THE Grey Riber Argus. SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 782, 21 January 1871, Page 2

THE Grey Riber Argus. SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1871.

The letters and papers by the English Mail via San Francisco are expected from Hokitika by the coach to-day, as it is supposed that the p.s. Charles Edward from Nelson passed this port during the night. It gives us much pleasure to announce that E. Wickes, Esq., the recently-elected Mayor of Greymouth, has been appointed a Justice of the Peace under the Municipal Corporations Act. The Rangitoto, which was advertised to leave Melbourne for Hokitika on Tuesday last, will probably bring the next Suez mail news. The girl Glenn, who was stabbed in Ohristchurch by the man Cedeno, is progressing very favorably towards recovery. On Monday she was able to be un for a short time, and the w omuls, although still uuhealed, are going on well A meeting of the Stewards of the Ahaura racjs was held at Pinkerton's Hotel, Ahaura, on Wednesday evening. The Hon. Secretary submitted the programme of the approaching meeting, but after discussion it was decided that the programme should not be published for one week, and in the meantime the Hon. Secretary would send a written notice to all the stewards, to attend a special meeting, on Saturday evening (to-night) at the Ahaura. It was extremely gratifyifying to notice the large number of scholars who attended at theinauguration of the Church of England Sunday School, which took place the first Sunday after the New Sear. This want has long and severely been felt, and we augur great things for the future from the excellence of the Teachers, and the fact that 60 pupils were enrolled the first day.- Communicated. At a meeting at the Hau Hau Mr Barff is reported by the Westland Independent to have said : — He considered he did quite right in voting for Mr Lahman, because that gentleman made three distinct promises to him before he voted— First, that he would reside in Hokitika ; secondly, that he would give his attention to education ; and lastly, that he would oppose separation. In consequence of the long - continued drought, the members of the Fire Brigade very kindly turned out last evening, and had a practice for the purpose of filling as many water-tanks as possible, and it is to be regretted that the residents who were to be benefited were so very backward in coming to work the pumps. During the practice it was found that the stand-pipe near the corner of Boundary street had been silted up and required looking after, which, we believe, will be done to-day. Considerable attention is being paid at present to the manufacture of bricks in this neighborhood, and during the last few days we have received two samples -one from Mr Theodore Ranft, Brunnerfcon, and the other from Mr J. Gillam, who has taken up some ground on the south side of the river, which he calls " New Found Out," about a mile on this side of Brunuerton. The samples are both very good, and clearly indicate that, if proper attention is paid to the manufacture, there will soon be no demand for the imported article. Gerard George FitzGerald, Esq., has been appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the County of Westland ; and Walter Lo-nry Buller, Esq., has been appointed Sheriff of Wanganui. A man named M'lvor has drowned himself in the Molyneux, whilst in a state of temporary insanity. Waikato advices state that Mr Parris told the natives that the Governmeat would not fight about the murder of Mr Todd. A report was received last night from the Mining Manager of the Munay Creek Cement Company, from which, as a matter of information both to the shareholders and the public, we make the following extract : — "On the 13th, two men commented to open out on the face at the corner of the shed, on the other side of the reef of rock from where T left off, a place pointed out by Mr Guilline and Mr Stephenson as worthy of trial, from gold having been got there, and in ray opinion this is one of the best looking places iv the face. I have thoroughly exa nined both tunnels, and fiom my examinations 1 am convinced that the lower tunuel should be driven further ahead, as the cement has dipped down to water level and looks favorable I can get prospects front the top tunnel ; it is in a jjblack outside, and only ou,ht to be worked at the last." The above report was dated the 16th insb., and in confirmation of a portion of it a letter was received in town last night, dated 10.30 p.m. on the 19 th, which stated "that good cement was struck in the company's ground on the 18th, at the lowest level yet obtained. The, general opinion is that it is very good, and will be continuous." [ A meeting of the Borough Council was held in the Town Hall last evening— the ; Mayor in the chair. Present : Councillors Purcell, Coates, Woolcock, Nichol, and Barclay. A letter was read from the Colonial Secretary, stating that the announcement of the electiou of E. Wickes, Esq. , as Mayor of the Borough, had been received. The Mayor stated that he had received from the Colonial Secretary his commission as Justice of the Peace. — The Mayor read the following report for the information of the Council, with regard to the business which had been transacted since the last meeting : — " I have the honor to report that since last meeting of the Council, the matters left in hand to be proceeded with have progressed. In reference to the reserves, which, through the retirement of Mr Fraser, of Hokitika, have not been gazetted ; but with the assistance of Mr Cooper, who has very kindly lent his valuable aid in the selection of several blocks, as per plan, for Corporation reserves, the site selected for a recreation ground is situated on Reserves No. 47, 48, and 49, comprising about 15 acres, better known as the Old Police Reserve. Mr Cooper has also recommended several other blocks of land in various parts of the town for reserves. Mr Johnston has drafted out the plan, and it is now in the hands of Mr Perkins, Corporation Solicitor, to be forwarded at once to the proper quarters for gazetting, which I hope will be speedily done, to give the Council power to let off portions for grazing and other purposes. The reserves in all comprise about 130 acres. The Committee have also applied, through the Corporation Solicitor, to have the Cemetery vested in our hands, which has long been needed, as no supervisor has hitherto been able to deal with it. Mr Johnston has also furnished the committee with a plan of the claims on the Beach, and I will see that the Committee, as appointed at last meeting, will deal with it at once, as per resolution No. 3, of last meeting. In reference to the wag

near the powder magazine, with which the Council vested in me to arrange about, I beg to state that Mr Allardyce offered to assist in its removal, and on visiting the site found it to be an enormous rata tree, and that the Dispatch would not be able to tow it over the bar without reducing its size, and it was taken by contract for its complete removal by labor for LlO. I have requested the Town Clerk to write to the Nelson Government for half the cost of same, as 1 consider that the Nelson authorities are as much interested iv keeping the navigation of the river open as this Corporation. It will be necessary for this Council to authorise the employment of a wharfinger for a few weeks, to enable the Town Surveyor at once to proceed with the valuation of property. A re-valuation must be made on account of the number of properties that have changed hands. The Town Surveyor estimates the time in which he will complete three wards at three weeks. The repairs to steps on Richmond Quay, and contract for making road at extreme end of the quay are being proceeded with." The report was received. The Town Clerk read a letter from Mr Sforike, resigning his seat as representative of the West Ward in the Borough Council. Mr Nicliol moved that the election take place at once, and that Mr Moore be requested to act as Returning Officer. This was agreed to. Three applications for mining leases within the Borough were deferred for consideration. The other business was unimportant and the meeting adjourned. A requisition, addressed to Oswald Curtis, Esq., Superintendent of Nelson, is now boing numerously signed at Half Ounce, Duffer's, and Braudy Jack's, with the view of having a monthly Resident Magistrate's and Warden's Courts holden at Half Ounce township. The several grounds on which it is Applied for are the following, copied off the petition itself — "That the population of the district has lately so much, grown that in round figures it can be computed at from 500 to 600. That the nearest Court sittings are holden at jSapoleon Hill, distant from Half Ounce township by about 54 miles, and at Ahaura, distant from the same place by about 9£ miles. That the said petitioners are daily put to great inconvenience by being compelled to have all their Court business settled so far from their residences, entailing thereby great loss in time and travelling expeuses. That the locality of the township of Half Ounce being almost central in the said district, it is the best suited for holding a Court. That other less important localities enjoy the privilege of having Court sittings within their own district. That the district, and particularly Half Ounce, shows every indication of becoming a permanent or at any rate a long lasting gold field," &c, &c, We are of opinion that these several grounds are well founded, and therefore we have no doubt that the Superintendent will, without hesitation, comply with so just a demand, in conjunction with the same, we may add that this district has lately so far grown in importance that we wonder how it is that the Nelson Government has not thought yet of stationing in that locality a representative of of the police force. A meeting of the Jockey Clnb Committee was held at Cameron's Union Hotel on Thursday afternoon last, at which there was a full attendance. Amongst the measures brought forward for consideration was the report of the sub-committee upon the programme, and after some discussion it was unanimously adopted. It is in all respects a most liberal one, and as we publish it today for the first time our readers will see that it is in no way inferior to any that have been previously presented, while in several instances it is superior. The Canvassing Committee also rendered their report, aud we are glad to state that the promised contributions are very liberal. As the old Grand Stand had to be taken down in order to carry out the improvements on the course, plans had been ordered to be prepared for the erection of a new one by Mr R. J. Johnston, and three plans were submitted for adoption.- The proposed size is 100 ft by 24fb, and the site is upon a beautiful piece of level ground, commanding a view of the whole course. When erected it will be, of its kind, the most substantial structure in Westland, and capable of accommodating 500 people easily. Steps are also being taken to get the road and bridge across the creek into good order, and we doubt not that when the race-day comes the efforts of the energetic Committee will be found apparent in this as iv other matters. We shall refer to the state of the course in a few days ; in the meantime stating it is not only in firstrate order, but has been so changed in appearance that we could scarcely imagine such a transformation could have taken (lace. It is now a course well worthy of any metropolitan city in New Zealand.