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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1970, 28 November 1874, Page 2

i'dp.y^ps&jre'H^r^Xirf^^woo^il an&. King, !" J. P.a,* Margaret Cain was charged %'it'hj being | au habitual, drunkard,; and was sentenced to thgee inonth^ imprisonment with hard labor

ia Hokitika Gaol. The defendant retired, loudly assorting thnt tfie B?nch mii»hfc as wa.'l havo seiii he," to the Asylum at once.

The Banks in town are to be closed on Monday and Tuesday next— St. Andrew's Day, and the anniversary of the foundation of the Province. The meeting of the Waste Lands Board, appointed for the second holiday, has been postponed till Tuesday, 15th December.

There was a meeting of the Central Board of Education, at the Supreme Court House, on Thursday. TheTe were present- Mr G. G. FitzGeraltl (chaivman), Messr3 Gibson, Kobinson, Revell, Kenrick, Patfcen, and Seddou. A considerable amount of business was done, bye-laws and rules being adopted, and the reports of the various Sub-Com-mittees as to the amounts which would be required for^ their districts when the Education Act came into force, being considered. A general opinion was expressed that the amount proposed to be placed on the estimates for schools by the Provincial Government was' totally inadequate, and a resolution was carried that a report should be drawn up on the matter, and that his Honor the Superintendent should be strongly urged to place a larger sum on the Provincial Estimates for school purposes.

A man named Joseph Speucer was found dead at Reef ton on Thursday morning.. The deceased had , : for a long time .followed the occupation of a painter and sign-writer at the Inangahua. From a telegram -received at Ahaura on Thursday afternoon, ib appears that the deceased had been drinking for sometime, and. was at length found lying dead in one of the back streets of the town. An inquest was to be held on Friday evening on the return of Mr Broad from the Grey Valley.

Mr Foy, with somo of the members of his railway pass exploring; party,-; -returned to /? haura on Thursday evening from the Upper Groy. The. country about the upper tributaries of the Brown Grey River, is described as of the roughest, description, and as far as examined is not Jikely a suitable pass will be found in that direction for the railway route, but Mr Foy has not. yet finished his reconnaksanceof.the. locality. .".-, The old road from the West Coast to Nelson by way of Lake Christabel is reported- ta he in a completely dilapidated condition, and the difficulty of getting along it was a serious obstacle to the progress of tha,parjby. : The parfcy ; starts ag&inou Mbuday.

Considerable amusement is sometimes created in petty debt courts by the caligraphy and orthography of the bills of particulars attached to the summons.- One of theso' fearfully and wonderfully made up documents came before a court in the Grey Valley recently, in which -the prices, of some articles raDged over figures J)f every denomination, andwin which articles of consumption altogether unkuown in the commercial world — as they were described in the account— were set down in considerable quantities. One item, " 3oad assa.de, " required the combined intelligence of bench, bar, and- bystanders to interpret it, and at length it was sebtle.i that some : reference to carbonate of soda and tartaric acid must have been meantj as these substances were much ia request in the good old damper-baking times. A witness, when the case was concluded, related a story of a "sim" in the "rule of three," once propounded^ to him by a ledgerkeeper in a country store, who wanted an answer to a question something to the effect that— "lf a box of matches cosb sixpence, what would a plug of tobacco and a ' churchwarden' come to ?"

I-esident Magistrate's and Warden's Courts were held- at N© Town on Wednesday; The only case of importance was a dispute about a business site on the Brunner Parade, occupied by Frederick Stanhope. Jeremiah M'Carfchy made a claim on the bection, and made good his case, the Warden adjudging him possession of it. :

The settling "up in connection with the sweepstake on the Melbourne Cup, subscribed for in the Grey Valley, took place at Ollivier's Hotel,. Ahaura, on Thursday evening. The first prize, Ll3O 143 6d, went to Greymouth, the holders of the winning ticket being Mrs Bulstrode and Mr Fletcher. The second prize, L 37 7s, also went to Greymouth, Mr William Splaine, of Tainui street, being the winner. The third money was divided among a co-operative association of " honest w.orkingmen, 1 ' whose head-quarters are the " Mechanic's Institute," Ahaura.

\t the Resident Magistrate's Courtj Ahaura, on Thursday^ a case was heard in which glimpses of the early history of commercial life on the Grey Valley Goldfields were afforded. The plaintiff, who was a storekeeper, and carried on business in a rather extensive way at onetime, sue-"! one of a party of miners for a debt of a considerable amount.. Mr Shapter appeared for the defendant, and during his cross-examination of the •plaintiff on the bill 'of particulars the follo.wing dialogue took place. Mr Chapter •: "I see that there are different charges made for the same articles, nails for instance. Now if one pound of nails cost three shillings; what' would two pounds cost ?_' because I see 1 a, different price is. fixed in another place in i the bill." Plaintiff: "Two shillings, .^av course,' but itndepinds/m the size of jhem." Mr Shapter.ir ■. < ;'; There is a;, charge ;h ere for sardines at -.one-jprice, and further along a different charge: is. made." Plaintiff: "Prices: : w enfc- up.;. ; and dow.n, ;• like . the s_ardiaesj, sometimes they'd have a:bigi|eed, and sometimes they wouldn't eat a : -,dozenj :i and i; wor- ; charged acoordiu?.",,. This-waa ia allusion ,tcv ■ the alleged practice of the ._def«ndant. of- '.' bo->rdin' " _ out. .ofiea. .of a, Saturday night and- v Suuiay ; morning. Tft^tranapired . .that.the: .plaintiff had .more than one set of boots, and that a ledger, on .'whicKTKe relied 'to. prove : his case* was' lost in the Ahaura river,"; whefl he was carried away while. attempting to cross the stream during a flood; : \Tne*pla:j.rrtiff was at 1 : length non-suitediottthe'gromid-'that there was.no proof that'^the' ::amount of.; the debt' was • not •paid to the/Cruste r e ihrßankruptcyjOf whom the ;■■- plaintiff -purchaseduthe:-.- bookf 1 ' debts after his (the plaintiff's) insolvency, ;

During the iate official vis it of the membera Oi. tha N elson .. Government to Half-Ounce, the disj>ute O'Hara aud others v. Foldi and others;,;: which thas^ in one form, or^ another been . frequently Kefore the Courts, was brought un,djer^notiee.; / :Tue objecb of the complainants was to obtain the cancellation of a gold-mining lease yntthe. Half -Ounce lead below Granville'. The circumstances were of a very peculiar r "ah'd complicated nature, J and- theiPrdvinßiar^SScretafy directed thab a should beimade by?.comf The. inquiry $ook.\ plage yesterday f be|oi-e J "M,r Warden Bioad, ; and. tHe, . Gpld- ; fiiel^s l^'ec'^i ! ilry, and theevi'dence'which was t taken at great length, will r be -forwarded , to "'MsflionoPthe' Supermtehdent' of" Nelson for hisfinal de r eißionv : ' ' '•'■' • r! ':.'' ; i

W. S. Moorhouse, Esq., is a candidate .for the' Mayoralty of^'Wellington, arid it is considered probable that he 1 will be returned.

■■v We'take,the following -from r our C&oktown -'fir* tp : ;the ' 10th :-^TheVß i s.iL6rA i: Ashley, which sailed South on Saturday} todk'with her avery large number of satoon and-steer-aga /passengers, the latter numberius; aboujb two hundred aud fifty. The quaatisy M qoli taken by the passengers; wai.sonietiliing very .considerable, as; A'i.ew men the' colony,... wanned v - by the;notice ; of foijfeituro: issued hy the i Customs, thought^ It wise to pass eatries fo*.tb.eir'goldj anttfabou^; one thousand five hundred bunoes ' w v ere

entered at the Custom-house by private hands. In addition to this, we know, for a positive fact, that about four thousands ounces were taken by men not goinsr beyond Brisbane, for we ourselves were shown two saddle-bags chock hill of the precious metal, aud there could not be less than from eighb to nine hundred ounces in the two bags. We are not fir wrong in stating that every man that left in the Ashley on Saturday took with him at least twenty ounces of gold, which would give a total of five thousand ounces— very considerably under the actual, quantity, we are convinced. The next, Florence Irving, will take a large shipment, and we should not be at all surprised were the quantity to reach twenty thousand ounces.— A great number of miners : are conrins; daily from the Palmer, with pockets, we are glad to say, fairly lined. Most of those with, whom we have spoken express their determination to return as soon as possible. Many have gone south for horse or horse-feed, or both, and many others intend to return after a Bpell in town. The horses that come down look Very much like walking skeletons, and there was very little feed for them about town until a few days ago, when supplies of maize and bran were received by two or three firms in town, and retailed at pricea varying from ten shillings to twenty shillings for the former, and six shillings to ten shillings for the latter. Prices have ruled rather lower within the last few days. ' '■'''.