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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 999, 9 October 1871, Page 2

The petition of the leaseholders of the Native Reserve, Grejmouth, praying that the land might be sold, was forwarded to Mr Harrison at Wellington, by the Tararua, " on Saturday., It was signed by over eighty of the principal leaseholders. At the champion pedestrian sports which took place at Hokitika on Saturday, Hewitt won the 100 yards' race and also the mile race ; P. Twohill won the hurdle race ; and Penticost, of Christchutch, the 300 yards' race. Harris did not win any of the events. Mr Lahman, County Chairman, proceeded to Wellington by the Tararua, for the purpose of "watching over the interests of Westland" in connection with the measures now passing through Parliament. The quartz crushing machinery to be erected at Murray Creek on Rhody Ryan's claim, has been purchased at the foundry of Messrs Langlands and Co., Flinders street, Melbourne. The engine, which is a 25 horsepower, capable of working up to 40, is a horizontal one, 14in cylinder, 30in stroke. The engine is 9>fac simile of the one used by the firm, only of less nominal power. The boiler is to be fitted up in sections, and sent over in that way, to facilitate the carriage from Westport to Murray Creek, The whole of the plant, which is to be a 15-head battery, will be landed at Westport about the 20th October, and no time will be lost in forwarding it to. its destination. The Wellington Post, of the 4th instant, Bays : — "We are exceedingly sorry to Idarn that the Hon. John Hall is seriously indisposed, and that there is great fear that he will be compelled to give np his Parliamentary dutiep for this session at least, if not permanently. A crushing of nearly 400cwt of stone from a claim in the lnangahua was made in Mr Gorrie's berdan, Nelson, on Tuesday, the 3rd instant, and the result gave at the rate of something above threa ounces to the ton. The stone is compact and hard, of a bluish color, and with gold disseminated apparently throughout. The reef, we hear, is well defined, and the stone experimented upon was obtained from a drive considerably below the surface. # The precise locality from whence it was obtained we did not learn. The Nelson Examiner of the 4th says : — Mr Fergusson, of the Grey district, the owner of Economy, purchased on Saturday from Mr Redwood, a three-year-old gelding, Redan, by Ravensworth, out of Alma^ by Sir Hercules ; Jane, by Mamaluke. Mr Fergusson was fortunate in securing such a horse, a? it is known to have a fair turn _of speed, and will grow into a powerful animal, sure to make a good steeplechase horse, while, it will be fast enough for any but the best company on the flat. The Marlborough Express, of the 30th ultimo, says :— " On Saturday last, a youth' n?m9d John Bryant, of the Grove, Queen Charlotte Sound, was drowned in a creek near his residence. From the evidence taken at the inquest, which was held before Dr Williams, coroner, on Monday, it appears that the youth, who was of unsound mind and subject to frequent fits, left home on Saturday morning at about seven o'clock, and was seen no more until half -past eight, when the body was found by two lads, lying on its face in the creek, and in about twelve inches of water. Assistance was obtained, but although the body was warm, all efforts to restore animation were unavailing. It is supposed that deoeased had a fit whilst crossing the creek. Tho jury returned the following verdict :— " That the deceased^ John Bryant, accidentally fell into the creek during a fit, and was drowned.' " An extraordinary phenomenon is reported aa occurring at Napier on the morning of the 21st September, in the shape of a thunderbolt, aerolite, or some other meteorological wanderer, which after the occurrence of a heavy peal of thunder and a vivid flash of lightning, fell into the harbor. The concussion was so great that the water rose on each side to the height of the top of a cutter's mast, and a large volume of spray, or ash, or steam, for it had been described as having the closest resemblance to the latter two substances, was borne for a long distance down the harbor. The appearance presented' in the effects, as described by spectators, was as if a mas 3of burning log and cinders falling into the water bad produced the ashes and steam borne away so far, to the leeward.

A late telegram brought by the Suez mail announces the suicide of Mr Walter Montgomery, the celebrated actor. The details hare also arrived of the unfortunate death of the actor Mr Shafto Robertson. The Afqifs has the following : — "A gentleman who was a passenger on board the Ayoca on her last voyage to Ceylon thus relates the circumstances of the unfortunate accident which caused the death of Mr Shafto Robertson, the actor: -"On the 23rd of August, the first warm day we had, the ship was opened

for ventilation, hatches were taken off, and engine-room skylight opened.' A group of actors aud actresses belonging to the troupe, bound for Calcutta, were standing by the skylights of the engine-room laughing and joking, and Lewis was just giving out to them their parts to'study for an early representation, when poor Shafto Robertson, who was chaffiing with' Julia Edouin, -was apparently leaning, back to a roll of the ship, wben he over^balapced himself and f eU down into the engine-acorn. The engines in this ship have iiiwted cylinders, he consequently did no£ fall into the machinery, but on to the cylinder cover, from which he was taken off insensible. In this state he lay for about thirty-six hours. On coming to himself he appeared at first to be doing well, but the last few days has suffered from continual fits, and appears to be gradually passing away; The affair has cast a great gloom over the Bhip, for he was very much liked by I all on board." A postcript to the. letter adds :— " Poor Robertson died last night, and was buried with the usual service at sea this morning (September 2)."

The scarcity of openings for educated youths in the colony was referred to by Mr FTaughton in his speech on the Education Bill in the following terms: — "There was only one profession open to young men, and that necessarily only to a limited extent, in the country. He referred to the legal profession . He had observed by the newspapers that no less than twelve young men were admitted the other day in one place in New Zealand. The country would be flooded no doubt, with home made lawyers. There was no other profession open to the young men after they had passed through this hot-house system of education. The only openings were in merchant's offices and banks ; and to increase the swarm of patronage-hunters —and they had a swarm— they were going to educate up to a state of what might be called Government office- worriers.

The following are the particulars of the accident by which Mr W. H. Shepherd met his death. It appears that he had ridden from Wanganui on horseback to meet the Patea coach, by which Mrs Shepherd was the sole passenger. At one part of the road, he took the rems, Morgan, the driver, mounting his horse, and going ahead. On the beach between the Okehu and Eai Iwi streams a portion of the harness attaching the leaders to the pole broke, and in endeavoring to maintain control over them, Mr Shepherd was pulled off the box. He still held on to the reins, but was thrown and run over by the coach, the horses then breaking away. He fell jn the break of the Burf, and being too severely injured to move out of *he way, was tossed backwards and forwards by succeeded waves. Morgan, when the coach came upp-,to,him, saw what had occurred, and going back,<was just in time to save Mr Shepherd from being drowned. As soon as possible, he was fcal^en to the nearest inn, and medical assistance procured. Hopes were entertained at one time that he would recover, but unfortunately the injuries were too severe.

At the meeting of the Church of England Synod at Nelson on Friday last, a long discussion arose out of a motion of Mr Jennings, as to the desirability of retaining the Althanasiancceed as part of the Church service. The following motion of the Rev. Mr Males was adopted : — " That this Synod desires to express its satisfaction at the resolution unanimously adopted by the Upper House of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury (England), on the 14th June, 1871, to the effect that the most Rev President be requested to communicate with the Archbishop of the Northern Province, with a view to bringing before a meeting of the bishops of both provinces, and other bishops having jurisdiction and in communion with the Church of England, the desirability or otherwise of revising the existing translation of the Athanaslan Creed, and of introducing any changes in, or additions to, the rubric prefixed to the Creed in the Book of Common Prayer, provided that they be only such changes or additions as shall not in any way affect the authority of the Creed as a standard of doctrine in the Church of England ; and respectfully requests his Lordship the President to communicate . with the Most Rev. the Primate of New Zealand, with a view to his forwarding to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury this expression of its sympathy, and its hope that a solution of the difficulties which exist in connection with the Athanasian Creed may speedily bo found."

"The Stranger in the Gallery," in the Hawked Bay Herald of the 22nd ult. writes thus of Mr John White, the member of Hokitika : — Mr White followed and became quite enthusiastic as to the excellent qualities of the Education Bill, E. very clause was perfection, and the manner in which it was drawn up was beyond all praise. "These were his sentiments." He thought that "whoever says that the Bill before the 'ouse is a denominasshunal system ! does'nt know what denominasshunal systems mean." As to itffbeing complicated, let anyone compare it with the Municipal Corporation Act of 1867. The House, members, ladies' gallery—which was filled with the beauty and fashion of Wellington — strangers' gallery and all, was in convulsions by this time. Mr Stafford, Mr Hall and others near them, among the rest, could not contain themselves. Mr White thought it was clear that hon. members could not subdue their party feelings. The remark was not a bad move, as when Mr White sat down the applause, which was enthusiastic, came mainly from the Opposition benches. Friday afternoon was taken up for the most part with committee work of a dry and unimportant nature. The Justices' Protection Bill was committed, and the discussion on one of the clauses turned into a sort of indiscriminate wrangle as to whether the J.P.s were a respectable body of men or not.; Th.c " Gentle Smiler" (Mr Shepherd) thought decidedly not— had seen several pf them, indeed, on various occasiqns reeling about the streets in an unbecoming condition^ Mr White (who began his career as a virulent radical, but who, ever since Mr Fox throw him a sop, by agreeing to carry out one. of his suggestions, which happened not to be specially absurd, has taken to truckling lo the respectables in general, and the Government in particular, in the n^ost barefaced manner) was highly irate at hearing that distinguished body spoken of in such opprobrious terms, and defended their cause manfully for the space of half an hour.

The Nelson Colonist says that Mr Moutray of that place, has just constructed a novel and simple substitute for the smith's bellows. He provides a twelve gallon cask, which stands on one end. In the bung-hole of the barrel is inserted another pipe, communicating with the forge ; in the bottom is placed a small waste pipe to carry off the waiter. , At the mouth of the funnel is a small pipe with a nozzlo, l-§th of an inch in diameter. This communicates with the water supply. A stream of water from this small opening flows rapidly into the funnel, and carries with it a considerable quantity of atmospheric air. This air cannot escape through the waste pipe at the bottom ot the cask in consequence of the water which is itself being driven out. The air in the barrel becomes condensed, and, escaping through the bung-hole pipe, blows the forge fire with more regularity and vigor than any couple of pairs of the best blacksmiths bellows chat ever were seen.' The principle of the application is simplicity's self, and the result is most effective. It is literally, blowing the fire with water, and making the water supply its' own air". '