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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1092, 27 January 1872, Page 2

"Variety is charming" is a well-known aphorism, and so far as variety was concerned, the entertainment provided last evening by the Greymouth Literary Association was a great success. The hall was well filled in every part, and each song and instrumental performance was warmly applauded. The entertainment opened with a reading from Charles O'Malley, by Mr Guinness, which was well given. The good old English song

of "Friar of Orders Grey," by Mr Greenwood, followed, and it being a song well suited, to Mr Greenwood's voice, it was warmly applauded. Miss Hawley, a lady uewtoa Greymouth audience, sang "Love's Request" very nicely, but she was evidently rather nervous, nevertheless she was well received. The Misses Harris gave the "Singing Lesson" in a humorous manner. A piano solo, by Miss Hart, was nicely played, and this lady, who is also new to Grejoiouth, showed hersdf to be a very careful player. Mr Warner sang "Never Mind the Rest " in his best style, and the applause lasted for some time. Miss Fenner, who also made her first "appearance, sang "His ßright Smile Haunts me Still" very prettily, but it being her debut, she was like Miss Hawley — nervous. A comic song, by Mr Bailej', "Paddy is a Gentlemen," capitally sung and loudly applauded, concluded the first part. The second-part opened with an overture on the piano by Miss S.'ms. Mr King followed with the well-know a son?, "Bay of Biscay," which met with the round of applause it deserved. The song "The Friends of My Youth" was nicely given by Miss Harris. A pianoforte duet by Mr Seymour and a pupil (Miss Woolfe) came next, and was a fine piece of execution, being brilliantly played. "The Watch onjthe Rhine," by Miss Sohpie Harris, concluded the second portion of the entertainment, and it was spiritedly rendered. Before concluding this portian of the entertainment we must not omit to mention the piano accompaniment of Mrs Reid, who showed herselt a master of the instrument. The entertainment concluded with the seriocomic musical burlesque of "Bombastes Furioso," which fairly brought down the house, Mr Reid proving himself above the average of amateur performers as the General Bombastes, while Mr Hindmarsh played the King Artaxominous better than any character we tave seen him in. Mr Greenwood made a capital Fushoa, while Mr Poole's Distaffina was very good. Taking it altogether the entertainment was one of the best that has been given by the Association, The Treasurer of the Grey River Hospital begs to acknowledge receipt from Messrs J. W. Jones and P. Bjorklund of the sum of L 25 13s, being subscriptions collected by Local Committee at Callaghan's Creek. A telegram in the Otago Daily Times says:— "The Gross's correspondent writes from the Ohinemuri that the wires have been cut by the King's order on land belonging to the Ngatihaua tribe." A meeting of the Borough Council was held in. the Town Hall lasb night. Present : E. Wickes, Esq., in thfl chair, Councillors Macgregor, Kennedy, Smith, Dupre, Purcell, Coates, and Woolcock. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. Councillor Moore's resolutions regarding the doubling of the tonnage and wharfage rates were withdrawn. The report of the Waste Lands Committee recommended that the Council should apply for that parcel of land, about fifteen acres, lying between High and Shakespeare streets, as a reserve for Borough purposes. This was agreed to, The report of the Public Works Committee stated that they had met and examined the timber for staging sent down by the Coal Creek Saw Mill Company, and as they were suitable, had passed them. They also recommended that delivery should be taken of the two lampposts sent from Melbourne by Mr Masters — one to be fixed at the Customs Wharf and the other at the Town Hall. The report was adopted. Councillor Kennedy moved a formal resolution in accordance with the Act, to enable the Council to strike the usual rate. — Carried. The Town Surveyor was authorised to effect cerfcaiK necessary repairs to the Sefton and Victoria Biidges, and the--*(3ustoms Wharf. The Council then adjourned. In one of the trade reports which appeared in a late number of the Medianics' Magazine, published in London, is a rather significant paragraph, which colonists would do well to pay attention to. The paragraph referred to runs thus : — " Another noticeable fluctuation in foreign trade is, that America, while sending in good orders for hardwares, electrocutlery, implements, &c, is successfully competing with us in the Australian markets with the cheaper and commoner sorts of household metal manufactures, so that our merchants are required to ship cheaper kinds of hardware to the trans-Pacific markets than have hitherto been consigned to that quarter." This is certainly cool ; but the good sense of colonists will cause them to avoid "cheap and nasty " trash. Articles hitherto furnished from British workshops have been inferior enough in all conscience ; but as we are to get more inferior still, colonists should look out. The Mount Ida Chronicle has to report au occurrence of an unusual, and at the same time of a painful nature, which occurred at the Marewhenua diggings a few days since. It appears that on Saturday last a miner of the name of Clark, fora long time 'resident at Kyeburn, but who had been lately living at Maerewhenua, was found dead in a hut. hufc. Notice of the facts of the case was immediately .sent to the Coroner at Oamaru, who, however, declined to take any steps in the matter, alleging that the place whereat the death had occurred was not within his district. On the day following (Sunday) the deceased was buried in a common bag or sack, without coffin of any kind, in a grave dug behind his own hut. We are not aware of there being anythiug like suspicious circumstaDces connected with Clark's death, on the contrary, we have reason to believe that he had for some time been in dull health and complaining; still, we cannot but we feel that public decency has been outraged and a public duty been neglected, and that some inquiry into the subject has become a matter of necessity. From Auckland we learn that Mr Floyd's staff have since Christmas been diligently employed laying off the telegraph lino from the junction with the present line, distance about two miles from Grahamstown to Omahu, thence to the mountain range, passing through a dense forest of aboub twelve mileo. The forest department is in charge of Mr Maling, who has had considerable experience on the Taupo lines of roads and telegraphs. The contractors, Messrs Dixon and Brothers, have no less than 80 men working on the line, and expect before the end of next week to have 100, thereby taking advantage of the fine weather and long days. If the contractors meet with no impediments the line will be connected with the south long before the contract time has expired. On the 18th instant a presentation of a very gratifying nature was made in the shape of a silver watch to Mr Michael M'Cabe, who, for the past six years, held the office of police constable in Timaru; The watch bore the following suitable inscription : — " Presented to Michael M'Cabe by the public of Timaru on his retirement from the police force, January Bth, 1872.". The testimonial, though of small intrinsic value, is satisfactory evidence of the esteem M'Oabe was held in, and that a policeman is able to win the regard of his neighbors, at the same time doing his duty conscientiously to the public. A recent Auckland paper relates the following :— On Saturday morning last, a young girl was brought before the Bench, charged by the Inspector of Police with leading an abandoned life. Mr Brpham, upon the intercession of Mrs Colclough, caused the girl to appear on the floor of the Court, and begged that his Worship would allow the charge against her to be withdrawn, as be trusted she had perceived the extent of her folly, and would ref orji. Having made this

request, Mrs Colclough came fox tvard, and said that if the accused was willing to go into respectable service . she would make it her duty to obtain a situation for her. Mr Beckham eulogised the conduct of Mrßroham ana Mrs Colclough in interesting themselves in the matter, and directed the girl to be discharged, but in such away that should she break her promise of reformation the police would have power to apprehend her again. The offender then left the Court in company with Mrs Colclough ; but it appears that no sooner had she got beyond its precincts than she eluded the violence of the kind-hearted lady and ran off m an opposite direction. The girl will be brought before the Court again as soon as her whereabouts has been discovered and she is again taken into custody. Some remarks of interest to creditors were made at Auckland lately by Chief Justice Sir G. Arney, in the case of a clerk whose total liabilities amounted to L 72, and who had sought the protection of the Court to avoid undue pressure being brought to bear on him. The Southern Cross reports that "his Honor, adverting to the smallness of the bankrupt's liabilities, said that although an insolvent might obtain his discharge from the Court his obligations to his creditors did not cease, for they could ask the Court to call upon the bankrupt to show what he was earning, when an order might be made for the insolvent to set aside a portion of his income in satisfaction of his debts. If this fact was more generally known and acted on, debtors for small sums would not be found so eager to come into that Court." The other day we pointed out the advantages which would acciue to Greymouth if immediate action, was taken to open up the new route which had been discovered to Reefton, so that this district might receive a fair share of the proposed General Government expenditure. We notice with pleasure that since then the residents have moved in the matter, and a requisition signed by all the business men in town has been presented to the Mayor, asking him to call a public meeting, for the purpose of urging on' the General Government the importance of iin-. mediately constructing a dray road from Reefton to the Grey Valley, so as io open up communioation for dray traffio to the Ahaiira. En answer to this, Mr Wickes has oalled the meeting for to-night at Gilmer's Hotel at eight o'clock, and we are sure that the importance of the subject will secure a large aud influential attendance. i The correspondent of the Press at Little River writes :— •" The fire which commenced in the Little River Bush, about the 10th or 13th instant, began to burn up furiously on Thursday, Ihe 18th inst. At onetime Messrs William White and Co.'s saw-mills were in great danger from the number of Totara sparks flying about. In case of fire every precaution was taken to save the mills, &c. The hous.e of Mr N. Walter had a very narrow escape, it being at one time almost surrounded by fire. He had to remove, his goods, tools, &c, and bury them in his garden for safety. A number of peach trees, potato and Indian corn patches, belonging to several Maoris, were entirely destroyed. The house of George Reynolds was with great difficulty saved; it being surrounded by dry tops of fallen trees, which took fire, and it was only by. chopping away these heads and removing them, together with keeping the house constantly wet, that it was saved. A spark landed on and set fire to some sawdust, upwards of three-quarters of a mile from where the bush was burning. The; wind in the morning was from the north-' west, aud about noon it began to blow a gale, causing the fire to spread very rapidly ; fortunately in the evening the wind changed to the south-east, driving the fire back ; it is still burning (Saturday evening), but all danger for the present may be considered over. A memorial is being signed requesting W. H. PilliettEsq., R.M., Akaroa, to. cause an inquiry to be held as to the origin of these fires, when it is to be hoped whoever caused them may be found out and severely punished." The Cagli and Pompeii Opera Troupe have left Christchurch after a most successful engagement. The signal for their departure, has also been the signal for an attack by a clergyman, the " Rev. Lorenzo Moore, M.A:, Incumbent of Papanui." In a letter to the Lyttelton Times he says :— " I make no comment on the musical portion of these operas. It may be, as you say, that the public have had much intellectual enjoyment, and, in a musical point of view, instruction, but whqn, the thinking portion of the community sit down, and calmly reflect on the. nature of the demoralising instruction of another kind, which they have countenanced, I am persuaded that many who were present will be grieved that they should have stamped with their approval the vile and unworbhy principles and acts which for the last fortnight have been put before the Christchurch public in such a seductive form ; I believe that great moral injury has been done by our young people. Parents and- mistaken friends have led them by the hand to witness play acting in its most attractive form, teaching immorality of the worst kind." . The rev gentleman then goes on to compare the performances to that of a " vampire, who fans his victim with his wings while sucking his blood," and concludes by saying, "I am not aware that any protest has been made against these things; and while I do not suppose that I stand alone in my view of these operas, I think I should- be failing in my duty as a minister of Christ if T did not unhesitatingly call attention to and condemn, what I believe to have been a great evil, cal-" culated to provoke God, and do a lasting moral injury to the community, and especially to the young." It is a pity that the rev. gentleman did not consider it his duty to draw attention to the evil while it was being inh'icbed and not' wait' till it was done. The Tlmmes Advertiser of the. 10th says :— "It is with sincere regret, we have to record another drowning accident, which occurred at 11 o'clock yesterday, at the bathing-place near the Maori settlement, in the' Kauwaeranga Creek. The victim was a young man name I George William Rickard, about 20 years of age. Deceased had gone to the bathing-place with' a comrade named Oliver, and stripped and plunged into the water, with the intention of swimming to the other side. He evidently had become exhausted, being but ah indifferent swimmer, and sank. He called out for assistance, arid his comrade went in and tried to save him, and it is: said narrowly escaped downing in consequence himself. Several boys were also in thew,ater at the time, amongst whom were two sons of Mr Spencer, and a son of Mr Tookey. Oliver finding himself unable to rescue the drowning man, rushed for assistance to the Rob Roy Hotel, where he met Mr O'Keefe, Mr Flett, and one of Mr M'Millan's drivers, the whole of whom at once accompanied him. ;Mr O'Keeffe went at once into the water to try to recover the body, but was some time unsuccessful. There were several Maoris looking on, and one of these on being offered, a reward by Mr O'Keeffe, went in and recovered the body. The 'bus driver had in the meantime returned to town, and given information to the police, and the body was taken charge of by one of the police force, who had arrived at the spot, and was conveyed to the residence of his brother-in-law, :Mr Munro, in Mackay street, to await aninI quest, which will be held to-day. The deceased was the son of Mr George Rickard, of iHokitika^ and brother' of Mrs Alexander ; Munro, late of the British Empire Hote}, I Owen street. He was, we understand, only ;on a visit to the Thames when he met his untimely fate. ; .. . '.