instructions yesterday that for the future the postage to be charged on letters for the Australian Colonies, with the exception of Western Australia, is to be only threepence —the same rate as is charged between Greymouth and Oobden. . Mr W. Wilson informs the electors of the city of Christchurch that he does not intend to offer himself for re-election at the ap. proaching general election for members of the Provincial Council. A miner named Guillamme Sahatier has been killed by a fall of earth in his claim at Bullock Point, Ross. It is rumored in Hokitika that three fresh claims had struck gold on the Brighton Lead. Yesterday (says the New Zealand Herald, of March 23) was a big day with the fate of a portion of the Auckland press. The Evening New-i changed its management, the Evening Star its printer, and rumor 13 responsible for this much additional : — The Morning Advertiser published its last issue yesterday, with it disappeared the Thames Times, the Weekly Leader, and the Evening Star (Thames). The result of the Wellington races on the 30th ult. was as follows : — Maiden Plate : Commodore, 1 ; To Koo.i. 2. Licensed Victuallers' Purse, Maul of the Mist, 1 ; Rattling Raven, 2. Fiec Handicap: Flying Jib, 1 Cloud, 2. We "learn that the Independent claim, Liverpool Bill's, struck good payable gold during the early part of the week. This claim is bounded on the south by O'Brien's party (who have been on good gold since Christmas), and on the north by the Argus Company, which claim is now in 1000 ft, and expect to go another 150 ft. before striking wash. The Independent, it is said, will pay from LS to LlO per week. The men have been about seven months at work, and ! shares are at a high premium. The Independent and Argus have five-acre leases, and are worked on the same system as the Stony Lead claims. At Moonlight Creek near Qucenstown, Otago, a midnight attack was receutly made on a Chinese settlement. Immense stones were i oiled down a precipice on the tops of ; the huts, and an attempt made to burn two of them down. The assailants escaped in the darkness of the night. It has frequently been shown that in past years ammunition lias been supplied by Auckland people to the natives, a.ul has ultimately found its way into the hands of the rebels. There are whisperings of the same things again. It is said that powder is purchased for mining p jrposes on the Thames Gold Fields, and is there manufactured into cartridges, which are sold at good prices to the natives, and by them conveyed to the rebels. The Boundary Hotel, Boundary street, waß yesterday sold for £255. On Monday, March 21, the dead body of an infant was fonnd in a flour bag in the bedroom of a girl named Annie Greenway, at the Hua Village. The woman has been arrested on a charge of concealment ot child birth. It is said that the girl's brother is father of the child. In our last we stated that Mr Langdon's punt would be launched on Thursday next. It ought to have been on Wednesday next. The price of land is said to have risen greatly in Taranaki since matters assumed a more peaceful aspect in that Province. The contractors for the Port Chalmer a Railway, Otago, intend at the next session of" the Council to make application for leave to introduce a Bill authorising them to take compuJsorily certain specified lands. At the last moment, a number of gentlemen took in hand the matter of inducing unregistered citizens to place their names on the electoral roll for the Westlaucl Boroughs. A general canvas was made, and the result was the sending in of close upon 160 applications. Of these about 40 were changes of qualification, so that a very large addition will be made to the voting powers of Grey- J mouth. If the majority of those claims are allowed, it is believed we can outvote Hokitika iv any election for the House of Representatives. - A grand Easter Festival has been arranged by committees of the Oddfellows' and Forresters' Lodges, to come off on Easter Monday, in Fairhall and Willoughby's paddock. We find that the object for which the festival has been inaugurated has been generally misunderstood. It is to make a commencement in the creation of a fund to be called the Greywoutb Widows' and Orphans' Fuud. It will be a public fund for the relief ol'all widows and orphans who may bq loft destj-

tute, and we believe a more truly deserving object could not be brought before the public for support, The programme of sports is a very good one, and the prizes liberal ; but irrespective of that, we feel confident that the inhabitants will join heartily with the committees in rendering the fete a grcnt success. For tlie same oltjeet a ball will be given in the evening iv Gilmer's Hall. A painful accident happened on Friday last near the Totara. A man named Fred. Phillips was ;it work in the bush falling trees, when a tree, in falling, caught one of his Ijgs, and so broke and crushed it that the lower part of the limb was completely doubled up. The purser of the s.s. Wellington has been sued by the Postmaster at Otago, to rocover a penalty for neglecting -to deliver a mail package at Lyttelton. A f tor a lengthy hearing the defendant was fined L2O, with L 9 17s costs. Lordin aud party, who some time ago washed away the ground from underneath a number of houses adjoining the Charleston Herald office have purchased the section oi> which the Royal Hotel stands, with the view of wresting tho gold out of it. Their former speculation yielded them Ll2 a week per man but they anticipate that their present purchase will pay th^m still more. On the night of March. 18, a fire occurred at Waimea East, when the stable belonging to the Traveller's Rest Hotel, with some stores which were valued at about L4O, were totally destroyed . Mr Spanger was uuiusured. The cause of the fire is unknown. A serious fire has occurred at Wairarapa" Wellington. The property destroyed con. sisted of a farm-house, out-buildings, barn, stables, shed, Lc, and belonged to a farmer named M 'Master. It was insured in the New Zealand Insurance Company for LIBOO. The total loss is estimated at L3OOO. Stove quartz has been crushed from Kaitako, Taranaki, but no result has beeu obtained from it. More is being put through the machine. Mr r. A. Carrington, the Superintendent of Taranaki, has come. forward as a candidate to represent the Ouiata district in the House of Representatives. The quantity of gold forwarded to Westport from Charleston during the past week, namely 53000z 12dwt 18gr (six weeks produce) shows that the locality is still in a healthy condition ; were it otherwise, it is not likely that wagps should still continue at the high rate of 1.4 per week. The people of New spent during the year 1867 no les3 than L1,G99,000 on strong drinks, a sum equal to L 5 10s a head for every man, woman, and child in the Colony, or to LSO a head for the adult population. It does not often fall to the lot of a public journal to receive any acknowledgement for its labors. As a rule the public, Avhen not altogether silent, are more prone to discover and resent every little fault and omission than to acknowledge the services of their public writers. It is therefore a notable fact that Colonel Whitmoie has written to the editor of the Lyttelton Times, thanking him for the manner in which he had supported him while in command of the Forces. Gold, says a correspondent of the Nelson Examiner, has been found within the last few days at Taupata, a cieek a few miles this side of Cape Farewell, upwards of thirty specks of very thin but broad flaky gold having been got to the dish. Whether this will prove payable or not has yet to be learned. Mr E P. Sealey and a party have started from Timaru to Mount Cook, to take a series of photographic views of its glaciers. Among other objects, they mean, if possible, to reach the summit of the mountain. A flax-mill is being erected in the Mataura river, upon two pontoons moored in the stream. The chief advantage claimed for this idea is that the mill can be floated up or down the river to the flax growing upon its banks, thus saving the expense of the cartage of the raw material. Early on Sunday morning, March 27, Mrs M'Donald, (who, with four children, lives in a cottage belonging to Mr Cross, near to the property of Mr Baly, on the Beach, at Nelson,) was awakened by finding her bedclothes on fire and one half of the house in a blaze. With the greatest difficulty she got her children out of the burning building, no easy matter, as all are young, aud one is a baby of eijjht months, and another a sick child of three years. Mrs M'Donald was unable to save anything, and she and her children escaped only in their night attire ; unfortunately losing about LIOO iv notes, which her husband had left with her out of a sum of money he had received prior to going over to Colliugwood District. As Mr Lambert, an old settler in tlie Rangitiki District, Wellington, was riding homewards from Wanganui on , the evening of Saturday last, and on approaching the Toll Bar which has been recently erected across tho road, near the Putiki swamp, he set spurs to his horse with the intention of rushing past it. The keeper of the gate having on more than one occasion been defiauded of the toll by horsemen riding through it iv a similar manner, closed the gate, against which Mr Lambert's horse rushed, throwing lis rider heavily to the ground on the other side. Mr Lambert never spake after his fall, and died in about three hours afterwards. ; He leaves a widow and two children.