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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1472, 23 April 1873, Page 2

Yesterday was the day appointed for the election of a successor to Mr Eynnersley in the Nelson Provincial Council. There were two candidates —Mr J. D. Pinkerton, of Ahaura, and Mr James Wilkie, of Cobden. It has been the habit of the Greymouth and At aura line of telegraph to be "interrupted" on every occasion on which there is anything unusual occurring, and yesterday this evil habit was maintained. We are consequently without advices from several of the polling places, but the presumption is that Mr Wilkie has been returned. At Cobden he had 54 votes, while Mr Pinkerton had 7 ; and at > T o Town he had 23 votes, while Mr Pinkerton had only 4. The other polling places were the Ahaurn, Half -Ounce, and Nelson Creek, but from these no information has as yet been received.- At each place Mr Pinkerton would necessarily require to have a considerable majority to overcome the advantage gained at the other two places by his opponent, and, not having made a personal canvass, it is questionable if he would have that advantage. It is significant of the interest taken in the election that at No Town, out of a constituency of several hundreds, only twenty-seven recorded their votes, and it is significant in the other direction that Cobden polled more votes than is represented by the supposed aggregate of the population. Iv commemoration of the memory of St. George, the Banks in Greymouth Vill not to-day pay cheques or do any other secular business. Tn the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, three Justices of the Peace, Messrs Masters, King, and Reid, were employed in hearing cases which were interesting to no one except the persons immediately concerned. With regard to the recent sudden and unexpected departure from this port of a well-known Hokitika publican, the Westland lieijistar says: — "A publican, lately residing in Revel} street, who devoted much of his spare time to the innocent occupation of fishing in the waters of Hokitika, was one day last week; seized witfr an ardent dejjire

to ascertain if the fish in the Arahura River possessed an equal flavor with those nearer home. He therefore took a trip to that delectable spot, and so charmed must he have been with the sport there obtainable that he has not since returned, to the great grief of a large circle of friends. At first it was conjectured that, instead of catching fish, the process had been reversed, and" the fish liad caught him. But searching inquiries have left but little doubt that the missing man left Greymouth for Melbourne by the Sarah and Mary. Of so retiring a disposition was he, and so averse to be escorted off -by his friends, that he did not even allow his right name to appear in the passenger list." Au " Anglo- Australian Press Agency" telegram states that Mr Luckie has resigned his seat in the Nelson Provincial Council. This may be correct; but on Saturday last Mr Luckie telegraphed to a friend in Greymouth that lie purposed attending the Council as soon as he conveniently could, and certainly before the close of the session. If Mr Luckie should resign his seat, the Council will lose its most able, active, and attentive member, and the Province will lose all the advantages of his ability, activity, and attention. The value of the alluvial workings on the Palukis north of the Orawaiti has been now well proved. The ground will yield to men who are not afraid of work, and will patiently take the ground on a face as it comes, from L 3 to L 5 per week, and here Mid there double as much. An informant who is systematically working a claim there says the first men who came up contented themselves with bottoming a few shafts, and judging ' alone from the prospects thus obtained they went away disappointed. His system is to take out blocks of ground from fifteen to twenty feet, and put through the sluice-box all the wash, good, bad, and indifferent. He is earning above the average slated, and says others are doing equally well. There is room for 200 men to set in. and by co-operation the ground might be easily drained to the advantage of all parties working. In 1872, the Victorian alluvial mines paid dividends to the amount of LI SO, 000, while the dividends from quartz reached the enormous sum of one million and sixty-nine thousand pounds, having increased to that amount from L 470.502 in 1870. Three hundred .Russian ladies have asked to be examined for the faculty of medicine ; of these 70 will be admitted to the lectures — 17 to be given weekly. The army of the Pope was equipped in part with Remington guns, so were some of the French partisans during the war, and we now learn that orders have been given at Madrid for the immediate purchase of 4000 stand of rifles of the same pattern for distribution among the troops engaged in operations against the Carlists. A curious book (says the European Mail) is on the point of publication. The author seriously professes to give from actual experience a matter-of-fact account of the laws, manners, and customs of a kingdom situated in one of the planets of the solar system. The title of the book is "Another World." The authorities ot' St Paul's Cathedral announce that this year the choir will consist of boys and men only, and not include women as heretofore. The Scandinavians settled at Norsewood, Hawke's Bay, are early manifesting an interest in the public affairs of the Colony, about fifty of them haviug made application to have their names placed on the electoral roll. The provincial chest of Canterbury is overflowing, and the Lyttdton Times, speaking of the large receipts from land sales, pathetically says — " The question again is — what are we to do with all this money ?" ' Messrs D. Maclean and Co sold on Monday, at Ahaura, a mob of seventy head of fat cattle for Messrs Ulendinning and Mallison, at satisfactory prices. The majority of the inhabitants of Hokitika have, fortunately, no favor for the manufacture of puns and conundrums. Mr Murray, the proprietor of the Circus, offered a gold watch as a prize for the best conundrum. On Monday evening, Mr Murray announced that only five conundrums had been received, and that Done of them was of a locsl character. Under tha circumstances, the watch would not be given away. A man named Henry John Price has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment by the Resident Magistrate at Hokitika, for robbing the till of Upham's Hotel. Constable Cashion gave evidence which proved that the prisoner had on several former occasions beea convicted of robbing tills, both at Greymouth and Hokitika. The competition for the Dunedin orolf Club's Silver Cup took place on the 14th inst, on Mornington Links. The competition was a handicap, and consisted of two rounds of the links, or eighteen holes. The Cup was won by Mr W. D. Murison, with 101 strokes ; Mr G. Miller being second, with 104; Mr Baxter and Professor Shand tying for third place, with 111 each. Cricket flourishes in New South Wales ; nay, it does more, it pays. We are told that the net profits of the late intercolonial match was about LGSO, and this after defraying the additional expenses paid on behalf of the Victorian team through the postponement of the match. As it was wet weather, and the cricket ground at some distance from Sydney, the cash results indicate considerable enthusiasm on the part of more than 20,000 cricket lovers. A rather curious contribution to the incidents of the late Boston fire has just come to light. Tn one of the stores in the burnt district, the porter with the keys of the safe was on hand, and perceived that the tire was rapidly approaching. In his terror he rushed to and fro in the counting room, and at last caught up the plated ice-pitcher full of water, locked it in the safe and departed from the burning building in the proud consciousness that he had accomplished something to save his employer's property. When, however, the safe was taken from the ruins, it was fonnd that the books were uninjured. The heat which would otherwise have charred and destioyed the books only converted the water into steam. Steam safes are now under advertisement as the latest Boston " notion." The Hokitika Hospital Committee have lately had some important business before them, to which prominence is thus given by the West Coast Times: — "A letter was received from Dr Maunsell, stating that on a recent occasion Miss Charles, the matron, had left the hospital without leave, and had been serving in a booth on the race-course. Another letter from Dr Maunsell conveyed the intelligence that Mary Mooie, the nightnurse, had left the hospital and had been serving in a booth on the race-course. A subsequent letter from Dr Maunsell, stated tjjat he had since been informed that Miss Moore had been inarripd, and informed tho Committee that Mi«s Charles had apolp^ised for her conduct. Dr Maunsell suggested that, as a penalty, Miss Charles should be debarred from leaving the hospital grounds for two months, and that if she offended again, she should bo at once dismissed. The President said that it was a great pity that any person belonging to the institution should bring discredit upon it by serving drinks on a racecourse, and he was also sorry that a member of the Committee should have countenanced such proceedings. Mr Lynch said that Miss | Charles went up to the race-course acci ( \ dentally, she jumped into the express, an "

it was not for him to put her out of it. Mr Bcnning was of opinion that a member of the Committee should not have encouraged such proceedings. It was moved by Mr Bevan, and seconded by Mr Benning— 'That Miss Moore be dismissed.' The motion was passed without dissent. A discussion then took place concerning the conduct of Miss Charles. Mr Hudson stated that many persons upon the race-course had called his attention to the fact that servants of the institution were serving beer behind a bar. On the motion of Mr Bevan, it was resolved—' That a copy of the new rules be sent to Miss Charles, with an intimation that if she again transgressed, she would bu immediately dismissed.' Mr Gawne stated that Mr Pollock and himself had visited the hospital, and found that there were five pigs ready for sale. They were very fat." A valuable bed of blue limestone has been discovered recently on the farm of Mr George Dodson, on the Peninsula, near Dunedin. Specimens of . the stone have been tested by Professor Black, and pronounced excellent. i Some of them yielded as mnch as SI per cent of pure carbonate of lime, whilst the lowest yield was G74 per cent. The stone is abundant, easily obtained, and not far from water transit. We understand that Mr Dodson intends opening up the stratum without delay, and testing it thoroughly, and, if present anticipations are realised, he will contiuuc to work it. In IS7I there were, inclusive of Chinese, | 20,548 miners employed in New Zealand in alluvial work, and but .6826 in quartzmining. [ Yet the result of the latter's labor gave at least lOOOozsmore than the former, the alluvial digger producing barely ISoz while his quartzcrushing brethren divided nearly 540z per man amongst themselves. For the first quarter of 1872, the latest record we have at hand, the discrepancy was even greater still. Silver coinage to the amount of L 24.000 has arrived at Sydney from England by the mail steamer Bangalore, consigned to the Bank of New South Wales. A contract has been taken for raising the roof of the Princess Theatre, Dunedin, 10ft, and for thoroughly ventilating and increasing the seat accommodation in both pit and boxes. A Dunedin paper says that a considerable number of people was attracted to the North Dunedin recreation ground on Saturday afternoon, to witness a walking and running match between a well-known ped named Edwards, and a runner named Barker. The former offered to walk seventy yards while the latter lan a hundred, for L 5 a-side. Barker, however, objected to walk on the ground, owing to the roughness of the surface j the race, therefore, came off in Great King street. Three to one was freely offered against the walker, and when the men appeared stripped greater odds were offered. A false start was made, but Edwards meanwhile showed that he had some go in him, and offered to back himself. A true start being obtained, Edwards went away in splendid style, winning the race easily in 12sec. Barker lost the race by five yards. The Auckland Herald, of April 12, gives the following :— " A Coroner's inquest was held yesterday afternoon, at Newton, to inquire into the death of a girl five years of age, who died somewhat suddenly during tho morning. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidenc, namely, 'sanguineous apoplexy.' There was, however, other evidence given by Dr Nicholson, to which the attention of parents should be directed. It appears that the child must have suffered considerably by the presence of numerous living Umbrici in its stomach and intestines, which, from the medical testimony of our practitioners, is said to be very common among the city childlen, caused by drinking impure water, in which Umbrici innumerable are to be found. These, if not destroyed, undermine the health of children, producing in some constitutions severe convulsions, emaciation of body, prostration, and not unfrermentlv death." X ■ A Melbourne correspondent writes : — The banks have received a lesson in the case of M 'Dermott v. the Bank of Australasia. Sufficient effects had been paid into the bank on the Friday to meet a bill due on the Saturday, but the bank neglected to realise the cheques and dishonored the bill. They were accordingly adjudged to pay L4O damages. I remember the same bank once erred in the opposite direction. They cashed a bill on the strength of cheques paid in, and when they came to realise they found the paper returned. They have in the present instance, however, been too cautious, and had to pay accordingly. A man named George Poster was brought from Brighton to Charleston on Monday last, I and lodged in the Camp charged with attempting to commit suicide by cutting his throat. The man was suffering from delirium iremens, and from this proceeded the attempt upon his life, in which he was happily frustrated by timely assistance. With reference to the telegraph extension the Tinw.ru Herald the other day said :— A gang of men are busily employed in stretching a third line northward from Dunedin, and are now, at our present writing, but a very few miles south of Tiniaru, and expect to join on with the Timaru station in the course of two or three days. From Timaru to just beyond the Washdyke, the local linesman has put up a third wire. On the southern gang completing the connection with the Timaru station, they will then commence at the Washdyke, and work north to the Rangitata, joining there the third wire which is being rapidly carried forward between that river and the Selwyn. In a fortnight or three weeks at the furthest, the additional wire will be complete between Christcburch and Dunedin, thereby giving the extra facility much desired to meet the demands of the continually increasing wjrp business. During the last few days an extra operator has been added to the staff of the Timaru office.