THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, JULY 13, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1852, 13 July 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, JULY 13, 1874.

Some seven years ago a miner named Jerry M'Grath was accidentally killed at the Brighton diggings, north of the Grey, then known •■ as Fox's rush. He died intestate! ouu noofiuooKiogu vi a uuuomoiAUia, auiuuuu of money, pfuwhich a sort of distribution was^made among his surviving relatives, an unmarried sister administering the estate; and becoming residuary legatee of the greater Sortion of the assets. This woman has since ccn 1 married, and her husband is now going .through the Insolvent Court. At the last "sitting ;of ; the District ' Court in Bankruptcy at Ahaura, before his Honor Judge Harvey, his wife was examined as to a sum of money supposed to be in her possession, or under her control, part of the product of her deceased brother's estate. During the examination a very interesting and characteristic document came before the Court. It -was' an account for spirituous comforts supplied to the mourners at M'Grath' s funeral, and to the neighbors and other visitors at the lying in state previous to the funeral obsequies taking place. 1 Judging by the quantity of " consolation" provided for the bereaved friends of the departed, the immortal ffinnigan wias'yriot "the only person at whose ''wake. /"there was lots of fun." Sub-: joined is a copy of this unique bill of costs, j which was presented: for payment to the; Curator of Intestate Estates :—" 1867— Oct. i 30—2 bottles brandy, 16s; 3 bottles port wine, 18s ;- Ll 145. : 31—18 bottles brandy, 1445 ; 2 boxes cigars, 50s ; L 9 14s ; 16 bottles claret, 80s ;• 4 bottles gin. 325 ; L 5 12s ;18 "bottles port ' Wine, L 5 8s ; 1^ dozen ale and porter, L 3 12s; 3 dozen lemonade, ginger beer, &c, Ll 10s ; use of room and attendance, L2jlQs: /Total, L 30." His Honor remarked that payment of this account had been very properly refused by the Curator, and also stated that he should cause an inquirj to be made; as to Mrs Davey's adininis-i tration of the estate of M'Grrath. By a proclamation in thereto Zealand Gazette, of the 2nd inst, the Greymouth Dis-: ; trict, under the "Registration Act, 1874^"! and. under the "Marriage Act Amendment Act, 1858," has been sub-divided into two: districts, namely, the Greymouth District, and the Greenstone District. . On Wednesday .evening, Miss Aitken proceeded to Black's Point, and at the request l of : the residents gave an impromptu and! highly successful evening's entertainment. ; ''On Tuesday lMt,;MryalentiheKirby, of : Black's. Point, met with an accident under peculiar circumstances. The Herald says : — "MrKirby was employed carrying' coal,; and was proceeding down the bed of Murray Creek with a. bag , contaioing '."a hundred pounds of that commodity upon his back, .when his foot caught a projecting rock, throw- : "ing him .violently, to the; ground, with the coals on, top, ipf,;him. I.Mr ICirby receivedsevere contusiens, and his right wrist is; .badly, sprained, but escaped without any ,brokebbones. . ' ; " . ... . .. . '„. , \. : ._. , .:■ Mr Warden ßeetham of Queenston, Otago, •who has been appointed by the Minister of Public Works to act as Arbitrator between: ithe Government and claimants for damages: .likely to. be /sustained by them in consequence i of . the iconstrnction of the Government, water races on the West Coast, or for; interference with registered water priviliges, > arrived at Nelson Creek on' Friday last, and! an: investigation was held into the merits of the. claims made in connection with the: makiuK of ■ the Lake Hockstetter race. The : claim of Bernard Magee and party was gone into first, and is by far the most important one; The party hold a registered right, obtained at the. Warden's office, Camptown, in 1868, to raise 40 sluice heads of water from Nelson . Creek, . . The source of the water supply is not far from the proposed point' of commencement of ..'the; Government races. Ihe ditch made by- Magee's party is only capable of carrying 12 heads of water, and this quantity, it Beems, is to form the basis

of any compensation which may be awarded the claimants. Messrs Magee and Go. value their rights at L3OOO, which sum is the surrender value of their privileges. Mr Beetham examined the race and dam, and said he would make known the result of hia report to the Government early this week. There were several other claims put in, but that of Magee's is the only one of consequence in which parties who raise water from the bed of the main creek will be interfered with. Most of the other claims are for prospective damages likely to take place to the proprietors through landslips caused by the rare, or by trees falling while the ditch is being cut, or by 5 the race breaking away, or from any other similar cause. The Arbitrator told these parties that, when they had sustained actual damage or when danger was immenent, it was time enough to seek for compensation. The following are the only mining items of interest from the latest Reef ton papers :— "The early completion of numerous preliminary works for the mining companies in operation at Larry's, and the erection of machinery, will have the effect of reducing considerably the number of hands employed in that locality.— The machinery for the No 2 South Larry's will have been prepared for crushing early during the ensuing week, and it is stated that the Caledonian Company will first avail themselves of the batteries. This company have now about 90 tona of stone to surface of first-class quality, and it is confidently expected that the first crushing will show an average of soz to the ton.— The late crushing at the Ajax of 25 tons of ■stone taken from the lower incline shaft, now being sunk in that company's claim, is said to have surpassed in richness any ever ; before • raised from the mine.. The exact yield has not yet been ascertained, but we have authority for stating that it will exceed l^oz to the ton." Some person effected an entrance into the Auckland Hotel, Broadway, Reefton, on Thursday night, and succeeded in decamping with Ll6, the property of the landlady, Mrs Seawright. With legard to the late Mr James Linton, of Hokitika, whose sudden death we an- . nouflced on Friday last, the West : Coast Times says : — " It is with heartfelt regret that we have to chronicle the death of Mr James Linton, one of the earliest settlers, j and also one of the most respected business men in Hokitika. He was known throughout Westland, and in every part of it he was highly esteemed by those who were acquainted with him. He was of enterprising and active business habits, was a kindhearted and liberal man, and the public generally will sadly deplore his- early death. In any good cause he was ever in the front, and his sudden decease has caused sincete sorrow amongst a large circle of friends. He had been in indifferent health for some little time, but a recent trip to Nelson seemed to have completely restored him, and his illness on this occasion was only of a few days .duration. He had only been married about a year, and leaves a young widow, with whom the people of Hokitika, we may say, deeply sympathise in her sad bereavement. Mr Linton was sincerely esteemed and highly valued by his fellow citizens, and his memory will, long be green in the hearts of those who knew his sterling qualities. When his death was made known the vessels in port hoisted their flags half-mast, and the funeral will certainly be very largely attended, in order to pay the last tribute of respect to the dead. Deceased was a member of both the Masonic body and the Oddfellows' Society, and both these Orders will follow his remains to the grave this day (Saturday). As many of the public appear to be under the impression (says the Register) that Mr Lazar was summarily dismissed from his position in the Treasury, is as well that it should be known that both Mr Tennaut and Mr Lazar were offered appointments at the reduced salary of L 250 a year each. This uucr woo uiauß iv auuuniauCfa witn one mien* tion expressed by the Government at the end ,of the recent sittings of the Provincial Council, to reduce the amount paid for clerical assistance in the Provincial Secretary's'and Treasurer's departments to LSOO per annum; We uncUwtand that Mr Tennant accepted the reduced salary, but that Mr Lazar declined it. The New Zealand Times ef the 30th uit. says: — " Some exciting sport, attended with considerable danger, was experienced by the occupants of Messrs Norris, Cave, and Co. 's boat, on Saturday last, whilst whaling be- 1 tween Mana Island and Tetai Bay. A whale of the humpbacked species was struck, and immediately rounded and came under the boat, lifting it completely some six or seyen feet into the air, causing, no doubt, a peculiar and not very agreeable sensation to those in the unenviable position, particularly as it was blowing half a gale at the time. On recovering their equilibrium, Cave lanced the whale, which immediately sank, tearing out the iron in going down. The men anticipate that the whale, from; which they expect to get about five tuns of oil, would be got ashore at Tetai some time, last evening. Dr Carr is still drawing good houses at Dunedin. : The editor of the Taranaki . News thus bewails the absence of a sufficient market for produce in the town of New Plymouth :- - " Many a time have we and others, in bringing produce to town, been made painfully to feel that we were under an obligation to the merchant or storekeeper who took our goods. We have Been heaps of potatoes rotting in town, and hare known tons of the same to be shot into gullies, for; want : of a market. We once saw a load of onions brought into town, and the owner, because offered a ridiculously low and incommensurate price for them, take out the tail-board of his cart and scatter them along the road." < On June 24 there appeared before Mr | M'Culloch, Resident Magistrate at Tnvercargill, a married couple named Gough, who were charged with drunken and disorderly conduct in the immigration barracks there. The arresting constable said: that both the •accused were immigrants by the ship Asia; and he further characterised them as nuisances to the neighborhood in which they resided. The man pleaded that he and his "old woman" had never been so accused before, and the "old woman" voluntarily ie» formed the Court that she " might have been a grandmother, but she wasn't." On being i told by the Court that they were fined 5s each, or failing payment, twenty-four hours' imprisonment, the man triumphantly exclaimed— "Faix, an' I haven't a ha'penny." :; tfie~New Zealand Timw state's that for several days past the Colonial Museum has been visited, by the eminent scientific gentlemen'comprising the Challenger expedition, who have found many objects of interest and great scientific value to engage their attention. The 'many excellent works compiled by the officers of the Geological Survey Staff, Dr Hector's works on the fishes of New Zealand, and other works contributed to the scientific literature of - the Colony by Dr Hector and Captain Hut ton, formed the subject of high enconiums, and it is intended to present the members of the expedition with a complete set of these works,, which are regarded as proving New Zealand, to be far in advance of many older countries which claim to be much more advanced than we are in scientific knowledge. . ; ~ A fire that caused considerable damage to property occurred on Friday week, at about a quarter to six o'clock, at a stable next Mr Amos M'Kegg's White House Botel, Taieri, Otago.- Mr M'Kegg and his family were

hitting down at tea at the hour mentioned above, when one of the grooms came in and stated that the left of the stable was on fire. M'Kegg immediately went out, and all available assistance was procured, but by this time the fire had obtained such a hold on the building that the only thing that could be done was to save the horses, of which there were seventeen in the stable. The horses were all rescued, but not without great difficulty, for when the last animal was got out of the burning building the flames were coming through the door. A quantity of harness was saved, but several sets were destroyed. In addition to the building and harness, a large quantity of oats and hay was destroyed. The stables were Mr M'Kegg's property, and were rented by Cobb aud Co. The joint loss will be about L3OO, and none of it is covered by insurance. The origin of the fire is not known. A bankrupt under examination the Supreme Court, Dunedin, the other day, having said that he once sold a section of land to a man whose name he did not know and did not ask, the opposing counsel took hold of this statemeat «*s being sufficiently extraordinary to throw doubt over the truthfulness of the witness's evidence. Mr Justice Chapman, however, thought it a matter of little moment, saying that names were very awkward things, and with some people it was advisable that too much publicity should not be given to them. To show the indifference and want of curiosity as to names evinced by certain people, his Honor related an instance of a digger who went to get a marriage license, and, on the registrar asking him the Jady'a name, said,:..'* I'm blest if I know !" and then, turning to his best man, " What's her name, Bill?"