Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 845, 12 April 1871, Page 2

His Excellency the Governor is expected, according to present arrangements, to arrive in Greymouth on Wednesday next. He will remain certainly for one day and night, and possibly two, and to-day or to-morrow the Reception Committee will be in- ; formed whether he will travel to Greymouth by land or water. The Committee have received intimation that his Excellency will attend a Citizens' Ball, which will most probably be held on Wednesday evening. The Committee met last night, and the arrangements for the ball and other means of entertaining the Go verD or are, although not definitely decided, so far matured as to leave little doubt that his Excellency's visit will pass off with suitable eclat. To-morrow we shall he in a position to state more particularly what these arrangements are. A sitting of the District Court will beheld this forenoon. Jurors are reminded that they must be in attendance at ten o'clock. The only criminal case is one on committal from the Ahaura, in which Jeremiah Creed is charged with assault, with intent to do some grievous bodily harm. The unopposed bankruptcy cases will begone through, but any opposed ones will be adjourned for a week, in order to allow Judge Ward to be in attendance on his Excellency the Governor at Hokitika. j The annual meeting of the parishioners of Trinity Church will be held this evening, at eight o'clock, in the church, for the purpose of electing a vestry and churchwardens for the year, and for the transaction of other business. By some neglect on the part of our correspondent at Hokitika, the result of yesterday's racing was not telegraphed to us last evening. It was reported in town that Sir Tatton won the Hurdle Race, Saucy Dick the Selling Race, and Peeress the Westland Handicap, but for the correctness of that we do not vouch. In our last issue notice was taken of a concert at the Town Hall, which was spoken of as being given by the members of the Choral Union. The Society which did give the concert was the Tonic Sol-fa Association. At the close of the performance a handsome illuminated address was presented to Mr Savage, the conductor, showing how heartily the members appreciated his spirited exertions in organising and training .them. When we consider that the Association commenced to practice the first rudiments of vocal music less than a year ago, and that most of the members had never sung in public before, the precision and accuracy with which the various pieces were given, unaided by any instrumental accompaniment, reflects great credit on all concerned. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, G. Cooper and P. Crawford were charged with a breach of the peace, by fighting in Boundary street. The former was fined 5s and the latter LI, and costs, A miner at Welshman's Terrace was arrested yesterday morning, on a warrant, charged with attempted rape. He was brought to town, and will be before the Bench this morning, when lie will have to be remanded, in consequence of the sitting of the District Court. Tn nrflfir that fcko financial affairs or Che Paroa Ro4d Board muy be thoroughly investigated, it is requested that all claims against the Board will be sent in on or before Friday, 14th instant. Complaints continue to pour in from the mining districts as to the careless manner in which the census was lately taken ; and there is no doubt this will cause a considerable loss in the revenue of both Nelson and Westland. A miner at Nelson Creek sends us the following : — "As your valuable* paper has always been the means through which we get any information, I wish to know who has been accountable for the gross neglect in taking the census in this district. We had no doubt a sub-enumerator, who rode here, made his agreement with whoever he could find to do his job cheapest— that is, distribute and collect the census papers, he himself, it seems, thinking it beneath him to know whether the census papers were left at every dwelling or not. There are many parties heie who have got no papers, while others have got them, but they have not since been called for. Whether it is the subenumerator or the person who appointed him who is accountable to the public for this neglect I know not ; but I consider it very wrong to appoint a man who thus acts so much above his office, not caring about anything only pocketing the gain derived from the appointment. There is not the slightest doubt, if the census is taken all over the West Coast in the same manner that it has been in this district, the numbers recorded by the census returns will fall thousands short of the actual population. Our own correspondent at Ross sends the following items of news under date 10th inst.:— ;The man Andrew Harrison died from the gun-shot wound on Saturday, mortification having set in, and on Sunday was buried, a very large concourse of people forming the funeral, prominent amongst them being members of the Oddfellows Society, with black scarfs and hat bands. The Ross people carry these matters out in a style unexcelled in the colonies. — Mining affairs show no improvement. The Cassius claim is idle once more, with a probability that, in its present position, we shall hear its sonorous whistle no more. The drainage engine is working well, and the sinking of the shaft is being pushed on. Fears were entertained on Saturday that ' the work would have to be suspended owing to there being no funds to pay for firewood. It is now understood that matters have been arranged to keep the machinery going for another week, in order to see whether rates can be collected to keep life in th« concern. If not, the whole flat must fall into the hands of one company ultimately, remaining in the meantime in a swamped out state, causing greater depression of business than there is at present. People look hopefully forward to the time when a water supply will be brought in, when the present engines will be relieved of their puffing, blowing, exhaustive powers, and an element brought to bear on machinery and ground that will open a new era m Ross, when we shall see the hill sides and gullies of the country from the Mickonui north crowded with busy and prosperous* miners, who, with tradespeople, now live; like Micawber in hope of something turning up. — Mr Staite, barrister, who practised here for some time, has left for the Grey Valley. His absence is lnnch felt here, there being but one member of the profession left ; litigants having to seek the services of a gentleman from Hokitika when the local solicitor is arrayed on the other side. With regard to the reception of the Governor at Timaru, the Herald says : — The total expenses incurred by the Timaru Borough 'Council on the late visit of his Excellency were laid before the Council on Monday last. We confess, we are not astonished at the amount (just double, we presume, what was anticipated by the Council), for such a result was to be expected when no regular system

was followed, but when, as it appears to us, each separate sub-committee of the Council took action by itself, and resolved itself not only into an advising committee (its proper function), but into a financial committee as well, aud ordered sundry expenditure to be incurred. We have no wish, however, to cast undue censure on the Council for the large expenditure incidental to a proper reception being provided, the carrying out of which but very little time was allowed. We believe the Council, with its various subcommittees, did its best under the circumstances, but that one or two glaring errors have been made cannot be denied. 'To guarantee one hundred guests at the public luncheon was a grave, and has turned out a most expensive, error on the part of the Council. To guarantee half of that number would have been ample, and would have been quite sufficient to secure the desired end. One item cf the bill we must object to. Making all allowance for the sweat of intellect and physical exertion necessary to prepare a proper . reception for the Queen's representative, yet we hardly think it within bounds for Councillors to give themselves luncheons, and the pleasures of a ball-room at the public expense ! How is it that only thirteen tickets are accounted for at the public luncheon? Volunteers and all included, there were certainly forty people at table. With the exception of this slight liberality towards themselves, we really must not grumble at the accounts. A Governor visits us but seldom, and with the most rigid economy it would be almost impossible to keep ''expenses within a paltry £50. Mr A. Mollison, M.P.C., of Waihola, Otago, says the local paper, has in his possession a natural curiosity obtained by him at the Waikawa station, in the shape of a wild boar's tusk, measuring no less than sixteen inches in length, and "which describes a complete circle and a half, and to : j wards the inverse end bears the mark of | abrasion with the adjoining tooth. The twin tusk was also of more than usual I length, and had evidently been broken off in 1 some encounter of root digging exploration of master grumpy. Mr Mollison purposes securing the skeleton of the head from which the tusk was taken, and re-inserting the tusk in its natural position, by which its value as a curiosity w ; ll be considerably increased. The Wellington Independent, referring to the new mail contract, says :— " A subsidiary agreement has also been entered into with Mr H. H. Hall for the continuance of his line until the other is in action ; and we understand similar arrangements have been entered into with Mr J. Martin, as owner of the Phoebe, for the temporary continuance of her services." At a recent meeting of the Dunedin Presbytery, the following petition was unanimously adopted for transmission to the Executive Council, the Legislative Council, and the" Hotis^ of Representatives :— " Unto the Honorable, &c. The memorial of the Rev. the Presbytery of Dunedin, humbly sheweth, that whereas it is understood by the Presbytery that a scheme of general education of the whole of Now Zealand will be laid before the Legislature at its next session. The Presbytery desires respectfully to express its opinion that any system of education designed for the country at large should be national, in contradistinction to denominational, inasmuch as the latter has been found at once expensive, unsatisfactory, and inefficient. The Pi'esbytery would further express its opinion, that in any Bill establishing a. national system, provision, be made for^fe vise of the Sacred Scriptures in all fche«!teW\), subject to the control of the local committees. The Presbytery wojild take the liberty of drawing the attfiniion n£ +.lia A-ooomiUy to ilio system of public education which has been established and in operation in Otago for a number of years, and which has given ample satisfaction to the community at large. Further, your memorialists would express their opinion that the details of any plan of public instruction which may be proposed, should be laid before the country prior to such plan being finally adopted," The Wellington Independent of April 1 has the following: — We are much gratified to learn that Government, acting upon the representations which have been made by the Registrar-General of Land, and some of the largest landowners in the Colony, have decided to issue licenses to land brokers, under the Land Transfer Act. This is ajstep which will do much to popularise the new system of registration, and to place its advantages within the reach of all who have any dealings in land. There is no doubt that if the practice under* the Act were limited to solicitors, a considerable proportion of those who had transactions in land would continue in the old paths, fearful lest any turning aside should only add to the expenses which were already so grevious to be borne. It is not doing lawyers an injustice to say that many of them at least would naturally take care that any transaction under the Land Transfer Act effected by them under instructions from a client would prove to be more expensive than if it were completed in the ordinary way, and would be an effectual preventive against further dealings of the same kind. It is one of the great advantages of the Torrens' system that land registered under ' it can. be dealt with without the intervention !of a lawyer. When a man has once brought his property under the Act, he can say to an intending purchaser that the whole matter of conveyance can be settled in a few minutes, and at a very trifling cost. Of course it is not by any means necessary that the aid of a solicitor should be obtained to register land under the Act, in any but those cases where the titles are lengthy and involved. Indeed, in all ordinary cases, we see no reason whatever why a man should not go direct to the Registry Office, obtain an application form, till it up himself, and hand it in, with the deeds and the necessary fees to the Registrar. We understand that all the officers of the department are expressly instructed to give every facility and assistance in this class of transactions. Besides the great advantage of being able to effect transactions (under the Act at a very small cost, and in a very simple manner, any person placing his land under the Act, or purchasing land registered under it, obtains an absolutely indefeasible title, a title which can only be upset on proof of fraud.