THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1432, 4 March 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 1873.

The New Zealand Coal Company, whose project has already been prominently brought uuder the notice of the public, received, last evening, as hearty support as its promoters could possibly desire. The speakers at the meeting in Gilmer's Hall were few because there was little to be said without indulging in platitude, but the attendance was numerous, and the fact of seven hundred shares in the company having been applied for before the Mayor left the chair is sufficient indication of the interest taken in the object for which the meeting was called. A large • accession, to the number of applications for i shares will, no doubt, be made within the ■ next few days, and the expectation is that ■ the promoters of the company will have reason to admit that Greymoufch has done its duty. ' Messrs Maclaren and M'Cabe will give 1 another of their conjuring and comique entertainments at the Volunteer Hail, thi9 ' evening. Arriving at the end of another company's successful season, these gentle- ■ men have, as yet, received but scant courtesies at the hands of the residents here. The entertainment which they present is a very attractive one, and, as the prices of admission are much reduced, we have no doubt there I will be a good attendance to-night. On Sunday last, during the afternoon, Mr i Cresswell, late superintendent of Trinity Church Sunday School, received a presentat tiun of handsomely-*>ound volumes from the teachers and children belonging to the , school, as a token of their esteem and a\ • - preciation of bis kind, painstaking cxci- . tions during the last two years, in form--5 iug and bringing to a state of proficiency Trinity Church Sunday School. The Rev. - Mr Watkins expressed his regret that official and private domestic duties deprived the 1 school of Mr Uresawell. The presentation was suitably acknowledged by Mr Cresswell, who made a short address and trusted the > "JZ __V_T -~~ ~~ ..ggOTin DUlIt, HIHUIIgthe advantages which would accrue from > tlie removal of the Hokitika Hospital to the north Bide of the river, a very prominent one ■> is the opportunity which it would offer of conjoining in one person the medical super- > intendence of that institution and of the * Lunatic Asylum. Tn the interests of the > patients in the asylum it is tn be hoped that some auch arrangement as the Times sug- * gestswill be adopted. It is a disgrace to . the County that its Lunatic Asylum should be, in locality and in the choice of attendants, treated as a gaol. The Robert Burns' Hotel, Reef ton, and two adjacent offices, one of which is at present being used for the purposes of the Telegraph Department, were sold at auction on ■ Thursday by Messrs D Isaacs and Co., and realised the sum of L2OO. The purchaser was Mr Edmund Fraser, of the Ahaura. The sura of L 3 18s 6d per ounce is stated by the Inangahua Herald to have been ob- , tamed for the last cake of gold from Anderson's claim. As showing how well the cake i had been retorted, the parcel only lost 6dwt in melting. The Exhibition Committees ai Reeffcon and • Westport receive bronze medals for exhibits [ of ores. The following claims in the Inangahua get first-class certificates for success in mining enterprise :— United Band of Hope, Golden Hill, Anderson's Creek, Golden Fleece; and at Lyell, Alpine, and Little Wonder. Mr Woolley, o£ Reefton, . cats a first-class certificate for maps, as also Ulrßanft. The Lyell Argus gives the following warning :— " We trust that business people who may be contemplating the establishment of branches at the Lyell will duly weigh the probabilities of success before they are heedlessly guilty of a repetition of that precipitancy which has brought bitter regret to ao many who settled at Reefton, and whose greatest wish it now is to get away from the place_ almost at any price. No doubt the alluvial in its vicinity is a guarantee that there will always be a certain amount of ready-money business done at the Lyell, but people at a distance must by no means run away with the idea that the alluvial ground is unlimited in extent, . and there is reason to fear that the only partial success of the Murray Creek Reefs will have the effect of somewhat retarding the rapid development of our own, notwithstanding their exceptional richness." Mr Garsides, late of the firm of Macarthy and Garsides, brewers, Charleston, has decided upon erecting a brewery at Lyell. The contract for sawing the timber has been let, and the building will be started in about a fortnight. < It is calculated by gentlemen interested in i the development of the Malvern Coal Fields, ] that, when the railway is open and the i •vines are properly worked, they will be able < to deliver their coal to consumers in Christ- 1 church at prices not exceeding 20s per ton. i The quality of the coal, however, is still i questioned. \ Miss Clara Stephenson has recently had a sad domestic bereavement, and received news ( of the fact very inopportunely. Her benefit 1 night in Hnkitika was on Friday last, when i she appeared in "London Assurance." Un- | fortunately, says the Times, within a few $ minutes of the commencement of the piece, t Miss Stephenson received information of the I death of her father, and though she strained ( every effort to snstain the character of Lady a Gay Spanker as the role demanded, yet she t could not help niflki&g it evident that she c was only playing a part. At the conclusion a of the performance Miss Stephenson, being ( loudly called for, stated the bereavement she C had sustained in explanation of her inability t to go through the part allotted to her. On I the same evening there was a narrow escape d of the theatre and other buildings being a burnt down. During the performance of the I

comedy one of the actors in going off knocked | down a lamp at the o.p. wing, which, bursting, set the oil ablaze on the floor of the stage. An indescribable scene of confusion ensued. Pome people commenced to rußh to the street, bnt others did better service by jumping on to the stage and stamping down the flames. It was very fortunate that the scenery did not catch fire, for had it ignited nothing could have saved the theatre and a large portion of the town. As it was the blaze was extinguished in a very few minutes, and the business of the play was continued as though nothing had occurred more than was incidental to the performance. Shareholders in mining companies should remember that any stores held by them upon which calls remain unpaid for twentyoue days are liable to absolute forfeiture. All calls made in February must be paid not laber than Wednesday, the 4th inst., which is the last day that calls will be received, any further delay subjecting the shareholders to forfeiture of their interest in accordance with the provisions of the new Act. "The Pope he leads a jolly life," acco'-I-ing to the song. Contrariwise, it is said that one reason of Pius IX's long life and good health is doubtless the simplicity of his table, and his abstiuence from everything he finds injurious. He scarcely allows any condiments in his food, excepting, however, tomatoes, of which he is so fond that he almost gives the order which a Florentine gentleman always promulgated on the | arrival of a new cook : — " Be sure that you put tomatoes in everything but the coffee." Some lively letteis are appearing in the Hokitika papers — letters written by little persons in the spirit and diction of Little Peddlington. The local hospital is the usual subject, and hints are given of some fearfully mysterious things occurring in or about that establishment. Mr James Teer, who was evidently saved froai the wreck of the General Grant for some great purpose, is the latest contributor to the columns of the Times, and he is decidedly heavy on Dan Lynch, a gentleman who, by some wonderful freak of human nature, has become a Hospital Committee-man. Mr Teer, ala Sairey Gamp, writes thus: — "When Mr Daniel Lynch asserts so gross a falsehood as to say that I persisted, in defiance of all rules and regulations in going round the male ward every day, and that some parcels had to be taken from me that would not be allowed in, and that the officers complained about me to the House Committee, 1 challenge Mr Lynch to prove the truth of his allegations. Relative to the disgraceful affair of my oar and boat, which Mr Lynch repudiates all knowledge of wherein I sustained a serious injury, how was it that I received compensation, some Wo or three months afterwards? It was through an accidental conversation I had with a police officer. On the 19bh of October last, Miss Charles, the matron, left Mr Daniel Lynch 's hotel at twenty minutes to two in the morning. Mr Lynch's barmaid was in her company. The yice-Prtsi-dent has the reputation of having pulled Miss Charles home to the hospital, and then brought back the barmaid. Yet, forsooth, Mr Lynch knows nothing about this. Will the public believe him, or will they believe me ? Truth mußt prevail. " During the examination into the charge against Ryan for shooting Detective Farrell, Mr Barton created some amusement by his interrogations of a witness who had charge of the gates at the Stuart street jetty. He wished to know what sort of persons witness had seen in the locality, and the man replied that he had seen lawyers in full canonicals outside the Supreme Court, Mr Barton included, but he had never noticed that Mr ■fiir.tiw TOns.tatitui llia .stank p. TTe lij«s no-"",---taKrng the air on the Stuart street jetty "Did you ever," said Mr Barton, "see Mr Macassey walking down the jetty with bis hands behind his back- just like Napoleon, you know ?" This comparison caused great laughter, as Mr Barton illustrated his mean- j ing by an amusing bit of pantomime. The witness, who was apparently taken aback by the unexpected comparison, replied, " T never saw Napoleon," which he brought out in such a way that the crowd in the Court laughed again loudly and heartily.

The death of an old resident of the Lyell towuship, Mr Andrew Tod, is recorded in the nominally local paper. Mr Tod, who was a native of Perthshire, Scotland, was one of the earliest settlers in this district, and in , partnership with Mr Smith succeeded in establishing a large and successful business. The deceased has been ailing for some time past, but until within a day or so of his death, a serious result was not anticipated. I His burial took place on Wednesday afternoon. The remains were followed to their last resting place by the Warden of the discrict, a majority of the miners and business people, and a large number of personal friends, in all about 300, many of whom came from a considerable distance. Some of the famous stage drivers of California are engaged in a controversy as to which of them can perform the most reckless feats of driving without going to destruction. Clark Poss, the proprietor of the noted stage line running to the Geysers, makes a proposition to wager a heavy stake that he will beat the time claimed by tbe opposition stage party of seven minutes down the old Geyser grade of two measured miles from the Geyser House, with six horses and a load of eight passengers. He also makes a proposition to drive against any other man with the same team and load, with reference to the time previously made. This challenge has brought out several responses, and one man proposes to bet Poss an even thousand dollars that he dare not ride down the grade as fast as another driver— one Charley Corvell-will drive. _ The road designated for the proposed exhibitions of skill i 3 one of the most dangerous in the world, constantly winding, and m many places so narrow that only about six inches are left between the line where the outer wheels roll along and the edge of precipes shooting down one, two, or even three thousand feet, ft would occur to some minds that the most difficult position to fulfil in carrying out the tests proposed by the rival whips would be the finding of the eight passengers who are stipulated for in each trial. In another column will be found a notice to the public that Thompson, Smith, and Barkley are about to 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 towr. The genuine notice of this sale I must recommend itself to everyone, as the standing of the firm is sufficient guarantee of the truth of the statement.— [Advt.j Dk Bright's Phosphodynk.— Multitudes of people are hopelessly suffering from Debility, Nervous and Liver Complaints, De, pression of Spirits, Delusions, Unfitness for Business or Study, Failure of Hearing Sight and Memory, Lassitude, Want of Power, &c, whose cases admit of a permanent cure by the new remedy Phosphodyne (Ozonic Oxygen), which at once allays all irritation and excitement, imparts new energy and life to the enfeebled constitution, and rapidly cures every stage of these hitherto incurable and distressing maladies. Sold by all Chemists and Storekeepers throughout the Colonies, from whom pamphlets containing testimonials may be obtained. CautionBe particular to ask for Dr Brignt'a Phosphodyne as imitations are abroad. Wholesale aeenta for New Zealand : — Kempthorne, Prosser., and Co, Dunedin.— [Acvr.]