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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 950, 12 August 1871, Page 2

A sitting of the District Court will take c jlwjein the HesidentMagistrate'gOourt-house a ;liis nidi niii-r, at ten o'clock. As there is no t iiiimual business, all jurors summoned by d ;he Sheriff ore excused from attendance, but t ill who were summoned by the Clerk oi Court oust be present. r A meeting of the Greymouth Garrick a ?lub was held last evening, at the Volunteer b

emperance Hotel, Mackay street, when Mr '. Kyle was appointed stage manager, and Ir Geo. Taylor treasurer, and it was realved to put in rehearsal, for the benefit of lie Hospital, the comedy of "Sink or wim" and a melodrama. Several new lembers were enrolled, aud altogether this !lub seems to have a successful career beore it. A meeting of boatmen and boatowners is ailed for to-day, at the Trafalgar Hotel, to ionsider tbe question of raising the wages. Last evening, the second of the series of sntertainments.' inaugurated by the Greynouth Literary Association was held at Silmer's Hall, and was, in every respect, a »reat improvement upon the previous one. Che Society appear to have hit the right nail >n the head by supplying a want whichhas jeen long felt in our limited and mixed :ommunifcy ior the entertainment of tbe jublic a diversified evening's amusenent of a most agreeable character. [t has been proved that, so to speak, .vithin ourselves there are elements sufficient to fill up, in a good sociable manner, ihe intervals of life in these long, dark evenings ; and we are pleased that the members Df the Literary Society have had the courage bo institute the present series of entertainments, and also to carry them on with so much baste and energy. No doubt, there is, in i collective form, something to recoup bhem for their energy, but still the public reap the benefit of being privileged to spend many evenings in a happily -intellectual |manner. Last evening the hall was crowded to excess, many being unaole to find even standing room. Tho readings, recitations, songs, musical performances, &c, of which such entertainments are composed, were given by the amateurs who had kindly given their services in a very spirited and able manner, and drew forth bursts of applause from a delighted audience. The first part was opened by an overture by Mrs Guinness and Mr Cannon, followed by a reading from Caudle's Lectures by Mr Newton, and and various readings, recitations, songs, and a scene from "The Rivals," by Mrs Moss, Miss Muller, Messrs Elmer, Warner, Kenrick, and Hindmarsh. In the second part, Miss Sims and Miss S. Harris, saug very sweetly, Messrs King and Elmer gave readings, and Mr S. Poole recited in costume and amid much applause, the comic story of "The Good King Arthur." Taken as a whole, the entertainment was one of the most successful ever given in town, and we trust that they may long continue to be given fortnightly. Notwithstanding all the protestations of the County Chairman, that there was no intention to remove Mr Cooper, the District Surveyor, to Ross, we notice that Mr J. R. Browne, the Surveyor from Ross, has arrived here, and entered upon his duties. The inquiry as to the reason for the change of the officers is still pending, and to an outsider it appears to be a queer mode of conducting public business to carry out the change while the enquiry concerning it is still pending. A second remittance has been sent to Melbourne from the Committee of the Westland French Patriotic Relief fund. The following is a copy of the letter forwarded with the money : — "To T. Denis, Esq., Treasurer tc the French Patriotic Relief Fund Association, Melbourne.- Sir— Again we have the pleasure of forwarding to you our second remit tance of L 72 4s, payable at the Oriental Bank Corporation, it being the remaining portion, clear of expenses, of the Westlane French Patriotic Relief Fund. This amouni you are requested to acknowledge, and transmit immediately to the Bishop oi Amiens for distribution. We should have sent this sum before this time, as we intended but have been daily expecting other lists, which we must regret have not arrived. We which accompanied the first remittance ir the Melbourne Advocate, and forward copie; of it to the Central Committee and to eacl of the collectors. Sir, in conclusion, we hepe that this small fund, contributed by the generoua and warm-hearted Irishmen and women, and other nationalities on the West Coast, may assist in relieving the wants and sufferings of those gallant Frenchmen who are in dire distress, occasioned by the calamities of the Franco-Prussian war.— G. Perotti, Hon. Treasurer ; Michael Dowling, and John Byrne, Hon. Secretaries." The County Council has voted LIOO for building a ward for females at the Grey River Hospital. In addition to his other qualities, the hon. member for Greymouth, Mr Guinness, is ambitious, and, by a side-wind, wishes to become a member of the Greymouth Hospital Committee. In order to secure this, he has given notice of his intention to move in the Council, on Monday, an amendment to the report on Hospitals, passed in 1868, for the purpose of constituting the members of the County Council ex officlo members of the Hospital Committees. A more ridiculous motion was never tabled. Judging by their past conduct, some of the members of the County Council ■would be heavy, obstructive, and expensive ornaments to the Hospital Committees, and anything but calculated to facilitate the despatch of business. If our hon. representative is serious in his wish to become a member of the Committee, we would advise him to stard his election in the usual way, and leave the public to decide as to his fitness for the position. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M , William Aubery was charged with the larceny of five bottles of porter from the Alliance Hotel, Boundary street, on Thursday evening. Isabella Alabaster said she saw the prisoner in the dining-room of her house the previous evening, and remained about ten minutes He passed out through the bar. Her attention was attracted by a noise, and on reaching the bar, found the prisoner with four bottles of porter on the ground beside him and one in his hand. Ten minutes previously she had seen the bottles on the shelves. The prisoner was much the worse for liquor, but he appeared to know what he was doing. Constable Keating arrested the prisoner that morning in a hut on the tramway, and cautioned him. He said he knew nothing about it. On the way to the station, he said he supposed he would gel some months for it, and asked how many prisoners were in. The prisoner now said that he was diunk at the time and knew nothing about the affair. The Magistrate said that was no excuse, and reserved his decision until he had heard another charge againstthe prisoner. — He was charged with stealing one Crimean shirt, of the value of 13s. Peter Martin, a seaman on board th<» ketch Angelina, said that on Thursday night he hung a shirt on a line on board the vessel, and it was gone next morning, He identified the shirt produced as his property. The prisoner was on board the vessel on Thursday night between six and seven o'clock, and was ordered to go ishore. John Wilson said the prisoner had been living in the hut with him for a week. He (Wilson) did not bring home the shirt produced; he knew nothing about it, and lever saw it before. Constable Keating said 3e found the shirt rolled up, and lying just nitside the door of the hut. Prisoner denied ill knowledge of how it got there. — On the irst charge he was sentenced to fourteen lays' imprisonment, and on the second to •wo months 1 imprisonment with hard labor. The contractor for the maintenance of the ' )verland road has found friends at Court, ad has been voted by the County Oouncil a lubaidy of LIOOO for repairing the damage '

Lone by the late floods. Remarking on this 'cry silly and unbusiness-like transaction, he Westland Independent says :— " One rery serious evil attendant upon the multi)lication of governing bodies - such as perrade New Zealand— is the facilities they iffordforthe undue action of private influmce. The governing and the governed seclions of society, so interpenetrate each other, ;hat there is no person fib humble but that le may hope to obtain, through the influjnce of 'a friend,' some profitable place or 3ome capitally -paying contract. We need not look far for examples of this kind of bhing, the Overland road contract and its supplementary thousand pounds affording a flagrant instance of one kind. No one can suppose it possible that if the Overland road had been in the hands of the General Government, the contractor would have obtained this thousand pounds. The difficulties to have been overcome would have been too great, too many officials must have been made to yield to his powers of reasoningpotent though they be — to have rendered it worth while to attempt it. Besides the members of the deliberative body who would have had to sanction the vote, would have been too numerous to render the 'sweet voices ' of one or two, of any weight in the scale. Thus, there is no doubt then, that not only would the contractor have fulfilled his contract, without this additional concession, but that he would have found it so profitable, that at the end of bis term he would have been eager to renew it." It is understood that Mr Davis has been re-appointed to the office of Inspector of Weights and Measures. The Christchurch coach did not arrive at Ilokitika up to a late hour on Thursday. The delay was caused by a heavy fall of snow at the Otira Gorge. The Boss Kews says that Mr Montgomery, surveyor, has completed his task of easing the gradients on the new line of road to be constructed between Ross and Hokitika, and is now engaged at the Survey Office preparing plans of sections. We presume, when the work is completed, tenders will be immediately called for the work. A petition is being drafted, for presentation to the General Assembly, requesting that the town lands of Ross be offered for sale, and will be ready for signing this week. A rather curious case is reported as likely to be sent to the Supreme Court from Patea for trial. It seems that a settler there, being troubled by vats, which devoured his produce, imported a number .of cats to stay the plague. This they did, killing a number of the rats, and driving the rest on to the property of a neighboring farmer. The latter, not approving of this result, threatens proceedings against the owner of the cats for damages. There is some talk of a compromise beiug effected by the cats being divided amongst the two farmers, with the object of driving the rats on the property of a third neighbor ; but in any case, in the present temper of the parties concerned, it seems likely that a jury will ultimately have to settle the matter. The Caledonian Water-Race Company at the Wainiea have been singularly unfortunate hitherto with their undertaking, the last misfortune being the breaking away of the race in several places during the bad weather of about a month ago. The damage then done has Jtaken three weeks to repair. They have everything again in working order once more, and hope to be able to make up for lost time. Webber and party, in German Gully, have been about three months bringing in a tunnel tail-race, to enable them to work the head of the gully. They have now finished the race, and have every prospect of being well rewarded for their labor,' as their ground is well thought of by the miners in the