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Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1534, 4 July 1873, Page 2

The usual half-yearly general meeting of the Red Jack's Friendly Society was held at Mr Muir's store, Red Jack's, on the 22nd June. The Treasurer's abstract of receipts and disbursements for the past half-year was read by the Chairman, and the result was highly approved of by the meeting, being as follows :- Received from members, L 45 ; expended, under the heading "hospital contract and pay to sick members," L 34 ; leaving a balance in hand of Lsl to the credit of the society. The former Committee— Messrs J. M'Cormick, T. M. Caskill, W. Thomas, P. Bunderson, W. Foxcroft (Chairman), '8. Frankpitt (Treasurer), and J, Flinu (Secretary)—were re-elected for the ensuing halfyear. The above society has been in existence since, the 23rd June, 1870, and apparently it never was on a firmer footing than ■at present. The number of its members jis forty-eight, and the contribution one shilling weekly. The advantages to be - derived are, — in the first instance, one •of the duties of the Committee is. to visit any ; sick member, or in the case of accident to make the best arrangements in their power for the comfort of the sufferer, and, second \f,' lie will be admitted into the Greymouth Hospital, and receive medical attendance i free, according to arrangements made in .that respect. Thirdly, he will be entitled t6 th'e'sutn of LI 5s per week, during the time he is sick and until he is- able to attend to his usual employment. This society is principally conducted by the mining community, which in a great measure accounts for its success, and which -goes far to prove that they are not, as a class, so itinerant in their inclination, or so lukewarm to their own interests in a social way,, as some legislators have ventured to assert. ' ". The Nelson Examiner is again published as a daily paper. In %c first number of its new series as a daily, we notice that our contemporary quotes from the Inangahua Herald certain statements by a Nelson correspondent of that journal regarding a meeting, misnamed a. "caucus," which was held in connection with the subject -of the future Superintendency. That statement, we have reason to know, : contains representations regarding one of the West Coast members, Mr Guinness, which are calculated to do Mm injury politically, and which are not according to fact. No doubt Mr Guinness will, in due time, and on hia own behalf, contradict what he may not have yet seen, and which is calculated, and probably meant, to compromise him with his constituents. There are Other -West Coast members of the Council — and eminently the member for Charleston — who, we believe, Have good grounds to complain of the misrepresentations or misconceptions of the same correspondent. The monthly meeting of the Grey River Hospital Committee was held on Thursday evening at Gilmer's Hotel., Present .-Messrs Kennedy (chair), Masters, King, Gilmer, Greenwood, Hamilton, Newton, Kenrick. -The- Secretary read the correspondence for the month, and reported the receipt of LlB 13s from the Brunnerton Sub -Committee, per Mr Dartnall ; L 2 2s, donation from Mr J. Card, Marsden ; LI Is, sale of ticket by Mr Shaw, Moonlight. Letters from Mr J. Card, Marsden ; Mr J. Dent, Brunnerton ; N. M'Kecknie, Clifton; J. M, Cfifford, No Town ; and J. M. Butt, Greymbuth," were read and received. The Visiting Committee's report was read and adopted; The Secretary was instructed to advertise for applications for the post of laundress, and assistant to the female ward, salary 30s a week, with board and lodging; applications to be in by the 23rd inst. Accounts for the month, amounting to L 124 2s 3d, were passed for payment. The Treasurer reported the receipt of Melson subsidy for May, L725s 8d ; West land subsidies for February, L51 15s 9,d ; March, L4B 10s 3d ; and April, L7B 4s 2d ; also per Mr Rugg, the sum of Ll4 ss 6d, legacy f rpm a deceased . patient, John Kane.; L 1 from B. Spitt; L 4 4s; sale of tioketsj'n.tpWn. Mr Kennedy reported that aboiit 'LlO2 had been collected and promised in the Middle

Ward. Mr Maclean reported that about L6O had been collected and promised in East Ward. Mr .Newton: reported that about L3O had been collected and promised in West Ward. The; Medical report was received. The Meeting then adjourned to 9fch inst. The Lyell Argus is now owned and published by Messrs Niven and Johnson. The paper is produced in a manner which would do- credit to much less secluded and more numerous communities than that of the Lyell. • It is notified that the retail price of coalin Greymouth has been raised to 25s per ton. The Otago Council seem ready to fight their battles o'er again. The Executive formed by Toltnie is to be at once assailed with a no-confidence motion. Compressed air, and its peculiarities, are at present a great subject of discussion with scientific men at Home. There is not much pretence to an acquaintance with science in Greymouth, but the same subject provides daily conversation here. Tne current of air which follows the sun of an evening off the West Coast gets pretty well compressed in this vicinity, there being but one funnel — the Greymouth Gorge — for the escape of a very large area of atmosphere. The consequences are well known but not appreciated by those who experience them, and those who do not can assist imagination, and realise something like the real feeling, by wetting the points of their noses, and presenting the same to the Bpout of the biggest pair of blacksmith's bellows that they can find. Atemporary experiment Of the kind may be refreshing, but it can never be genial, and its perpetuation for days is decidedly calculated to provoke snifters and swearing. It is not favorable to the production of caloric, or of a population characterised by serenity of temper and propriety of language. Asa sample of what compressed air can do, we read that ProfessorTyndall has succeeded, by the aid of a column of water two hundred and sixty feet high, in compressing air to one-eighth its original volume, and that when allowed to escape it rushed out so violently as to cause so intense a cold that the moisture in the room was congealed into a shower of snow, while the pipe whence the air issued was edged with icicles. In our sweetly picturesque but otherwise objectionable Gorge, the compression is scarcely so great, perhaps, but there is considerable similarity in the effects when the sun is out of sight. A London telegram, of March 6, in the American papers, says:—" A rumor is afloat that the Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louisa have separated from incompatibility of temper ; that the Princess is in a religious retreat near Windsor, and that the Marquis has gone abroad. " No authority is given for the report. Wellington's new public hall, or theatre, cost in erection L 4538. It is let to Mr Bennett at L6O a month. There is land attached which is let on a building lease, of which 98ft is let for twenty-one one years, at LI 10s, andL2 per foot per annum for respective periods of seven years each. The latest Fiji papers give the 'following description of an exciting shark adventure : " Here is an adventure with a shark. Our informant tells us that he was coming over from Goro in an open boat, on the Bth June, and when nearing Wakaya the frail craft was attacked by an immense shark. The boat was first struck somewhat violently, which made him think that she had touched some coral patch, but he was soon undeceived, for on looking down into the water he saw the monster of the deep about to renew the attack. The boat hook was at once called into requisition for purposes 'of defence, and a combat ensued. The shark renewed its attacks, and each time was violently assaulted with the hook, until the last time the hook was driven with such force as to cause the fish to beat a retreat. There was a lady in the boat at the tinle, arid the horror of her position may be better imagined than described." - '. Those buckets of champagne which Mr Wentworfch Bilkehas immortalised as familiar roadside objects in the vicinity of Charleston must still be among the local institutions. Here is a description from the -Herald of- a drunken debauch on the JBuller road, in which George the bellman, Lizzie Bourke, and Annie Powell took the principal part :— George was summoned for using indecent aid ! obscene language, and was fined LI or 24 ] hours. Lizzie Bourke, who appeared in Court with a black eye, and her hat slouched over her face, as if ashamed of herself, and ' looking generally as if she was " suffering a recovery, " was first charged with threatening and insulting language, : and then, jointly with Annie Powell, with, having destroyed 37 paries of glass and three window sashes, valued in all at L 5 13s. On the first charge she received a week, and on the second both women received a sentence of two months each with hard labor. Charles C. Sommers, bookseller and stationer, has been authorised by the Chief Commissioner to keep in stock and sell duty stamps, bill forms, and agreement forms. Lately Mr Sommers has made extensive alterations and additions to his establishment on Mawhera Quay, which is now one of the largest and most complete ef the kind in the Colony. Tne following are the names of the gentlemen who have been nominated as members of the new Borough Council o? Westporb : — J. Blacklock, T. Bond, J. Corr, T. Field, J. W. Humphrey, J. L. Munson, J. Powell, T. Sheahan, E. S. Suis'ted, S. Thorpe, E. Yardley, J. Hughes, E. Roche, A. Stitt, and R. Whyte. The Albion Coal Company, who intend to work the Ngakawha Coal-mines, is being actively promoted throughout the Colony, and from the Westport Times we learn that the lease of the mine has been duly executed by the original promoters and the Superintendent on behalf of the Provincial Government. The document will bear, date from the first of July current, and the principal stipulations are that 5000 tons of coal shall be got out from the mine during the first year, 10,000 v per year irom the second to the fifth, and 1 5, 000 per year from the sixth to the tenth, and thereafter for every year to the twenty-first, when the lease terminates, 20,000 tons per annum must be produced. From this it will be seen that the very terms of agreement compel the directors to speedily initiate energetic operations. ' A meeting of the Directors of the Kanieri Lake Water-Race Company was held at the Cafe de Paris, Hokitika, on Wednesday. The manager reported having disposed of upwards of 6000 shares. It was resolved to apply immediately for the Government loan, in conformity with the regulations, and to commence work directly a favorable answer is received, the directors feeling confident that the remaining shares will be readily taken up. A number of sections in the town and suburbs of Hampden, Matakitaki, were last week oftered in Nelson for sale by auction at the Land Office, but there were no purchasers. This, the Mail explains, was not unexpected, the sections being put up merely as a matter of form, the regulations requiring that lands that are for sale at fixed prices shall be put up to auction every three years. Several sections have been purchased privately since the last auction. The idea that children, like msuh-rooms, are particularly plentiful in some soils, is more than borne out by the Victorian registrar's returns. A recent week's figures in the Gazette gives 27 births in North Melbourne and only. 3 in St. Kilda, 24 at Col.

lingwood and but 4 at South Yarra, 19 at Richmond and merely 5 in West Melbourne, 11 at Emerald Hill, while Hawthorn and Kew have to struggle for a cherub between them. An acute writer declares that so soon as the French aspire to become rich they cease having families, and it seems here that a removal into the localities where carriages are kept has much of a similar effect in Victoria. The open game season closed in Nelson on Monday, but the Botnminer says nothing like the same number of pheasants were' shot as last year. The. birds, have/gone back to the hills, where the labor of ifollowing them is so great that none but ardent sportsmen possessed of good 3ogs have any chance of obtaining many birds. The system of. tripping 1 so extensively adopted in the neighborhood of cultivations has also been most destructive to sporb. ; The first coach, with the overland mail from Napier to Taupo will arrive to-day (Friday). There will be a public supper and demonstration on the occasion. : A meeting of capitalists in Auckland connected with the Bank of New Zealand resolved to issue a prospectus for the estab-. lishment of a bank at Fiji, in 20,000 shares. Mr Clarkson, the Minister of Finance at Fiji, was present, and promised that his Government would make large concessions.