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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 918, 6 July 1871, Page 2

Mr Frank Guinness, one of the members for the town of Greymouth, has convened a public meeting for this evening, for the purpose of consulting with his constituents upon some of the questions which are likely to engage the attention of the County Council during the approaching session. We have to remind our up-country readers that the Rev. Father Cummins, S.M«» will say Mass and preach in Maori Gully on the 9th instant, in No Town on the 16th, and in Clifton or Eight-mile on the 23rd. We are given to understand that in reply to a communifsation made by Mr Warden Whitefoord in forwarding a memorial from the inhabitants of Granville (new township at Half-Ounce) the Nelson Government has given instructions to have a road cleared up the creek from the Totara Flat to the junction of Duffers and Half-Ounce Creeks that will admit of drays going to that place We are informed that a constable will be stationed at No Town temporarily, at Mr Eastie's Hotel, until quarters can be built, a work that will shortly be commenced. The holding of heretical opinions does not seem to be confined to tbe writers in the newspapers. Twenty members of the Otago Provincial Council have declared that the Sabbath is to be desecrated by the Government. A majority in a Presbyterian Province, and amongst the majority officebearers of Presbyterian churches, voting that trains shall run on Sunday ! What are we coming to ? What next we wonder t The attention of the Paroa Road Board ought to be given to the necessity of making a road, or track, up the New River, from the dam belonging to the New River Water Race, as it is reported the water is being backed up, thus preventing pedestrians and pack-horses from making use of the river bed as formerly. A correspondent of the Thames Advertiser sa ys_" All the bipeds in Tapu are not teetotallers by any means, but it would appear that the quadrupeds are no better, for one night last week a bullock in an inebriated state (from having eaten too freely of native plants) went rolling down a shoot some 80ft high, and landed on the floor of Mr Buckland's machine, to the great consternation of the man who was feeding. After a walk round the floor the animal went out and fell into a deep hole at the end of the building, but on recovering its legs again it ran down the creek like a shot, evidently none the worse for its carousal." Some of the arguments used by those who, while admitting the necessity of substituting a simpler form of Government for Provincialism, but are afraid to face the results, are very amusing. Take the following from the Wellington Advertiser as an example :— "If Provincialism could at one felt swoop be swept away throughout the colory, we might have reason to rejoice at the reform, and even if the change did not prove a beneficial one, we should, at least, be no worse off than our neighbors. But to affect this singularity would be a fatal mistake. We all know now the stricken deer is treated, and if we tried to be different from our neighbors we should undoubtedly meet with more kicks I and cuffs than sympathy or assistance. There is a world of truth in the old proverb which would teach us at Rome to act as the Romans do. We may {see that many of the actions required of us are foolish and extravagant, but we can't afford to anpeac wiser than those around us, unless, indeed, we happen to be very much richer. Now, if we were to affect singularity of Government, and even if we could abolish Superintendent, Provincial Council, and all our other peculiar institutions, it would be at once understood that it was poverty which compelled us to do so, and our richer neighbors would commence at our expense to experiment upon us. We could not afford it, and our last state would be worse than our first." At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Maori Gully, yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq.', R.M., the following cases were disposed of :— Judgment for plaintiffs was given in the cases M'Coul v. O'ConnelJ, L 2 13s; Connell v. Davis, L 2 13s. — In the Warden's Court, a man named Cookley was fined LI and costs for occupying a business site in the Maori Gully Township without a business license. The same person was sued by Wliite and party for jumping their claim. The plaintiffs proved that defendants came on the 19th June, and seeing two of the plaintiffs working at their boundary line asked for their pegs and if they would give him a share, wliich was refused. He then went to the claim where an old mate of his was working, and told him that the other mates had said he could have a share. He then set to work in the cutting with his mate. Plaintiffs refused to have anything to do with the defendant, and ordered him off the claim. He refused to leave, and after the summons was served ordering him to desist from working the claim he still persisted, and the plaintiffs then brought the Sergeant of Police to remove him. Defendant denied the facts alleged, but said that he was taken in as a mate, and that he only put one peg in the ground and went to work, and that the two men on the boundary were outside the claim prospecting. Defendant was ordeied to give up the ground, and was fined LI for disobeying the Warden's order. The only other case of any iuterest was Rowlands v. Connolan, for damaging plaintiffs head-race in Riley's Gully. Plaintiff had hold a water right for a race out of the

creek for the last two years, the water running over a bed of tailings about six feet deep into the head-race. Defendants are working a creek claim, and worked the ground up to within fifteen feet of the point where plaintiffs water runs into the race out of the creek, and during the late floods the bed of tailings were washed away, and the water lowered about five feet below the level of the race. Defendant was ordered to give two days work to plaintiff in assisting him to build a dam to save the water to the race, and not to injure the plaintiff's water right. It commenced to rain in the up-river districts on Tuesday, June 27, and continued with scarcely any intermission ever since. The rivers and creeks are all much swollen, | and traffic has to a great extent been impeded. The up-country mails did not reach their several destinations on Tuesday, in consequence of the flooded state of the rivers. The rain has been of immense benefit to mining districts, owing to the long continuance of the frosty weather, the races were nearly all dry. The miners are everywhere busy washing up, and the yield of gold the next few weeks will be large. A late Wellington Advertiser states that Colonel Moule on taking command ot the Armed Constabulary at Mount Cook Barracks, issued an order compelling the men to wear their uniform on all occasions. Can this be said to be carrying out the " demilitarising " policy of the Government ? Mr E. C. J. Stevens, a gentleman whose absence from the Assembly is much to bo regretted, in a letter to the Lyttelton Times, of June 7, denies a rumor that he was a candidate for a vacant seat in the Canterbury Provincial Council, and concludes by stating that he will not, under any circumstances, become a candidate for a seat in any Provincial Council. The Taranaki papers notice the death of an old settler, Mr Richard Sulhn, of Omata, who came out in 1841. We learn from the West Coast Times of yesterday that, at a meeting of the Waste Lands Board, on Tuesday, a considerable number of applications were entertained, and several blocks of land and sections were sold. A letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Chairman of the Board was read, recommending the Board to set apart blocks of land along the main road for immigration purposes. It was decided to defer the consideration of the letter until the first meeting in August, Mr Lahman promising to lay before the Board by that time a map of the County, with certain blocks marked which might be devoted to the purpose mentioned in the letter. A proposal was brought forward and agreed to, that for the future the sittings of the Board should be held on the first and third Tuesdays in each month. The Board then adjourned. Some interesting particulars with regard to the survey of the bush track from Bruce Bay to the Haast are given in the .Ross Neios of Tuesday. Our contemporary says :- Mr Browne, our District Surveyor, returned from the South on Sunday, having completed the survey of a track from Bruce Bay to tbe Haast River. He informs us that the population is becoming more settled, and that a large proportion are cultivating a little ground and producing many of the necessaries of life. The line of road is described as being through good sound country, and that it can be used as a dray road when widened out. The present contract is for a track sft wide, and about 40 miles in length, the consideration being 13S0 acres of land. Messrs M'Glone and Douglas are the contractors. We learn that no new discoveries have been made, but the country is mostly auriferous, although the miners have not worked auy but beach ground. A party are out prospecting for copper, and coal has been found. Another of the many numerous attempts at suicide of the same kind was made at Hokitika on Tuesday. A woman named Elizabeth Cluse, on the previous day, had been brought before the Resident Magistrate and fined for drunkenness. About half -past two o'clock in the afternoon she was seen walking along the beach, and subsequently to rush into the surf, which was unusually heavy. At the imminent risk of his own life, a man who had observed her movements, succeeded in saving her. Dr Rosetti was in attendance in a few minutes, and, after restoratives were applied, she recovered, when she Was conveyed to the police station. A little bit of romance comes from a native village in the Waikato. According to the correspondent of the Southern Cross, an old chief woman of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, named Hiko (wife of Wi Pukapuka, now or at one time a native assessor, and residing at Otorohunga), attempted suicide lately by setting her whare on fire. She was very much burned about the face and body when discovered, and is, I am informed, not likely to recover. The cause of her attempt on her life was jealousy, Pukapuka having takeu another young woman to share his affections. She bad previously tried to hang herself, but could not succeed; The Thames Evening Star is responsible for the following :— " We have been informed on the best authority that the end of the present month will see the changes carried out in our local police force which were recommended by the Provincial Council last session. We believe that there will be extensive changes as far as regards the Auckland portion of the force ; and that as concerns the whole body, both here and there, the commands will be placed in the hands of other persons than those appointed by the General Government, and that the Armed Constabulary regime will cease. The result of which will be that the officers will be compelled in future to waste their aweinspiring glances on bush pigs and Maoris, instead of, as at present, on domestic porkers, puppy-dogs, and petticoats." The Auckland Herald of June 24 says : — " One of the directors of the Caledonian Gold Mining Company left at our office last night a specimen of quartz which was taken out of the workings of the mine during his visit to it yesterday afternoon. The stone, which weighs about 141bs, is a portion of a larger block, which was broken into three pieces. The piece is estimated to contain about SOozs of gold, and certainly its appearance is rather that of a block of gold than of quartz. We do not suppose that such an extraordinary specimen has ever been seen previously — certainly not in Auckland. The stone may be seen at our office during the early part of the forenoon, after which it will be sent to the Legal Manager's offices, in Shortlandwhere it will be on view for a time, whence it is not improbable that it will be sent to the Bank of New Zealand, for the purpose of being smelted as it is, crushing being almost a work of supererogation in such a case. As a curiosity, this wonderful specimen is worth inspection, and would create a sensation in any part of the world. We are quite sure that few of our readers will be able to realise the wealth of the Caledonian until they have seen and handled the latest from its golden reefs. Although, however, this specimen is at present a curiosity, j we believe that before long abundance of such I stone will be found at the Thames. We are convinced that there are many Caledonians yet undiscovered on the Thames Gold Field, aud even at the present time many claims bid fair to rival their rich neighbors. As we have frequently stated, the field awaits development, and as the Caledonian was the reward of systematic enterprise, so steady perseverance will surely meet with its reward in other and quite as valuable mines, at present only half developed."