Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1447, 21 March 1873, Page 2

Tt is high time that the Borough Council and the Fire Brigade were taking steps for removing that unsightly object in Tainui street which is dignified with the name of bell-tower. To permit the continuance of such an impediment to traffic at the crossing of two of the principal streets is to permit an obstruction which is a decided beam compared with the motes with which the police have hitherto interfered. In fact it is literally two or three beams booh rotten and mouldy. If not removed piece-meal it is certain to come down wholesale, for the time is sure to oome some day when a fourhorse coach or waggon will reduce it to the horizontal at the risk of the soundness of somebody's head. Alreidy there have been some slight collisions, just sufficient to suggest what might happen. If the people of Dunedin could afford, for the purpose of traffic, to remove the first memorial of the settlement of the Province, the Cargill monument, the inhabitants of Greymoutb, as a question of pence and aa-sthetics, can well afford to dispense with their present belltower. The facilities which are now afforded for country residents reaching their homes, by the existence of roads and means of conveyance, have had the effect of clearing the town more quickly than usual of visitors during the race week. A great majority of the visitors returned to their ordinary avocations on Wednesday, and the streets are now resuming their common appearance. During the two days of actual holiday, the fun was fast without being furious. A correspondent atMarsden writes:— "Can you inform me why specifications for the 24 miles of road between Marsden and Greymouth are not advertised to be seen at Marsden, as usual— as was the case when the Marsden aud Greenstone road was about beiDg made. This oversight, it is to be hoped, will be remedied for the future, as it will prove a great conveuience to intending con rac'ors here." Greymouth can excel Melbourne in some thiugs, and, among others, in the extravagant pri'-es givtn ior the priv lege of selling spirituous liquors. While the Gicyinonth publicans, publishers of correct cards, &c , can afford to give a total of L 297 iOs for the privileges of providing the wants of a few hundred peoule, the Melbourne catereis, wnile having the opportunity of p-ovidmg thousands, contributed en tie Joci-ey O!u'> funds only a total of L27u 10s. VV« notice that, at Klirk'a Bazaar, lauc week, the saie of

ooo'-'is for (heV.fi.. C. Autumn Meeting took place, and the sums realised were considered favorable. The followiuswere the successful bidders:— No 1 (Hill), Mr Cradilock. L*M ; Nc 2, Mr Coffee, L 27 ; No 3, Mr P'j it, L4l; No 4, Mr Murphy Ll9 • No 5, Mr Ambrose, LlO ; No G, Mr Straker, LlO. On the Flnt. No 1, Mr Keefe. Ll7 ; No 2, Mr Darcy, Ll2}. No 3, Mr Harvey, U0 ; No 4. Mr iSowan, L 5. Gales, Mr Atk'nson, L9>. Total realised, . including some small items, L~/b 10s. !♦-. is significant of t.he absence of the disorderly and the ineanable, if nob altojrethf>r prn-'f of perfect sobriety havin.'T prevailed in Groymouth during the rac^s, that only two. and n»>t by anvmems aij!»n.vated, cas^s of drunkenness were brought before the Resident Magistrate's Court? Mr Jerome's horse Mozel was rnffhd fnr on Wednpsrlay evening at the Albion Hotel, and was won, we are told, by Mr A. Guiunes I*.1 *. Captain 'Evans, of the brie; Ben Nevis, hns been drowned in Lyttelton harbor by falli '■: out nf a boat in which lie had attempted • scull off to hi* vessel late at, ni^ht. Gr. symnaihy is felt with Mrs Evans, her s<v and he s'ster, who accompanied the deceap , on his trip from Newcastle. It is ejected that the new Ministry v. be definitely constituted next week. i A Wellington tele.'/ram repeats a tplegra^i paid to have bten sent by Mr Yogel to the effect that the Orangemen refrained from taking part in the Governor's farewell procession in obedience to his wishes. A Grahamstown telegram reports that the Thames Orange Lodge presented an illuminated address to the Rev. Jas. Buller. Murray's Circus was, last evening, again the resort of hundreds of spectators, whose satisfaction with the performance was similar to that which had been expressed on the previous four nights of entertainment — namely, loud applause and laughter. The Volunteer Hall Mas occupied according to the purpose which its name indicates, the occasion being the regular visit of Sergeant Carey, but this evening it re-opens for the re-appearance of Miss Stephenson and the company of which she is, in every sense, the head-centre. A. correspondent of the Westland Register, writing of the Grey mouth races, says : — "Two ideas presented themselves to my miucl while admiring the rich and varied dresses of the patronesses of the turf, the first being, that the drapers must do a very lucrative business in Gr^ymouth ; and the second, that husban '.s, parents, and guardians, must ' part ' pretty freely to their fair dependants to pay for ill this fashionable luxury. ... A more orderly collection of si»ht-seers could not, I am sure, be collected together ou any race-course in the world." The Melbourne papers report a case of a man who passed, himself off as a postm.n with a registered letter to deliver, and so secured service of a fraud summons on a too bashful and indebted widow. No wonder butchers thrive and prosper, says the Wakatip paper. In a case heard in the District Court, the plaintiff, a butcher, estimated his profits at 100 per cent, after allowing for drawbacks. Quite as good this as pawnbroking. During the course of the case of Clayton ami others v Morrison, in o>.ago, the reporter carefully noted that peg 85, which had a uood deal to do with the case was mentioued 19,2S7times. Something quite novel iv the way of cricket happened at Wellington lately. A grand re-union match was played on the Te Aro cricket gronnd, the players being composed entirely of members of the Dixon family, whose number in the Colony alone exceeds 130 Many of the players had probably never handb.i the willow before, and great fun was excited by their awkward exhibitions ; but the affair altogether passed off very pleasantly. In the evening tbe Dixonians sat down to a substantial supper, ami passed a few hours together very merrily. Five Chinese were recently charged by the police at (Jardrona with paying in a gambling house. Fonr "f tne defendants denied the champ, but the fifth, against whom che evidence was very clear, pleaded that Mr Pyke had done the same at the Dunstan for an art-union ; that it was a common practice amongst i-'uropeans at Queenstown for a church ; that their lottery was only an artunion ; and that while everyone who li!:e-l could subscribe, only some oould win. ill •■ Magistrate explained the law relating to ;wtunious, a-d sentenced this " child-like " Chinee to a short term of imprisonment. The others were discharged. The Brighton Guardian, of Januar; ', contains a notice of a fancy dress ball 11 at that place, at which, amoagst the ampany present, were three gentlemen who v > b very long ago were residents in Hokiui The costumes of the visitors are desc. .' thus: -Mr Pat Comiskey (Spanish Mv oteerl; Captain Harry Spiller (a Bus ian White Cuirassier) ; and Mr Martin Spiller represented Hokitika. The problem to be sol ved, says the West Coast Times, 'show was the representation of Hokitika made? Nothing that we can conceive would answer tbe purpose. If Mr .Spiller appeared as a Maori, that would answer for all New Zealand, and if as a miner, it would apply to any diggings. Perhaps a hotelkeeper would be more generic, as they abound more plentifully here than any other genus. We confers we should very much like to know wherein we are so peculiar that the town could be represented in character by one man. The latest from the Mahmapua Lake rush is that Connelly and party bottomed on Wednesday and obtained good prespects with five feet of washdirt, in about 20ft sinking The rush has every appearance of turning out well. It is not at all uncomm hi in these districts to have " tin kettle" accompaniments at a wedding ; but something more than usually demonstrative in that line took place in Hokitika on Wednesday night. A y >u;ig couple having got linked in the bonds of HymeD started on a. tour in a coach, and their enthusiastic friends, says the Times, hired a trap and followed the bridal pair wherever they went, making night hideous with the rattle of kerosene tins, playing ou whistles, and other discordant noises of the like nature. There was no escape for the married couple. Wherever they went, the noisy carriage was in the rear, and at last thay had to make the best of it and go on their journey with the music playing behind them, which, if not sweet, was sufficiently loud to be heard at almost any distance. The nominal roll of the Civil Service staff of employees in the New Zealand Government on the Ist of Ju'y, 1872, has been forwarded by the Government Printer afc Wellington. We find, says the N.Z Herald, on making a careful count, that; there are one thousand eight hundred and eight;/ five e.i,ployees in the Colonial Government or, as near as may be, one to every one hsindrand thirty-two of the whole of the inh.il i tants of the Colony. It is to be understood that heads of departments itul mmy «>ti er athVials are not. included iv this roll. Tin number of officials drawing th^ir salariis f<om the Colonial Treasury chest is two thousand. The tailings washed down from the Blue Spur have raised the bed of G-abriel's Gully, at. the place where the old Blue Spur township stood, 100 feet above its original level. '

The jostling case at the recent Tuapeka races is thus referred to by the Dunedin Star:— The principal event at that race meeting was the Handicap, for which, among other horses, Tam'iourini, Hatred, and Atlas ran. The last mentioned — a Provin-cially-owned horse — was favorite, and in all likelihood would have won. But Tambourini was so'ridden by his jnckfiy, Robert Reay, that between him and the rider of Hatred Atlas was successfully jostled nut of .all chance of the race. The pnhlic will have gathered the nature of Reay's offence from the account which appeared in our issue of this day week, of the Tuapeka races ; to which we now add our own report and the decision of the Jockey Club. The latter had, in rhe memorial placed before them, quite enough to warrant their taking the siction they did ; but had unmistakeable evidence by Holt, Atlas's jock y, and others, that Keay possessed an interest in both the first and second horses, and that the jostling was a pre-arranged affair Reay's defence, that the jostling was unintentional on his part, was in the ratio of the strength of the proof to the contrary. But retribution came, and nothing will better serve to put down conduct similar to that of the jockey, than the knowledge that the racing authorities will at once visb with the severest penalty any such cases.