Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 975, 11 September 1871, Page 2

We have to acknowledge receipt, from the Counly Ch-ursniin, of a copy of the Education Bill recently introduced into the House of Representatives. We have had a complaint made to us by tho Bank of New South Wales that the amount paid by them, as reported by us, into the Customs for .gold duty was wrong, and that the amount set down for the Bank

of New ZealarifP'slioutcl have ;beenj rightly "placed to the Bank of New South' /Wales, :\Ye always take any Customs returns from the Customs day booit, and we find, on a further examination on Saturdvy, that the amounts set down by us in Friday's paper were correct, namely, Bank of New Zealand, L 25 0; Blink of New South Wales, L 227 6s 6d. So if there is any mistake it must lie between the Bank and the Customs. We notice by the Nelson Government Gazette, that mining leases in the Bullor district, applied for by James Kirton, S. C." Bowman, and E. S. Laphom, have been declared forfeited owing to the lessees having neglected to exeoute aud take delivery of their leases within a reasonable time. A very suggestive list of persons in whose favor Crown Grants are now ready to be issued at ;the Land Office, Nelson, appears in the Gazette. It includes the names of five Government officials and a number of their friends. That must have been a good block oi land ! Members of the ■ Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade are reminded that the usual compulsory practice will take place this evening at eight o'clock sharp. . . A fatal accident occurred at Nelson Creek on Saturday, by which a miner named James Burke was accidentally killed. He, was engaged with his mates erecting a flume about five miles above Hatter's Terrace, when he fell a depth of about 150 feet, and was killed instantaneously. The news was communicated to Mr Warden Whitefoord Lost evening, and he intended to start this morning at daylight for Nelson Creek, for the purpose of holding an inquest. Messrs Harris and Hewitt, the celebrated pedestrians, arrived at Uokifcika by the overland coach *on Saturday night, i\\ ordcv to fulfil their, engagements at Greymouth. They will, ntoab probably, arrive by the coach to-day. The criminal sessions of the Supreme Court ' openj to-day at Hnkitika. Yesterday, a special coach was run from here, in or&ev to convey the witnesses in the charge of mali-ciously-injuring horses belonging- to-Antonio Lardi at Antonio's Flat. Antonio Perrin was again fined at the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday, for allowing sewn cows to wander in the streets, 1 L 2 and costs.. v.-.The Provincial Executive of Auckland has prepared a scheme of pablio works in compliance with Mr Gisbbrne's circular, which are estimated to-cost one million. Cool that! ; „ , ; : . Mr Alfred Greenfield, . Provincial Secretary for Nelson, has been appointed a member of the Central Board of Education for. that Province. ' • ' The Mount Ida Chrohicle declares that Dunedin is "nothing more nor less than a large whited sepulehure— beautiful without, but within full of rottenness and decay. " We are informed that the telegram transmitted to us on Friday respecting appoiutments gazetted in Westland was incorrect, and should have been a3 follows :— J. Mesohan Bathan, District Lund Registrar and Registrar of Deeds ; J. D. Bamford, of Invercargill, Examiner of Titles (W. Stuart to bo Examiner of Titles at Southland, vice Bamford) ; J . Meschau Batham to be Registrar of tho Supreme Court, aul Curator of' Intestate Estates at Hokitika. M 'Donald, the hotel-keeper at Wanganui, who was charged with sotting fire to his house, thereby occasioning the death of . one of the inmates, has been found guilty- of: murder. The jury recommended him to mercy, but the judge held ont no hope that j the recommendation would have any effect, and after referring to the enormity of the crime of house-burniny, sentenced M 'Donald to death. The yield of gold for the half-year ending July 3 1st, from the Caledonian miue, at the Thames, has been 154,828 ounces, which has afforded the amount of L 4 11,840 for distribution among shareholders, or at the rate of L 144 per share. It is impossible to note such a return .without being impressed with the prodigious capabilities of the tninej and, though the report of the directors and that of the mining manager have the appearance of being over-sanguine, a careful examination of those reports leads . to the belief that the development of the mine is but in its infancy, and that, as stated, the mine will continue to j give good returns for years to come.

The following is from the Wesipart Tinies of the 7th instant : — "Mr Dybson returned from the Karamea early in the week. He states that insurmountable difficulties lie in the way of making a road by the beach between Mokihinui and the Little Wanganui, and that any track that may be constructed must be taken inland. He expresses a very favorable opinion upon the entrance of the LitUe Wanganui and its capabilities as a port of shelter. At the south side, the river is 'rook-bound for a considerable distance above its mouth, and the latter is protected by a reef extending from the south bank for a distance of about ten chains. During southerly weather the river may be entered with safety, but there is no protection from northerly weather. Owing to the presence of rocks at the entrance, the channel is stationary, with a depth of fourteen feet of water at high spring tides. The stream may be ascended in boats for a distance of seven miles, and the country is described as having the appearance of being suitable for. settlement," Recently- a company was formed at Westport called " the Buller Towing Track Company (Limited)," haying for its object the construction of a towing track up the Buller River, from Garden Island on tne south bank of the B'uiler, to the junction of "the Inangahua River. They have obtained protection from the. Superintendent for six years, subject to the following conditions :— That the track shall be completed on or before the 3lst December, 1871' and shall be maintained in good order by and at the expense of the said company during the whole of the said term of protection, to the satisfaction of the Provincial Engineer, That the •tolls to be pharged shall be at a rate hot exceeding LI per ton. The protection shall not interfere with tho navigation of the Buller River by boats not using the towing uath. Th^ towing, path shall be open to all persons desirous of using the same, on payment of the tolls. The Government to have the option, at any time, on giving thico months notice, of taking the track, either f»t a valuation or at te» per cent, advance on the first cost, of construction, exclusive of cost of repairs, and' if taken at a valuation, the Value of the work only to be taken, exclusive of good-will. At the expiration of the said term of six years this, protection will cease and determine, and the company will not be entitled to any compensation. In the event of any of the abosre .conditions not being carried Out to the satisfaction of the Superintendent, b> may cancel this protection,' and the said pompany shall not Be entitled to any'cbmpensajon or payment. This protection shall no;t foe transferred without the sanction of th.c Superintendent of theProvinec. The Auckland shareholders must be a motley crowd, if the following description applies to them. A correspondent of the Southern Crosn, signing "A Victim," writes :— " Sir, — I think Mr Hesketh's observations, as reported iv the Cross upon the relation of iho sharebrokers with, the public, worthy of consideration. I remember during the last mania, some two years since, t'^ere was an organisation of sharebrokers attempted, and subscriptions paid, but I have heard nothing i

since; so, I suppose^^fell through, and the subsciintiOna with it, to some patriotic indiyidu.il. ;■ There caii be nti doubt that Borne system oi)ght to <; De adopted by which the legitimate! investor can be protected, but I do not see how it is to be done. We have lately told how sales have been effected Ivy i soi-disant shareholders of fictitious stock, and decamping with the proceeds to pastures new ; and even the legal managers of the Caledonian and Thames Gold Mining Companies have suffered from the apparent bona ■fide transfers presented to them by- parties, registering them, aud bringing a loss to the shareholders. I see the directors of the foregoing companies have issued conditions as to how transfers ought to be made and witnessed ; but I very much doubt the legal power of this august body to do ao. In London shavebrokeis have to serve an apprenticeship, and when admitted are subject to such pains and penalties that ifc is almost^ impossible for them to go astray ; though there are some cases, but they are few and; far between. But what system can be adopted is hard to be devised. We have such a con-glomeration-of the fraternity acting as share- . brokers, &c, bankrupt drapers, grocers', assistants, carpenters, farmers, &c, &c, hv fact such a medley that I defy any system to keep them in check, Ido not doubt but that there are some men who can be depended on, but where is the line to be drawn? I only see one course to be adopted. There is great force in example ; follow up the perpetrators of • these forged transfers with vigor ; make them amenable to the law, and then leave them to the tender mercies of Sir George Arney." , , A rather 1 singular method of evading payment of toll ia related by the Bruce Herald as follows^- r -''.The F^airfax-toJll bar, since-its; erection by the Milton Road ' Board, has been a source of much dissatisfaction, to the carters: of timber from the bush, and coal from down the river pits, who mainly use the road. This grumbling has recently increased more aud more as the roads have grown less and less available for traffic, and when anyone pays money away they like to see some veturn commensurate therewith, and, as nothing is being done to repair the roads aad make them more accessible, a well-known aud respected resident of Milton, as he came along the road on Friday last, got into grief with his team from the very bad nature of the road, aud determined that until something was done to improve the road he would pay no \r ore toll. He therefore declined to pay the collector, repeating the decision come to in his own mind, just stated. Next day, a3 he came that way, he found the toll-bar closed in his face, and as he declined to pay: toll, the gate was, locked, and Mr Collector appeared ia : s master of the situation; however, this proud supremacy was -of, short duration, as Mr Carter, who possesses Brobdignagjan proportions, like a modern Samson, quietly seized the toll-bar and lifted the gate from its position and deposited it carefully on 5 the road side, and returning led. his team safely through. We need scarcely state that Mr Carter has not since been asked to pay toll, and we further understand that this action has quite nonplussed the Road Board, who are at a loss how to proceed to obtain a conviction against this modern Hercules." Mr Levestam, mechanical engineer, Colling wood street, Nelson, has lately constructed a small but very simple aud effective wat?r-po\yer engine, for the purpose of driving his lathes or other niachinery, for which hitherto ho was obliged to use manual labor. The machine, which is about equal to the power of one man and a-half, and which we have seen at work several times during the last few days, is on the principle of Whitolaw's improved form of Barker's miIJL It consists of two curved hollow arms iv the form of the letter S, keyed on to the shaft for driving tho machinery, which are supplied by a half -inch pipe from the waterworks main ; the water being emitted from their extremities in.tbe direction of the circle traced by their revolution, and the sectional capacity of the arms increasing as they approach the centre of rotation, so as to contain "a quantity of water, at each section of the arm, inversely proportional to its velocity at that section. "The consumption' of water is about 1\ gallons, and the number of revolutions of the machine about 790 per minute ; and we reckon that an effect is obtained about equal to 80 per cent, of the power employed. There are not a few industries amongst us to which this handy machine could not only be easily, but economically applied, and effect as well as a great saving of tune and bodily exertion. While on this subject;, wp would remark that the general charge of LlO, which is made for the supply of water-engines, be they of oi)e man or five horse-power, is quite prohibitory in many instances where they coutd be used were the charge regulated by meter in place of being fixed at an arbitrary but disproportionate sum to the relative power required.