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Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 854, 22 April 1871, Page 2

The usual meeting of the Borough. Council was held lest aishfria tike Town Hall. Present—Hia Wosehi^ tiie Mayor, Councillor* Kennedy, Nichol, Dupre, Moore, Purcell, and Macgregor. The following report was read, received, and adopted from the Finance Committee:— "Your Committee have to report that on the 31st day of March, last the nett liabilities of the Council amounted to the sum of LI 800 19s 3d, and that your Committee instructed the Town Clerk to write to the Manager of the Bank of New Zealand requesting an overdraft on behalf of the Council for the sum of LSOO, to enable the Council to meet its payments for the next three months, and including all accounts prior to January last. Also, would recommend that all acoounte referred by the Council to this Committee should be signed by the Mayor or Chairman, and that in future when to© officers of the Council liave to procure any goods oi materials, or require any work to be done for the Council, the same should be done or procured in conformity with clause 37 of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1867." Mr Purcell moved that one chain and a-half of the protective work at the west end of Richmond Quay "be pitohed, so as to prevent the washing away

of the bauk ; and also, that a mooring post be hxed there. Mr Dupre seconded the motion, which was carried. The Mayor moved that a notice board be fixed on the old wharf, cautioning the public that the structure is insecure. After an irregular discussion the motion was withdrawn. The deferred application on behalf of the Grey Valley Tramway Company for permission to lay their line through a portion of the Borough, from the breakwater east, was considered, and also the report of the Town Surveyor thereon. Several alterations had been made in the plans of the company to meet the suggestions of the Surveyor. A conversation took place , as to the* • probabilities of the company carrying out the undertaking before granting the permission sought. Mr Nichol expressed an opinion that this was a bubble company, unable to carry out the work, and moved that the application be declined. Mr Purcell seconded the resolution, bufc disclaimed the intention of throwing obstacles in the way of any tramway compauy. Mr Moore moved an amendment, to the effect that the permission will be granted as soon as a satisfactory guarantee is given that the company is in a position to carry out the work. Mr Macgregor seconded the amendment. The Mayor strongly supported the granting of the protection whenever the guarantee was given, whether in the shape of labor or capital. Tbe amendment was carried, and became the motion. Mr Mchol then moved an amendment that tbe various railway and tramway applications before the Council be referred to a committee to consider aud report. A question was raised by Mr Nichol whether the Mayor should retain his seat while he was interested in the tramway. The Mayor denied being interested in a pecuniary manner. Ultimately the matter was referred to the Committee to report to a special meeting of the Council nexc Friday evening. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., E.M., Louis Jakobs, of Maori Creek, was charged, on remand, with the larceny of two Ll-notes and LI 4s 6d in silver, the property of Alexander Patten, publican and miner, Maori Creek, Eight-mile. Anne Patten, the complainant, said that the defendant had been living at her husband's hotel foi some weeks. On Monday, the 10th inst., sbe left the hotel to go over the street to the house oj Simpson and Faulkner for dinuer, leaving the defendant in bed, and closing the doors. When she returned her purse had been removed, and the money gone from it, as well as some money she hud left under the mattrass of the bed in the bedroom, Defendant was the only person left in the hotel when she went out, and the only person in when she returned. That morning she received Is 6d from Mr Simmons for three drinks, and she remarked that it was the first money she had taken that day. Simmons said he would mark it for good luck, aud scratched it across with a pin. She believed that the coin produced was the same. She gave the defendant seven shillings that morning, and he returned home about mid-day, 3;iying that he had spent all his money, and had not a sixpence iv the world. He afterwards went over to the Eight-mile with her to see'Seigeant Boyle, and on the track she asked if he had taken themoney. He shook his pocket and said he had plenty of money. They had several drinks on the road. Frank Simmons sail he remembered the forenoon of the 10th. Tie defendant came into the bar of his hotel aud called for some drinks, and saying that he had only 3s to pay for them. He called at Pat ben's, and was paid by her three single notes off an account. He paid Is 6d for three drinks, but did not remember seeing anything done with the money— did not see any mark put upon the shilling. Sergeant Boyle stated that when he arrested the prisoner, there was only 13s 6d on him. He was lying drunk on a sofa in O'ConnelTs house at Clifton. The marked shilling produced was found iv his coat pocket. For the defence, the prisoner said that on Easter Monday forenoon he lay down in his bed, and fell asleep while the complainant was at dinner. He thought he heard some one in. the house and called out, but got do. answer. The next thing he was aware of was the complainant shaking him and asking if he had taken her money. He said no, that he had been asleep, when she said that she believed Frank Maclean had taken it, as he had done it before. She asked him to go to the Eight-mile with her to look for Maclean, which he did. He accounted for the money found on him by saying that before he left, the complainant asked him to bring any money he had, and he took 18s from his box, which he had been saving up to pay a Mr Jones, in town. — Thomas Clapham, bailiff at the Eight-mile, said he remembered, on Easter Monday morning, Mrs Patten calling him in. He and Mrs Patten had a drink. She said she had been drunk since the previous Wednesday. At half -past ten that morning she was neither drunk nor sober. He had known the prisoner in the district for two years, and never heard anything against him. — Alexander Patten, the husband of the complainant, said the prosecution was not taken by him. . He had formerly left the hotel in charge of defendant, and never found anything wrong with him. — Francis Maclean said he had never taken any money belonging to the complainant without previously asking for it. He had known the prisoner four or five years, and was sorry to see him in his present position. — The Magistrate held that the charge waß proved, and sentenced the prisoner to one month's imprisonment, with hard labor, in Greymouth Gaol. The Chinese in tbe Upper Shotover district, Otago, are thus referred to by the special correspondent of the WalxiHp Mail, who has recently paid a visit to that locality .'—"The Chinese are here in abundance, Skipper's Ureek being the favorite place of Celestial resort. By some they are considered a nuisance and a disadvantage to the place, while others are of the opposite opinion. There is one fact, however, the Chinese work for all they get, and when they have money expend it pretty freely. Some storekeepers' bills shown to me were highly satisfactory on this score. One barbarian dealer in grocery condiments let me see some Chinese accounts ranging from L4O to Ll2O, and the. items for luxuries, such as lobsters, sardines, jams, P.B; and old T.— sometimes amounting to cases of the latter — were something alarming. From what I learned, the Chinese are the best customers the storekeepers have for luxuries, which they consume in astonishing variety and quantity. With such facts before us, they are not to be hastily despised. The CaledoniangCompany's claim, at the Thames, about which so much has been heard recently, is situated on the hill-side, just above the well-known Tookey's and Golden Crown claims. It is 14 men's ground, and scarcely one-thirtieth part of it has been worked out. The workings are still 140 it from the nearest part of Tookey's claim. There are two shafts sunk in the claim, of which the main shaft is 234 ft in depth (being 140 ft below the level of the sea), and the Bmaller shaft 218 ft in depth. The bottom of the latter, however, which is sunk through a spur, while the main shaft is sunk from a c hollow, is 30ft< above the lower point of th ! main, shaft, or GOft below the level of the sea. The dimensions of the two shaft are •.— Main shaft, 9ft by 4£ft ; smaller shaft, 7ft by 3ft. A winze, sunk from the Golden Crown Co.'s drive at a depth or 113 ft, joins the two shafts. The pumping engine, which is on the horizontal principle, is of 40 horsepower nominal, with a 22in cylinder. During ,my visit it was pumping out water at the

rate of 250 gal per minute. The winding engine is of 14 horse-power, and has a 12in cylinder. There is also a 14£ in double-acting plunger pump, supplied by two drawing lifts, 12ia and 9in respectively. The number of stampers at present kept in use by the company is 54, of which only 24 belong to the company, though the parchase of another battery was being negotiated. The engine power of the company's own battery is equal to 16 horses, being about the same as that of the other two batteries collectively. The three batteries crush .on an average 22D to 230 tons of stone' per week. They are kept going night and day without intermission from 10 o'clock on Monday morning until 10 o'clock on Saturday night, the men working in three shifts of eight hours each. The number of men and boys employed in connection with the mine, carting, and the batteries is 100. The average wages of the men are from 6s to 8s per day. The tailing^ 1 are sold by the company for LI per ton, which pays more than twice over the cost of crushing. In the Hokitika district, 280 applications to be placed upon the electoral roll have been received, and 93 applications have been made in the Totara district. Two sportsmen bagged 50 brace of pigeons on Monday, round Pine-tree Hill, near Marsden, in the course of two hours or thereabouts. Not bad sport for amateurs in the bush, ■which was literally swarming with the birds. Ifc is officially notified in our advertising columns that his Honor the Superintendent of Nelson has refused to grant a gold mining lease of tbe block of land applied for by Mabille and Co., Half-Ounce. Before the Governor's dejarture from Greymouth, the following note was handed to Mr J. Johnston, of the Melbourne Hotel, by Captain Pitt, A.D.C. :— "lam directed by the Governor, Sir George Bowen, to inform you that you are at liberty to announce that your hotel was patronised by His Excellency. The Governor is very much pleased with the attention paid to his comfort." During the early part of last. week, a very disastrous fire broke out on the station of Mr Newcomb, of Haupiri, Upper Ahaura, which in the space of a few minutes consumed the homestead, together with its contenia, as also several out-buildings, fencing, and a deal of valuable property. The origin of the fire is at present unknown, but it is believed to have been caused by spaiks from the chimney of Mr Newcomb's house. We regret to hear that the scarlet fever is continuing its ravages inthecountry districts. The Oamaru Times states that four deaths in one family have taken place from this disease at Palmerston ; and in the Waikouati district, according to' the Herald, six deaths have occurred, while several other persons are still suffering from the fever. The fever appears to be travelling northwards, as the Lyttelton Times is informed that a case has occurred on the Ferry road. We recently announced the formation of the new Otago Provincial Government. Since then we learn that Mr Haughton will hold the Secretaryship of Land and Works temporarily, until the Council meets, when the Government will propose an alteration in the Executive Ordinance, so as to enable Mr Haughton to be appointed Gold Fields Secretary — a new office. Should this alteration be effected, Mr Cargill will hold the Secretaryslrp of Land and Works together with the Provincial Secretaryship.