Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1111, 19 February 1872, Page 2

The Premier aud Mrs Fox, accompanied by Mr Warden Whitefoord, Inspector Shallcrass, and Mr Fox's private secretary, arrived at Ahaura on Saturday evening. Mr and Mrs Fox are the guests of the Warden and Mrs Whitefoord. Messrs F. Guinness and M. H. Hayden had an interview with the Premier on his arrival, to ascertain at what time he would receive a deputation of the residents. Eight o'clock p.m. : was named, at which time the majority of the inhabitants assembled at the Court House. The deputation was headed by Mr Guinness, and was introduced by the Warden. Mr Guinness read an address, and Mr Fox replied in a speech which occupied nea*ly an hour in its delivery. The Premier's closing remarks were received with loud applause by the crowded audience. After thanking Mr Fox the deputation withdrew. A detailed report of the proceedings will shortly be to hand. It is Mr Fox*Sj intention to visit the local gold workings on Monday and proceed to Reefton on Tuesday, The library of the Greymouth Literary Association now contains over three hundred volumes of standard works. The greater number of these books arrived the other day from London via Melbourne. The Committee hope shortly to be in a position to send home for another consignment. Since the late flood Snag Fall, in the Grey River, has been in a worse state than ever. It is a wonder that the cargo boats get through the mass of snags there deposited. On Saturday one horse Was drowned, aud yesterday two others were nearly lost. Some immediate action on the part of the authorities is necessary to prevent serious loss of life and property. - , An equestrian troupe is a decided novelty in Greymouth, and to this novelty alone, apart from the reputation which the Great World Circus Company bring with them, must be attributed the large attendance at the company's first performance on Saturday evening. To' judge from "the satisfaction which the entertainment gave on that evening, the company are likely to have again, and often, the satisfaction of performing to spectator* quite as numerous. The equestrian and gymnastic feats exhibited- on Saturday, evening were all skilful, and in some instances surprising, and, besides these, there were introduced into the programme novelties which were highly amusing. The Rev. Father Pertius is on a visit to the up-country districts. The rev. gentleman held divine service at Ahaura on Friday morning. It was Father Pertius's intention to commence the season of Lent with religious devotions' at Ahaura on Ash Wednesday, but the state of the roads prevented him reaching that place in time. A contract for building a schoolhouse at Ahaura was let by Farther Pertius on Friday. The contractor is H. W. Young. The ''building 'will be erected close to the future residence of the priest, at present in the occupation of* Mr Murray. Father Pertius left Ahaura en route to Reeftou, where he purposes remaining for two,weeks._ , Inspec^o^f^iincrassr-lfiev; head oi' tne Nelson Provincial Police Force, is on an official visit to the Kelson Gold Fields in the Grey District. Important changes are said to be in contemplation by Mr Shallcrass, among which it is rumorpdthut thp strength of the force, on the Inangahua will be considerably increased. Constable John Jeffries has been transferred to Reefton, and Constable Henry Hunter will, it is said, take charge of the important district of No Town, including the Twelve-Mile Landing, Lake Brunner, and Upper Red Jack's districts. Theannual distribution of prizes to children attending Tiinifcy f hurch Sunday School took place in the Church yesterday afternoon. It was intended that the prices should be presented by the Lord Bishop' of Nelson, but as he had not arrived, the duty was performed by the'Rey, G. T. N. WatkiuSj who delivered an appropriate address to the children on the occasion. The following is the prize list :— Boys— First class : Ist, John Cameron < 2nd, Charles King. Second class : Ist, Robert Acheson; 2nd, Frederick Williams ; 3rd, Thomas G> Taylor. , Third class : Ist, Henry S. Creswell ? 2nd, Robert Wylde. Fourth class : Ist, Frederick Jslgour ; 2nd, J. A. Arnott; 3rd, C. Greenwood. Fifth class: Ist, H. G. Rogers ; 2nd, Cecil Moss. GirlsFirst class : Ist, Emma Bock ; 2nd, Louisa Wyldo ; 3rd, Annie Bock. Second class : Ist, Jane Moore; 2nd, Sophy Ring. Third class: Ist, Sarah Thurold; 2nd, Mary Arnott. Fourth class : Ist, Jane Acheson • 2nd, Mary Simpson. Fifth class : Ist, Alice Williams j 2nd, Elizabeth Kilgour. Sixth class: Ist, Agnes M'Dovyell; 2nd, H. Kilgour. Four extra prizes were given, two by the Superintendent, Mr Cresswell, to Miss J. Batchelor. and Master R. Boylan of the fir^t class ; one given by Mrs Greenwood to Master A. Cameron ; and one given by Mr Steel, io Miss Sfciljing. Attendance prizes to the num.bev of 67 were giyen to children who attended school 20 Sundays out of tbe 27, from July to December last. We beMeve the average attendance'afc this school is about 110. Mr Skelton, an English architect, has patented a lamp of a practical and ingenious character, by which the fays of light hitherto wasted through the upper parts of an- ordinary^ street lamp are utilised on a similar principle to that employed in lighthouses. The effect is most singular, as the lamp shows three flames instead of one, and, in fact, giv.es three times as much light as at present; . The cost is .estimated at about fiye per cant per annum, inorc than the lanjps at present in use. During the performances of the finale to the " Messiah" at the Melbourne Town Hall a rush was made to the doors by a portion of the audience. Mr Lee, the conductor, stopped it abruptly in the middle. The stoppage looked as if it had been rehearsed ; at a signal from Mr Lee all was still as death . Of course (observes the Leader), the people who wera scrambling out looked unutterably foolish, aud most of them settled down promptly somewhere or other. The piece was then resumed, and went to its iqoufilusion with no further disturbance. The rebuke was a just one, and may with advantage be repeated in other places besides Melbourne. A piece of quartz, weighing about eight pounds, and estimated tq contain airbunce' and » half of gold, was 'taken recently from the WeafclawJ. Pold Mining Ca,mpany?s (Rhody Ryan and party) claim, Inangiilju'a. The flerahl, of Saturday, says yegg,rdjnj» it— "The stone was got at the eastern : aicte of the main reef, ani the stone generally is of uxccllent quality. Mr Button, of Hykitika> who is v Bkarelioldei 1 iv the claim, took tUo :

specimen with him to Hokitika, and it is not • unlikely he. wiJl forward it thence to Mel Ibourne. It is highly desirable that the value of all the reefs already tested: should be as , widely known as possible, as this knowledge '■ must greatly facilitate negotiations having for their object the obtaining of machinery to develop the mineral wealth of the district. The prospects in the above company are very brilliant; as they have struck excellent stone in a 4ft Sin reef, running north and south, the reef itself being as solid and well denned as could possibly be desired. The tubular ,bo,il?r, the transport of which has cost the. company endless expense and anxiety, is expected to be landed at the michine site togiight. Tenders closed yesterday for the supply of sawn timber, and for the construction of a dam and tramway ; and everything will be in readiness for crushing in a couple of months." MrC. Thome, who is indefatigable in his endeavors to utilise New Zealand flax, has at length so far succeeded as to be able to furnish Dr Featherstone with a piece of sailcloth made from the fibre. The sample was forwarded to New Zealand by the mail. Mr Thome hoped to produce good samples of towelling and sheeting before long. A telegram from New Zealand reached Dr Featherstone, the Agent-General for that colony in London, on the 27th November, twenty-five days after its despatch from Wellington. The directors of the Bay of Islands Coal Company have been obliged, through the great influx of water, to announce that they will not be able to supply coal after the 14th inst. •.....- It is said at the. Thames that the shortest and safest road to fortune is through a single stamp and specimen battery, and that the above remark, which is fast becoming proverbial, is' not altogether groundless is, says our correspondent, tolerably well evidenced by the comfortable, not to say affluent, position of the proprietors of the. various handy little machines in operation in Grahamstown and Shortland; ; Writing of the arrival of the steamer Charles Edward at Greymouth, direct from Westport, on the occasion of her last trip southward, the West Coast Times is generous enough to say : — "We should be Borry to believe that the departure, in this instance, from the usual course of the Anchor Line of steamers has been prompted by pique oh the part of Captain Holmes, in consequence of his having been fined for an infraction of the Diseased Cattle Act." It promises well for the morals of the community to have every little movement of a steamer, a coach, or a post boy thus carefully criticised arid scrutinised by the Press, especially when it is accompanied by an expression of sorrow at the contemplation of even the remotest possibility of a ship-captain being prompted" by pique. The simple faot is that, in this instance, Captain Holmes had on board &v . equestrian troupe consisting'of twenty -thre« persons, 6ix horses, and one donkey, ami oven the last-mentioned animal, had his posi tion been that of Captain Holmes, would nol have been, so assiveas to have conveyed,t( Hokitika a company [whose-' cost per diem if something considerable, and whose : destine tion was not Hokitika but Greymouth. Some time ago our Volunteers fired s match against the Dunedin Scottish Company, which our men lost by 15 points. _ Tht return match has now been fired, with t similar result, Greymouth being beaten bj 10 points. The Dunedin detailed score is not to hand, but their total is 405 points, The scores of our men are as follows, ranges 200, 500, and COO yards, five shots at each, Wimbledon targets : —

One of our local representatives in th( County Council is favored with frequeni notice by the Hokitika Press. The Times of Saturday says : —Mr Dungan administered a well merited rebuke to Mr Fox, in the County Council, on Thursday evening. The latter gentleman has been particularly conspicuous for his absence from the meeting! of the Council, yet he had the effrontery to animadvert, in strong terms, and with indignant tone and gesture, upon what he termed the disgraceful neglect qf -their duties by the members of the Council who reside in town, in respect to attendance on Select Committees. Mr Dnngan took up the cudgels for the. absentees— because, be said, of their absence — and pointed out to Mr Pox with what bad grape $he complaint came from a member who was himself so seldqm in attendance. Mr Pox murmured something, of which only the word "floods*' was audible, and the Council immediately adjourning, he hastened from the scene of his laborious duties. The Home News, in its Literary Supple' ment, takes some favorable notice of a new worthy one who may be described as a colonial author. In its notice of numerous Christmas stories it says : -"Blade-o' Grass, " the title of the Christmas number of " Tinsley's Magazine," would take high rank and position among works of far greater pretension and importance than is usually claimed,- or indeed deserved, for so-called Christmas stories. The author, Mp B. L. Farjeon. author of "Grif" and "Joshua Marvel," has already established himself in public estimation as a writer of works of fiction, posseH^ing high literary excellence and inhotisc depth of feeling. "Blade-o' Grass" will do no discredit to its forbears. It will, indeed, be a credit to them, for. it is an improvement upon both. The illustra-. tions. to " Bade-o'-Grass " are of unusual excellence, .and are chiefly the work of Mr N. Chevalier, who has illustrated several of Mr Farjeon's works both in England and the Australian Colonies,' - Some remarks which we made on the sub--jectof settling Stewart's Island and other scenes of special settlements in the Colony are singularly confirmed by' the special cor : respondent of the Otago Daily Times, who accompanied the Superintendent qf Otago and the Minister for Public Works on their voyage of discovery. Referring to the ridiculous statements in Maokay's Almanac that Stewart's Island is uninhabitable, this correspondent says :— " Now that the evidence is so strong the other way, 1 trust the editor will correct the mis-statements in his next year's publication. Before that sees the light, we may anticipate that the Government will have planted along the shore, where the locations proposed have been set off, some hundreds of frugal and industrious Sbfitlanders, who will transform this land into pleasant homesteads. To them—accustomed to the storm-beaten sterile rocks in the North of Scotland, where the wind blows so that a tree cannot grow— with 20 acres of good bush land, capable of growing good potatoes and fair crops of oats and vegetables, with the sea teeming with fish of excellent kinds, and the small islands off the coast abounding with mutton birds, such a place would appear an earthly paradise. The ory has been c Homesteads fctf fcho people !'. but it intent be changed into "People for the

homesteads!" . It is almost beyoaU "belief that po little. bas been done to promote settlement of the; right kind. We have had. a mere dnzzle-of' immigration, but it, is to b.«> hoped now that the Government will go in for, a regular shower, not of isolated immigrants, but of whole communities, who will settle down in unfrequented corners, following out new' ways, developing" hidden resources, without disturbing any existing local market." An official document, quite unique in its way, was recently laid upon the table at the Malmsbury Borough Council Victoria. At the previous' meeting Councillor Hunter complained that the. borough inspector had called at his house in his absence, aud used very insulting language to Mrs Hunter, the expression specially complained of being that Mr Hunter and his fellow-councillors '• ought to be boiled down.' The inspector, in a most elaborate . report, denied that he had ever, in the whole course of. his existence, made use of "such a low, vulgar, and colonial expression." Throughout the report Mrs Hunter was referred to as Mr Hunter's " missus," and the document wound up by demanding a withdrawal of the charge, and a threat of legal proceedings in default. As Councillor Hunter was not present, the reading of the report was held over till the next meeting. < , , ",. . ._...-. . The following items of news are from the Inangahua . Herald of Saturday :— •• Constable Jeffries arrived in Reef ton, from No Town, on Thursday. He will be permanently stationed here. — Twenty-two feet of the corner section at the rear of Monahan's Hotel, and facing the Camp, has been purchased by Mr J. Creed for the sum of Ll2O.— A halfshare at Boatman's was sold on Wednesday for. LGO. — Messrs Nahr and Cullen, from Charleston, have purchased interests in Nor, 4 south, Kelly's line; in Miller's claim, Adam Smith's line; and a few scrip in Anderson's.— The legal profession everywhere throughout the Province of* Nelson: and the_County of Westland were represented at the recent Court sittings at Keefton. - Mr Home and Mr Pitt represented Westport ; Mr Button,' Hokitika; Mr Guinness, Greymouth ; Mr Shapter, Charleston ; and Mr Adams, junr., Nelson. — The application Of Caples and party for aprospecting claim was heaid on Tuesday,. being opposed by Thomas and party, Clarke and party, and M'Cuffin and party. Caples, it appears, applied for a prospecting area on the evening of the 31st of January, and returned to the ground, on Ist of February. At that time numbers of men were on the ground; smd claims were all overlapping. In Court the matter was adjusted, the Warden deciding that a base had to be taken from east of ground granted to M'Cabe, and the ground to be taken up in the following order :— Thomas and party, eight men's ground ; Caples and party, seven men's ground ; : M'Guffin and party, three mcii's ground ; Clarke and party, four men's ground. . . A* correspondent of the Auckland Herald gives the following description of a race at Qjiinemuri, in whiph the r;ders were Maori women ; — l{ There was one race ridden by Maori girls, or women, and they rode en Cavalier on men's saddles, with their naked feet in the stirrups, or rather all except the great toe, which is left outside, in order, as it would seem, to clutch the stirrup-iron more fully. I should here remark that the men wore boots and spurs; but the women were all as I have described. No preparation seemed necessary by these damsels. Their ordinary costume was not varied at all, except that those who wore boots and stockings took them off. Their loose gowns, now ever, were sufficient for propriety, and by no means ungraceful.. I was astonished to see one young and handsome mother, having just administered a comforting draught to her infant— l presume to console it for. its mother's temporary 'absgnce— -takig it from hep breast, hand jt tq another woman, and jump on a horse to ride the race. . And splendidly they rode— firm in their seats and .reckless in their bearing. If the men de"servecnpratse tor the speed4 a fc which they went, the women . deserved greater.. .There was no mistake'that they each 5 meant to win if tliey could. Two of themfwere thrown off at once on turning a corner ; one of them, I was sorry to see, was my friend the young taatron who had just left her baby, but the übiquitous Mr Mackay was at hand and had the pleasure of picking up theMa this sense; only, I hope— ' fallen, women,' and restoring them to their positions. I, was glad to near that no damage was done, and' I saw the mother return to her infant smiling and- apr parently happyi"- - i. ■ ■■ ' — — ■■— —

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