Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 734, 1 October 1870, Page 2

A supplementary mail for Europe via Sau Francisco, will he despatched to-day by the s.s. Murray. The adjourned meeting of miners in the f aroa District takes place this evening, for the purpose of chosing two delegates to proceed to the Mining Conference, to be held at Hokitika on Monday. The English mail telegrams which we published yesterday of the stirring events in Europe created an immense sensation in town, and throughout the day scarcely anything else was talked about, and business was almost suspended. The delay which occurred in the publication of the telegrams was in no way attributable to our arrange-

ments, which were as perfect as it was possible they could bo. but to the obnoxious regulation recently introduced by the Government of stopping press telegrams, after receipt of so many words, in order to allow private messages to go tli rough. Considering that Press messages are sent for the information of the public only, this regulation ought certainly to be relaxed, especially when the news is of such interest as that which we published yesterday. A sitting of the District Court will be held at the Court-house, Greymouth, on Tuesday next. A foot-race for L2O a-side, one mile distance, will come off on Monday afternoon, in the (.'amp Reserve, between Messrs Shepherd and Stagpool. The weather, which has been remarkably fine for the last few weeks, has now broken, and on Thursday night we were visited by a short but very sharp storm of thunder, lightning, rain, hail, and lumps of ice. Since then rain has fallen at intervals, and is very welcome to the miners, whose dams and races have been dry for some time past. A most unfortunate occurrence took place on Thursday tit the residence of Mr Martin Kennedy. Two men were engaged near the house falling a large tree, and by some carelessness they brought it down across the house, completely smashing in a large portion of it, and doing great damage to the furniture inside, tt is fortunate that at the moment no person was in the portion of the house upon which the tree fell. Ministers are flitting to the bosoms of their families, and Wellington is being left without the sunshine of their presence. Mr Yogel went north in the Government steamer Luna. Mr Fox goes up the West Coast, and Mr Gisborne is left to bear the Atlas of Government alone.A friendly spin of 100 yards for LlO between the representative of a well-known owner of a Nelson brewery, and a partner in our local Arney street one, came on opposite the Court House yesterday afternoon. Although the matter was kept very quiet, it nevertheless oozed out, and a considerable crowd assembled to witnes3 the contest. From the commencement, however, the result was never in doubt, as the Arney street pedestrian left his opponent from the start, and before twenty yards had been passed the Nelson representative caved in. Mr Smythe, the agent of Mr Robert Heller, the eminent illusionist, pianist, and conversationalist, who has been playing in Dunedin and Christchurch with immense success for months past, arrived in town yesterday by the s.s. Murray for the purpose of ascertaining whether sufficient inducement offered for Mr Heller to visit the West Coast towns. Mr Smythe has seen enough to satisfy himself that a visit is desirable, and has assured us that we may look for Mr Heller, by way of Nelson, in a fortnight. His stay will be very limited. There has been some talk lately concerning a project to bridge the Grey River between Cobden and the Grey, somewhere about the present ferry. The scheme was originated by Messrs Rae and Wickes, who caused a model to be prepared and details gone into in order to arrive at the probable co3t. They do not intend to carry out the work themselves, in order to avoid the cry of "monopoly," which is raised upon the slightest provocation in Greymouth. They simply, in the interest of the public good, endeavored to promote an undertaking, which must be productive of much convenience to the residents not only in Greymouth, but also in the whole Grey Valley, and intended to offer the whole of the shares in the scheme to the public, without reserving to themselves a single farthing's worth of what are known as "promoters' shares." Whatever shares they may take up, will be upon the same footing as those taken up by any other resident in town. They yesterday caused applications to be forwarded to the Nelson and Westland Governments, on behalf cf a company to be formed, to be called " the Greymouth Bridge Company (limited)," for permission to erect a bridge over the Grey River, neai the present ferry, or at some other site, to be approved of by the Engineer of either of these Governments. The proposed bridge is to be 12ft wide, 800 ft in length, including approaches, suitable for horse and dray traffic, and is estimated to cost L 4500. It is calculated that the receipts from the tolls on the traffic would only realise about Lls per week, which would not be a sufficient inducement for the investment of so much capital. It has therefore been suggested to Mi Hoos that he should give a subsidy on behalf of the County, in land, to the amount of one-third of the accepted tender, and the Nelson Government to grant one-third of the accepted tender, in cash, both Governments to grant protection for twenty-one years, and to fix the scale of tolls to be levied on the bridge. We know that Mr Warden Whitefoord, as representative of the kelson Government, is most anxious to assist the undertaking, but it is doubtful if the County Chairman will do anything that may remotely assist in annexing this district to Nelson, even by a bridge Should the terms be agreed to, the shares will be at once thrown into the market. There is not the slightest doubt that the time has arrived when the Grey River should be bridged, and it is to be hoped that the two Governments will stein a point to assist the promoters of an undertaking which will confer a great boon upon the residents in the town and district, A serious and fatal occurrence took place on Friday morning last, at the Ashley River, resulting in the death by drowning of a poor fellow named Patrick Coskelly, well known on the North road as a carter, in the employ of Messrs Belcher and Fairweother. Tt appears that he was crossing the river on horseback, and that the horse, in the deepest part of the stream, began to rear, throwing the rider and falling on him. It is supposed he must have been stunned by the fall, other wise the river was not too high for him to have struggled his way out. As it was, he was washed down the stream, and on Saturday evening the body hid not been found. It will be remembered that at the last fresh the approach to the bridge was washed away, and has so remained ever since, being unavailable for any traffic, except for foot passenger?. To-day a new series of rules for regulating ( the forms and procedure in bankruptcy proceedings in the District Court, come into force. They were framed some time .ago by the Judges of the Supreme Court, for the purpose of establishing a uniform practice throughout the Colony. By clause 6, it is provided that the Register, or Taxing Officer, is to be guided by the scale of fees, charges, and allowance to witnesses, &c. , existing in England, where such are suitable to the circumstances of this Colony, and where unsuitable, according to the scale in the Supreme Court ; the following fees being always charged : — Filling declaration of insolvency, L 2; petition for adjudieafc'lo2?, L 2,• deed of arrangement, L 4. Clause 8 provides for the appeal in banlnnptcy from the decision of a Judge of the District Court. Every Trustee must, at the request of the bankrupt, or of any proved creditors. Every Provisional and other Trustee shall keep a minute book of his proceedings in each bankruptcy, under a special head applicable thereto, and also a book for entering all receipts and disbursements, and such books shall be open to the inspection of any proved creditor on payment of a foe of one shilling, clause is that which regulates the procedure of a bankrupt iv filing his statement of accounts. It reads as follows :— " The state-

ment of accounts to be filed by the bankrupt in pursuance of the 112 th section of the Act shall in all eases comprise, first, a statement of the assets and liabilities of the bankrupt j as existing on a day to be named for that purpose by the order appointing the time for the bankrupt's last examination, or by some order of the Court or a Judge, such day to benot less than six calendar months prior to the filing of the petition for adjudication ; secondly, a statement of every receipt, purchase, profit, and acquisition by any means whatsoever, and every payment, sale, loss, loan, conveyance, mortgage, settlement, execution, and other alienation by act of the party or by act or operation of law, and of every other transaction in anywise affecting the amount or nature of the bankrupt's assets and liabilities, which shall have been made or have take place during the pcried intervening between the day so named as aforesaid, and the filing of the said petition : Provided that every order of the Court or a Judge respecting such account may from time to time be varied." A battery for Culliford's claim, Wangapeka, was expected to be forwarded from Melbourne on the 17th inst. A battery for the Waimea Crushing Company, also for Wangapeka, is shortly expected at Nelson. A fatal accident happened at Brighton on Sunday last. A man named Hawkeswood was drowned while wading to the rocks between Brighton and St. Kilda, to procure some sea-fowls eggs. The people on shore made an effort to save him, but ineffectual!}-. His body was washed ashore about two hours afterwards. A Wanganui paper reports that typhus fever has broken out amongst the Maoris at Otaki, and that eight persous have already died from it, while many more are ill. As an instance of the spirited manner in which public works are carried on in Otajjo we may mention that there are now 250 men at work forming the new road between Tokomairiro at Waitahuna. The New Zealand Metropolitan Race Meeting will be held at Christchurch on the 7th, Bth, and 10th of November. The nominations are to be made to-night. A man named Hammond, formerly Collector of Customs at Invercargill, expired suddenly in the Timaru Hospital on Sunday morning last. It appears he burst a blood vessel on the lungs some days ago, and was taken to the hospital, where he was progressing favorably. The haemorrhage having ceased, he got out of bed that morning, although strict instructions had been given that he was not to move, and pulled up one of the blinds. The exertion brought on a fit of coughing, and, the bleeding returning, he was dead in a few minutes. Mr Gillies, Superintendent of Auckland, who was so vehement an opposer of the present Ministry at the early part of the session, is to be the " boss " at home of the agency business. He opposed to some purpose. Salary L2OOO a year. LISOO was laughed at as not enough to keep a man in boots and cigars. Did not one of the Ministers say in the House that the Government had conceded more to their enemies than to their friends ? There is a fact in connection with timber, especially that used for piles, which experience has proved to be of very great value, and which persons engaged in pile-driving and post-setting ought to remember and act upon. The fact is, that trees, when inserted into the ground or river bed in the reverse of the positiou they occupied when growing, will last three times longer as when placed the ordinary way. The idea is by no means new, but it is not sufficiently acted upon. The Maoris are credited with talcing advantage of this peculiarity of timber, and inserting their piles accordingly ; and it was proved long after Chat Moss, over which the Manchester and Liverpool Railway runs, was piled ; for a few piles which had been accideutally sunk the reverse way were still sound, when all the rest were decayed. Apply the practice to bridge and wharf piling and the saving would be very great. Recently a Mr Reid Robertson met with a severe accident near Cromwell, Otago. The Cromwell Argus says :— " A large wild boar which had been frequently seen on Mount Pisa Range during the last four or five years, was observed by Robertson in the vicinity of the piggery, and, with the help of three dogs, an attempt was made to drive the brute off. The boar, on seeing Robertson, disregarded the dogs and pursued the man, whom he attacked in a savage manner, seizing him by the thigh and ripping it up dreadfully. The animal's tusks were about six inches in length, and had it not been for the interference of the dogs, the man would probably have .been killed, although when attacked he had a loug-handled pitch-fork in bis hands. The boar was ultimately driven away, and Robertsnn, who was much hurt, was conveyed to the Duns'-an Hospital as speedily as possible. On the following night, about eight o'clock, the boar again made his appearance in the same place, and a determined effort was made to capture or kill him. After two hours' hunting, Messrs John Fleming and George Hunter succeeded in yarding him, with the aid of horses and dogs, and a bullet from a rifle speedily put a stop to his dangerous career. The Thames correspondent of the Southern Cross, writing on the 19th inst., says :— • ''The incautious handling of powder this morning was the cause of a very sad accident at the Wandering Star Claim, Te Papa Gull} r . According to the statement which I received from Mr John Collins, the manager, who was one of the men hurt, he bad only arrived at the claim a few minutes before to commence work, and was in the act of filling the charging can from a 51b package of powder, when a spark from the forge close by ignited the powder, and an explosion followed. Richard Man, wl© was working at the forj.e, and Mr Collins were instantly prostrated and their clothes set 011 fire, as was also the whare in which the forge was situated. The consequences might have been death to one or both of the poor fellows but for the interference of some miners who were fortunately passing at the time. They rushed to tho Tescue and removed the two men from the burning whar«, and stripped their clotles off, which was no sooner effected than Man, being frantic with pain, rushed into a small creek close by, and rolled him- , self into the water. He was taken out, then wrapped in a blanket, and removed to the Hospital ; whilst Collins was also wrapped up, and carried on a stretcher to his residence in Scaly street, where his hurts were attended to by Dr Fox. His hands and arms are dreadfully burnt, and one side of his face is also severely scorched. His eyes happily escaped injury. The other man is not so much injured, but it is doubtful if his case is not the worst of the two, on account of the cold bath he so foolish'y indulged in. The Otago Daily Times states that a letter ha 9 been received from a settler at Martin's Bay by his wife in Dunedin, speaking in very good terms of the new settlement. He has established himself there, and has sent for his wife, and states that his mate is about to do likewise. Another ssttler writes as follows : — lt is a shame of the Government to induce people to come to settle down here, where there is no communication with other places, either by sea or land, although there is a population of at least from 70 to 100 persons — men, women, and children. If no vessel arrives here within ten days from this date, it will be a case of starvation with us all, or we shall have to try the overland route by Lake Wakatip. I suppose it is the wreck

of the Esther Ann that is keeping vessels back, but that is a case that ought to be put aside, as no captain with any knowledge of the place wonld have attempted to enter the mouth of the river, at almost dead low water, especially where there is a current running at the rale of from seven to nine knots an hour. But to give you some idea of the barbarous West Coast of Otago and Westland, 1 may mention that on the 16th August, Mr A. H. Williamson and his mate came in over the bar and up the Hollyford Eiver to the Lake Township, and in place of a vessel they had a log of wood about 14 or loft long, though of course it was dug out in the form of a canoe. Mr Williamson also told me that he would do the same journey over again in it without any hesitation whatever. They started from Jackson's Bay, at least 45 miles from here, on the 15th, landed at Broad Bay that night, aud, as I said before, came over the bar and up the river next morning quite safe. .They also had about half a ton of luggage in their canoe, or v dug out," as it is termed. If we do not get communication with other places, we shall all j have to leave. The goods I took with me are all gone, and I cannot get moie, on account of there being no conveyance of any kind. [The Waipara has since visited the settlement with stores.]