Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1151, 6 April 1872, Page 2

< Applications for licenses or renewals must be lodged at the office of the .Resident 1 Magistrate, on or before the 7th inst., but as that happens to be a Sunday, the tips is nominally extended to Monday, the Bth inst. , when they will be received and considered, although, in case of any hitcli in this arrangement, it would be much better for all applicants to have their papers in before Saturday. I It is announced that to-?norrow the Wesleyan and Presbyterian congregations will unite as one in order to receive the Rev M r Backhouse, who is now travelling for th a

British and Foreign Bible Society. He will preside in the at ' the Wesleyan Church, and iflsthe evening aY the Presbyterian Church, but in tlie morning there w -11 be no service in the Presbyterian Church. The juiy list for the district was revised at the Recident Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, by Mr Eevell,. E.M., and E. Wickes and G King, Esq., J.P. The list was read over, for various reasons a few names were strr&ktiut, but there was not, a single individual present who was interested in the proceedings. There were no cases before the Resident ! Magistrate yesterday. We learn that among the members of the ill-fated New Guinea Expedition there was an old resident in Greymouth, namely, Mr Thomssen, who for years was messenger at the Bank of New South Wales, and afterwards servant at the Church of England Manse. A letter was received here from him, dated the day before the vessel left i Sydney, ann.oun.cmg that he was one of the i expedition, and as his name does not appear | in the list of survivors, the probabilities are ! that he has either been drowned or murdered by the natives. Mr Thomssen was a steady, sober, and very industrious man, and his untimely end will be much regretted by a large number of friends. He was a native of Hamburg or its neighborhood. We believe that the successful tenderer for the Greymouth and Omotumotti road is Mr Cornelius Driscoll, and the contract price is L 3350. We learn that Mr Garven, contractor for the Omotumotu and Arnold road, has obtained protection on favorable terms, for throwing a bridge over the Arnold River, at the Junction. During the recent few weeks drought the Inangahua River became so diminished in volume, that the cargo boats, had the drought continued, must have ceased to ply. As it was the boatmen were compelled to discharge three-fourths of their cargo at the junction of the Buller and Tnangahua Rivers, before - proceeding to the LandiDg, and even then the boats received such injury in being dragged over the shallows, as to necessitate being laid up and resheathed after each trip. The injury sustained by the boats and the difficulty in accomplishing the trip from the Junction to the Landing have contributed to the general scarcity of provisions and other necessaries. , Three hundred and fifty-three and a quarter ounces of gold were obtained, in two days recently from the Prussians' claim at Stockyard Creek, Gipps Land. At Geelong an Oddfellow has been expelled from the Order for an intrigue with the wife of another member. The first artesian well in the Province oi Marlborough has been sunk at a depth oi 150 ft on Mr Redwood's property, at Riverlands. . ....,..;". The Otago Daily Times pud Witness Company, it is stated, have purchased,; at a cost ol Ll6OO, the corner site near Rattray street jetty,, next Messrs Dalgety, Nichols and Co, upon which a large empty shed, once occupied as a soda water factory, now stands. They purpose erecting a printing-office upon the site at a cost of L2OOO, including several shops for rental, the printing office to be on the upper storey of the building. It is understood that in a few days the excellent coal known to exist in Murraj Creek will be utilised for the driving of the various quartz batteries. With regard to the quality of the coal a correspondent oi the Herald says :— I visited the seam from which the coal will be brought. It is perfectly clean, free from slate and diit, and tide 'at all liable to iorm clinker, and leaving as residue a clean white ash. As the seam is penetrated it improves in quality, showing a firmer body, and although not equal to the seam opened at a lower level than that which the Westland Company will derive their supply, is nevertheless a very valuable coal. The JVeio Zealand Gazette, of March 23, contains the agricultural statistics of the County of Westland. The number of holdings was 184 ; land broken up but not under crop, 215 acres; in wheat, nil; in oats, 7 acres, estimated to yield 245 bushels ; in barley, 1 acre, estimated to yield 20 bushels ; in hay, 119 acres, estimated to yield 224 tons ; in permanent artificial grass, 1330 acres ; in potatoes, 21S acres, estimated to yield 947 tons ; in other crops, 95 acres ; total numbei" of acres under crop, 1938. Austin and Edwards, pedestrians, some time since in Wellington, and lately in Wanganui, were to exhibit themselves in their respective feats at Napier on Easter Monday. While at Wanganui Edwards was matched to walk thirty-five yards against a horse galloping fifty. The horse having obtained the best start, Edwards was beaten by a ctfuple of feet. We understand that Mr Charles O'Neill, M.H.R., has left Auckland on a visit to Australia. He intends visiting the Victorian gold fields, and personally iuforming himself of the systems of tvdministration and public works adopted there. Open air services were held on Good Friday iv Honeyman's Gully, Sydney street, Wellington, by the congregation of the Primitive Methodist Church. Some little preparation had been made for the meeting, a number of paths and small clearings having been made by Mr Robertson to assist the attenders in overcoming the inequalities in the ground. The Rev Mr Dean conducted the service, and the listeners were also addressed by Messrs Ward and Carson. The attendance was a very numerous one, a great many persons being attracted by the novelty of the proceedings. Our New River correspondent writes as follows regarding f the Hibernian Waterrace : — Nearly two years since a party of six men, seeing the urgent necessity of water being brought on to the No Name terraces, commenced what is now known as the Hibernian Water-race. To bring a sufficient supply of water on terraces of such a height necessitated their commencing the race a considerable distance up the Cock-eye Creek, and as this drains an immense scope of country they began by making it large enough to carry fourteen heada of water. The catting for this purpose has been mad© in the reef. They have completed it for upwards of three miles, and expect to command ground that will pay for working in the course of a month or two. The object, however, in undertaking a work of such a magnitude was to command the Donegal Terrace, No Name, and Shellback Terraces, and also to woik the flat at Petersburg, which is known to contain gold on three different levels. It is well known that when the race commands the country just named it will find remunerative employment for a large number of men for many years, which cannot fail in giving a permanent stability to that portion of the district. Besides the great height of the race will allow of its being extended on to Cameron's, and here again is another paying field. The importance of this race cannot well be over-estimated when completed, and the only drawback is that it is not in working order at the present time. The undertaking, however, is a heavy one for a small party who deserve every credit for the indefatigable manner in which they have so far proceeded with their work on their own capital. To cut a race about seven miles in length, and two and a-half feet broad, and that through reef by only six i men must take an immense time. The very

act of undertaking it shows the faith! the nen have in being ultimately repaid, f 0 their 1 ; abor. Now, • however, ' itj is «nd efstodd, to it'lise thjeir^labor^in something like a reasonible timeT^l^ompany intend to apply for ihe Government aid so as to push on the •ace and get it completed. It is calculated ;hat when the Hibernian Race is 'finished t will have coat something like L6OOO, ivh'ch fu^y entitles it to the Government lid, and with that a few months will see it in svo-king otder. " That a new era o**prospenty is ,ye'o in store for this •.. district is very certain, for with a large supply of water on the terraces abovenamed there may ba i^so said to be a boundless country that m ill pay for working on a large scale ri the courseof time. The following is the language in. which an Otago paper "opens" upon one. of its local contemporaries : — " It is painful to the feelings of most people to be called upon to witness the spasmodic twitchings, the violent musculai action, the death throes and kicks of an expiring creature. They are nob pleasant to look upon ; rid, as all will soon be over, we will, on this occasion, avoid exposing or increasing the agony of our contemporary. We will rather seek to draw a veil over the malignancy so strongly published, while we endeavor to point out errors which passion and hate has incited him to fall into." The following are a few of the latest items of mining news from the Thames : —The night shift in the Bismarck claim brought: up 1051 b more rich specimens, making the total now in hand 6301 b. General stuff looking well. Leader from 1 to 2 feet wide.— The Siege of Paris is getting payable gold 100 feet lower than the Bismarck, about 20 feet from the latter claim's boundary. Reef from 2 to 3 feet wide, very solid.— Van and Margaretta started a large tunnel on Monday last. Country hard, but getting better. The reef is expected to be in hand in about 5S feet. Oriana is getting prospects from a large leader, supposed to be the Pride of Tokatea reef. — A later paper says : — The crushing for the Bismarck was nearly finished to-day. Up to three o'clock, 1217 ounces of gold had peen lodged;|in the bank from 6001 b of specimens, and about half a ton of general stuff, and they expect to get another small lot of about 30 ounces to-morrow. The Otago Daily Times relates the following fatal accident which occurred in the Port Chalmers railway tunnel, by which a laborer named John Long met his death from an unexpected explosion from a blast. Deceased was taken to the morgue, and an inquest was held in the afternoon in Dench's Hotel, before Dr O'Donoghue, Coroner. Evidence was adduced to the effect that deceased and his mate had perforated holes, and charged them properly with powder, with fuse inserted. The deceased's mate struck a match, lit his f use, and.retired . Deceased had also struck a match to light his own fuse,; but, imagining that he would nofchave time to get clear of the other blast ifi time, dropped his match and joined tfie others at a distance. One blast— that fired by deceased's mate — went off about a minute afterwards, five or six minutes having elapsed siuce the fuse was fired. Deceased; having intimated to the overseer that he did not fire his fuss, both proceeded in company to do so. Long waa in front, about two paces before the overseer, when his blast exploded, dislodging a stone, which struck his head, completely shattering it. Death must have been instantaneous. The overseer was uninjured. A verdict was returned of "Accidental Death," no blame being attached to anyone. The deceased was 40 years of age, single, and steady. He was a native of Bristol, England, and is believed to have a sister and brother in Tuapeka.