Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1208, 12 June 1872, Page 2

At last Mace and Company, at the luan-ga-hua, have washed up, and we are glad to say that the yield has answered the most sanguine expectations. Though hot at present able to give the exact figures, we may state that a " plum" cake of some llOOoz or 1200oz is the result, and when it is remembered that a great deal of the mineral put through is really only casing, the returns are in the highest degree satisfactory. They will show an average of about 2^oz to the ton, a better average, we venture to say, than the preliminary trial of a large quantity of stone ever gave from any claim in New Zealand. To-night, at the Volunteer Hall, Miss Clara, Stephenson, Mr Burford, and company will again appear. Mr E. A. Drur/, who created such a favorable impression in the •'Lady of Lyons" as Claude Melnotte, will appear again in "Time Tries All," and there is every reason to think, will attract a large number of playgoers to see his rendering of the character of Matthew Bates. Though the coach could not get through yesterday, Messrs Ashtou and Cassidy,' with commendable energy, managed to get the mails through on horseback, and the thanks of the community are due to the contractors tor the exertions they have made. The reputation of Mr O'Conor, member of the House of Representatives, and member of the .Pro rinciaf Council of Nelson for the Buller district, has suffered grievously within the last week or two . We need not recapitulate the facts in detail, for, as will be seen by telegrams to hand, they are as disgraceful as can well be. Mr O'Conor has been proved guilty of using knowledge he improperly obtained from a committee-room to forwarding his own private interests, and the Council have very properly, but not half severely enough, marked their sense of — what shall we say— well, the "irregularity." The end is not yet; when we are fully informed on it we shall have more to say on the conduct of the Buller legislator. The District Com I; will sit this morning, his Honor Judge Harvey having succeeded in getting through from Hokitika, notwithstanding the fearful weather. There ore -co-rorarl bankruptcy matters to l»e adjudicated on, and the civil ooeoo oouoiot of Lonorgan v. Levy, an action. to recover LIBO, wages alleged to be due j- and Card v. Hamilton, Russell and Carter, trading under the style of Hamilton and Co, for damages sustained through trespass of defendants' cattle, which are stated at LSO. There are no criur'nal cases to be heard. Li the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday there was no police business. In Fennell v. Gil -nour, a fraud summons, defendant was ordered to pay L 2 10s per month on a judgment of L 5 17 ; Giesking v. Williams — to recover L 2 193 9d— order for 10a per week to be paid ; Badger v, Kennedy— to recover LI 10s, balance of acconnt— the defence was that the work (had not been completed according to contract ; verdict for amount. Rowley v. Magoffin — an action to recover L 5 for jewellery sold. Mr Guinness, for the plaintiff, applied that this summons shonld be amended. It had been taken nut in Mrs Rowley's name, and he now asked tbat her husband's name should, be substituted in the summons. Mr Perkins,. for the defendant, objected, stating that his client had a set-off of more than L 6 if the case was tried on its merits. Besides this the husband was not cognisant of the action, and would not appear to prosecute it. The Bench agreed with Mr Perkins, and plaintiff was nonsuited. — Robinson v. Barnhtll. This was an action to recover 10s, cost of fare between Grej aioufch and Paroa. From the statement of plaintiff and his partner it seemed that they were engaged to play at a ball held at defendant's house on the- Queen's Birthday, and were to receive L 4 for their services, with tram fare provided for. They had since had to pay 10s for fares, and hence the present claim. The defendant denied that the tramway fare was to be paid by him* and alleged that the L 4 was to cover all costs. A verdict was given for the amount claimed, The Magistrates presiding were his Worship the Mayor and J. Greenwood, Esq, J.P. The weather has been very severe in tue country districts for the last few days. It rained the greater part of Sunday, and frbai about 11 o'clock on Sunday night till noon on Monday, it rained continuously. At Nelson Creek, Moonlight, Napoleon, and other high-lying localities, there were heavy falls of snow during Monday and Monday night. It was bitterly cold, and in consequence of this and the snowfall the rivers did not rise to any great' height, but heavy freshets may be expected on "the return of warm weather. An accident— fortunately unattended with serious results— occurred in tho Bowen Extended claim, at Ross, on Thursday evening last, J. Broder, one of the shareholders, and another man, whose name we did not learn, having" been buried under a fall of earth, After some hours' work they were extricated, one of them seriously bruised: The Ross News, while discussing the propositions of Mr Harrison for the formation of the whole West Coast Gold Fields into a Province, says :- . "It has long been apparent that Ihe trade of Hokitika is declining — it i 3 well known that hundreds of the West* laud miners have, within, the last two years, left for other parts -r-it is thoroughly understood that the expensive form of government we are burthened with .precludes the possibility of the country being opened up while under its control — yet, in spite of these convincing j proofs of the decadence of Westland, it is only when the wolf taps at the Council door that the Times arouses from its lethargy to seek a compromise on behalf of its cherished idol. It has suffered the rankest abuses to pass unchallenged, and has given the country districts little cause to be thankful for its advocacy of their rights ; yet we are pleased to find that— although it is only at the eleventh hour that it his become an advocate for a cheap form of government - the " leading" journal is not opposed to a change in the constitutiou of the County

Government. We iaVy a«ree with our contemporary in many of its remarks, but we cannot but endorse Mr Harrison's opinion that "all the gold fields' offices and courts should be under the General Government," as we have had quite sufficient evidence that the County Government is not a proper body to have the control of these affairs. We do not imagine for a moment that the Ministry wi'l entertain Mr Harrison's " recomraenrla : tiuns" without giving them proper consideration ; but we are of opinion that the Ministry wi'l exert themselves to effect what is £.0 much required— a radical change in the government nf the County. It is not probable that any decisive action will be taken in the matter before the Assembly, when Messrs White and Tribe will have an opportunity of proving to their constituents that their only object in taking their seats is the advocacy of the interests of the County of Westland, and we may yet find that Mr Harrison's • ''recommendations" will be so modified ss to prove a blessing to the County of Westland." The weather of the past few days hag been simply abominable, and on Monday evening we were visited with thunder and lighting of a more than Usually dangerous character. Repeated hailstorms interspersed the other lively play of the elements, so much so that heaps of the crystallised masses lay around in every direction, giving people the idea of snowdrifts at home. The rising generation, though scarcely one of them ever saw a snowball, were not slow to enter into snowballing, and some of their elders became boys again, and pelted each other with zest with the hardened hailstone lumps that did duty for snow on the occasion. We were glad to see a genial instance in the master of a school within the precincts of the town, entering into a snowball competitition with his scholars, and we can, certainly say, that by his unbending on the occasion he neither lost influence nor respect. The esteem in which he was held was shown by the vigorous manner in which he was pelted by his pupils, for though strict in 'school he has recognised the virtue of the new; style of teaching, in whic'i muscular Christianity largely enters, and is not ashamed to show, as Horace of old has taught us at times, "duke est desipere in loco." The wretched weather prevailed up to a late hour last night, but we hope a favorable change may take place before this meets our readers eyes. . The Fire Protection Committee at Ross waited on MrCassius, on Thursday evening last, for the purpose of entering into some arrangement with, him in reference to the water-pipe that gentleman has some idea of erecting for working his engine. The pipe which Mr Cassius thinks of making a fixture between the Jones' Creek Water-race Co.'s race and the Cassius claim will, if the ar; rangement is carried out, be eight inches in diameter. The offer of the .Committee to contribute L 250 towards its erection is under the consideration of Mr Cassius. The additions to the Christchurch museum are rapidly approaching completion. The work of erection is completed, and in about a month the building wi'l be finished. One of the prisoners ia the hard-labor gang at Hokitika, known as "German Charley,' 1 was on Saturday engaged in carting gravel on the new road which is being constructed as an approach to the Lunatic Asylum whicl is now in course of erection Hear the gaol, when the dray capsized ; but fortunately the only damage done was to the shafts, which were broken in two. The driver jumped ofl the dray in time to save himself from injury, and the horse was also uninjured. Shortly before six o'clock last Saturday morning the fire-bell at the Brigade Tower, Hokitika, raug out an alarm which yerj quickly brought out a considerable Jiumbei of the inhabitants, and those who were most prompt in turning out conceived that a large fire was raging on Gibsou's Quay, as flames could be seen ascending to a considerable height. There was, however, no fire, in the technical sense oi the term, but merely a great blaze occasioned by burning out the engine smoke-stack at Findlay and Haworfch's saw-mills A meeting of the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was to be held last e\ening at Hokitika, at which the installation of the Principals was to take place. The Westland Chapter has only been established twelve months, at which seventy members have been exalted, a fact almost unprecedented in the annals of Royal Arch Masonry. The newly installed Principals will be Coinpanbus Gordon, . Rice, and Bey an. After the ceremony there was to be a banquet at the Cafe de Paris. The West Coast Times says that a deputation from the Committee of the Hohitika Academy waited upon the County Chairman in respect to the non-payment of the vote for Education passed by the County Council last session. Mr Lahman replied that there were no funds in hand, in consequence,of the General Government having impounded the revenue of the County. The drainage engine at Ross has been running pretty hard lately, and on Saturday evening, about six o'clock, the rods of the lower column broke These were repaired as quickly as possible, the upper lifts being kept going all the time, and the engine was started again at twelve o'clock the same niojht. This was an unfortunate accident, as it will delay the Morning Star Company another day or day and a half. The Christians of Auckland certainly do love each other. Proof of this is contained in the following letter to the Southern Gross : —"To the Editor- Sir,— I notice in the Gross of Monday that the Dissenters are about to pray for the Roman Catholics. Let me suggest to my fellow-worshippers thai we have a week of prayer on behalf of Dissenters. One good turn certainly deserves another.— Yours, &c, Catholic." , The Wellington Independent is informed that the Government, atter carefully considering the reports and recommendations of Mr Haughton, and the Engineer-in-Chief; have decided to construct works for the supply of water to the Thames gold field. The plan adopted : is the one known as the •'low level," and instructions have been giyen for clearing the line for the race, and arranging for the purchase of native and private lands, through which in a few places the race must pass. We presume that the interest upon the outlay will be made a charge upon the Provincial revenues, although there is very little doubt that the work will be a directly remunerative one. We must | Confess our astonishment that with so many wealthy mining companies upon the Thames gold field the supply of water has not been taken up by pulJic enterprise, and we oannothelp expressing the opinion that the Government in undertaking this work is making a concession to the Thames gold field which is hardly in accordance with the principle upon which the Legislature agreed to provide money for the assistance of works of this kind upon gold fields. The want of police protection in the city of Dunedin occasioned by the strike amongst the members of the force has been supplied by the forwarding of -about fifteen members of the Armed Constabulary from tho Mount Cook Barracks, who left in the Raugitoto. This is the second of the principal cities in the colony that has determined upon a trial of the system, and possibly an arrangement may be effected between the Superintendent of Otago and the General Government to continue the services of the Armed Constabulary permanently for the performance of the police duty of the province as was done

by the Auckland provincial authorities; We may add tbat the trial mi the northern province' has, proved\ highly satisfactory, and there seems no reason why it should not in the other case. A colonial police force would be more efficient and more economical than^ the divided establishments at present existing can possibly be, and we should not be at all surprised to hear of requests being made by other provinces similar to that just made by Otago. The Thames Star of the 19th ult. has the following :— " A man tendered a public apology to another at one of the street j corners in Grahamstow a on Saturday night.. Wo think when our. readers learn the circumstances under which the apology was tendered, they will agree with us, that it was required. The circumstances were these :— One man was drinking beer in an hotel. To him arrived another man. The other man" observed to the one man that he was a scoundrel, knocked the glass out of his hand, the beer about the place, and himself down. Having done this in a manner which elicited sundry complimentary remarks; from the bystanders, the other man pulled the one man into the street by the collar and got him on his feet. He then picked out a very dirty spot, and was about to knock him down into that, when he suddenly exclaimed—' I beg your pardon 1 really I mistook you for some one else. I cannot say how sorry lam to have given you so much trouble.' And so he vanished into the night. The one man was heard to mutter that the trouble was none of hia seeking." The latest news from the rush near Woodstock is to the effect that the prospectors have so far tested their ground that they have proved the existence of a run of payable washdirt, about 50ft in width. The prospects throughout are about the same as those obtained in the presence of the Warden when he. visited the ground. The owners of the claim have for several days past been engaged in laying down a. line of rails, and making a truck, to enable them to work their ground to better advantage. They expect to commence sluicing operations in about ten days. Several other parties have set in to work, but we are not in a position to state the result of their labors. A krge ; majority of those who are on the ground are said to be engaged in the lively occupation of "shepherding.". ' ■"■ \- Mr G. F . C. Browne, having failed to pass his motion., in the Otago Provincial Council, for the placing of LIOO on the Supplementary Estimates to enable the Gold Fields Secretary to visit the gold fields, wished to move the following amendment, but the Speaker ruled that he could not do so:.— "That, in the opinion of this Council, it is highly desirable the members of this House who represent country districts, and who are in a great measure unacquainted with the very largo and varied requirements of the gold fields, should, in company wlfch the Gold Fields Secretary, make a tour through the gold fields during the recess ; and this Council undertakes to vote the sum requisite to give effect to this resolution.- : A special reporter should also accompany the tourists." , The following mining items appear in the Tuapeha Times : — " At Horseshoe Bend, Featherstone and party are now using trucks in the working of their claim. -Moffet, Matheson, and Stewart's new race, which crosses the Island Block, conveys a sufficient supply of water for all the requirements of the party; They are constructing a larcje dam for saving water. There is an unlimited quantity of ground which will pay well for sluicing.— Eady, Kerr, and.Company have struck some excellent ground on the Molyneux beach, opposite the Robert Burns Hotel, Moa Flat. We saw a splendid sample of scaly gold, weighing about an ennce and a half, the result of three hours' cradling. Their race —the Timor- is completed and in excellent trim, and affords a giod supply of water. They are making active preparations for taking out a paddock. — At Tinkers, recently, Norman. Held, and party, for a few weeks' mining, obtained the splendid result of 170oz. Michael Solomon also had.a washing-up with more than usually satisfactory results.". We learn, on authority that the Imperial German Cousulataat Nelson, has received official notice to the effect that' Clause 2 of the Treaty of Peace between France and Germany, which provides, that such persons who have been born as French subjects in the lately-ceded provinces of Alsace and Lorraiue and reside out of Europe may, by declaration, substantiated by proof of their nativity^ before any French Embassy, or Consulate, retain their nationality as Frenchmen, without prejudice to their title, of any property held by them, and situate in the above-named provinces, has been so amended in the Supplementary Treaty of Peace, of the llth December, 1872, that the time within which such declaration may be.made, is a full year, viz, to the Ist of October, 1873. The French Government undertakes to render quarterly lists of all such declarations duly entered to the German authorities through the official diplomatic channel.