THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1851, 23 July 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1874.

We yesterday published at length the Financial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer, from which it will be seen by any careful reader that the interests of the whole of the Provinces are being watched over in a manner unprecedented in the ! history of the Colony. Mr Vogel's travels through the Provinces have been a great gain, as he seems to have comprehended the immediate wants of each Province, . and has made, an attempt to satisfy them. Although this is the shortest, it is the most satisfactory Financial Statement that has been made for some time. It is true that the Government is making an j effort to make a short session of it, and to slip through their proposals as soon as possible, because the Immigration and Public Works policy is just now being put upon its test, and how- | ever much any party in the House may object to the manuer in which the immigration has been conducted, it must have a fair trial, especially under the conditions we mentioned yesterday, that Mr Yogel '. had taken charge of the Agent-General's Department, and the whole system was . likely to be reconstructed. As the Statement referring more particularly to immigration has not yet been made, in the House, we will not refer further to the manner in which it has been conducted, except to show that since he assumed the control of the department Mr Yogel has done hi 3 utmost to see that it was worked forgone interest alone, that for which it was instituted — the benefit of the Colony" at large. The Parliamentary papers we have received on the subject of immigration — running from September 1 , 1873, to June, 1874— show that Mr Yogel did not let the grass grow, under- his feet when he had undertaken the" administration of the department. He placed himself in .communication with the Agent-General within -a week after the/close of the session of 1873 by means of a telegram, the substance of which it is desirable to quote. It is dated r October 11, "and opens with an intimation to the effect that the' 'sender is Immigration Minister, that' the Agent-General is to communicate direct ; that all telegrams are to be addressed " Yogel, Melbourne ;" "and that Tiaye ueea ma,a D for' forwarding ( <V New Zealand. . With this preamble, %• r Yogel proceeds to inform the' Agent-General that his telegrams about short shipments reached the. Government when the Colony was "much .complaining" about the want of labor,; and that, although the shipments had increased, the number of immigrants was atill " wholly inadequate." The Goverri■ment, he added, had decided that until otherwise instructed, the Agent-General was to grant free passages, and, if. necessary, 1 to advance emigrants' expenses to the port of embarkation, together with the necessary ship's outfit; But, Mr Yogel also said, and apparently with emphasis — ," exercise great stringencj> in selection." If we may judge from recent arrivals, who must have been : " selected " after Dr Featherston ; received the above telegrams, the distinct and imperative inBtructions of ' the Immigration Minister were disregarded... :The Premier. went on ;to say, in; the? telegram from which we ; have been quoting, that the Government | doubted the. ; efficiency, .of selection by 1 agents paid per emigrant, and that they ' would prefer trusting to , the efficiency of I officers who received a fixed salary. The remainder of the telegram is as follows : — "To prevent short: shipments, and to increase, emigration, keep emigrants iv depot in. advance, of ships sailing, so as to 1 enable you to fill every vessel ; also, send [emigrants for any port of New Zealand, ) for transhipment on arrival. This direcitibn'is only to prevent short shipment; i otherwise, send emigrants direct to destination. Besides the October Bhip for .Napier, send with the utmost despatch i another ship. Mr Ormond wants a thousand immigrants .as quickly as possible. jEndeavor to charter two fine fast steamers i to leave early in December, one for Canterbury and one for Otago, each to bring from six to eight hundred immigrants. Follow this instruction though the steamers cost twenty pounds per adult, though I anticipate less. Positively preclude the steamers from touching at an Australian port. . Try through respectable brokers to get Cunard or other first-class steamers, to chow how pleasantly the passage may be made. Besides these steamers, push on emigration to all parts of the colony to the utmost, consistent with careful selection, by granting free passages to all suitable emigrants, and widely announcing the same. Glad if during six months you could send twenty thousand. Don't send all from England. Try to despatch some ships from Glasgow, Belfast, Queenstown. Continue sending Scandinavians and Germans. Consider these instructions imperative; Fully cable your proceedings consequent thereon. I suggest that you should try to obtain the co-operation of the organisation Mr Joseph Arch is connected with. Would you like a lecturer, arid ..some- persons acquainted .with, the colony suitable for agents sent to you ?" The Agent-General did not send 20,000 emigrants within the. specified time, and he did not exercise great stringency in selection. 'He chartered two Bteamers, one pf which proved that she was fast by making the passage in 51 days,- but neither could be called " fine," nor could it be said that they were adapted for the conveyance of emigrants. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the ' history of the Mongol and the Atrato, further than to say that the immigrants by both, taking them all round, were not considered satisfactory additions to the population of the Colony. We have referred at some considerable

length to the immigration policy, because it really is the question upon which the whole policy of the Government hinges ; and it is satisfactory to know that the Treasurer says that the revenue of the Colony is increasing in an equal ratio to the immigration, and that the present expenditure in that direction is most likely to be recouped. Not only is the land revenue increasing, but so are all other sources of revenue, at a most unprece- . dented rate. The revenue of the last year exceeded that of the previous year by £300,000, and elso exceeded the sanguine estimates of the Colonial Treasurer by This large increase can only be estimated at its proper value when it is considered in connection with the total revenue of the Colony, to which it bears a very large proportion. What both Westland and Nelson are to gain by the transactions is to us the most important inquiry, and we find both Provinces are placed in the Bame catagory by the hon., the Treasurer, as being in a " most lamentable state, and required temporary assistance from the consolidated revenue of the Colony." Thia assistance is certainly given, but is far to small, as £10,000 to Westland and £5000 to Nelson would be no more than a drop in the bucket — it might get over existing liabilities, but it would not enable them to sail ahead with that spanking breeze of prosperity of which the Premier speaks so glibly in his peroration. : We shall have to refer to the question of Provincial borrowing on another occasion.

At the R esident Magistrate's Court, on Wednesday, Annie Atherton was charged with a breach of the Westland Public House Ordinance in selling fermented or spirituous liquors without being duly licensed. Inspector Hickson prosecuted, and Mr Perkins appeared for the defendant. Stephen Walsh, a bootmaker, residing at Nelson Creek, who was summoned by the police to give evidence, proved being served with several glasses of ginger wine in the house of the defendant by a girl named Muir, on July 20. He also deposed to paying for the drinks, served to himself, to a friend of his, and to three females, Richard Livingstone corroborated tn.e evidence of ther former witness as to the payment given for ginger wine and lemonade, but said that there was not any brandy or other strong drink consumed or paid for. Maria Muir said she served the drinks, which consisted of ginger wine and lemonade, to the other witness, and received the cash in payment, which "she handed to the defendant. W. F. Strike, brewer and liqueur manufacturer, was called as ah expert to describe the qualitative properties of the article usually sold as ginger wine. He said that before the liqueur could be preserved, it required fortification with spirits in its manufacture, or else it would have to undergo a process of fermentation. His firm used spirits in making the aiticle. In reply to Mr Perkins, the witness said recipes for making a substance called ginger wine, were common enough, they could be found in the cookery-book for instance, butthfise resulted in the production of a , liquor more in the nature of a cordial, and did not resemble the ginger wine of commerce, as known and consumed on the West Coast. A duty of about 6s per gallon was charged on the imported article, and that manufactured at Greymouth by the regular trade was quite equal to that imported, in strength and quality. His firm did not supply the defendant, and he could not describe the ingredients of which the wine she sold was composed. - sergeant Moiier proved- uiiab ihvdefendant, had never held a publican's license at Greymoutb. At this stage Inspector Hicksou applied for an adjournment to procure material evidence. Mr Perkins did not object, as he was not prepared to go on, the case having taken an altogether different turn from what he expected. He had no idea the prosecution would elect to rely upon the quantitive aud qualitative chemistry of teetotal drinks for a conviction. The remand was granted. It is stated that a recent survey of the Break o' Day and Maruia mines, at the Lyell, shows that the latter has encroached very considerably on the first-named company's ground. The amount required to make good the damage is variously stated at from LBOO toL2OOO. A parcel of 500 scrip in the Keep-it-Dark Quartz-mining Company, Adam Smith's line, Inangah.ua, realised 2s 4d each by auction at Reef ton, on Saturday. It was expected that the laying of the rails for the Energetic coal tramway, Murray Creek, would be completed on Monday. A general meeting of the shareholders of the Hit-or-Miss Company, Inangahua, took place at Reef ton on Monday, when the following were appointed directors :— Messrs Wise, Williams, Heslop, Walker, and Disney. At. a directors' meeting held immediately thereafter, it was decided to employ men at once and prospect the ground. The best samples of stone yet found at Boatman's have been got from snrf ace stone in the company's ground. Last Tuesday, according to the Herald will be remembered as a red letter day in the district as associated with the commencement of crushing operations at Larry's — dis-. tant, as the crow flies, about eight miles from Reefton. The character of the stone recently raised from the No. 2 South Larry's mine is truly magnificent, and as operations will commence with this company's stone, we expect that after a few days' crushing the quicksilver plates will present a fine show g? amalgam. We were shown a samples of stone knocked out of the south drive which was quite equal to anything yet obtained in the district. Owing to the inclement season of the year and the state of the roads it has been decided not to have a formal christen- : ing of the machinery, but a ball to commemoirate the eveut will be held at Cox's Hotel in the evening. During the landing of the cattle yesterday from the St. Kilda the crowds of city Arabs that were assembled at the foot of Arney street showed that if Oreymouth has decreased in commercial wealth it has certainly increased in that of population. It would be inothing, however, how many assembled if they could or -would be kept in decent order, but from the manner in which they condnct themselves at each arrival of a cattle vessel, and especially that of yesterdayjthose parties connected with the lauding can neither do their work properly, nor can they prevent that are almost invited by the temerity and ignorance of danger in the urchins. The noise they make' is such as to prevent ordere given from being heard, and the cattle are irritated and bewildered into madness by them. Some time ago it was suggested that the presence of a policeman could keep them iv order; but when one made his appearance yesterday he failed to do. so. This state of noise and bustle, cattle breaking away, and consequent hurry-scurry gallopping is, however, also to be attributed to the. want of proper accommodation that ought to be afforded by.:- the Municipality .; here, considering that such Miinicapality is most assidous in its claims ■ for lauding fees, &c.'. The iin porter has a right to demand an equivalent for these charges upon his pocket, and it is but ... a; poor.:, consolation to him, that in Answer to his demand . for bread he should be referred to the stoneß. All the aooommo*

dation tha<; is needed coa.d be erected at a small expence, and mijht be made of only a temporary nature until circumstances could warraut a situation, and an outlay of a similar character. Fere a sufficient stockade, rough and strong, with two wings leading to the river put up, by which the cattle could be quieted iv the yai'd. All the inconvenience, expeuce, and loss, incurred by the importer, as well as the danger that arises from maddened cattle breaking away and rushing through populated districts, would be averted. Yesterday's instance was a case in point. The noise that saluted the animals from the crow of bystanders was Mdeous aud deafening, and some of the poor brutes were so bewildered aud enraged by it that all the efforts of the horsemen were insufficient to keep them, within prescribed limits, nor did tkeir terror seem to abate even when driven out of town to their paddock. It required the utmost care and dexterity of the drivers to save from injury the foot passengers who chanced to meet them. This state of matters should not be allowed to continue. If the cattle are to be landed as at present, then let the constabulary keep children away at such times, but if this duty is not to be done by them, then let a temporary stockyard be put up so that the cattle can be retained there until they can, within prescribed hours be driven to their destination. In reply to inquiries respecting the movements of Pox and party, who started on a prospecting expedition in the southern districts of the Province* some ten weeks ago, the Register states that no intelligence has yet been received on the subject by the Provincial Government. Considering the difficult nature of the overland route, it seems unlikely that any communication from Fox will be obtained until a vessel visits one of the southern ports. Moreover, it is too early yet to expect that he should have done a great deal in his explorations, and even if he had met with every success, and discovered a new Pactolus, we may be sure there will be no hurry in making it public until satisfactory assurance of the fact is obtained. A resident of Larry's Creek, Inangahua, named John Bruer, was found lying dead outside his hut, on Monday morning, about 11 o'clock. His death, says the Herald, must have been very sudden, as he was in his usual health the day previously, and working for a baker in the township of Colinton. Information was immediately forwarded to the police, and Mr Broad, District Coroner, held an inquest on Monday on the remains. The evidence of Hugh Brennan, a neighbor of the deceased, and of Dr James was taken, and it was found that the man died from natural causes, but that his death was accellerated by the utterly destitute condition in which he lived. The deceased was a native of Hanover, and about 45 years of age. He was the discoverer of J. B.s Beach, on the Shotover, one of th«mostfamous mininglocalitied in Otago in the early days. He was an old resident of Red Jack's Creek and No Town. He possessed, although a comparatively illiterate man, a wonderful facility of making mental arithmetical calculation. He was locally famous for this faculty, and some years ago, when he was a patient in the Grey River Hospital, he was backed for a large amount to mentally work out correctly a difficult " sum " in commercial arithmetic in less time than a well-known accountant could with the usual help of pen or pencil. J. 8., as he was always called, won the wager without the least apparent effort.