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Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1599, 19 September 1873, Page 2

The Borough Council, not content with allowing the front street to be made the receptacle for all sorts of rubbish, have added their additional quota by depositing several iron lamp-posts in the gutters, in order to assist in obstructing the traffic. 4l fortnight ago the Public Works Committee recommended that live Jamp-posts be erected at given points in the town, and the Council adopted the suggestion. But the Town Surveyor knew better. Five of the old residents of tbat mysterious building, " the Dangerous Goods Store," were dragged forth, hoary with age and the deposits of many floods, and were shot into the gutters at or, near the points indicated by the resolution of the Council. Surely that was sufficient work for a fortnight to satisfy even the worst stickler for Corporation officers carrying out the resolutions of the Council; especially as no time was mentioned in the resolution when these old identities should reach their perpcndibular and become quieter in dark places, instead of being an eye-sore and a nuisance. Another of these interesting posts was ordered to be erected at Herbert street bridge, but it has been deposited on the bridge, and has become a source of danger aud annoyance to the residents in that neighborhood. What negotiations,- if any, have passed between the Town Clerk and the Gas Company with regard to the lighting of these lamps we know not, but why a plain resolution of the Council should be so contemptuously ignored by its officers we are at a loss to understand.

■ The annual Grey Valley ploughing match came off at Messrs M'Kinlay Bros' farm, Tofcara Plat, on Wednesday, 17th instant. The attendance wa* nofc numerous, owing to extreme severity of the weather, and an idea which had got abroad that the event would be postponed kept away a number of thos» resident afc a distance. The competitors were divided into two classes. The winner of the chief prize in the first cUss was a young maa named Campbell, who ploughed with a team of Mr It. M'NeiH's, of Totara Mat. William Methven, ploughing with his own team, took the first prize in the second class. The several prizes for th ;best pair of horses, the best groomed horses, and the best kept harness were won by Mr Henry Magill. The judges were Messrs James Holmes, John Gurgeon, and J. Craig, of Busholme farm. Each competitor had to plough half an acre in four aud a half hours, and very few of them completed the allotted land within the specified time. There were eleven ploughs engaged in the match. In the evening, the members of the Grey Valley ! Agricultural Association, with their guests and those who took part in the match, dined together at Lardi's Hotel, Totara Flat. The Greymouth Jockey Club and the Greymouth Rifle Rangers had meetings last evening. The meetings somewhat interfered' with each other. There was, however, a fair attendance at both meetings, and considerable interest was shown in their separate purposes. Having received the report of the Course Committee, the Jockey Club endorsed their action in the matters of forming a training-ground and fencing the course. The Volunteers decided to meet again a week hence, when the matter of re-organising the corps will be considered. Madame Cora, the magicienne, who has been so successful in entertaining the inhabitants of Hokitika, Ross, and Stafford, promises to make her first appearance in Greymouth on Tuesday itext. In the discussion on the Province of Westland Bill, Mr White estimated at comI paratively slight value any opposition from the member for tl^e Buller district. He said :- ■'•' He thought every member of the House, excepting the member for the Buller, who must dafeble in everything, was in favor of the proposed change. The honorable aiember, who took a great deal of interest in the affairs of every part of the country, and whose sympathies were not confined to the district he represented, intended to oppose the Bill, he had been informed. To him that was a matter of complete indifference, because he did not attach the slightest importance to any opposition the honorable member might give to the Bill."

Intending investors in the National Fire and Marine Insurance Company are requested to send in their applications at once, as the share list closes on Monday next. Already over 5000 shares have been applied for in Greyraouth and Hokitika. The adjourned charges against Jas. Hayes of larceny as a bailee, and of a misdemeanor under the Larceny Act, will be investigated at the ' Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. In the discussion of the Province of Westland Bill, in the Legislative. Council, the H'>n. Mr Bonar took great pains to quote, as part of the history of the Greymouth Coal Reserve, the action of the County Council which he was himself industrious in promoting Mr Lahman replied to him somewhat effectively, and then Mr Bonar desired to bring the Council to a proper sense of the circumstances. And he did it thus : — " He was anxious, that his remarks with reference to the Greymouth reserve should not be misunderstood. He knew their Greymouth friends were very sensitive, but that was the way with all small towns ; they considered they were injured by a larger place." It' is sincerely to be hoped that, after thi» summing-up of the circumstances, the small people of this small place will no longer make themselves ridiculous by being sensitive, but will discreetly accept the dictum of the large men of larger places. The Hon. Mr Bonar voted with the majority of nineteen who, in the Legislative Council, opposed the Provincial Loan Bill. The Hon. Mr Lahman voted, with the minority of twelve for the Bill. Mr Linton's store in Revell street, Holdtf.ka, was entered by supposed thieves one night last week. Entrance was made at the front door, but owing to the back door .having— in an addition to the ordinary lock —one of Chubb's, the thieves were unable to obtain egress that way One of the locks on the back door was forced The Westland -Tockev Club held a meeting at Hokitika on Monday evening last, when a lanje number of members attended. The Treasurer brought up his balance-sheet, which showed that -the Club were still indebted to the amount of nearly I 500, but against this they ha^e a completed a racecourse closely fenced, a grand-stand with all necessary accommodation, in the shape of a saddling paddock, jockey, stewards, and weighing rooms, the who* 1 ? of -which has coss nearly L2OOO. They fully' expect to get out of debt during the coming Season We notice by the West Coast Times that Mr William Smith, Kanieri, has ordered some trout ova from Southland, and- intends putting them in a small reserve alongside the Kanieri Race until the young fish are. large enough to take care of themselves, when he will put them into the Kanieri Lake. The Wellington papers state that there are two packages missing from the New Zealand mail which arrived last week. It is supposed the missing packages were lost on the Nubia between Aden and Galle. She broke down, and her mail-room was swamped, and it is considered probable that the two packages were etiher lost or so damaged by sea water as to prevent their destination being discovered. It is not known from what place the missing mails came, but it is supposed they are small bags of Indian correspondence. The Clio, which has arrived at Auckland from Ne.w Caledonia, reports the island in a .prosperous state, . and trade brisk. The copper mines are yielding splendidly,' and the goldfields are large. Tauranga must have been the scene of some extraordinary atmospheric disturbance on the 15th of last month, as on that day it was the coldesf place in New Zealand. Neither the variety of latitude, altitude,. nor exposure to cold winds will sufficiently account for the low record at Tauranga, a place not more than two degrees south of Auckland, and comparatively shut in from winds blowing from the Arctic Seas. \ The following account of a fire at the Custom House, Grahamstown, is taken from ■the Thames Star: — "The Custom House inarrowly escaped destruction by fire this morning. About noon, during the absence of the Collector,. Mr H. P Andrews, Mr: Robert Mailer went into the office and inoticed a smoke coming from the lining jboards in the Collector's room. He called. Mr Atkinson's, attention, to the matter, and tit was apparent that a fire was burning inside ! between the lining boards and the outer -wall. A crowbar was handy, with which some of the lining was forced, and the front ;door being closed, Messrs Mailer, Atkinson, ■Bradburn, and the Collector of Tolls on the 'Goods Wharf, Mr Hill, quickly extinguished ithe fire by handing up water from the Waioitahi Creek, which runs under the Custom ; House. The gentlemen above referred to ; certainly deserve every credit for putting out the fire; for- considering the hold it must have gained, as exhibited by the ! charred and blackened boards, the task, was ;no easy one; and nothing but the most j prompt aotion could have been successful. The matter has been reported to the Coiri- ■ missioner of Customs by Mr Andrews, who j. attributes the fire to the iron chimney, a : conclusion with which we agree. The damage done is inconsiderable. The whole huilding indeed is noi very valuable, but as there are goods in the adjoining shed occa> sionally of the value of L2OOO, the Customs authorities should authorise the removal of such a dangerous adjunct as an iron chimney." * The Bankruptcy Bill, which ■ has once more been abandoned, or rather distinctly discharged from the Order Paper, was expected to deal a blow at the lawyers, who are recognised as so many parasites upou insolvents under the present system. One lawyer, however —Mr Sheehan — thought; different^. In moving its discharge, he said he believed the Bill would work much mischief. He had been informed by an eminent lawyer that if the Bill were passed bankruptcy business would become the most lucrative branch of legal business. A Wellington contemporary, we notice, also says of the extinguishment of the Bill : — "The Chambers of Commerce may regret it, but the general impression in the country, we believe, will be that we are well rid of it." A sitting of the District Court, in Bankruptcy, was held at Hokitika by his Honor Judge Harvey, on Wednesday. In the matter of Israel Pollock, Mr South applied forTthe bankrupt's order of discharged Mr Button opposed the application on behalf of several creditors. His Honor considered that it had been proved that the bankrupt had obtained goods on credit without having the means of paying for them, and he was by no means satisfied with the bankrupt's account of the disposal of some of them.He suspended the order of discharge for three months. '*- E&The member for Hokitika is spoken of by the Wellington correspondent of a contemporary as "the energetic and gesticulatory —and perhaps a trifle outspoken and slangy Mr .John White." jF Some objection was taken to. -a. postal item of LIS.Q for extra assistance in Wellington during the session, and Mr Yogel- explained that thjs wag necessary because Qf sorting and delivering mails on Sundays, which is not now the practice over the Colony, but is done at Wellington in session, to allow members to receive and answer letters, as it was a hardship to;keep them there without giving them the fullest opportunities of corresponding on business or withtheir.familiesi "■ Indeed," added Mr Yogel, "it at one time t

struck me whether or not it would be advisable to give members the use of the telegraph wire to communicate with their wives and families. " Fortunately the idea went no further ; for, says a correspondent, if members had the chance of such communications the more uxorious of them would be apt to clog the wires, worse even than by, mere "Press" messages. A Dr Sorley, of Dunedin, has been making a violent attack with the pen upon Drs Bocken and Hulme. He gives a sly. poke, at the latter by telling the following little story: — " It is true that ■ dead men tell no tales, except in such a case as occurred at the Hospital the other day, when a man who was sent into the dead-house somewhat sooner than he ought, rose again. in the ! dead of night, ! and stalked forth; spreading terror and confusion among the scared inmates aud officers " , •• : ; According to the annual return laid before Parliament of the quantity of land sold or otherwise disposed of during the year ending 31st December/ 1872, the total 1 sales of the various Provinces may be put* thus.:—

The following shows the quantity of land disposed of in payment of ,pul>lic works : — Marlborough, 13Q9 acres, for L 823 of work ; Westland, > 2263 acres, for L 2363 of work ; and Southland district, 16,913 acres, for L 16.913 worth of work. The arrest .of t)r Morton, a bigamist, was recently reported, but there was some misstatement of particulars. Palmerston. was the name : of the place where 'he set up, but it happens to be, not in Otago, but in the Province of. Wellington. The circumstance of the arrest is rather amusing, anc is worth teljin /. According to the Independent when Detective Lambert went to find his man, he pus himself under the guidance of the local constable; whp promised to " bring the doctor" to him. The detective went into a neighbering '?pub," threw himself upon a sofa, and engag d in conversation with those, around him. It was -. not long;---before the doctor made his appearance to attend a patient.; The constable, pointed to the recumbent 1 figure' upon the sofa, 7 saying, " There's a patient who stands much in need of you, doctor. " The' bys tanders were not unnaturally mystified to' see the, doctor brought to a man with whom they had.be en conversing the moment before in the full enjoyment of good health ;' Vmt the serious countenance of the constable and the professional look of the doctor impressed them with the gravity of the; case, and-' they atonce withdrew from. the. room to give the doctor an opportunity to make his diagnosis. The patient, however, soon showed what was the matter by j limping up and reading" the arrest \i arrant. The two at once changed places, 'and ' the medical irian then became "patient." : , : ' :; " ' - : ; A Maori named Tui Tv was burned to death in his hut on Mr James Crane's farm, Taieri Beach, Otagb, on, the .4th inst. . Deceased, who was about seventy years of age, arid was : distantly related ;to Mrs Crane, slept, in accordance with Maori usage, on the bare ground in a hut, wrapped in a blanket, near a fire. He was seen alive, previous to thus retiring, on the evening of the 4th. inst , and on the following morning the hut was found burned down,' and all that remained of deceased was the charred trunk of his body.

Acres Cash Scrip Luqkland ... 864 ... £1725 ... £936 'aranaki , ... Nil... Nil ■■....■ Nil Tawke's Bay ... 10,531 ... 9080... — Wellington ... 65,419 ... 25,527 ... 3045 felson... ... 1038 ... 815 ... 33 larlborough ... . 2164... 526... — Janterbury .. 105,384 ... 211,754 ... — Vesfcland ... 4369 ... 4463 ... — )tago 135,824 ... 124,185 ... 1865. ioutliland ... 9910 ... 11,030 .. —I