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Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1001, 11 October 1871, Page 2

A meeting of the members of the Greymouth Jockey Club was held last night, at the Albion Hotel, at 8 o'clock. Mr D. Maclean was voted to the chair. After a conversation, it was resolved that, owing to the number of members absent at the Hokitika sports, the inclemency of the weather, and other causes, the meeting be adjourned until Friday night, at the same time and place. A Committee meeting of the Greymouth Volunteer Rangers was held last night, when it was decided to give a new medium rifle for competition by the members of the company. The rifle will have to be won three times, and the first competition bakes place on Saturday next. In order to bring out every man, the plan of > handicapping has been adopted. The points allowed will be declared on parade, on Thursday (to-morrow), and as the ranges are such as to suit ovory one, and the entrance-fee money nominal, it is to be hoped that a good field will turn out. Unless the men practice a great deal more than they have been doing lately, there will be a very poor chance of winning the matches I for which challenges have been issued. The body of Thomas Morton, who was lately drowned while crossing the Saltwater Lagoon, was found yesterday, stuck on a snag, and conveyed to Paroa. An inquest was held in the afternoon by Mr Reyell, District Coroner, and a verdict of "Accidentally Drowned" returned. 1 The District Court will sit at the Resident Magistrate's Court House to-morrow morning, at ten o'clock, when all jurors and parties interested are required to be present. The following, is the list of cases set down for hearing at this sitting of the Court :— Giawmo Tagnetti, miner, Half-Ounce v. James Goodall, sergeant-of-police and bailiff, Ahaura; amount of claim, L3o— for damages sustained thtough the defendant's neglect in net executing a warrant. Adam Irwing and Margaret Irwing, Paroa, v. Maurice O'Conor and John O'Conor, Paroa ; amount of claim, L2oo— for damages sustained by the plaintiffs through the wrongful acts of the defendants, in diverting the Saltwater Creek. Wm. Noble, Coal Creek Flat, v. Mrs Marsden and Wm. Wallace, Coal Creek Flat; amount of claim, L2oo— for damages sustained by the plaintiff through an assault committed on him by the defendants. George Simmons v. Martin Kennedy, Greymouth ; amount of claim, L99— for damages sustained by plaintiff through the trespass of defendant on plaintiffs land. Ardent lovers of " the cup that cheers, but not inebriates " will do well to note the following : — "A savant has discovered with the microscope that -when we pour milk into a cup of tea, the albumen of the milk and the tannin of the tea instantly unite and form leather, or minute flakes of the very same compound which is produced in texture of the tanned hides, and which makes it leather as distinguished from the original skin. He consequently estimates that in the course of a year a tea-drinker of average capacity imbes enough leather to make a pair of shoes." The only business at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday was the disposing of a few unimportant debt cases : — Kennedy Brothers v. Malony — Claim for Ll4 16 Bd, for goods supplied. Judgment by default. Same v. Newman —A summons for L3l 13s 6(1. There being no appearance of defendant, judgment went by default. Clock v. Brown — A claim for L 4 9s 6d, for work and labor. Defendant appeared, aud asked for time. Payment was ordered, to be made by the Ist January. — M'Lean v. Crawford— A judgment summons for LI 16s Sd- Th» defendant stated that he would soon be in a position to meet all his engagements ; but at present he was under an order of Court. No order made. — Thompson v. Marriott — Judgment summonß, for L 3 8s 6d, for rent. The defendant admitted owing the money, and offered to pay L 2 per week, which was ordered, or in default one month's imprisonment. — Basch v. Hamilton— Claim for Ll2 13s 4d, for 501 b weight of tobacco supplied. Judgment by default. — M'Beth and Co vj Graham — A summons to recover L 7 18s 9d. Payment was ordered to be made in two months, or in default two months' imprisonment. Barnhill v. Gallagher— An action to recover L 5, money lent. Mr Newton appeared for defendant. The plaintiff simply stated that he lent the defendant L 5 on the sth July, 1868, which had never been repaid, Defendant admitted borrowing the money, but said he repaid Mr Barnhill on the Sunday after he had borrowed it. There were no witnesses or documentary evidence produced on either side. The Resident Magistrate said the case was one of those in which oath was made againßt oath, and without prejudicing the plaintiff, he thought there was not sufficient evidence to sustain his case. Nonsuited with costs. — Cook v. Thatcher— Settled out of Court. We notice by the Melbourne papers that tho patent for indicating the weight of vessels and their cargoes, recently applied for by Mr Koff of this town, has been completed. The Leader, of the 30th, contains the following .—Stephen Rolf, William ] Brooks Hoffman, and Joseph Lukey, Melbourne. " A now method of indicating the weight of the contents of any vessel afloat." A column of water inside a vessel afloat, produced hydrostatically by the pressure of the water outside, is used for the purpose of indicating the contents of Buch ve3sel. The height of the column varies with the extent to which tbe vessel is sunk. It is necessary that this column should take its rise from the centre of gravity, aud it is also necessary

that the inappreciable extent to which W houl I 8 hi' T k v b ? the increase of «4» should be multiplied so that every slfcfit Ee m e nl nay fl be iHdicated - To £w^?%t fl ° at resfcs on the topof th/column, andhas a cord or chain proceed! fromitpasßd over a barrel, anAJ^* by a weight suspended from jf, extremity. Tie motion of thin "£° l 1B ?% phedin any. ordinary w- The water is admitted through * .mall aperture in the tiowonv-.of the v<v>ael near its centre of gravity, ana the' increase or decrease of weight is sh(,wn by the index attached to the drum. .liw; ;. H At Wanganuv on September 28, six Maoris conteudd at the ploughing match, carrying off L3oin prizes. We are glad t< learn that the attempt of the Accliinatisaion Society of Otago to acclimatise the jartridge in the Province is likely to proTe siccessful. A covey of young biris was obser\ed recently at Green Island, another conristiig of fourteen was flushed at Harvey's Fit, and we hear of several havinc been seen in the neighborhood of Pleasant Valley. At Nokonai|the Chinese are said to outnumber the Europeans in the proportion of six to one. The new3oyernment in Fiji have officially altered the title of Cakobau (Thahkombou) to Ebeneze?, which is the name by which that potentite was baptised. King Ebenezer will be muci less trying as an etymological puzzle to ihose unacquainted with the intricacies of he Fijian alphabet, and this act —in the interests of foreigners— should have our cordial recognition. We also hear that KijjjQf Ebenizer has taken kindly to tUo now position, 'atliidisplays none of the arrogance feared froni'bid elevation. The large buiTd-' ing in Lemka, occupied as a hotel by the late Mr Timer, has been purchased for a Government House, and fitted up for the use of the 'ring and his attendants. A miner named John Richards, a shareholder in Jrown and party's sluicing-claim, German Gully, near Ross, was engaged with one of hi 3 nates in "taking down a fall," when the heavy body of gravel came away unexpectedly and knocked poor Richards down, the )ther narrowly escaping a line fate. Richards was speedily removed to his hut, close £t hand, and a short time after Dr Hosking was sent for, who pronounced the left thijh-bone of the poor fellow to be broken. la the evening the patient was removed to -the Hospital, where the bone was sec by Dr Duff, and next day he was free from any great pain and doing as well as could be expected. By a return laid on the table of the House of Representatives, we find that the amount collected under the various Gold Fields Acts from the Ist July, 1870, to the 31st June, 1871) throughout the whole Colony, haa been L 127.156 19s Id, of which L 75.066 17s 7d has been export duty on gold. The various Provinces have contributed as fol* lows :— Otago heads the list with L 50,616 3s lid; Westland is next, with L 31,597 Is 6d; Auckland yielded L 27.959 11s 4d ; and Nelson, L 26.34 2155. The returns of Nelson and Westland are all from the West Coast Gold Fields, and if their amounts are added together, the sum of L 60.000 in round numbers, or nearly one-half of the whole amount in the whole Colony, it will be seen, comes from this source. We take the following items of mining intelligence from the Tuapeka Times (Otago) : — "At the Blue Spur all the claims are in full work. The Nelson Company and the Extended Company are about washing up, and the Great Amalgamated Company will soon be startiug to the same interesting operation.— M'Kay and party lately erected the largest , wheel and pump in Waipori, below the old Maiden City claim, on the Waipori riyer, and great results are expected. — Booth, Glemenson and party have obtaiued a certificate for a race from the Waipori river, 30 miles in length, which will command all the spurs on the south side of the river. The spec, is said to be an excellent one. — We are informed that, in this and other districts, at least one-half of the Chinese miners are without miners' rights. We are surprised this state of things is allowed to exist, seeing that a large amount of revenue is in this way lost." The Timaru Herald of Wednesday gives the following from a correspondent of a wellknown Melbourne house to a firm in Timaru on a cargo recently arrived, ex Fawn, from Timaru : — " It has not come to a good market ; grain of every kind has been pressed in so fast that the price has fairly given way, and notwithstanding the increased duties, New Zealand wheat, duty paid, cannot be sold over 4s for good samples ; some indifferent lots will not fetch 3s 6d j and the very best oats are not worth more than 3s. The arrivals havp been enormous." Speaking on further of the probability of there being a good Australian harvest, and the prospect of New Zealand wheat being sold in the Victorian market he says : — "lt (the harvest) might be prolific, and there would not then be any room for New Zealand produce. This is what our protectionist Government is arriving at, viz., to shut New Zealand produce out of tni3 market altogether. T*iis week, at auction, New Zealand silk-dressed flour sold, duty paid, at L10 — the duty is 455. It would almost pay to ship it back (the italics are our own) ; again, the same writer, speaking of a well-known buyer in Canterbury, says : — "Mr is here, and seems quite disgusted with the state of affairs. New Zealand bran, after paying 4Jd per bußhel duty, has been sold at Is Id, bags given in." The following is a list of the petitions and number of signatures presented to the House of Representatives in favor of a Permissive Bill. Tbe number of signatures is fully double that which has ever been attached to any other series of petitions on any one subject in this Colony : — From 658 residents of the electoral district of Hokitiica, presented by Mr White ; 1300 inhabitants of Auckland, by Mr Creighton j 79 settlers at Waiapu, by Mr Munro; 518 adulb males, Wanganui, by Mr Bryce ; 432 adult females, Wanganui, by Mr Bryce ; Presbytery of Wellington, held at Wanganui, by the Hon. Mr Fox ; 172 residents at the Hutt, by the Hon. Mr Fitzherbert ; 302 females, Christchurch, by Mr Reeves ; 617 inhabitants, Christchurch and neighborhood, by Mr E. Richardson j 39 residents, Drury and neighborhood, Mr Clark ; 87 residents Papatura and neighborhood, by Mr Clark ; 380 residents, Wairarapa Valley, by the Hon. Mr Fox ; 1603 residents, City of Wellington, by Mr Hunter ; 54 persons, Turakina and Rantikei, by the Hon. Mr Fox ; 200 residents, Rangitikoi and Turakina, by the Hon. Mr Fox ; 32 female inhabitants, Port Albert, by Mr Clark ; 458 residents, Auckland, by Mr Williamson ; 1148 male and 776 female residents, Dunetlin, by Mr M'Glashan j 661 residents, Talon and other places in Otago, by Mr Reid 1 ; 31 settlers, Vernon, Hawke's Bay, by Mr Orraond ; 1 from the Presbytery ofWellington, by the Hon. Mr Fox ; total, 9328. In the debate in the Legislative Council on the Hon.XJolonel Brett's motion for the I appointment of a Select Committee to conl sider the defences of the Colony, one or two members made some severe remarks regard* ing the officers of the Volunteer Force. Tho Hon. Mr M'Lean said "" the highest authorities at homa agreed that if the Volunteers were really to be efficient, and men upon wb«m the nation could lean, they must be I brought under something like discipline ; and he said that the present Volunteers were not under military discipline. It was impossible for them to take a young man out of

" ' —^n make him command' a draper's ski efficiency in the field. Kot Volunte/ xjnanged the whole course of nature uatil they do that. What was the good of ->p"ecial training, if a man who had been so trained could make as good an officer ? A special sort of education was required, and often thousands of pounds had tope spent in acquiring it, which often incapacitated men from efficiently acting in any other sphere of life." The Hon. Captain Fraser said "he had seen the Volunteers in the other Colouies and those in New Zealand, and he must say that he had no fault to find with the men, but every fault to find with the officers; They knew nothing' whatever of their duty, and drawled out the word of command as if they were giving out a psalm to a Scotch congregation, instead of giving a short sharp command, which would make the men spring at the word, He objected to the system of appointing bankers and traders to tho command of Volunteers, and thought the Government should pay a little attention in that direction. No doubt the material could not be better; they could not have finer material anywhere for Volunteers, but they knew that an army depended entirely upon the efficiency of its leaders, and he said. God help the man in action with such officers as they had at present ! The men would go forward, but he did not know where the officers would go. If some reform could be made in that direction it would be very desirable."