THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1103, 9 February 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1872.

The Argus of this morning was produced under circumstances that we do nut believe any other journal in the Colonies ever had to contend with. The water stood 2ft Cm on the office floor, and we have publicly to thank our staff for their exertions under the trying circumstances. The highest flood, and it Is feared, the most disastrous that has ever visited Greymonth and the Grey District sinco its settle* merit by white men occurred yesterday. Up to the time of writing the rain has fallen in a continuous downpour for the last forty-eight hours and the river has risen to an unprecedented height. Early yesterday morning the river was in full flood, but it was expected it would go down on the ebb-tide. Instead of this it continued to rise Bteadily throughout the day, in some cases at the rate of three or four inches an hour, and as the evening tide began to make, the river rose in a most alarming manner, and, the rain continuing, the gravest apprehensions were entertained. In the afternoon, the river burst in at the old channel above 'the Post Office, carried some small houses djown the old creek, and seriously injured the tramway bridge. The water also rose about two feet above the level of the main street, across which it poured into the hotels and shops. The whole town was under water, and large cargo boats were plying through streets only recently formed. In Boundary street, the stream was runningmony feet deep like a millrace. AH the nouses in the low-lying portions of the town were under water, and tbe inhabitants were rescued by boats. How the protective-works have fared it is now impossible to say, as they are under water ; one portion which was recently dkmaged went to sea in the forenoon. The I .flood must have been something dreadful upcountry, judging by the immense trees that floated in thousands past the town the wnole day long. Early in the day a large punt and the roof of a house were observed drifting seawards. There is no doubt but we shall hear of much damage and no doubt loss of life, as the people were quite unprepared for such a heavy floood at ■ this season of the year. After darkness set in lost night tbe water continued to rise steadily until it was several feet hikher than the heaviest flood known here. In tbe front street the water was ovtr some of the shop counters and hotel bars, and boats have been busy all night rescuing families and property. In the darkness of the night it was impossible to see the damage that has been done, bat it must be very considerable. When daylight dawned a melancholy scene of desolation presented itself. Nearly the whole of the lower township from Johnston street west, gave way, ana became amass of ruins. The families were picked off the roofs of the remnants of the houses by boats, and conveyed to places of safety. The protective works at that end have gone; the river broke in, and there are scarcely half a dozen houses in the whole block now standing. Attempts have been made to introduce hares to this colony, but hitherto without success. Mr George Holmes, who arrived by the Alhombra, has succeeded in landing four full-grown hares in excellent condition. He intends to tarn them out at Pigeon Bay. The public will be Borry to hear that Mr George Cotterell is lying in a very precarious condition at Beech worth. Mr Cotterell (says tbe O. and if. Advertiser) is very highly esteemed in Beechwortb, and, indeed, everywhere where he is known, and his friends, who have been much saddened by his continual illness, still hope soon to have more cheering news. A new journal, the Avstralian JUecltanlc and Journal of Science, is published in Melbourne. The conductors express their hope of being able to render the paper "a perag* nent mechanical and scientific journal" for* the colonies. . : . . . . > We clip the following from the Sdhfrila*/

Review : —In Holland the wages of a skilled artisan in the larger towns seldom exceeds sixteen shillings a week; in the country they are much less. He rarely tastes meat. His breakfast is a sandwich of bread and butter— a thin slice of block bread between two thicker pieces of brown bread— with a cup of coffee. He dines off a mess of vegetables soaked in dripping, or perhaps a bit of fish, followed by a cap of tea. His working day consists of twelve hoars. At Hamburg an iron shipbuilder of the first-class earns eighteen shillings a week, working ten hoars a day ; other craftsmen work eleven hoars a day for a similar sum. In Prussia 2s Gd a lay is a comparatively high wage, and the average is rather under than over 2s. Throughout nearly the whole of Prussia, ourneymen and apprentices work regularly n the summer from five o'clock in the morning till late at night, with half an hoar or an hoar for dinner. The Belgian workman subsists mainly on bread and laid, green or dry vegetables, fresh or salted pork If In flourishing circumstances, he has meat twice a week. Very many have for their entire subsistence nothing but potatoes, with a little grease, brown or black bread, often bad, and for their drink a tincture of chickory. Wages in Switzerland are nearly 40 per cent lower than in England, and working men live on bread and cheese and vegetables, with |meat seldom more than once a week. . The following Otago men have qualified for Colonial firmg :— Dixon made 54 points ; Blatcb, 50 points ; Kerr, 50 points ; Buchanan, 49 points ; Brown, 40 points ; Wilson, 45 points ; Henderson, 44 points ; Cowie, 44 points ; Reid, 44 points, M'Laren, 44 points ; M'Farland, 44 points ; Lean, 43 points; Marshall, 42 points; Hutchinson, 41 {points ; Christie, 41 points ; Tajlor, 40 points, Muir, 40 points. The Oamara and Hampden corps have to fire. . A special correspondent of the S. A . Re* gister gives that paper an interesting sketch of the English agitator, Mr C. Bradlaugh, a gentleman, we are told, who " has renounced all private aims now except one incidental to his mission as a reformer — to become a member of the first Republican Government in England. Mr Bradlaugh's main fear is not that it may be too-long delayed, but that it may be precipitated before the country is ripe for him. The particular 'jpration ' " says the correspondent, "which I' was privileged to hear was that on George the Second — the paunchy little Brunswicker. His denunciation swept over the House of Brunswick, making out one exception— her pre» sent Majesty. Mr Bradlaugh has this much loyalty surviving in him, that he wishes the Queen may rule five years longer, until he has prepared her subjects for the Republic. His tenderness in that quarter is atoned for by redoubled hostility to the the Prince of Wales. George the Fourth, the Duke of Cumberland, the renowned Prince Fred, 'Who was alive, and Is dead,' have, he affirms, contributed all their peculiar virtues, to the composition of the heir apparent. His style of striking out point after point made the oration tingle with the coldest cynicism. •• Hard constrained peals of laughter came at intervals as a fit chorus to the coarse fury of his sustained abuse." Such is the character and the spirit of the republicanism which is making itself felt and known among the recently enftanchised millions of the great cities of England, and it must be owned that we cannot view its progress without mistrust and alarm. Without aiming directly at the subversive principles avowed by the most prominent leaders of the Internationale, it seeks to sap no less surely the solid foundations of England's greatness as a nation. It denounces loyalty as a folly ; rank, even when bestowed for the moib exalted services, as an offence ; and religion as a sham. An English paper notes that a certain Mr Gribble bai recently floated to the surface of society by the not very creditable means of reflecting upon the private character of the Queen. Gnbble is what is called a Templar, not a Knight-Templar, but a member of an association having for its object a crusade tgainst the use of strong drinks, thfmembers of which are known as the " Good Templars." So far so good. Bat Gribble, in his zeal to distinguish himself, and to bring the association into note, ventured to assert that when her Majesty was indisposed and unable to make her appearance, the reason was to be sought in the fact that she was habitually given to too free an indulgence in something stronger than Bohea. In fact, Gribble meant to say that her Majesty is an habitual drunkard. This was too much even for the chairman of this class assemblage, who, as Oribblo wonld not retract, showed his sense of his brother's ill-timed and unwarranted remarks by quitting the chair, and assuring the members present that he hod done with Temphirism for ever." The Home Secretary having received a memorial that he would cause proceedings to be taken against Mr Gribble, has replied that there are certain calumnies which are best dealt with by leaving those who utter them to public contempt. Tho Templars, we are glad to note, are having meetings at all their lodges to repudiate Oribble's conduct.