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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1487, 10 May 1873, Page 2

Our contemporary at Ahaura recently announced, on the authority of a correspondent, the discovery in the vicinity of that town of a quantity of bones supposed to be those of a moa bird. A writer in an Otago paper afterwards drew attention to the discovery, and suggested a systematic search, when further treasures might be brought to light. This, it seems, has been done, for the same correspondent informs She Grey Valley limes that on continuing his explorations he found "more bones," and being something of a comparative anatomist he set about constructing a skeleton. He succeeded in building a *' f rankerstien " 29ft in height, at which stage lie was about desisting in terror at the monster he was creating, when he came upon the hoofs, horns, and hobbles of an "extinct" working bullock. This must be the same "lively" correspondent who somo time ago reported the discovery of a "fossilised" cheese in a provision store not far from Ahaura. The whole of the plant, tools, and waterraces of the Bell Hill Gold Mining Company, between No Town and Lake Brunner, were sold by auction at Hokitika, on Thursday, Bth inst. Mr J. Craig was the purchaser for Ll6O. We have to acknowledge receipt of a most elaborate map of Central Asia, which the proprietors of the Australasian intend to issue as a supplement to that journal on the 10th May. The events now proceeding there, the onward march of Russia, and the consequences that may possibly result to the British policy in the East, render this at the present time a place of great interest. At the same time, it is one respecting which the ordinary maps supply very little infor. mation. The map to be given as a supplement of the Australasian is of large size, prepared by Mr Stanford, the map maker of Charing Cross, London, and embodying the very latest that is known of the vast territory, represented. It included the Caspian Sea, a large part of the Russian Empire in Asia, Turkestan, Persia, Afghanistan, the northern portion of British India, Thibet, and Western China, all of the various oountries being distinguished by coloring. It bears date, February, 1873, and will no doubt be accepted as well suited to illustrate ths military and political events in view of which ifc was prepared. The Ross News of the Bth inst. says that a miner named VVilliam Bartlett, working at Dufftr Creek, Totara, died suddenly while at breakfast the day before. A jwst mortem examination determined the cause of death to be disease of the heart The deceased was a' native ot North Devonshire, England A meeting of the Tender ana Contract Committee was held at the County Chairman's oihoe, at Hokkika, on Thursday, to consider tenders for the supply of rations for prisoners in the Greymouth Gaol. The tender of Mr J. Hamilton was accepted. The Times is informed that the County Chairman has received a telegram from Mr Yogel, expressing his regret that he was unable to meet Mr Robinson in Nelson, but hoping that he and Mr Bonar would be able to meet him (Mr Yogel) in Wellington to discuss Westland affairs. The meeting in question cannot take place for a fortnight, on account of Mr Vogel's inability to leave Auckland, where he is detained by sickness. The Hokitika Evening Star, of Thursday, has the following: — "A sample of about 20lb weight of quartz was brought down from the Kokotaki reef this morning, and was lodged at Mr Etheridge's office, Gibson's Quay, where several persons inspected it. The stone is apparently of excellent quality, and several pieces are covered with gold. This was exhibited because the proprietors of the mine were not satisfied with the results of the last crushing. It has been suggested that half a ton should be sent to Wellington, to be tested, under the super* vision of Dr Hector, that gentleman having on his late visit kindly consented to take the trouble. A favorable result in the case would ensure the formation of a company to work the mine." The ordinary meeting of the Borough Council was held at the Town Hall last evening. Present— Councillors Woolcock iv the chair), M'Gregor, Glenn, Coates, Kerr, Dupre, Moore, and Reid. — The minutes of the last special meeting were read and confirmed. — A letter was read from the County Chairman regretting that the present financial condition of the County would not allow him to pay the amount due to the Council on account of land sales— Received. — A letter was read from Messrs Magoffin and Fraser, complaining of the erection of some chimneys in Tainui street, not in accordance with the regulations previously passed by the Council. They were so dangerous that no insurance company would accept the risk, and the neighboring property was much endangered theieby. Mr Macgregor moved, and Mr Kerr seconded, " That the Town Surveyor be instructed to inspect the premises complained of, and to take the necessary steps to enforce the regulations." — Carried. — A petition was presented by Mr Dupre from a number of property-holders on Mawhera Quay, objecting to the Transit Shed being placed opposite Albert street, because it would considerably deteriorate the value of their business premises, and that in case of a fire the only available place to which they could carry their goods would be occupied. If the shed was to be removed, they thought it should be to a place where the residents on the Quay would not be inconvenienced. A discussion ensued regarding the site previously offered for tbe shed on the Quay by the Council, when Mr Reid moved an adjournment of the question, as a public meeting was about to be held in the hall. The adjournment was negatived. It was then agreed that the Collector of Customs be offered the site for the shed near Boundary street, which had previously been offered to his predecessor. — A petition for the repair of the footpath and kerbing in Boundary street was read and laid on the table, to be considered at next meeting. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M. an action for trespass was brought by a Mrs Carlyle against Geo. Martin, coal merchant, lhe plaintiff claimed 15 as damages. On Ist May plaintiff found two horses in her garden, taampling down a quantity of linen which she hung out to dry tbe day before. She turned the horses out, but they broke the fence and came in a second time. Among the items charged as making up the damages, the time occupied in washing the linen was set down, also the loss of three hundredweight of potatoes, a quantity of cabbage plants, a lot of dried se&ds, besides the description of the fence. The defendant ad-

mitted the trespass, but disputed the amount of damages as excessive. He offered to settle the matter without going to Court, but the plaintiff insisted upon going to law. He considered 30s the outside of the value of the injury caused by his horses. A witness for the defendant, named M'Cauley, denied that boat-horses ever would eat cabbages, and he gave it as the opinion an expert, that'if the horses eat half a hundredweight of potatoes, much less three hundredweight as alleged, they would hardly be in proper trim to work on the river as they did the same day. A verdict was given for the plaintiff for L 2, with costs and expenses. The Court was occupied for some time in disposing of a claim for a disputed balance of a milk account of 8s 3.£ din which the plaintiff produced a set of books, with the accountant who made the entries, and the defendant appeared in the box accompanied by a formidable array of written documents. The cost of expenses mnst have exceeded six times the amount of the original claim. Judgments by default were given for the plaintiffs in the following cases : — Hanuey v. Ahem— L9 10s, for board and cash lent ; Archer v. Thorn— Ll 17s 6d, for milk. There was no criminal business before the Court. A man named Barnwell has been accidentally killed at West Tamar, Tasmania, from another man jumping off a haystack on to his stomach. The prevalence of typhoid fever in Wellington has given occasion for severe strictures on the neglect of the Council in that city to provide proper drainage. The Independent considers that the inhabitants are preserved from absolute pestilence entirely through the traditional winds of Wellington, as-- they are seldom without a good healthy breeze from one quarter or another, whilst a despondent contributor supposes there will be no amelioration to the pest of Wellington until a full blown portly councillor is offered up as a victim at the shrine of Municpal incompetency and neglect. A man in Napier got in a very unpleasant, not to say dangerous, predicament recently. Desiring to shorten the distance of his journey home he took a short cut across a portion of the inner harbor. The tide was out, there was a bright moon, and the mud looked hard ; the speeding traveller reached the centre of the muddy basin, and then suddenly sunk down to his waist in the slimy slush. In vain he shouted ioc help j there he remained till six o'clock next morning, when he was dragged out by means of ropes. It is reported in the Grey Valley Times that Constable Dorris has been despatched to Reefton to arrest a man known as the "Free Thinker," who is suspected of complicity in a gold robbery at Nobles. The Westland Register says :— " Messrs Pizzey.and Kortegast, brewers, will appear as defendants on Friday (yesterday), at the Resident Magistrate's Coiirt, Hokitika, to charges of selling beer without a license. These gentlemen appear to have resolved to try the case before the Bench, although, we are informed, they were previously fined a ( nominal amount on a similar information. Dr Carr has engaged Hansen's Rooms, and intends, on his return from his present visit to Ross, to give a farewell seance in Hokitika. The Town Clerk of Hokitika has been positively instructed to sue all defaulting ratepayers, without delay and without further notice. Dr Lank ester, at an inquest held recently in the Gray's Inn road, London, on the body of an infant who had been suffocated while in bed with its mother, said that 3000 infants were suffocated in England every year from being put to the breast and their mothers falling asleep. In Bavaria, there was, a Taw which prohibited parents having children under two years old with them in bed, the result being that instances of suffocation of children were very, rare there. A correspondent quotes an extract from a Scotch paper to the effect that the girl who some time ago preferred a charge of immorality against Richard Weaver, the converted prizefighter, is dead, and that on her deathbed she confessed that the entire charge was a lie, for which she received a bribe. Weaver is now conducting religious services at Nottingham. Amongst those who assist on the platform is Bendigo, the exchampion of the prize-ring. Things appear to be looking up in Taranaki, The News says : — "The material hnprovemeno that is taking place is being felt by everyone ; fair work at fair wages, empty houses getting scarce, and the general display of activity and enterprise show that we are gaining confidence, and overcoming the depression which the war so long left hanging over us. " The Bendigo Advertiser is responsible for the following : — "Mr Alexander Bayne, who has unsuccessfully attempted an election for the North-western Provinces, and was equally unsuccessful when seeking to be elected to the Sandhurst City Council, promised to give LIOOO to the charities if the spirit of his grandmother — Mr Bayne is a spiritist — advised him. He got en rapport with the spirit of ths canny old lady, aud to his anxious inquiry the answer was ' Stick till yer ainsel, laddie,' or words to that effect, or to such an effect that the charities are not yet benefited by Alexander's safe promise." The Lyttelton Times states that the value cf a leasehold run in Canterbury, fairly stocked, ranges from 15s to 20s per head of sheep. A singular death is reported in the Sydney papers. A bailiff of the Supreme Court, named Smith, while on his way to Urana, breakfasted at an hotel there, and while eating a grilled fowl, the portion of it known as the " wishing bone '"'lodged in his throat, and defied all efforts at removal. He gargled his throat, but without success. He then lode oh to Jerilderio, 16 miles further, where he was attended by Dr Shrapnell, unfor. tunately without success. Deceased did not consider Irs condition so serious, but apparently looked forward to complete his journey. Two days afterwards he began to bleed copiously, sank rapidly, and died about 6 p.m., having bled to death, A. post mortem examination was made by Dr Shrapnell, and on opening deceased's neck, the fragment of J bone, which was about l^in long and very sharp at one end, was foixnd to be lodged transversely in the throat, the sharp end penetrating the jugular vein, and thus causing death. Pending the appointment of a successor to the ill-fated Mr Rusz in the incumbency of Charleston, the Rev. Mr Soutar will pay periodical visits to that place, and lay services will be held by Mr Douglas, of the Post and Telegraph Departments. A correspondent of the Cromwell Argus says that an old resident on the Bannockburn has just returned, after an absence of about eight months on the gold fields of New South Wales, fle, along with soms others, left about the time there was so much talk concerning Port Darwin. They intended going there, but the reports thence being unfavorable, they determined to stop in New South Wales. Most of their time in that colony has been spent in sinking several deep and expensive shafts, none of which happened to bottom on the rich gutter. He informs me that although there i» a very large quantity of gold getting, it is among very few hands ; and that owing to the large population and the great expense of prospecting deep ground, there is riot much chance for

strangers. He expects some of the others back very shortly, and sajs he thinks New Zeoland is the better of the two colonies, after all. From the Charlestori Herald we learn thatthe excitement anent the back lead on the !Niue Mile Beach is increasing, a large area, extending for over a mile from the Racecourse Hotel, having been pegged t)f£ . The prospects promise well, something like from L 4 to L 5 per'week, but a difficulty stands in the way of working the ground owing to the quantity of water it will be necessary to gel rid of in order to get at the wash. The stripping is between 3 and 5 feet, the washdirt, as far as is yet known, being about 4 feet in depth and varying in spread. The one thing highly necessary is a general tailbox, but many of those who have taken up claims are not in a pecuniary position to go into the work. How the difficulty on their part is to be overcome yet remains to be solved.