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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1798, 11 May 1874, Page 2

The tender of Butler and Co, lor the construction of the Gr«ymouth Wharf from Tainui to Boundary street, has been accepted for the sum of L 10.709 19s 6d. The tendering" upon this occasion "ws very close, as we learn that Mr Garven's was for L 10.835 lls 6J, and there were four close upon LU,OOO. The highest tecder was L 15.000. The time in which the contract is to be completed is twelve months. There will be some delay in starting the work, as a large quantity of the timber to be used has to be brought from Australia. The result of the scraping up of the plates of the Wealth of Nations claim for last week's crushing gave 2760z of amalgam. The total Inangabna assessment amounts to about L 670, and upwards of L 450 has been received. A charge of cattle-stealing against three residents of the Ten-mile Creek, Nortn Beach, will be disposed of at the first sitting of the Court at Cobdun, probably to-day. A presentation has been set afoot . at Oamaru to J. T. Warren, Esq., late manager of the Bank of New Zealand there. The handsome sum of 200 guineas has already been subscribed. Twenty blocks of rural land in this district, containing in ali 1350 acres, have been reserved from sale by the Waste Lands Board, in order that they may be given iv payment for public works. A new Presbyterian Church manse is to be built on the. church reserve, Hokitika, as the present one is alleged to be very inconvenient. A first-class track is reported by the Herald to have been constructed by the big race party (Mulligan and others) between the Greymou'ih road and Soldier's. They had waited many months in expectation of the Provincial Government attending to their wants in this particular, but at last, wearied of waiting, they took the matter in hand themselves, and const' ucted a road for their own and the public convenience. There is great disproportion between the sexes in the Province of Nelson, though not in the so-called settled parts. According to the census, the population consists of 13J540 males, and 8981 females. The gold-fields portion of the Province should bs capable of bearing a la'-ge influx of female immigrants. With regard to the striking the reef in the Just-in-Time claim (as reported in our teleprams), the Heralel of Saturday says: — Yesterday the very satisfactory intelligence reached Reefton that a good t>ody of stone had been intercepted in the low level tunnel of the Just-in-Time, Boatman's, towards the Boatman's Creek Company's boundary. Our informant saw two truck-loads of stone brought out, but could not speak as to its quality. It resembled in appearance the low level stone from the Fiery Cross. It is estimated by the Colonial Secretary, with reference to a permissive notice published in March last as to the shootiDg of game, that the x quaii therein referred to is the indigenous New Zealand quail, and persons are cautioned against destroying Californian quail, introduced by the Acclimatisation Society and others. In the District Court, lleefton, on Tuesday last, the following bankrupts obtained their discharge : John Smith, T. W. Tymons, Walter M 'ln tyre, J. J. Taylor, Job Lines, Timothy Pattinson, Richard Lecher, and Jeremiah Creed. On Wednesday the matter of the Golden Bell Quartz-Mining Company, in liquidation, was brought forward, and the Court approved the proposal of the Liquidator to call up a contribution of a shilling per share, so as to close the matter finally. In the matter of the Band of Hope GoldMining Company (in liquidation) v. Sutherland, Mr Marshall interpleaded It was sought to recover L5B 8s 6d, the amount due by Sutherland as one of the contributorie3. After hearing evidence, his Honor said that he building did not belong to the defendant, but to the National Bank, and ordered the bailiff to withdraw. In the matter of Geo. Wise and the Inangahua Quartz Crushing Company, there was an application to have Wise's name removed from the share register. His Honor reserved decision until this morning We take the following from the Melbourne Telegraph: — '• Letters have been received from England by W. Crispo, of H.M.C.S. Victoria, giving an account of a newly invented submarine cable, to cose only onehalf of the present cumbersome wire cable. The invention is due to a Captain Rowett. Several light cables are in the field for public approval, but this one is believed to be the best. As the Governments of New South j Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand contemplate laying lines between Singapore and Queensland, and ako between bydney and New Zealand, it will be of some importance to know the actual cost and capabilities ; and as the new cable is to be first laid between Lisbon and the Azores, an opportunity will shortly be afforded to judge of its meritfv Some of the laigest capitalists in Eugland are taking the matter in hand. Captain Annesley, R.N., late of H.M.S. Phcebe, Plying Squadron, who is to superintend the Uying, says the inventor does not at present wish the secret of the construction of the cable to be made public, bat it is believed it will act admirably, and the material will be far easier handled and be less liable to part than the old cables. This important result, it is expected, will follow the cheapness in the cost of construction so that messages can be sent at less than half the present cost, and it will cause the directors of the old cables to reduce their charges, or they will be beaten in the trade. The proceedings of the Hokitika Borough Council appear to have been of rather a rowdy character on Friday night last. With regard to it the West Coast Times of Saturday says:— "The Borough Council held a meeting last night, which terminated about half-past ten o'clock, and at one time seemed likely to last all night. We are compelled to hold over bur report, but may say that any much more unseemly proceedings have rarely taken place in the • good old times' in the above body. The proceedings in themselves were comparatively unimportant, bus the spleen thrown into the consideration of trifles was extraordinary. It was a kind of general skirmish almost f*oin the commencement, the Mayor himself being one of the assaulted, and very nearly one of the combatants. The word 'lie' was used in its naked form, and repeatedly with variations of a slightly moderated nature, motives were imputed, order was called in the midst of disorder, harangues were delivered, and one of the freest conversational fights that need be witnessed and listened to, delighted a large and appreciative company, who expressed their delight in various ways Gas, Finance, Public Works, Cattle, and other topics contributed their quota to the entertainment, indeed there seemed to be such a pugnacious spirit animating even some of the most unusually staid Councillors, that it is surp-ising that matters did not end with less creditable results even. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the Public Works Committee grievance fortunately brought about a crisis, which resulted in a long speech, and culminated ia two of the Councillors fairly taking to their heels; the stampede in a minute or ho was universal, the Mayor beiug

left standing alone endeavoring at h'u post, either to recall the lost sheep or to call the absent ones to order. There was o adjourumeufc, arid the proceedings terminated by a non-quorum, consisting of the Mayor being left."

Intelligence was brought by the last California mail of great political excitement at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, British: Columbia. This has risen out of the dissatisfaction of the people with the non-fulfilmezit of the terms on which they agreed to enter the Canadian Dominion. On consideration of their entering the Dominion, the Canadian Pacific Railroad was to have been built within a comparatively brief space of time, but the Dominion Government now find it impossible to do this, and seek to vary the terms of the bargain. Not content with ordinary expressions oE dissatisfaction at this about a thousand of the citizens of Victoria marched up to Parliament House on the 12th of February, and insisted^ first, on the city members who supported the Government resigning ; and, next, on no new terms being either proposed or accepted until the people had had «n opportunity of considering them. What steps the Government intended to take m J face of this demonstration were not known when the mail left, further than that the commander-in-chief had been requested to station a gunboat, off the Government buildings, and had . refused. Higgins, one of the ringleaders, having been threatened with arrest, at once avowed his acceptance of the entire responsibility of the demonstration, and Decosmos, the head of the Ministry, forthwith resigned, and left the city. It was generally believed that the latter had gone to stand in some outside district for a seat in the Dominion House of Commons. Nothing, it was said, but a dissolution of the Provincial Parliament would satisfy the country on this question. All except.the Government and a few of their supporters insist on the railway clause in the Act of Union being preserved intact.