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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1128, 9 March 1872, Page 2

An application was lodged at the Warden's Office, Cobden, on Thursday, by Moasrs M'Kenna, Fitesimmons, J. B. Roche, and G. Perotti, for a lease of ground on tho North Beach, for tho purpose of quartz-mining. Some quartz, which looks wolf, was brought into town ou Thursday, from tho ground indicated. Wo understand that men, in tho meantime, will be employed in sinking shafts, driving tunnels, and otherwise developing the reef, which it is stated can bo traced along the surface for about 100 yards. A number of miners yesterday visited the locality and pegged-out claims along the supposed line of reef. As the claims aie situated some two or three miles from the beach, at the TenMile, and as there are no tracks leading thereto, great difficulty will be experienced in taking tools and provisions to the spot, so I that tho first work to be undertaken will be I that of clearing a road to the workings. The Greymouth Garrick Club is the name of a recently organised club composed of gentlemen of dramatic tastes and liberal aririfr. It was by several members of this ub that, with assistance of some ladies, a very successful dramatic performance was given a few evenings ago in aid of the Relief Fund. They have agreed to repeat the performance at the Volunteer Hall on Monday evening, when the charge for admission will be on a reduced scale, and when the proceeds of the entertainment will be given to the funds of the Grey River Hospital. The programme of the performance includes "All fiat Glitters is not Gold," and " A Night at the Behbow Arms." In the Resident Magistrate's Court, Hoki-. tika, on Thursday, there w.as a civil action, M'Crae v. Gessinge, to - recover LIOO damages, alleged to nave been sustained by plaintiff, by reason of defendant having failed to fulfil his contract to deliver a quarter of a share in Rhody Ryan's claim at the Inangahua. It appeared from the evidence that defendant had sold to plaintiff, on the 29th of January, the quarter^ share in question, but was unable to get it transferred to plaintiff. He had, it seems, been instructed by two or three persons, when he was up at the Inangahua, to dispose of their interests, but had no written instructions and could not even fix upon the individual who had instructed him in regard to the quarter share sold to Mr M'Crae. After ;the sale the value of the shares rose very considerably, and, according to the evidence of Mr Learmonth, the quarter share was worth L 260 on the 22nd February, and is now worth between L3OO and L4OO. Defendant alleged that when he sold the quarter-share to plaintiff he told him that there would probably be some bother about the transfer, and plaintiff undertook to hold defendant harmless in the maiter. This was, however, denied by Mr M'Crae when Cross-examined on the point. Judgment was given for the amount claimed, with LlO costs. Mr Button was for plaintiff, and Mr South for defendant. The Mount Ida,; paper is severe on the Go-; vernment Water Supply Scheme. It speaks of it as the greatest sham and the greatest I swindle of the numerous shams and swindles enacted by the Colonial Legislature of New Zealand. ' A man named Peter Lawson, storeman to Messrs Vennell, Mills and Co, Wellington, did very suddenly one day last week, from disease of tli6 heart. He leaves a widow and eight children. ... The Wanganui CJtronicle says there will.be rather a heavy criminal calendar for the first sitting of the Supreme Court in that town. There are already! five cases on the record.' At a public meeting held in Hokitika, on Thursday evening, it was resolved to hold Easter sports and; races. It was agred that, out of a number of gentlemen nominated, a committee of management should be elected by baPot this evening. At the quarterly meeting of tho First Westland Rifles, at Hokitika, on Thursday evening, Ensigu Forsyth was elected Lieutenant, vice Preshaw, resigned. Sergeant Glasgow was elected Sub-Lieutenant, vice Forsytk, promoted: Mr Arthur M'Kellar Wix has been appointed clerk to the Resident Magistrate's Court at Blenheim, A complimentary farewell dinner has been given to Warden Simpson on the occasion of his leaving Tuapeka, and a Masonic banquet to Warden Pyke on hie removal from the Dunstan. • ..?•?';• Hops have been successfully cultivated in Otago by Mr Borrie, of West Taieri, and Mr Murray, of Glenore. Mr Hislop has been appointed Inspector ■ of Schools in Otago. Mr Sperry, of the Treasury, succeeds him as Secretary to the Education Board, The Wangauui Chronicle has been purchased by Duigan, for some time past telegraphist there, who has resigned. The paper changes hands on the Ist of April. The Herald has become the sole property of one of the proprietors, Mr Ballance. The Dunedin Half -holiday Association are meeting with fair success. At a recent meeting of the members, it was stated that 920 persons had pledged themselves not to make any purchases after one o'clock on Saturdays, and that their signatures were irrespective of other lists which had not been forwarded to thecommittee. A recent article in the Wellington Independent, on the subject of the appointment of a Solicitor-General, is supposed by some to point to the selection of Mr John Bathgate ' as a member of the Upper House and of the Cabinet. . . . . Dr Hector, it would appear, is of opinion that the Peninsula by which Dunedin harbor is enclosed belongs to the same geological formation as the -Thames. ' Should a payable gold field be discovered, water supply is not likely to be any drawback to its development. .'...■ A.rush has taken placeto the gold dig- j dings near Hunter's, up the Shag River, Otago, owing to some very good ground having been opened up in the bed of the river recently, which the loug drought enabled several parties to work. A number of Chinamen have been working there for some time past, and those have been joined by quite an influx of their countrymen. The inhabitants of Port Chalmers have given a grand ball to Messrs Connor and Mackay, the dock contractors, who are leaving the Province, in return for an entertainment of a similar character given by those gentlemen:" There were upwards of 200 persons present. In an article on the settlement of Stewart's Island, the, Otago Dai®. Times expresses an opinion similar to .that which .we ventured to give some days ago. Says the Times :— To catch fish and cure them is exactly the occupation at which the Shetlander will find himself at home. His principal food in the bleak north is, and always has been, fish. It is no unusual thing in dull times to find in the hovels of the poorer classes in Shetland the inhabitants living entirely upon the proceeds of tho hook or net. , Truly theirs is a struggle for life, and anyone who has made himself acquainted with .the Shetlaudera mode of living in his barren home, can un-

derstand how delightful to him would be the change, were he transferred from the banks of his native voe to the shores of Stewart's Island. We express an unqualified opinion that the colonisation of that island with persons from the North of Scotland will prove an undoubted success. With regard to the introduction of Scandinavians we can say nothing until we ascertain where they are to be located. Tho protective tariff does not appear to have shut out Adelaide wheat from the New Zealand market, for we learn from Auckland that the Kalahome, from Adelaide, has brought 2220 quarters of wheat to millers' order. The Maggie is daily expected with 2800 bags, and the Ella Gladstone is also loading for that port. His Excellency the Governor, who was a passenger per the ps Luna from Wellington, landed at the Kaikoras, and proceeded to the homestead of the Hon W. Eobinsbn. Thence his Excellency was to travel overland to Cbristchurcb, after which he will go by the Luna to Dunedin, accompanied by the Hon Donald; M 'Lean, for the purpose of liberating the Maori prisoners. The operations of Acclimatisation Societies in different parts of the Colony seem to be highly successful. At Chriatchurch, the English birds lately liberated in the gardens arc thriving excellently, and in addition, from all parts of the province comes the information that the birds turned out are doing well, and increasing very satisfactorily. In Otago, last week, a fine covey of partridges, consisting of twelve birds, very strong on the wing, were flushed out of a paddock of standing corn, ou the farm of Mr James Scott, Green Island. From other parts we learn that pheasants, accompanied by large broods, as well as partridges, 'are frequently seen. la Wanganui, the local papers say that the pheasants are incraasing in a great ratio. A few days ago . forty -five young birds were counted on the road between Mr Walker's hotel and Kennedy's. With respect to the reefs in the Carrick Range, the Dunstan Times publishes the following :— News from 1 the Carrick is most cheering. Fresh reefs are being discovered in all directions, and in some^ the established claims the veins of stone are increasing in thickness and quality. Several crush-, ings have taken place with most satisfactory results. One lot of about one hundred and ten tons from the Royal Standard, yielded about forty ounces of retorted gold. A trial crushing from the Nil Desperandum yielded an average of one ounce and a quarter to the ton, and from the Scotch Bard, about an ounce and a half.

A writer in the Otago Tivies says :— ' ' The bucolic party are beginning to take their revenge. One of them, I see by the advertisement columns of the Daily Times, has christened a young bull belonging to him 'Julius VogeL' The next calf, I suppose, will be 'William Fox,' and so on. Of course there is nothing in a name, and a bull may as well be called ' Julius VogeP as any better name ; it doesn't hurt the animal, and it does honor to the statesman. Still, it is to be hoped that the bovine Julius will not pass into the hands of some one who hates his namesake, otherwise the mere association of ideas may lead to his being chastised with whips, in revenge for the scorpions with which Julius the Treasurer has chastised the people of New Zealand."

A fatal case of drowning occurred on the ISth ult, at Freeman's Bay, Auckland, at about 200 yards from the shore. A young man named M'Glone, in company with Ms brother in -law, John Driscoll, went down to the beach near the bluff at Freeman's Bay. M'Glone then stripped and swam off in the direction of a cutter, anchored, about 200 yards from the shore, Driscoll remaining r clo3e to the edge' of the water. This was about one o'clock p.m., and the tide was full. M'Glone had reached to within about sixty yards from the cutter, when he was seen by a youth named Gillander to throw up his arms and immediately sink bejiow the water. In a few. seconds M'Glone rose to the surface, when he gave one loud scream, and once more sank, not to rise again alive. ''■'■ The Cromwell Argus has some comments upon the fact of {a party of Chinese being driven from No Town "at the point of the sluice-fork." Says the Argus : — " Very creditable indeed to the unmanly perpetrators is this last outrage. Tlie love of fairplay and the many good qualities and .virtues which Britons generally get the credit of possessing, are not exemplified by this brutal attack on the persons of poor defenceles foreigners, who, as a rule, are a quiet, orderly, and peace-loving race of people, endeavoring to earn a living by dint of hard work and non-interference with their more highly-civilised mining confreres. We are not particularly fond of these olive-skinned strangers who have arrived in such numbers on our Gold Fields ; but we do protest against the principles of fair-play and humanity being violated, as they have been, in the various savage attacks which have been made upon the Chinese from time to time." The Invercargill papers, like those of Marlborough, are engaged in a wordy warfare, ala Billingsgate. The Times thus refers to its local contemporary, the News:— "Erratic as the contemporary journal is as a rule, of late it has quite succeeded in surpassing itself . What it is pleased to denominate 'extraordinary revelation,' is a 1 species of denunciation to which it has become so madly addicted that moral restraint and journalistic propriety have to a great extent been dispensed with. Critically examined, this strange hallucination has its origin in gross stupidity, cool audacity, united with what, for want of a, milder description, we are forced to call wilful imposition." Again the Times returns to the attack, in this fashion: — "The puerile attempt to raise a false issue, made in the last publication of the contemporary print, is unworthy of notice. Having, been im- : peached before the bar of public opinion for foul and malicious slander, and having allowed judgment to go by default, its aspersions will no doubt be estimated at their proper value." Lady Barker, in her recently published book, "Travelling About," tells the following story:— "l was once at a ball that boasted of the presence pi four or five Maori chieftains. They stood together at one end of the room, keen-eyed, and intelligent,. with a slight air of contemptuous indifference, but no surprise in their glances. Extremes meet, and your true .savage and your true dandy are never astonished ; I believe, at anything. Well, upon this occasion, the chieftains stood silent and watchful, faultlessly attired in full evening dress,. and looking the high-bred gentlemen they were, in spite of spiral patterns of bright blue tattoo all over their dusky faces. To them presently, approached, with some timidity, the prettiest young lady in the room, leaning on her father's arm. She inquired with charming embarrassment, whether To Henare, or Te anybody-else w.oultl like to dance, and professed her wil- . liimuess to be his partner. Immediately the ynuiigest sum I bluest chieftain stepped forward; and commenced pulling off his coat with alacrity, announcing his great desire to dance English dances, but entreating her to wait- a moment whilst he • took off his clothes !' I leave you to imagine the discomfiture of the young lady. _ I hope her partner intended, if he -had carried out his scheme, to substitute a mat, at all events, for the tight European garments ; but this point will never be cleared up, for the fair damsel hastily retracted her offer, tnd departed swiftly, covered with confusion."