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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1800, 13 May 1874, Page 2

When the account of the late flood reached Mr Moriarty, in Sydney, he telegraphed to the Town Surveyor to have fresh soundings taken in the roadste <d, and aldo for a fresh detailed survey of the mout'i of the river. At the Borough Council iceeting, en Friday last, the communication was referred: to by the Town Surveyor, and, with the usual promptitude of that body, they gave orders at once to the Town Purveyor to have the necessary information supplied to Mr Moriarty. Mr Johnston lost no time in getting the necessary force organised to carry out the work, and by 2 p.m. on Saturday the steam- tug Dispatch was fairly at the work. Mr Johnston took the flagstaff station ; Mr Holmes, of the Public Works Department, took the station on the South Spit; and Captain Allardyce conducted the soundings from preconcetted signals. We believe the result has shown that no alteration has been detected, from th ■• very favorable soundings taken by the Town Surveyor for Mr Moriarty, except in the immediate vicinity of the bar ; aF&\Wiffiey^roW DfcyMlXcloubt" i¥ a permanent tJaining-wall was erected the question of making Greymouth a port of some considerable capacity is settled. A« it is intended to institute a lodge of Good Templars in Greymouth, all who intend to take part in the same are requested to assemble at the Town Hall to-night, afc halfpast eight o'clock. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, in the case Hungerford v. Carr-11, plaintiff sought to recover the sum of L2B, the amount of a dishonored cheque of defendant's for L 24, audL4 for cash lent by plaintiffs \ set-off was Pled for hay sold ana delivered. It appeared in evidence that this claim arose out of some partnership transaction between the parties in racing matters in connecei n with the late Ahaura, Greymouth, and Hokitika meetings Each of the parties to this suit o-yned a horse, one Nero, the other Boy in Blue, and these horses were entered and run in defendant's uame The set-off also related to an alleged partnership in the puroh se of some hay at the sale of the effects of the late Mr Muir, of Camptown. » Bet off to the amount of 1.12 lCs was allowed, a verdict for plaintiff being recorded for Ll7 18s with costs and professional fee. Mr Newton for plaintiff, Mr Guinness for the defence. In Perotti v. Jones, claim for LI ss, for board. Judgment was confessed. The West Coast Times states that a company is about to be started between Hokitika.and Greymouth, with the intention of undertaking the importation of cattle from Christchurch and elsewhere, iv a manner suitable to the demands of both places. A large amount of the capital required is, we understand, already subscribed, and the necessary negotiations will shortly be proceeded with. Tenders are invited elsewhere for sections Eos 1 and 2, for a road from Okarito to Lake Mapourika ; also for a bridge over the Waimea Creek, near the Big Dam. Tenders for the first-mentioned contract, will be received up to the Ist June, and for the second, up to the 26th inst. Mr Dodson, the first Chairman of the local Board of Works, his been elected first Mayor of Nelson.. Our. telegrams recently reported a serious landslip at the LyelL Regarding it the Westprt Times Bays ;— A landslip, causing serious injury, occurred at the Lyellon Sunday last, a large mass of earth coming down and completely ; burying the crushing machinery of Messrs Carroll and < 'air; s. This mishap will seriously retard work, as it is feared at least two months muat elapse before the machinery can be set in working order again. At the time of the accident the battery was engaged for crushing the Maruia stone. The Break-o'-Day, Moute <Jriso, andMaloney's claims were also waiting ineir turn. Mining matters at Brighton are looking brigh er than for a long time past. The beachcombers are meeting with tolerable success, and are in good hopes of profitable work daring the winter season. At the }ast sitting of the Warden's Court a pumber of applications for dams, races, extended claimß, washing sites, and residence areas were granted.

Some one. evidently a resident in Greymouth, has been writing to the Canturbury Press, under the name " Westlander." He says :— " lam in the habit of paying periodical visits to Canterbury, and at each visit I become more and more deeply impressed with the extent of your resources, and the rapidity with which these resources are being developed. But although I have cast in my lot with poor, and at present despised Westland,* which at one time formed part of your Province, 1 hope I am not envious of your prosperity; ] Aa I feel satisfied, while we at present mourn over our youthful folly in

separating from you — that we possess {the elements of prosperity unsurpassed by any part of the Colony, because, we have yet our thousands of acres of gold bearing country. We have" also extensive forests, from which large supplies of valuable timber can lie drawn. Our great want, being water brought on to our gold-fields and cheap communication with a market for our timber, which can be secured by a good harbor and railway communication therewith. As to our coal supply, Greymouth alone can supply the whole Colony for centuries to come, with a better and cheaper article than it now imports, an evidence of which is that Newcastle coal in this market is worth from 34s to 35s per ton by the cargo, while Greymouth coal sells readily here at 42s per ton, which ooal can be delivered at Greymouth free on board on the opening of the lailway, now being constructed to the mine, at about 10s per tou. The only drawback to our then supplying the whole of the Colony with a cheap and superior quality of coal will be that Greymouth is a bar harbor, possessing only from eight and a-half to twelvo feet of water, but this depth of water can, according to the best authority, be greatly increased by the expenditure of a very moderate sum of mone>, but unfortunately, we have not the money. Although poor, we are yet too proud to ask Canterbury to take us back and and Bpond with us a part of that half- million of money lying to her credit, that we he hear so much about, but we do hope that the General Government will see the utility of lending us money for the pur ose of opening up a country so rich. "

Mr B. C. Mounier, for many years accountant of the Union Bank of Australia, Chriscchurch, and who has obtained a year's leave of absence for th^e purpose of visiting the old country, was presented on the sth inst, with a mark of the esteem in which he is held, by the mercantile community there. Mr C. C. Bowen, R.M.. occupied the chair, and in a highly flattering speech presented M r M ounier with a cup, together with one hundred guinea?. A somewhat peculiar case was heard on the 29ch ult. at the Reef ton Reaidt-nt Magistrate's Court, as stated by the Westport Times. Glenn Bros., assignees in the estate of Keuneth M'Kenzie, who has left Reefton abruptly, sued a viiss O'Neil for LIS 14s Bd, value of goods alleged to have been taken illegally from M'Keuzie's store. It came out in evidence that the lady held a dishonored promissory note of Kenneth's, and after his departure to parts unknown, she went to his store on a Sunday and prevaile I on a small boy iv charge to let her have goods about sufficient to square her claim, ami which goods were afterwards stowed away in boxes under the beds in her hotel. The Court said, looking at the facts, there could be no doubt whatever that the defendant had endeavored to obtain a preferential settlement of auy claim that she might have, and had obtained- illegal possession of the goods. It was perfectly monstrous to suppose that creditors, under any circumstances, could be justified in making a raid upon the estate of any absconding debtor to the prejudice of other creditors. Judgment for plaintiff was given for LlO 4s 3d and costs. The following intimation appears in the Otago Provincial Gazette:— The Provincial Government being desirous of promoting the plantation of forests in those parts of the Province where timber is scarce, and there being in the Botanical Gardens, at Dunedin, ready for transplanting, some 64,000 healthy forest tree plants of various kinds, it is proposed to dispose of the same at the rate of from 15s to #0s per 100, ta such persons as can give satisfactory assurances that they have lan t properly fenced and ready fort'ieir receipt. Application to be made in writing tp the Provincial Storekeeper. Such applications to bejlealt with in the order of date " Mrs Colls," says the Neio Zealand Herald, " ke>-ps a select registry office, ami resides in Wakefield street. One S turday afternoon lately, a man and woman, smartly dressed, made their appearance at the door of Mrs Colls's residence, and when asked their businpss, the man slily replied that 'they wanted to get married." With the best countenance the lady could command, the couple were informed that it was the 'Registrar's' and not a 'Registry' office that they required, With a sheepish look the two departed, the man muttering, 'It is Hard a man doesn't know where to get married these times.'" The Colonis writes thus mournfully of the Province or Nelson :— " We are repenting the fruits of a misspent youth. At three" and thirty years of age the Province finds itself without a continuous main trunk road through either its length or breadth. After parting with hundreds of thousands or acres of land, and pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds of revenue, we are driven to borrow L 250 000 to improve an estate a great part of which is no longer our own, aud the profits to accrue from which improvement- ■ it is needless to point out— will go into the hands of private owners instead of the public purse. However, ' needs must ' under certain conditions of driving. Wa are a gentle and inexperienced people, content, through endless mistakes, to grope our way to light."

The New Zealand Herald of April 8 says : — A fashionable wedding took place yesterday at Bishop Cowie's chapel, 'arnell, the happy ones being Miss Katie Hobson and Nikorima Pototara. Miss Hobson is a Maori protege of Lady Martin's aud is a highly accomplished and educated young lady ; she is also a daughter a native clergyman named Porimoua. who was drowned some years ago in the Kaiapara. The bridegroom is chief of tha >gatimaru tribe, of Hauraki, and is a lar^e landed proprietor. The wedding was a very gay proceeding, and in honor of the affair the proverbial merry marriage bells were rupg out. Mr and Mrs Pototara proceeded to the Thames by the eleven o'clock boat. The Southland News of April 18 says :— Thf committee of the Acclimatisation Society met yesterday. The secretary reported that balance of the young trout, about 150, had been "turned into the Waimatuku. A subcommittee appointed to consider the question reported unfavorably to tfye proposal to turn out the young salmon into a river, and recommended that the offer of residents on Jacob's River, to construct a saltwater pond at their own expense, and look after the fry until ready for s«a, should be taken advantage of. The report was adopted. Some little excitement was caused on the afternoon of the 7th, in Oxford Terrace, Christchurch, s*ys the Times, when the cry ot " Stop thief " was heard, and Mr Wagner, of the Clarendon Hotel, seen in full chase after a fashionably -dressed man running for dear life in the direction of Lane's Bridge ; the individual was then observed fco dodge into a back way near the corner of the Terrace and Hereford street, where he was quickly followed and secure i, Jt seems that about halt-past four o'clock, one of the hotel servants saw a man put Jjis head out of a door of one of the roonjs occupied by Mr and Mrs Allen (Miss Alice May) and to quickly draw it back when he noticed her, Believing him to be a lodger or friend of Mr Allen's she took no notice. Shortly after* wards she saw him walk along the passage with what appeared a bundle secreted uuder his coat. A portion of a silk dreas hinging from under the coat caught her eye, and her suspicions being aroused, she followed him downstairs, and as he was about to leave the house gave the alarm. Mr Wagner followed the man, who made for the bridge at the mill, but seeing himself pursued, he turned into a backyard behind Mr Schmid's Bhop,

and while attempting to throw away a portion of his booty, he was captured by Mr Warner. Serueant Wilson, hearing the cry, rau up and took him into custody. When searched: it was found that he had thrown away aud concealed aboui him the following miscellaneous assortment; : — A bracelet, five rings, clork, thirty-two photographs, a cross, silk dress, jacket, handkerchiefs,, and a watch ease, to the value of L 54, and the property of Miss Alice May. The individual, who gave the name of S. M. Nai Smith, was a stranger at the Clarendon, bat well known to the police