THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1871.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 973, 8 September 1871, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1871.

Last evening we 'received what purported to be a telegraphic summary of the English Mail news brought to Melbourne by the Suez Mail. It had been telegraphed to Newcastle, and from there conveyed to Wellington by the collier Anne Mehuish. The message contains scarcely an item of public interest ; worth -of particulsr comment. But inlconnection with the receipt of this message we feel compelled, in the interest of the public, to make a complaint against the. Telegraph Department. Immediately after ,the English news was received, another, message, arrived from the Manager- of. Greville's Telegraph Agency, at Wellington, asking if we wanted any more Engliah' news brought per s.s. Taranaki. We were in the j act of replying that we d^id, the in.esaeoger quietly informed us that the office was shut for the night. Now, the officers of the Telegraph Department know well that it has always been our practice to receive additional mes : aaes of English news whenever a mail arrived,-! and that we are under a contract with the; agentj at Wellington^ for tie prompt supply of the same, but in order to accommodate us and the public, the office could; not be kept open for five minutes in order to allow us tcf reply, or to obtain an explanation of the query which was' put to' us. When will the officeis of the I'elegraph Department consider it a part of their duty to accouunodate the public, instead of throwing every possible obstacle in the way of public journals obtaining information for which they are quite williug to. pay? Whether the s.s.. Taranaki has arrived-. at. Nelson, .and brought on the news from Auckland, which may have arrived there by the 8.8; -Hero, we are unable to say. AH the answer we couU obtain was that " the office /is closed." - '' - The public are cautioned that thei officers of the Fire Bii^ade intend to-day to test the eapalnlitn-H of the , Tainui street Fire Bell,, between 12 ami 1 o'clock. -. ,They may have to ring the bull, 4 so that the residents must be muler uo alarm. ■ ' '" ' ' •'■ ' ' ' ■ The only <sases beard Wt the Kesident Magistrate's CouiV yesterday morning, were tWe of Levy- v. Curvey : A claim for l&J 7g ipd. for goods supplied, in which judgment Went '

by. default ; and Fehan v. Salmon, in which defendant appeared, and admitted the debt. JAfQa, and asked for H?Tne, which was granted. < The usual fortnightly public entertainment, ,consist : ng of readings, recitations, and music, under the auspices of *the Gtej mouth Literary Society, takes place this evening, at Giliner's Hall, at eight o'clock. Clara .Nock has been found guilty of perjury at Chriatcburch, and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment with hard labor. On Sunday last, a wheelwright 1 s Bbop and adjoining house belonging to Mr J. Anderson, at Leithtield, Canterbury, Was burnt down. •The place was insured for L3QO. A Wellington contemporary learns, on what, it deems competent aiithoritj', that the, offiue. Jof Chief Registrar under the Land Transfer lAct will again be filled by Mr Moorhouse : as soon as certain (Usabilities ,have been removed. i M 'Donald and party, ' while engaged cutting a tail race at the Nevis Gorge, Otago, recently found a nugget weighing 170oz. It will be remembered that lately .there was a trial crushing of stone from Adam. Suilth and party's prospecting' claim at the Murraj Creek Cement Co's r . battery, which gave 2 ounces 5 dwts to the ton. The party consists of six men, and the claim is <>O0 feet on the line 01-*eef. We learn that yesterday one-fourth of a share was disposed of for LIOO cash. . The following highly complimentary remarks concerning the representative of Collingwood appear ii a late Wellington journal "Mr Collins is eminently a man of little mind, his diminutive mental proportions are rendered.painfully apparentby all he says or does, and his idea of politics seems to be that they consist of personalities, Whether: he is put by some one else to do the^ dirty; work of the party he now honors by his adhesion or not, we neither know nor care, but we rather fancy that his nasty nagging attacks proceed from himself alone." . The Daily Times contains the following particulars of the fire in Auckland, a brief notice of which appeared in our telegrams :— "At 3 a.m. on Sunday, a fire broke out in the back portion of the New Zealand Insurance Company's new building. By the exertions of the fiiei brigade it was confined to the back portion of the bnilding, consist-, ing of the readiug-room, offices, and restaurant. These were totally destroyed, and much damage was also done to the central glass roof, as well as to the furniture, papers, &c , which were thrown out of the other offices in the building, causing great confusion. The los 3is estimated at L2SOG. The insurances are as follow: — The restaurant, LIOOO in the Royal ; and the buildiug, LSOOI in the Victoria." The following important motion was carried in the House of Representatives on the 30th Hit. : -" Mr Collins, the member for Collingwood, moved— "That in the opinion of this House, it is desirable that miners should be allowed to take out miners' rights for three six, nine, or twelve months, at proportionate prices." He would say that this was a subject which had been pressed upon him by his constituents. It had also been stated to ; him by many practical miners that many men were working on the diggings without, any miner's right. He thought it would be^ a great a. I vantage to. such menif the alteration; were made. , The West Coast Times is informed that tenders for the construction of the Kanieri road have been accepted by the General Government, but no notification has been made as to the successful tenderers, or as to the price at. which the work has been taken. The practice of accepting tenders without; -SDie7~*nra lTTuifaTc to' those who tender for the work. . The followjag appointments for Westland under the Land Transfer Act have been gazetted:— G. M ; . Bathatn, District Land Registrar ;J. Meachau, Registrar of Deeds ; J . D. Bainford, of InvercargilJ, Examiner of Titles (W. Stuart to be Examiner of Titles at Southland, vice Bamford). J. Meachan to be Registrar of Supreme Court, and Curator of Intestate Estates at Hokitika. ; Last Monday afternoon) a man 'named Edward Morris, in the employ of Mr Kennor, Norwich Quay, Lyitelton, met with a severe accident. He was in the. act of turning a piece of timbor to^place against the circular j ; sjiw of the steam sawing machine, in use on -the premises, when, by some mischance, he got his left hand agaiust the saw, which was revolving, at the time, and the result was that two of his fingers were cut off, and the hand nearly cut in two. He was promptly removed to the Christchurch Hospital. *• "Merchant" writes as follows to the Press of the 4th instant, on the subject of the West Coast road :— "The. Westland Government seem to be in no hurry in repairing the damages 'done to the bridges on' the overland road. The floods which caused their destruction occurred on the 11th July, and I find by the West Coast Times of September Ist, that tenders are advertised for the erection of .two bridges over the Otira Gorge, to be received on Saturday, the 2nd instant, or six weeks after the stoppage to all traffic. Cannot our Superintendent; aid us in forcing on the work, and send over .a few men to add to the regiment of six that form the working corps of the road contractor, who, in the absence of -any contract, is, bound [neither to time or means? The following very gratifying letter has been received by MrLenuon. of Christchurch : •—"Boston, July 10, 1871. Mr Thomas Lennon, Ropeinaker, Christehurchj N. Z. Dear Sir, —As you wished me to try the quality of the tarred flax rope shipped by you. in; Lyttelton, J N.Z.,. March 18, 1871, I rove vtwo coils for main: and maintbpsail braces, and as I,^on the first part of my voyage from ..there ■to' 1 Boston, had a good opportunity to toyi their strength, I have found it to be as strong and aa good as the besfckindof Manilla ropj I hitherto have had experience of. Yours truly,— C. Schuxt, Master of the Danish barque Jalranne Marie." ' . liwvur stated to the Licensing Beuch at Hokitika, on Tuesday morning, that the Licensed Victuallers' Association had forwarded to Wellington a petition, praying that publicans' licenses should not be granted to single women, and that Mr White had telegraphed A reply, stating ihat he was almost certain of success in carrying but the bfayer of the petition. . His Worship. the Mayor stated that, for the future the Bench would refuse applications for" licenses to single \v,oinen. '. , . '. The silver coinage of the colony being to a great extent defaced and altogether utfit for use, it was recommended some , time ago by tbeColonialGoverriment that the M int should send out L 25.000 worth of new silver coin, the Government here, paying cost of packing, , freight, insurance, and shipping charges, the ; colony also being at the cost of roturningthe defaced coin to England, interest at. Bank of. England rate to be charged upon amounts sent out, credit being given for the coin sent home, the balance to.be paid back by bank draft. If the Imperial authorities accepted these terms, they were to send outcoju in the following proportions t—rFive-tenths in florins, three-tenths in shillings, one-tenth in sixpences, one-tenth in threepences. To this despatch from the Governor, no reply appears, to have been received,^ though over twelve months have elapsed since it was. sent. During the hearing of a maintenance case in the Fitzroy Police Court, Victoria, a 'Mrs, EunibleY'a midwife of 'thirty year's standing, | who lets apartments to females about to be

confined, was called as a witness, and in her evidence Bhe said thai, on pontiff going to her boil^c," she represented herself as a married wptn&n, and stated that her husband was in New, Zealand. "The'r husbands generally are in* New Zealand," added the experienced Mrs Humble. The report on the general state, efficiency, and distribution of the Armed Constbulary Force in the North Island for the year ending Juno last has been issued. 'During ; that period 239 men have been enrolled, 202 have resigned, died, or been dismissed, the present strength of the torce being 723, who are reported to be healtby, sober, amMntelli-' gent men, daily, we are further informed, improving in discipline and effic : eucy. The system followed daring the yeir has been to employ officers and men usefully on load and other works, so as to promote the vigor of the force for the hardships of long marches in a rugged country. The force has been supplied with clothing of a uniform pattern, and new accoutrements; the old breechloading carbines have been replaced by long and medium Snider rifles. These are represented as heavy for bush warfare, and Lieut.iColonel Moule suggests the purchase of 700 Snider carbines with knife bayonets, to cost L 300 0; the arms at present used by the constabulary could then be taken by the militia aud volunteers. The shooting had not been so good this year, owing to the recent issue of the new arms. An Officer Instructor of Musketry has been appointed to the force. A grant of LIOOO from the reward fund has been sanctioned towards establishing libraries; officers were also instructed to encourage athletic erercises in everyway, and employ some of the men in erecting^gymnasrams. In reference to the number of men discharged at their own request, on completion of one year's service, it is recommended that the term of service should be extended from one to three yeara.' "A small detective force has been successful in obtaining the conviction of three persons for selling arms and ammunition to natives. The Auckland police, which is part of the aimed force under Inspector Brohani, have proved themselves entitledto rewards for zeal and vigilance in recovering stolen property and bringing offenders to justice. The Ross ITeivs complains bitterly of the postal arrangements between Greymouth and .Ross, and the repeated instances of nondelivery of the Grey Eivbr Argus ex- :; changes. We can assure our contemporary that the exchanges are promptly posted, and if they do not arrive punctually there is a screw loose somewhere. - We learn from the Soutldand Times that early on the morning of the 2Srd inst. a destructive fire broke oat at Springvale, Myross Bush, the property of Mr Thomas Ferguson, whereby a six-stalled stable, cqntain.ing six valuable horses, as also a barn, containing 500 bushels of corn, together with a quantity of saddlery, farming implements, a new cart, &c, were completely destroyed. In addition to six valuable horses burnt to death in the premises, they contained twelve cow's and a colt, which were rescued in safety from the burning pile. The buildings destroyed were erected of sawn timber, with a shingle roof. The loss, which is estimated at LSGO, is wholly uninsured, and much sympathy is felt' for Mr Ferguson, who is one of the pioneer settlers of the district.— later accounts to hand state that there is not the slightest reason to believe- that the fire was the work of incendiarism. " When the flames were discovered at 4 a.m., they had complete mastery of the stable, and almost as soon as the spot was reached, the roof fell in. The charred remains of the animals destroyed, tV>ree of which were brood mares in foal, were all found lying in circular form, with destroyed. A good deal of sheet lightning had been flying about during the night, and it is supposed that the fire was communicated by one of these flashes.