Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1116, 24 February 1872, Page 2

There was 'a full meeting of the Flood Belief Committee last evening, at Gilmer's Hotel. MrW. S. Smith was in the chair. A number of new applications were received, and these, with others presented to previous meetings, were considered. To meet the claims entertained, a total of LSOO was •voted by the Committee, bringing up the sum expended in relief to about LIOOO. Other claims were deferred for further consideration, and a sub-committee was appointed to draw up a report of the expenditure of the fund which has been so liberally subscribed to in all parts of the Colony. It was also agreed that the Mayor should telegraph to the different towns . whose inhabitants have subscribed to the fund, thanking them for their donations, and requesting them now to close their subscription-lists. The Circus Company did not perform last evening, but at two o'clock in the afternoon to-day they inteud giving a " grand juvenile performance," when families and schoolchild ren are to be admitted at a price greatly less than the ordinary terms of admission. The youth of Greymouth will thus have an opportunity of being more amused than at the best of soirees and picnics. In the eveniugthe company will quo their last performance, before proceeding to Hokitika. It was expected that the prorogation of the County Council would take place yestefday evening. An entertainment was to be given last evening at the Duke of .Edinburgh Theatre, by the Hokitika Vocal and Dramatic Club, for the benefit of the sufferers by the flood at Greymouth. The Hon. Mr Beeves, , the Minister for Public Works for tho Middle Island, arrived in Hokitika by the Christchurch coach on Wednesday evening. The West Coaai Times says ho was engaged on Thursday in inquiring into matters connected with the district, and was to confer yesterday with the Select Committee of the County Council, on the subject of compensation to Tramway Companies. The Greymouth Tonic Sol-fa Society gave an invitation concert in the large hall of Gilmer's Hotel, laat evening. The hall was crowded ,i>y the friends of the members of the Society, and great satisfaction was expressed by all who had tho honor of being present at the enjoyable evening they wore' thus enabled to spend. Since their last public exhibition the members appear to

have made considerable progress, and last night they sang;a number of concerted pieces ilia manner that would have done credit to an older society. In a strictly private concert, of this kind* it would be unfair to mention names ; but we may say generally that the part songs, duets, and solos were well sung by the various amateurs, while the choruses were ably rendered, -correctly both aa to time and tune. The public are under a debt of gratitude to the. members of the society for their endeavors to mitigate t lie monotony, of our every-day life, and we can only hope that they will deem it both a pleasure and an hoHofc to give the public many such opportunities of enjoyment. On Wednesday afternoon, the body of the late Oscar C. Van, who was accidentally killed at Ross, was carried to its lasfc restingplace, followed by a large concourse of friends, present among whom were his brethren in freemasonry. At the inquest. DrHosking stated that lie found the chestbone crushed, and the ribs broken at the back. Deceased was born at Lambeth in 1832; and obtained his Master's degree at the Mariners' Lodge, Port Chalmers. There was a slight fresh in the river yesterday after heavy rain, during the previous night, and the stream made some further encroachment at the ldwcv end of the, town, especially in front of the Oriental Hotel, where four or five feet of the bank have disappeared. Active steps were taken to fortify the bank against further encroachment by depositing heavy blocks of stone along the lieach from Skoglund and Pnrcell's comer upwards. The stones are those which were laid alone Mawhera Quay some months ago, but which have simply lain there without being used. They have now been put to good pur--pose, and will form a sufficient breakwater until regular protection works are formed. At the upper end of the town a numerous gang of men are daily jit work blasting rock and erecting what is likely to prove a permanent stone-work for the protection of the town and for the convenience of the contemplated railway.' The Boss News reports a serious loss of property by a bush -fire. This was. at the. Totara road, where the Victoria Saw Mills were, probably, saved from destruction by the active exertions of the proprietors and several men. Still, a considerable amount of firewood and other property was consumed. At another place, on the new road, where there is a considerable amount of manuka .timber, the bush caught fire, and a large area was burnt. A man named R. Q. Halloran, believed to be a native of Glasgow, has been drowned while atteinptiug to cross the river llaugitata. The yield of tho potato crop in the Waikato this year is not expected to exceed a ton per acre. It is reported that coy ays of young partridges have been recently flushed in different parts of the Province of Otago, and that the hares are increasing rapidly in the Waihola district, The road just opened between . Christchurch and Akaroa is 51 miles in length. The height of Barry's saddle is 1540 ft. The gradient on both sides averages 1 iv 13 ; the greatest gradient in one or two places is 1 Sill. " Steam threshing raachiues are being manufactured by Messrs George Simpson and Co., Christchurch. They are s"aid to be fully equal to those hitherto imported from Messrs Clayton and Shuttleworth. The Canterbury Press states that the epidemic or endemic, previously noticed as prevalent among the infantile portion of Christchurch, has extended to adults, and that the symptoms coincide whith those generally known as English cholera. Several cases of this description 'are reported, in which the subjects were affected, almost instantaneously with excessive purgation and vomiting. Authorities attribute the present scourge to the absence of rain, In regard to the question of the deepest mine in Victoria, the Ballarat Star states ':— "In the miuing statistics last issued, the Albion shaft, Steiglitz, is given as the deepest, but the New North Clunes now exceeds the Albion in depth. Tbe,New North Clunes pump shaft is now 910 ft deep, and is, no doubt, the deepest in the Colony. It is still being sunk, the plan of the directors being to reach a depth of * 1200 ft or thereabouts." The Goodwood estate, in the Waikouaiti district, the property of Win. Jones, Esq., comprising 2500 acres, of which about 500 acres is magnificent forest, has just been leased for twenty-one years by Mr Thomas Calcutt. The beauty of the scenery, comprising as it does hill and dale, forest and sea, together with the house, stables, garden, and orchard, ten acres in extent, is unsurpassed in the Province of Otago, and perhaps in the Colony. It is Mr Calcutt's intention to furnish suites of rooms for the entertainment of visitors. during the summer, months., A correspondent of the Thnaru Herald, who has made the journey home by way of San Francisco, complains of the discomforts and the bad management of the stewards' department on board New Zealand coasting steamers. He gives as an instance the following . episode :— " A sqeamish passenger asked for ship's biscuit to support his stomach between meals. " I saw him served from a drawer containing a heterogeneous mixture of cheese, dust, broken biscuit, and butter ; the morsels offered him in a plate were some of them cheese, some yellow biscuit, some buttery biscuit, some biscuitthat had grown grey with age and Lardships and. was in places the color of well-worn boot leather !" On Saturday last, a workman in the employ of Mr John Anderson, Sraithfield, in the Timaru district, discovered a strange object moving among the sheaves when he went out to his work, and he immediately ran down the field jfcp see the stranger, which proved to be a fine young albatross. No sooner did the bird see that it was pursued than it turned about in self-defence, and extending its extraordinary wings, cracking its beak like a pistol, and littering various other alarming sounds,, made right at the man, who, being astounded. and terrified, fled for his life. Having got a fence between him and the bird, over which it was unable to follow him, he sounded an alarm, when several of his comrades ran to his assistance, These having provided themselves with an armful of sheaves each, rushed upon the bird and threw themselves upon it, and thus overpowered it. Two of the party having secured it each by a wing carried it. off between them in triumph to the Waihi- Crossing, escorted by the rest of the captors. Its wings measure ten feet from tip to tip. Mr J. . A. Young, of the Clarendon Hotel, purchased the bird, which he hopes to be able to tame. . A gatherer of grain statistics in the Province of Canterbury has communicated some of his notes by. the wayside to one of the Christchurch paper*: -The following is among his descriptions of the different classes of ! settlers upon whom he. called— l go to another house. You can see at a glance money has been laid out : there are all sorts of exploded iron implements lying about; good gates with no hiuges, tied up with flax ; J stumble over a perambulator without a wheels and see the proprietor turning the corner. He is not as well dressed as when he first went on board ship, and a handsome gold watch and chain, w^th ueyernl charms and a locket, are the only reminiscences, of the gentlemauly young swell who pame out with money and no ox" periencc. To aqy inquiries, ho says he really

does nob know. ' ' Old So-and- so says there will be, 30 bushels, but you know I didn't quite understand the machine. It had to go to the blacksniiihs, tind while it was being repaired the winds blew a lot out." He further tells me he thinks the country a d—d hole, and after harvest he'll sell out and go somewhere else. I condole with him. We talk, and I find that, while his brothers are doing well at home, he the ne'er-do-well of the family is performing penance out here for the sake of the rest. We imbibe, and leave him cutting up tobacco, and looking dreamily at me as I ride away. On Friday /looming last, about 5 a.m., Messrs S. I. Felt and Hamilton^ Browne left Brooklyn, Arapawa Island, for Picton,'in a boat. When the boat was about a mile from the starting point, a violent gale came on, and such was its force that it actually pressed the hull of tho boat beneath the water, when of course she filled. Leaving Mr Fell on the boat, Mr Browne started swimming; for the shore, for the purpose of obtaining assistance for his unfortunate companion. Thinking the wind would assist him to reach the shore, Mr Browne attempted to swim with the wind, but he found it so strong that he was continually forced under water and in great danger oi being drowned. Finding he could do little good, that way, he began to swim against the wind, and, being a particularly strong swimmer, managed, after a long and arduous task, to reach the shore, very nearly exhausted. The boat to which Mr Fell was supposed to be clinging was carried towards the opposite Bhore. When the boat beached, it was searched, 1 but no trace lof Mr Fell could be discovered. Search was j made for the unfortunate man, but up to . thisk.time.ius remains are undiscovered. In the Leeston district, ; Canterbury,' a machine, belonging to Messrs Osborn and Co., has beeu working for. the .last two seasons, the meu in connection with which, with the exception of the feeder and driver, are Maoris. Some discontent, says the Lyttelton Times, was expressed at Maoris being employed when white men were to be obtained, but the trial of the colored labor ■ appears to have been completely successful. Universal approval was expressed last year at the conduct of these men, and now it is stated that for care and quietness they are not to be surpassed by any gang that has visited the district. The machine is now employed in threshing at Mr Geo. Sandrey's farm. He states that after experience, both at home and in the Colony, he never mci witli men so determined to do justice to his corn, so careful- of fire, or so quiet and obliging. ' \ .•'. Stamps are a sore subject to the New Zealand public, and many objurgations arc daily levelled at the heads of the Govern' ment for the vexatious tax and restrictions imposed by the " amended" Stamp Act. Or this subject a wriber in the Otago Daili Times says : — lt n not my present purpose* however, to dwell on this short-sightec piece of legislation, which has done more t( render the Government unpopular than th< squandering- of a million of money woult have done. I wish on this occasion to dray attention to the miserable stuff by which th< postage stamps are supposed to be affixed t< letters and papers. To make it fulfil it purpose much trouble is necessary, and afte: all, one is afraid the stamp will come off ii the post j added to this, the mucilage, oi whatever it is, smells abominably, while thi ! perforations between the stamps are fre quently very imperfectly made. Thes< three faults render the use of the stamp, 1 very troublesome : and disagreeable, anc cause much loss of time and temper. T< judge from this and other matters, it woulc seem as though the motto of the Govern men were, "Whatever is worth doing, ii worth doing ill." In one of his speeches on the occasion o opening the road between Christchurch au< Akaroa, the Superintendent of Canterbury is reporbed to have said to the Peninsuli settlers :— " Mr Parkinson, with whom I was speaking just now on the subject, was telling me how thoroughly you had entered into trade with the West Coast— how the peopl here were with them mutually dependent oi the miners of the West Coast. I. believe a time goes on that we shall recognise mud more than hitherto, that the policy of thi part of the Province and of the Mildl Island generally is to maintain a connectioi between the mineral and gold-producinj country and the food-producing populatioi of this side of the island. I believe tha the policy of the people of this Provinc is to push oh communication with the Wes Coast of the Island. We have heard a grea deal about pushing railways north and south but I believe that when our communication with the sea has been made more perfect, i will be our interest to make our communica tion more perfect with the West Coast.' If may be allowed to refer to what some pebpl think a crotchet in my own mind, I believ that the carrying of the surplus water t localities where' it is most required is a ver; important thing to look to. (Hear, hear! Nature has placed us in a country in som parts of which there is too much timber am too little water, and in other parts too littl timber and too much dry land. Our interes is to try and bang together the points ii which nature has been profuse with those ii which she has been less abundant, so as t enable all the various parts of the country t derive the advantages that are to be derive from each other," The .popular delusion which seems to pre vail that newspaper conductors includ in their duties the picking out of marriag announcements, in. deference to the commo; request of " please copy," is thus referred ti by the Southern Cross .-—".We notice, i: >Jew Zealand and Australian exchanges re quests frequently attached to birth, ir.ar riagc, and death notices for other papers t< " please copy. ' Persons iv Auckland not un frrqiicntly make the same request of foreigi journal.ii l.y an addendum to their notices Now if. i- o'^fcomary with. us,, and also witl must 'it mil- contemporaries, to. charge evei our regular customers for the insertion o such.notices, and it is not likely therefor that we shall copy, and insert without pay meut, those occurring in other places. Thi proper course for persons who desire pub licity for their marriage or other notices i to forward a copy, accompanied by fee, fa some newspaper in the district where th< publication of the notice is desired, and the} will not then be disappointed." The license which is allowed to people ?i public meetings in the Colony, and notabh in Dunedin, where such men as Grant Graham, and Barnes, are invariably present and as invariably presumptuous, is thus re ferred to by the Dunedin , Stow :— "lt is tiini an alteration was made in our mode of con ducting political meetings in Dunediii, foi at present they are taken advantage of bj professional loafers to thrust themselves be fore the public whether they are wanted oi not. Through the license that is now the custom amongst us, it is almost impos sible to conduct a meeting. Men persist in standing forward, notwithstanding the chair-man-requests them tosifodown ; they persisi in speakiug, though the people refuse tc hear ; and at last, when to support his ruling it is necessary to drown their voices in uproar, they stand, frantic in their gesticulations, laughing stocks though annoyances, to all present. Maoris, North Ame: rican Indians, or even Australian aborigines, act with more order and decorum;, and were we to adopt a different course, we should not find so many intelligent and able men shrink from the insults that all those who serve the public gratuitously have to endure.?'