THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1231, 9 July 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

Two additional lines of telegraph wire between the Hokitika and Greymouth stations are now stretched, and will be attached to the instruments here to-day. This will give greatly increased facilities for the transmission of nows.and ordinary messages. We notice that at Reefton, a public meet* ing was appointed to be held for the purpose of "protesting against Eugene Joseph O'Conor representing the district at the next General Assembly." The meeting was held at eight o'clock, when the following resolution was moved and seconded :— "That this 'meeting most strongly and indignantly protests against being represented by Eugene Joseph O'Conor at the next meeting of the General Assembly, having, in consequence of his lato proceedings in the Provincial Council at Nelson, lost the cntiro confidence of the electors of this district " An amendment was moved to the effect that the meeting should withhold any censure upon Mr O'Conor's conduct until an opportunity offers of hearing personally Mr O'Conor's defence. The Chairman called for a show of hands, whicb, after some confusion, was dc- . clared in favor of the amendment, by a majority of two. The tender of Miller and Co. for the erection of a Court House at Reefton, has been accepted. The result of the tenders for the Telegraph and Post Office has not yet transpired. From Caple's claim, Boatman's, news has reached Reefton that a small gold-bearing leader was struck in the tunnel last week" The party do not, however, contemplate petting the main reef for sometime yet. In No. I south, Caple'B, two men have now set in steadily to work, and have not provisions for the winter. They expect to be three months, before they touch the reef. This claim, says the Herald, being situated between Caple's and Clark's, has every prospect of ultimately becoming valuable pro* perty. A magnificent sample of stone has been brought to Reefton from the Just-in-Time, Boatman's, by Mr James Holmes. A line of telegraph between Grabamstown and Coromandel is all but completed. The Murray Creek correspondent of the Reefton journal supplies the following particulars regarding some of the principal claims in that locality :— The Wealth o! Nations are now in a good position to finish the wheel right away, the centres for which have arrived. The wood work springs into place rapidly, so it may be predicted that before long things will be in such a forward state that crushing operations will be com* menced. The low level tramway is completed to the paddock, and the machine tram will follow suit in another week or so. No futther driving has been 'entered upon for the last week, as the tunnel is full of broken down quartz. The Energetic Company are now tunnelling to the eastward to meet their shaft. The driving still continues hard, but the shots in most instances doing all that is expected from them, a fair quantity of stone is displaced. Westland Company (Rhody Ryan's), started their machinery without the stampers on Saturday last, in order to give the down country shareholders an idea of how she worked. The batteries in the absence of quartz were silent, but every thing worked most satisfactorily. On Thursday the tramway from the paddock was finished, and tho machine commenced, crushing permanently on Friday morning. This will be continued, 'should no hitch arise, until all the quartz blocked out is put through, tally of which will be taken as it comes to the machine. Up to the present time everything works moat smoothly, and although there are one heavy and two light batteries going at the same time, with the assistance of cog wheels between the two, there is but little difference to be noticed, the whole stamping quite regularly. It is supposed that sixty tons of quartz can be pu f , through in a week. The Thames Advertiser says that the bed of coal which it is proposed to work by means of an English company, on the land purchased from Gillies by Messrs Preece and Graham, at Wharekawa, on the opposite side of the Frith of Thames, bids fair to become very valuable. Mr Graham and Mr Lowe (engineer), are at present on the ground, the latter being about to survey and lay tbe leve?s for a tramway to the beach, from which the coal bed is only distant some 10 miles. About three weeks ago a party of four men were started to work to sink a shaft. They proceeded to a depth of 20ft, cutting through a splendid seam of coal 10ft thick. They also drove a distance of 30ft alone the seam, and the coal tiken out appears to be of excellent quality. They have now about thirty tons of lump coal, besides a quantity of slack, but .owing to the wretched state of the track, they bave been unable to get it down to the beach, in order to ship it to the Thames. At the Warden's Court, Greenstone, on Thursday last. Mr Warden Price heard a case in which a miner named Callagban was complainant, and another named Cullen was tho defendant. The ground of the complainant's action was that he had a lien under the Gold Fields Act as a wages man, from one Charles Wilson, over one full share in a claim known as Wilson's Extended Claim, Duke of Edinburgh Terrace, Greenstone, for the sum of L2B 6s 3d, and that he agreed with the defendant to allow the said share 'to be transferred to tbe defendant in the Warden's Court, Greenstone, if the defendant paid to him the amount so due, which he agreed to do, and the share was thereupon transferred. There was also a claim for LlO special damages, which was, however, abandoned. The parties had been before the Court at its last sitting, when the present plaintiff was nonsuited. Mr Drary, from the office of Mr Guinness, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Cozdne, from the office of Mr -Button, appeared for the defendant. i It appeared that the plaintiff foimerly worked I for a man named Wilson who had given a

lien to the defendant over the share. It was proved tnat the plaintiff had obtained judgment against the man Wilson, and that, when Cullen took the lien, he accepted it subject to the judgment, but before the lien expired he told Callagban to take it for his debt, whicb he accordingly did, and went to work the share, but subsequently left the same, being short of "tucker" as be alleged, and intending to return. C alien having notice of this from some of the shareholders proceeded to the Greenstone, then took possession of the share, offered it publicly through an auctioneer, but being unable to effect a sale I disposed of it privately for L3B. Mr Drury i contended that Cullen having first given 1 over tbe sbare to Callagban in satisfaction of the debt he had accepted, the lien became extinguished, and he could not nowjhold it, r.s he had failed to take it up as an abandoned I share. He also asked the Court to deal with the case equitably, as it would certainlj be an unusual course to allow the defendant to shirk payment of the debt, to abandon the claim and the lien, and then to take advantage thereof, and to make L 39 by the transaction. Mr Cozens replied, relying upon tho non-compliance with the 4th Statute of Frauds, and the abandonment by the plaintiff. His Worship said he did not intend to deal with the case in a legal aspect, as miners generally knew little about the Statute of Frauds, and writing materials were not always at hand. He thought the plaimiff had a right to look to Cullen, as it had been proved that Cullen at tbe sale undertook to see Callaghan paid. Ther« was no doubt that if Cullen had taken up the share as abandoned he would have been in a different position, but having virtually cancelled tho lien without paying the debt he did not think he could blow hot and cold. The plaintiff would not recover the full amount as he bad not acted rightly in abandoning, though partially, the share. Judgement would be for the plaintiff for LlB 10s and costs. A traveller front the southward informs the. Westport Times that at Brington things are looking much brisker than of late. The miners are all at work, and have plenty of water, and hence money is in more ready circulation. The Totara river has been very high for some days past, so much so that, at dead low water, neither coach nor saddle horses W6re able to be crossed in safety. The tide, although at neap, has made higher ! than has been known for years. The Halfmile beach at the mouth of the Nile is now obstructed by a large shingle bank which has formed there, compelling the holders of beach claims to knock off work. Mining operations on the beaches are now extending gradually to the northward, and between the Totara and Nichols' the flumingof waterraces has been brought on to the beach claims, and a constant supply of water is now flowing. The Anderson's Creek Quartz Mining Co. are reported by the Inangalma Herald to have put in their tunnel a distance of 630 ft, and to have still 72ft of driving to meet tbe drive put in from the shaft, a distance of 60ft towards the southern boundary of the com* | pany's ground. The above-named distance of 72ft is expected to be driven in seven weeks. The shoot, paddock, and tramway | are now under construction, and we are confidently expected to be completed and crush* ing commenced within three months from the present date. The head-race has been out of hand for tbe last thiee weeks, and Mr Cornfoot is at present. engaged cutting timber, the company's water-wheel driving the sawing gear. Already a large portion of the machinery is landed on the ground, and the balance is expected in a few days with a continuance of the present weather, so that the whole of the crushing plant will be erected within a very short space of time. An enterprising Auckland resident some time* back discovered, near to the city, an earth which, under a simple and inexpensive treatment, is for polishing purposes quite equal to the finest tripoli of commerce. Dpon making the discovery, this person sent over to for twelve gross of empty boxes in which to pack the polishing powder for sale. In due course they came to band, and then on the wharf the Customs authorities assessed them at L 2 13s Gel duty, which by the way is nearly the invoice value of the boxes. But before tbe duty could be levied, the greatest ingenuity had to be exercised in deciding what head these empty boxes should come under. They were not eatables and drinkables. They were not wearing material, raw or manufactured. The list of the whole eleven hundred dutiable articles was carefully perused from beginning to end, and no conclusion could be arrived at, when— lucky thought—a Custom House official, after long and intense meditation, struck his forehead and exclaimed, "I've got it !— chemists' sundries !" and, under this head, the boxes were made dutiable ; but the revenue is in no way enlarged by the amount imposed, as at this figure the importer refuses to clear them. '