Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1153, 9 April 1872, Page 2

It will be seen by. our telegrams that Captain Wales, of the Dunedin Rifles, has won the Championship of the Colony. This is the second time he has won that honorable distinction. . „ .-.-...■ : . . : ■:■■■; ■.• \ .<-..; i ' ■ A practice of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade took place last evening, Capt. Amos and' 23 members present. On the return to the engine-house the secretary read , a letter from the Garrick Club offering' their services for a benefit on behalf of the Brigade. It was unanimously decided to accept their kind offer. The Secretary was requested to solicit the services of the Greymouth Brass Band for the occasion. It' was also decided to have a torchlight procession the same night. The Secretary was requested to call the attention of the Borough Council to the dangerous approaches to the standpipes in front of Gilmer's Hotel. An inquest was held yesterday at Bulstrode'sOddfellows' Hotel, byW: H. RevelJ, Esq., District Coroner, on the body of Edward Mulvaney, who was drowned last week at the junction of the Grey and Arnold Rivers. Peter Carsen, boatman, said : I knew th'a deceased Edward Mulvenny, who was a boatmau working in Olsen's boat with me. He was a partner in the boat. Last Thursday, wo I ' were taking a cargo to the Ahaura, and got as far as the Arnold Fall, when the boat grounded on a boulder. Deceased was riding one of the' horses, and went to give us a pluck off. He went too far away and could not get the horses to go back. He tried hard, but could not get them back. All of a sudden the horses dropped into a deep hob, and when I sung oat to the man to let go the line. It was let go at once ; and deceased and the horses rose to- the surface. I saw them carried down the fall and into the Grey River. When they left us the horses were fast together. I saw the horse deceased was riding get his feet on the opposite bank, but he could not get up,- and horse and rider ;fell back into the river, and I did not see them any more. He had been working about two

years on the river, and was accustomed to drive the horses. I was in the boat yesterday when the body was found, as we were coming down the river at two o'clock, search♦ipg'for the body;i;i, ; We found it about half a mile from where' the accident happened, near the bank of the river. Deceased could not sw im. We carried the body down toM 'Kinty 's Hotel,. where it now lies. It was just. below, the Arnold where the accident happened.— Ernest Hansen, boatman, after corroborating all the previous evidence, said : When I saw he could not turn the horses, and wjvb being swept down the river, I jumped /in to Save" him. He would be about 100 yards distance at the time. Swimming down the river I managed to put my shirt and flannel off^but could not get off my trousers or boots. 'There is a spit running across the river at this point, and I think the white horse he was riding struck the spit and rolled over. I would not reach him before, he went down. I heard him only once cry out, "Andrew, save me." — Other corroborative evidence having been. taken, the jury returned a verdict that the deceased met his death accidentally. •.:■;!; Four of the principal hotel-keepers in JReefton were charged on Friday last, before the Resident Magistrate, with having lights in the bars of their licensed houses after the prescribed hours. They were ordered to pay cos Is, and were informed that, on the next offence, a heavy penalty would be imposed. At the Eesident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., H:M., and H. H. Lahman, Esq., J.P., Louisa-Hall, was charged with making use of obscene language in a "pdrjlic thoroughfare on Saturday night. She admitted the charge, and was fined Ll, or three days' imprisonmc it.— Henry Price was charged, on the information of Francis Lewis Smith, of Cobden, with stealing from his till 3s 6d, on the 7th April. On the application of Sergeant White, the prisoner was remanded until Thursday. A public meeting in behalf of the British and Foreign Bible Society will be held at the Volunteer Hall this evening at seven o'clock. Full and interesting details of the operations of the Society during the late Franco-German war, and throughout the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, will be given by the Australian representative of the parent Society. T,his Society has already printed and circulated the Scriptures in upwards of 250 languages, and supplies, without exception, all the missionary societies at home, and .abroad with the Word of God. .The Rev; B. Backhouse has already visited the other New Zealand towns and Provinces, and met with a most hearty welcome. The Rev Messrs Watkins, M'lntosh, and Taylor will take part in the proceedings. Owin iso thaneavy rain of Sunday night, the rivers and^creeks were much flooded, and the coaches between here and Hokitika did not start yesterday. We are consequently without our usual files by the overland mail. ■-■:■ '. Mr Manning, who recently; wrestled with so much success in the Canterbury Province, is now in . Greymoutb, ' for the purpose of making: some matches with West Coast men. We notice that gas mains are about to he laid on Mawhera Quay, from the Custom House corner to the Telegraph Office. 1 It would be a great improvement if, at the same time, some provision was made for ! exhibiting lights at these offices, especially in the present condition of the footpaths in that neighborhood. At Reefton, on Wednesday last, a man named John Brown was sentenced to fourteen days' hard labor for stealing a Crimean shiit, a pair of tweed trowsers, and a vest, from the premises of Messrs Pritchard and Co. He had gone into a room at the back of the store, for the avowed purpose of trying whether the clothes would fit, and chose a convenient opportunity to slip out at the back door. On the forenoon of Wednesday week another sad and fatal accident occurred at one of the Auckland sawmills. One of the workmen named fjohn Stancliff, while engaged in the mill of Mr Pollard, at Port Charles, was struck with great violence on the side of the head and right temple by a piece of timber thrown from the circular saw. He in a state of total insensibility until his death oh the following morning at three o'clock. The most praiseworthy and diligent efforts were made by both manager and men to procure surgical aid from Coromandel. A boat was 'at once despatched, which, afte^ doubling Cape Colville, reached Kapanga a little after midnight. Dr Payne at once responded to the call for his 1 services, and without delay proceeded upon his dreary voyage, but as we know now, could only reach the distant scene of tne disaster long after life had become 'extinct. The difficulties of a pull, even in a good whaleboat, to Port Charles are not confined to its length, which cannot be much under sixty miles, the strong and adverse tides peculiar to the locality considerably increase them. The election of a native council for the Middle Island, to consist of six members for the # middle district, took place at the Kaiapoi pa, or Tuahiwi, on Saturday week. The interest in the proceedings was exceedingly greac, judging from " the numbers present, to wit, from Dunedin and Rapaki, 52; Nelson, 16; West Coast, 16; Kaiapoi, 176 ; total, 260 ; all possessing some interest or title to the native lands of the district, expending from the Waitaki to Marlbo-ough and .Nelson in the southern Maori electoral district. On the Ist February the election at Dunedin of members for the native council of the district south of the Waitaki resulted in the return of Tara Wereta, Hoani; Robini, Hoani Scow, Kororake, Rawire Tawha, and Ihaia Whaitiri. It will be as well perhaps to explain the object of this native council by. publishing the following extract from^Hansard of last session, when it was moved by Hori Kerei Taiaroa,\and carried— -f' That, in the opinion of .this House,' it is desirable that a council of native, chiefs should be formed for the Middle Island, whose duty it will be to devise measures for .the better administration of affairs relating to their lands, which may or may not at present be held under Crown grant, and to their property generally. Such measures to be submitted to the General Assembly for final approval." An inquest was held at Whangapouaf Auckland, by Major Keddell, on Wednesday, on the body of the unfortunate' man David Mayman, who was killed on Monday last. One of the smaller belts connected with the steam machinery had got entangled round the shaft; One of the mill hands attempted to put it all right with the handle of a spade, . but the spade was wrenched from his hand by the motive force and broken in an instant. The deceased came and said that there was no occasion for the removal of the strap till the mill stopped, which stoppage was to take place in about five minutes. It appears that he must have returned alone, and attempted to replace the belt, for almost immediately violent blows were heard . throughout the mill, the effect of the body and limbs of the unfortunate man beating against the upper and lower floors of the Building. The machinery was at once stopped, and the body rescued from its fearful position, but- to no effect. When found his left arm had been torn off, and was lying about six feet away, his ribs were broken, both legs broken and twisted, and head and chest crushed.; Death ensued within twenty minutes after his being discovered. The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death. • • ■ • .-i . . . '