THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1229, 6 July 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1872.

The news brought by the Suez mail and by Anglo-Indian telegraph was received at the Bluff yesterday by the steamship Albion, and, if we are correctly informed, so was the portion of the" mail for this Colony. The first statement by interprovincial telegraph was that the Albion could not possibly take the mail packages for New Zealand in consequence of the quantity of cargo which shippers had pressed upon her enterprising owners, and it was for a time a subject of congratulation that the carrying trade between Melbourne and New Zealand was so active and extensive that eve » the mails could not be carried — a fact equally in. favor of any private firm owning jthe intercolonial steamers and of any limited liability company to whom they might be disposed to transfer their steamers and their business. But subsequent advices state that the mails ipere transferred to the Albion, notwithstanding this pleasing plethora of cargo, and we hope that such will prove to have been the case. Of the news already to hand, the most satisfactory items are those which point to the probability of a satisfactory settlement of the Alabama question— a settlement which, if accom-

plished, will apparently be due to the wise, though slow, receding of the American administration from the first stand which they took, and the firm, though not aggravating., attitude of the Engmh Ministry. Next to the prospect of an early settlement of these claims, the most interesting political incident is, perhaps, the passing of the Ballot Bill in the British House of Commons by a substantial, though not a veiy i large, majority.- Regarding Continental matters there have been telegrams received Btating that the Carlist rising in Spain had been well nigh stamped out, Don Carlos having been defeated in an engagement with the Government forces ; that Bismarck was m ill-hoalth •; that the German ambassador was refused a reception by the Pope ; that Straaburg had so far recovered itself from the effects of the war in which it so largely shared that its university had been re-opened with great ceremony ; that the surrender of Metz was again to be the subject of inquiry, by the trial of General Bazaine by a court martial ; and that eruptions of Vesuvius continued, inflicting immense damage to property and loss of l?Ce. Among Court gossip there is mention made of the Empress of Germany and the King of the Belgians being on a visit to England, and of the return of the Prince and Princess of Wales, in anticipation of an interesting event affecting the Princess, expected to occur about this present time. As concerning the Colonies, and concerning them more intimately at this present time, when our mail arrangements are drifting into disarrangement, there is a statement that a new mail steamer company had been proposed, with a capital of a million, with the hope of obtaining subsidies from the Colonies, and with the intention of running their steamers via the Cape of Good Hope. The death of Horace Mawhew had been followed by that of another equally well known litterateur, Charles Lever. Dr Livingston is reported safe, though experienced African travellers are still dubious. Commercially the report is that money is in active demand, with discount at five per cent. Otherwise our commercial intelligence is not very ample, though the advices received are aa late as the 7th of June. >

To the community of Charleston is due, at least, the credit of being the first to discuss on the public platform the suggestions which have been made by the member for the Grey Valley in the direction of a practical change in the representative and administrative institutions of the West Coast. On Saturday last about 250 residents of that place assembled to consider various and incongruous subjects affecting themselves and the inhabitants of the Coast generally, and, as at most meetings held in Charleston, and on a Saturday evening, there was about the same incongruity in the conduct of those assembled as there was in the subjects selected. If they are a warm-hearted people at Charleston, they are also a warm headed. They often, with admirable unanimity, agree to differ, and there seemed to be at this meeting a drifting in that direction towards its. conclusion. The point of difference, however, appears to have been as to how they could best secure Government aid to what may well be their one great local object — a supply of water proportionate to the resources and the wauts of the <liot*ie.t. Upon the safer subject of Nelson misrule— or, tw Mr Gillespie put it, the question of foreign versus local rule — there was no such diversity of opinion, and, hospitable and friendly towards the representatives of the Nelson Government- as the Charleston people have ever been, their quiet condemnation of the present system of government has a significance which the utterance of communities in a state of exceptional excitement or irjritation would not possess. So faros the meeting went, there was also almost perfect unanimity as to the propriety of Mr Harrison's proposals, only two hands out of the 250 having been shown as against the following resolution, which was therefore declared carried :—" That this meeting considers the long misrule which has characterised the action of the Provincial Council of Nelson towards the Southwest Coast Gold Fields, as materially retarding their development and prosperity, in view of which this meeting heartily concurs with Mr W. H. Harrison, M.H.R.jin his memorandum on the Reefton petition, and pledges itself to support his views a3 embodied in the programme submitted by him to the Under Secretary for the Gold Fields."