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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1235, 13 July 1872, Page 2

The majority of the members of the com* ,mittee appointed at the meeting of Monday evening last, for the purpose of furthering the object of procuring a change in the government of the West Coast Gold Fields, assembled at Gilmer's Hotel last evening. A few were absent, with the admissible excuse that they were too ill to attend to anything but matters which were more personal than political— principally the presence of severe " colds" which affected- their heads, throats, and temper. Those who assembled appointed a sub-committee to" draft a memorial, to be presented at a future meeting of the principal committee, and at an early meeting of the public. The half-yearly prizes are to be distributed at the Trinity Church Sunday School tomorrow, by the Rev G. T. Watkins, about 3 o'clock. The following is a grand total of the attendance at the school during the March and June quarters :— March : boys, 740; girls, 736. June quarter V boys, 686; girls, 623. Grand total of attendance, 2785. The annual meeting of the parishioners of Trinity Church was held at Gilmer's Hall on Wednesday, for the purpose of electing churchwardens and vestrymen for the year, and passing the accounts Tbe accounts were passed, but with regard to the election an ecclesiastical question, arose, and the meeting was ultimately adjourned until Monday night at the same hour. A few days ago the whole of the powder stored in. the Dangerous Goods Shed was removed to the Transit Shed, where it now remains until the 'new magazine is built. With regard to this matter there has been great carelessness displayed by the County authorities. Some clays ago it was announced by advertisement that plans and specifications for the erection of the magazine would be seen at the Resident Magistrate's office, Greymouth, and tenders received, up to the. 16th, but. up to yesterduy forenoon the plans had not been received, thereby causing much inconvenience to contractors, who had been making daily visits to the Court to obtain information; yesterday notice was received to extend the time for receiving tenders up to the 22nd inst. Meantime the whole of the powder remains in the Transit Shed until the magazine is erected. A magisterial inquiry is being made into matters affecting the control of the Westport Gaol. Mr Sharp, who is appointed Commissionei to Westport for other purposes, is conducting the inquiry. A petition, numerously and respectably signed, is about to be presented to the proper ■authorities' to grant a dance license to Mr B. Bylund, Greymouth. Mr White, M.H.R. for the Hokitika district, is a passenger to Wellington by the Tararua. Previous to his departure for Wellington, Mr White was presented with a handsome and deserved testimonial from his constituents. The presentation was made at a public meeting at the Kanieri. Mr H. L. Robinson, M.C.C., occupied the chair, and in his introductory remarks expressed, the vory great pleasure he found in presiding on the occasion. He was sure that the constituency generally was in accord with him in the esteem he felt for the sterling qualifies manifested by their representative, and he thought the testimonial about to be presented to him was a fitting way of marking their seme of approval of his conduct as a 1 üblio man Mr Griffiths then, as Treasure ■

of the Testimonial Committee, in a neat and complimentary speech, handed to Mr White a cheque for one hundred guineas, which, as ho said, exhibited in a utilitarian form the confidence reposed in him by his constituents. Mr White, in reply, expressed his sense .of the honor conferred upon him. In this money-grubbing age, and in his pecuniary circumstances, it would be idle to affect an indifference to the monetary value of the gift so generously bestowed upon him ; at the same time, he was only stating what was a fact, when he said that it was more as a testimony of their confidence in him that he esteemed their presentation than for its pounds, shillings, and pence value. He had no hesitation or delicacy in accepting the gift offered to him ; on the contrary, he was. proud to think that his constituents had so much confidence in him as to dive into their breeches pockets in proof of its genuineness. Mr White then proceeded to deal with the question of payment to members, arguing that unless the representation of the people was to be left in the hands of the wealthy classes, it was absolutely -necessary that members should be paid. For himself, he was not of the class called wealthy, but that was, perhips, because he had given his time to public matters instead of devoting it to; that pursuit which now seemed to be all the rage, namely, money-getting. Mr White thanked his testimonialists for their liberal gift, and sat down amidst loud and continued applause.— Mr Tribe, member for the Totara district, and Mr T. L. Shepherd, one of the members for the mining districts in Otago, were also passengers by the Tararua on her present passage to Wellington.

A meetiug was appointed to be held last evening at Westport, " to consider and discuss the necessity of appealing to. the General Government for the separation of the South. West Gold Fields from the Nelson Province,' and also to discuss, other public matters, affecting the welfare, of the town and district." ' The nomination of a member of the Provincial Council, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr A. S. Collins/ is to take place on Monday, the- 15th insfc. The only candidate at present in the field is Mr Robert Burn. ■ This season the hills around Nelson .were thrown open for pheasant shooting, and a large number of sportsmen tried their luck near home Instead of visiting Motueka. Birds are plentiful, but can only be got by considerable labor, and good dogs can scarcely be had. ' An unoccupied house of nine rooms, belonging, to Messrs R. and E. Maclean, of Penrose, near the Great South road, Auckland, was wilfully set on fire about nine o'clock on the 25th ult. The whole building was burned to the ground in two hours. The building was uninsured. A reward of LSO will be paid by the owners upon conviction of the offender. The premises of the Wellington Brewery Company took fire on the evening of Saturday, 22nd June, but, thanks to the vigorous efforts of the Fire Brigade, it was prevented from spreading, and quickly extinguished. Two memorials to the General Government — tiie one from the ladies and the other from gentlemen resident in Dunedin— are now in course of signature, their purport being to "recommend Mrs Caroline Howard as a competent person to assist in the selection of female emigrants in England." ' We learn from the Lyttelton Times that the ceremony of installing the officers of the Perseverance Division of the Sons of Temperance was performed at Christchurch on the Bth instant, by the Vice-deputy Most Worthy Patriarch for North Canterbury and Westland, Mr Joseph Exall. Another cargo-boat has been launched at Westpovt, from the building shed of Messrs Ryder aii'l Garrio. The boat is about six tons burthen, and is a favorable specimen in strength and trim-built appearance. The Nelson Gazette announces that the Superintendent has refused, to grant the gold-mining lease, ' applied for t>y John Deegau and others (Standard Company), of the block of land hereinafter described, viz : — A block of land, containing eight acres one rood and one perch, more or less/ described as No. 1 south, Thompson's line of reef, Boatman's Creek, Inangahua district. ■ The Wangahui Herald says ; — " We understand that a gentleman of well-known busi- ' ness capacity, is. about originating a private company for the supply of gas to the town of Wanganui.. His estimate of cost, based upon reliable data, is much less than the amount submitted to the Council.". In consequence of the great rise in the price of iron standards, some landowners in the eastern provinces are using blue-gum standards instead. The latter are said to answer very well indeed, and to cost only about half as much as iron ones. A small whale of the species known as the humpback, was last week captured by Brad» shaws party close to Otaejo Heads. It was. then towed to the Kaik for trying out the' oil, &c. A large black bull whale was also captured on Saturday last in Blueskin Bay, and successfully towed into Waikouaiti Bay on Sunday. The "monster of the deep" is estimated to yield six tuns .of oil, which is , worth something like L3O a ton. The fortunate owners of the prize— T. Pratt and party— expect to net the handsome sum of L2OO. A correspondent of the Nelson Mail gives some particulars regarding a new reef at the Anatpri : — " About forty men are on the reef, but are not able to do much towards testing it until the fine weather commences. Specimens taken fiom the cap of the reef •in the prospectors' claim show good gold, and in the solid stone. In No. 4 south, 7dwt were obtained on striking the reef in a shaft sunk on the reef ; specimens have also been obtained in No. 1 north, where the. party are driving to strike thereof, and have obtained gold in leaders crossed in the drive. A party at the head of the Independent Creek have obtained splendid specimens in loose quartz boulders, and have good hopes of soon striking a payable reef." The works at the. Ngakawhao coal mine are reported by the ' Westport Times to be progressing very satisfactorily. The drive is now in some seventy feet, and a tramway laid throughout, 'right up to the coal face. The cargoes brought down by the sceamer Result show a marked improvement in quality, and in future will.be still better for the purchaser, as it is intended to send nothing down but screened coal, tho screens being now in oourse of erection. The price, however, is high, and also prevents the coal being brought into general use. Two pounds sterling per ton, and draymen's charge for delivery, prevents very many from investing in Ngakawhao "black diamonds." It is stated that the steamers Lyttelton and Waipara are both to visit Ngahawhao very shortly for cargoes of coal.

At the present time, when there is some fear of small-pox spreading in this colony, the following should prove of interest: — " Mr R. C. Fiirley, L.R.O S., in a letter to tho Scotsman, says he is able to prove that vaccination is not only a preventive of disease but a cure. It is, he says, ascertained that when a person liable to take small poxis exposed to the infection the poison circulates in the blood for eight days before producing any febrile symptoms; then commence headache, sickness, pain in the back, suffused eyes, and a peculiarly white-furred tongue— a-group of symptoms that belong to i.o other disease, and. which last for three days. It has been held and acted on sino*

Jenner's great discovery more than eighty years ago that it was not only wrong but fatal to vaccinate any one during: that stage of the disease, or of the subsequent one when the eruption makes its appearance. But Mr Furley says he can show from cases under his care at tbe present time that if you vaccinate during the febrile stage the fever is slightly increased, but the eruption does not make its appearance, and if you vaccinate during the eruotive stage the eruptioa is immediately arrested. The mature lymph overtakes the immature poison, and tbe disease terminates. If the eruption has gone the length of having white tops, there is danger of infection ; if not, it dies away as pimples. Mr Furley feels confident; that if every doctor were to vaccinate each case of small-pox that comes under his care at once; many hundreds pf lives would be spared and many : thousands of pounds would be saved. In the meantime, he invites members of the medical profession to accompany him through tbe patients he has under his care, and thus possibly stamp out the epidemic in a few weeks.

The Mai ion correspondent of the Wellington Independent soya :— "The Hon. W. Fox met the Rangitikei electors in the Town Hall, Marton . the other day. The inclement * state of the weather and flooded! creeks prevented a gathering, and not more than twenty or thirty electors were present. . The room was cold, the meeting was cold, and Mr Fox was cold, so there was very little speaking; and that little revealed nothing. A question I was asked by Mr Jordan, M.P.C., relative to ' the Education Act, .which elicited a reply that if introduced again it would be a Government but not a Ministerial measure, and I Mr Fox seemed not sanguine that it would p»ss this session at all. Mr Coleman objected to the meeting being considered, to represent the electors, as none of Mr Fox's opponents were present. Mr Fox replied that when he met his constituents he always found' that bis ■ opponents were conspicuous bytheir absence. .He occasionally heard of them, but he never by any chance got sight of them. A vote-, of thanks was passed unanimously, and Mr Fox promised the meeting that when the session of Parliament is over he will call them together in better weather." - . . : ' i. : Monday, the 10th instant, was the last day on which applications Were received by Mr Commissioner Sharp, from persons entitled to share in the allocation of sections on the Colliery Reserve, Westport.- The classification of claims for business. sites was. to be proceeded with on Thursday, and the drawing by lots will then take place, and. the selections be. registered/ Four corner sections nearest the river at the end of Wakefield and Rintoul streets v will be probably reserved as sites for bonded stores. Judging from present appearances, it .will be necessary, says the local paper^ to lay off other sections for ■ selection, as the number* already reserved will not prove sufficient to meet all the claims to be preferred, the more especially, if the just claim of ' freeholders and holders sites, who are now debarred from any share in the allocation, are to receive consideration.. As regards the construction of wharves it is evidently not the present intention of the .Nelson Government to incur any responsibility therein, as applications are being considered from residents claiming'protection for sites for private wharfage, and preference will be given to the claims of persons who .have heretofore .held similar privileges, but have been losers by the sea or river en- . croachment, j ; ■,■