Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1115, 23 February 1872, Page 2

A concert will be given in Gilmer's Hall, to-night, by the members of the Tonic Sjl-Fa Society, commencing at 8 o'clock. There was no performance by the Circus troupe last evening, in consequence of the gale yesterday afternoon having destroyed the large marquee used by the company. They will proceed to Hokitika first opportunity, and, we believe, intend to return here during fie race meeting. The troupe have been well patronised during their stay, although the weather has been much against them. A special meeting of the Volunteer Fire Brigade was held last eveuing for the purpose of providing ways and means for defraying the expenses incurred in subduing the bush fires on Monday and Tuesday last. A letter was read from Mr Whitmore tendering his sincere thanks for the promptitude and energy displayed by the members of the Brigade on the occasion. It was resolved than the Secretary be instructed to make up an account of all the expenses incurred, and forw«ard the same to Mr E. Wickes, in order that he might endeavor to collect the amount from the parties interested in the suppression of these fires. It was agreed to allow the man Bates, who got his arm broken while working on the engine, 30s per week for the support of his family, and to endeavor to get him admitted into the Hospital. ,The Secretary was instructed to make enquiries for the purpose of purchasing new canvas hose at the earliest opportunity. We have to acknowledge receipt from the District Surveyor, Mr Browne, of a new set of maps of the Totara and Grey districts, showing the wholo of the rural and suburban lands open for sale. These maps appear to be nicely executed, minute in detail, and afford a mass of information to those who are in search of land. It is to be hoped these maps will be printed in abundance and widely circulated, as it is only by such a proceeding that the general public can arrive at the information which is now so anxiously inquired after. We presume these maps can either be had or seen at the District Surveyor's Office. We are very happy to Bay that donations for the relief of the sufferers by the late flood in Greymouth continue to pom in from all parts of the Colony. Yesterday, Mr J. H. Kerr, the hon. treasurer of tho Relief Committee appointed at Invercargill, telegraphed to the Mayor that LGO had been placed to his credit for the relief of the sufferers as a first instalment from that town. The two stores of Messrs Woolcock and Co, in Mawhera Quay and Waite street, were sold by auction' yesterday by Messrs D. Maclean and Co, for LIBO, to Mr J. Hamilton, of Rutherglen. The Greymouth Flood Relief Committee, at Hokitika, met on Wednesday night. There was a full attendance of the Committee. A further sum of small amount was handed in, and a motion was carried instructing the hon. treasurer to remit to Greymouth the sum of L2OO. We believe the championship of New Zealand as a sprint runner, claimed by P. Twohill, has at last been challenged by a Nelson gentleman, and that there is a probability of a match coming off about the time of the race meeting. We understand the challenge is from LI 00 to LSOO a side, and any distances betweeu 100 and 500 yards. This is a plucky challenge for an amateur, as we understand him to be, to make, and we can only hope that the gauntlet thus thrown down will be taken up by our local champion. A powder explosion took place in the Caledonian claim, which injured a miner named Jewitt. He is not expected to recover. Quartz from a reef at Wairoa, Kaipara, in the North Island, yields Boz to the ton. Mr Oscar Van was the unfortuuate man whose fearful death in the shaft of the Cassius Claim was described in a paragraph in our yesterday's issue. Mr Van is known to many on the West Coast, having for some time resided in Westport,' Charleston, and at Woodstock, in the neighborhood of Hokitika. He will be remembered also by many as Harbor-Clerk and Town-Clerk of Port Chalmers, on relinquishing which positions, and before he came to the West Coast, he lived for some time in the Province of Taranaki. Previous to his residence in the Colony he had been for years on the diggings, ' in the Inglewood aud Castlemaine districts, where he arrived in the early days with two brothers, one of whom is now manager of the Cassius claims. The following further particulars of the circumstances nnher which his deajsh occurred are furnished by the Roen Neivs: —Mr Oscar Van, with two .others, was ascending. the shaft of the Cassius claim, at dinner time, yesterday, and all had entered the ■ cage, which, after it had commenced rising, suddenly jerked and fell a few inches ; this was caused by a twist in tho hoisting chain; but deceased, apparently under the fear that the winding-rope.had broken, attempted to return to the chamber from the rapidly ascending cage : in doing so, his head caught the cup-pieces, and he was knocked down with his head and shoulders overhanging the cage, and in this position -was dragged up the shaft till the great pressure of its sMes gradually drew 'deceased from the cage, leaving him to fall a distance probably of sixty feet to the bottom of the shaft. No blame attaches to anyone for the accident, the other men were unable to. prevent deceased from being dragged out of the cage, and from its rapid upward motion were unable to sound the alarm. - Strange to say, deceased lingered for an hour conscious and in great agony. Tho funeral will take place under the auspices of tho Freemasons, of which order deceased was a member. , , In its notice of. tho entertainment given at Christchurch in aid of the Greymouth Relief Fund, the Press says :—The idea partly originated with Mr Morton Tayares, who, on Tuesday, waited upon his Worship the Mayor, aud liberally volunteered his services towards this very laudable object. The entertainment was under the patronage of hi 3 Honor the Superintendent, who was present, together with many of our principal citizens ; his Worship the Mayor occupying the chair. His Worship paid a deserved compliment to Mr Morton Tavareß, who, though a complete stranger amongst them, had promptly come forward ami tendered his valuable aid m behalf of the sufferers by the flood. At the conclusion of the concert, his Worship, in a few well-chosen phrases, thanked the ladies and gentlemen who had .afforded them such a very pleasant evening;

and though he regretted the paucity of the attendance, had no doubt that all who had been unable to be present would still, in another -way equally satisfactory, contribute to the augmentation of the fund. As it was, he considered there was no cause to complain, as the citizens of Cbristchurch had already responded to the call upon their liberality in their most generous manner. At the. Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, Hugh Robinson and George Squires were charged with'the theft of i watch from Johnston's Private Hotel, Mackay street. The case been remanded for the evidence of Mrs Allardyce, who stated that the watch had been taken on the Sunday after the flood, between half -past twelve and one o'clock in the afternoon. The only three persons in the room were the two accused and the witness Smethurst, who had previously given hi 3 evidence. Mr Johnston also gave some evidence, and for the defence of Robinson, for whom Mr Perkins appeared, Mr Hamilton and Mr Andrews, of H.M, Customs, were .called. Mr Hamilton spoke of having seen Robinson about the hour referred to, and he also bore testipiony to his trustworthiness in all transactions, whenever employed by him. Mr Andrews, as paymaster of pensioners, and in other official capacities in which he had dealings with the defendant, also spoke to his trustworthiness, and as to his possession of medals and certificates for bravery and good conduct. Mr Guinness, for the defendant Squires, contended- that there was no evidence whatever against him, and Mr Perkins addressed the Bench on behalf of his client. The Magistrate considered that there was no evidence whatever against Squirer, except a statement made by the other defendant to shield himself. Supposing that statement were correct, Robinson should have known that there was something wrong about the watch, and the- circumstances otherwise gave grounds for strong suspicion. On the whole, however, there was not sufficient evidence to convict either of the accused, and they would be discharged, . The Ross Neios, in a recent mining report, mentioned that a party was formed for trying the deep ground between Clearwater and Donoghue's." Our contemporary now learns that another is in course of formation, f° r testing the ground between Sailors and German Gullies. An attempt will also be made to systematically examine the Upper Mikonui country this autumn, and operations at the Westland Company's reef, Donnelly's Creek, will be resumed. In the case of Reichelt against the New Zealand Insurance Company, the defendants have given notice of their intention to move for a new trial at the next sitting of the Supreme Court in banco. ' r ■■''•'■ The County Chairman, on Wednesday evening, gave notice that at yesterday's sitting of the Council, he would propose the following motions : — "That the Committee appointed, re Compensation to Tramways, be empowered to continue their inquiries during the recess, with a view to prepare a report for the next session of this Council." ''That the committees appointed re construction of railway from Greyinonth to Hokitika, and from. Hokitika to Ross, and re petitioning the General Assembly to relieve the County of the payment by Interest and Sinking Fund on the Canterbury Loan, be empowered to act during the recess of the County Council." A meeting of the shareholders in the Kanieri Coal Prospecting Company wa3 held at Hokitika on Tuesday last. Mr Hoos reported that he had visited the ground on Saturday last. The men engaged by the company were still boring, in the expectation of finding a seam at a lower level than those already discovered.. The bore was down about eighty or ninety feet. • Tfiree seams of splendid coal had been already found and tested. The .' attention of shareholders was called to the fact that the term for which the services of the working men had been engaged would shortly expire, and it would be necessary to decide as to what course should be pursued in prospecting the ground . It was eventually agreed that the men should be re-engaged, and that boring operations should be continued. There is now no doubt whatever but that coal exists upon the company's ground in such quantities as will pay for working ; and before long we hope to be in a position to chronicle even greater success than has hitherto a tended the efforts of the company. An unfortunate and serious accident has occutred to Mr J. W. Dyer, Tokomairiro. It appears that on returning from Canada reef, whither he had gone in thu early part of the same day, he had been thrown from his horse, as it was found, without its rider, by some parties going to the reef. An uneuccessful search was made for him by some parties for some time, but it was only towards Friday afternoon he was found by Mrs Dyer, lying in some scrub about a mile and a half beyond the reefs. He was then insensible, bruised in the face, covered with blood, and his clothes in tatters. Mrs Dyer, assisted by others, got him into a buggy, and brought him home, where he for some time lay unable to speak. Towards night he was able to indicate that his back was iujured, but could not tell how the accident took plage. A very pleasing exhibition was witnessed on Saturday night at the skating-rink, held in the long-room of the City Hall, Auckland. Mr Mothersill, agent for Mr Hoskins, the first person who introduced the skating-rink into New Zealand, gave a specimen of his skating ability by going through a number of graceful evolutions," which he executed with an ease and proficiency that elicited the admiration of the large number of persons pceseut on. the occasion. Me MothsreiU, dressed as a' Siberian peasant, skated in every variety oi style, eubbmg figures of three and eight, moving forward in curved lines, skating round the room backwards— sometimes on one'leg— with rapid alternating changes, and then suddenly checking himself in mid-career. Mr Mothersill had not put on the skates since he last left the West Coast (some fotr years back), where he introduced the rink-skating, and which is still a favorite pastime with people of the 11 sandy beaches: • The following particulars of a fatal accident which recently happenod at Port Chalmers appear in the Dunedin papers :-<-" The j deceased, whose name was Isaac Samuels, was about 20 years of age, and had been for about three years in the employ of Messrs Thomson Brothers, storekeepers, of the Port. He went on a trip in the p.s. Geelong to the Heads, the ste- Tier going out for the purpose of towing the barque Seagull in from China. On arriving in harbor with the barque, orders were given to lpt go the tow rope. Samuels went aft to assist in hauling the warp in, when,- by some means or other, the buoyrope attached to the Seagull's anchor fouled the warp, which jerked aud struck Samuels on the back of the head, heaving him overboard from the port quarter. On. his touching the. water, blood was observed to be oozing from the back part of his head. He seemed to be quite stunned, and sank before aid could reach him., Messrs A. M'Kincou and G. Clark were quickly on the spot with a dingy, but only succeeded in pickiug up deceased's cap. Mr M 'Donald, the mate of the Geelong, was also struck by the warp, and knocked down senseless on the grating aft. Ho is, however, not seriously injured. We learn from the Lyttelton Times that, MiLord, of Waltham, expects to have one to one and a half tons of grapes this season, aud Mr W. Wilson will also have some hundredweights. Mr Hawley, who has established a venery near Wilson's bridge, will be a contributor to the market next year, and Mr

Sisson is on the point of erecting an extensive, vinery at Papanui. . <.\ , : : ; A whale calf of the bottle-nose species was thrown on the beach at Oamaru last Wednesday week. It was Bold by the men who secured it for L 2, to Mr 0. Gr. Mure, who immediately set men to work to strip it of its blubber. Its length is about 16 feet, and it could not bo expected to yield much oil, though in good condition. Lieut. Goldie, ex-champion, has not succeeded in qualifying himself for a representative for the prize firing this year, having scored only 29 points in the first stage. The Government Assistant-Geologist, Capfc. Hutton, has returned to Invercargill, after being absent for three weeks examining the coal deposits of the district. The result of his discoveries may be stated as follows : — Brown coal, 9 outcrops ; bituminous, 3 ; and superior lignite, 3. The Chinese New Year was made the occasion of. general rejoicing by the Celestials resident in Dunedin. The morning was ushered in with beating of tom-toms and firing off of crackers. A great feast was -then prepared in. Flinders-lane, off Stafford street, where the tables were laid out with " every delicacy of the season," in the way of fruits, jellies, wines, &c, and poultry without number. The guests, who sat round the tables with their pigtails hanging gracefully down to their heels, did ample justice to the good things provided. Mr Haughton, the lately appointed Secretary for the Gold Fields, is now on a visit to the West Coast, having arrived in Hokitika on Saturday last. His mission at present is more particularly connected with; ascertaining ' the best means of supplying these Gold Fields with an abundance of water by means of large races. J A No Town correspondent writes} :— Since the official visit of the Warden and Mr Surveyor Lewis, the ennui of No Town has been all but unbearable. Had it not been for a visit from a few enterprising Mongolians and a small company of accomplished and prepossessing danseuses (which by the waylias been commercially a great success) there would duriDg the last ten days have be?n really nothing, barring the disastrous ilood, for those under the different verandahs to have discussed. Nuggets, it is true, occasionally turn up, as a lOoz one did, much to the finder's delight, at Bell's Gully, on Saturday. The Sunday closiug movement is much spoken about amongst the grog sellers. Those of the Crescent argue that the limitation of the hours from I p.m. till 7 will be a boon to themselves and further morality, white others think that if games of chance and inebriation filled their tills, why should the men of the camp interfere, the new schoolmistress being sufficient for the morals of their juveniles, while the digger can be well left, say they, to themselves and alcohol. • Among the donations received towards the Eclipse' Expedition, which recently left Melbourne, was one of LSO, under very strange circumstances. A Captain Burton forwarded to Mr Ellery, before, the expedition left Melbourne, a number of papers referring to a mathematical problem, which he professed to have solved, thereby accomplishing a great discovery. The members of the expedition were to busy themselves with this on their way up in the steamer, and if any of them could find a flaw in the proposition, Captain Burton agreed to forfeit LSO, which should be duly paid to the credit of the funds of the expedition. The members appear to have put off their application to the task until they had left Sydney, in the Governor Blackall; but, on arriving at Syd--noy, Mr E'lery received a telegram from Captain Burton, stating that he himself- had found out a mistake in the demonstration, and therefore, he would save further trouble by declaring that he forfeited the LSO, which he paid to the credit of the expedition. There are doubts asjto whether the money ought to be accepted, and this question has been referred to the council of the Royal Society. : - We (Southern Gross) are informed by a gentleman, arrived last night from Corqmandel, that the ..Pride of Tokatea have about (5501 bof specimens on hand, besides their general stuff, and that between 500oz and GOOoz are expected from the crushing about to take place. He also showed us a very peculiar specimen which was taken from the reef. It was on the outside a brown crystallised lump of quartz, and looked like a surface stone ; but when the crystals were broken off, the solid stone inside was found to be very richly impregnated with gold. The stone was taken out at least 90ft from the surface. With reference to an insurance case which recently became famous in Otago, the correspondent of one of the up-country papers says: — As was anticipated, Reichelt has come off victorious in the action which he brought against the New Zealand Insurance Company to recover the amount for which his premises were insured in that office. The rather peculiar disclosures which were made by the plaintiff during his examination have created considerable talk in town. Not that they came out as a surprise, either, for they were spoken of, sub rosa, even while Reicheldt was undergoing his trial at the previous sessions for incendiarism. The trial has been a notable one, taking it altogether, and has proved a harvest for the lawyers. Mr Barton (counsel for plaiizfciff ) gofcamougafc his favorite element, .' " blazes," and warmed to his subject when addressing the jury on behalf of the plaintiff in' his own peculiar style, and administered & slight cestigation to the police for their treatment of Reichelt when he was arrested, on the nzghfc of bhe fire, remarking that " hitherto he had been under the impression that there was only one plHce where a irian, when burning, -would be kept without a. drop of water. It did appear, however, that- there wa3 another, ami that place was the police office of Otago. The treatment the recollection of which bi ought tears into Reichelt'a eyes when giving evidence in the witness-box the previous daj r , must have been bad indeed." An important experiment was tried at the Melbourne Butts a few days ago in the presence of'several scientific experts, and two members of the Ministry, to determine the relative powers of the new explosive dynamite and : ordinary blasting powder. Threequarters of an ounce of Hall's blasting powder was placed on a slab below a 321 b shot, and exploded. The result was that the ball was thrown up to a height of 6ft. The same quantity of dynamite was then placed nntier the ball, and exploded by a cap at the oud of the fuse. The result was that the ball was thrown to a. height of about a 1000 ft, and was ten seconds in the air before it reached the ground again. The charge of dynnmite was then increased to one ounce, when the ball was sent still higher, and was thirteen seconds in the air. The next experiment was with aii ounce and a quarter of dynamite, when the shot was thrown so high that it was fourteen and a half seconds before it fell, and when it did fall it buried itself a foot deep in the earth, and was so hot as not to be easily handled. The dynamite was supplied by Messrs Reynolds and English. It is probable that these experiments will be supplemented by others to show the relative explosive forces of the different powders iii a confined space. It is claimed for the dynamite that it is not only more powerful, but much safer than common powder, for when set alight by any other mimii3 tliaii : tbo percussion of a cap, it burns slowly and harmless away.