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

The District Court, holiday time notwithstanding,, sits to-day, Judge Harvey having arrived last night to perform their duties. Fortunately the jury • called to consider criminal cases are to have a holiday. The business is bankruptcy. A large supply of fish was obtained by the coastal schooner Sarah and Mary while she lay in the. roadstead. The crew oaught a large shark— one of the largest that has been seen in these seas, and the ug y thing dangled at the stern of the vessel all Thursday, an object of more detestation than admiration to the few to whom sea-bathing is a daily recreation. The crew ssate that there: seems to be an unusual number of sharks on the Coast, an indication that other and more delectable fish abound. The Wealth of Nations Reef, we hear, has beeu struck in the shaft at the southern boundary of the Energetic claim, 72ft deep, shewing gold freely. A hundred tons of stone from- the ' Energetic claim have lately ibeen crashed, yielding 540z. of retorted gold. • Cassidy and Ashton intimate that they intend starting a special coach to Hoki- ' tika at six o'clock on Monday morning, for the convenience of those who desire to be present at the Hokitika races. From a private telegram the Nelson' Mail learns that the Alpine Company's last crushing of 70 tons yielded 530z without cleaning the plates. Mr Cassius was the purchaser of Messrs Spence and Co.'s bonded and free stores in Hokitika. A man named Williams, at Wanganui, lately drank the contents of a bottle of hydrochloric acid, supposing it to be brandy, and died in consequence. A correspondent of the Wangauui Chronicle says that one publican at Foxton took LIBOO at the last sittings of the Native Land Court there. A Nelson telegram of 3rd April to a southern contemporary is to the following effect :—" 'J'he Board of Education has passed a resolution recommending the Provincial Council to consider the desirability of compulsory education." The ironwork for' the gasometer of the Nelson Gasworks has arrived from Auckland, it having been purchased from the Thames Gas Company. In writing of the Nelson and West Coast .Railway, the Southern Gross says :— ".If Marlborough and Nelson were reunited; and the West Coast from Greymoutb. to the Teremakau River added, a fine Province would be created, and what an excellent field would then be offered for a vigorous enterprising Superintendent !" The West Coast Times is informed that Mr Warden Price made his first appearance as a Mining Advocate, in the Warden's Court, Stafford, yesterday. ; A warrant for the arrest of Mr Solomon, lately practising in Christchurch as oculist and optician, on a charge of obtaining money under false pretences, is said by the Lyttelton Times, to have been placed in the hands of the police for execution on Saturday. A contributor to the Tuapeka Times, who has a very arithmetical turn of mind, has again been trying his hand at figures, .and calculates that in order to allow the boothholders at the Dunedin races a fair profit, seventy thousand liquors must have been consumed. The Otago Daily Times, the other day, gave prominence to a story about a settler on the Waiau having seen a live moa. The Southland- Times tells us that the story was current in Invercargill for several days,but was not thought worthy of reproduction in either of the local papers. It is, says the Westporl limes, a significant fact that among the written applications made by unmarried females for the post of assistant teacher at the Westport school, one letter alone was free from orthographical errors. On Monday evening laa (says the Boss Ncios) a goodly number of the late Resident Magistrate's friends met him at the London Tavern, and presented him with a complimentary address, accompanied with a piece of plate. The company afterwards sat down to a recherche supper, and enjoyed a very convivial evening. Dr Duff was in the chair, and in a most flattering manner proposed the health of the guest, Mr Aylruer, which was responded to in very feeling terms. Other toasts, interspersed with songs, followed, and the company did not break up till after midnight. Constable O'Malley, the Inspector of Nuisances in Hokitika, has recently been inspecting the flues and chimneys in town, and has found numbers of them very foul, and some even dangerous. He has served notices on several occupiers of houses, to immediately have their chimneys cleaned, otherwise proceedings will be taken against them. . The captain of one of the Dunedin harbor steamers, having a small piece of Oamaru stone aboaid, put it into the furnace, where it was shortly reduced to a fine powder — the purest lime. He used this for whitewashing the funnel, which it rendered dazzlingly white, and he found that the coating stood better than any he had ever used before, without peeling, it being almost impossible to remove it. He intends to use nothing else in future. Mr David Lundon, the newly-appointed Collector of Customs at Greymouth, was a passenger by the steamer Kennedy, and, having been landed at Hokitika, proceeded hither overland. The following is the Gazette notice of Mr Lundon's appointment : — David Lundon, promoted from the fourth class to the third class, and appointed Collector at the Port of Greymouth. Piomotion to take effect from Ist April, 1873. The Commissioner of Customs, by proclamation in the Gazette, directs that the poits of Napier, Nelson, Westport, Greymouth, Hokitika, and Invercargil], shall be ports in which goods cleared for drawback or from the warehouse shall be carried or waterborne to be put on board ships for exportation ; and also goods carried or waterborne from any importing ship to or to be landed at any wharf, quay, or other place, shall be so carried or .waterborne only by persons authorised for that purpose by license of the Commissioner. In its commercial column, the Lyttelton Times has the following remarks on the West Coast cattle trade:— West Coast ' dealers, who have had great difficulties to contend with for many months past in carrying on their business at a fair profit, have had a heavy tax imposed upon thern.iby |the Westland County Council, who have raised the toll from 3s to 5s upon cattle, and from 2d to 3d upon sheep. Our readers' will have a better idea of the way this heavy toll' operates when we point out that, taking into account the toll upon drivers' horses going • and returning, as well as that paid upon /the

cattle themselves it amounts to abpufc< Is per. lOOlbs upon all the beef sen^ from i this side : to the Coast. In other words, dealers could as well afford to pay 21s per lOOlbs without < the toll at 20s while it is. v imposedL' •■'■' Weaxn.^ derstand that this false step is likely to woflf ' its owii ; cure to the detriment of Hokitika, as those interested in the trade are discussing the desirability of driving ..their, .stpek^tg^ Reef ton and Greymoutfi By Ih'e Xtnuri road up the Waiau ; and a deputation has waited^ upon the Superintendent, urging him to take such steps as may be within his power to get the road made good with as "Ifttle^aelay aT pOSßible. ■ : „.;,;:;;:;; ': " The Hokitika fire-bell rang out an alarm at five o'clock on Wednesday morning, and it was quickly discovered that the fire ceeded from premises in North Revell street, known as the Shamrock Hotel. The Fire Brigade was promptly on the spot, and in an extremely short space of time succeeded in getting the fire under. It is more- than suspected that the fire was the work of an incendiary. In the : Resident Magistrate's Court, a woman named Louisa O'Brien stands charged under the third section of the Malicious Injury to Property. Act, with having set fire to the buildings. Recent high tides have given: premonitory warning at Westport that a repetition of the experiences of last autumn season; may be soon expected. The encroachment of the sea on Kennedy street is slow as yet, but steady. The Clarendon Hotel stands on the merest strip ot solid foundation, and Mr Horn, tobacconist, who occupied an adjoining site, has deemed it wise to shift his location,, and his store is now on the .waljabi track, : moving leisurely towards Cobden street. The tide comes rushing up, at times half-Way across the street, and occupants in the Kennedy and Wallabi street block are getting uneasy. The Provincial Government, says the Tivies, has already promised them sections on, the upper township site, but that promise, as a matter of course, yet awaits fulfilment. As far.: as the applicants are aware, the laying off the new sections has not even yet been authorised." Applications for other claims north and south of the prospectors' claim, the Halcyon, Mokihinui, have been made,, and there is little doubt, says the Westport Times, that a large extent ot ground will be soon in occupation. Specimens of stone brought in both from the north, and south claims show_ precisely the same good indications of gold as" the stone lately tested by Martin and party. A good discovery was made last week at the junction ef Maori Creek and the Mokihinui river ; John Hamilton and his mate having fossicked out from a small crevice, and within a foot or so of the surface, a handsome specimen of golden quartz. It is. about the size of a large epg, and consists of a conglomerate of whitish quartz and. solid gold, the weight being about 6oz, and of which at least one half ia gold. The specimen is much waterworn. It was found not far distant from the place where, some time since, a 19oz nugget was unearthed. : An important case relating to land swept away by sea at; Westport is at^present before the Resident Magistrate's Court, Nelson. The case, that of Joseph v. Myers, was argued before the Resident Magistrate, on Monday last, Mr •- Pitt appearing, for the plaintiffj ; and Mr Acton Adams for the defendant. It was an action for six months' rent of part of a section of land at ; Westport, encroached upon by thesea, and now ßft below high water mark. As several points of law are involved, the Resident Magistrate took a fortnight, to consider his judgment. In a township not a hundred miles from Oamaru, a Doctor (?) commenced practice, and was consulted by not a few. Although one of his prescriptions savored strongly of lard and kerosene, for which mixture he charged half-a-guinea for a pill-boxful, he throve for a time, but one day, unluckily for himself, being in the bar of a hotel, he was hailed by some recent arrivals with the greeting, "Hallo cook, you here !" A hasty adjournment took place, and a whispered consultation followed. The thing could not be kept quiet; the pseudo-doctor was the cook of the Great Britain. He has levanted, to the.great regret, says the Times, -of -credulous creditors. The deputation from the Inland Communi* cation Committee left Nelson on Wednesday and reached Wellington on Thursday. They had an interview with the Minister of Public Works, and Mr Yogel made an appointment to receive the deputation in the afternoon of the same day. The gentlemen who compose the deputation were expected to return by the steamer Wellington, on Sunday, except his Honor the Superintendent, whose business with the Government will detain him a few days longen We (Examiner) received a private telegram which stated that the deputation were favorably impressed with Mr Vogel's treatment of the scheme. He promised a definite answer by Wednesday. A case arising out of the arrest of Samuel Boyle (late Mayor of Hokitika), for debt, reported in the Dunedin Star of the 2nd inst, was heard- at the Gaol before James Fulton, Esq.. R.M. Mr Hughes, bailiff of the Resident Magistrate's Court, summoned Boyle for assault and resistance while in the execu- . tion of his duty. Boyle brought a counter, action. for unlawfully assaulting and beating against Hughes. The defendant in the first case asked for an adjournment, on' the ground that he had not had time to obtain legal advice. The request was refused, and the cases being gone into, Hughes stated that on Tuesday last, while arresting defendant, a struggle ensued, dnring which defendant caught him by the collar, placed his thumbagainst his throat, and endeavored to throttle him. While this was going on, a gentleman named ' Adams came up and extracted' the warrant from his (Hughes) pocket. It was then alleged that defendant walked away quietly to prison. Boyle said that on Tues-; das he saw Hughes in Jetty street, and; immediately moved away in the direction of Gray's saw-mills. He was followed by Hughes, who took hold of him andtwistedhim about. He asked Hughes to show him the warrant, remarking,that if it -were not produced he would go no further. The warrant was not produced, and a scuffle ensued. This was before Adams came up. When 1 the warrant was produced he went away quietly. He never struck Hughes. Mr Hughes quoted " Watson on the Office and Duties of Sheriffs and Bailiffs,", showing that it was not necessary that he should produce his warrant. Mr Boyle again applisd for an adjournment, and his Worship granted it, taking Boyle's personal recognisance for L2O. [It bas since been stated that Mr Boyle was fined LlO/j