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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1935, 19 October 1874, Page 2

b . i- Our Hokitika contemporaries, in refery ence to our suggestion regarding the imj portation of cattle from Australia, whilst s admitting the desirability of increasing s . our supplies of cattle and sheep, do not f think that importation from Australia to B the West Coast would be profitable. No \ doubt there are many difficulties in the { way, but perhaps none that could not be t overcome. If large steamers or sailiu^- - vessels from Queensland or elsewhere 0 could not tranship cargoes at any of the 9 Coast ports, there is Nelson open, from . which port caitle could be driven to 1 supply the Lyell, Buller, and Reefton 1 districts, or what would be still better,

fiere is a good port at Kaikoura, on thu East Coast where suoii steamers as the Omeo could easily discharge cattle or slieop, which could be driven overland into the Grey Valley. The meat question is becoming so serious that it is well to thoroughly discuss the best means of enlarging our supplies. In its remarks on Saturday, the " Register" says : — " With respect to the suggestion that some action should be taken with a view to obtaining the suspension of the law prohibiting the importation of Australian cattle, so far at least as the West Coast is concerned, it appears to us that this is rather a matter for the Local Cattle Board to consider than the Provincial Executive. The appointment of that Board will be found in the General Government "Gazette" of 22nd August, 1872, and the Board consists of the following members : — Messrs Lahman (chairman), Fitzgerald, Patten, and Garland. Of these the last has left the district, and it would be well that someone should be appointed in his place. We presume, however, that the attendance of Mr Lahman at a meeting could be obtained, and, as the matter is of importance, we would suggest that steps should be taken for that purpose. We express no definite opinion at present as to the desirability of permitting the importation of cattle to Westland. It is kn jwn that pleuro-pneumonia •exists sporadically through Australia, and unless very efficient; provision is made for ! the inspection of the cattle before shipment, it would clearly be unwise to risk its propogation in New Zealand. For this purpose, however, there is special provision made in Clause 6 of ' The Diseased Cattle Act Amendment Act, 1872,' which enacts that no cattle are to be landed in New Zealand unless they have been inspected at the port of shipment and certificate of freedom from disease given by a duly qualified veterinary surgeon. Clause 8 is that under which permission might be obtained to importcattleatanyparticular ports. It runs as follows : — " From and after the passing of this Act no cattle imported from auy foreign district shall be landed at any port or place in the Colony of New Zealand, except at a port proclaimed to be a port where cattle may be landed ; and such cattle shall only be landed at such place in such port as the Local Cattle Board may from time to time appoint. The Governor may from time to time proclaim such ports within the Colony as he thinks fit to be ports at which cattle may be landed, and from and after the publication of such proclamation in the ' New Zealand Gazette ' cattle shall be landed at such proclaimed ports, and at no other port or place." We believe that some doubt exists as to whether or not the importation of cattle to the Coast ports is prohibited. The above clause settles the matter, and it is evident that until a proclamation is issued, thereunder no vessel can be imported." We understand that Messrs Butler and Co., contractors for the Mawbera Quay wharf, have succeeded in procuring, at Newcastle, N.S. W.. the quantity and quality of timber required for this work, and that ib is now being shipped for this port At a meeting of the directors of the Greymouth Coal Company held on Saturday, ib was agreed that an offer from Mr Wellatn for making 600,000 fire and commou bricks should be accepted. A large quantity of the above will be required for the company's coke ovens and lining the main pit shaft, and the remainder will be placed in the market. The Chairman of the flospital Removil Committee received a telegram on Friday from the Provincial Secretary to the effeeb that LI2OO would be obtained from the Government for the present buildings, provided part of the buildings would be given up at once for the telegraph and post office. A deputation was appointed to waic on the Committee of the Grey River Hospital to lay the above telegram before them, and to learn if they could devise any feasible means by which they could comply with the request. The deputation waited on the Hospital Committee on Saturday, and advanced arguments in favor of the female ward (in which there are only three patients) being given up to the Government, aud those patients removed in the meantime into a cottage in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. The Hospital Commi tee, after due consideration, and on the recommendation of their medical officer, declined to give up any part of the buildings, and this was notified to the deputation by letter. A few days since, three men. with a dray and three horses tried to cross the Waireka river, Otago, when the dray was capsized, and one of the men (named Edward Standing) and the three horses were drowned. Our Southern friends are displaying considerable enterprise by imporbing well-bred sheep, at a great cosb. Mr W. Shennan imported into Ofcago, the other day, 17 superior merino rams Mr Philip Russell, of Obipua, Timaru, Canterbury, also imported nine splendid pure Lincoln sheep, five rams, and four ewes. The Wellington " Evening Post " gives currency to a rumor that thepost of Governor of the new Colony of Fiji is to be offered to Sir Donald M'Lean, the Native Minister. Whether there is any real foundation for the statement or not, there can be no doubt that the appointment would be a suitable one. But can New Zealand afford to part with the Minister who has, by his successful management of the Maoris, restored peace to the North Island? Some difficulty appears to have arisen in Sydney in connection with the departure of Sir Hercules Robinson on his mission to ffiji. His Excellency was detained by '• particular business " until after the races, in which he took a lively interest ; and when he did go, the Government took no care to see that an Acting Governor was sworn in in his stead. The reason is plain. The Acting Chief Justice of a Colony is now recognised by the Imperial authorities as the person by whom the duties of the Governor shall be discharged in his absence. But Sir Jam s Martin is the Chief Justice of New South Wales, and Sir James and Mr Parkes aru not only not friends, but open antagonists and avowed enemies. Mr Parkes "made no sign." Sir James Martin found it necessary to look to his own honors ; and as the Pr mier did not propose that the Chief Justice should be sworn in as Acting Governor, but appeared to prefer that the Colony should get on for a time without a Governor at all. Sir James himself has ' ' moved " himself and the other J udges on the subject. We shall be curious to learn whether Ssir James Martin, as Chief Justice, can swear himself in as Acting Governor. Here, Sir George Arriey has held that office, pending the arrival of a Governor j and had Sir James Martin and Mr Parkes been friends, no difficulty in the matter would have arisen in >yduey. Jt may be relied upon that if Sir James Martin is sworn in as Acting Governor during the absence of Sir Hercules Robinson, the Premier- will find for him bub little work to do during his brief term of power. • . \

The Governor arrived in the Blanche, at Dunerlin, on the. 9th inst. Balclufrha, Otago, is having an Athenaeum built at a cost of L 614. Duriug last month 69 immigrants were nominated at Timaru, Canterbury. Three thousand eight hundred trout have been hatched at Christchurch by artificial means. £x-Governor Colonel Gore Browne has become a director of the New Zealand Trust and Loan company. Tinviru, Canterbury, is to have a boating club. The matter has been taken up with considerable spirit; by the residents. Operations at the oil-springs at Gisborne, Auckland, have so far advanced, that boring will commence in about a week's time. A steam wool-press is being manufactured at a Napier foundry. It is of six-horse power, and will press from 200 to 300 bales per day. The Otago runholders are giving shearers tins season 17s 61 per hundred, being a reduction of 2s 6d per | hundred on last year's prices. The domain at? Auckland, lost some of its finest trees during the recent gales. One tree blown down, a manuka, was nearly 2f b in diam -ter. Haora Tipa Kpinaki, the principal chief of the Ngatipaoa tribe is dead. He was eighty years of age, and an " honorable man in all his dealings. " . Councillor Beck moved in the Dunedin City Council, thab no member should be permitted to speak for more th.au five minutes on any suhject under discussion. The other Councillors would not have it, and the mover was left alone in its support. A novel use of the telegraph is about to be put into operation in New \ ork. The courtrooms in the city are to be telegraphically connected with the offices of the leading lawyers, so that the sr.ate of the calendar and the progress of trials cau be announced, and the parties summoned when w-iate 1. Charles Dyer sentenced to death, at Auckland, for the murder of Rlizi Battersea, when leaving th« deck pointed at the constable whose c idence chiefly convicted him, and saM, " That man is my murderer." He protested that the occurrence was accidenta 1 . Though we have had no particulars, there is every probability that the Okariso river was closed up by the late south-west gales for a traveller who arrived at Hokitika on Thursday night reported the water as being up to the houses on the flat. By this time, probably a break out has occurred, and. the bank formed by the gale removed. A rich harvest is expected on the Five-mile and other Reaches, as always, even after a moderate breeze from the same quarter, a quantity of auriferous black sand is driven up. With the exceptional gales that have lately prevailed, a very large mass Avill probably reward the exertions of the beachcombers. The annnal meeting; of the Hokitika District Committee of the M.U.1.0 O F. will be Held on Monday, the 26th inst;., in the Loyal Waimea Lodge Room. Stafford I own. A nu nher of delegates will he present from the Grey, : oss, fiokitika, Waimea, and CFreenstone Lodges. Some of the basiaess to be brought before the meeting is considered highly important to members of the Order throughout New Zealand, cs ib is proposed to establish a Board of Directors in the Colony, and likewise to make several alterations in the general laws of the Order, so as to make them more applicable to Colonial Lodges. In the event of 'he proposals being favorably entertained, the co-operation of other District Committees throughout New Zealand wi'l be asked in an appeal to the Home Board in England A branch of the Hibernian Australasim Catholic Benefit Society was opened recently at Wellington. Brother Behan, P. P. of the Charleston Branch, having been introdced to the meeting, after reading the usual prayers and thcs dispensation declared the Branch duly opened. The names of candi- " dates were then taken in the order in which they appeared on .the register paper, and after their medical certificates were examined ■were balloted for. This was performed in the following manner : — The presiding officer declared the first elected, these two ballotted for the second, when he was elected the three ballotbed for the fourth, and so on down until all the names were exhausted. There were thirty altogether initiated, and some more were proposed, The election of officers was' next proceeded with, when C. E. Haughton, Esq., was elected president ; Mr Coogan, vice president ; Mr Wiggins, secretary ; Mr Shsridan, treasurer ; Mr Calligan, warden ; and Mr Vincent, guardian ; and were severally installed in office, after which the Branch was opened for the transaction of business. The following particulars of the O'C%norKnyvett affiir are supplied by the "Nelson Evening Mail " The Provincial Treasurer oi Nelson, Mr O'Oonor, M.H.R., seems to adopt a summary method of disposing of duns. The "Nelson Evening Mail" relates the following insnauce : — "ln the course of the morning Mr H. Knyvett went to the Provincial Treasurer's office to receive payment for work done, at the same time producing the requisite voucher certified by Mr Dobson, the Provincial Engineer. The Treasurer nob being in ab the time, the voucher was left with the clerk, and Mr Knvvett called again ab the afternoon. Mr O'Couor was then ab the pfiice, and for some reason or other — it matters not what — refused to pay the money. Upon this, Mr Knyvetb took the voucher up, and waa about leaving the office when .Vlr O'Conor told him he must leave the document there. This he refused to do, whereupon Mr O'Conor said he would soon find means to make him, adding that he would give him in charge, and started off for a policeman. Anxious to see this strange affair out, Mr Knyvett followed him, and upon their reaching the police station, Mr O'Conor called for the sergeant, and told him to " take this person in charge." The sergeant obeyed, and was then ordered to take from him a paper thab he (Mr O'Conor) wanted, Mr Knyvett then took some papers from his pocket and pointed out the one referred to, which the sergeant took from him, and told him he was to remain in custody. Mr O'Uonor then left, bub, after an absence of about half-an-hour, returned, and spoke to the sergeant, who then went into the station, and said he supposed Mr Knyvetb did not want to make this a public affair, or to be exposed in any way, or something to that effect. Immediately after, the Inspector of Police came in, and told the prisoner that he was not, w anted any longer. And so ended this extraordinary affair."

Lady Gipps, widow of the late Sir G. Gipps, who was Governor of New South Wales from February 24, 1838, to July 18, 1146, died in Chester street, London, on July 11, aged 77. The following ships and number of emigrants has been forwarded to New Zealand by the agent-general for that colony during the month of July : — The Chile, for Nelson, with 220 souls ; Duke of Edinburgh, Canterbury, 337 ; Jessie Reading, Otago, 324 ; Star of India, Wellington, 375 ; Benington, Hawkei Bay, 317 ; HelenDenny, Rawkesßay,2sß ;Zealandia, Auckland, 252 ; In vercargill, Otago (from Glasgow), 398 ; Waitangi, Auck- ! land, 400. Total, 2881.