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Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 720, 20 September 1870, Page 2

The English Mail via San Francisco is expected this morning by the s.s. Murray from Nelson.

We believe it has been decided to drive a stand-pipe for the fire engine, in case of fire, in the right-of-way iv rear of Perotti's Commercial Hotel.

A new rush set in to the Teviot Creek, in Duffer Gully district, last Thursday. The prospects are said to be very good.

There was no business whatever at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. This speaks volumes for the orderly character of the residents and the large number of visitors who thronged the town on Saturday to see the foot-races.

The treasurer of the Grey River Hospital begs to acknowledge the sum of L 2 10s as a donation from John Gloy and party, Maori Gully, Arnold, paid in by Mr A. Murphy, storekeeper.

An extraordinary general meeting of the Grey River Steam Tug Company is called for to-day at Kilgour's Union Hotel, at four p.m., for the purpose of considering the advisability of declaring a dividend. A rush took place during last week to Black Jack's Gully, about half way between the Twelve-mile Landing and No Town. The prospecting claim is situated on a terrace, and there are now three claims on gold.

A series of pedestrian matches took place on the Greymouth Racecourse on Saturday afternoon, between Patrick Twohill of Greymouth and Robert Howe of Hokitika. There were to be five events, at different distances, the successful winner of three out of the five .to receive the stakes — LIOO a side, and the title, "Champion of New Zealand." Howe has long been known as the best runner on the West Coast, and as very little was known of the performances of Iwohill, except that he carried off some of the best prizes at the Thames Christmas Sporta last year, the betting was much in favor of Howe. Groat

interest was taken in the matches, and there must have been over GOO persons on the course, a large number of whom came from Hokitika, Westport, and up-country. The weather was beautiful, and the ground in very good condition. Both men stripped in fine form for the work they had to do. The first race was 200 yards, and a good start was effected, "the men getting away well together, and running at a tremendous pace breast and breast for half the distance, when Twohill gradually drew ahead, and won a splendid race by about ten yards ; but it was noticed that whenever Howe was fairly passed, he slackened his speed. The second event was 150 yards, and the description of it could only be the same as the first; Howe evidently running his best during the first 100 yards. At this result there was tremendous excitement on the course, and a very large amount of money changed hands. The time was very good, but it cannot be said to have been taken accurately, because the start was a running one, and the pistol was not fired until perhaps two seconds after the men were off. As near as it can be quoted, the time for the 200 yards was 23scc, and for the 150 yards, lCfsec. Howe then gave in, but came to the scratch for the third event, but allowed Twohill to run over, thus finishing the matches, which were expected to extend over two days. Mr Joseph Kilgour, Mayor, acted as judge, and Mr Hurst as starter. The stakes were paid over yesterday to the successful competitor, at this office.

On Saturday evening the scrub behind the protective works took fire, but it was quickly extinguished. There is no doubt this was caused by throwing hot ashes on the scrub— a most reprehensible practice, especially iv this warm weather.

The Rainford Christy Minstrels gave their last performance in Greymouth last night, in the hall of Kilgour's Union Hotel, in consequence of the Amateur Dramatic Club having refused to give way, and allow them the use of the Volunteer Hall, in which they have performed since they came to the district. The house was not a paying one, as it was impossible it could be under the circumstances, but it snowed that a considerable number of the residents sympathised with the manner in which the Minstrels had been treated. The troupe left for Westport or Nelson at five o'clock this morning by the s.s. Kennedy. ■ ' "

We perceive that Cobb and Co.'s wellknown line of mail coaches in Otago has changed hands. Mr Chaplin ha? retired from the business, and Mr F. P. Mansfield, so long and favorably known as the manager of this important service, has become proprietor.

A foot-race took place on the Race-course yesterday forenoon between D. Twohill (brother of P. Twohill who won the Saturday's races) J. Rankin, and U. Kerr. The distance was 150 yards, the first prize to be L 8 and the second L 2. Twohill won by about three yards, Rankin second, and Kerr third.

The Amateur Dramatic Club gave an entertainment in the Volunteer Hall last evening. The house was pretty fairly filled, but it was not one that would nearly cover the expenses incurred by the club in putting the pieces on the stage. The members have themselves to blame for this, by refusing to postpone their entei tainment in order to allow the Christy Minstrels to give their final performance in town, and thus dividing the play-going public between two houses— neither of which could possibly pay. The first piece producedjwas ";Black-eyeH Susau," with almost the same cast as when we last noticed it, with the exception that Miss Lucy Ashton, a young actress of considerable promise, had been brought from Hokitika to sustain the part of Susan, and she played it very well. On the whole the piece dragged heavily, and was .only, moderately— .well. . played, even for amateurs. In the interval, the presentation was made of the Champion Silver Belt, presented by the members of the club, to Mr P. Twohill, the winner of the series of foot-races on Saturday last. The presentation was made by Mr Raphael, but the belt was gracefully handed to the winner by Mr Howe. The after-piece was " The Tragedy of Seven Dials. " The Mayor of Cork, upon retiring from office, has received a testimonial, expressive of the joy of the snbscibers that "he has cleared the town of prostitutes by obtaining passages to Australia for them." This, says a contemporary, is a new, convenient, moral (?). and effective plan oi purging society of its worst elements, and promoting the great work of colonisation. The challenge of Young Austin, the champion of Australia, to run any person in New Zealand one mile, giving 100 yards start, is taken up by William Penticost, of Rangiora, Auckland, the race to come off about the 20th inst. *• The |Nelson Government, we understand, are alive to the importance of opening the Karamei by a better road than now exists, and a party of men were sent recently to lay out and form a track from the Graham over the summit of Mount Arthur Range to Salisbury's Open. The snow on the range was, however, an insuperable barrier to the work beinnr proceeded with, but as soon as the state of the ground will admit, the work will be resumed. The sum of L2OO voted by the Council for forming this work is very inadequate, and it is clear nothing like a good track can be made unless the vote is considerably exceeded. Mr T. Hirst, of New Plymouth, proposes a plan for shipping and landing goods there by means of a wire tramway. The cost, he estimates, will not exceed L4OOO. Mr James Osgood, licensed victualler, Melbourne, and formerly of Dunedin and Wellington, has filed a declaration of insolvency in the former city. The causes of insojvency are described in the schedule as follows : — Losses sustained at the Thames goldfield through a defaulting broker ; losses from sale of property, and fallina off of business as a licensed victualler. His liabilities are set down as L 1473 16s 7d ; and his assets at LI 043 11s 3d ; making a deficiency of L 430 5s 4d. The following reply to the petition of miners, praying for the withdrawal by bis Excellency of the powers delegated to the Superintendent of Nelson, and the establishing of Mining Boards on the Nelson Southwest Gold Fields, has been received by the memorialists :— " Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, August 29. —Gentlemen— T have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your petition to the Governor, praying that- his Excellency will withdraw the powers delegated to the Superintendent of Nelson over the South-west Gold Fields, and will give effect to Section 56, Part IX. , of the Gold Fields Act, 1866. His Excellency cannot be advised to entertain such an application, on the ground of merely a general expression of dissatisfaction with the excess of delegated powers of the officer to whom such powers are delegated. Specific charges should be made, in order that the delegate may be called on, if requisite, for explanation, and that the Government may be enabled to judge between the parties. With respect to the formation of a Mining Board, his Honor the Superintendent of Nelson will, as Governor's delegate, with whom the consideration of the matter rests, have his attention called to the prayer of the petition.— G. A. Cooper, Undersecretary."

The Thames Mining Board, in a report to the Superintendent of Auckland, make the following recommendations: — " In the bylaws now submitted to you, your Houor will

find mention made of an officer— a Field V/ardeu— who docs not now exist upon this gold field. We should be most unwilling to recommend the creation of any Difica that would increase the cost of administration of the gold field ; but in this, and in another case to which we shall shortly refer, it appears to us that the good government of the field absolutely requires that disputes, such as encroachments by the holders of one claim upon the ground of another, should be settled upon the ground ; and we know by long experience of the system as carried out in Victoria that it is the most economical, the most speedy, and the most satisfactory to the miner. The other case to which we would refer is the appointment of an officer to see to the enforcement of such portion of the regulations as regards due precaution being taken for the safety of life and limb. In many cases within our knowledge life has been lost, and is constantly being endangered, by reckless neglect of even reasonable precautions ; and we see no way of avoiding this, or of checking an evil which is daily becoming of greater magnitude, save by the appointment of nn officer, a part of whose duty it shall be to see that due care and precaution is taken on behalf of the public."

A cargo of seventy tons of Collingwood coal has been shipped _to Wanganui in the Waihopai.

A Committee of ,the General Assembly, to whom a petition from the original Wangapeka land-buyers \Vas referred, reported that " they were unable to arrive at a satisfactory solution of the difficulty."

A waggoner, named William Colgan, got stuck with a load of goods near Mount Ida. Otago. He asked assistance of a fellow waggoner, which was refused ; and, in despair, hanged himself to the roof of his waggon.

A company has been formed in Auckland for the purpose of improving the breed of cattle in the province by the importation of pure-bred stock from England. The capital is LIOOO, in 200 shares of L 5 each.

A Maori clerk in the Government offices at Wellington, has been detected supplying official information to the Natives. It is presumed for transmission to the rebels.

At the late meeting of the Westland Education Board the following subsidies for the six months were voted to schools in Greymouth :— Mr Thomas's school, L4O ; the Catholic School, L4O ; and Miss Faii-hall's school, L2O.

The schooner Mary took with her, from Westport to Melbourne, a quantity of the Mount Rochforo coal. The specimens thus exported were brought down by pack-horses from Coalbrook Dale. In quantity there was about five hundredweight— sufficient to serve as a sample of what the splendid coalseam exposed at Coalbrook can produce. They are not by any means the first specimens which have been brought from the same situation, and it is to be hoped that they are not the last.

The miner, O'Brien, who so circumstantially reported to the Nelson papers that he had made Ll5O worth of gold at Salisbury's Open in five weeks, is believed not to be trustworthy in his statement, although that statement was first broadly made on the Collingwood and Motueka side, and was subsequently and voluntarily narrated for publication by O'Brien himself. It appears that all the man got, during a much longer time than he stated, was L2O worth of gold, and that the capacities of the district, as experienced by him, were grossly and wantonly exaggerated. This information we (Colonist) have from several sources, and believe it to be correct.

The Otago Daily Times, in its issue of September 9, states that pleuro-pneunionia, in a malignant form, is re-approaching in the Moeraki district of that province. A beast tlw.fc had died was opened TnnI~"Bhowe(l unmistakable evidence of the disease." On the farm where this occurred there were five other infected animals, and several cases iv other parts of the district are also, says our contemporary, spoken of. Under those circumstances, it is fortunate that the restrictions against the importation of Otago cattle into Canterbury were not removed as otherwise, the disease would very soon have fonnd its way here.

A man named Martin Gibbs, lately employed at the Nelson Signal Station, was recently killed in the following manner. — The de leased, it appears, was walking alone: the rocks at the Port, and seeing some wild geraniums growing on the cliffs above him, climbed up to obtain some of the flowers. When nearly within reach of them he stretched out his hand to pick thent, and in doing so lost his balance, and fell head foremost, a depth of 25ft, on to the rocks. He was picked up insensible, with a frightful •wound on his head, and was at once conveyed to the hospital, where he breathed his last at 11 o'clock the same evening.

A Timaru contemporary of September 14 has the following:— By a private ielegram received by Mr Dyson, we learn that an old resident of Temuka and neighborhood, Mr George White, has died rather suddenly, at the Rakaia hotel, on his returning from Christchurch, wher" he had been partly on business and partly on pleasure. It appears that deceased left town on Friday morninsr, and arrived at the Kakaia the same nij»h-fc and seemed to have been indulging rather freely. During the niaht he had a fit, never rallied afterwards, and died either late on Sunday night or early on Sunday morning.

Mr Francis Gribbin, a groom in the employment of Messrs Cobb and Co., writes as follows to Mr W. R. Mitchell, from the Messrs Enys' station, Castle Hill, undei date Sept. 14 :-"On the 11th I marie a discovery of a large seam of coal on the Thomas Creek. It is about 3^ft Avide, and about fifty yards from the first seam there is another seam 2£ft wide. The larger seam I only took the surface of 3ffc wide. It has got the appearance of a very large seam. I send yon down a sample of the coal taken from the surface of the large seam. I suppose the discovery is not worth anything, it is so far from town. If it was near town it is a fortune." A small portion of the coal was tried yesterday by Mr W. R. Mitchell, but being only from the surface, or what is better known as "croppings," the test can scarcely be considered a fair one, or one upon which any conclusive report can be based. So far as it went, however, the result was certainly encouraging, and wili assuredly justify the outlay of a sum sufficient to get further into the seam.

The Wellington evening paper of the 13th September has the following :— The German residents in Wellington held a meeting last night at the Empire Hotel, for the purpose of taking steps to raise subscriptions for the relief of those Germans who will be sufferers by the war between France and Prusai.-v. The attendance was not large, but a sum of LI 6 was subscribed at once, and lists were drawn out to be left at various places. Mr Hirschburg, a well-known resident of Greytown, not knowing what steps had been taken here, wrote to Mr Krull, urging him to take steps for procuring subscriptions, and forwarding a donation of five pounds. The enthusiasm with which tho cause of Germany is taken up by her sons abroad may be gathered from the following circulnr, issued by tho German Consul at Bombay : — ' ' Germans ! The French tyrant lias, with unheard of insolence, thrown down the gauntL-t to our people. The}', like one man, will take it up, and conscious of drawing the sword for their country's honor, will stake their all on chastising the overbearing foe, and— God willing— will free the world of

this firebrand. We Germans, f;ir from home, to whom, alas! it is nofc given to take part in this holy war, mast prove to our brethren in our native land, who spring with joy to arm?, that wo with faithful hearts still cling to Fatherland, and in thought are with them on their march to victory. Let us, then, all send home with speed gifts to our brave wounded brethren ! Let us do this at once, at the very commencement of the bloody strife an I thus prove to our Fatherland that we too, are filled with enthusiam for the just cause. War, alas ! will but too surely claim its cruel sacrifices ; bafc we, who cannot ahed our blood, may still help to mitigate its attendant horrors. To all Germans in India this appeal is addressed :—Contribute according to your means, to soothe the' wounds, which will be many! -Be true to Fatherland ! Contributions of money will be received by the undersigned, as also by all German Consuls, and will be transmitted to the Chancellor of the Confederation, to be made over to Associations for the succour of the wounded. God be with our Fatherland ! A. C. Gutnpert, "Cousul for the North German Confederation. Bombay, 16th July, 1870."

Yesterday's West Coast Times informs us that " one of the men that was buried in the German or Dane's claim on Wednesday morning last was extricated, we are glad to say, on Friday by the uuwearieel exertions of a number of miners, and his escape is little short marvellous. As we have already stated, his mate— working with him— Harry Mill was killed outright when the fall of earth took place, but the miner Zachelius was futher in the drive, and, though imprisoned, was nofc hurt. Mull's body was got out on Thursday last, but Zachelius, though uninjured, was not rescued till the time we have mentioned. A most singular coincidence is attached to this accident. Exactly three years' ago, the brother of Zachelius was killed in the same drive in the same claim, by either earth or a boulder falling on him. It was on the exact anniversary of his brother's death, that the man, so happily saved, was buried in what had been his brother's death chamber. The surviving man was entombed for fifty-four hours, during which time he continually cooeyed to the men who gallantly went to his rescue, Though greatly exhausted when taken out. he was far better than might have been expected, and, as we are informed, is in no danger whatever, although he has recently passed through such a fearful trail."

A crusade against Jthe sale of deleterious liquors on the Otago Gold Fields is being advocated. The Lake Wakatip Mail says :— Tobacco is the worst compound put into the spirit keg when the object in view is to drive men drunk —aye, mad. But many of these men buy spirits at a cheap rate from persons vending those articles which are either new, raw, or mixed, and therefore unhealthy. Age destroys the more pernicious effects of spirituous liquors, and age therefore enhances the price of old Jamaica rum, whisky, and cognac. New spirits are simply poison — neither more nor less. When these are again "doctored," a remorself S3 death ensues. 3rd. Are not bad liquors sold in the district? Undoubtedly, yes. Price— not quality— is too often the aim. A says B brings up a vile lot of giD, or compound called gin, and he sells it cheap. Ifc is fiery, repulsive, new, raw, and everything but what the article ought to be. Ais driven to compete with B, and the evil spreads. We mention gin particularly, for it is a well known fact that a cargo, or a large portion, found its way into the Wakatip and Cromwell districts while it was unsaleable elsewhere. It was even rejected in Cromwell. The case in point is bad enough, for the liquor was sold wholesale as well as retail. But others, worse, exist, as our police annals.show. It _is_also a curioiiS-and_signifibant fact that our annals of death, accidents, outrages, and suicides must be attributed to the cause of intemperance or marine's produced by the consumption of deleterious liquors.. Our population is not, we consider, different from other communities in its consumptive capa: cities. Our deaths and criminal statistics show a very strange return when compared with other places, however, so that some evil cau3e must be at work. The evil is great, and must be traced to its source. Some sad and flagrant conduct, we are afraid, will be discovered. Must men be allowed to be publicly driven insane ? Be they merchant or dealer, publican or shanty keeper that suffer, the evil must be stopped, and at once, with a bold and vigorous hand.