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Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 707, 30 July 1870, Page 2

We learn that the Christy Minstrel company, which should have opened according to announcement at the Volunteer Hall last night, are detained at Westport for a steamer. They will now visit Hokitika first, so that they may not be expected here for at least ten days. There lias been no business of any importance before the Resident Magistrate's Court for the last few days. The half-yearly meeting of the Greymouth Jockey Club is called for Monday evening, at Kilgour's Union Hotel, at eight o'clock. His Honor Judge Ward sat again in the District Court on Thursday to finish the bankruptcy business. In the application of R. J. Scoltock for a final order of discharge. Mr Perkins appeared to oppose on behalf of Messrs Strike and Blackmore. After the baukrupt had been examined, and several witnesses called in opposition, the Judge said it was clear from the evidence that when the bailiff went out to the bankrupt's place with a warrant, he gave a false account of his property, so as to deceive the bailiff ; and although he was not then bankrupt, yet the. circumstances warranted him in ordering that the order of discharge be suspended for three months. On the motion of Mr Guinness, Mr Keniick was appointed trustee in the estate of Joseph Graham, a bankrupt. The Court then adjourned sine die. The usual meeting of the Borough Council was held in the Town Hall last night. Present— The Mayor (in the chair), Councillors Wickes, Parkinson, Purcell, Moara, and Coafces. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. A letter from Stephen Roff was read requesting that a sum of L2O be paid him for work done to the river bank. He was forced to .make this application as he was in very destitute circumstances, and would be prepared to give a receipt in full of all demands on the Council. Received, and consideration deferred until next meeting in consequeuce of the small attendance. — A letter from Mr Simmons, complaining of the state of Tainui street, was simply received, as the contract was progressing. — Messrs Kennedy and Nichol here entered the room. — The Finance Committee reported, that a claim of 15s for labor at afire, should not be paid, as the claim was not made for a year after the event ; and that the steam-engine be not let for the future. - Mr Kennedy objected to the latter recommendation being recorded, as an event might happen requiring it. - Several members supported the report, on the ground that the sum obtained for the hire of the engine would not cover its tevr and wear. Report received and adopted, — The Town Clerk reported that satisfactory guarantees had been received for all the works passed at the last meeting, and the works let to the contractors, with the exception of the one for gravel, about which there was a misunderstanding. The tender was 2s 5d per yard, but the contractor thought the Council would pay the 9d a yard charged for taking it from Kilgour and Pevotti's gravel-pit. The Town Surveyor explained that he led the contractor to believe thafrthe Council would pay the 9d ; that the price was iv reality the same, whether taken from Preston-road or Tainui street, aud that the Tainui street gravel was the best for road-making purposes. — It was resolved that the contractor be allowed to take the gravel either from Taiauioi- Preston-road pits, and that lie paid 3s &1 per yard. Last night Mr Robinson was to move in tho County Council "That for tho absence of each member of the Council during the session, the sum of fifteen shillings per diem shall be deducted from the amount of honorarium, voted last session. Justice appears to be administered with severity by the Auckland Justices of the Peace. At the Police Court, on the 16th July, William Pell was sentenced to three months' imprisonment, with hard labor, for breaking a branch a Cyprus tree, to make, as he alleged, a walking-stick. As previously annouueed, the Bi3hop of Nelson will hold a confirmation service in Trinity Church to-morrow morning, and the Rev Mr Flavel, from Charleston, will preach in the evening, The Bishop will also preach at Cobden at 3 p.m. on Sunday. A man named Adams met with an awkward mishap near Cardrona (Otago) lately. At eight o'clock in the evening he fell into an old shaft, 12ft in depth, and was unable to scramble out until three o'clock next morning. In so elevated a region as Cardrona, and with the tempestuous weather then prevailing, tho wretchedness of those seven hours may be imagined. A Committee of the County Council has been appointed to arrange as to terms with the projectors of a bridge over the Hokitika River. In reference to this matter the County Chairman Baid :- He had had an interview with the projectors, and the terms they asked were, as near as possible, those that the Council were willing to grant, and had been contained the committee's report. They required a guarantee of 20 per ceut. on L6OOO, and that twenty-fivo acres of the reserve on the south side of the river should be set apart for their use and occupation. They did not ask that that laud should be .alienated, but only uuvdo over to thorn for

seven years, or for a shorter term should the bridge revert to the County at an earlier date. They agreed to the tolls and charges as agreed to by the County Council, and a grant of a hundred acres of land not far from the bridge, but not close to it. This was the whole basis of their demands, .and he thought them favorable. He did not think any difficulty would arise, and he hoped now that the resolution that he had moved on the previoua day, empowering him, Mr White, and Mr Robinson to enter into final arrangements, would be passed. The charge for tolls would be but slight, and would only yield a fair return for the capital invested. Mr W. Evans, has been elected a member of the County Council, in room of Mr Reeves, resigned. ■- •- The Estimates have been passed by the County Council. The proposed reductions in the salaries of the police was not agreed to. . Mr Travers has tabled the following notice of motion on the subject of trial by jury, in the House of Representatives : — "That, in the opinion of this House, ib would conduce to the satisfactory administration of justice if, upon all trials of issues by jury, the decision of a majority, representing riot less than two-thirds in number of the jury, might be delivered as the verdict of the jury-" Brown paper has been manufactured in Melbourne from New Zealand flax. It is said to be much stronger than the paper manufactured from ordinary materials. The formation of a harbor at the Thames is advocated by the local papers, on the ground that the extent of the trade of the district renders it necessary. The following is the extract from. Dr Featherstou's letter, read by Mr Yogel in the course of his closing speech on the Governvernment financial policy :- "The 'city' is jubilant. Our credit stands higher— far higher — than it has ever done. I shall be deceived if our securities do not leap up to an extraordinary extent. Now you may raise any amount you please at a low rate. Capitalists feel that the Imperial guarantee for a fresh million is ample security for them for any loan put upon the market on the colony's owa credit. There is no longer any occasion to hawk our treasury bills through the Australian colonies. You have simply to asfc and receive ; but you must have-no change of Ministry. Capitalists tell me that they are now ready to assist the colony iv any enterprise at all feasible. All believe now in New Zealand's future.'' . There is a rumor in Wellington that Mr Yogel hasjreceived a telegram from Dunedin asking him to stand for the city in the event of a dissolution. An inquest was held on the 14th July, at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel, Queenstown, on" the body of Paul Dexter Miller, aged 28, who was accidentally killed by falling down an old paddock at Moke Creek, on the previous day. It appeared that on the 13th July he had dinner with a Mr Thomas Lynch, a storekeeper at Moke Creek, and afterwards left to proceed up the creek, and when about 200 yards from Mr Lynch's house he was seen to slip and roll down the side of the paddock, which had been worked to the depth of 100 ft. Mr Martin, who had seen him fall, rushed at once to the spot, but found him dead. The jury returned a verdict of "accidentally killed," and thanked the miners at Moke Creek for their praiseworthy conduct in conveying the body to Queenstown. The " Westland Waste Lands and Reserves Bill " came on for the second reading in the Assembly on Thursday evening last when the Premier moved that it be discharged from the paper, at the same time stating that one of the VVestland members would shortly ask for leave to introduce a more comprehensive measure on the same subject. A Macraes (Otago) correspondent writes : " Mr M'lntosh, banker, and Mr Graham, reporter, had a narrow escape from drowning while crossing the Taieri river near Macraes. Their horses would not face the stream, and bolted, so that their riders had to walk back to Hyde and thence to Macraes. The County Council has resolved to discontinue the subsidies for the Southern Steam service ; but a sum of L2OO has been placed on the Estimates to be expected in this direction should any emergency arise. The roads in Southland appear to be bad. An Invercargill paper mentions that a dray carrying 2 tons 6cwt, recently' took a wees to travel fifty miles. An accident, unfortunately attended with loss of life, happened at Shag Point, Otago, on Tuesday, 19th July. Three men named John Cook, Eric Wickstriam, and William Green, in the employment of Mr Hutcheson, of the Shag Point coal pit, were, on the afternoon of the day in question, going off- to a schooner in a boat, and when at some distance from the shore, the boat was capsized. Cook and Wickstriam, who were able to swim, were, after struggling with the water for half an hour, drowned. Green, who got hold of an oar, clung to it, and drifted in amongst the rocks and kelp. Some of his comrades, who had witnessed the accident, swam to his rescue, and he was brought ashore senseless. He has since partially recovered. In consequence of the heavy sea on, the bodies of the drowned men have not yet been recovered. The Wellington hvhpendent of July 23rd contains the following : —We received at a late hour last night the two following extracts from the letter of the San Francisco correspondent of the Otago Dally Times, one of which will be as satisfactory to the people of Wellington, as the other will be to the ; Postmaster-General, iv reference to the mail i service, present and prospective, between New Zealand and the Pacific terminus of the Trans- American railway : " Halliday and Webb both agree if either obtains the contract that Wellington should be the port of calJ, two steamers running from there, one to Melbourne and one to Sydney." The other extract runs as follows : — " I give the words exactly as they were spoken by a gentleman of this country, high in standing, and thoroughly understanding the subject under discussion : ' That Postmaster-General of yours is a darned smart man ! If he had waited till Melbourne aud San Francisco had taken the initiative New Zealand would have been left out in the cold, aud forced to put lip with some small steamer or another running to the Fijis. Now, neither Halliday nor Webb cmi ignore your colony. Yes, sir, you. have got the inside track !' " Miuing matters at Switzers, Otago, according to tho Wakatip Mail's correspenAench, are looking up again ; some of the sluicing claims at Winding Creek are paying handsomely. At Muddy Flat, miners are doing very well. Payable gold is being got at the White Combe, and a good road to that' place is all that is required to open an extensive and payable gold field. At the Nokomai mining matters are also looking healthy. A new hotel has been opened there this month to meet the requirements of that Phsenix township. A Wellington contemporary alludes as follows to the demands of hon members for copies of Parliamentary papers :— " The voracity of hon. members for the extremely instructive and entertaining literature emanating from the Government Printing Office is really astonishing. Only a day or so back, Mr Reynolds, chairman of. the Printing Committee, brought up a resolution from that body, recommending that hon. members should be supplied with five copies of each

of the papers laid before the House. If this is carried into effect, it will become absolutely necessary to provide separate apartments specially built to contain the printed pabulum of hou. members. This extraordinary desire for blue books and other light literature has now assumed a new phase. On Tuesday evening* Mr Haughton tabled a motion to the : following effect :— 'That a copy of Mr Justice Johnston's "Justice of the Peace" be supplied gratuifcoualy to each member of the Legislature, with a view, we presume, to prepare for their. arduous labor as J.P,!s. If. this motion be carried, there will really be no ehel to the demand of hon. members, and the Government will have no alternative but to attach a printing establishment exclusively to* the Assembly fdrthe'use of hon. mom.bers." . r ; "L'etat? e'est moi !" said Louis XIV. , and, following his example, the Auckland papers may be said to exclaim— "New Zealand? Auckland is New Zealand!" An illustration of this is to be found in the AiicMand Herald of the 6th inst. Speaking, in its Summary for Europe, of the departure of the first San Francisco mail, it says that 'The Wonga Wonga, conveying the mail, took her departure with such nicety of punctuality as redounds to the credit of the province." Following up this statement, we may say that the non-arrival of the Wonga Wonga with the last inward mail until ten days after it was due. "redounds to the discredit of the province," which should therefore be made to pay the sum (about L 200) due by the General Government t6 the owners of the Phoebe for detaining her until the Wonga Wonga arrived. This, however, would not suit Auckland at all, its motto evidently being that of the Scotchman whosaid — " What, something for naething ? Tak' plenty o' that ! :> A Wellington correspondent gives the following bit of gossip regarding the Ladies' Gallery in the House of Eepresentatives : — "Last night and to-night, the Strangers', Ladie3',and Speaker's Galleries (I name them, in the order of their size), were inconveniently crowded. The Ladies'; Gallery is in no way screened off, as in the House of Commons, and the young ladies leave their bonnets in some ante-ro*m, and with their seam in hand sit down composedly for the evening. A continued chat,withintennittenttittering,iskept j up the whole evening, and from time to time i sundryglancesareshotatsomegay Lothario in the House below. Coffee is served up to them by an ungainly policeman, and the most'eloquent periods of the speakers below are sometimes unfortunately interrupted by (the rattling of) plates ! The other day, the gallery was suddenly put into a great flutter and commotion by the appearance of a Maori lady, the wife of one of the Natives below. A duenna called her children close to her side, and sat in a corner indignant at the intrusion, while the new visitor, with the till admirari manner of a duchess, looked on unconcerned. The young ladies next whom she sat colored to, the .temples, and the whole scene would have formed a pretty subject for an attitudinising painter. The blushes of the young ladies, the alarm of the old, the irrepressible giggling of the girls, and the nonchalance, of .the native lady, who seemed 'to the manner born,' afforded us of the Strangers' Gallery an agreeable study." ' -.