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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1102, 8 February 1872, Page 2

Onr usual mining repoib from the Grey VaUey Diggings wiU not appear.this week, as our up-river reporter has been busy compiling our annual agilcultur?! report, which we publish elsewhere. The Treasurer of the Grey Eiver Hospital acknowledges the receipt from Mr Richard Murphy of JA4P, 14s, being subscriptions collected ; u Maoii GuHy distuct ; and from Mr Thomas Colfcor, L6O 14% amount collected by Paroa Local CoirT : ttee. The Treasurer desires to intimate to subscribers who have requested an acknowledgment of their individual contiibutions, and to the Local .Committees, that full TjaiJcr- 1 *3 of subscribers' names and locahtiesV'. appear in the General Committee's aunual raporfc, to be published in July. ... The Superintendent of Nelson was expected to leave for the West Coast by the steamer Remedy, and to meet the Hon. Mr Fox at Westport. As Mr Curtis is a vei^ ?idifferent horseman, it is questionable if he w 111 accompany Mr Fox to the reefs. Mr Barff was to move yesterday in the County Council—" That the sum of L2OO be placed on the estimates as a grant to Literary Societies in the County/ . At the Eesident Magistrate's Com i, yesterday, Margaret Williams was charged, on the information of the police, -■« Ith having used obscene language. Constable M'Donalu stated that at half -past one o'clock on Friday morning, the defendant was standing at her door on Richmond Quay. He had to speak to her about some disorderly conduct in her house, when she made use of the language complained of. The defendant said it was "a lady who had come from Hokitik*: gaol " who had made use of " bad language 1 ' This "lady from the gaol "was tipsy when she came to her house, and as the constable happened to be listening when the language was used, ho put it down to her (the defendant). The Magistrate fined the defendant L2,with the alternative of a week's imprisonment.— Henry M'Gill and J. Williams were each fined ss, with costs, for allowing horses to be at large. A general half-yearly meeting of the Red Jack's Benefit Society was hold at Mr Muir's store, Red Jack's, on the Ist ihst. The balance-sheet for the past half-year was submitted to the meeting, which showed (after pacing sick members and subscriptions to Hospital, the sum of L 34) a balance of L2O in favor of the socipty for the past half-year, which,.. looking at the small population, was considered highly satisfactory. The election of officers for the ensuing ha l * -year was next proceeded with. It was proposed that the former committee be re-elected, which was unanimously carried, and the meet ; ig adjourned. According to the ScuthHni Neios, the CHnese at the Nokomai are said to have acquired the European habit of departing to parts unknown, m 'thout previously going through the formality of interviewing their creditors. A meeting of the Waste Lands Board was held at the Land Office, Hokitika, on Tuesday. Nearly the whole of the business transacted referred to the Grey District, a detailed report of which we are competed to hold over until our next. It is stated that the cloth manufactured at Messrs A. J. Burns and' Co's factory, Mosgiel, Otago, is selling fast, and is finding its way not only over, tne province but all over New Zealand; T Several pieties. o£ broadcloth, suitable for ladies' dresses, have also been manufactured. A man named. Andrew Christian Thyxhau was killed on Monday last by the falling of a tree on the road between the Kanjeri and Ross, and about two and (a-ha 1 ? miles from the latter place. It appears that the deceased . was working with Mr M'Goverin (late of the Rising Sun Hotel, Hokitika), and the latter was felling a tree, which, iv droppiug, broke off a branch from another tree, and the branch struck deceased and injured him so much that he died in an hour and a-half afterwards. Ihj xhan was halfbrother to Mr Nissen, who was long con-, nected with the Hau-hau Tramway, and was its lessee at one time.. Deceased arrived here about eighteen months ago from Denmark. He was a married man, and leaves a wife and five children to mourn his loss, the youngest child being about twelve months old, and the oldest nine years. We are led to understand that the work of making the road from the Omotumotu Creek to the Arnold is processing bui slowly, a considerable portion of the said work, some three miles", owfng to some alteration iv the plans, being at a standstill. We were under the inprcssion that the County Chairman's trip to Greymouth, a fortnight ago, was to arrange matters with the contractor, so-that no dolay should occur in forwarding a work of such vital importance to the inhabitants of this district. Still the same apathy is again shown in this instance as has always been shown by the County Government in works in connection with the Grey district. Surely after the County Engineer spending co much- time here in altering the plans, arrangements might ere this have been come to with the County Government so that the works may be proceeded with. Add to. this, if our information' be correct, the ctfpum.-

stance that the contractor has had to disband his men and cancel many sub-contracts which he had entered into. Why matters should not at onco be arranged, to allow the work to go forward, we are at a loss to understand, more especially when the contract was taken on such favorable tei jis for the County. A petition went the rounds a few days ago to endeavor- to., induce the Nelson Government to take tip "the work from the Arnold to the Ahaur.a, t thus fciying amain line of road from^Gt'eyaioutli to the very heart of the Grey Valiey,;:arid, ehould ,the few miles be made to Reofton, absojltttely opening np the whole country. We • ! would remind the County Chaiiman, as re-: iprcsentative of the County Government, that ■the interests of the inhabitants of Greymouth jdemand that this work be; speedily canied •through- We trust we may not again have to refer to this matter, but that Mr Lahman jW.'H have affairs arranged, so that the wholework shall be proceeded with without any further delay. i Messrs Driver, Stewart, and Co., o£ Dun■ed% have sold . the " Rugged Ridges" 'Station, situated ?i the Waitaki district, 60,000 acres, with 26,438 sheep, for the sum of L 16.500, to Charles Nichols, Esq ; also, ithe " Stotfold" Station, situated in the Oamaru district, 26,000 acres leasehold and. 2740 acres freehold, with 18,000 sheep, for : the sum of L 12,100, to Phr'Mp Oakden, Esq. : TheJProviicial Council of Canterbuvy have ;roted LSOO towards the erection of a Corn lExchs'ge at Christchurch." Colonel Brett is trying to induce the City Council to give another LSOO, and to raise LSOO by subscriptions in the agricultural districts towards the. same. A correspondent of tho Daily Times states' ithat Miss Ross, the Maungatua fasting girl, was lately visited by no less than a hundred and twenty persons in one day. 1 Notice of a motion of 'a somewhat am-, biguous character has been given • by the County Chairman. It is "That the Council go into Committee to consider the present method of collecting toMs, v Ith a -slew to alter the same."^ There is no ambi^aity about the going- into committee, but there • decidedly is as to the proposed alteration of the "present method of collecting." Does the County Chairman htend that the worbhy pikekeeper should be paid in kind, by b : 'ls at three months, or •what? . An inquest has been held upon the body of Wi" ; am Rae, who was found dead i i the neighborhood of his house at Totara._ The following was the evidence of Dr Hosk^ng; - ( •I found the light auricle of the heaii was iaptured, which was the cause of death. The heaii was weakened by disease, and no doubt the strain of violent vomiting caused the rupture. The other organs were healthy. The jury returned a verdict "That W: T liam Hay died, on Friday or Saturday last, of rupture of the heart, and not otherwise." The alleged discovery of auriferous quaiiz in the neighborhood of Ross is thus reported upon by the Ncios of 'Tuesday :— " Yesterday a qua; fez prospecting claim, 300 ft by 200 ft, was granted to Francis Williams and Rasmus Petersen, who produced stone, showing gold in. minute particles, taken from the reef ; also washings from the casings, which gave a payable result. Numbers of men trudged out to the ground yesterday, which is situated between the light and left brrnches of Docuelly's Creek, above Gow's race, md several claims were pegged off. There is nothing'as yet to justify a rush, the reef, or leader, being only Bin through, but a general belief prevails — formed from a knowledge of the nature of the gold got in the locality —that an auriferous reef exists there." Some days ago Mr Courtney, of Wesfcport, lost a pocket-book while riding alongside tho Hnller. It was advertised for in vain, but last week a letter signed "Honesty" was forwarded to Dr Giles, Resident Magistrate. The pocket-book contained L .1-6 in notes and gold, and a cheque for L 4 10s on' the Bank of.New South Wales, drawn by Robert Tapley in favor of Fergus Campbell. About L7O in cash and gold are still missing. The package was forwarded through the Post Office at Westport during Mr Courtney's absence ab Reef ton; and on learning, the circumstance on his return the , news proved an agreeable surprise. Whoever "Honesty" may bp, says tbo Westport Times, it is protty certain that he has very dishonestly extracted the bulk of tho missing contents. - A recent resident of Southland, who emigrated to Kansas, gives a fearful description of tho fires which prevailed in that btate last autumr, and, adds : -"The troubles of one sort ani another I have had this last year have made me many a time wish I had never seen this country, but gone right back from home to New Zealand, where I can enjoy a good climate, if nothing else. A farmer's Jife here is uo joke-^frotn spring to winter not a moment to spare, working liko, a horse, with tbe thermometer at 120deg, and then, when winter sets in, the fact that large rivers will be frozeu a foot thick in four or five days wl'l tell you what changes we aye liable to. The cold is intense, and nothing n an te djoije putside save a little chopping." .'/.-•,. . .