HOKITIKA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 917, 5 July 1871, Page 2

HOKITIKA.

[from our own correspondent J July 4. The approaching session of the County Oouucil is looked forward to with much more than usual interest owing to the great expectations that many indulge in in respect to the result of its deliberations. The extravagance of some persons' hopes is 3imply ridiculous, and bitter disappointment waits on many. The ir.jatiecessful water-race speculators, of whom there are not a few, believe that their prophet Hoos will take steps to recoup them out of Westland's share (if the Yogel loan. Tho tramway proprietors look forward to the purchase df their somewhat decaying ventures by v!m Government through the same facile rv^eut, and miners anticipate a network of waterraces that will not be constructed for at least some years. It is not necessary to say how absurd such hopes are, s>ut they exist nevertheleos, and hence the interest I have mentioned. It would \>i ridiculous under any circumstances to take up water schemes that have already been tried and proved failures, or to purchase tramways that are useless and out of the Hue of the trunk road, butsomeof theinfiituated believers in the ex-County Chairman hug themselves with such ideas. Some curiosity is felt as to what manner of man the new Paroa representative will prove. He has the advantage of succeeding a dummy ! of no small magnitude, and cannot posi sibly prove a more incompetent sample of a representative. I see that your Mr Guinness is about to address the electors in Greymouth. If he doses them with as long a yam as he was in the habit of inj flicting on the County Council last session, his audience will not care for a repetition of the infliction. He can talk more and mean less than any orator that has hitherto shone in the County Council. Mr Barff was pretty good in that line, but Mr Guinness completed eclipselyhim. It is to be hoped that as be had such an innings last session he will spare us on the forthcoming occasion. The improved financial condition of the County has woke up the most tender interest in the bosom of a celebrated Polish capitalist and the manager of a bank with whom he is iatimately connected. Both these gentlemen are buzzing about the Government offices at all times and seasons, though what their little game is does not at present appear. It is still true that where the carcase is there will the vultures be gathered together. The Hokitika Hospital finances are in a vastly improved condition. Instead of being deeply in debt and many months in arrear with wages and contracts, the committee, by the aid of subscriptions and pretty heavy payments by the County Government, has cleared off all debts, has money coming of about .£4OO, and has a balance of £100. It is to be hoped that your local institution has been equally fortunate in extracting its subsidy. The kerosene question is not yet settled, and merchants and dealers still are able to snap their fingers at the law, and risk their own and their neighbors' lives and properties by storing large quantities of this dangerous oil in the most crowded parts of the town. The motion by Councillor Jack in the Borough Council, giving the kerosene dep6t free for storage is under the consideration of a committee, and it is more than likely that they will report unfavorably. What consideration was needed when the protection of the public was really the question at issue is hard to say, and it is equally difficult to understand how an unfavorable report can be brought up, but iiflnust be borne in mind that Borough Councillors are frequently rather eccentric in their ideas, and nut unfrequently, but very slightly, troubled with too much brain. The " champion swordsman," DeLoree, has been committed for trial to the Supreme Court on a charge of stealing a quantity of jewelry at Ross. There are now four persons arrested for the brutal assault on the man Smith referred to in my last. He is still very seriously ill, ! and not out of danger, so has not been able to attend to prosecute. The other police news is unimportant. The accounts to hand from the Murray Reefs have caused no small stir here, and signs of a quartz mania are beginning to exhibit themselves. Whether it will become violent remains to be seen. Several Hokitika men are largely, interested in I these reefs, and, as may be supposed, are jubilant at their prospects. A small rush for coal wharves has taken place, there being one in course of construction by Mr F. Clarke, and applications for permission to build three others are before the Council. The coal trade must, if this is to be taken as a criterion, be a profitable one. Mr and Mrs Hilton play here to-night at ' the Assembly rooms, but unless the weather takes up it is hardly likely that they will have much of a house. At present it is raining heavily, and there is a strong fresh in the river.