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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 941, 2 August 1871, Page 2

The English Mail, via San Francisco, will go North by the s.s. Murray on Friday. . • In consequence of the funeral of the late Father Colomb, to-day, the sale by Messrs Nancarrow, Henderson, and Co., of Mr Syms' furniture, is postponed until to-morrow. Two ente»tainments are announced at the Volunteer Holl for Friday and Saturday evenings, by the Seymour troupe. They have recently beeu performing with much success in the flokitika, Kanieri, and Greenstone districts. A large number of visitors arrived in town yesterday from the mining districts, for the purpose of paying their last respects to the mortal remains of the late Rev. Father Colomb, and being present at the funeral, which will take place to-day. The deceased

gentleman will be buried this morning at ten o'clock, in accordance with the rights of the Catholic Church, in a vault under the altar. The. funeral procession will march through ths principal streets in town, and, no doubt, every possible amount of respect will be paid to it by all classes of the community. A public meeting of the inhabitants of Red Jack's Creek was held at the European Hotel, Red Jack's, on 29th July, to take into consideration the urgent requirements of the district with respect to tracks, and to memorialise the Superintendent of the Province of Nelson on the subject. Mr W. Corbett was called to the chair. Mr T. H. Sullivan explained the objects of the meeting, and said that a crisis had now arrived when immediate action was necessary, if the inhabitants of the Red Jack's district did not intend to allow themselves to be buried alive, without making at least an effort to save themselves. The district was as important, and contributed as much to the revenue as any other on the South-West Gold Fields in proportion to its population, and not one shilling had been expended on public works of any description in it for years. The people of Red Jack's were expected to contribute their share of the revenue in the shape of miner's rights, business and publicans' licenses, &c, and they were also expected to risk their lives in getting to the office of the receiver of the revenue, at Camptown, to pay their money in. No person representing, or connected with, the Government ever came among them, except in the character of a tix-gathcrer, audit was almost time the present state of affairs wae altered. The memorial they were about getting up would at all events be a protest against the neglect with which the district was treated by the Government. Mr Sullivan then went into statistics to show the disproportionate share of money spent in the Red Jack's district in comparison to the revenue raised it for the last five years, and resumed his seat amidst loud applause. A committee was then formed to draw up the address, and the following were appointed to carry out the intentions of the meeting :— Messrs W. Corbett, T. H. Sullivan, James Devery, W. Foxcroft, Robert Bugg, Christian Frank, John Amer, J. Hudson, Hans Lawson, James Crozier, W. Thomas, Andrew Lowry, John Jamieson, and Patrick Diament. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the proceedings. It is stated that over L2OO will be handed over to the Hokitika Hospital Committee as the result of a recent entertainment given at the Kanieri. At Italian Flat, Wairaea, Wright and party, who about three weeks ago had to commence their drive at a lower level, have now succeeded in reaching gravel, which, when washed, gave prospects varying from six grains to one pennyweight of gold to the bucket. Two others, Hamilton and party and Hopkins and party, expect to bottom during the present week. Mr Guinness intends to move in the County Council, to-day :— " That the County Chairman be requested to direct the immediate survey, &c, of the road from the Omotumoiu Creek to the Coal Pits, and from the Still water Creek to the Arnold j and to call for tenders for making the same, in accordance with the resolution passed by the Council on the 24th July, 1871." In the list of name 3of gentlemen called to the English Bar in Easter Term (2nd May) by the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple, we observe the names of Martin Chapman, Esq., and Frederick RevansChapman, Esq., two of the sons of Mr Justice Chapman. Both gentlemen are natives of this Colony, and the former was for some time secretary to the learned judge. otJier day at the Warden's office, Lawrence, Otago, for a reef discovered in the Lammerlaw Creek, about three miles from Waipori township. The prospectors have traced the reef some 60 or 70 yards. The thickness of it is about one inch on the surface, and it increases as they follow it about three inches to the font. The course the reef takes is E.N.E. and W.S.W., with a dip inclining to the north. The prospect gives a grain to the pound of stone, hut the prospectors intend getting two tons of the stone crushed this week at the O.P.Q. battery. An accident, resulting in the death of four natives, occurred on the 27th ultimo, at Maaratapu, a settlement half-way between Raglan township and Port Waikato. The launching of a new canoe is an important event in Maori life, and numbers of natives had assembled at the abovenamed village to take part in a ceremony of that description. After the launch, which was made on the open sea beach, four natives— Reihena te Kahukoti, Te Wikiriwhi, Hetaraka, and Reupene te Pohau —embarked on a fishing excursion, but they had not proceeded far before their craft was capsized. Hetaraka, being a weakly man, lashed himself to the canoe, but the others were confident in their swimming po^vcrs —too confident, as the re suit proved. Time after time the unfortunate men fetched well in shore, only to be swept to seaward again by the drawback, until at last, thoroughly exhausted, they bade farewell to their horrified friends on shore, and sunk before their eyes. Wikiriwhi's wife, when she heard her husband's farewell, was only restrained by main force from throwing herself off a cliff into the sea. Hetaraka, in the meantime, was on the canoe, but when it was drifted ashore some time afterwards, it was broken in pieces, and the man was not to be seen. None of the bodies have been recovered. Reupene was a Hau-hau, on a visit to his tribe. The other three were friendlies. Wikiriwhi (Wickliffe) especially was well known to travellers along the coast road as a very civil and obliging native. The Maoris ridicule the idea of the drawback and and tide having drowned the men, and refer the matter to a supernatural cause. They call it an "aitua" (omen). The people of Lawrence, Otago, are up in arms, and are determined to have the export duty abolished. At a public meeting held there last week the following resolutions were carried :— " That the gold export duty is a tax upon the gross produce, without regard to what may have been the cost of production. So that a miner may expend a large amount of capital on mining, and contribute a large amount of capital to the revenue, and yet be a loser by his investments, and that in many cases the abolition of the export duty would enable investors to make a profit whereas at present they lose." "That the revenue from miner's rights, licenses, rents, and charges, other than the export duty, 1S > in the opinion of this meeting, quite sufficient to meet all the special charges on account of the gold fields." "That the gold miners contribute to the general revenue m a greater pioportion than other inhabitants of the Colony, and are entitled to have justice administered and police protection defrayed out of that revenue. The only exceptional expenditure is the gold escort service." "That the system of entrusting to various bodies the expenditure of money, which they are not responsible for raising, is subervisive of political honesty, a great waste of public money, and a heavy drain upon the revenue; and that, therefore, the expenditure in subsidising Road Boards and Municipalities, beyond, in the-oase of the last, a limited assistance, is unsound in policy, productive of jobbery, gross corruption, and waste of public money in works beneficial only to private individuals ; and it is suggested that a cessation of such subsidies would enable the Government to dispense with a taxation which weighs heavily upon and retards the development of one of the leading industries of the Colony, ■•• v