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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1052, 9 December 1871, Page 2

The annual cricket match between Hokitika and Greymouth comes off to-day at the former place. The names of the Hokitika - team are : — Messrs Armstrong, Bloxam, Buckingham, Daley, Croft, Foster, Brown, Glasgow, Wade, Teunant, Knox, and Peake (twelfth man. ) There were no cases for hearing at the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. It will be seen by an explanatory letter in anotuer column tnat nir Frank Guinness has resigned his seat in the County Counpil as a representative of Greymouth, in consequence of his haying entered into business arrangements which will preclude his attendance at the next session. Mi- Guinness fully explains the reasons which have led him to take this step, which we will take another opportunity of considering in detail. Nicolas Cameron, who was sentenced to four years' imprisonment with hard labor for robbing a miner at Half-Ounce last May of a watch and chain, LIOO in cash, besides deposit receipts to the amount of L2OOO, was brought before the Magistrate at JETokitika recently, and received a further sentence for violently assaulting tho overseer of the hard labor gang in which he was working. We have been informed on good authority that the Captain John M'Lean mentioned aa being killed in our Christchurch telegrams is a brother to the Hon. D. M'Lean, the Minister for Native Affairs. The entertainment given last evening at the Volunteer Hall in aid of the funds of the Grey River Hospital l;y the Star Minstrels and Polygrapnic Company was a success, and must result in an addition to the funds of the institution. Tbe Volunteer Band was in attendance, and played the overtures to "Fra Diavolo" and the ever popular one to c< Tancredi." " The Charming \oung Widow" was well sung by Mr Bromley, followed by the.song and dance "Salamander Sam," by Mr Buckley, which was warmly applauded . A scene from "Handy Andy" followsd, in which Mr Bent sustained the part of a black "Andy," completely traversing the celebrated character in Lover's celebrated novel, for who ever heard of an Irish negro. A violin solo by Mr La Feuil- . lade came next, consisting of airs from tne opera of "La Somnambula,', and which was deservedly encored, in response to which he played a selection from Irish airs, including "The Last Rose of Summer" and " The Harp that once through Tara's Hall," and which were beautifully given. The "Clog Dance," bj Mr Buckley in thesecoDd part was encored, and that gentleman bowed his acknowledgments. Mr Bromley and Mr Bent ware both encored, but this w nothing unusual for tkeoe talented artistes. The most comic piece during the evening was "The Band of the 14th, which must be seen to be appreciated. Altogether a more enjoyable evening has seldom been spent, the performers did their |best, and the audience were fully satisfied with their efforts. A correspondent sends us the following with regard to some of the actions of the Waste Lands Board; — The proceedings of the Waste Lands Board are very singular in the disposal of the public property, .and jug dependance can be placed in them as to how they will act. Two applications were made at ikeir last sitting to throw open land for saie. One .was in the vicinity of a known lead of gold, wJaieh was approved of ; the other was on the saddle ne*r Marsden, which was refused, on the ground of tbera being "gold workings in the neighborhood" — rather an indefinite expression, and which can be applied to any land that may be asked to he sold in the district. Now it so happen)? £hat this particular block that has been refused lies about 400 ft higher than the sea, and all the little water courses" that formerly contained gold were worked years ago. The gold workings referred to— This ground has been prospected during th.c j>ast : ! year and nothing payable found, not even, I sufficient to pay for tucker, and the party | was compelled to leave. The nearest parties' now working are about a mile distant. There is not perhaps a piece of ground that could; be chosen for settlement that has less objection could be taken against on account of its auriferous character than this. It lies at; such a height that, supposing that it would \ even pay for sluicing, water cannot be' brou^hb fe command it, not even the Newj ;

River Race, in course of construction. It is simply preposterous to say that the gold workings about half mile distant, and about COft or 70ft on a lower level, have any connection with this ground. Nothing of the kind. Whilst due precaution is necessary on the part of the Board, yet such a vague expression of gold workings in the neighborhood ought to have beep more clearly defined for their information. It is most singular that this piece, of ground was recommended to be leased -by those well acquainted with the nature of the district, and approved of I by the Waste Lands Board about a year since. Surely that report is of some value, and ought to have been considered along with that which has just been given. No doubt these two reports will be asked for when the Council meet, and when they aye placed side by side tho public will be able to judge which is the most correct. An injustice has been done in this instance, the extreme has been reached, over-zealous-ness has been the means to throw obstacles in the way of settlement. This ground was applied for honestly to enable the applicant to convert a leasehold into a freehold, to save the heavy expenses on the on the former, but Government officialdom could not distinguish between the bona fide settler and the land shark who buys land for a mere speculative purpose. If there were objections to sell this ground, the same would also lie good against the leasing of it! The fact is the report recommending the lease was made by those who thoroughly understood the nature of, the country, whilst the other was made \>y a stranger to the district. It is well known l>y all practical miners that all the little Watercourses up the various ranges in the Grey District contain gold— more or less— the width varying from a foot upwards, and nothing payable being got ! near. It is the same with this ground. The watercourses were run up years ago, and only a little gold is to be found now in the lower ground, which has no connection with that applied for. The next time the Waste Lands Board want information about land in the district, they had better come themselves, or get some one practically acquainted with it to give them information. The Board are in duty bounl to inquire further into this matter, and.no time should be lost before they take action respecting it.

One of the narrowest escapes -from a fatal accident which we have witnessed occurred yesterdayafternoon.aboutfouro' clock. Alittle child, between two and three years of age, son of Mr Rudd, storekeeper, of Mawhera quay, managed to escape from his mother's care and ran into the road, when two dray horses which ' were running loose in the public streets knocked him down, and one of them, a dark bay, galloped over him. His father, who saw the accident, ran out of his store and picked him up, and the child escaped with a severe contusion on the forehead. It is quite time that the full penalties should be put in force relative to cattle being at large in the public streets, for owners of Wsgs think nothing of risking lives for the sake of a mere nominal penalty. There is not a day or a night but what cattle of some description are turned loose in the streets, and stringent measures should be adopted to put a stop to the practice, or the result may be some fatal accident.

Some of the community of the Cromwell district, Otago, appear to have very elastic notions of common decency, not to speak of morality. It seems tUat on Sunday last, a horse-race for LlO a-side, a trotting race, and foot racea were indulged in by some of the. elite of that promising township. The local paper says that tho police were on|the ground, but were conveniently blind to, or reluctantly absent from, the actual race." The "heathen Chinee" has been at his old games again in Qfcagn. On the zYth ult., at Naseby, some Chinese caught in the act of abstracting gold from sluice-boxes were shot at by the miners, and four of them wounded. Considerable excitement prevailed in the district. ' . In Otago, Clutha-gi'own oats aye being sold retail at Waitahuna for -2s per bushel. A Queensland squatter has fenced in a piece of scrub thirty-two miles in circumference, containing wild animals that damage his run. . This monster trap has cost 14000.

It is supposed that in consequence of intended new arrangement there will no longer be a Judge resident in Nelson, but that His Honor Mr Justice Richmond will reside in Wellington, taking Marlborough and Nelson in circuit ; while Judge Gresson will officiate on the West Coast. Several cases of fish-p»isoning, of more or less severity, have occurred lately at Christchurch. Among the late donations to the Arrow Hospital, Otago, are some from Chinese. The captain of the schooner Kadcliffe, which arrived in Port Chalmers the other -lay from the Chaithams, reports that the best and strongest of the Maoris are leaving theGhathams for Taranakit Our Napier telegrams lately told of an unsuccessful attempt by fche arch-rebel Rereopa, to cheat the hangman, whoso acquaintance he. so richly deserves to make. Although Keroapa's name has been long before the public, very few people are aware of his misdeeds. His principal one was the murder of the Rev Mr Volkner, at Opo,tiki,.in March, 1865. Kereopa had there assembled the native tribes of the district,, and counselled them that M> yglkner and another clergyman named Grace had been giving information to the Government, and that one them should die. The choice fell on Mr Volkner, who was immediately led to a willow tree, when a rope was tied round his neck and he was hunted up and down uutil life was neai'ly extinct. A hole was then made in his jugular vein, from whloh. Kereopa took a long draught, a tin pannikin was then filled with Ms blood, and in a church in the neighborhood it was partaken of by all present. The head was then placed on the Communion table, and Kereopa himself gouged out the eyes and swallowed them. Kereopa was also a leading-spirit inFalloon's death, a little later. But his day of reckonjng has come, and it is to be hoped he will receive a short shrjffc. The town of Gulgong," says i\\^Quq,rdian, "was startled a few days ago by the repopfc that a large cavern had been discovered in a block claim off No. 1 south Happy Valley. We have gleaned the following particulars— The party in whose claim it is situate state that, haying bottomed their shaft they drove eastward, and tfce ground doping, they have sunk two money shafts at different lesrels, making the aggregate depth fram the surfaoe 230 ft. To the surprise of the party they, at the lowest level, broke through into a cavity — fortunately at its edge — and were somewhat startled by hearing the dirt fall into water. Haying made a hole, the foul air that rushed oufe jsonjpejled the workmen to ascend ; but going down a faw houss after, , they found that tjie water in the cavity was about 10ft wide, f but the length is as yet unknown. The water is clear, soft, and well tasted, and contains live frogs. The rock is limestone, and as the party is now erecting fans to purify the air, we hope to be able to give a detailed report of this curious discovery s-hor Ely. "'..'

Commenting on Mr. Gavan Dufiy as Premier of Victoria, the Spectator of; a repent date says :— " £t is so everywhere excep,t £n Ireland. In Australia, in New /Jealand,' in Canada, in the United States, in India, in Spain, in Austria, the first quality, an Irishman .displays Jis a capacity i for soldiership, the second an aptitude for government of the hard, perdoaal, practical kind, the very apti-

tude, that is, which we suppose him never to possess. Whether D'Arcy M'Gee, General Sheridan, or Mr Duffy, or even Mr Sweeny, of New York, the Irishman abroad is always a stern, clear man, not unlikely to be unscrupulous, and almost invariably hard ; but inventive, resourceful, far-seeing, and brave, a man who can, per fas aut nefas, make other men accept his ideas and obey his will. An Irisk Civil Service, composed of such men, picked for the work, trained for it, and encouraged to be independent, would govern the country as it has never been governed yet, with a force, directness, and honesty which in a very few 3 7 ears would suppress all opposition, and make the law what it has become under much more difficult circumstances in India, the UDal arbiter. And that, we may rely on it, is the kind of government which suits the national genius, is the only one which in Ireland will ever reconcile freedom with the order that the bayonet, wielded by men of a different race, has in vain tried to maintain.

We thought that Nelson proper was about the only district that could not understand that gold fields were a benefit to a Province. We now find that some of the good old folks of Auckland, who are in favor of the "good old times," still object to the gold fields, and is very sorry for Hunt's discovery in that Piovince. The New Zealand Agricultural Society was held at the Albert Barracks, Auckland, in the course of last month, when tbe Thames gold fields and its resources played a prominent part. At the dinner it was doubted whether the gold fields had benefited Auckland, The Thames Guardian has the following remarks upon the subject y-r" The Bucolical mind is' often apt to see little good in gold fields, notwithstanding the fact that the farmer, above all other men, derives an advantage from a digging population who consume his produce, for as a rule, they purchase instead of raising for themselves the necessaries of life. The chairman, Mr Bassett, is reported as expressing hii doubts, whether the gold fields were an unmixed blessing to the Province. Probably there is no good thing without some alloy, according to the old adage, that • something of bitter will arise amid fountains of pleasure, and something sweet will be found in a fountain of grief.' Probably, therefore, the gold fields are not an unmixed good, but without them the Province of Auckland would have collapsed, and the Bucolicals in the neighborhood of Tamaki would have had a poor market, if any at all, for the produce. Everybody knows that but for the discovery of the Thames gold fields, the Province wquld have collapsed, and its affairs woujd have been administered by the General Government, which was itself nearly bankrupt. We are glad to see that those present at the agricultural dinner, some remembered this, and spoko to good effect."