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Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 852, 20 April 1871, Page 2

The ball and supper given by the citizens of Greymouth, in honor of the visit of His Excellency Sir George Bowen, took place last night, in Gilmer s rooms, and proved a complete success. The attendance was very numerous, and the company seemed greatly to enjoy themselves. The supper was of the most sumptuous description, and reflected great credit on the caterer ; and all the arrangements of the Committee showed that nothing had been left undone to give general satisfaction. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and proposed the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, after which he proposed the toast of the evening, "The Health of the Governor," to which Sir George Bowen replied, thanking the people of Greymouth for the hearty reception they had given him, and he assured them it was the warmest welcome he had received on the West Coast. After some further remarks, he concluded by proposing the " County Chairman, and the County Council of Westland," and " His Worship the Mayor," to which Mr Lahman and Mr Wickes replied in appropriate terms. The company then adjourned to tbeball-room, and dancing was kept up till an early hour this morning. The Greymouth Rifle Volunteers are summoned to attend at the Drill Shed this morning, at half -past nine o'clock, in full uniform, in order to form a guard of honor on the departure of His Excellency the Governor, who leaves for Wellington by the p.s. Luna. _ . It will be observed that the various Banks in town will not open until eleven o'clock this morning, so that the officers may attend upon His Excellency the Governor, who takes his departure for Wellington at 10 o'clock sharp. A Warden's Court was to be held at Reefton yesterday, and at Christy's, Inanguhna Ju action, on the 21st. In our notice of the proceedings at the arrival of the Governor we omitted to mention that the local tug, p.s. Dispatch, fired a salute of seventeen guns. We understand that Mr Tizard has been appointed Warden and Resident Magistrate at Okarito, where he has for a number of years acted as Sub-Collector of Customs. A few days ago, we mentioned the finding of an inscription on the stump of a tree in Watson's claim, South Beach, which appeared to indicate that some one was, or had been, buried near. The matter has, so far, been cleared up by a miner named Edward Jorgerisen, who sends us the following particulars : — " 1 see in the Argus, of Ist April, a notice about an inscription on a stump and a grave on the South Beach, and as 1 know something aoout this supposed grave, I will try to write down in bad English what I know about it. In February, 1866, I set in to work in Watson's old claim on the South Beach, and some time after a party of two men set in close to me, but a little higher up the creek. One day I went over to their claim, and we were standing talking close to an old stump, when one of them suddenly exclaimed, ' Surely somebody must have been buried here,' and pointed to an inscription on the stump. After reading the inscription, the other.man said that some young monkey had cut that, because it could not be so old ; and, after a closer examination, we all agreed that it could not be so long since it was cut, which afterwards proved to be correct ; for one morning, about a month afterwards, three men came with their swags to my hut, and stopped till next morning. They told me they had been there when Watson's party were working the claim, and that they were camped where that old stump stood, where they had their fireplace. When 1 spoke to them about the inscription, one of them said, • I cut that one evening when we were sitting by the fire. ' Once later I have been reminded of the same, by reading in the paper of a man being fovmd dead somewhere on the Coast, bearing the same or a somewhat similar name, when 1 thought it might be the man, and that they recorded his death on the old stump." We have been favored with an approximate return of the number of the population resident at the Upper Buller, Lyell, and lnangahua Gold Fields. The total population, nearly all of which are miners, is set down at 500. A fire, resulting in the total destruction of a hut belonging to Harry Baulke and mates, took place at the Nine-mile Beach, on Saturday morning last. At Colhngwood, Nelson Province, stocking weaving has been started under the direction of Mr Alexander Gibson, an old Nottingham weaver. An Auckland correspondent writes :— The frequency with which mining accidents have occurred of late at the Thames is really a matter of serious, consideration, with the viewto, if possible, adopt preventive measures that will have the effect of preserving the lives and limbs of what are, without question,, the bone and sinew of the Province. The Thames folks have certainly had their fill of late of tragical events — have " supped full of horrors " in fact, and yet the supply of this undelectable papulum appears undiminished. Bearing in mind the old fond superstition of untoward events coming in threes, I was in hopes that the Dauntless and Sink to Rise accident, at the beginning of this week, w ould have been the last event of the kind for some time to come. It was not to be so, however ; next came the Canadian Gully tragedy ; and now I have to record a serious accident to a man named Dennis M'Gill, who was working in the Ladybird and Hand of Friendship mine. It appears that, on the morning of the 6th instant, he was engaged in filling in some of the higher slopes with dirt thrown from the surface, when suddenly a portion of one of the walls gave way, and crushed him with some violence against the opposite wall. He was socn extricated, but unhappily his right leg was broken below the knee. He was at once removed to the hospital, and there attended to by Dr Lethbridge. The other hurts he received were but slight. Commenting upon the late Nelson Raca Meeting, the Examiner says :— It is seldom the proverb of misfortunes not coming Bingle, receives more forcible illustration than is this year witnessed in the two principal Nelson racing stables. At the commencement of the season, the stable at Hednesford appeared almost invincible, Mr Redwood having in addition to Peeress, a proved firstrate mare, no less than five three-year-olds out of well-bred mares, some of which are really first-class. But no sooner were the youngsters 1 put to work than three went lame, and the remaining two sadly disapI pointed the expectations formed of them. At Canterbury, Day Dawn and Bashaw made a very poor figure, as also did the colt's four-year-old, sister, Songstress, Mr Redwood winning only with Peeress, who certainly paid him well The lame ones having been turned out in the spring, Peeress sent to the West Coast, and Songstress gone amiss in Marlborough, where she had been racing, there was nothing at Hednesford for the Nelson Meeting but Day Dawn, and the crippled daughters of Phoebe and Goronaria,

and the stable was never so weakly represented on the Nelson course. By an unfortunate coincidence the Annesbrook stable was no better of. Magenta, who ran the best three-year-old ever foaledjn Canterbury, and whose four-year-old performances were almost equally good— beating as he did the formidable Knottingly, when he was in his prime, at three miles, over the Nelson course — having caught cold last yesr when down the coast, has never been the same animal since, and has now lost al! pace. Then Lacenfeed, the best of Mr Stafford's present string, and over Nelson course an animal not easily beaten, fell lame about a fortnight ago, from which she has not Recovered, and became gross from want of work. Peeress, absent winning money at Greymouth and Hokitika, and not a good hoise in either of the Nelson stables but what is lame, an Auckland sportsman, Mr Walters, drops in upon us on his way back from Dunedin with two good animals, and we have nothing to meet them with. This is an occurrence we hope never to see repeated. Had our horses been beaten when fit, we should not have murmured over the matter ; but it is vexatious to be beaten not on the merits of the horses but through unlooked for accidents. We hope the success Mr Walters has met will induce him and other sportsmen to make sircilar visits, and if they can bring better animals than they will meet here, we shall always be ready to congratulate them on their success. Whilst a man named James Bendall was at work at the railway cutting ia Dunedin the other morning, the earth fell, covering him, and breaking his thigh-bone. He had to be dug out, and was taken to, the Hospital, where he now lies. Au antidote to strychnine is common smoking tobacco. The mode of application hitherto adopted has been to cut up half-an-ounce of of fig tobacco, saturate it in a quarter of a pint of hot water, press it out, and administer from one-fourth to the lot at a dose, according to the circumstances of the case. Donato, the one-legged dancer, who created a sensation in London a few years ago, has arrived in Melbourne, and was to appear on Easter Monday. Mrs George Darrell's performances at the Prince of Wales Opera House have been sufficiently successful to induce the management to renew her engagements. The sum paid last year by the provincial press of England for the mere transmission of telegraphic messages was over L 30,00 0; and the highest sum paid by any single paper was paid by a Manchester journal. This was L4OO for the transmission of a message from Mctz. it was from the correspondent of the Mancliestcr Guai-dian. A correspondent says that the Lyall townconsists of some dozen houses of the usual class— stores, hotels, &c. It certainly is peculiarly situated — some would call it romantic — perched upon a high range at the confluence of the Lyall and Buller Rivers, it looks to me a more suitable spot for Jan eyry than a township. But for all that several of the stores and hotels are well built, and apparently well stocked. We are sorry to have to chronicle, as a reminiscence of the recent Hokitika races, the death of a valuable animal. The celebrated trotting horse Bones, which won the Trotting Race, died suddenly on Tuesday, on the farm of his owner, Mr Tom Harris. Bones will "rattle his bones over the stones" no more. It is supposed that the poor beast could not sustain the insinuation against his trotting powers which was implied by the result of the race being made the subject of dispute and of settlement by dilatory stewards. The restoration of peace in Europe is appropriately chosen by the Gerni&n Association which exists in Hokitika for the benefit of the sick and for other benevolent purposes, as an occasion to be celebrated and to be made the medium of contributions to the Association's funds. On Friday next, a banquet aud ball will be held at Hansen's Assembly Rooms, in celebration of the restoration of peace, news of which has been received by the San Francisco mail. The Dunstan Times, remarking upon the death of the late Mr Bedborough, says — "We question if it is morally right that a man, singly by himself, should be left in charge of any of the Bank agencies. It is cruel and inhuman to require such. A lad, even for company's sake, would not cost much and we think that in the interests of the shareholders, such should be conceded when the agent on the goldtiekls is not a married man, as in reality he should be. In this case the Bank has a great deal to answer for. Had assistance been at hand it is very probable that the poor agent Bedborough, who breathed out almost to his last breath untended and uncared for, might be a living man at the present time. What else might happen in a similar case it is almost impossible to conjecture. There would be nothing to prevent the whole of the property of the Bank being carried off." The Daily News correspondent furnishes the following description of the cantinieres attached to the French Army. Your cantiniere is another type worth observing. She is usually a fat person in trousers. Her chignon has cost money, but she has got her moneys worth. All cantinieres are blonde. They gird themselves in uniform, and wear a " kepi," a sword bayonet, and a cigarette when in full dress. On the campagne, these latter equipments are exchanged for a big jack-knife and a short black pipe. Many a time have we admired our favorite actress in coat and trousers. I remember Miss fanny Josephs, most bewilderingly symmetrical as Lord Somebody in "Flying Scud." Whether it be the fault of the regimental tailor, or something with the lady's figure, or whether it be the want of footlights or the beaming enthusiasm of one's after dinner mood, or whatever the cause, the castiniere does not at all remind a man of the admired actress. The lady is a very useful person no doubt, and her costume and accoutrements are all that military experience pronounces best ; but the fact is undeniable, that any Prussian soldier might shoot down the regimental housewife in all innocence, and go on his way without disquieting himself. Home papers state that on January 14, J. Bennett, the champion, played the second match of a series of exhibition contests announced for every Saturday throughout the season at St. James's Hall, London, aud the one in question will long be remembered for having given William Cook the opportunity oL excelling his hitherto unequalled monster break of 531. The table upon which this wonderful feat was accomplished is a perfectly true one, the balls rolling most accurately along the bed. Prior to commencing the break, scores of 108 and 90 had already been credited to Cook, whose figures had. reached 350 to Bennett's 218. Then after a few cannons and hazards, the ex- champion worked his way up to the spot and scored 37 in succession off the spot hazard, after which he lost position, but, regaining it soon afterwards, scored 85 more. Again he failed to get situated properly for the spot stroke, aud made nine more before he got back to the old place, when he soon finished the match by making o4 "spots." As, however, the spectators wished the break completed, Cook went on scoring, and added 34 more hazards ere he made a miss cue and broke down, after scoring in all 752 (220 spots.) After he had scored 446, an interval of a quarter of an hour was allowed, but the break was otherwise uninterrupted. Cook scored 204 points in 1G minutes, and the last 102 in seven minutes. The game was the most rapidly played on record.