THE The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1518, 16 June 1873, Page 2

THE The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1873.

At Mr Harrison'a meeting on Friday evening a subject cropped up which is of very great importance to the leaseholders of the Maori reserve. It appears that many of the leases are about to fall in, and that Mr Mackay, the Commissioner of Native Reserves, has intimated that the renewal of these leases will be made upon such terms as he may decide. If any attempt to increase the rental is contemplated, the leaseI holders should combine to defeat it. Already the reserve yields a large revenue far beyond the expections of the Maoris ; and now that the citizens contemplate considerable and costly works to secure the safety of the town, it would be exceedingly unreasonable to expect that they should pay a higher ground lent. We would urge the propriety of a meeting of the leaseholders, and the adoption of such steps as they might think best. We are sure that Mr Harrison will assist them in the matter. The monthly meeting of the Fire Brigade, for practice, takes place this evening at 8 o'clock. A recent visitor to the Kawau furnishes the Bay of Plenty Times with the following list of some of the most valuable contents of bir George Grey's library :— " A manuscript Bible 1200 years old, said to be the best in the world, and a testament 800 years old, both beautifully illuminated; a Coptic manuscript of St. John's Gospel, grotesquely illuminated, and curiously bound in wood ; an Abyssinian manuscript of the four gospels, also illuminated ; Caxton's works, the first printed in England, in 1490 ; and the only manuscript in existence of the New South Wales language, compiled by the Rev. L. E. Threlkeld, and a native, and presented to Sir George in i 867. This work was subsequently unsuccessfully claimed by the Naw South Wales Government." ; A correspondent of the Ballarat Star, in an account which he supplies of the recent voyage of the Star Queen, from Melbourne to Hong Kong, relates a curious circumstance. After the vessel had been about a month at sea, and had come safely through the perils of a cyclone, eight sharks were caught, and in the stomach of one of them was found a copy of Sands and M'Dougall's "Melbourne Almanac " for 1872. How the book came into the possession of the fish is a problem for the curious. The Daily Telegraph of the 26th nit. says : — lt is just twelve months ago since Henare Tomoana was presented with a sword, a gift from the Queen, as a token of her appreciation of his loyalty ; as we write, it is only twenty-four hours since he was served with a summons to answer a charge of perjury, committed in his evidence before the Native Lands Alienation Commission, brought against him at the instance of Mr Thomas Tanner. The regular meeting of Mark Master Masons will be held at the Lodge-room this evening, for the purpose of electing the officers for the ensuing year, and other business. A young man named Walter Haddock, aged 24, was drowned at the junction of the Blackwater and Buller rivers during the late flood. The deceased had charge of an hotel of Mr Thiels's, and in trying to reach a boat moored some distance from the house, he fell of a raft into the river and was drowned. The body was found. The Switzer's Mining Association has passed the following resolution : — " After a careful consultation of the propriety of transfering the management of the gold fields to the General Government, this committee fails to see at present where the country wonld be benefited by the change." The Canterbury portion of the immigrants ex Michael Angelo were open for engagement recently. The numbers were, as heretofore, very disproportionate to the demand, especially as regards the single women. The rates of wages given were as follows :—Married couples— Farm servants, LSO to LCO per annum and found; single men, ploughmen and farm laborers, L3B, and found; carpenters, ■ 8s per day ; plumbers and glaziers, 103 per day ; domestic servants, L2O per annum. A fact which demonstrates the improved condition of the laboring classes was stated by the county surveyor of Limerick, in a communication to the grand (jury, namely, that it is no longer possible to get men to break stones for macadamising the roads, owing to the general improvement in the condition and pay of laborers ; and he recommended the employment of machinery to do the work. J