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Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 811, 3 March 1871, Page 2

' The public are' reminded that the grand musical entertainment, in aid of the funds of the Grey River Hospital, takes place this evening, at the Volunteer Hall. The principal performers, Mr and Mrs Collins, will be assisted by several ladies and gentlemen ; and, judging by the programme which has been issued, a very agreeable evening's amusement may be anticipated. The first of the second set of Westland District Prizes was won by Volunteer Paul, of the Greymouth Rangers, with the capital score of 51 points. With regard to the other prizes a dispute has arisen, as it is stated thaf; Mr Preshaw, of Hokitika, who was one of the highest scorers, was disqualified, having previously won Government money. Protection has- been promised by the County Chairman to- Mr Montgomery for the construction of a tramway from Greymouth to the Coal Gorae, under sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Tramway Regulations, as published in the Gazetle\on the 24th March, 1869, and on condition that the said company comply with these regulations. Mr S. Barclay, one of the representatives of the Middle Ward in 'the Borough Council, has resigned his seat, as he intends to leave Greymouth by the Charles Edward to-night, on a visit to Europe. Mr Barclay is an old resident, and during the time he has been here he has earned the respect and esteem of his fellow-townsmen, which he will carry with him throughout his travels, An interesting game of- billiards, 300 up, for LlO, was played at M'Kenna's Hotel at the Abaura on Tuesday evening. The players were Mr George Crump and Mr T. Daly, Grey Valley Times office. Crump led by 25 points for the first; 100, which he scored in good style. Daly exhibited some fine play in the second 100, scoring 47 off one break ; he gradually drew ahead and won by 54 points. A considerable amouut of money changed hands on the event. The late rain, short as was its duration, did some good on the up-river diggings. Four claims at Half-Ounce had good washingsone as much as 51) ounces for four hours' work, taking the dirt as it came from the paddock It was rumored at the Ahaura, on Tuesday evening, that the sample lot of quartz from No. 3 South, on Kelly's Reef at Murray Creek, which was lying at the Murray Creek Gold Mining Company's crushing machine, had been crushed, and that the yield exceeded the most sanguine expectations formed of it. There ought to have been a setting of the District Court here yesterday ; but as Judge Ward did not arrive (having been summoned to Christchurch on important business), the Court was adjourned until the next sitting day, in April. • There was no business before the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday. ~ A Native named Renata Amuatnu has been, by direction of Mr Ormond, seized at Wairoa. It is expected that sufficient evidence will be forthcoming to convict him of murderiag Mrs Biggs and child at the Poverty Bay massacre. A. party of miners, known as Hackett and parby, well known in the Brighton district, are about to commence ground-sluicing a terrace at the Nokowai, between the Waimangaroa and Mokihinui. They anticipate making good wages, with the prospect of a long job before them in working out the I ground. j Bush fires are very destructive at Tau- ' ranga. There has been immense damage. Several thousand tons of firewood aud mining timber have been burnt. There was a narrow escape of three crushing-mills, one was destroyed by a tree which fell. i There is a rumor prevalent in Ohinemuri ' that the Maori King intends to declare war this month. The steamer Rangatira discharged 250 bales ; of flax at Wellington, on the 10th ulti.no, ; brought from the mills of the Cape Egmont

and the Opuuaka Flax Companies. The flax is of the very best description, and will be shipped in the Melita. A large number of the electors of the city of Wellington are said to have refused to vote at the late election, from a belief that the system of ballot adopted afforded no security against the way in which they gave their votes being known. The following circular, addressed as underneath, and signed "A Church Member," was issued at Wellington during the late election:—"To Sabbath School Teachers and Church Members— Your vote and interest is most prayerfully requested against the return of Mr J. C. Richmond to Parliament, he being an infidel." We understand that correspondence has been received from the General Government, to the effect that it is their intention to make over to the Borough Council, as an endowment, either 2000 or 3000 acres of the Grey River Coal Reserve, leaving the balance to be leased or sold, the proceeds to go to the land fund of the County. It is also said that these letters (which will be laid on the table of the Council to-night, and published on Saturday) will bring to light some remarkable mis-statements whicn were made to the General Government by Mr Hoos, m reference to the construction and maincenance of the protective works at Greymouth. In the County Council on Tuesday evening Mr Robinson drew attention to the excessive charges levied as tolls upon the various protected bridges, ferries, punts, &c, throughout the County, and a discussion on the subject ensued. .It was generally admitted that the rates charged were high, and that it was desirable to take, steps, for their reduction, but at the same time it was consi ered fair. that .that those who had invested capital in works of this kind should be adequately, remunerated- The Waiineabridge was instanced as a work of comparatively little use, although tolls were levied whether passengers crossed it or not. The Chairman said that many complaints had reached him as to the charges for ferries, and he believed that the complaint of the member for Kanieri was well founded. The bridge at the Waimea could not even be called a bridge, as not even due care had been taken to make it approachable. From the southern districts he had also received numerous complaints. He would make it his business to investigate the matter thoroughly, and at the same time endeavor to make proper provision for the safety of travellers. Ultimately a resolution affirming the necessity of effecting a reduction in the charges was. carried. G. S. Sale, Esq., Professor of Classics in the University of otago is expected to arrive in New Zealand some time in May next. On Wednesday evening the County Council, on the 'motion of the Chairman, passed a resolution expressing the gratification of the Council that Dr Knight s report on the subject of water supply so thoroughly coincided with the views of the Council on the same subject. The report of the Committee on the Mining Regulations, which we published yesterday, has been finally adopted by the Council, and will, no doubt, be given effect to at once by the County Chairman. Mr Barff, whatever may be his other failings, is certainly- most indefatigable in furthering the special interests of his constituents. When he was member for Okarito he literally besieged the Council session after session with motions for public works in that district, whether there was a chance of their being carried out or not. Now, as -member for the Arahura district, he is equally importunate. Although the Waimea is connected with Hokitika by an excellent tramway, which has so far answered every purpose, and has reduced the cost of transit of goods very materially, Mr Barff insists on having. a road from the Arahura to Stafford Town, although he knows that by a former resolution of the Council, which he supported, the making such a road would give the proprietors of the tramway a right to compensation. AMr .Thompson has offered io construct the road on. deferred payments, and in the Council the other day he moved that the offer be accepted. The Chairman opposed the motion, partly on the ground that it was one of the roads contemplated to be made by the. General Government, but chiefly because "compensation would have to be given to the Tramway Company. A debate, ensued on the subject, which -was adjourned until Wednesday, when, after further discussion, Mr Barff's motion was lost. Mr Scanlan, the member for Okarifcr, does not like the idea of miners being compelled to register their votes, and says that if that process subjected them to any inconvenience few would take the trouble of registering their votes. If such is the case, we can only say that the man who will not take a little trouble to avail himself of the right of voting deserves to be disfranchised. Mr Scanlau's opposition notwithstanding, the County Council carried the following resolution on Friday :— "That the special qualification for voting established under the ' Miners Representation Act,' and the various amendment Acts thereto, be abolished, and superseded by a measure which will permit the holders of miners' rights and business licenses to be enrolled upon the electoral rolls of the various diatncts, by virtue of being the holders of either miners' rights or business licenses. " Mr Guinness is following the example of other members of the County Council by endeavoring to purchase a little cheap popularity by proposing ad captandum resolutions. Every one knows that the desirability of constructing a road from Greymouth to the Coal Pits has been over and over again affirmed by the Council, and that on two occasions money for its construction has been voted. . On Wednesday Mr Guinness asked the Council again to express its opinion on the necessity of this work and others indicated in his resolution, which was as follows: — " That, in the opinion of this Council, it is of the utmost importance to make the following roads with as little delay as pos* sible, viz., the road from the Arahura to Stafford ; from the Greenstone to Marsden ; from Greymouth to the Coal Mines ; and that in order to induce private enterprise to undertake these works, it is advisable that tenders for their construction be called for, conditionally that all payments for such works be made only in waste lands of the Crown; and in order to enable such an amount of waste lands being alienated, it will be necessary to obtain power from the General Assembly to alienate the necessary quantity of land, should such quantity exceed the amount of 5000 acres allowed by the third part of 'The Westland Waste Lands Act, 1870.'" Mr O'Connor "seconded the motion," which was put and negatived. The woolshed of Messrs Gilson, near the Clarence, in the Province of Marlborough, was burnt lately, together with 98 bales of I wool. A Shortland telegram, in an Auckland paper, spya that at the former place, during the month of January, over 11,5000zs of gold wore lodged in the Bank of New Zealand. The immigrants by the Charlotte Gladstone, lately arrived at Lyttelton, found almost instant employment at the following wages :— Families, LSO to L6O per annum and found ; single ineu, LI per week during harvest, and then from L3O to L4O per annum ; single women, L2O to L 25 Out of seventy-one families landed, only eight remained unengaged the following day.

The removal of the remains of the late Hon. D. Egan is causing as much, if not more, excitement in Melbourne than in Sydney. The Press frequently alludes to the circumstance, and the reported restoration of the body to its first resting-place is made the occasion of severe comment on the previous act. One journal exclaims : — " We are amazed that the authorities in Sydney have been allowed to take the matter so easily. For the credit of humanity, we should be glad to know that even the perpetrators of such a crime are not insensible to the promptings of shame and remorse ; but the probability is, that, in undoing their work, they have been influenced only by the dread of exposure and punishment. And exposed and punished they undoubtedly ought to be, for there seems no practical difference between such ghoul-like proceedings and the practices of the old resurrection-men who obtained a livelihood by plundering the dead." With respect to mining matters in the Manuherikia district, Otago, the Alexandra correspondent of the Dunstan Times writes : — " I have not heard the result of the labors of the dredges last week, but I believe it has been satisfactory. At Butchers, Messrs Wilkins and Murphy have washed up with fair results. At Conroys, Messrs Iyersen and party are busily engaged working at' their reef. At a depth of fifty feet they lost the reef, but put in a drive and struck it again. They then sank a blind shaft a depth of about twelve feet carrying gold all the way. The water, however, compelled them to desist, and they are now working the fifty foot level. The excellent prospects obtained have induced the company to call for tenders for machinery, which will be deci.ied upon on Monday next; C. Iversen and Dawson and parties have just repaired damages caused by the flood, and are now in working order." It is in contemplation to form a co-opera-tive society at Wairarapa, Wellington. Statements have been frequently made for some months past, in the Wakatip district, Otago, to the effect that the Chinese miners largely outnumber the European mining population in the district. According to the figures given by Mr Warden Beetham, these statements are correct, the numbers being : European miners, 800 ; Chinese do, 1050. Of the Chinese, 600 are in the Queenstown, and 400 in the Arrowtown division of the district. A Farmers' Club is about to be formed at Timaru. Its principal object is the shipment of grain to Sn^laud direct. The Thames Advertiser of the 24th ult. says :— The body of the unfortunate man John .Woodlock, who was drowned in the Thames river, by falling off. the deck of the cutter George, while at anchor off Hikutaia, was discovered in the water yesterday by^ a bushman, about eight miles above the point of the accident. He at once recovered the body, and conveyed it on shore, after which he sent information to the police-station at Shortland." A correspondent of the Hawke's ßay Herald States that the hot springs at Tokana, near Lake Taupo,. have, "in scores and scores of instance?, proved efficacious in removing rheumatism, gout, and cutaneous diseases of every description. It would be desirable," he says, '* that some qualified scientific man should report upon their therapeutic properties, pointing out what are the diseases to which each spring is calculated to prove remedial, for there are .all varieties at Taupo." The establishment of an institution similar to the Bushman's Club at Adelaide, has been mooted at Auckland. Several of the flax-mills in Canterbury have re-commeiiced operations. The Swedes, who were recently brought out by the General Government, went to their location at Manawatu the other day. A correspondent says - —They are to have land, rations, tools, &c, on the deferred payment principle. They are a poor, dirty, squalid, miserable lot— not one gsod-looking man or woman among them. They are all small people, and one or two of the men are almost dwarfs. If they are a fair specimen of the immigrants from the north of Europe, I fer one don 1 t think much of them. I should imagine they are not over cleanly in their habits, and the style and material of their dress are remarkably similar to what I have seen on the lowest type of Irish immigrants landing ab New York."