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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1132, 14 March 1872, Page 2

The very handsome sum of L3OO was subscribed in Melbourne for the relief of the sufferers by the late flood here. The amount was brought over yesterday in the Claud Hamilton by Mr J. S. M.Thompson. We are requested to state that the mem? bers of the Greymouth Branch of the Hibernian Society will meet at. their rooms at 9 o'clock on Monday morning, in full regalia, for the purpose of marching in procession to 10 o'clock Mass, at St. Patrick's Church. In the evening a grand ball and banquet will be given under the auspices of the Society in GiLner's Hall. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday niorninsr, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M., Annie Brown and Ann Campbell were charged with making use of obscene language within hearing of passers-by in Mackay street. The Magistrate, from want of evidence, dismissed the charge against Ann Campbell, and inflicted a fine of LlO against Ann Brown, with the alternative of three months' imprisonment. The defendant said she was unable to pay the fine. Protection has been granted to William Courtney for a line of tramway between Recfton and Black's Point. The Inangahua Herald has authority to state that it is in contemplation to appoint an Inspector of Leases for the Nelson SouthWest Gold Fields, whose duty it will be to see that tbe conditions upon " which the various leases are granted are strictly complied with. We are requested to state that as next Monday, 18th inst, is the Festival of St. Patrick (transferred from the 17th), Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Church, Gveymouth, at 10 a.m. We have always said, and particularly of late, that Victoria in the mistress of the colonies, and a pattern for the colonies, in enterprise, progress, social and legislative, including commercial reform. Lately, as we are informed on good authority, a company has been organised in Melbourne who have determined on seeking a field for their operations and enterprise in New Zealand. They purpose to purchase or to lease from the Maoris of the North Island an extensive tract or tracts of land for the cultivation of flax, and on which to erect mills and machinery for the manufacture of that material. In Auckland they intend fixing their headquarters, and also offices at which they will bo able to buy whatever flax others may bring to them. On Thursday evening, the 29 th altimo, au accident from an explosion of a shot occurred in the adit which is being driven for the Golden Calf and Central Italy Companies from the Moanataiari Creek, Thames, whereby two workmen, named William (-uthrio andjWilEam Giblet, sustained severe iujuries. It appears that the men were working in the tunnel, and had just charged a hole for tamping in the shot with a tamping bar, mounted in the usual manner with copper, when the shot exploded most mysteriously as the rod was being used. Guthrie was severely burnt and cut about the hands and Giblet had the third finger of his right hand broken. Hcjwas also much bruised in the abdomen, where he had apparently received a blow from a piece of stone. The uniform of the Auckland Scottish Volunteers has been sent for from Melbourne, and is expected to arrive in about two months. The jackets are to be red, and the kilts the same as those worn by the 42nd Highlanders. The men are to wear the Glengarry cap, and the officers the Highland bonnet, with plume and feather. A most curious stone, says the Tuapeka Timed, having all the appearance of a horse's head, was lately found by a miner named Curry in his claim on M'Cunn's Beach, Otago. 1 The sockets of the eyes and the nostrils, whioh are filled with quartz pebbles, give it all the appearance of a fossil head. This curious freak of nature may be seen at Mr Cunn's, on the Teviot road. The local paper states that a moa's skull, in an excellent state of preservation, was recently discovered embedded in the banks of the Molyneux, Otago, 12ft deep in the sand, in front of Mr Beighton's store, Roxburgh. Mr Manuel, of Coal Creek, has presented it to the Tuapeka Athenjeum. It will form a very fitting nucleus for the Museum which has been projected by the committe. Lir Wrigg, late General Governmeut District Engineer, was a candidate for the representation of Waikato, vice Captain Macpherson. Ib is understood that Mr Wrige had a dispute with Government, and declines to give up some documents or plans connected with survoys. Now he is opposed to the present Ministry, and seeks to air hia grievances in the General Assembly. In this month's Church of England Messenger (Melbourne) are several good things. The following from the "5.G.0." of the Times, is by no means the worst of the good things: — " There are those who think — and lam not sure that I am not one of the number—that extravagance in dress is doing even more harm than intemperance. The drunkards don't come to church drunk ; the dreasards do come there, and the intoxication of attire is never more obstrusive than on God's day, in God's house." It has of tea been said that good looks are only skin deep, but American sailors sometimes think differently. When the Nevada, was in at Napier roadstead, one of the seamen on board was caught by the chief officer " looking ugly" at him. Without more ado, the officer said to the sailor, " I guess if you can't look pleasant, you had better go ashore —there's the boat —walk .'" There is something in good looks after all. The following notice of a machine in the International Exhibition in London, which may be of interest to the miners and battery owners in this district, we copy from the Mechanics 1 Magazine : — " One of the useful inventions hitherto unnoticed by us i 3 Husband's pneumatic ore-stamping machine, a model of which is exhibited by the manufacturers, Messrs Harvey and Co., of Tayle, Cornwall and Gresham House, Old Broad-strecfc, London. Those of our readers who are acquainted with practical mining will readily admit that the old system of stamping ore is a tedious, slow, and expensive process. Although tin dressing machinery has been much improved, the crushing or pulverising process is precisely the same a3 it was 200 years ago. The motion of the old stamphead being produced by cams, the greatest speed that can bo attained is from 50 to (JO blows per minute. The pneumatic stamps give an average of 80 blows per minute each, with a productive power of 10 tons of work per day of 12 hours, as against one ton by the old stamps. This is effected by working the stamp-heads upon the^mou-

uiatic principle, motion being imparted through a craiik-s>haft, fitted with a pulley, and actuated by a portable engine. The apptiratus is very .portable, and can be taken to pieces for transport^ and, as every part is very light, it can bo carried over mountainous districts by mules or drawn by oxen. Whenever practicable, wrought iron is substituted for cast iron in this apparatus, thereby decreasing the cost of transport by reducing the weight, and greatly diminishing the risk of breakage. ' There are a number of these machines 'doing satisfactory work in Cornwall, and several are in course of construction for gold mines in Australia and other parts." Mr Harris, a highly-respected and wellknown Poverty Bay settler of very long standing, lately died through an overdose of morphia. At first it was supposed that Mr Harris committed suicide, but it seems more likely that he unwittingly killed himself with a powerful opiate. Many will remember the hospitnlities of his beautiful home at Tapatahi, in the Poverty Bay district. Living near populous tribes of Maoris for thirty years or more, he kept a daily record of events, and it is said that this diary was most interesting. Unfortunately it was destroyed with his house, &cr, by Te Kooti and his myrmidons in November, 1868, when Mr Harris aud his family so narrowly escaped. He was the only European known who had seen an'l examined a moa plume. We find, in the report of the proceedi p g3 of Congress, that a bill has been referred to a select committee appointed to devise means "for re-arrangipg and cutting down the clerical and laboring force of the House." The bill goes to the root of the patronage exercised by Congressmen. It "proposes to make it a misdemeano" for Congressmen, or anyone else, to knowingly recommend an unfit person for public officp, or to do so simply for political reasons':' v The pffence is to be punishable with fine or imprisonment, or both." A measure of this kind would have a salutary effect in New Zealand. We believe that there is no community of the same limited numbers, with so many incompetent persons who manage, in some mysterious manner as hangers-on of Government, to make a living at the public expense. New Zealand would appear to be the promised land of loafers.