REEFTON.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1961, 18 November 1874, Page 2

REEFTON.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT,] November 36. Mr O'Conor, Provincial Secretary, accompanied by Mr Shapter; Gold-fields Representative, arrived in' Reef ton> on Saturday afternoon last. A^cbnference between these gentlemen and' the members of the local board was arranged to take" place at the Court House at 8 o'clock p.m. Long before the hour appointed the Court House was- crowded by person? who evidently anticipated some amusement, 1 aa it was generally expected that the Provincial Secretary would receive'a Severeoverhauling by the several members'who were previously loud in the declamations against that gentleman. The Chairman (Mr P. Brennan) opened the proceedings by informing Mr Q'Cbnor that the fioard was quite at a loss to understanot his. explanation regarding the maintenance yote, as the Board had not received one single shilling on account of maintenance, though, represented to have drawn close up to L7OO, and after touching upon : many other local matters, Mr O'Conor replied that when' the- present took office they found that a -little over^MOO - was set upon the Estimates for existing contracts, ancl as the various^contracS for maintenance within the Inangahua district did not expire befote the 3"lst T August, the amount was charged against the. L9OO accruing to ; the Board;' which .of bourse considerably crippledj the ; vote."' 'With regard to the Bbard's actibn, charging the Secretary's salary against tlie maintenance vote, all he could say was that the Boardcould please themselves whether they applied 1 the naoney iv ! maintaining trAy roads or paying the Secretary's salary? They could not have the, "loaf and eat it too." He quite agreed wish.t£e chairman that the. Board had reasonable. grounds for complaints in ; this matter, but ihV blame entirely rested with their predecessors! He *- further explained that the L2OO applied for by the Board, on account, of. .the_constriiction of the Boatman's road, was remitted on account of maintenance vote, and consequently the Board had a good ■ claim against the Government for that sum. In reply to the chairman, Mr O'Conor stated that he^ feared thejC.onstrnction bf.the, road between Squareiown, and the Junction was quite out of the question. The Grey Argus' statement regarding the stipulation under which the LSO,QQO advance was, obtained from the General Government wassimply untrue. However, tie Goyernmen^tcusted to expend something like L2OOO in repairing the worst places on the road, and believed the amount would.be of placing the road in a fairstateTotFepair. The Government hoped to complete the road between Nelson, Weatport,- and Reeftoh this summer. : Several questions of local importance were put tof. Mr O'Conor. by various members of the Board, -"and,^ after r being [answered, the Board withdrew. Depti'tati6nS'fi&m ! the :H6apita|i; . Protective !l W6j3£ Committee, Fire Brigade, section-folders,' 1 and others interviewed the Secriatar^ >njl laW'their , respective grievances b'efore'jhim. ;^ r ! .V ; ; The result; from Anderson's and .other crushings have not, JT regret to say, been regarded as altogether satisfactory,; and I fear-' the disappointment will have a depressing effect on this district for a Jittle time to comeV Within the- past week stocks have' considerably-receded, evidencing the uncertainty; of ; the value of mining ventures. Of course it is* not a very pleasing duty for a Correspondent to notice anything which carries, a depressing effect' with vjs|?' 'bujb^ttere '! is no goldfields district but which^, experience periodical fits of. prqsperity and .depression, and I therefore, in the interests of -the public weal,.. consiier it prudent to notice [the dark as well as the bright side of our affairs. It will be hard fort many to understand the reason why so-few of our companies are paying - dividends, bni to those whe have had experience ,Jrr Sandhurst and Auckland, it will not '6e so difficult to arrive at the cause. The fact- is the. cost of. management is too great, and while it continues shareholder! need not expect, to reap any great profit from their investments. Different men will have to occupy. :the places of those now in charge of : the management of affairs, ' and the ; directories will have to be purged of r men^who make it their constant aitn.to makeprofit r'out of" -their positions of trust bytrafficihg' with -the company, while, foreign shareholders are iept in .bl^sfulig^ management. VSo long' as the management of companies is vested in the hands of local storekeepers, working shareholders, legal managers, &c, the Inangahua reefs will never occupy a prominent position among New Zealand stobk^j The Caledonian Company expect to clear up on Saturday, but I do not care about hazarding the probable yiejd. JPor some time past the local papers ha'febeen " cracking up M ,s./this claim as likely to yield ,a . very- high return; i i and the " Herald" on one occasion went so far as to estimate the atone to yield not less than lOoz. " This is simply absurd, and such statements are calculated to seriously injure the yield arid; destroy confidence, If the stone now. being put through wiU average 3oz per tori it will 1 do- very We'll, The contractors for the river protective works commenced work to-day. The re» sidenta in Lower Broadway guaranteed the deficiency between the sum at the Board's disposal and the' contractors tender, but the Provincial. Government will be further appealed to for assistance. I observed from a late iksue that ""£ have again ruffled the feathers ofrMr l<ouis Davies, of Golden Bell notoriety; who on this occasion endeavors to shelter, himself under the wing of Mr Richard Reeves. It matters,'' of course, 1 : very little' to the public whether the sale of the eighth interest in the, Argyle .for L 63 was genuine or not, but all I can. say is that the abovenamed gentlemen are the only "two individuala in Roefton who believed the i»le

to be a bona fide one. It is a matter of very frequent occurrence in this district for sharebrokers to employ the services of auctioneers in the disposal of scrip, and if the highest bid fails to cover the reserve, the share is bought in afc a figure in order to raise the value of the interest, and consequently the outside public are gulled by the compact. However, I shall continue to expose all jobbery of this description, and for the future I trust the public will not be inclined to place any importance on the report of shares sold by auction. In reference to Mr Davies's remarks concerning my veracity, I feel certain that your Greymouth readers in particular will not be at a loss to measure the value to be placed upon his remarks. In conclusion, 1 can assure "Mr Davies that the truthfulness as to the matter, with regard to which he has thought fit to question, is fully credited by all who know the history of the transaction referred to.