The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1369, 18 December 1872, Page 2

The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1872.

Whatever the fast may signify, it is the fact that," in Greymouth, the expression of public opinion, or what purports to be public opinion, is almost exclusively confined to the writers for the Press. In the course of the twelve months of the year, the number of letters from urban correspondents which appear in these columns does not average one in a month. It is doubtful if it averages even that, or half the number. The fact may signify Beveral things. It may signify— what we hope is not the case — that the capacity to indite a few sentences of ordinary English is not widely distributed, It may signify — what may be a good cr an evil, or both mixed— that people are ao diligent and successful in their own business, that they do not care to trouble them* selves with everybody's. Or it may signify— and, not being altogether dead to compliments when they are delicately paid, we shall supposo it does signify— that the Press bo thoroughly represents tho interests of the district, and population stands quietly by, satisfied with thinking " Well done, good and faithful servant." To come to a very humble conclusion in the matter, it may be that each subscriber to a paper considers that, as the vulgar proverb puts it, there is no use " having a dog and barking ones-self." Even at that estimate, there is some admission that the dog barks. '

It ia doubtful, however, whether this silence, whatever it may signify, should prevail on all occasions. It is almost certain that there are some occasions, and some local questions, on which it should not prevail. If there is any one question on which there should not be silence, but open and strong expression of opinion, it is the question of the construction of the Coal-mine Railway, and the present occasion is not an inappropriate one for that being done. An appropriate form of giving expression! to prevailing opinions would be a public meeting, and there might be propriety in it being called, and proving to be, an "indignation meeting," with all possible dignity, of course, imported into the indignation. The subject, from tho one point of view, has been written to rugs. An .opportunity offers now for a good deal of writing from an antagonistic point of view being torn to tatyera. It has been several times said in these columns that the real and active obstructives to this Coal-mine Railway have been, as they are now, the Superintendent of Nelson, and some of the subordinate, but not the less obstructive, officials by whom he ia immediately surrounded. This obstructiveness, which involves a large amount of deatnifitiveness towards the development of this district, was observable prominently, if not primarily, in tbe objections by tbe Superintendent and the Provincial Secretary (through the medium of a Select Committee) to the terms which the General Government desired to secure as to the working of the , mine before they entered upon the construction of the railway. Obstruction number two took the form of a chiraoripal proposition to construct a wooden tramway to Cobden, which 'has not been, and never was meant to be, carried out at Provincial cost. A third .obstruction, we have good reason to .believe, was a special memorandum sent to the General Government by the Superintendent, stating to be facts what were, to say the least, mistakes made in ignorance, but the object of which, facts or no facts, was again to affect the undertaking, and the result of which has been, so far, to effect to the present time its postpone? raent. In short, between the determination to adhere to certain terms regarding the production of the mine— upon which no experts seem to have been consulted — and the adherence to the Cobden project against the contrary recommendation of the Engineering Department—there has been such gubatantial obstruction to the work on the part of the Provincial authorities that with them must rest the blame, until the opposite is shown, if that is within the limit of possibility. On the other hand, there have been remarkß mada by the Colonial Treasurer, and later by Mr Luckie, which indicate that the spirit and action of the General Government have

been all in favor of promoting the work, as they have unquestionably been of promoting other West Ooaat works which we ! do not require to go far to discover. But, / wherever blame or credit may lie, it is^ due to the Colony possessing such an estate as the Grey coal-field that more information should be procured as to what has passed between the Governments, and as to the prospects of the coal-field being developed in anything like fair proportion to its extent and value. And it is especially the duty of this community, whose interests have been and are intimately affected by the proximity of such a coal field, to be the first to take steps to ascertain all. that is ascertainable on the subject, and to urge as warmly as they can urge the early execution of what are believed to be the Government's honest intentions. To Mr Carruthers and Mr O'Connor, at present on a visit here, of course no application of any kind can with propriety be made, but they should not be gone a day when a meeting should be held, and steps taken to communicate as speedily and directly as possible with the Government It may not be an illustration of cause and effect, but the inhabitants cf Nelson, rarely active in the matter of urging that questionably profitable project, the Foxhill Railway, have now its early commencement promised to them. If a railway which, without extension, "taps" only a "blind gully" is thus far advanced, how much more advanced should be a railway which ends in the midst of a magniGcent coal field, and at the threshold of a not less magnificent gold field.

The Literary Society's periodical entertainment, which has usually been given on a Friday evening, takes place two evenings earlier— namely, tkis evening. In music and recitation a proGpamme of more than average attractions is understood to be prepared, and the entertainment is to conclude with the fourth act— the court scene— of Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice," a young lady who lately gave a highly satisfactory recitation (Miss Burchell) taking the part of Portia.

The Engineer-in-Chief, Mr Carruthers, and Mr O'Connor, C.E., proceeded yesterday to Marsden and Greenstone, to inspect the roads in that direction, formed and projected.

Mr Ray, master of the Cobden school, and a scholar attending it, named Joseph Firth, share the credit which attaches to the circumstance of the latter having obtained one of the scholarships voted by the Nelson Council in connection with Nelson College. Considering that there are 40 s-hools in the Province, with an attendance of about 2000 scholars, ft is highly creditable to the character of the instruction given in the Cobden school that one of th© boys attending it, and that boy only 13 years of age, should have successfully passed the examination necessary to procure one of these few scholarships. It is to be regretted that similar stimulants and sources of assistance to education do not exist in Westland, where private enterprise does nearly all, and the public purse nearly nothing. In this one particular, it may fairly be confessed that Cobden does enjoy advantages over Greymonth. I In the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, Jobn Cooper, charged with using objectionable language in tbe streets, and with assaulting Constable M'&enna when the latter endeavored to arrest him, was fined L 2 for the first offence, and an equal amount for the second, with the alternative of going to prison for a week in each case, if ho did not pay the fine. The defence was that he knew MiAiiiu^vf'wiiat bad nappeneir. — In the adjourned information by Jane Weeks against William Weeks, the defendant called a witness who stated that the complainant had been in company with "two ladies," and complained that "one of the ladies' had struck her," whereby she had received a black aye, which had, in previous evidence, been attributed to the defendant. In crossexamination the witness said that the complainant had complained of her husband assaulting her, and being obliged to igAye his house. The case for the defendant was the complainant* insobriety, but the Magistrate, although admitting that, did not consider it justification of assaults, and imposed a nominal fine of ss, and without asking the defendant to find sureties.

Mr C. Y. O'Connor, who had been for some time County Engineer in Westland, then District Engineer in the service of the General Government, and was lately transferred to Canterbury, is at present on a visit to the West Coast, along with Mr Carruthers, the Colonial Engineer-in-Chief. Advantage of this visit was taken by a number of the residents of Greymouth to express their sense of Mr O'Connor's close attention to his duties while associated with the execution of public works on the West Coast, aud their appreciation of his personal qualities both as an engineer and as a private citizen. In expression of their feelings towards Mr O'Connor, it was arranged to meet that gentleman at the Melbourne Hotel last evening, and to present him with an address and some suitable memento of his connection with the Coast, andoftheregardforhim which, in words, the address conveyed. Time did not permit of so perfect expression being given, to the object of the residents, Mr O'Connor having opjy returned from Greenstone ab 10 p.m., and feavW £0 leave for Hokitika to-day at dawn, but upwihAi} of twenty gentlemen assembled, and at a reception prepared by the host of the Melbourne, the Mayor, Mr Wickes, presided. In proposing "The health of tbe Guest," the Mayor expressed the. sentiments which had induced the meeting and the presentation, and handed to Mr O'Connor an add?egs of which the following is a copy : — "Gpeymojjth, December 16th, 1872.— T0 C. Y. Oxtonner, Esq., 'late District Engineer for the County of Westi&ud— Dear Sir— We, the undersigned inhabitants of Gjpymouth, desire to express our cordial appreciation of. .the unselfish and voluntary exertions' put forth by you iv the performance of your duties atanngsj; us, bnt for which we believe the construction of Forks most necessary to our, safety and well-being wo#ld have been long delayed, instead of being, as is bow the pase, far on the road to completion. We also wish to record our testimony to the general disinterested energy and ability with which yon have performed the duties of the responsible office held by you whilst residing in this district, and our regret that one whom we we h&ye teamed to esteem, both in his private and public capacities, should be about to leave us for another part of the Colony. We only wish that our loss may be your gain, ami that, as we are sura you will merit, so may you earn elsewhere the kind feelings and respect which you have won : from us."— Mr O'Connor, in responding to the toast, and in acknowledging tbe address, expressed his warm appreciation of the . friendship thus and previously shown to him in Greymouth, and his regret that his relations -with Westland and with the works j with the initiation of which he had been connected had apparently for the present terminated. He was sorry # that there was so little prospect of tho Government, through paucity of funds, being able to carry out immediately those public works on which he had been employed, and no should indeed be glad were he to be called

upon to return early to superintend the execution of what he had aided in designing. He believed that the resources of Westland, when developed by the aid of these public works, would be found to excel those of any other part of New Zealand. Mr O'Connor concluded by proposing "Prosperity to Greymouth," a toaat which was acknowledged by Mr F. Hamilton. Several other toasts, suitable to the occasion and situation, *w«jte .propoaed and acknowledged, and the friendly character of tbe meeting was sustained during a few hours of social intercourse, and by a final expression, on the part of the corapauy, of good wishes towards Mr O'Connor.

In consequence of the non-transmission of papers in time for the usual date of polling, the County election for Okarito only takes place to-morrow (Thursday). The damage occasioned by the late bush fire at Southland, has brfen estimated by the losers and others competent to judge at about L2OO, the loss falling chiefly on four families.

Mr Tribe is reported by the Guardian to have come- forward at the close of the poll in Ross, and thanked those who had voted lor him, stating vhatas many "white men had voted for him as for his opponent." Mr Cuming was then seized by some of his supporters, and carried shoulder high into Camp street, where they" mounted him on a horse ! ;

Out of fifteen hundred £1 shares required to start a Roman Catholic journal in Dunedin only a third of the amount has been subscribed, but it is expected that tho paper will probably appear in February.

The Melbourne Argus thus refers to some pictures by Mr Gully, on view- in the Melbourne exhibition :—" Mr John Gully, of Nelson, N.Z., Bends in two beautiful-water-color drawings— the one a view of Cape Farewell, on the West Coast, and the other Rotoiti after sunset. In the first he seems to have caught the spirit of Stanfield, and in the second that of Turner. The magnificent sky which Mr Gully has painted in the latter is quite a masterpiece."

Mr Walters thus concludes his letter to the Cross on the subject of the scratching of Peeress :— " If I have done wrong, or broken any racing law, I regret it ; but, as far as my knowledge thereof goes, I have not done so. I think it is expecting too much of owners of horses to study everybody except themselves, and can say that I have run horses in New Zealand the last ten years, and have always acted fairly, run to win, and given the public a true run for their money. If 1 have two horses in a race, whether my property at the time of entry or by purchase afterwards, I consider I am entitled to run either, both, or which I please, and to study ray own interests to some small extent. To conclude, I may add that had Peeress started for .the Cup she could by no possibility have won it, so that the public generally, and her most ardent admirers, may congratulate "themselves, and ought to be glad she was bought by a man who withdrew her as soon as lie had made uy his mind not to run her." A man named Fox was, at the instance of Messrs E. q»nd H; Isaacs., arrested at Auckland on board the s'teainship Nebraska, only a few moments before her sailing for San Francisco. It appears Messrs Isaacs received instructions from Melbourne to the effect that Fox had obtained goods from a firm there to the amount of over LBOO. Directly it became known that Fox was on board the mail steamer, the necessary documents were at once procured, and tho would-be absconder was safely brought on shore in the policeboat. The man was accompanied by hia wife and child. Mr Fox will be forwarded to Melbourne by $he first opportunity. "Flattering unction" |s thus laid- tp the editorial son), in ft regent article jn the tfosp Guardian, on the-subject of Mr Cuming's success as a candidate i— "When a triumph like this occurs twice— men to whom we have giren our unqualified support being returned- we may be pardoned in saying what must be admitted, that we have the confidence of the men of the Totara, as they so readily accept the candidate at our recommendation, and return him to the post of honor. This is a cohfidenne ?ye have enjoyed for nearly three years, and hope to keep as untarnished henceforward as hitherto. But this is positively egotistical. Let us change the subject. , The election is now over, but Mr Guniing's trouble is just about to begin." And so the Guardian "changed the.subject," and was no longer "positively egotistfcal," but meritoriously modest. The journal hitherto known as the Oainam Times has changed its title to the JVoj-^t Otayo Times, and has beeu considerably enlarged, The Dunediu Star has also been much enlarged recently, and a morning paper was issued from the; same office, but a recent telegram leaves it doubtful as to whether the double enterprise was continued. The Hokitika Register says :— " We understand that a number' of larrikins are to be broughc before the Resident Magistrate this morning, charged with throwing stones at, and otherwise damaging untenanted houses. We believe this evil has been long increasing, and a oheck to it is strongly necessary." The inference is that the evil of untenanted houses is increasing in Hokitika, as well as larrikinism, and it is to be hoped that a check will be put to both. The Rev. Mr Fraser, of Christchurcb, has been presented with a purse containing 120 sovereigns. Addressing the congregation on the occasion, he said :— He had been with them in their joys and sorrows. He had married somewhere about 900 couples ; and, as he- sometimes reminded them, there was flhjy one man who had come back to him, complaining of his bargain and wishing the marriage undone. He bad. baptised he did not know how many children, Ifor he had given up keeping count long ago ; it was a matter for the census and not for him. And he had stood with them by the graves where they had buried their dead out of their sight. He had suffered with them in the ravages made by death, and fancied that he knew the spot where he too would lie. Among the most painful duties he had had to discharge was to break the tidings of a sudden death to the survivors. It was such a duty— such a task— as grew heavier by repetition, and not easier, as most other duties did. The following is Richard Vaughan's description of the assault made upon him by William Murray, on board the' Tararua, as giypn jn evidence before the Nelson Magistrates j— l amaseaman on board the 'tararua. Prisoner and' I lived in the same part of the ship. Last Friday afternoon I was taking tea with my watch, when an altercation took place between us. He was in his bunk, and complained of the talking going ; on.' He turned out, and said it wanted a good fighting man there to knock some of our heads off. I said we did not want any fighting there,but if he wanted it," I would fight him. He said I was better, than him, and' jjie could not fight pie. I asked him to sit down and talk the fliatjber over, whjfch he refused to do. He said if I. dared to stride Jjinij hg would hit me on the head wjth a mug ie had in fyis hand. Some other %>rdg passed between us, and he snapped at me with his teeth and bit my nose off. Stripped and fell underneath him, when he bit me in tue arm. He let go of me there, and then took hold of me by the thigh with his teeth. Some of the men then took him off me. August Johnston corroborated Vaughan's evidence. Prisoner, who reserved hje defence, was committed for trial at the next sittings of the Supreme Court.