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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1246, 27 July 1872, Page 2

Mr Baylias, the Reefton mail contractor, arrived in town last evening after a most difficult journey, all the rivers along the route he travels being high, and the weather anything but favorable. The return mail closes at nine this morning.

We understand that, after very close and continued application, and with only such assistance as he received from the Borough Surveyor, the District Engineer, Mr O'Connor, yesterday completed the plans for the Greymouth aud Brunnerton railway, which will be immediately forwarded to Welling, ton.

An offer, we believe, has been made to the Nelson Government to construct the Arnold and Ahaura road on the terms of payment in land and cash, as agreed to by the Counci]

but as yet no acknowledgment of the offer has been received. At a recent meeting it was suggested by the Mayor that some further steps should be taken to urge upon the Executive the. necessity for the early execution of this wort, and it is to be hoped that some Vigilance or Diligence Committee wl 1 be formed with the object of forcing on the attention of the Provincial Government a subject in which they have themselves professed so much interest. . . It is stated by the local paper that branches of the various banks will be opened in Reef ton in the course of a few weeks. Mr Acton Adams, of Nelson, it is said, has expressed his intention of coming forward as a candidate to represent the Inangahua district in the Nelson Provincial Council. A very fair sample of coal obtained from Soldier's Gully, about a mile and ahalf from Reefton, has been |brought in. French 'and Co., the prospectors of the mine, purpose constructing a tramway to enable the coal to be delivered in Reefton. The Rev. J. J, Pendray, minister of the United Methodist Free Church, arrived in Reefton from Christchurch on Saturday evening, and on Sunday he held services which were well attended,, At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Stafford, on last Wednesday, says the West Coast Times, the case of Fowler v. Hannan was set down for hearing. Plaintiff sued to recover the LSO penalty imposed upon defendant for acting as a member of the Arahura Road Board after he had become disqualified by accepting an office of profit under the Board. There was no appearance of either party, and the case was dismissed. ■ ■.'■'■■■'■ The memorial adopted by the residents of Greymouth, as to the reformation of West; Coast Governments, is re-printed by the West Coast Times, and seems to meet with the approval of that journal, which says : — "In another column' we publish the text of a petition which has been' agreed to in Greymouth on . the subject of the proposed change in the Government of the West Coast, and we venture to say that no better evidence can be adduced in favor of our present system, the proposed change being only in name, with one exception. That exception relates to the mode of selecting, the head of the-adminis-tration^ rendering him elective by the people instead of by the Council. Such a change is one with which* we cordially agree, and which we are convinced will meet with the hearty concurrence of the cdmmunity generally. In other respects the petition proposes no change of any import* ance. It does not matter at all whether the body in which control over our affairs is vested be termed a County Council .or a Provincial Council, so long as no amplification of its governing powers be proposed. An increase in its number bfj members, though- it r would diminish their individual importance, would be for that very reason a gain to the public, and the result of the proposed change gene rally would, we think, be sufficiently beneficial to warrant the adhesion of this portion of the County to the prayer of the petition from the residents of Greymouth." Referring to the panic that appears to have arisen in Hokitika in regard to scrip in the Westland Crushing Company, the Inangahua Herald says that it is altogether unaccountable. Nothing has transpired there that could have given rise to it, and it is very doubtful whether shareholders resident down country have better means of forming a correct opinion as to the of the company than those resident in the district. If. any disappointment has arisen, it is due to the extravagant returns which some of the more sanguine have been led to anticipate. In a few days the first crushing will be made known, when a better estimate of their value can be arrived at, as also of the future prospects of the claimi The following strange advertisement appears in the Auckland papers : — "A gentleman holding an interpreter's licence under the Native Land Act is desirous of obtaining some employment. A good premium will be paid for a bona fide Government appointment, such as Explorer of Roads and Interpreter, or a nice little sinecure similar to the one ait Waikato Heads." Dr Beale writes to the Waikato Times on the subject of children being poisoned by eating matches.:—" As accidents resulting in death from children getting hold of and sucking and biting off the heads of wax matches are becoming very rife of late, you will be doing the public a great service by allowing me to state through your paper that in such cases, in the absence of a medical practitioner, the parent should employ an early emetic, in the shape of tepid water with a little mustard or soap dissolved in it, and subsequently common magnesia and water as an antidote. I believe it has been customary for the parents to give castor oil in such cases, but as this, as indeed any other o?l, facilitates the action of the poison (phosphorous) by supplying a solvent, it is as well parents should be warned against its administration."

A Mr B, Williamson writes the following letter to the Melbourne Age, which speaks for itself :— " Sir— l arrived in Melbourne : i October last in search of a brother who came here in 1854, named William Williamson, and having ascertained that he was one of the volunteers who went from this city in 1863 to the New Zealand war, where he was killed four weeks after landing, and having heard that he was entitled to 50 acres of land, I applied to the New Zealand Government claiming it, and the answer I received was— he was not entitled to the land because he did not serve his full time, three years, that being the period he enlisted for. If this is the way New Zealand acts towards the men who fought and died for her, I hope if ever she requires such aid again, the volunteers of Victoria will remember these facts."

A correspondent writes in a hopeful sti* 111 of mining matters at the Thames:— A marked improvement has taken place in the market during the past week, for although quotations were and still are low, stock is held with a tenacity that is truly surprising — the said exceeding tightness of money being considered. It is, however, apparent enough, that this tightness is more apparent' than real, for if it were otherwise the hundreds of small stockholders would be only too ready to quit when bonajule buyers come forward. But the contrary is the case, as has been proved by the extraordinary difficulty experienced by brokers in supplying orders at current rates as quoted. This is a good healthy sign, aud indicative moreover of a firmly established confidence in the stability of the district,

The Otago Daily Times of July 13, says — "Yesterday, the immigrants by. the. Win. Davie were hired out at the Immigration Barracks. There were applications for 50 servants on the application books of the Immigration Office, and some of them had been made for ten days or a fortnight previous to the arrival of the vessel. Many of the immigrants went to their friends on arrival, and of those who went to the barracks, 27 female servants— the total number weie engaged yesterday, at wages varying from L 26 to L4O per annum, the average rate being about 1.30. In fact, we learn that had three times as many come they would have, been engaged. Mix of the ploughmen and farm servants were engaged at wages averaging L 45. The remainder, ten in number, will, it is expected, be engaged to-day. The tradesmen, on finding, at once found work at their respective businesses."