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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1147, 2 April 1872, Page 2

Mr Greenfield, the Provincialifiecretary of Nelson, visited the Ahaura on Saturday, on his way from Reef ton-. Mr Greenfield gave instructions that a foot track should be commenced at once along the line Of the proposed dray-road from Ahauri to Nelson Creek. : We have to acknowledge receipt from Messrs Tait Brothers, photographers, of Greymouth and Hokitika, of a. card contain? ing portraits of several hundreds, of wellknown residents in Hokitika and Greymouth. Every person on the West Coast who wishes ; to possess one of the best souvenirs of the early times ought to obtain a copy of this wonderful collection of portraits; Mr Broadbent's Art Union will positively be drawn for to-night at Gihner's Hotel, commencing at eight o'clock. ; ' : A subscription is being made'at the several shipping ports of the Colony for tne widows of the captain and crew of t the schooner Rifleman, which was lost somß months ago with all hands, A subscription list has been brought to Greymouth by Captain Ruxton, of the Lady Don, and no doubt some addition to the subscriptions will' fre* 1 made here, the late Captain Toomey arid his crew having been well known on the Coast. An appeal case of some interest to residents in the Grey Valley, was heard before His Honor Judge Richmond at the recent sittings of the Supreme Court at Hokitika. The magistrate at Ahaura gave judgment against Mr Henry Groom for not returning a norse lent him by Mr 8. Mackley. Groom's defence was that he had used reasonable care, but the magistrate decided that the horse should have been returned at all hazards. Groom appealed, and- his Honor heard the arguments of counsel on either side inbunco, on 22nd March, and gave judgment on Tuesday, 26th nit., allowing the appeal with costs, and ordering a rehearing of the case in the Resident'^^Magistrate's , Court at Ahaura. Mr . Staite argued the case for the appellant, add Mr Guinness appeared for the respondent. Richard Crossing and wife, lately from Sydney, threw themselves off the Wanganui Bridge on Saturday night. The bodies have not yet been recovered. : A writer in the Australasian describes New Zealand as a "volcanic heap of upraised cinders." The firing for the Colonial prizes will com- , mence at Christchurch to-day. ' A man named James Graf ton has been killed at Oamaru through the upsetting of a dray. Proceedings have been instituted against a publican at the Thames for, having two bars on his premises. *. ./V The miners at Drybread, Otago, are once more at work after a spell of nearly three months, caused by want of water. A sample of quartz" from a reef at the Fourteen-mile Beach, on the Molyneux, has yielded gold at the rate of soz lCdwt per ton. . A four-year-old short-horn heifer, weighing nftarlv +.wn -tons. --Im*o~ ia*«lir honn -/»■«•__ iniiitedrm, Auckland; It was reared at WanganuL The following peculiar announcement of a birth appears in a l»te copy of the BuningyongTelegraph :— " On the 7th instant, Mrs William Waters of a son. Mother doing well; father happy. Child's weight, 161 b 2£oz." Strachan Brothers, farmers, Kaiapoi Island, . lost nearly the whole of their grain by fire on the 23rd ult. WMle the. men engaged working at Messrs Pashby and Edwards' threshing machine were in Messrs Strachan's house having dinner, the stacks— nine in number— caught fire, and were totally destroyed. The threshing machine combine and engine were also burned. The loss is not covered by insurance. • In an article on the release of the Maori prisoners, the Wellington Independent says : —"We are informed that the condncb of the prisoners during their term of imprisonment receives the highest praise from Mr Oaldwell, the Governor of the'Gabl, whilst the tact with which that officer has discharged his functions with regard to his unusual prisoners is evidenced oy the fact that several of them expressed ; a desire to remain." / ■ The Wellington Evening Post says : — "Many of pur readers are aware that the Nebraska did not take with her on Monday any mail for Honolulu ; but the cause of this is not quite so well known. . The Honolulu Government promised a to the service, and in consideration 1 of it mails were carried; but the payment of the subsidy was not made, and . there appears ■ little chance of obtaining iti Under these circumstances the mail has been stopped, and the New, Zealand Government will have to pay so much more for this costly line than Mr Yogel and his colleagues have led the Colony to expect." v ■'. ■■■■■'■ Mir Frank Towers, agent for Murray's World Circus, had a narrow escape last Mdnday, when crossing the Taipo river on horseback. "It seems/ says the Lyttelton Times, ,"that Mr Towers, not having travelled the road for some four years, took the old ford, which is now the, deepest. • part oi the, river. ■He" plunged in at 'once, and was Immediately washed from his horse, and carried down the river some 200 yards at a terrific rate. The horse soon gained the shore, but had not Mr Towers been an expert swimmer he might ere this have added another to the -list of unfortunates- who have lost their lives in this river." The Nelson Examiner has been shown some stone from reefs .discovered at' Jackson's Head, by Greenlaw and others, on property belonging to Mr Turner, a runholder, in that part of Marlborough Province. The stone exhibits gold plainly in several parts, and gold is even seen in a casual piece of quartz picked up by one party, and used to his-fish-ing line as a sinker,- on which afterwards the gold waa discerned. Mr H. E.: Curtis, who visited the reefs, and in whose possession the stone is, reports that he ■is.-.favorably im--pressed with the probable payable character of the reef, but is of opinion that further efforts should be made to open the principal reef. • "" An accident occurred last Friday to the coach from Hokitika to Ross, which at one time threatened to be' attended with. loss of human life, but which fortunately jiad no worse result than the loss of one of the horses. The following account of the occurrence is from the Ross Guardian :~ u When the coach reached the Totara river, the driver endeavored to cross as near the mouth ajs possible, as it was nearly banked up the day before. Some ugly breakers were coming in, and he waited until the water was quiet, and then ssnt the horses in at a gallop. The coach had not gone very far before the two leaders sunk in some quicksand, .and the coach began rapidly to fill with water. The

Sssengers, of whom there were 7 — MissDean, s ': iss Curran, three men and two boys, named James. Sharkey and Toni George— scrambled; out of the coach on to the roof. One of the passengers swam .ashore, and the two little boys fpllowedj and very thoughtfully ran up and fetched the boat, by which all the passengers remaining on the roof were rescued. A rope was put round the driver's body, and he cut the collar straps and let the horses go. Three of them reached the bank, but the other one was drowned,. Great praise is given to James Sharkey and Thomas George for their courageous conduct, as had they not. brought the boat to the rescue of those remaining on the coach, their hopes of reaching the shore would have been very remote indeed. The driver lost his coat, in the pocket of which was a pocket-book containing L 25. At a late hour in the afternoon the coach was dragged to the shorer~nbt much damaged, but very wet." A sad accident, occurred at the Rangitata River, Canterbury, on Tuesday last. It appears that Mr Garrow, of Timaru, took charge of the horses while Mr Crammond was delivering the mails taken down by the Timaru coach ; from the Selwyn. Through some cause or other, which has not been explained in the telegrams, the horses bolted, and Mr Garrow, who was seated on the box, was unable to get them under control. After going some distance the coach capsized, Mr Garrow falling underneath. When taken up, it was found that'he was insensible, and he never recovered consciousness, dying at midnight. ' ; The damage done to the crops in Canterbury, this year> by the shaking t caused by violent winds, was estimated by a Mr Gamroack, in a paper lately 'read by. him before the Lincoln Fanners' Club, at 20 per cent,, or LIOO,OOO. The damage caused by the scarcity of feed for stock, owing to the drought and grass fires, he -estimates at a similar sum. The Lyttelton Times, however, considers that these figures are a good deal beyond the mark, and that two-thirds of Mr Ganunack's estimates would be nearer the truth. The planting of trees is the course urged by Mr Gammack to prevent the recurrence of such severe losses frqm these causes. ? The Assembly is expected to meet eariy in June, and, says the Wellington correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, the rumor gains ground that the New Constitution Act .which Mr Yogel proposed last session will .actually be forthcoming, and, stranger still, that the Government will be prepared to take a stand on it,, and go to the.country if neces- ■ sary. Mr Yogel is the " author .. of the new Act, but how or when he found time to draft j it is a mystery. .Still more is it mysterious how Ministers can have had any opportunity of consulting together regarding 1 itj for ever since Parliament was prorogued, they have been scattered broadcast over the Colony. It is said that the draft of the new Bill is really in existence, but I am very much inclined to doubt the fact, and to suspect that the rumor of a dissolution, which is being industriously, although quietly, spread by' the Government hangers-on, is meant to operate as a kind of. warning to. members whose seats are not very secure to be careful about committing themselves. T do not think the members of the Ministry would at all like a dissolution, however they may be dissatisfied with the present House, or find the eagerness of members to give their votes for billets embarrassing. ■- •,-■■,..--.?•..-■.-!.■.. ;,-.. The erection _of the .. organ in the Town Hall of Melbourne, which has been proceeded with during the past two months and a half as rapidly as the- circumstances' will admit, has reached a stage from which a very good idea may be obtained of the appearance the instrument .will present when completed. The front is now up, the_keyj-boarda,,are_ nxea, ana the worn lor the orchestra, will be let this week ; but as regards the interior of the vast machine there is still a great deal to do, and the organ will not be ready to play on before June. The decorations of the front have yet to :. be , carried out. When these are finished the organ will have a very handsome appearance from the body of the hall. There is nothing remarkable in the design beyond the speciality: of great size.The effect would, no doubt, have been better had the height been . rather less, for ;the image of an angel at the. top is crushed against the ceiling, and produces the uncomfortable impression of not having room to expand its wings, while the organ spires have none of 'the advantage which a little unconfined space would give, the height of the instrument from the orchestra is 47ft. ■• It is 52ft wide and.2sft deep. The large pipes in front are 38ft long, with a diameter of 22in, and weigh 15cwt each. Some idea of the laborious nature of the work of putting the organ together may, be .formed from the fact that it contains 4373 pipes, .-; each of which has to be fixed singly in its proper place; Even the woodwork of the front was landed inSOO or 600 separate pieces. The whole affair is, in fact, like a gigantic puzzle, of which Mr M'Kenzie, the gentleman who has charge of the instrument, and who saw it built in England, alone has the key. He has only two ; or three assistants engaged, and it will be. easily seen that. in a case of this kind a multiplication of hands could not expedite matters. ' • With regard to the Premier's late trip to the West Coast, the Otago Daily Times says: — " That useless member of the Government, Mr Fox, appears . to have, been having what the Americans call a .'good time?. on the West Coast. He has had plenty of his favorite element, having been detained by floods on more than one occasion. He has also received several addresses, and talked a good deal 'of bunkum, and therefore, his surroundings and occupations being so congenial, he ought to have beon happy. His last . mode of amusing himself has been to visit the glaciers and to take- sketches of them, while his vanity has been flattered by one of the glaciers being named after. „ himself. Of course if ho has-been doing all this at his own expense, no one can complain, but there is a horrible fear in the minds of some that "he has been drawing his travelling allowance while so engaged. Persons in, whose bosoms such a thought' can find even a temporary abode are no doubt 'double-dyed scoundrels ;' still the Wellington Independent or the Lyttelton Times may think it worth while to dispel the idea by an expUcit contradiction of it. Otherwise Mr Collins, or some other troublesome member, will be pretty sure to inquire into the matter when the Assembly meetsy and may even go so far as to move for a return of the total amount spent by Ministers in |he .shape of ..travelling expenses or allowances during,the.recess."