THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1514, 11 June 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1873.

Mr W. H. Harrison, M.H.R., will address the electors of the Grey district, at Gilmer's Hotel, at 8 o'clock on Friday evening. It was rumored in town yesterday that Mr Harrison was dangerously ill, and that he would not be able to take the important part appointed for him in the Railway Celebration to-day. We can state that although Mr Harrison was seriously indisposed on Monday, he has quite recovered, and will perform the prominent duties set apart for him to-day. We believe it is the inten» tion of Mr Harrison to address hia constituents in the Grey Valley, and also to visit Reefton before he returns to Wellington. At a meeting of the brethren of the Greymouth. Lodge of Freemasons, held at the new Masonic Hall last evening, the following were elected Officers for the ensuing year : — Bro. "W. H. S. Hindmirsh, Worshipful Master; Bro. W, H. Revell, Treasurer; Bros. J. C. Mooie and C. A. C. Hardy, Auditors; and Bro. E. B. Fox, Tyler. The installation of the Officers elect will take place at the next regular meeting of the Lodge. The Committee appointed to cater for the refreshment of the public, to-day, may fcake a hint as to the probable quantity of provender required from the following : — " At the ceremony of turning the first sod of the Nelson and West Coast Railway a free feed was provided for visitors, 250 41b loaves of bread, 1501 bof butter, and 7501 bof ham and beef sandwiches ; besides which there were buns for the children. The supply then fell short of the demand, there being nearly 4000 persons present." Edward Cannon was brought before Messrs Masters and fieid, J.P., at the Resident Magistrate, Cobden, yesterday, charged with lunacy. The evidence of Drs Morice and Smith was taken. Both of the medical practitioners stated that the defendant was laboring under delusions, that they considered his present condition was partly attributable to drinking recently, and that he was unsafe to be at large, as he might be dangerous to himself. The defendant made a statement to the Court that he was despised and disliked by every one, and that he could find no comfort in anything he did. He had resolved not to stay in the Grey, owing to this feeling on his mind. The Bench remanded him for eight days- for medical treatment. The Independent says : — "In the Provincial Council of Canterbury, the sum of LI7OO has been granted for the purchase of a site for the proposed Canterbury College. That selected is the residence of Mr Guise Bcittan, near the Domain gates, and comprises two houses and an acre of laud. During the recent flood in the Upper Grey the ford at the Little Grey Junction was changed considerably. The new ford is some distance up the river, towards the Ikamatua,

and nearly behind O'Malley's farm. It is j understood instructions have been given to j have a track made on both banks of the ■ river to the new ford, and flags are to be i erecLod to indicate the proper place to take the crossing. Travellers who are strangers will have to be careful until the ford is properly defined. In the meantime it is well to remember that there is a good safe punt near the old crossing. "in the Provincial Council of Nelson, recently, Mr Pinkerton moved— ' ' That, in the opinion of this Council, a water-race should be constructed from Randall's Greek to Napol°on Hill, Grey district, as recommended by the Provincial Engineer in his report on Water Supply. for Nelson SouthWesfc Gold Fields (dated April 15, 1871) ; and that bis Honor the Superintendent be respectfully requested to urge upon the Colonial Government the importance of the work, and tbe necessity for its immediate construction." Tfce mover made . a most stirring appeal on behalf of the miners ; it was a sister scheme to the railway; and if the people of Nelson assisted the miners to get: a sufficient water supply in the district named and other parts of the gold fields, when the iron horse rattled through our \ valleys to the West Coast, the miners would visit Nelson, associate with its inhabitants ; and more important than all, spend their superfluous cash in this city. Loud applause greeted the speech of the hon. member. Mr Guinness seconded the motion, and the Provincial Secretary supported it; The proposed race would supply water to twenty-five square miles of auriferous country, give fifty head of water, and an annual income' of L 2500. The motion was unanimously agreed tO. - : ; ..--■ ■ ■"■■ • >■':/'!■ : The Provincial Secretary of Auckland. (Mr: Hugh Lusk) has ' announced himself as a candidate 1 for the Superintendency of that Province. Mr John Williamson is visiting all the settlements and addressing the electors. He appears to be very .well received. It is not many years ago since Mr .Yogel was perhaps the most unpopular man in Otago, and he had some difficulty to obtain, if he was not positively refused, a hearing at a public meeting held in the Princess Theatre, Dunedin, on one occasion. During the recent elections of members to represent that city in the Provincial Council, one of the candidates said, it must be patent to everyone— indeed, no person could shut his eyes to the fact — that Otago was never in a more prosperous condition than at the present moment. (Hear, j Every interest, every industry, was thriving. (A Voice: Ybri may thank Yogel ; for that). This reference to the Premier was ; received with prolonged cheers. "Truly "the Whirligig of time" brings its rewards" as well as its revenges. ■ ■ • The following is the expenditure on pnblic buildings: in the Grey Valley and Inangahua. districts during last year, according to the Provincial Engineer's report :— Buildings — Amount expended L 1365 7s Bd. The following new buildings have been, erected :, — ' £ ."a. d. ■ Court House, Eeefton ... 598 10 0 Abaura Police Quarters... 150 0 0 No Town „ „ ... 30 0 0 Enlarging Reef ton Lockup 70 0 0Fittings for Court, Reefton 6000 Grey Signal Station :.. 110 0 0 Stable, Reef ton ... ... .49.10. 0 £1068 0 0 The remainder of the expenditure has been for general repairs. As the expenditure during the ensuing year be entirely for maintenance, with the exception, of the balance due on the removal of bufldings, contract, I consider LIOOO will be sufficient to place on the • Amongst the outward and visible signs which indicate the stage of civilisation reached by a community, some people think that none is so unerring .as the criminal calendar, those of the brutal and barbaric order being supposed to be peculiar to the ruder stages of development, whilst the cultivated sins of swindling and forgery ; indicate progress in mental culture. Whatever truth niay be in the theory, there is no. doubt that the following .small ". record shows that the native idea" is beginning to shoot freely, if in a sinister direction, and it must be noted as an : indication of advancement such as it is (says the Independent) :— " There are at present five natives undergoing sentences in the Wanganui goal — one for forgery, one for sheep-lifting, one for stealing a navy's swag, and one for stealing a gold \satch from the person of a European whilst he was asleep in a public-house. Carpenters and joiners are not to be had "for love or money" at Brisbane, Queensland. There is instant employment, accord? ing to the Brisbane Telegrapli, for any number of these craftsmen at good wages, and " no bad debts." A correspondent writes :— " Quecnstown is improving fast. Two years and a half ago it i could only boast of one stone building—the Masonic Hall. Now wood is giving place to stone in every direction, and the old wooden shanty will be a thine; of the past. Mr A. Eichard has built a splendid stone hotel, and furnished it in a style that may be equalled in Dunedjn, but it not equalled out of it. The same may be oa;d of Mr Powell. Messrs J. Hallenstein and Co.'s store is a handsome building, as also Mr Mallagan's, and all thg other storekeepers are following suit. The Bank of New Zealand is putting up large premises pf a handsome style ; nor have the inhabitants neglected their public buildings, as the Town Hall can testify. The town is spreading fast. All the land in and round it Las been bought up at high prices. There are houses dotted as far out as what is called the One Mile, and all the terraces round are becoming thickly settled. It is a great pity that this pretty little town has so little to depend on, except gold. Had it any extent of agricultural land Dear it, from its picturesque situation and peculiar advantage, it would become one of the fir3t of our inland towns." . Some extracts from a letter from a wellknown resident at Hokianga, Auckland, to a friend at Timaru, are published by the Thnant Herald. We reprint, the following passages :— "The Maoris are no longer the brave bouncing savage, but are now drunken, lying, cheating sneaks, as different to the Maoris of olden time as can bj. Thej r may thank their philo-Maori friends and a weak Government for making them what they are. Those who have the welfare of the Golony at heart can only wish a speedy extinction to a race who will not join us in the march of progress, but who prevent our advance in every way. There is great activity in the timber trade everywhere just now. A greatly increased demand exists in the Colonies for our kauri, in consequence of the Baltic and Oregon shipments falling off. It is lucky for Auckland that such a demand. exists. Kauri , gum is nowhere, and there is very little doing at the Thames, and but for timber things must have ended in a crisis. Business in Auckland seems to be overdone, too many in one line cutting down profits to zero. Trade must get worse before it gets better. Contrasting your prosperity with the state of things in this Province, we don't seem to belong to the same Colony." The Tuapeka Times has the following unsatisfactory paragraph : — "Waipori is becoming decimated. Every week adds to the number of families who are leaving for fresh fields. Last week alone, four families left it for Kaitangata. There is only one out of many families now remaining in the neighborhood of the O.&Q. Reef. The reason for this we cannot ascertain, further than the

fact 'that lately there has been very little gold getting. An average of 25s to 30s a week has been the utmost amount made by alluvial miners in Waipori for a considerable time past, and a general feeling appears to have got abroad amongst them that they can do better elsewhere." The Paris correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald says :— "The betrothal. oi the Duke of Edinburgh to the Czar's only daughter is now recognised as accomplished. The EmpreßS of Russia, after spending a day in Salzburg with her . sisterrin-law, Queen Olga',"*of Wurtemburg, "Kasjjone fo Florence, having with her the betrothed wife of the Duke, the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrowna, only daughter, of the, Russian Sovereign; 'It' is said that the Empress will take up her abode at Sorrento, among whose myrtle and orange crowned slopes, blue waters, and pink, purple, and golden sunsets, the young couple are to make each other's personal acquaintance." The London correspondent of a Glasgow paper says: — "Tbe Princess who is in future to be one of our Royal family, is twenty years of age. She has the reputation of being one of the best female linguists in Europe." I The Melbourne correspondent of the Daily Times thus refers to the system adopted in Victoria of periodical alteration in the locale of the police force :—" I see that the Victorian police authorities follow the same plan with their servants that We do here. Constable Leigh lately showed great presence of mind in arresting a murderer at Kangaroo Flat. He was highly complimented and removed at a great expense to himself to another district. The inconvenience andlosa of money which this proceeding entailsi can : ; not readily be measured. lam quite aware that there is something to, be. said on, the other side! It is held to' be'f or the good of the service that constant changes should take place, and no man be allowed to take ; his place as a citizen in the various coinmu-. nities in which he finds himself. There are no- doubt ; a good many advantages in thesystem of change." A sudden death is thus 1 recorded by 'the Wanganui Chronicle oi a late date : — "A woman named Caroline l)anby went into the Windsor . Castle Hotel, at new Plymouth, recently, about dinner time,. and. remarked c how nice the dinner smells.' She was invited to sit down and have some] "and the landlady having occasion; to leave her for a few minutes alone, was horrified to find deceased in articiclq morte, haying fallen back in her chair in an apoplectic fit. At the in"-" quest,; Dr. Rawson said the cause of deat;was accelerated .by drink, from the effects of which deceased was suffering; at the time of seizure:"' ''' ; ', :' " Woman's • devotion (says the writer- -of '" Under the Verandah," in the Melbourne Leader) is not confined to civilised lands, ;of which, t.he secvet omcial records of the. Fijian Kingdom would afford a proof. ;Theman Clancy, lately sentenced to death at Sydney for the part he took in the Carl massacre, had, before he was captured by the Cossack, been united by the bonds of matrimony with a dusky subject of KingCakobau.. On Clancy being arrested, the bride determined to save the man of her choice, and reaching the Cossack in the middle of the night, got stealthily on board, and managed to release her hus: band from the custody of his guards. Gently, he was let into the water, and the woman following, the pair gained theQanoe, and Clancy was rowed to the shore, and concealed in the bush with such success as to defy all' efforts ■ of the cre.W; of the Cossack to find him, Application was at last made to the Fijian '■ Government for the aid of native trackers, i and the request being complied with,, Clancy ; was again discovered, and again made a prisoner. Civilisationj by the aid of savage , skill, triumphed, and. rendered the. heroic . efforts of a devoted \^bman futile.