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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1157, 13 April 1872, Page 2

Space does not permit us to reply to the misrepresentations of bur contemporary as to the letter and spirit of our remarks on the social question in connection with which this small discussion has arisen. Writing at request, it is easy to understand how he should misinterpret or misapprehend. He is quite correct, however, and the odium of the comparison between high and low publications attaches to himself, when he says that " studying the philosophy of the matter in high class publications, we naturally look down upon local efforts with equal but not such good-natured contempt as we evidently feel, for' the — — — — — —^» . •. There was no coach communication yesterday between Hokitika and Greymouth, in consequence of the flooded state of the rivers. On the previous night, the Grey ' coach only got as far as the New River, and the Hokitika passengers had to walk thither from the Teremakan. {?' J A diamatic performance was given last night in the Volunteer Ball by the members of the Amateur Garrick Club, in aid of &he funds of the Greymouth Volunteer! Fire Brigade. Although during the afternoon and evening rain fell heavily, the hall wasi well filled; but there is no doubt that had tha weather been favorable, it would have been

crammed to.overflowing. About eight o'clock the members of the Fire Brigade assembled at ; the Engine-house, and, headed by the Town Band,^marched in torchlight anay to the hali.' ' The entertainment was commenced by Mr Hindmarsh reading a prologue which had been written for the occasion. The curtain then rose- to the play of the I "Cricket on the Hearth," adapted from one o: Charles Diokens's works. For a young dramatic club, the piece was very well acted, placed upon the stage, and the mechanical business was well managed as a rule; but it' would be better if the,prompter's voice was not so often heard by the audience. We have no intention of closely criticising the several parts, as that would be taking an unfair advantage of a body of amateurs who are simply combining to assist a most useful body in raising "the needful," still we must say that but for the acting of Mrs Kyle as Mary Peerybingle, Mr Elmer as Caleb, Mr Poole as Tilly Slowtyoy, and Mrs Seymour as Bertha, the piece would have gone flat indeed. At the same time we are glad to see so much dramatic talent amongst us, and that there is a possibility of our long winter evenings being enlivened through the efforts of those who have in this manner not only chosen to relieve the general monotony, but to do it in such a practical manner as to materially assist a public and most useful institution. Between the scenes and during the interlude the Town Band played several pieces very nicely. The afterpiece was the comedietta of " The Loan of a Lover," which was remarkably well played for an amateur company, and run through with, a smoothness which was very creditable to all the ladies and gentlemen engaged >in it, and which was a great contrast to the manner of the previous piece. The whole affair was a great success and would have produced something substantial to the funds of the Fire Brigade had it not been for the inclement state of the weather. The Court sat yesterday, when one criminal case was disposed of— John Gostridge being sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment for stealing money from Robert Hill in a tent near the tramway in Tainu street. The civil case Drury v. Cooney, Kennedy, and others, a claim for damages or a one-eigth share in a quartz reef at Murray Creek, was commenced, but the plaintiff's evidence was not half finished when the Court rose. We consequently withhold our report until the case is finished. The Court sits again this morning at 10 o'clock. Mr T. Collins having resigned as a member of the Paroa Road Board, the nomination of candidates for the vacant seat will take place on Saturday, the 20th instant, at noon. If required, a poll will take place on the 27th instant, and the polling places will be de» clared on the day, of nomination. What is known as the Star Comique Company and American Minstrels will commence a series of entertainments at the Volunteer Hall this evening. They have been highly spoken of where they have made similar ap. pearances in other parts of the Colony. Mr Backhouse, the Australian agent for the British and Foreign Bible Society, who lately delivered a series of addresses in Greymouth, was a passenger to Melbourne to-day by the steamer Albion. : We find we were premature in announcing a date for the election of a member of the Nelson Provincial Council in the room of Mr J. Wilkie, resigned. It appears that the Government have now woke up to the fact that there is no roll in existence, as we pointed out a few days ago, upon which the election can properly take place, and the election wi 1 ! have to be postponed until a new roll is: made up and printed. It is a nice little mess." and will probably result in tne Grey rDistrici; oemg partially aisiranchised during the approaching session of the Provincial Council. An abstruse calculation was yesterday propounded in the District Court which completely baffled Bench, bar, and police. A witness said he removed the prisoner a few perches from the tent where the robbery took place. The Judge looked serious and asked the Crown Prosecutor what a perch was. That worthy did riot like to be positive on the point, and turned to the Inspector of Police, who looked as if the inquiry should have been made to the Clerk of the Court. The said Clerk however keit his silence and his countenance remarkably well, so that his Honor had to take it for granted that a perch meant a few yards.. We are always learning. Special arrangements have been made by the Post Office Department for the early transmission of the West Coast portion of the . inward and outward San Francisco maiL The Californian mails for Greyn^oufch are to be forwarded from Christchurch , by express, and will reach Hokitika on Sunday afternoon. The return mail will leave Hokitika on Monday at noon, so as to catch the steamer Wellington on Wednesday morning. A portion of the Greymbuth mail will also be forwarded by this opportunity. After a steady down-pour of rain during Thursday night there was a considerable fresh in the river yesterday-— the largest since the great flood, and from the quantity of timber Brought down, the stream had overflowed its banks and the low-lying land in the interior. So great was the current towards the afternoon, that both the Charles Edward and the Dispatch had some difficulty in stemming it. The Diapatch. especially, having entered the river late on the tide, after tendering the Albion, required all her steam and all the skill, of her captain to enable her to reach her mooring-place. No damage of any serious moment was done to the protection works. . The well-known horse. Ronald is. to be put up to raffle with, all his engagements on the day preceding the ' Nelson race meeting. The tickets, of which there are to be 100, will be., a guinea each. : - r 1 "' A party of passengers by the Taranaki, returning from Richmond to Nelson in a trap on Sunday evening, £>ot upset at the foot of College Hill, and a Mrs Milne sustained a Bevere compound fracture of the right leg. ' The'nrat bell cast in Nelson has been most successfully turned out at Mr Moutray's foundry. It weighs about a hundredweight, and has a clear ringing tone that is soon to awaken the echoes at Collingwood, for the church in which district it is intended. Stone exceeding in richness any previously obtained, is said to have been struck by Zala and party at the Lyell, last week. ■ Thomson's road engine, lately imported into the Province of Auckland, has been seize 1 for debt, and taken to the Mount Eden stockade. : • . . ■ ' * The correspondent of the Melbourne Argu& in Western Australia says there is not a single bookseller's or news agent's Bhop in the whole of that Colony. " ' i The latest in word manufacturing comes from a Southland paper, which calls upon the Provincial Council to keep a certain road viable. ■■.••-!■ Tenders are called for sinking, a shaft for the Charleston Deep Sinking Company. Some races in which Chinamen were the competitors, took place at Cardrona recently. The local correspondent of the Arrow Observer writes regarding them as follows :— "Next came a Chinamen's Foot Race— first prize, L 2 ; second prize, 10s. As. the Chinamen had subscribed liberally to the race, funds, this event was specially for, ; them. Four 'heathen Chinee,';with.unpronounceable names entered for the... race ,;fi arid of' course when the two .winnera, weutufor their money, they were accompanied by some

hundred or so of their Celestial relatives, and the way the two grinned all over their faces was a 'caution.'. ...".:•• The next event; was a Chinamen's Hack Race for L 3, andjthe, way. that Aii Bong cut away from his two compatriots; was laughable." It is 'stated that smoking is very much on the decline in England. At the Universities not one man in five now smokes, whereas a few years ago at least four in five did. Three of the horses which were engaged at 1 " Jhe recent race meetings at Greymouth and Hokitika— -Misfortune, Black'Eaglerand La-, cenfeed-,are on •board the jsteamer Charles Edward, on their way to Nelson. ! A new evening paper, on'the co-operative' principle, has been started at Wellington under tho title oi.Tlie Telegraph. ; . , ■ ; Mr Tribe, of Ross, on behalf of Messrs John Brogden and Sons, has made' application to the Warden, for a water license for 40 heads from the Mikonui to be brought to Sailors' Gully, Ross, a distance of 21 miles, estimated to cost L 40 ,000 ., ; , ! It appears from the last files of the Moniteur that gold mining in .flew Caledonia is still being proceeded with, both reefing and alluvial, and that the yield and general indications are sufficient to keep the miners in fce&rt to go on with tne work and coutinue the large outlay necessary, . : A letter has been received in Nelson from Mr W. Walters, then in Dunedin, stating that after visiting Timaru he should bring on his horses to Nelson, and hoped to arrive there on the ltith; There is good reason for believing that several of the horses engaged in the races at Greymouth aud Hokitik* — including Black Eagle, Flying Jib, Laoenfeed, Sailor, and others— will find their way to Nelson. The collection of edible fungus, as is well known, has been practised in' the North Island for some time past, having been originated by a Chinese merchant in Wellington. We now learn that: the gathering of the fungus has become a branch of industry in Otago also, Messrs Kum Goon Lee and Co. having shipped by the barque : Seagull, for Hong Kong, 131 bales of that commodity, valued at LBOO. The same firm send to Hong Kong by the same vessel 131 packegesof old iron and other metal, valued at Ll6O. Mr Thomas Hodge has met with a severe accident while drawing a blast-charge from a granite boulder, on the Kanieri-road. The fuse had gone out, and it was necessary to draw the gun-cotton with which the hole was charged. This was nearly effected, when the remainder exploded and severely scattered his right hand. Had the explosion occurred before any of the charge had been got out, it is almost certain that a fatal result would have followed. Another accident is reported by the Soss News to have happened to Mr W. W. Morgan, while working in the bush, near the beach* a few days since. His axe-head came loose, and while at full swing it fell off and dropped on his head, inflicting ; a severe wound. , Te Kooti is thus commented on by a com tributor to the Canterbury Press;— "ln a comparatively recent telegram I hear of our dear old friend Te Kooti again. I learn that he is surrounded by Ropata and two other parties. I also learn that the country is densely wooded, from which I draw the inference that Te Kooti will as usual get clear and furnish pabulum for many more articles, telegrams, &cj- You ; may talk about encouraging colonial industry, but to those parties concerned, our Maori friend is worth a dozen industries. He employs, I should say, some hundred men at fair wages, who are always playing hide and seek with him, but never catch him, and are really very taulla'tX II- utci I<lioy — dv. •' tia-rt;"~w<^"i»oU-jJl-heard the story of the 'Goose with the golden eggs?' Oh, why is there no Te Kooti in these parts? how gladly would I take part in the capture of such a villain, and how I should take my time about it."