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Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 761, 3 December 1870, Page 2

Mr De las Carreras has recently favored his constituents in the remote locality of Maori Creek with his opinion of the Grey River Argus. It would have been unfortunate had the judgment of so profound 'a critic been allowed to , " waste its sweetness on the desert air," as would most probably have been its fate but for our having had an observant listener amongst his hearers . Mr Carreras is kind enough to express the opinion that "the Anous knew very little of what it wrote about," aud "was not enlightened enough to make proper comment upon the state of the affairs of Westland," and so no doubt from' henceforth, the influence of the Ahgus on public opinion is utterly at an end— at least at Maori Creek. But why did Mr Carreras confine his opinion to the residents of that locality? Why did he not favor the meeting, at Paroa with this conclusive criticism ? it would have been a bolder stroke, and might have told better, who knows. We have hitherto regarded Mr Carreras and his acts as eqnally calling for little public notice. We have been content to think him a plodding useful sort of member, quite up to the subject of bridle tracks and bush roads, but beyond that of no political importance or weight in the County Conncil. Bnt he is getting ambitious and seeks to be thought a budding statesman. Rumor iiath ifc he will try for a seat in the House of Representatives for tlie Totara district, so we are afraid we shall be compelled some day to say something about him, and he Avill then be fully able to judge whether or not the Argus knows anything cf what it writes about. There is an old adage we would commend to Mr Carreras, ne sutor ultra crepidam. A grand vocal and instrumental concert is announced for Friday evening next at the Volunteer Hall, the proceeds to be applied in aid of the building fund of the English Church. The Volunteer Band has consented to assist ou the occasion. By the retirement of Mr Stansell from the contest for the vacant seat in the Paroa Road Board no poll will be necessary. The elected members are Messrs Barnhill, Colton, and O'Connor. Mr aud Mrs L. M'Gowan will give dramatic performances in the Volunteer Hall to-night and on Monday night. The four candidates for the Greymouth seats in the County Council have announced their intention of addressing the electors in the Town Hall, on Monday evening, at 8 1 o'clock Meetings will also be held on subsequent evenings previous to the poll. The Coramitte appointed at the late public meeting to canvas the town for subscriptions to subsidise the foundation of the road over the Grey Saddle to the lnangihua Reefs have met with a fair amount of success, promises to the amount of about L2OO having been received. There is no doubt that the L3OO allotted to the town will be subscribed, but it will only be on condition that L2OO is snbscribed by the residents up -me river, wiio win uercaimy reap the largest amount of benefit from the opening up of this road. We believe that Mr Kynnersley has determined not again to offer himself to any constituency for election. His retirement from the political arena a-t the present time is very much regretted, especially by the Gold Fields' communities, whose friend Mr Kynnersley invariably proved himself. He made a marked impression in the House during his first and only session, and he was sure to 1 be re-elected if he had offered himself for Westland North. Mr Kynnersley intends to visit the Grey District on an early day. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday, a charge of assault— Sutherland v. Murray — was heard. It originated in a dog-light on Mawhera Quay, during the excitement of which words were used, blows were exchanged, and the affair wound up in a man-fight, and the parties being arrested and fined for a breach of the peace. This action was then brought, as the complainant charged the defendant with having struck him first. • After hearing the evidence the Magistrate dismissed the case. There was no business yesterday. The usual weekly parade of the Greymouth Rifles was held on Thursday night. There were about 40 members present, but owiag to the wetness of the night the drill was confined to the hall. The Challenge Cup won at the late competition was presented by Captain Hamilton to Vol. Joseph Smith, the winner, who was loudly cheered on returning to the ranks. A meeting of the Match Committee was held afterwards, when the second competition for the challenge rifle was fixed for Saturday, 10th December, entries to be made with the secretary up to Thursday. To-day the return match with the Duneiin Artillery will be fired, and a very close contest is expected. One miserable little case, that no jury should ever have been asked to waste their time over, was sent up from Marlborough to the Supreme Court at Nelson, and called forth a cutting piece of sarcasm from the Judge that will, doubtless, rankle in the breast of the committing magistrate for some time to como. The prisoner, whose offence consisted of a common assault, appears to have declared himself a Fenian, and this, said his Honor, seems to have had the same effect upon the magistrate as the sight of a red flag upon a bull ; with a holy horror of such unrighteous principles as were professed to be held by the prisoner he was filled with alarm, and deemed it necessary to set in motion tlie whole paraphernalia oi the Supreme Court to deal with so dangerous a character. The Judge marked his sense of the gravity of the crime by sentencing the prisoner to a whole week's imprisonment. We notice by the Nelson Gazette that the gold mining leases of the following companies j in the Grey District have beon declared forfeited : • -The Taniera, Sunrise, Coal Gorge, and Band of Hope companies ; and the applications for leases in the Moonlight Creek by Messrs James Wylde, G. W. Moss, Martin Kennedy, and James Hamilton have been withdrawn, iv accordance with the Gold mining lease Regulations. The Grreymouth Amateur Dramatic Company, assisted by several friends, gave an entertainment in the Volunteer Hall last evening, when the drama, "The Mad Beauty," written expressly for the members of the company by Mr F. P. Atkinson, was produced for the first time. The attendance was very limited, and perhaps this had a damping effect upon the actors, for, with a few exceptions, they were quite unfit for their parts. The piece was cleverly written, and would have gone well with an ordinary stock company ; but it was either too heavy for an amateur company, or the actors had not given their respective parts

that amount of study which they ought to have done. As an acting piece we saw little last night to enable us either to condemn or praise "The Mad Beauty," but we hope on some future occasion to see it receive a more just test. We hesitate to be harsh upon amateurs, but, in the interests of the drama, we have no wish to see last night's proceedings repeated in Greymouth for a long time to come. From this condemnation we must except Miss Ashton, ,- Mrs George, Messrs Elmer, Parry, and M. L. Browne, who usually prepare their.parts carefully ; but it would be quite as wjall that in any future performance they should make sure that they are likely to bo creditably supported. The farce "Caught in his own Trap" brought the entertainment to a close. A meeting of the Sports Committee was held last night at Sheedy's Hotel to receive the reports of the canvassers who had been round town actively engaged in their mission. The report, when handed in, was most satisfactory, showing little, if any, deficiency from last yeaz-'s amount. As the i Committee, however, have hitherto only deemed themselves a canvassing one, they last night agreed to resign, and a number of gentlemen unconnected with the present number were named for election. The Secretary -was instructed to communicate with the gentlemen so nominated iv order to obtain their consent, and as soon as this has been obtained the list will be published. As will be seen by an advertisement in another column, the prizes will be L3OO and upwards, and as this is in itself a handsome sum, we have not the slightest doubt of having this year as large a number of visitors as we had iast Christinas. As soon as the programme has been resolved upon it will be published, and as the sub-committee are at present at work upon it, we have every reason to believe that it will be generally diffused throngh the up-country and ' other districts during next week. The Wellington Post learns that Mr Geo. M'lntyre, one of the permanent Hanmnl staff, has been appointed chief clerk in the office of the Registrar-General of Land. Mr H. Eedwood is mentioned as a candidate for the House of Representatives for the Wairau. j Mr Francis Jollie, member of the House of Representatives, died at Christchurch on the 30th ult. An inquiry has been held at Onehunga as to the cause of the late fire ; but the jury came to the conclusion that no evidence had been tendered as to how the fire originated. A Geelong journalist has made the singular discovery that wedlock in combination with wet weatfier leads to madness, and that ■women suffer most from tke evil conjunction. This is a serious matter, and one that should commend -itself to the attentiou of the clergy. It would be interesting to know at what period of the marriage state a softening of the brain begins to manifest itself. Mr Dyer is to move in the Auckland Provincial Council, " That in the opinion of this Council, all children between the ages of eight and fourteen, living within two miles of a public Government school should be required to attend such school for at least 100 days per annum, provided that such children as are being educated at other schools and those being educated at home shall be exempt from such attendance. That a clause be inserted in the Education Bill, 1870, to give effect to this resolution. " An Oamaru paper understands that it is contemplated to get up a requisition to the Hon. Mr J. M'Lean, requesting him to resigu his seat in the Legislative Council, and permit himself to be brought forward as a candidate for the representation of Oamaru in the House of Representatives, at the general elections. Tbomas Rlmt was drowned on the afternoon of the 26th ult. , between Tort Ulialmers and the heads while endeavoring to swim off to his boat. The body was picked up four minutes afterwards by the mate and another partj r . Their endeavors to restore life proved of no avail. He leaves a wife and children. A very serious accident occurred on Thursday evening to Mr Redwood's mare XXX. Messrs Stafford and Redwood's horses were being shipped on board the s.s. Phoebe, and whilst the mare was in the box, and being hoisted on to the steamer, the flooring of the box gave way. When released, the mare seemed to be very much strained, and walked lame. Mr Redwood fears that she is ruined. Recently an old resident at Switzers, Otago, named Thomas Crerse, but who is better known by the soubriquet of Dublin Tom, was found to have disappeared suddenly, and his hat being discovered on the banks of C&rin's dam, the gravest fears were at once entertained regarding his safety. On the dam being emptied his body was discovered. The Bruce Jlearld state 3 that when in liquor he would often rush to the dam side as if purposing to throw himself into ib, but it is generally believed that he had fallen asleep on the bank when under the influence of liquor, and fallen into the dam. A petition, signed by twenty-six of the unemployed of Nelson, was presented to the Superintendent a few days ago, and at a meeting of the Executive it was decided to provide them with work on the Main South Road. Although we were unawaie that there were many persons in the town out of work, we are not surprised to hear it, as, were it not so, Nelson would prove a brilliant exception among the towns of New Zealand ; for in many of the other Provinces a very large amount of destitution exists. A statement of the receipts and expendi- ' ture of the Native Reserve Fund, Greymouth, for the year 1869, has just been published,] having been only a year in preparation. It shows that the rents collected in Greymouth for the year amounted to ! L 2682 10s ; Arahura, L 383 19s 2d ; Hokitika, LI 18 15s; and Teremakau, LlG— making a total of L 3201 4s 2d. There -was also a balance to the credit of the fund in the public account of L 3195 0s lid, and LIOOO deposited in the Bank of New Zealand, Nelson. Out of this fund there was given as allowances to Natives LI 157 9s 2d ; for surveys, L6OO 14s 6d ; for clearing streets, L 14 8; contribution to protective works, Greymouth; LSOO ; and L 450 for the purchase of 450 acres of laud at Hokitika for the Natives. There is now a balance to the credit of the fund of L 3995 10s 2d. During the course of an address to the electors at the Hutt on the 25th ult., Mr Fitzherbert said:— The present Government, after getting into office on a totally different policy to what they had once held, then adopted as their own a policy he had advocated for years. They said they wanted men, and sneered at him when he said money — they had got money and not men, and stated that the Commissioners had asked for a million loan without instructions from their colleagues. He was quite willing that the present Government should continue in office so long as they continued to carry out his policy. The whole question now was one of administration, and he had no confidence in the administrative powers of the present men. They had never considered details, such as how to settle immigrants when brought here. He protested against bringing swarms of people here, and having to support them on public works, with no prospect of settling them. The action of the Government in the railway matter showed too that they had hot a clear conception as to the proper relations of the colony and provinces

with regard to public works. He and his friends had given the Government a generous support to mould the policy into shape when, if they had liked, they might have carried it in a hostile form. No man in the colony had sought office less than he. If the great scheme were administered as patronage to the provinces, in return for political support, better that it perished altogether. He condemned the system of finance relating to provincial charges as vicious. In native matters, he took credit for supporting the Government to get live years' appropriation for defence purposes ; also for his opposition to the views of Southern members ; this not having been done before was the cause of the war. The mode of distributing the Road I Boards' grant was the merest sham. The Thames correspondent of the Southern Cross relates another marvellous escape from the deatli that follows the inhaling of carbonic acid gas. He says that, on Saturday night, two men were below in Tookey's Company's shaft, changing the lift buckets, and that whilst so employed the drivinghaul of the exhaust-pump, that clears the Imperial Crown workings of gas, gOt_ out of order. Whilst this was being remedied the gas accumulated below, and overflowed towards Tookey's, meeting the two men, who, having finished their job, were making their way through the connecting d?ives to the Imperial Crown shaft, where a ladder leads to the surface. They soon became aware of the presence of the gas, and one of them beat a retreat and was pulled up Tookey's shaft, but the other foolishly made a rush through the gas for the Imperial Crown, and only managed to reach the shaft and sound an alarm, when he sank down in a semiunconscious condition. One of the hands on top immediately descended and brought him to the surface, Avhere he soon regained his senses. His escape, however, was a narrow one. A very shocking accident happened on Wednesday morning, 23rd ult., at the City of Danedin Claim, Tararu, and has so far resulted in the loss of part of the right leg of one of the shareholders named Mitchell. It seems that he was in the act of descending the shaft in the whim, bucket, and when only a few feet from the surface the bucket caught in a projection in the side of the shaft and capsized the unfortunate man out of it backwards. He fell to the bottom, a distance of 108 ft, and yet escaped death, but not serious maiming, for when he was brought to the surface it was found that his right foot had absolutely been torn away from the anklejoint. H e was also insensible, but rallied a little before Dr. Trousseau, who had been sent for, arrived. The doctor at once saw how serious the case was, and after applying a temporary bandage and splints to the leg he had the sufferer removed to the hospital. A consultation with Drs. Letabridge and Kilgour followed, and it was decided to amputate the leg about six inches above the ankle, and, chloroform having been administered, the operation was skilfully performed. Mitchell complains of great pain in the back and loins.