Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1412, 8 February 1873, Page 2

The West Coast porbion of the San Francisco mail is to be despatched from Nelson by the steamer Kennedy, which sails for the Coast at half-past six this evening. • In the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, the only information heard was one against E. Coutanche, for permitting some building material to obstruct the thoroughfare, for which he was fined 10s. Dr Moraji, Roman Catholic Bishop, is expected to arrive in Hokitika by this evening's coach from Christchurch. Mr Theodore Ranft, of Reeftou, has addressed to the Lyttelton Times a lengthy letter, giving an interesting and faithful de» scription of the reefs in the Inangahua district. A small item of personal gossip— namely, a statement that Mr A. Reid, of this office, had succeeded Mr D. M. Luckie as editor of the Nelson Colonist— lias been extensively paragraphed by contemporaries. Merely to avoid misapprehension among the profes- j sion, it may be well to mention that the statement is incorrect. Dr Hector, during his stay at Port Molyneux, stated if coal could be got on that side of the Molyneux, he believed it would be superior to any previously obtained in Otago. Upon the faith of this statement, Mr Donald Henderson, of Port Molyneux, has started to sink, and has sot down 44ft, but without any sign of coair The process of sinkiug is superintended by Mr D. Hutcheson, of Coal Point, Moeraki. •'The Cruise of the Luna" is the title of a series of letters from a reporter for the Otago Times who accompanied the vessel on her last trip to the West Coast. The same ground has been several times gone over by special reporters for the Times, and these last letters necessarily lack the interest which they might otherwise have possessed. Writing of Preservation Inlet, and of the country south and east of it, this' report says:— "Strong probability exists of auriferous deposits being found within the radius of country indicated. That opinion is fortified by the fact that gold has been founa

ibout the Lilburn, in the neighborhood of ihe Waiau. It is true that it has not been 'ound in quantities, but it is equally true ;hai<to.e search has been but erratically prosecuted. Had the stream of digging popula;ion attracted to the West Coast of Canterbury, a few years ago, remained in Otago i short time longer, it is more than probable the real value of these deposits would have been long since definitely ascertained. The jolor of gold has been got in the Inlet at several places. Amongst the shingle on the beach at Steep-to or Crayfish* a nugget weighing from two to three pennyweights was got by a prospecting party. Both here and in the neighboring inlets the beds of tlie ureeks contain a great deal of mud^ and although no traces of gold have yet been seen, the slate formation is traversed by veins similar in every respect to those in which gold is usually found." A. visitor to the Melbourne gaol was somewhat surprised, lately, on finding a person there restrained carrying on bis business ' just as he would in his counting-house. His papers and check-books were before him, and he had two clerks with, him hard at work. The prisoner's offence was only some contempt of Court. The Morven Hills station, the property of the Hon. John M'Leaa, is advertised to be sold by auction on the 26th March next, in Dunedin. The area comprised in the run is 370,000 acres, and there is besides a freehold of 4000. 130,000 sheep, 2000 head of cattle, and 100 horses are to be disposed along with it. The Chinese New Year in Dunedin was merely celebrated by the firing off of crackers, aud the playing of music at the Chinese quarters in Stafford street. At Lawrence and Queenstown there was great rejoicing among the Celestial residents. Through the unfortunate illness of Mr Armson, the architect, the completion of the plans for the erection of the new building in Christchurch for the Canterbury Club has been delayed. In anotl-er column will be found a notice to the public that Thompson, Smith, and Barkley are about no make an important change in their business, and that they offer every class of goods in their stock at greatly reduced prices, and they have pleasure in recommending this opportunity to all to purchase at prices not likely to again occur in this town. The genuine notice of this sale must recommend itself to everyone, as the standing of the firm is sufficient guarantee of the truth of the statement.— [Ad vt.] A most revolting act of cruelty has been brought under the notice of the Cresioick Advertiser. It is no less than the setting fire to a cat after having kerosene poured over it ; the poor animal being thus literally roasted alive. Since the starting of vhe Mosgiel (Otago) woollen factory, in 1871, they have turned out 600 pieces of tweed, .averaging 40 yards each. ; 160 pieces of plaiding, of 50 yards each ; 500 pairs of blankets, of various sizes ; 99 plaids, of various sizes j 20 shawls, 180 spindles of fingering worsted, 600 do yarn, 645 pairs pants, 113 shirts, 1200 pairs socks, and 545 pairs stockings. The Dunedin distillery is being enlarged at a cost of L3OOO. When completed, there •will be five stills in full work, capable of producing from 2000 to 2500 gallons of spirits per week with one shift only, but with two shifts, or by working night and day, double the quantity mentioned. A new illnstrated paper is advertised tc make its appearance in Melbourne shortly mi-— ~u — »k» the eighth weekly journal it! that city, and will bring up the list of news pnjjprs to 23. A billiard table at the Kaikoura is thus described by the Artemus Ward of the Canterbury Press:— "l -wish to give this hotel its due, and to say that the land lord's treatment of us was very all right so to speak, but the billiard room is a wonder. It is, I think, the most re> markable feature in the Kaikouras. It has a small table, from whose cushions the balls will scarcely condescend to rebound unless driven with herculean force. There is only one cue, but he is a cue. I should like tc meet the man who tipped it, and learr things from him. There is no mistake about your hazards, when you play on this table for the pockets are mostly bottomless, and the ball falls on the floor. In rainy weathei the rain comes on the table, but once yoi get used to allowing for it, I think its ar improvement. It leaves a watery track across the cloth, and the plashing of the fain on the t*ble makes an accompaniment tc your game at once musical and cheering." An interesting account of the Governor's trip to the glaciers of Mount Cook on tht Canterbury side of the Alps appears in the Timaru Herald of the 3rd inst. His Excel lency expressed himself-greatly pleased witl the excursion, and add^d that it will always be a source of satisfaction to him that he die not leave New Zealand without having visited the Southern Alps of the Middle Island. In the last number of the Westminster Heview there appears a closely reasoned and well written article on " Aesthetic Physioism," ?rom the pen of Mr E, H. Eyton, at present residing in Greymonth; Mr Eyton, it may be remembered, was the author oi the essay for which the first prize was awarded when the New Zealand Government offered a scries of prizes for essays on the subject of Gold Fields Settlement. The following particulars respecting the rush at Belfast Terrace, Hau-Hau, are from an authentic source : — The prospectors, Ait kin and party, have been prospecting fifteen months, and are getting two grains to half a pennyweight to the dish. Culwell and party, on the other side of the hill, are getting about the same prospects. The New Chura, and Curtis and party average three to four grains to the dish. The washdirt is from two to three feet deep. There are about 100 claimholders on the ground, -but it is marked on" to the head of Brennan's Creek, two and three claims wide. The West Coast Times is informed by a person who arrived a day or two since in Hokitika from the Haast that the stock of flour there when he left was not more than eight bags j that for the last ten weeks the inhabitants have been without beef, sugar, tea, and tobacco ; and that LI has been offered for lib of sugar, and the same rate for tea sind tobacco. The informant states that the population at the Haast is eight men ; at Big Bay, four men ; at Bruce Bay, twenty-four men, women, and children. One party at the Haast are earning L 4 per man per week, and the others about L 2 10a each per week. Some gentlemen who have felt the inconvenience of a, delay of seven days before a letter posted at Marsden reached Hokitika, pointed out that the coach now passes by and through it daily, and that the service might easily be made a daily one. Mr Kirton, says the Weslland Register, assented to the reasons of Messrs KoDnedy, Dungan, and F, L. Clarke, the gentlemen in question, and promised to remedy this defect iv our County postal arrangements. The Hokitika Eesident Magistrate's Court was filled on Thursday by as uiany of the public as could gain admittance, the attraction being the desire to hear the case of Jackson v. Hine, an action for LI OO damages, for the enticement from the plaintiffs' employ of a young lady who had quitted his service- suddenly and taken up her residence in the house of the defendant. Both parties to the suit, says the Register, are well-knowu

Hokitika publicans, but, alas ! the flaneurs were doomed to disappointment, and, as the hours crept on without the desired case being called, the Court gradually emptied, until, i at three o'clock, only a few of the pnblic re^ ruained, and those few deserving individuals were unmistakeably disgusted when an arrangement was come to by the learned gentlemen employed in the case to postpone it until Monday next. During the Governor's visit to Queenstown, an excursion on the Lake in the steamer Antrim was projected. His Excellency rose on the morning selected at half-past eight o'clock, and on proceeding to the steamer, found that the Mayor of Queenstown was the only person there to receive him. Everybody appeared to have overslept himself, and the neglect of. punctuality by those who were to accompany the vice-regal party appeared to annoy Sir George, who, to teach them a lesson, gave oiders for the boat to start on the voyage at once, and wait for no one. The Arrow Observer re' marks that it is reasonable to suppose the Gamp officials were fearfully sold, as when the dignified party arrived at the jetty they had the mortification to observe the Antrim a couple of miles on her journey. Our readers can judge of their feelings. Copper ore has been found by Mr W. J. Barry, in the course of a prospecting tour, somewhere "between Mount Pisa and the Arrow." Those competent to form an opinion have assured Mr Bavry that the stone contains at least 50 per cent, of copper. Th 3 specimens — of which Mr Barry has about GOlbs weight — are to be sent to Sydney for chemical analysis. Mr Barry also informs us that while prospecting in the neighborhood of Lake Wakatip, a few days ago, he discovered a, splendid seam of coal within three miles of Queenstown. A peculiarly shady foot race took place at the Arrow last week. Certain sporting men of Queenstown fancied they had discovered in a "party," who played a prominent part in the great billiard match which took place in Lawrence in November last, a fit and proper medium to make good their recent defeats in trials cf agility, such as cricket, foot races, standing high jumps, etc , in which the Arrowites invariably came off the winners. In order to regain their lost honors, they seized upon this " great unknown," cooped him up carefully for some time, and at last brought him out as a " crack runner " who could whip the district. A match was made for L 25 aside — the Arrow being represented by a fine young athlete about 17 years of age. The distance to be run was 200 yards, over 8 flights of hurdles, 3£t Gin high. The Queehstowu folks knew their man to be a professional runner who had beaten several pedestrians of no mean fame, and therefore backed him in some heavy sums. But what was their surprise when they found their man lost the race by a few yards, that the tables were turned upon them, that their money, name, and reputation all were gone, and to learn the bitter lesson that to run a race is one thing, and to win the money quito another. Mr Buller, in his work on New Zealand birds, thus explains why the kakapo does not fly : — " All who have studied the bird in its natural state agree on this point, that the wings, although sufficiently large and strong, are perfectly useless for purposes of flight, aud that the bird merely spreads them to break the force of its fall in descending from a higher point to a lower when suddenly surprised ; in some instances even this use of them is neglected, the bird falling to the ground like a stone. We are naturally led to ask how it is that a bird possessing large and well-formed wings should be fouud by means of which the movements 6T these anterior limbs are regulated* are very well developed, but are laigely overlaid with fat. The bird is known to be a ground-feeder, with a voracious appetite, and to subsist chiefly on vegetable mosses, which, possessing but little nutriment, required to be eatg in large quantities; and .Or Haast informs us that he has sometimes seen them with their crops so distended and heavy that the birds were scarcely able so move. These mosses cover the ground, and the roots or trunks of prostrate trees, requiring to be sought for on foot ; and the bird's habit of feeding at night, in a country whe^e there are no indigenous precadory quadrupeds, would render flight a superflous exertion, and a faculty of no special advantage in the struggle for existence. Thus it may be reasonably inferred that disuse, under the usual operati n of the laws of nature, has occasioned this disability of wing, for there is no physiological reason why the kakapo should not be as good a flier as any other I>arrot."