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Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 842, 8 April 1871, Page 2

Yesterday being Good Friday was strictly observed as a holiday by all classes of the community. The Government Offices are now closed for the Easter Holidays until Wednesday next.

A bush fire commenced yesterday durinS the bigh winds on the lead behind the Cemetery, and bin ned fiercely for a long time. Two huts were pulled down, and several gardens destroyed \ large portion of the Cemetery fence fronting the tramway was burned, and also abont a chain of the fencing at the back, bnt the fire did not interfere with any of the fences round the graves. The diggers and residents in the neighborhood rendered every assistance in extinguishing the fire, and protecting the Cemetery.

We are requested to remind our Church of England readers that, in accordance wuh the time-honored custom, the offertory to. morrow will be presented to the clergy of the parish, the Rev. Mr Watkins.

A meeting of the Justices of the Peace will take place at the Court House this morning for the purpose of revising the jury list.

An extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the Grey River Steam Tug Company will be held to-day, at three o'clock, at Cameron's Union Hotel, for the purpose of considering the advisability of declaring a dividend.

The services in the Wesleyan Church will be conducted to-morrow by the Rev. Mr Taylor, the newly-appointed pastor of the circuit. .

The Right Rev. Dr Moran appears to Lave met with a warm reception up country in Otago. From the local papers we learn that on it becoming known at Naseby that the Bishop was in the coach which arrived there on Saturday, the 18th, Mr John Dillon rode to the Kyeburn Hotel, for the purpose of requesting the right rev. gentleman to remain at that place, iv order that he might be escorted into the town in a manner befitting alike, his high position and the importance of the occasion. To this tho Bishop assented, and Mr George, of the Victoria Hotel, having lent, his carriage for the occasion,, proceeded, with Father Norris, to bring him into Naseby. From 80 to 100 horsemen rode to the Kyeburn, to escort the Bishop's carriage, which contained Dr Moran, Father Norris, and Mr W. Inder. The horse procession was the largest that had been seen at Naseby, and as it descended the hill leading to the town presented a very imposing appearance. The Bishop was at once driven to the chapel, before which an evergreen arch had been erected, where he was received by Father Royer.

Batcheldor, the dioramist, is now, or was at last advices, at Lowell, Mass., busy superintending the painting and mounting of a panorama, which will exceed in splendor anything we have yet had in this hemisphere. It is to represent the route from New York to Melbourne by the new overland route to California. His knowledge of the two countries ensures that we shall have something worth* looking at. On his arrival at Melbourne (about June next), he will most likely be joined by his two old colleagues, Messrs Eastwood and Logan. A ,new Wesleyan parsonage is about to be built at a cost of LSOO, at St Albans, Christchurch. Canterbury Province is at present, says the local journals, full of able-bodied men who want work. A new United Free Methodist church, is being erected at Addington, Canterbury. Mr C. B. Cairns, of the Bank of New South Wales, lias had a handsome gold watch presented to him by the inhabitants of Waipori, Otago, on his leaving the district. . ; The consumption of breadstuffs in the Auckland market is estimated by a local paper at 147 tons per week The returns of imports, and., of local production for the year 1870, are taken as a basis of calculation. The friendly natives at Clyde, Hawke's Bay, have refused to hand over to the authorities a man named Renata, who is known to be one of the murderers of Mr Wilson, killed during the Poverty Bay massa<tre. They do not apparently refuse to give him up ultimately, but allege, as grounds for retaining him in their custody, the fact that Te Waru is more guilty than he, and ought also to. be apprehended j , that Benata, playing second part to Waru and Kooti at the time of tbe massacres, was compelled to execute their bidding. ' ' ■ The Westport Harbor Master, Captain Leach, has received instructions from the Nelson Government to examine into and rer port upon the navigability of the Buller; Ly'ell, and Inangahua rivers, and to suggest jthe best method, if any, in which the navigation.,of these streams may be approved;

Captain Leach commence'! his tip-river jour ney on the afternoon of the 3rd inst, by boat, for the purpose of carrying out his instruc tions.

The following chapter of mining accidents comes from the Thames : -We have to record the sudden death of a miner named William Foreman, who was working in the upper tribute of the Imperial Crown mine. It .appears that the deceased was engaged in trucking out stuff from the 40ft level to the .cage that works in the shaft, and,. whilst waiting for the cage to descend, must, by some unforeseen chance it is "supposed, have overbalanced himself and fallen down the shaft, or else fallen over whilst taking the truck into the chamber. Certain it is that at about half -past ten a concussion as of a fulling bodp striking something was heard by those working below, and the cause being investigated, the body of the unfortunate man was found at the bottom of the shaft. The body was removed to the surface as soon as possible, but before Dr Cross, who wag hastily summoned, could reach the 1 spot, life had departed. He was well known on the West Coast. — Another accident occurred at the Morning Star Company's mine, to a miner named Michael Sheeran. The ".nfortunate fellow was driving along the reef at a lower level. A diagonal tlfive was being put in alonp; another level M'hich joiued the reef at an angle, and the other parties put in a shot, not knowing that they were so close to the w n'kings in whidh Sheeran was driving. The sh>t was 2£fr deep, and, unfortunately, the ground proved weaker at Sheeran's side of the angle, and threw' the 'stuff out at that side instead of the place at which the shot was put in, and the poor fellow: was struck by tue stuff exploded. He sustained a compound fracture of the leg, and died iv the Hospital next day. — An inquest was held on Monday, at the Thames, before the Coroner, Dr Kiliiour, upon the body of a miner George Parr, who was killed on Saturday by a tree falling upon him, whilst he was asleep in his whare, Moanataiari Creek. Several witnesses, none of whom saw the tree fall, were examined ; their evidence merely showed that the tree was observed to be lying across the whare, and upon examination the deceased was found under it quite dead. A verdict of accidental death was returned. The deceased formerly served for a number of years in the 40th Regiment, and was a native of Somersetshire, England.

The Rev. Father Bensfeld is now on a visit to the up-country districts. Mass was cetebrated at the Ahaura on Wednesday, sth inst., and at Totara Flat on Thursday. Divine service was to be held on Gocd Friday and on the following day at Napoleon, and at Half-Ounce on Easter Sunday. It was Father Bejjsfeld's intention to visit the Little Grey, Inangahua, and Murray Creek, if tbe'Hvcather permits, previous to his return to Greymouth.

A meeting of the Grey Valley Hospital Committee was held at Pinker ton's Hotel, at the Ahaura, on Thursday evening, 6th inst. There were present— Messrs M'Kenna (in the chair), Pinkerton, White, Hayden, Boag, and Potts, Hon. Sec. The meeting was called principally to make arrangements about opening the institution, as the building will be out of the contractor's hands in about two weeks. It was resilved that a musical and dramatic entertainment, to be followed by a ball and supper, should be given on Wednesday, 26th April, and the following gent'ernsti were appointed a sub-committee to carry out the object of the i esolution : — Messrs M'Kenna, Pinkprton, White, Potts, and Hajden. It was decided that the several districts should be canvassed for contributions of goods, &c. , on the bazaar principle, to be used at the opening ball and otherwise disposed off for the purpose of fragmenting the funds of the hospital. The Hon. Sec. stated that he had arranged to have the outstanding promised subscriptions collected, and he was requested to have the names of those who have contributed up to this time published, together with the amounts subscribed. Two accounts were passed for payment, and the Hon Sec. received authority to have tickets printed, and to announce the forthcoming entertainment aud ball in the Weekly Argus and the Grey Valley Times. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings.

The Ahaura Hospital building is rapidly approaching completion, and it is the intention of the Committee to inaugerate the opening of the institution with an amateur musical and dramatic entertainment and a grand ball aud supper. There in a considerable amount of available amateur talenc in the Ahaura, Napoleon, and Half-Ounce districts, and there is good reason to expect that this efforts of the Hospital Committee to ; raise funds for the institution by giving the residents of the up-country districts an opportunity of combining charity with pleasure, will be .crowned with success.

From the Nelson Colonist we learn that an accident occurred on Monday last, a£ the Canterbury Company's claim, at Collingwood, by which two miners, named Thomas Mavis and .)ohn Squires, sustained some severe injuries. At the time of the accident they were engagad in blasting rock down a shaft eighty feet in depth. The charge having been placed in the bore, and the fuse lighted, the men ascended to await the explosion. This not taking place as expected, Mavis descended the shaft to see what was the cause, and, finding the fusee still burning exsinguished it by throwing water on it. Squires then following him down the shaft with the drill, and they pioceeded|td remove the tampion ; only a few blows were given when the charge exploded. Mavis, who was working the drill at the time, had his hand severely lacerated, and Squires was much scratched about the forehead aud face — it was first thought that he would lose the sight of one of his eyes," but the injury did not prove so serious as was anticipated. Mavis arrived in Nelsop by the Lady Barkly, and is now in the Hospital, where we are happy to learn be is doing well. A short time ago, -we (Times) called atteution to the discovery of a reef of antimony on the banks of the Taierij on the road to Hindon, Otago. Since then a company, with a nominal capital of LIBOO, has been formed to work the reef. Most of the shares were taken up by the original promoters, but some were reserved for the public, and are now on sale. A lease of the ground has been secured, and men are now at work. .The company intends, we understand, to confine its operations to excavating and exporting the raw ore, as it will be more profitable to do. this than to smelt on the ground. The capital appears small, but as no expensive machinery is required, it will probably be found suffi- j cient, for the present, at any rate. The specimen of the ore which was shown us the other day was exceedingly rich, but it was taken from, the surface, and the reef appears to improve in quality as it is opened up. Although deposits of antimony have long been known to exist in Otago. this is the first company that has been formed here to mine for that metal ; indeed, we believe it is the first antimony mining company registered in New Zealand. •

The lease of the Government Wharf, Nelson, for one year, from Ist April, was sold at auction to Messrs N. Edwards and Co, at the upset price of LSOO, there being no competition. Last year it realised L 640. W.e have frequently cautioned miners against the folly of rushing away to. New South Wales or any of the other colonies upon vague information. On thjs subject the Thames Advertiser say? that a number of diggers who left the Thames during the recent rush to Queensland returned per s.s. Hero, aud express their disgust a$ the chase

they have hart in search of a will-o'-the-wisp auriferous region. . One of the unhappy rovers sold 10 scrip in the Caledonian just before his departure for LlO each, and other mining interests at equally ridiculous figures, whereby he reckons his loss at some L3OOO, besides loss of time and expenses of travelling, which in Australian districts is an important consideration. In company with others of the returned miners he now expresses his belief that, taking it altogether, there is no better place than New Zealand, ami it will be long ere he is ggain' induced to travel on such a. fool's errand^, v' ;.

Considerable sensation has been occasioned by the following letter from a Roman Catholic priest, tlie Rev. Father M 'Donald. It is addressed to the Southern Cross : — Sir — In the notice of the funeral of the late James Naughton, Esq., R.M., which appeared in this morning's issue of the Cross, I see it stated that the deceased gentleman "at the time of his death held the office of Past Master in the Freemason order." Had I known such to be the fact, I could not. and, of course, would not, have read the funeral service over his remains. I was, no doubt, aware that he had been connected with the body; but, on making inquiry. 1 was assured in writing, by a special friend of the deceased, and a most respectable citizen of Auckland, that he had practically renounced Masonay, not having attended any meetings of the fraternity for twelve months or more. On the strength of this written statement my Bishop allowed me to attend the funeral. 1 am. Ac., Walter M 'Donald. St. Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland. March 20, 1871.

The Fiji Times of the Ist March states : — On the night of Tuesday last all the Lsvoni fighting men slept together at the chief town of their tribe, and early in the morning made their descent upon the coast town of Tokalan. They came along two different spurs of tbe hills, and took the Tokalau natives by surnriso. They hastened to their fortifications, but twelve were killed, chiefly women and old men, who were not quick enough in their movements to make their escape. All the houses outside the fortifications were burnt, including the Native Teacher's house and the Native Church. The Levom people after the slaughter dragged the canoes of their enemies into the water, and taking with them their own wounded, went home by way of Naituvatuva. We hear from Levoni that eight of their party are likely to die or have already died from gunshot wounds. The Levoni tiibes can muster six hundred fighting men ; they are all well armed, and renowned as the best native warriors in Fiji. Cakobau witnessed the burning of the town from bhe deck of his vessel, the Jeannie Duncan, and is now taking steps to subju<ia\.e the rebellious Levoni people. All the towns in the Qt »'.i-vaka-Bau and Quali-vaka-Levuka are pabting up war fences, and it will probably be the last time they will have to do so on Ovalau. The Levuka natives have never been thoroughly subdued, and it is hoped that (Jakobau will now put bis foot upon them and keep them down. The whites in Levuka have nothing to be alarmed about in this disturbance.

The trial of Mr J. T. Thomson's model of a machine for lifting water from rivers, on Friday last, at Dunedin, was a success. It fully demonstrated the practicability of applying the principle upon a large scale for the purpose of gold washing, irrigating land, driving flix or flour mills, and supplying towr.s with water.

During the progress of the great telegram libel cases at Dunediu it transpired that Mr Lemou, the General Manager of the Telegraph Service, had been in the habit of transacting business in grain on commission for the firm of Siitnpter and Lemon, of Oamaru. In his defe ice of Mr Barton hi 3 counsel, Mr Mncasstvy, said: — We must all feel that the Telegraph Department is one in which we are interested. We must feel we are interested in maintaining its credit, its honor, its integrity. The moment that any doubt may fairly be raised regarding its management, that moment its usefulness and influence ceases. The moment there is engendered in the public mind an idea that any telegram addressed to one person is liable to be handed to another, either for private or political purposes, from that moment will the Department justly cease to hold the slightest influence in the public service. The disclosures which have been made during the present enquiry show that a j necessity existed for drawing public attention to tbe administration of the department We have had disclosed the transactions which took place between Mr Lemon, the General Manager of the Telegraph Department, and Messrs Sumpter and Lemon of Oamaru. It seems that for one or two years Mr Lemon, of Wellington, acted in the capacity of private agent for those gentlemen, for bis own private reward and emolument. Now, I ask, is that the position which a public officer ought to be placed in? Certainly not. The public are therefore indebted to Mr Barton for having exposed the abuses existing in the D^artment presided over by Mr Lemon. I do not say that the Government were cognisant of the relations existing between Messrs Sumpter and Lemon and Mr Lemon of Wellington ; but 1 think the Government is fairly open to blame for having exercised so lax a supervision over the Department ; that there was no regulation in force by winch that system of things could be prohibited. But whether ihey were tq blame, or not, that circumstance entitles me to say that the management of the Department was fairly a subject inviting public comment, public scrutiny, and, if necessary, strong and decided censure. The next point upon which. I rely in support of the general accusation is the wilful act of misconduct committed by Mr Lemon, of Wellington, in fyauding the telegram — the exclusive property of the Qtago Daily IVnne^ — tp Mr CHs? borne. It appears the Otago Daily Times sent two reporters to Tirniru to report Mr Stafford's speech The speech was reported for the Otago Daily limes, and it was forwarded as a telegram to Dunedin for. that paper. Mr Gisborne, at the suggestion of Mr Lemon, agreed that the same message should be telegraphed to Wellington, although Mr Gisborne was not prepared to say that any express instructions were given that it should be so telegraphed. But it is plain by inference, from the evidence, that express instructions • were given that this telegram .Bhquld be forwarded to Wellington, In fact, express instructions must have been sent to Timaru before the telegram was sent.