Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1098, 3 February 1872, Page 2

It is expected that the Hon. Mr Fox, after his visit to the West Coast gold fields, will proceed overland to Christchurch. Considerable excitement was caused in town yesterday by the arrival of an express messenger from P. Q. Caples, a well-known prospector, who had been employed by a number of gentlemen in town. His letter says that when the recent rush took place to Boatman's.; he crossed over .the range and found a quartz-reef three feet six inches thick, and showing "as much gold as would satisfy any man" These are the words of the prospector. . He immediately pegged out three claims, and put on twenty-one men to represent' the shareholders, a number of whom leave town this morning for the Inangahaa District. , The entertainment given last evening for the benefit of Mr Leffler, at the Volunteer Hall under the patronage of the Masonic bodies of Greymouth was a great success, the hall being crowded in every part. The amateurs who had given their; services: were well received, and almost eyeiy, effort was encored. The programme, which was nearly a repetition of last Friday evening's concert, was if anything more successful than on that occasion, and shows the high estimation in which the efforts of the lady and gentlemen amateurs are held. Mr Leffler, wlio woo .met. wifcli great applause, played the overture from" TancFeianon^-tlie violin^ being accompanied by Miss Harris on the pianoforte and Mr Cannon on the cornet. The entertainment concluded with the burlesque of " Bombastes "Purioso," which was received, if anything, with greater success than on the previous occasion. The usual meeting of the Borough Council was held last evening. Present— 'lhe Mayor in the chair, Councillors Kennedy, Smith, Woolcock, Dupre, Moore, Coates, Purcoll, and M'Gregor. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. A letter from Kerr, Arnott and Co, was referred to the Finance Committee, also one from Martin Kennedy, which was also referred to the same committee. From Mr R. Wilson, asking for a lease of the wharf formerly occupied by Mr Simpson. Referred to the Public Works Committee. From James Drumm, asking to lease half a chain of the wharf, near, the transit shod, as a coal wharf. Referred to Public Works Committee. The Town Surveyor reported that Martin Kennedy had completed the making of Tainui street. Referred to Public Works Committee. The second portion of Hospital street had also been completed. Referred to Public Works Committee. From the Valuator for the Borough, as follows : — " L havo the aonov to repart that I have this day finished the valuation of the Borough, which I now lay before you. The numbev of properties valued this year is 571, against 504 last year, and the total valuation, L 28.174, against L 27.643 last year ; making an fncrease of 67 properties, and L 531 over 1871." The. financial statement was received, from which it appeared there was a deficiency of L 275 18s 7d. It was resolved | that at the next meeting a rate of Is in the pound be struck. It was resolved that the services of the Borough Surveyor should be offered to the General Government to survey the route to Reeftpn. The Council then adjourned. By the s s. Alhambra the first instalment of Chinese for the Grey district was transhipped per p. s. Dispatch. It is understood that these, are but the forerunners of a numerous body of Mongolians. .•-,:..:.. ■ ; We defer publishing the rejiort of the Road Board Conference until an authentic copy is forwarded by the hon. Secretary, as promised. We should have given the report as it appeared in the West Coast Times but for the important fact that one of the resolutions says the Conference "pledges itself not to resist the striking of a rate on mining property."- This is utterly at variance with the the object for which the Conference was held, and we are informed by one of the delegates that the Conference pledged itself to remt the levying of any rate on mining property." One of the Auckland butchers announces his intention of selling good joints of beef and mutton at 2d per lb. We are informed that the Panama Company, at Kelly's Creek, Christchurch road (the Taipo reef) have struck richer stone than they have got out at any time previously, and that th^ continuation of the reef is dipping to a lower level. With regard to recent fires in the Wellington Province, the Wairarapa Mercury says : — " We regret to have to record one of the most devastating fires that have taken Slace in the Wairarapa for many years. On unday last some lads set fire ■to a piece of felled bush situated on Hooker's line, about half a mile from Carterton, and it burnt slowly all that day and night, gradually creeping towards the main road. On Monday, the wind getting up, brought the fire into the heart of the township, we regret to say, to the utter ruin of many of the small farmers, who after the toil of years, managed to create comfortable homesteads. The following is a list of the properties burnt, with their approximate value :— Crawford, wheelwright's shop and house, L 8 0; Boßley, house, L3O; King's shop and house, L 80: Parker, barn and hay, L2O ; Dixon, cowshed

and hay, L2O; 'Strangle house, barn, and hay, 126 ; Dodd's Bhop and house, occupied by Pbilpotts,; L2O ; Spline's whare, -LlO ; Vickerstafifs outbuUdings, L 2 5; Oallistcr's outhouses, hay, &c, L 35 ; Greathead's house, blacksmith's shop, tools, coal, &c, L 10 0; Merrick'a house, unfinished, . L 25 ; Moore's shed, with hay, -L2O-,v John* barn < and diary, L 25 ; Budd's shed, &c, 'L'3o. In addition to the above there has,becn a large quantity of fencing destroyed, while the amount of grass over which .the fire . ran, will cause many of the settlers to be put to very serious inconvenience' to provide food for the stock during the ensuing winter. How the Hall and School buildings, -with the Casterton Stockade escaped, is a mystery. Mr Cadwallader's Hotel had a very narrow escape, and' but for the energy of those present must have been destroyed. All the buiHings wore uninsured, We understand that a subscription list will be opened for the relief of the unfortunate persons who have lost so much in so short a time. In further confirmation of the news we published yesterday regarding the various lines of main road to Reef ton, we give the following from a recent Westport Times:— "Mr Dobson, Provincial 'Engineer, '.has" re-, ceived instructions from the Colonial Government to forward the plans for approval of a dray road from the. crossing, six miles above Christy's, to Larry's Creek, a distance of six miles, so that tenders will shortly be called for the construction of that portion of the road. At the same time, -the horse trajk between Christy's and the Six-mile .will be improved. The Grey line from the Junction to Fern Flat, a distance of about, thirty miles, is also to be set out. We understand that the proposed. route between the Blackwater and the Inangahua Landing is not so favorable for a road as had been at first supposed, though; the country has only been partially explored, and may be jet found to present features admitting of a good road being easily practicable. ■ The lowest altitude of the range such a road would have to surmount is at present believed to be 1000 ft. Such a route, if practicable, would bring Eeefton within forty miles of Westport in place of fifty-five miles by the present route and sixty miles via Greymouth. Mr Dobson's estimate for a. dray road between Christy's and Reef ton is L 10,500, and from, the Six-mile crossing to Reef ton about L7OOO. The firing for the district representation for the Colonial Prize Firing has been concluded, and the result bliows that the Greymouth Volunteers have taken a much better position than the other companies in the district, the averages of the whole shooting being—Greymonth, 78.25; Hokitika, 75.00 ; and Ross, 70.25 The scores made are as under, the fust stage being five shots each at 200 arid 300. yards ; the second, five shots at 400, 500, and 600 yards :— . ,; T . -'' . . FIRST STAGE; „.,', Vol Shepherd, Greymouth ... '.. 34 Col. «Sergt. Chamberlain, Greymouth 33 Vol Skene, Hokitika. ...... 33 Vol Moss, Greymouth ... ' ... 32 I Vol Shepherd, Boss ... 32 Captain Falvey, Ross ... ... ... 32 Vol Sutherland, Ross 32 Vol Walsh, Hokitika... 32 Sergt Jenkins, Ross ... ..; .... ;30 Vol Lin'strom, Hokitika 29 Vol Learmouth, Hokitika 28 Vol W. S. Smith, Greymouth ... 26 ' ' SECOND STAGE. ' Color-Sergt. Chamberlain, Greymouth 52 Vol Skene, Hokitika ... ... 51 Vol Shepherd, Greymouth .... 47 Sergt Jenkins, Ross ... ' ... ' .. 43 Vol Moss, Greymouth 42 -Vol-Shophord, Boss . .". ■ —^r~ — -irr— — 38 Vol Sutherland, Ross 38 Vol Walsh, Hokitika ... l ... -- 3S Captain Falvey, Ross 36 It will be seen that Col. -Sergeant Chamberlain and Volunteer Leslie Skene represent the district at Christchurch. Any other man who scored 40 points or upwards, in the second stage, being allowed to compete, : on .proceeding to Christchurch and paving his owa expenses, but receiving no allowance from the Government. Greymouth has three men thus qualified, and Ross and Hokitika .one each. ■ There was no meeting of the County Council on Thursday evening for want of a quorum. The number of fish-curing establishments in the Province of Auckland is increasing. An accident occurred in the tunnel on the railway works at Port phalmers, on the 24th ultimo, which was fatal in its results to a . man named Robert Johnston, about forty years of ago, a quarryman employed on the works. He was struck on the head by a stone from a heavy blast, and survived but a few minutes. «. ..;>.. ; . •The " Heathen Chinee" has been victimising the banks in Southland to the tune of LSOO. . The perpetrator of the . swindle rejoices in the name of Kee Chang, and has several aliases. He was acting as "boss" of a mining party of his countrymen at Orepuki for the last three months, and disposed of spurious gold on these separate occasions. The first was on the 15th instant, to a Mr Bowell, buyer for the Bank of New Zealand, who purchased a cake of amalgam, weighing 270z ; the next day he got rid of a cake of 250z to another buyer from the same bank ; and subsequently disposed of a cake of lOOoz to the agent of the Bank of Otago. He then left the district and has not yet been heard of, although the police are indefatigable in their endeavors to capture himL Two men have been arrested as accomplices of Chang, and the police found L3B on them, and succeeded in intercepting two letters of credit for sums amounting to L 350. A gold prospecting - expedition under the . leadership of Mr Barry, well-known in connection with the earlier history of the Thames Gold Field, has starred from Auckland to the Tairua district in which favorable indications are said to have been lately discovered. A tunnel 3700 ft long and costing L 20,000 is about to be constructed by a public company through the Cape Colyille Peninsula to connect Coromandel Harbor with Kennedy's Bay. The tunnel will, it is said, not only open up a large.extent of auriferous ground, but make an excellent means of communication from the Coromandel mines to the crushing batteries. The^ Wellington Independent makes the following remarks regarding the Greymouth rifle range : — "Members of volunteer corps and those interested in rifle shooting must have observed with Borne astonishment the number of victories which the Greymouth Rangers have obtained over the oldest and best corps in the Colonies as well as in England, The explanation of the matter is that the range at which they fire is a complete culdesac, blocked out of dense bush, and is, for rifle shooting purposes, as free from the effects of wind; or sun as a rifle gallery, which' in reality it is." : ; .■ The Australian Mtttnal Provident Society, which has been so prominently brought Under the notice of the public here lately, is stated by the Sydney Town and Country Journal to be represented by no less than 13,000 policy holders, and has fairly become a household word in the Australian Colonies. A reference to thepublished accounts of the institution, prove that it has out-grown the most sanguine expectations of its promoters, and it takes rank as the foremost provident society in the southern hemisphere. It is a purely Colonial Institution, and, as people found, that claims were promptly paid, that incurred responsi-

bilities were duly mefcj. and that, actual profits were made, they : began to > lodk with favor on the Aiisiiialian,.,.Mutuali; and now we find that 10,000 policies arc in existence .representing a sum assured of L 4,000,000/, 000, 000/ and that the representatives, heirs, executors, and so forth have received in payment of claims upwards of ,L 200,000. This is something to be proud of ; the gentlemen of the provisional committee who first met at .No. 487 George street, never expected that the liabilities of the concern they : were. instrumental in getting under weigh would reach a sum* represented! by four million?, they would perhaps have hesitated a little about it ; but in time they became gradually used to the widening character of the opera? tions they had to guide, aud doubtless the care bestowed in earlier years has Jed to the stability of the present time. The members of the society take stock every fivb years! The assets are overhauled and the actuary has'ari anxious time of, it, if we may judge by the quinquennial report, containing a mass of figures the disciples of Cocker must revel in. The assets and liabilities are tortured in a variety of ways. There are no end of testings and provings, but ( all tending to the great result that -the assets represented in February, 1809, L 602,"646 12s 7d. Even so insignificant asurn as sevenpence this elaborate report takes into account, and puts the "army: of figures so that they who run may read; and then we discover that the profits on the assurance branch for the five years amounted to L 161,76 &; This amount of profit goes to the assured for that,peripd, after making a certain reserve to. make the stability of the business undoubted. And then a new start is effected for.': another five years, and all concerned enter upon a new partnership 'with all the liabilities; so .fair clearly provided for, with a,L50,000 reserve as a guarantee for new comers. , Mr Frederick John Wilson has been adny.tted end er-roHed a solicitor: of the Supreme Court of New. Zealand; . ; and Mr D'Arcy flagytt has been appointed a Perpetual Commissioner at Dnned : nfor tak : ig acknowledgments. of married women. ■■•■■; .•>" The case of the man who stands charged with crimina^y assaulting a little girl at Ha^-Ouhce, was adjoi\med at the Cobden Resident Magistrate's Court tilTtirs morn*'ig at ten o'clock. . „ . .. ■ A son of Captain CrouCher, of Wellington, had his thigh broken the other- day by a dray. The boy was climbing the shaft when the horse started, and the motion jerking him to the ground, a wheel of the dray, passed over him fracturing the thigh bone. > The Colonist of Tuesday says :— " Lingering hopes were entertained regarding the produce of the ; Crushing of quartz from Doran and Company's claim, the last at work at Wangnpeka. The first crushing appears to have produced nothing, or next to nothing, in consequence, as is alleged, of insufficiency of the : chemicals used. This it is said prevented the gold from adhering to the plates, although gold was fouud on the blankets and in the tailings, but only in a small quantity,' as ; are. informed! Ih order to examiiie into the whol^ working of the battery, Mr. Adams,, the mining manager of the Perseverance Company has been sent up to Wangapeka, with < a vie vv to ascertain where the fault, whatever it be, lies. , We learn that there are about 90 men at present engaged in gold mining in the vicinity of the Big River, whilst men are arriving almost 'daily. No heavy finds are reported, but .all are satisfied, and the general opinion is that it will prove a remunerative field. The present' workings : are m' small gullies ; the sinking shallow, and the ground -ia-.easily__worked. The gold is of a coarse nuggettyaescHpT3sssp-H^-atron«]jt_iinpreg: nated with quartz, while many specimens are very libtle waterworn. The- terraces are likely looking, but have not, yet been prospected. Provisions at the Amatori are reasonable, there- being two stores, which draw their supplies from Nelson. Referring to the capabilities of the Big River as a port, our informant states — "A sailing vessel can run from Westportito the Big River in eight hours. Ithas a good and. safe entrance, and vessels inside are thoroughly sheltered from any wind or the roughest weather. The bottom- of the river is aandy. With southwest wind the bar is smooth, being sheltered by Kaurangi Point, and when once known the port would become a favorite shelter for small craft or the coasting steamers. There is ample room in the river for the latter to turn." ■;,.■■- By latest advice 3 from the Saltwater Beach the Ross News learns that Graham and party are pushing ahead the work of constructing their dam, and that in about ten days, with favorable weather, we may expect to hear of its completion. This has been a very heavy piece of work, aa the depth of the dam is about 30ft, its thickness at the base 30ft, and 12ft on the top, with a length of about 120 ft. When completed it will have a pressure of water 20ft deep, which will keep the party supplied with more water than they [ require. We also learn that a party is baiiig formed for utilising the water in the lagoon, which will place them in a position to work payable ground. The Waipara called off this place on Tuesday last, but, : owing to the heavy surf, she could not discharge the few tons of goods she.: had on board for Mr M'Fetrick, and 'was therefore compelled to take them to.Okarito, from which placed they, will be packed to Saltwater Beach. I Some interesting letters, says a contemporary, appear in recent numbers of the Meld on the subject of emigration to the colonies. A writer who signs himself "W. A. P." has brought a host of angry colonists down upon him because he asserts that the condition of gentlemen with small capitals in the colonies is simply that of laboring men . in England, without the comforts that the latter enjoy. " A New Zealand Squatter " thinks that a man with Ll ooo might profit-, ably employ his capital in agricultural :' farming, aud points to the Gold Reids of' Otago, where anyone can obtain land tinder the agricultural lease system on easy terms, and to Canterbury, where & man might select 200 acres of land in settled parts of the country for L4OO, leaving him L6OQ to work it with. "An Otago Squatter" writes:— "Imyself am a squatter in New Zealand of several years', experience, and as yet have found nothing in the life derogatory to.that of n ; gentleman. :If a little manual; labor and the deprivation of such luxuries asf wine, beer, and having your boots regularly polished every morning is so, 1 must say I do not consider it in that light. New Zealand is like England or any other country; if you want luxuries you must pay for them. I know myself that the Colonies by people at home are considered the best place for the black sheep of a. family, after trying everything else, to be sent to as a last resort. This is certainly a great mistak, as, if a man has contracted loose habits at home, lie will find in the Colonies quite as much temptation to go to the bad, if not more so, than he would in England. I may mention that the more capital a man can bring with him to the Colonies the more money he will make, as the rate of interest out there on borrowed money is very high ; but still lam sure LIOOO (the sum mentioned by 'W. A, P.) if properly iuvested in the Colonies will bring a man much better return than it would bring in England. A man with a small capital would do best by joining some one else with a larger amount, and who has some colonial experience, either in sheep farming or agricultural pursuit's. New Zealand is fat present a " very thinly populated country, and only wants a little larger population and a

little more money to make it one of the; most , thrivinfe|Dqlonies in the world. Iniwncb^ 'sion, Iseg to state that 4f;: ; any ladies. ffiSj© 3 hoine honor us with their presence in' New' Zsaland, they will not find us such rough customers as 'W. A. P.' imagines. As a squ.atter in New Zealand, I am doing very wellj^and haveino reasonto regret the step -I* took iv emigration ; and I return there very shortly. 11 ; ;\y,\ [', _:\ . y ; V; ; , The Wanganui Chronicle says :— " The last new --•thing- in subscription lists- that -has;. come under pur, notice is an attempt; to,- raise a fund for jthe purpose of , enabling : a poor Fiji boy called Frank Lulu, who ; was ; kid- , napped from Levuka sonio six years ago, foi return to the home of his youth. It deserves support. The lad's history is illustrative of what trading with the Fijis too often means, and may well point a moral if it cannot adorn a* tale. Frank was brought over here, together with? two'Fiji girl's; iti'the Shamrock," then in the command ;of Captain Hayes. These three natives on arrival were taken up to the -residence/, of Mr H. B. s Roberts, a solictor of this town,: oil the .No. 2 Hue, where, as : we- aw informed, they all worked: to the end of ; the chapter.. One of the girls, .known as " Julia," became sick and was sent : to the hospital; /During, 'her' illness she evinced more than the ordinary intelligence of a native of Fiji, and began to understand and even enjoy something of religion. > She ■died and received a pauper's funeral, after haying worked- 'for'. years for' Mr •' Roberts' without receiving wages. The other girl, '? Polly," some tittie'since' decamped with Mr Roberts's son, thus leaviug only the boy ." FrankLulir" out of the : three. V He 'turn, it appews. .nust now make atnove, having, as we are informeSj for some reason, 'been told to go. . But minus the means of transit, how can he go ? : ;Theb6y, we understand, saysw^ wishes to returnto Levuka, andiit is surely strange, after having worked for Mr Roberts all these years, that he should riotiave'enough;to;pay:his:passagWbut'fihds himself ;turned ;adrift penniless. > ; . .If it were ihvestigaied.the story, we take it, would be an awful^one./'j . '■.-■. , ;-< v ;r ,•■';■ /.--,.. /; ,■■