THE PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1235, 15 July 1872, Page 2

THE PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JULY 15, 1872.

The Court House at the Ahaura and the evening of Friday next have been appointed as the place and time for the Grey Valley settlers to assemble, and to express their opinion upon the propositions submitted by Mr Harrison, M.H.R, regarding reformation in the forms of government now existing on the West Coast. According to the advertisement published in the name of Mr Guinness, M.P.C., and honorary secretary to the preliminary meeting held, the inhabitants of the district are " earnestly requested . to attend, so as to furnish Mr Harrison with a decided opinion as to the wishes of the constituency on this important question." A committee of gentlemen who have interested themselves in the aiatter has, we understand, already been formed at the Ahaura, and they only await the assent and approval of a public meeting to encourage them in forming a League in which all districts of the West Coast shall be represented, and in obtaining subscriptions towards the expenses of a movement in tbe direction of amending the present forms of government, by establishing in their stead a government more suitable to the requirements of their own important district and of every other district on tha West Coast. From what we can learn of the feeling at the Ahaura and the districts of which it is the centre, the recommendations approved of at the recent meeting in Greymouth are generally acceptable, and it is confidently expected that the resolutions passed at that meeting will obtain approval at the public meeting to be held on Friday. Active, early, and hearty co-operation in this matter is both justifiable and necessary, and an expression of opinion from the Ahaura will go far to guide the full expression of the feeling which was indicated at the Greymouth meeting, and which has already and in other centres of population on the Coast met with approbation.

It is satisfactory to learn, as we learn by a tolegram received last evening, that the settlers of Canterbury Province are not so dull as they appeared in appreciating the advantages of the road proposed to be made from the Arnuri to the Ahaura. Instigated by the action of inhabitants of Hokitika, the people of Christchurch are said to have numerously signed a memorial to the Resident Minister ■of Public Works in the Middle Island in favor of the formation of a road from a certain point on the Canterbury and Westland trunk road to the probable centre of West Coast roads, the Ahaura township. The project thus approved of is hot one to which any objection can be taken, provided there are funds sufficient at the command of the Government to carry out an extensive and expensive work. But the promotion of that project, as the only project available for the purpose of connecting the producers of Canterbury with the numerous consumers at Reefton, would simply be the promotion of a fallacy. The project of establishing communication between Canterbury and the Inangahua by a short and direct route is, to say the least, deserving of an equal amount of discussion, and the resolutions of the people of Leithfield go some length towards eliciting that discussion. The inhabitants of Leithfieldj as representing North Canterbury, have come to the decision that the Atmiri and Ahaura road is a desirable work ; the Superintendent of the Province has favored it, as has the Provincial Council of Nelson ; and it is the duty of residents of the Ahaura and Reefton who have sufficient knowledge of the Bubject to say to which of the two roads proposed a preference should be given.

The half-yearly distribution of prizes to the children attending Trinity Church Sunday School-took place yesterday, when there was a large attendance of scholars. They were addressed by the Rev. Mr Watkins, who complimented them on their regular attendance and good behaviour. The prizes, which were for regular attendance and general good conduct, during the past half-year, were then distributed, and subsequently the Rev. Mr Watkins presented a book, appropriate in its character and handsome in its exterior, to the Superintendent of the school. Mr A. E. Cresswell, as a recognition of Mr Cresswell's valuable services and voluntary devotion to the interests of the scholars. The following are the names of the young people to whom the prizes were presented : — Girls— lst class, J Batchelor, E tiellier, li Batckelor ; 2nd class, A Arnott, H Thurold, S King ; 3rd class, A Holmes, S Thurold ; 4th class, C Simpson, Mary Simpson ; sth class, C Tucker, J Cattle ; 6th class, L Kenrick, L Tucker; 7th class, M Kilgour, A Thnrold. Boys — Ist class, A Cameron, 15 i Boylan ; 2nd class, John Hall, R Acheson ; 3rd class, H S Cresswell, H Coppersmith ; 4th class, J A Arnott, H Greenwood ;. titli class, F Kilgour, D Briscoe ; Gth class, W Davidson, A Williams ; 7th class, Holmes, A Kenrick. Telegraphic communication between Reefton and the Ahaura is expected to be complete in fourteen days, and it is stated that, during the short interval of carrying the line as far as Greymouth, messages will be transmitted l>y express without any extra cost to the public. The appointment of a surgeon to the Reefton Hospital has been postponed until the 17th instant In an article on the educational position of Nelson College, the Colonist Bays :— " Tbe recent examination for New Zealand University scholarships has shed laurels on Nolson College. Nelson has long been distinguished for the thoroughness of its teaching ; ami the list of competitors shows a success which must greatly exceed even the most sanguine hopes of the College teacheis. The original proposal of the University Council was to give twenty scholarships, of which four wero to be of the value of L7O, and sixteen of the value of L 45 each. This proposal was aub.

sequently modified, and, instead of this division of tbe LIOOO devoted to scholarships, the number of these was to be extended to twenty -five at L 45 each. In either case, Nelson College has gained a position of which it may well be proud. There were thirty-eight competitors from all parts of New Zealand. The competing schools num- 1 bered at least 700 pup?ls, of whom sixty-six attend Nelson Co.'-ege, or something under teu per cent of the entire number. Of the thirty-eight competitors, Nelson College sent ten, or a little over a fourth of the whole. If the number of scholarships bo twenty, Nelson College has secured eight, or twofifths of the whole ; if twenty-five she has gained ten ; that is to say, a scholarship to every one of the competitors she sent up for examination I- -a success, we undertake to say, iinparalleledin the annals of competitive examinations. The monthly practice of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade takes place this evening at eight o'clock. The Reef ton mail arrived in town last night. The return mail, we understand, starts at eleven o'clock this forenoon. This evening a concert and ball are to be given at Reef ton, with the object of raising funds for the local hospital. Mr Broad, it is said, has written a prologue for the entertainment, and songs, readings, and speeches are included in the programme of the so-, called concert. A strong effort is now being made by a number of gentlemen to procure the ova of salmon and trout for acclimatisation in the Grey River or its tributaries. Applications have been made to Dunedin, Chrisichurcb, and Auckland for. a portion of the shipments of ova expected to arrive, and, should the answers to these requests be favorable, ye shall have the experiments tested within the next three months. 1 here are several fords up the Little Grey that are suitable for the development of the spawn, and as those who are interesting themselves in this movement have had previous experience of pisciculture, strong hopes are entertained that their efforts will be successful . : A gymnasium has been started at Charleston, and already a good many persons have become members of it. The club is at tha present time in possession of material and appliances that mu»ht well bo envied by much older establishments, and to enable the committee to still more completely furnish the room, it is contemplated to give an entertainment. The Auckland Ice Company intend to mike ice-chests to supply the Southern Provinces. The Ofcago Customs returns for the halfyear ending June 30th show an increase of 121,245 over the corresponding period oJ 1871. The first accident' caused in Wellington by gas occurred last week, when a workman engaged in putting up some fittings in a new J Government office tapped the main, and was overpowered by the sudden rush of gas. On 'being removed by his fellow-workmen and the application of restoratives he soon came round. ' The bailiff at Ross, acting under instructions from the Drainage Board, offered foi . sale the Golden Gate claim, but found no bidder. The Jtoss News is informed that in the evening it was purchased privately by the Cassins Company. The Colonial Secretary notifies that "inquiiies having been made respecting a person named Edward Lloyd Trevor, who lef b the : County Down, Ireland, in 1865, for New Zealand, where he served in the Ist Waikato Regiment, and on leaving that corps proceeded to the Thames Gold Field, anyone who can give auy information respecting him is requested to communicate with his office." In a lecture delivered to the Young Men's Christian Association of Auckland by Mr Gillies upon " Our Laws and how they are made," occur the following pertinent rein.M'ks : — " This brings me to my moral that if you want better laws and belter made, you must select your legislators better. Yon must select men who know the wants and requirements of the community— men who, knowing these, have no wants and'requirements of their own of greater personal importance—and, if you can get them, men of trained, cultivated minds, who can, even if they cannot speak, put laws in such a shape that even lawyers cannot pick holes in them." Messrs Hart and Buckley, solicitors at Wellington" to the Emigrant and Colonist's Aid Corporation, have received a lettor from Colonel Fielding, agent of the Corporation, announcing that the operations undertaken by it are in full progress, and that in a short time a batch of emigrants will be despatched under its auspices to New Zealand. The Marlborough Repress of the 6th inst. says:— "The first sod of the Picton and Blenheim Railway will be turned in a week or two, and the occasion is to be made a regular fete by Messrs Brogf'en and Sons. The Governor will perform the ceremony, and will be presented with a magnificent silver cup designed by Mr Brogden's staff, and manufactured by Mr Young, silversmith, Dunedin. The Committee of the Napier Athen&um are about to expend L 350 on a smokingroom and lecture hall. The Boss News learns from private sources that the people of Hokitika have generously contributed about L2OO towards the relief of the widow and children of the late Mr Ridley Little, who was killed on the Hauhau Tramway last week. A case of revolting brutality in native life, says tbe Wanganui Herald, has come to our knowledge, in which the chief Topia and a Maori female prisoner from the* East Coast were the chief participants. On Sunday last Topia went to the native settlement where the woman was residing, and, f after beating her severely, tied a rope round her neck and dragged her about till she became insensible. A Victorian 'paper says: — "A lady resident in the neighborhood of Strathalbyn, having no children of her own, and being desirous of adopting one, recently visited tbe Destitute Asylum for the purpose of selecting one. Upon being shown into a room where the orphans were ranged in rows, a little girl, evidently mistaking the lady for her lost mother, to whom possibly she may have borne some resemblance, immediately she saw her, rushed up to her, exclaiming, ' Oh, mother ! why haven't you come for me before?' The act was natural; a reciprocity of feeling was engendered, and the child is now happy in her adopted mother's home." . -■■ ' A company was lately formed in Nelson for the jiurpose of dredging the river Matakitaki, out the scheme does not seem to have been sneers? ful, a meeting of the company having been called for the purpose of considering the propriety of winding up. In the Caledonian mine a small rich vein has been discovered. It is about three inches thick, and is in the foot of the wall. The Opera Company now performing in Melbourne, under" the management of Messrs Lyster and Caijli, will finish their season in that city on tlie 3rd of August, when they intend paying a visit to New Zealand. A 8 an instance of the strict probity which characterises witnesses in' Warden's Courts, a correspondent of the Charleston Herald reports a conversation occurring at the door of the Court House there : — Olaimholder : •• Why did \ ou not swear fo and so?' Wagesman (with up-turned ,eyos and pitiful

look) : " Swear. Why, I thank Heaven that 1 got out -without getting two years for what I clidsay?" Claunholder : "ryelost my claim through you, and have a.nrnd to kick you." 0 temporal 0 mores! The Governor of Nelson College requiring Mr Mackay to fulfil his engagement with them, the Rev D'Arcy Irvine has been appointed head master of the Napier Grammar School, Piivate letters received in AucHand state that the Rev John Selyi/n, son of the Bishop of Lichfielc', is likely to join the Melanesian Mission. : The lnangahua HeraM congratulates its readers upon the erection by Mr Hanseri, and for public use, of a clock which was recently used at the tramway station in Hokitika. The Wangamd Chronicle records the openi ing of " a new page in the history of local self-government " in that Province ; The District Highways Act, 1871, has come into operation, and its machinery wiU shortly! be set in motion to perform duties hitherto in the hands of the defunct Road Boards. Attention is directed by a correspondent of the Nelson papers to a "simple safety lamp" recently invented at Home; He con-, siders it may be of service. to miners, and describes it thus :— " Take a phial bottle of the whitest glass you can find. Insert a piece of phosphorus of the »ize of- a pea. Pour upon the phosphorus as much boiling oil as will fill one-third of the phial.. Cork the phial so as to exclude all air. This is the safety lamp. When it is required, open the phial to admit the atmospheric air, immediately re-corking it. The lamp is alight; and will give at least as much light as an ordinary miner's lantsrn. When the lamp becomes dim, merely open the phial for an instant, carefully re-stopping it, and repeat the operation when required. I* is said that these safety lamps last for six months' without further ' trimming.' " A medical combination at Sandhurst is reported as follows by the Bendiyo Advertiser : — "For some time past the friendly societies have been advertising for tenders for medical attendance, and tenders were lately opened, when it was found that the lowest tender was 25s per head, being 5s in advance of the sum hitherto paid. We are informed that on inquiry tlie societies found that the cause of the increase in price was a combination on the part of -the medical profession, who had agreed not to tender uuder the sum mentioned. As in two courts alone there are 400 members, it was considered that LI per head was ample, and the societies determined to ombine and re-advertise both in local and Melbourne papers, believing that there wa3 sufficient inducement for a first-class meuical man to become their medical attendant."

A case of importance to members of Friendly Societies has been brought before the Resident Magistrate at Charleston. The plaintiff was Dr Henry, aud the defendant Patrick Morrissey. The action was brought by the plaintiff to determine whether he, as Medical Officer for the Hibernian Society, ! Charleston, was entitled to charge the members thereof for vaccination performed on their children. The agreement between the lodge was put in, and defendant relied for his case upon certain' exemptions contained therein, amongst which vaccination was not mentioned. His Worship having read the agreement through, said that according to its contents the medical officer was, only hound to attend the members of the lodge and their families in cases of "hurt,.accident, or illness," with exceptions arising out of these ; that vaccination was not an illness, but only a precautionary measure adopted against a certain disease, and was not necessary to be put under the list of exceptions. Judgment must therefore be for the plaimtiff i for amount claimed and costs. , Mr Moutray, of the Nelson Iron and Brass Foundry, says the Coldnwt, has been making ; steady progress in his work. A large amount of machinery has been supplied by him to the West Coast, where evidence of its excellence is found, in the fact .that orders are increasing Lately, among the larger castings at the foundry, was one of a fly-wheel for a steam-engine, weighing 2£ tons; and the other day a three-bladed propeller, for Messrs N. Edwards and Co .'s steamer Murray, which weighed 9cwt, and was a sound piece of work/ A heavy monkey, for Taranaki, is in progress, and from other parts of the colony work of the kind is coming in. In |Mr Moutray's yard is an iron boat, now building for the Buller river, to run from Westport to the landing place at Inangahua; she will carry ten tons froight on about fourteen inches draft of water,