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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 948, 10 August 1871, Page 2

It is supposed that English Mail via Suez, or at least the telegrams of the news brought by that mail, are on board the ,sp, Claud Hamilton, which arrived in the Hokitika roadstead yesterday afternoon. As her tender was here, and had to run down to Hokitika,; she did not bring the news ashore last night, but will do sd about five o'clock this morning. However, as the Telegraph Office does not open at that early hour, we need not expect our message until about 10 a.m. Our contemporary the Boss News is. a strangely matter-of-fact piper. It has placed the strictest literal interpvatation upon our article on the necessities of the Gold Fields. When : we : sa,id that the mining community was deprived of the necessaries" of civilisation, we did not intend it to be understood that absolute physical hunger and suffering existed. We referred to the wants of a higher character — the absence of roads and bridges, and the other essential conditions of prosperity and advancement. Anewly-establishedgymnaaiumwasopened last evening in Waite-street. The hall is new, and well adapted for the purposes of the club. The quarterly subscription is small, and all who wish to join may do so, as it is freely open to the public. The second public entertainment in connection with the Greymouth Literary Society ; will take place to-morrow evening in Gilmer's Hall, at eight o'clock. We understand that the committee have made arrangements so that these entertainments will lose nothing of the interest which attached to that given re^ cently with so much success. .: Yesterday afternoon, about five hundred men, women, and children, of Greymouth, assembled at the upper ferry to witness the announced "daring feat" of the Young ■ American, who is attached to the Seymour ■ Troupe as a walker on wires, crossing the ■ Grey River on the wire by which the punt is - swung between Greymouth and Cobden. ; Time passed on, and people stared at the j wire, but its usual common-place importance [ was not enhanced by the appearance thereon of a real acrobat. The punt continued to [ trade from side to side, and a rumor began ' to float that a contretemps bad-occurred owing 1 to the owner haviug refused to lower the " wire tp the first stage— about twelve feet 1 from the top of the streteln'ng-pole —in con- ■ sequence of the labor it entailed, and the I unremunerative nature of the transaction. i Ultimately, a number of volunteers offered . to lower the wire and raise it again, and this r was accepted. A f ter about an hour and a half's waiting in anxious expectation, the rope was 1 lowered and stretched, and the said A merican youth ascended the ladder in full regalia, ' examined the rope, and discovered that owing ! to its having twice passed through the pully, ' " fchjare was too much 'ile' on it for him to 1 . w&l&V 1 A fey hundreds of the spectators i then departed ia#gh£ng, quite satisfied at i having been " properly sosi" tyft, in order • to show that ♦' there was no deception,'' the •Young American scrambled up th§ bank i where the rope is fixed, and walked on the t line from there to the landing stage, a distance of about thirty yards. In the evening I there was a very good house at the Volunteei* Hall, where Mr Seymour and his troupe gave ' their entertainment/ and the performances ■ were frequently applauded. The County of Wefiland Gazette of Tues r 1 day is to hand. In it the County Chairman 1 rescinds the appointment made in the School ; Committees of Westland. During the consideration of the Estijna'.es 1 in the County Council on Tuesday! Mr Dungan asked that tho sum of Ll9 should be paid ag a subsidy to the Paroa readingroom, out of the £tesi. fop general contingencies. Some discussion took pla<?e, and ft was j , ultimately agreed that the" matter should be again mentioned when the Estimates were fe-KJommitted. , '■ ■•■■■■■■■ The item on thp Estimates for the cost of the Governor's reception syas jbhe of some warm discussion in the Council Tuesday evening. Mr Guinness particularly addressed himself to the amount of LSO put down for the citizen's ball at Hokitika, expressing a very decided opinion that the citizens should have paid for it themselves. Mr Barff was also warm on the subject of the ball, which he considered had been conducted in a spirit of exclusiveness which led to its failure. Several remarkable instances were mentioned of exhorbjtant charges made for services rendered. The trip to the Grey was stated to have cost 1.40 for horse hire alone, and the use of a carriage was charged at the rate Of about a pound a minute; The County Chairman acknowledged that had he known that such exorbitant charges would have been made, he would hare endeavored to have made arrangements beforehand. He, however, |turnedjthe tables upon Mr Guinness, by stating that that gentleman had been commissioned to make a contract for the hotel at which the Governor was to stop, and yet that the charges for a. period of not quite two days amounted to Ll2O. Mr Guinness, in reply, stated that he and the others with him who entered into the contract considered it very reasonable, but he did not doubt that the hotel keeper considered it a very good one. The vote, jya,? L 450, was eventually passed. . ■ At a sitting of the Westland Waste Landß Board, held at Hokitika oh Tuesday, Mr Lahman brought under notice the question of yestjng in the Greymouth Jockey Club the ground set apart for a race-course in Greymouth. The ground, he said, had. been so set apart by tjbe Canterbury Government five years ago,' and as the Board had (Jetermined to vest the Hokitika ground in the Club, they could, not but , do the snmefor. the Grey. — The Chief Commissioner said that before the Board passed any resolution on the subject, he should like to have a legal opinion as to the power of the Board to'withdraw ground that was intended for public recreation and vest it in private individuals, who would, of course, charge for admission. If it was illegal to do so, there would be no use in putting any resolution on the minutes of the Board. —Mr Hops said that the whole question of reserves would : be shortly before • tfrp Bj^rdj . a^d the?* the matter could be

dealt with; — Mr Lahman expressed himself satisfied with havinc; brought the question before the Board, leaving them to deal with it. ; A Ross paper of Monday, says— "The Shetland [party tapped the water in their drainage tunnel .-yesterday morning, about eight o*clock; ana were flooded out ; but the Hercules got the water down by the evening, and driving operations on the lower levels in the Expeleior . and . Prussian claims will be resumed at once. The Excelsior party have only about three days' work before them to complete their tunnel ; but the Prussians anticipate seven or, eight days' labor will be required of them ere they proclaim a finish. • . i : Mr Sydney James, Dunedin, has been appointed by His Excellency the Governor to be an Official Auditor for the Province of Otago f ,to'audit. the. accounts of official agents appointed under the Mining Companies Limited Liability Act, 1865. ■..-, Mr James Turner, formerly a member of the Dunedin City Council, died |at Fiji, on the4thJuly. ; . •A discovery which has lately been made in Otago, is thus talked of by the Warden of the district : — "A discovery has been made during the quarter of the existence of gold in payable quantities on the top of the Conical Hill, opposite Hayelock . township, known as the' Big Hill. ' There was a slight rush to the: ground at -first, but a little pro' specting brought out the rather remaikable fact that the wash only existed on the very cap of the hill, which is less than ten acres in extent, and seems to be a sort of basin, so far as known, about 25 feet deep, and quite isolated. The cap ofthe hill is ; about. 800 feet above the level of the sea, and lies in a direct line between the workings at Blue Spur and the workings at Manuka Creek, and which line would cross the saddle to the east of the Hound Hill. The great impediment to the working of this ground wul be the difficulty Of getting a supply of water high enough. What : drew attention to this hill was the similarity of the conglomerate rocks on the surface to those on the hills in the neighborhood, of Manuka Creek, where the ground has turned out SOiwell.'" 'Although the frost suspended or impeded mining operations at St; Bathans, Otago, for a period of nearly five weeka, the miners were not idle meanwhile. The Chronicle's correspondent writes: — "'They have harvested many tons of lignite, which abounds here, and may be raised in places at the cost of a very little labor. ' Great quantities of valuable firewood have been disentombed at a place' called 'The Bog,' near Surface Hill. Miners have thus made the best use of their time in securing fuel for many months to Qome at the cheapest rate." • An alarm of fire, reported by the Hosts News, was" given at the residence of Mr Francis, in Moorhouse street, on Saturday night last. It was caused by a child taking a light into the bed-room, and, by some unexplained cause, setting the bed-clothes, alight. Fortunately, Mr Francis and Mr Palmer were In the house, and, hearing a hubbub among the children, looked into the bed-room in time to save the house from destruction ; but they were not a moment top soon, as the wall and ceiling paper ~were already blazing, and a f own seconds' delay would have resulted in the destruction ofthe house, and probably of many others, as the neighborhood is closely built. The following sensational incident of the French siege of Paris, is related by the Times 1 correspondent : — '• A workman came into town last night from Neuilly, who told me that he had found himself accidentally hemmed in by the sudden falling back ofthe Federal troops; «nd was a witness of the loss of two barricades. While watching from a window he became aware of a tremendous crash, followed by the death of some fourteen men. This was caused by the meeting of twp" opposing shells jn mid-air, accompanied tjy a report such as i^oifTd ' result from forty sledge-hammers striking at the same instant upon the roof pf a vast conservatory." ■ •. '"" ' Who would ever have believed, th§ Wq>^at tip Mail asks, that the evolutions of fchp skater would be witnessed on a rapid rugged mountain river like the Shotover ? And yet we have it on the testimony of an undoubted eye-witness, that such an occurrence took place near the Sandhills for a few days during the severe hard frost about three weeks since. Our informant states that at the time referred "to" t 1 &e~OBhlr' .Quajrtz' MiningTona- ' pany had washed a larger slfp fntq the river, which, backing it up, rendered tHe stream comparatively smooth, and thus allowed time for its congelation for some dig* tance upwards. , . .... . We learn that King and party, who have been engaged in digging on the Maori Ue. serve, Cloan, Port Molyneux, . Otago, have commenced to wash up, arid are sanguine of being remunerated for their time, labor) and outlay; ' ■■-.-■ Fiax-dr^ssing is being; actively carried on. in Maflborough, the muls jdreaxly in existence being busily at work} 1 while the erection of others is contemplated. This 'favorable state of affairs is due to the high prices obtained in' England 'for Marlborough dressed ftax. We are pleased to learn that it has be. eh ! decided to re-establish an Agricultural and Pastoral Show in Dunedin, on a basis that ought to ensure its success and secure the confidence pf gtpgkPwners and the public generally, The Southern Trunk Railway in Otago is, according to a correspondent, progressing at such a snail's pace that at this rate half a century will elapse before it. is completed. Isolated cuttings here and there, with, a few men, are the only indications that the great work is in progress. The majority of settlers look upon it in anything but a favorable aspect, its completion being pqn.9iderjed,taja,ta»., mount to heavy taxatjop." In the township of Kingston the authorities are determined to do with the streets as they please. The settlers have held a meeting, when it was resolved that unless adequate provisions were made for crossings and gate-houses, they would, resist the . authorities. Mr Charles Samson's case is one of peculiar hardship. The entrance to his farm and slaughter-yard has been destroyed, without giving a proper entrance in. lieu thereof. In this case arbitration has been refused by the Government. Consequently he has been under the necessity of going to law. Taranaki, if a small, and: to visitors a-dull place, manages to enjoy itself in a genial, wholesome fashion. A correspondent, writing on the subject of the amusements of the isettlers, says :— "They are fe';w, it is truereading, gardening, and talking politics. The people are great politicians he.re, and a large number, for the size of tho place^ actually subscribe for and read the Hansard through every session. There is a Philharmonic Society, which occupies the musical portion of the 'community, but the more .agreeable amusement is. to be found in the social iutercoursethat is parried on in thia 'community ;' little parties of friends n)e^ music, a rubber at whist, supper, and home. No formality — everything resijmbjes pld England years ago. Ihen, in summer, there are the picrnio parties: Who will not say tbat~ an exhilarating ride with a number of joyous girls to tho place pf ■ meeting in some picturesque spot, and i the happy time spent ' during the day, is more enjoyable than what has to be encountered in fast life to be found in the pity ? True hospitality is to be found from the settler in this Province, Let a stranger ;

come on a visitsto^ aj J^e^here, and he is treated in the same Hbspitablei manner that was a common practice in the.cplonies before the gold-fields were discovered^ but which ceases tdexist in most places at "the present day." : 13ie place may be many years behind the age— it may be ' slow I—it1 — it may be dull — but a person/ if he wish a fine climate, homely, domestic pleasures, and an easy and quiet life, conld not fix upon a better spot to live in than Taranaki." Some explanation of the late movement of Russian troops in Central Asia is to be found '•mi the^followitig'paragfaph.fr6mthei«cfoiow Times .-—"The Russian army in five divisions is marching against Khiva. Russians have an old quarrel against theKhivans, and; this is riot the first time that a Russian army has been seen along the course of the Oxus. The Russian eye has always been upon Khiva, 'as it is the key and the gate to Central Asia,' If Khiva be occupied, .and the Khanate be under subjection, Russia would come in immediate contact with Persia and Afghanistan. " The 315 .Chinese, who arrived at Dunedin lately by the ship Jean' Sands, were brought up to town by the Golden Age. A barrier was! erected about half-way down the old jetty. This kept the curious crowd back, <and allowed the Chinamen room to open out their swags so that they could be inspected by the Custom House officers, whose duty, with 300 -'? Johns" shaking the filthy dust out of their portables, was, even on the jetty, most unpleasant. All the Chinese were struggling for their swags as they were thrown up from the Btearaer, over their heads, and caught in their upraised hands. . They jostled one another, gesticulating wildly as they quarrelled over their luggage. An ; old doctor, "with r nailg which were taper," who \vore enormous spectacles, and spprted a long pig-tail, was the only one who preserved anything like staidness. There were a good many boys and lads among them. It took more than an ; our hour before the jetty was dear of them. During that time they by degrees left it, and disposed themselves the congenial narrow rights>ofway and back slums off Stafford street, and the following day they left for the up-cdnntry mining districts. A resident in one of the out-lying mining districts in Otago sends the following to the local paper :— " Living in a somewhat out of the way locality he was visited in the dusk of the evening by two Chinamen, heavilyladen, foot-sore, and weary, who, mistaking his house for a wayside 'shanty,' asked for food and lodging for the night. . Having but scant accommodation for accidental visitors,, andiprobably riot "caring for the moment to make too familiar : acquaintance with the interesting strangers, the proprietor of the hpuje djrepte'd tflero elsewhere, and even took the trouble qf searching about to find them lodgings, ;but without success.. None of his neighbor? were inclined to, take John in, and at last/ making a virtue of necessity, and being withal, of a generous impulse, our ifrjend gave . them lodgings, supper, and bed, and a good breakfast in the morning, declining to receive any money as recompense. The two Chinamen were profuse in their profession of thanks, and went on their way rejdioing. A short time afterwards, again in the dusk of the evening, another Chinaman called at the same house —not for lodging* however, but merely to leave a carefully-packed parcel* which having left, he instantly departed. On being opened, it was found to contain some pounds of excellent tea— a gift from the benighted Chinamen to their kindly entertainer." . A Victorian company has been formed for the puipose of developing the mineral wealth supposed to exist in the old lake bottoms so common along the valley of the Molyneux River, Otago. It is , highly probable that Moa Flat will be chosen as the scsene of the first experiment, Its succeed would revolutionise our system pf- minjng, and attract both capital, and labor to tile country! ' ! '" " .' ; '' .