GREY VALLEY GOLD FIELDS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1463, 12 April 1873, Page 2

GREY VALLEY GOLD FIELDS.

"(PROM OUR OWN' CO^iOTONbENT;) . t;^n>i# AprU9. THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. Only one elector is $e% Bpoke^Jf as likely to come forward, with ant^ance of success as a candidate eiecxron to the vacant seat in the Provinpial Conncil. A requisition ' is - 'in ' course of signature throughou.t the district inviting .Mr J. J)\ TiHkerfo!d46 r 'bffef'Mij&sblf/' l /It f^^ij.der'" stood that Mr Pinkertbn will 'accede to the request of the , constituen,cy^ _Tiie next session pif the' Council \?iiy^biost likely.be an important .one ia,it|,'rraultß for ! tb!e Grey djstHct. The'fiochstetter water^rape and the Amuri road are onr particular wants,, and he who succeeds in getting thesp works completed-for, U8 wiij 'be^he boy" for evermore against all comers. ..- ■? ■■'■;■• ■" ATBMTEIgTm^A^JEAPOT.,'';! Half-Ounce is in uproar, and. sections of the inhabitants of that "very impbrtant and influential town are at daggers drawn, and all about a policeman ahd'a^prostitute. It seems that a woman : has 'been several time 3 before the Resident Magistrate's Court for dijlorderiy J cbnduct, and who was once ; septenced to undergo a ; lengthened term /of imii»risjSnj[n ! eiit,r was again 1 guilty ii6t long sinc^, cfit labwive language and otherwise miscoLduc'ting hewe^ in the^u^Uovß^l ,^in view of

constable. The case for the complainant is that the constable, instead of taking the offender into custody, proceeded! to act summarily, and inflicted such chastisement on the woman as amounted to a serious assault. This, it is alleged, took . place .on the: public highway, and in the presence of numerous witnesses, t The apologists for the constable say that he acted with becoming discretion in the matter, and, following the famous example of fhe celebrated Welsh jury, they contend that it "sa'rved her right," for if she didn't deserve what she got, then she did some other time. The upshot is that a deal of very bitter feeling is evoked on either side. One of the leading men of the place, it appears, made out a statement of the case and laid it before the officer in charge of the police in the district, requesting inquiry into the conduct of the constable. It is openly stated that the complaint was disregarded, and that no further action was taken at the time. The Press was then appealed to, but as the Press ia not yet constituted a Board of Inquiry to sit in judgment on delinquent policemen, the Press very properly referred the complainants to the head of the police force in the Province, who is the proper person to institute inquiries of the kind. It is understood that the whole affair will shortly form the subject of a rigid investigation at the hands of Inspector Shalcrass, by whom there is every . reason to believe strict justice will be done, and here the matter may be allowed to drop with just one remark. Wouldn't it have savedalot of trouble and ill-feeling among the residents of that formerly quiet and happy- place. " Upper Half an Bounce," as Finn Charley calls it, if ■ome of the numerous bystanders, who saw the alleged assault committed by the constable, had taken the usual course and summoned him before the Magistrate, as wouli be done in any other similar case. Had this course been followed, the offender, if the charge were proved, would be punished as any other ruffian would be . who was found guilty of illtreating a female. If the Redresser-Generax of the grievances of the inhabitants of the district, had adopted this simple mode of disposing of the difficulty, that gentleman would have the satisfaction of seeing the ' demon of discord banished from the place, and the residents would be now dwelling ' ! together in that blissful state of beautiful ||jfttmony which was at one time characi^TOnstic of the little community. i ANOTHER OPROAB. There is a more legitimate ground for complaint in this instance. The unfortunate! jurymen who were summoned to ' attend the District at its sitting on 3rd. March, at Ahaura, have not yet received , the paltry allowance given in such oases as a compensation for loss of time and extra expense incurred on public business. The grumbling on account of this over- : sight is widespread, because the jurors were drawn from every part of the district. It is hard to fixlhe blame on anyone for the occurrence of this irregularity, except it be the result of the termination ,6i the' Calif orniah Mail Service, which is just as an excuse as of those . given to account for gross neglect of duty pnthe part, of someone. The consequence' of this negligence will be that a jury will never be got together again, if the persons summoned have to travel any distance, without resorting to extreme measures to ' compel their attendance. This will tend to bring the law and the institution of '. trial by jury into contempt, so that' it is 'lime measures were taken to fix the responsibility upon someone of providing against such a contingency. v. : AMUSEMENTS. .•;■•. Murray's Great World Circus and the troupe of acrobats attached to it are making a most successful tour through the mining districts. They performed at Ahaura and Totara Flat on their way to Reefton l*st week. At Reefton they played to crowded audiences on Friday and Saturday nights, and Mr Murray's engagements reluctantly compelled him to refuse an almost unanimous request on the part of the residents to stay one night longer. The show was set up again at Totara on Monday night, and at Ahaura on Tuesday. The company will perform for the* amusement of the residents of No Town and that district at the TwelveMild Landing to-night. It would be difficult to speak in terms of too much praise of the excellence of this performance, especially the gymnastic portions of it. The marvellous feats of the three ■^Mrothers Julian on the trapeze are done AWith a precision, dexterity, and gracefulness of execution wonderful to behold, and the feelings of terror with which some people for the first time witness there dangerous evolutions in mid air is entirely done away by the confidence -they display in themselves and in each other. These young men ere all Australians, and previous to performing in public they were members of several; of ■ the Gymnastic Societies in Melbourne and the suburbs, where they first learnt the "business" in which they have ar-, rived at such proficiency. They neve? : appeared in public out of Victoria previous to coming to New Zealand. The feats of the. acrobats and the performance on the horizontal bar were also much admired. In the equestrian portion of programme Mr Brame and Miss Murray exhibited their accomplishments to appreciative spectators. " Here we are again !" And there is no use denying the fact, he was "all there." and a versatile genius ho ia. This refers to the prin- , cipal clown and jester, Mr Moffatt. The clown had it all his own way in the farming districts, where he sent more than one old buffer home with a stitch in his side from laughing at quips and oddities. ' When a man can rattle off an apt and .difficult quotation from Shakespeare, or recitea sta,ve from a nursery rhyme with 1 eqiial facility and accuracy as Mr Moffatt can, he is sure of the applause of a mixed . audience; but when he can stand on his . head .upon the prongs of a pitchfork, or ' take' a/ flying leap over half-a-d.ozen ; ploughhprses, he makes an appeal to the - bucolic understanding which is altogether irresistible. The appointments of the show were complete in every respect, and ' we trust Mr Murray has been as success- ' fill in a pecuniary sense as hh troupfe has been in giving satisfaction to the crowded . Tloues before which they performed, ! '