Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1803, 16 May 1874, Page 2

Miss Aitken had -no reason to be dissatisfied with the attendance at the Volunteer Hall last night on : the ocasion of her benefit. The room was crowded, and the audience evidently enjoyed themselves. Miss Aitken's readings were varied by the efforts of a number of; musical . amateurs, i who, although not numerous, contrived to please ■ th^ir hearers. It .is npt- necessary to enter' upon any criticism, either of Miss Aitken'S readings, or the performances of 'the musical ■ amateurs, but it is right to say that the: latter were largely indebted to the. opportune ; dresecne of Mr Engel, a gentleman who has: previously willingly given his services on similar occasions. Miss Aitken read, as she ; always does— well; but, as of course,, encores , are impossible in regard to readings, the company gave vent to their exuberance of feeling by demanding that most irregular, but nice thing to the performer or performers—an encore, from the several ladie3 and gentlemen who delighted their ears. Perhaps, tbe most enthusiastic reception was given to the German National song " The Watch on the Rhine," a repetition of which was insisted upon< Successful as the performance was, we would point out that, repeated encores, and too long readings are apt to'lead to tiresomeness. To some extent this was the case last evening.

A rather clever capture of a petty thief was made at Ahaura yesterday. During the hearing of a " drunk and disorderly " case at the Resident Magistrate's Court, a " pal ' of f the defendant staggered forwarded and insisted upon giving voluntary testimony as to the moral character of his mate. SubInspector Goodall thought he had seen a reseinblauce to the witness somewhere before, either in the flesh, or in the "Police Gazette," and he suddenly recollected tbafc he answered the description of a man who was wanted for stealing a meerschaum pipe some two' years ago at Greymouth. The man was arrested as he stepped from the witness-box, ana on being searched afterwards the .missing pipe was 'found. The rogue then confessed he " had borrowed the pipe of course, and was quite willing to give it back if they didn't kick up such a d d fuss about it." A man named James Wilkins has been committed for trial at Wellington on a charge of poisoning cattle with stiychnine, sprinkled on the leaves, and inserted in holes made in cabbages, and placed within reach of the animals poisoned. The New Zealand Herald declares that " Good Templarism " might have raised itself to a power in the cause of temperance if it had not meddled with politics and the pernicious "ticket" or black- vpting system There are between 8000 and 9000 emigrants on the high seas in ships bound for New Zealand, of which number 2200 are for Otago. Yesterday morning the civil cases act down for hearing Tiad to be adjourned, as the police found it impossible to obtain the ser vices of a couple of J.P. s to act in the tern porary absence of Mr Revell. The following curious paragraph appears in the Otago Daily Times :— " A gentleman well known in political circles, is, it is understood, about to institute legal proceedings against the City Council; for the exhibition of his photo, under circumstances which .would lead those who looked at it to conclude that he was suffering from the effects of treatment for malice aforethought. The damages are reported to be L 500." The Hokitika Exhibition Committee held a meeting on Wednesday night, when a somewhat unsatisfactory balance-sheet was presented, as stated by. .the Times. It is intended, we understand, shortly to make an appeal to the public, when such a good case can be made out, and such value for the money can,be shown, that there is no doubt • whatever of the needed support to clear the Committee being readily obtained. • If ever there was a good excuse for not getting out a paper in time, it is that offered ,by the Panama Star and Herald. The editor says that the Government, troops were keeping up a continuous f<re on the door of his sitting-room, and half a dozen shots did not vary three feet in strikiug. "To this annoyance," he says. "we must attribute our delay in, getting out this edition, for it is difficult to persuade men to work under a steady fire." Messrs Watson Bros', of Milton, tender for; L16, 000, for the erection. of the railway bridge across the Molyneux, has been ac- ! cepted. '■■ There was unlimited fun at the Supreme Court, at Dunedin, the other day,, over a sadly misreported iecture. by Mr Macassey, on the occasion when he visited Queenstown, at the time of th* celebrated election contest. •;■ The lecture was full of the names of legal celebrities, and these celebrities were classified in the report of the lecture, among other divisions, as English and Colonial. Sydney Smith and '' Cauaan" were set down as" ; Colonials. ' It appeared that a report of what Mr Manders, the editor of the Wahatip Itail, called "the talented lecture," had to be butdowni to m6e t the exigencies of newspaper space. Tho summarising was done by

an unskilled hand, and thfi result was the bundle referred to. The names of the various grout Antipodean celebrities describe! as colonials, when read out, caused much laughter. Mr Barton, on this occasion, did not exactly discover a crocodile in a water-pipe, but he was very inquisitive on the point whether "Canaan" was "Jerusalem Stnyih's brother." The witness did not answer as to Mr Canaan's relation with the Jerusalem whose name had been taken in vain.; but his Honor identified Mr "Canaan" as Lord Cairns. Between Mr Barton and Mr Manders, the reputation of Trinity Collflge for wit w.is well maintained. The auditors laughed loudly and well when Mr Maude 2 was : aos\t r ering Mr Barton as to the applauding and cheering of Mr Macassey's supporters at the Queenstown hustings, and as a proof of thoir enthusiasm said, " They were countrymen of. yours and mine." : Tf much credence is to be placed upon the tongue of common report, says the Reefton Courier, the public will shortly learn soineithing of the mysterious process of " winding up," in its application to mining companies. The case in question has direct refersnee to I the defunct (iolden Bell Company, the affairs of which have been so long before the public. It will be recollected that at the last sitting of the District Court, his Honor Judge Harvey made a somewhat caustic reference in the matt<-r, and it is upon the strength of those remarks that the long-suffering contributors are determined to let the world know what winding up a company really means. The following is the paragraph which has brought tho proprietor of the Wellington Tribune into the law courts for libel :—" We congratulate the present dramatic company performing at the Theatre Royal . on their success, but we deplore the depraved tastes of that section- of .the community which bestows such patronage on this .motley, company. Of all knock-kneed dingle-dangle performances, we never before witnessed the equal of last night's, and how enlightened people can look on and tolerate it we are at our wit's end to imagine. With two exceptions, the company are. the greatest lots of muffs that ever walked the stage, and tonight we are promised the production of Hamlet, and the role of the hero is to be personated by one who does very well in the bigh-falutin tall tall*. Yankee style, but as to. having any pretensions to histrionic ability, 1 the thing is the merest delusiou. Thd.worst feature is that a whole lot of larrikins are there, posted up ia the mysteries of rowdyism and drunkenness, the only species of performance in which the players appear to be thoroughly up to the mark. 7'he Eeefton Courier says that the Rev.! Father Holland, whose name.has been associated -with the Roman Catholic interest of Reefton for some years, is ou the eve of departure'from the district for Napier, whither ho has 'been called , by the Vicar-General to assist in" the ad ministration of -that . poi; tio ni of the diocese The news of Father Holland^ intended departure 'is deeply : regretted, and steps have been taken within the last iew days by the most influential members of his congregation to indues a recall of the'sum- '-■ mous, but without avail, and the reverend gentleman will leave Reef ton on Thursday! or r-'riday next. Father Holland, during his! mission here, has had more than an ordinary share of difficulties to cope with, but his! great zeal and personal activity have enabled him to respond ut all times to the many calls of his parishioners, and discharge the duties of his office with something more than ordinary efficiency. The Southern Cross states that Mr Neil Lloyd, of the Auckland Patent Rope Factory, has just finished a stream cable for the ship Hindustan,' which, on account of its unusu d size, ia worthy of notice. The cable is 12in in circumference, and is made of New Zealand oiled flax. The coil of rope, as it now lies at the factory, is 122 fathoms long and 12ft in diameter, and its weight is supposed to be about 2 tons. If the weather be fine this morning it will be taken to the ship, but in order to get it ont. of the factory the entire end of the building will have to betaken down. This is believed to be by far the largest rope ever made in New Zealand.' Under : the arresting heading of "Telegraphic Monsters," we have an interesting: correspondence on the legitimate and illegiti' mate use of compound words in foreign telegraphic messages. Some foolish people, it appears, with a view to economy of expense, have been attempting to pass as one word such extraordinary compounds as "fireinsurancepolicy," " pigirontons," " Wire- j answer," "lantern jawed," &c. The eastern companies won't stand it any longer, and, instigated by the Indian Telegraphic department, have published a list of combinations which they refuse to forward as single words, among which appear such words as "anyone," "anything," &c. Such revenge as this has elicited loud remonstrances. Amongst the Victorian notes in the Home News we find th> following :—" Mr Chevalier has returned from' Russia with a mine of artistic wealth His portfolio is crammed with good things. Every phase of Russian life is therein poartrayed in indelible characters, and with such a power and precision that even the ordinary observer cannot fail to see that in looking on these sketches he is in the presence of the lifeline representations of living men and women. From the Emperor and Empress, the Grand Duchess, the officials of the court, to the common people, "all sorts and conditions of men" are stamped with the unerring fixedness of genius and hard work. Of the former quality, as possessed by Mr Chevalier, most Australians are already aware, but to judge of the amount of positive labor in addition thereto he is capable of performing, his souvenirs of Russia should be seen. The marvellous elaboration of his Russian interiors, even in their rough state, is in itself marvellous, but the character and life of the figures and groups give promise with regard to the finished works that cannot be too highly estimated. For an Australian to look upon them and not feel proud of one who won his artistic spurs, fairly and hardly, in Australia, is impossible, and we are sure Australians will be glad to hear of his success and progress." It is stated in the Argus commercial correspondence that disclosures of a most startling and extraordinary character have been made with regard to the conspiracy; to defraud the New York Life Insurance Company by insuring, without their knowledge, the lives of persons residing in county Lime rick. The local agent, Mr Barry, has absconded, and a warrant has been issued for his apprehension. One witness in his examination said he was greatly alarmed when he heard it privately rumored that men were beiug done away with . It is also stated that some of tne persons whose lives were insured were met with at fairs and markets by people who made them drunk, and that some of them have since died.

In the House of Commons one of the first acts was to read a letter from the Lord Chief Justice, formally communicating the fact that one of their members, though now free, ha i been imprisoned by his order— Mr Whalley, of course, in whose person tbie privileges of the House had to be respected, even while the judicial Bercli asserted its claims- to respect. ■'■■■'■

We (Mount Ida Chronicle) have much pleasure in recording the particulars of the value of the parcel of gold forwarded by Loader, of Sownum, to Melbourne. The (parcel sent was.Bo-13ozgold ; the weight after melting was 78 27 ; the sample was then equal to 83'6780z of standard gold, for which , value was credited at L 3 17s 10 Jd per ounce-the value of parcel being L 326" lGs sd. Amiut

charge of 51 per ounce ; aad the discount, at 7 per cent for eleven day.«, redac9rl the returnable value to L 323 7s lid, delivery in Melbourne. But we still have the New Zealand charges : Duty, LS : freight, 103 ; insurance, 16a ; stamps, 3s 6d ; total, L 9 9a Cd. The value in Melbourne of L 323 7s lid was still to be reduced b> the value of the exchange iv thin case, 3tilLfurt}iec-rcd.ucintr.-our value to L 321 15s Bd. Deducting now the final New Zealand charges of L 9 9a 6d, the net result due to Loader at Naseby is L 312 6s 2d, or >L 3 17s B£d per ounce. r,Mr Loader accordingly, guns, by sending to Melr bourne (reckoning t'be gold at L 3 15s Gd), the sumof,LB 163 Bd. * ...,..- ( .■•.- :; i Yesterday forenoon an accident oc&jirjed to a young man in the Rutherglen district! He was w*alkiug along a tail-race and flipped in. He happened tp fall among a. quantity of broken bottles, inflicting, a fearful gash in his left leg. Ho was brought to town by his mate, and attended to by Dr Acheson — Another accident took place in the afternoon to one of the', sailors on board the s.s Go- Ahead. As lie was. fixing' a rope to the wharf he overbalanced' himself and, fell amongst the limestone boulders, dislocating his ancle. He was taken on board, the vessel and proceeded north \yith her last night. Mr Barton, the defeated candidate in Duu« edin, speaking of the land laws, said : — "The land waa given over, body and soul, to the squatting community, and the people had no redress. Bad as -the Act was, they had a woree body. ' to ; administer it. They had an irresponsible Land Board, and wholly independent of the Provincial Council. He saw they had appointed Donald Reid ts the Board lately. This .was a ilittle sop, but hot much. As far as; the land : was -concerned, it was given to the souatters, except; here and there a little bit thrown to a poor man, like a bo c to a dog. Rut this would find its remedy when the railways and public works ran through the country. As an; illuscration of the interest in the resulfc of the Tichborue trial case, the Standard containing' the result of the trial was being sold in Fleet street at sixpence a copy. • within five minutes of the of the sentence being pronounced in Court. The verdict <>f the, jury; was as follows :— "Firstly, 1 we find that the defendant- is not Ro^er Charles Tichborne, Secondly, -we find that the defendant did riot seduce his cousia, Kate Doughty. We further believe hat there is not the slightest evidence that Rvger Charles lichborne. was ever guilty of an undue familiairty with his cousin,- Kate Doughty, on any occasion whatever. Thirdly, we find, that the defendant is Arthur Orton. . ... ...-, .. ... A public meeting has been held! at Jones's Flat, Ross, for the purpose of endeavoring, to obtain, the cancellation of the leases held by Mr Cassius on Jones's and Guardian Flats. Respecting it the Ross Guardian says : — " The m ding was 'held, for the purpose of urging on his Honor the Superintendent the injustice of keeping such a large area of auriferous ground, locked up as Mr Cassius at present -holds: under lease on Jones's and Guardian Flat. He has. stopped all operation* uearly two years ago— ho has not paid the ground rent -for eighteen months j nearly all the machinery has been removed ; and under what pretence he is permitted to hold the leases, it is.difiicult to understand. We question if such a defiance of the Gold-fields Regulations would be . permitted anywhere else. When it is considered that a great portion of the ground held by Mr Cassius would bs, taken up in ordinary claims if thrown open to the miner, we hope his Honor will see she justice of putting an end to this monopoly. Those leases are also -the only barrier in the way of the sale of the town lauds, and this is an additional reason why they should be cancelled, as the business people have been fleeced beyond human endurance, for the privilege of .trading. The hatchet being now raised, it should not be agaiu buried uutil the evils the inhabitants of the Totara have endured so patiently and so long have been redressed. : ' ' '.