THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1236, 16 July 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 16, 1872.

The nomination of Mr Henry Hermann Lahman to a seat in the Legislative Council has caused considerable remark, and it has done so deservedly. From his fellow-councillors Mr Lahman received compliments and congratulations upon his appointment. By the public the appointment has been more generally condemned than approved of. The congratulations may have been more formal than sincere. The condemnation appears to have been more hasty than judicious. As they have been presented to the public, Mr Lahman's qualifications as a representative and administrator have not been so peculiarly excellent as to entitle him to elevation to any higher office than he at present occupies. His wmduct in that office, and more especially in others contingent to it, has iv some particulars been so questionable that he cannot be said to deserve extraordinary public confidence. However sincere he may hare been as a public servant, he has not been discreet. But we believe it will be generally admitted that his lack of discretion is much m. >i\ obvious than any dishonesty of purpose, a>ul that in most matter* he has actcl faithfully according to the light that is given him. As Mr Henry Hermann Lilmun he has no personal, attributes entitling him to special selection from among his fellows to a seat in any high legislative body, but as Chairman of the County Council of Westland he does not appear to have done anything to justify public disrespect, and we presume it is more in recognition of the dignity of the office than of peculiar personal qualifications as a legislator tlut the Government have chosen to nominate him to a seat in the Upper House The Upper House of the Legislature of New Zealand has from the first been an anomaly, consisting as it did in part of Resident Magistrates, and, in greater part,

of men who possessed none of the attributes of legislators, excepting the fact that they had wisely invested their own or others' money in the landed estate of the Colony instead of in ordinary commercial commodities. The nomination of the County Chairman of Westland to a seat in the Council does not reduce this anomaly, but neither does it egregiously enhance it. A former County Chairman was appointed to a seat in the same House for no apparent better reason than that he had been a Chairman, and the appointment in this instance is less peculiar from the circumstance that the election to the Chairman's seat was very, remotely an expression of popular choice, while in the first instance the people were altogether ignored. If the Government had a vacant seat" at their disposal, and if they had any consideration whatever for the interests of the main-stay of the Colony, the mining population, it was discreet of them to appoint some one to represent the West Coast, and, if we may be allowed to speak so plainly of our representative men, they have made what we believe to be the best use of their available material. Deducting those who are our representatives by popular selection, there are really few men on the Coast who, so far t epublic action goes, have taken prominent interest in the affairs of the State. Mr Lahman has naturally and necessarily done so in consequence of his having held a' peculiar position, and, though he may be anything but the right man in the right place, where is the right man for the place ? With the Government it was • c Hobson's choice." The modesty of men in these parts has hitherto been so extreme that they have hid their light under a bushel, and it is not the fashion for Governments, in these degenerate days, to go about, after tho manner of Diogenes, lantern in hand, looking for a superlatively honest man. As we have said, they muftt utilise their available material, and, if it need not be the subject of great congratulation, it need not be the subject of much regret or of . condemnatoty remark that the Government should recognise the County system so far as to elevate to tho Upper Hohse'the Chairman of the Westland Council — in all probability, the last of his race.

A meeting of the Grey River Hospital Committee was held atGilmer's Hotel last evening, for the purpose of receiving tenders for the erection of a femalo ward. The lowest tender— that of W. Newion, L27s— was accepted. The adjourned annual meeting of the parishioners of Trinity Church, was held last night at Gibner'B Hotel, when the following elections were made :— Churchwardens— * Messrs W. Hindmarah and J. G. Thomas. Vestrymen — Messrs King, Chamberlain, Greenwood, Butt, Creswell, Hardy, and LyelL A public meeting is called for Wednesday night at Gilmer's Hall, for the purpose of receiving and considering the memorial which has been drafted by the Committee appointed at the late public meeting, praying the General Government to bring the whole of the West Coast Gold Fields under one form of Government. We learn that the child of Mrs Howley, Maori Gully, was scalded to death yesterday, and Mr Reid, J.P, proceeds there to-day to hold an inquest. We may mention, as an instance of the value which freehold land has acquired in the vicinity of Greymouth, that yesterday, at the- office of the Waste Lands Board, at Hokitika, the seven-acre section held by Mr W, H. Harrison, at Sawyers' Creek Bridge, was sold by auction for LSOO. The valuation for improvements was fixed at L2OO, and the purchasers were Messrs Kilgour and Perotti, of this town. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Greymouth, jesterday, before E. Wickesand R. C. Reid, Esqrs., J.P., Mary Muller, supposed to be of unsound mind, wan sent to the asylum at Hokitika for treatment. —At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Cobden, before G. King and R. C. Reid, Esqrs., J.P., Geo. Barton was charged under the recentlypassed Nelson Gold Fields Licensing Ordinance, with having sold spirituous liquors without a licensa The evidence was very contradictory, and the defendant was dismissed with a caution. The coße Kenrick v. Joyce, which was first heard here in the Warden's Court, afterwards in the District Court, and in which a writ of prohibition was granted, was heard yesterday in the Supreme Court, at Nelson, when the writ was quashed, and the judgments of the inferior Courts upheld. Leave was asked to renew the application on further affidavits, but this was refused. The costs go against the defendant. For some time mining affairs on the North Beach have been very dull, but now they have taken a turn for the better, as a large number of men have recently scattered themselves along the numerous terraces between the Seven-mile and Bazorback, who are generally reported to be doing well The most of the beach-combers have taken to the terraces, and as they go back tbe better the gold becomes. At the Seven-mile a number of parties are now doing well on the terraces, and a rush has been taking place for some days to the terraces about three miles north of Canoe Creek, where good alluvial workings have lately been opened. We hope to give details in a few days. The Wellington Evening Post, in an article on the O'Conor land purchase, condemns O'Conor's conduct, and concludes bj saying : -'' If the electors who returned this gentlemm to the General Assembly do not insist upon the immediate resignation of his seat, they will deserve to be classed as his accomplices." The Church Gazette is the name of a monthly religious periodical which has just been started in Auckland, with a view to forming a record of events of interest to members of the Church of England in New Zealand, and a means of communication between members of the Church throughout tho diocese. We learn that the Rev Hugh M. Murray has arrived in Dunedin by the ship William Davie, specially commissioned by the Free' Church Colonial Committee to the Presbytery of Canterbury, to labor in connection with the Church Extension Association. With regard to the remarks we made yesterday on the proposed new Amu ri mart, w^ Ree by the Press that an enterprising firm ah Kaiappi have determined upon being tho pioneers in opening the track to Reuftnn by the HurunuL The stores will be dr.iyml us far as possible, and packed the rest <>f the distance till the road through is opened up Alonß the whole of the route to Reefton by this track there is ample grazing, l.uid for cattle and sheep. The Wairarapa] Volunteers lately mustered for their annual inspection by Colonel Harington. They waited for two hours in a drenching rain, but as "no Colonel Harim;- i ton appeared," they dispersed in high dudgeon. The Wellington Independent's correspondent, in relating these circumstauces. says:— "lf these nVen could com?, some of them near twenty ipiles, and wait two hour 3

in the pelting rain, would it have been too great a risk to the gallant colonel's health to come upon the parade ground in a mackintosh?"

It will interest many of our readers to ' know that the Rev Mr Barclay, late of Napier, has visited during the winter part of the West Highlands and Lewis, of Scotland, at the request of the Agent-General for emigratiop To meet the desire for information about New Zealand, Mr Barclay has undertaken to write a little book for emigrants. Many suitable emigrants may be expected as the-result of his visit and advocacy. The Presbyterians in Ellesmera, Canterbury, having succeeded in keeping their i minister, the Rev J. W. Cree, who recently received a call from the .Church of Hokitika, have set to work with redoubled energy to provide a suitable manse and glebe. For this purpose eight acres of land adjoining.the township of Leeston have been purchased. Designs of |a very tasteful character by Mr Marley have also been approved ; and tenders for the execution of the woiks will be invited in a few days. There is every prospect, therefore, of a handsome building being soon erected in Leeaton. A writer in the Melbourne Leader of a recent date says :— "lt is not, I believe, generally known that, the Government of Sweden and Norway have thought it worth their while to send a special Commissioner to our shores, with the view of ascertaining what market can be found here for Scandinavian produce, and what openings there are for Swedes and Norwegians who may be desirous of emigrating.. Although the population of these countries is small compared with their area, the number of persons who leave annually for America is very large. In 1869 it amounted to 39,064 persons, and it is not at all impossible that the result of the inquiries now being made by Mr Christophersen may result in Melbourne being substituted for New York, as the Eldorado of the Norseman."