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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1073, 5 January 1872, Page 2

The performances of the Star Minsbrels at the Volunteer Hall continue nightly to attract large audiences. A new and attractive programme is announced for to-night. Yesterday afternoon Major, Heaphy, the , Commissioner of Native Reserved, who arrived here on Wednesday to try and Arrange

for the sale of , the Greymouth Reserve, was interviewed at. the Melbourne Hotel by a Committee appointed at a meeting of leaseholders held about three months ago. Major Heaphy made an explanation of the object of his visit, which 1 was simplythat in answer to the petition of the leaseholders sent up to the lost session of the Assembly, and the report thereon of the Public Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives, he had been sent here to obtain the fullest information, in order to lay it before the Assembly with a view to further legislation on the subject. After a most uninteresting conversation, duriug which nothing new was elicited by.ths Committee, a Sub-committee was appointed to ( give Major Heaphy;, any assistance or information he might require during his, visit. The Committee consisted of Messrs Perkins, Perotti, Smith, and Ainott. The meeting then dispersed. Captain Baldwin has requested us to make the following statement with regard to an assertion made' in our columns by Mr Short, the lecturer of ' the Australian Mutual Provident Society. The assertion referred to is that in every locality where the Government scheme and the Mutual scheme haye been explained by the respective lecturers, insurers have preferred the Mutual Provident. Captain Baldwin states that this is not correct. Mr Short and Captain Baldwin lectured and canvassed together at Tokomairiro, Otago. The one doctor examined for both, and Captain Baldwin obtained nearly twice as many proposals as were obtained by the agent for the Mutual Provident. We make this statement because Captain Baldwin, by rules of the service, is prevented from writing in the press. The official declaration of the poll, in the election of members tor the Paroa Road Board, was made yesterday, when Messrs E. Butler, W. Collins, and J. Dowling were declared elected. It hnving come to the knowledge of the Government that certain infringements of the Stamp Act have taken place, the following notice has been issued : — " There being reason to suppose that persons are in the habit of giving and accepting unstamped receipts as acquittances for moneys paid by cheque, under the belief that the stamp borne by the cheque exonerates the feceipt from liability to stamp duty, the public are cautioned against the adoption of this practice. Such receipts are inadmissable as evidence of the payment of money uutil properly stamped ; and every person signing or causing the signature of any such receipt is liable to a penalty often pounds for each offence." The Treasurer of the Grey River Hospital begs to acknowledge receipt, per Mr George M'Beath, of L 4, being gross proceeds of a concert held at the Union Hotel, No Town. Mr Samuel Haisty also requests an acknowledgment of a sum of L - 2s- proceeds of a concert given at No Town, included in a payment of'Lll, particulars of which were received by the Treasurer.too late for insertion in the'report for year ending 30th June, 1871. Important intelligance regarding the European telearajjh cable was published in Melbourne oh the 23rd. Sir James Martin is prepared to take the initiative in running a line of steamers between Port Darwin and Normantown, and no doubt the other colonies will heartily co-operate with him. A service of eight months is spoken of, but nob more thin eight weeks ought really to be required, if the South Australian line is as forward as represented. The South Australian Govern-' ment, ib seems, is iv possession of information that the cable is working excellently — news which adds to the importance of action being taken to utilise it without further delay. A grass fire on Bank- House run, r.he property of Sir David Monro, did a good deal of damage Last week, destroying a quantity of fencing, huts, and a large plantation. The wool-shed had a narrow escape, and was saved only with great exertion. From the absence of rain and the. frequency of strong drying winds the whole country is dreadfully parched up, and grass once ignited, the fire spreads in a most alarmiug manuer, baffling all exertions to extinguish it. The loss sustained by bir David Monro cannot be less than L3OO. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, H. J. Doherty, landlord of the Alliance Hotel, was summoned 'for a breach of the County of Westland Licensing Ordinance; in holding a ball without the requisite conseut being obtained. Ib appeared that defendant applied for permission to hold a ball, which was refused by the Resident Magistrate, bub ultimately a written application was sent in, stating that the ball would be for the benefit of a Mrs Crawford, the wife of a prisoner in gaol for felony. Under these circumstances permission Avas granted for Tuesday evening last, and defendant engaged musicians and made preparations for holding the ball. Between the .time of permission being granted and the holding of the ball some disagreement arosefbet ween Mrs Crawford and defendant, Mrs Crawford wanting the proceeds of the sale of liquors, besides what money might be obtained fot admission, and, in conseqnence Mrs Crawford interviewed the Resident Magistrate, and the permission was revoked, although the defendant, and a witness named Drnry, had requested Mrs Crawford to send a person to take charge of the doors, which she refused to do. The defendant then decided to hold the ball in defiance of the revocation, and the offence was fully proved by Sergeant White. The defendant stated that he had been put to great expense, and offered Mrs Crawford bhe entrancemoney, which she refused ; and Mr Perkins contended on his behalf that, after permission had been given, his Worship had ho power to revoke it. The Magistrate stated that the permission was granted for a specific object, and when it was found that the con- I ditious were not complied with the permis- ' sion was revoked, and in defiance of this the defendant held the ball. He would therefore fine him L2O and costs.— Hamilton and Russell (trustees of Barnnill's estate) v. Gady ; an action to recover L3l Is j 2d for goods supplied. Mr Barnhill was called as a witness, and stated that the book containing the entries was lost, but a bill of particulars wa3 produced in Court, i The defendant not appearing, judgment was given for amount and costs. Ryan Bros. v. Clarke : a claim for L 2 for bread' supplied. The defendant disputed the debt, but admitted that the bread was supplied to a "female friend," named Lucy Jackson, with whom he resided, and that he had paid the house rent and butcher's bill, bub he had given his frieud money "to settle the baker," which, apparently, she had not done. Judgment was given for the amount claimed and costs. •-•Kkoglund and Purcell v. Miss Cleveland : Aii action for balance of account for drapery supplied. Mr Guinness for plaintiff, jind Mr Perkius for. defendant. The defendant was a lady who resided with a Miss Fyfe some three years since, and the articles were supplied partly to herself, and her order. The defendant denied receiving the goods, which she said were supplied to Miss Fyfe, and had been yaid for, but Miss Fyfe not being forthcoming, or there being any evidence to refute that of Mr Purcell, judgment was given for the amount claimed with costs. The difference between Swedenborgism and Spiritualism are pointed out in a letter by the Rev Chauncey Giles, which has just been published in Melbourne in a pamphlet form. The differences are stated thus :-- The doctrines of the New Church weaken the bonds of no natural, spiritual, or Divine law. On the contrary, they increase man's

knowledge of the universality of their poweand sanctity, and teach us that our opinions or practices cannot destroy one jot or tittle of their force, and tbat our highest wisdom consists in learning and obeying them. It is the fatal f defect of spiritism that it tends. to destroy the foundations of human belief, in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God,, arid in the sacred Scriptures as a revelation from Him, and-thelaWß of life revealed in them. It cuts the soul loose from the bonds of order and the sanctions of spiritual laws, and surrenders ijt to . the fallacies of human reason unenlightened by revelation, and the conflicting reports of spirits, whom we cannot see, and ,of 4 - whose intelligence and character we have no means of forming a correct opinion. Mr. J. H. Friswell, in his "Modern Men of Letters," thus pourtrays Mr Trollopo :— "His outward appearance symbolises or rather pictures his inner. When you look at his face you exclaim, with Addison's Cato, ' Plato, tliou reasonest woll.' For if, as that great one said, the soul chooses a fit house wherein to dwell, you must own that the soul of Trollope has fitted itself with a proper and suggestive tabernacle. His portrait is gaunt, grim, partly grey, and looks taller than he is j his eyes are noticeable, dark, and brilliant ; two strong lines down each side of his moutb, lost in a tufted Americanlike beard, give him a look of greater illnature than he possesses. He is unquestionably a 'gentleman, but of the middle-class look, by no means of the haut ccole. He gives one an idea— tbat is, if one knows life and town pretty well — that he has seen hard service in the drudgery of some Government office ; he has a cut-and-dried official look, and seems capable of scolding and otherwise irritating: his juniors. He looks his age— about fift^-fi've — and is a man one would hardly choßse-to'confide in. A Winchester, and afteiwards a Harrow boy, he g«ave little promise of inheriting any of the brilliant caustic genius of his mother, whose most truthful pictures of the United States made the Americans hate her, while her immortal figure of the Widow Barnaby caused her sex never to forgive her." We understand that Mr Trollope will shortly visit New Zealand, prior to returning to England.