THE Grey Rider Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1362, 10 December 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1872.

A seven-column speech by Mr Luckie to his Nelson constituents affords some interesting reading even at this distance from the place of ita delivery, on account both of ita open, honest, off-hand style of expression, and of its occasional, though not always correct, references to West Coast interests. At any other time it would receive, as it deserves, pretty extensive quotation in these pages, as would also the remarks made at another meeting recently held in Nelson, having special reference to the project of a West Coast Railway ; but the superior interest of the County elections is sufficient excuse for us limiting for the present any quotations or comments connected wilh the Nelson meetings to a mere "lick," with a promise of greater attention being given to them at another time. We simply and briefly quote, meantime, Mr Luckie's opinions on two subjects— Mr Curtis's socalled Superintend entship of the Province of Nelson, and the demands for " disintegration," " annexation," or " unification," to which his occupation of office has largely contributed. An abbreviated report of some of Mr Luckie's remarks on the first subject has already been quoted, but their vigor on "vigor" is more amply represented in the report which appears in the columns of the Colonist. Mr Luckie, according to the report, "made the discovery that Artemus Ward had come to life again, and was now, as editor of the Examiner, exhibiting his powers of ' sarkasm with a fc.' " Having referred to some remarks of this "ArtemusWardian editor," he proceeds thus : — " The real tone of sarcasm, however, is where it is said that a Ministry with Mr Curtis in it would possess such vigor as certainly to procure the Foxhill, or, he should rather call it, the Nelson and West Coast railway. Vigor; his vigor! Where was it? What has it done for Nelson? It is shown in the alienation and enmity of the West Coast Gold Fields, and their opposition to him and to his Government; in the stagnation which marks the state of the Province, in the emigration which, as one of the papers has pointed out, cakes the place of the immigration we ought to have in the Province, in the neglect of our rich coal deposits, and of our railway enterprise, on which the hon. gentleman succeeded, years ago, in getting elected Superintendent, and.which, for all he has done, would still be hung up in the clouds — is this his, vigor ? I should term it a vigorous laziness — (loud cheers) — a laziness disastrous to the Province. Regarding coal, of which wo have so much, for years lying almost unproductive, the Brnnner mine alone, which people in Wellington consider possesses the best coal in the Colony — I find this mine has produced during the last four quarters only LI 0,843, at a co3t of L 9616. It is worked by the Provincial Government — ndt a satisfactory arrangement, for it often destroys enterprise — and as the price of the coal at the pit's mouth is 10s per ton, this gives about 21,009 tons for the year, instead of 100,000 or 200,000 tons per annum, which ought to be produced ; and the money at present expended on foreign coal would thus be preserved here and added to the wages fund of the country. (Applause.) Yet nothing is being done, no vigor is applied in the direction, every thing must wait. I was present at a meeting of gentlemen a fortnight ago, held in Wellington, in the offices of Messrs Bethune and Hunter, io consider as to establishing a company with a large capital to work this very mine on a large scale, and it is likely that very shortly application on the subject will be made here." (Hear, hear.) The "Hear, hear," of Mr Luckie's Nelson audience will be thoroughly sympathised with by those living in the vicinity of the mine, and in possession of a knowledge of the value of an estate the development of which is, to use one of Mr Luckie's own expressions, so deliberately "hungup" by the inaction of the Provincial Government. It is only to be hoped that application will be made for a lease of the coal-mine by a company competent, in point of capital and energy, to work it as it ought lo be worked in the interests of shareholders, the district, and the Colony. The General Government may then feel justified in withdrawing the management of the mine from a Superintendent who has for a year been simply " haggling " over conditions which no company would, or need, decline to accept. The one other alternative with the Government, if they do not wish to indefinitely postpone the development of (he Grey Valley coal-neld, is to encourage the working of the seams on tne Westland side of the river, when negotiations with the Nelson Superintendent would soon be seen to be unnecessary, and a commencement of the railway might be made with the certainty that there would be no failure in the quantity of coal supplied being sufficient to cover the interest of its cost. Oar further quotations from Mr Luckie's speech, and the remarks' which they have suggested, although already in type, we must hold over until another issue, inconsequence of the length of our report of Mr Lahman's meeting last night.

This promises to be a regular field night for politics, as no fewer than four of the candidates— Messrs Kennedy, Smith, Fox, and Cooper— have announced their intention of addressing the electors in the Volunteer Hall, commencing at 8 o'clock. At the meeting of the shareholders of the Grey River Steam Tug Company, held yes. tefday at the Union Hotel, a dividend of lo

per cent, was declared payable to the shareholders on and after Wednesday, the 11th inst. A further sum of £200 was placed to the credit; of the reserve fund. Owing to the combined influences of unpropitious weather and a very large election meeting, the attendance at tho volunteer Hall, to witness the amateur performance in aid of the Grey River Hospital was very limited indeed. This is much to be regretted, as we believe the pieces selected were well played; but it is to be hoped that the amateurs, considering all the circumstances, will deem it to be their duty on an early day to repeat tho performance. We are requested to call attention to two auction sales which take place to-day by Messrs D. Maclean and Co.— one at 11 o'clock, of the balance of Mr Duncan M 'Lean's stock of seeds ; and- the other at 12 o'clock, of Booth's Hotel, with stock, furniture, billiard-tables, &c. Another sale of household furniture, &c, in Waite street, by the same auctioneers, is announced for 2 o'clock. Another case of drowning, nnder very mysterious circumstances appears to have taken place at Coal Creek, yesterday morning. A weil-known settler, named Levi Adolphus Case, left his home for his work as usual, and apparently in good health, and a few hours afterwards he was found drowned in the creek. The inquest will be held at Cobden to-day. The Bell Hill Watei-race Co. applied for protection for water rights for three months, at the Warden's Court at Ahaura, on Friday, 6th November. The application was opposed by Benjamin Sutherland and party. The application was made to enable the company to complete operations already commenced in connection with the permanent race. In support of the application, it was stated that in twelve months JL4500 had been expended, and the company were prepared to make an additional outlay of LSOOO in bringing in the water. Serious charges of gross incompetency were made against the late manager of the works. The opposition to the certificate was made on the ground that the company's works were useless, and if the protection was granted others who were ready to properly perform the work would be prevented from getting an opportunity of doiug so. The Warden granted the application, remarking that the statements made by the opposers might be used as arguments in support of an application for cancellation of the' company's certificate of registration for the water, but they did not apply in the present case. _ A numerously attended meeting of the subscribers to the funds of the Grey River Hospital residing in the Half-Ounce, Duffer Creek, Noble's CreeK, Teviot, Brandy Jack's, and Napoleon districts was held at Ollivier's Hotel. Half-Ounce, on the md instant. Mr J. M. Ollivier was voted to the chair. Extracts from the annual report of the Central Committee at Greymouth were read, and lists of the subscribers in the above-named districts were circulated in the room. After addresses from several gentlemen, pointing out the benefits of the Institution, the excellence of its management, and urging the necessity of continued support and assistance on the part of the miners, the following Committee wjis appointed to act for the ensuing year :— Messrs J. M. Ollivier and S. B. Hafford, Half -Ounce; Mr Michael Noonan, Granville ; Messrs Andrew Mchol and Chas. Clarson, Duffer Creek; Mr R. Perrott, Noble's ; Mr Jame3 Lock, Napoleon ;Mr S. Fraser, Teviofc ; Mr A. Borgerson, Brandy Jack's. Messrs Andrew Nichol and J. M. Ollivier were appointed treasurer and secretary respectively. Votes of thanks to the retiring Committee and officers, and to the Chairman, terminated the proceedings.