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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1976, 5 December 1874, Page 2

At the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq , R.M., Chasles White, of the Great Western Hotel, Gresson street, was charged with a breach of the Public House Ordinance by accepting and detaining in pawn a diamoud rmg, the property of M. A. Bugey. After several witnesses had been examined, the case was adjourned until Tuesday next— Annie Love charged, her brother John Love with assault by kicking her in Boundary street on tbe 27th inst. The girl was 14 years of age and the brother 23, and as he used some control over her she resented the interference. On the night in question he ionnd her with some boys in a right-of-way. She ran across i Boundary street, and he followed. She turned, [first struck htm with her fist, then with a Btone, and he then kicked her. The defendant was fined lbs with costs of Court. The following civil cases were disposed of :— Thompson v' Linney, to recover the amount of anIOU for.l3l2.lerifc-in.May, 1870, with, interest on the sime. The defendant did not ; appear, and the Court, after deciding it had no power to allow intsrest. gave a verdict for the amount lent with.costs.- ITosio v. Glenn i Bros, was an action to recover the value of a bale of goods alleged to have been damaged in the Adieu. Mr Guinness, for the defence, applied for an adjournment for a month to enable the captain of the vessel to give evidence." Mr Perkins, for the plaintiff, objected ; but after heaving argument on both sides tbe Magistrate decided to postpone the hearing of the case until Tuesday, January 5, 1875. — Mansou and Co. v. Williams, of Ffokitika. No return of summons, adjourned till Tuesday next. — King v. Jones ; a claim for L 2 7s, for fish sold and delivered. Iso appearance of defendant ; verdict for the amount claimed. Moron v. Hungerford, Mr Newton, for the defendant, applied for an adjournment till Tuesday, to enable the defendant, at present absent at Hokitika, to appear. This was granted. — Knopp v. Raphael. A claim for detention of a saddle and bridle. Defendant was ordered to return the property, and pay 10s for damages, 14s coßbs of Court, and LI Is professional fee. The sale of Hungerford's bridge at the Arahura to the Government has been completed, aiid the bridge was formally taken over on Thursday. The price paid to Mr Hungerford is L 3096 18a. The benefit concert last night to Mr Leech — which was a compliment for his many and valuable' gratuitous services for the advantage of public institutions — were well attended, the performances were in every sense successful. Mr Leech delivered some oi his a} ways amusing character songs, and. he was ably supporteJ by several lady arid gentlemen amateurs. Mr Seymour presided at the pianoforte. A meeting of the Ahaura Christmas Sports Committee was held at Ollivier's Hotel, Auaura, oa Thursday eveuiag, wasa tae programme was arranged and the prizes fixed. The events on the first day, Monday, 28bh December, will include a 100 yards flat race, running high jump, Cornish and Devon wrestling, the Mrst prize of which is LI 2, and the second. L 5. There will also bean egg race, boys racing;, &c. ; tbe first day to conclude with Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, at Ll2 and L 5, for the first and second prize winners. On the second day the sports will begin with a 440 yards' flat race, after which will take place contests at putting the heavy and light etone, auy style ; vaulting with the pole, collar and elbow -wrestling, Ivish fashion, for Ll2 and L 5 prizes ; wheelbarrow races, climbing the greased pole, &c. Should time and weather permit, there will be a swiinmin» match, duck hunt, and canoe race on the river. On the whole the programme is a good one, the feature^ in it being the handsome prizes for wrestiing m overy style, which wi)l be certain to attract competitors from nil quarters, and no doubt crowds of spectators. The Province of Westland " Gazette " of tbe '3oth November contains the following announcements :— that Pepene Pohorama is appointed ferryman at the Blue River ; that Mark Scott and DdwardDobson havo applied for head-races in the Ross district ; that Mr W. W. Hawkins is appointed keeper of the public pound at Arahura ; and that a number of Crown grants are now ready for issue to various persons, amongst others, the following in this district— J. Arnott, J. Austen, E. Drummond, G. Flower, John Lamfrard, and W. S. Smith, all for sections in Greymouth. The steamer Aihambra is expected to leave the Bluff at 11 a.m. this day, sbh instant. Telegrams for the Australian Colonies, or Europe via Java Cable, will be received at the Greymouth Office for transmission to the Bluff up till 9. 30 to-day. A very flagrant case of gold-stealing by a a miner has been brought to light at Ballarat. The local papers recently gave currency to a sensational seory of a poor man having obr tamed over LIOOO worth of gold as the result of one day's work. The •' poor man," whose name was James Goodman, was shortly afterwards arrested on a charge of stealing: 2500z o£ gold, the properly of tue Queen Company, Ballarat East, on whose claim he was a ' ' tributer. " The evidence against him is regarded as conclusive. During the hearing of the case three of the prisoner's mates made some statements which disclose the existence of very loose mining morality, to say the least of it. They admitted, with the utmost simplicity and candour, that they had taken small quantities of the rich stone home with them,* pounded it in a mortar, aud divided the proceeds among themselves, though bound by their tribute agreement to send all quartz to the company's battery. When asked by the police magistrate if they did not think it was equal to stealing, one of them replied he did not see any harm iv taking these small rich patches for themselves.

The Bank of New Zealand, whfth lately offered for the balance of the City of Auckland L 20.000 loan, a -id received L 15.000 at 90, has, says the " Southern Cross," declined to accept, because the City Council refused to make both interest and debentures payable in Loudon. Their, offer" was thus cancelled early this we^ek. Since then tho whole of the debentures have been disposed of to private persons in the Province,

Tho " 0tr.20 Times" advocates the starting "f a jain Mr.iiufactory. Why (it miys) on <;.■!> th we should go ou y«ir «f^r year soiling peach, :s ,iK sixpence a bucketful, and importing 1 asmaniau jam at an expenditure of many snores of thousands of pounds, is one ot those puzzals that are inexplicable. A miner named Archie Stewart, some time since was an inmate of the Weatport Hospital, and on taking leave thereof promised to remember his obligation to that iu'Btitution. The other day Stewart had an old debt paid him, when immediately he sent Lls to the hospital. We (" Otago Guardian") are inclined to think that, ia the present day, the possession of a first-class. breach-loading rifle, and skill and dexterity in the use of it, are at least of as much importance as a knowledge of the minutire of drill. On this account, ; we tbiuk that every encouragement should be held out for' the formation of-. Rifle. Clubs, and we are glad to see that, notwithstanding the acknowledged depression of the Volunteer movement iv many parts of the Colony, the Government has decided to carry out the colonial and district prize-firing this year as usual. It 'will be in the memory of most of our readers (says the •" \V«-inganui Chronicle") I that a Mr Kus3eU was shot ia the auclo by a sentvy at Westmere some six yeara ago. The bullet was extracted at the time, and the wound gradually healed up, but Mr Russell has ever since been subjected, to inconvenience through a weakness in the joint. A few weeks ago the ancle swelled up so much, that he was unable to walk, when, to his astonishment, a piece of his boot leather which had been driven iv, and which escaped observation when the bullet was extracted, was discharged from the wound, since which . he has been able to walk much better, and anticipates soon being relieved from all inconvenience in connection with it. The "Taranaki Herald," of November 7, gives the following particulars as to the opening up of a new 1 block of land for settlement by immigrants :—" The worlta being carded en consist o£ felling some 150. acres, of bush to form a tbwn site . at. the junction of the new road past the meeting of the waters, with the Mountain road. This township ia well aud conveniently situated, is level and is 'traversed by several small streams. As no name has yet been suggested for the township, the. old Saxon name of Waltham, signifying a town in a wood, might be applied as being at any rate appropriate. Besides the bush felling, the survey party is busily engaged in laying off SOOO acres of land in rural allotments on the north-east side of the railway line ; and besides district roads, a main Jine of road to open up the Ngatlmaru block ia also being surveyed. It is expected thab this land will be ready for sale during the month of January next, and a portion of it will be sold on the deferred payment system. In order to have a depot of seed potatoes in the district, advantage has been taken of some old Native clearings to plant some ei^ht or tea acres. Contracts have been accepted for the construction of twenty-two-roome.i hut 3, rough but comfortable, to locate the fitst batch of what we hope will prove to be permanent settlers." The Christchuich "Press" says that as Captain Williams, of the ship Merope, was at breakfast in the cabin in port the other morning, he noticed a minute spiral column of smokerising from the swing traysuspended rom end to end above the table. His first jjsjoressioa "was that some oae iad carelessly laid down a lighted match upon the tray ; but on inspection it appeared that the sun's rays had penetrated through the skylight of figured . glass and concentrated in a glass water bottle, thereby forming a focus and igniting the tray alongside the bottle. Capb. Williams then applied a piece of paper to the spot, which quickly took fire. He stated that after breakfast was over the cabin was frequently not Used again for hours, and that the chances are, that had he nob observed ihe smoke the cabin would, have taken fire.. :

The Lawrence correspondent of the " Otago Daily Times" writes as follows:— "The measles rage here with great fury, and mauy aro tho victims of the same ; but, as yet, no cases have beea reporfceS. Adults as we}\ as children succumb, and there are upwards of SO families now suffering from this disease. One of the doctors has about 50 to attend, aud the other over $0. The Grammar and private schools have been shut up for some time, but the Roman Catholic school still carries on, and the children attending the latter school have, as yet, had a singular immunity from the trouble. This school is lofty and well aired, and Father Larkins has caused carbolic acid to be sprinkled about in the inside at regular intervals. The following telegram (says the " Sydney Morning Hera 2d M of Qbh.' November) was sentfrem Cardwell yesterday by a correspondent.—"New rush to River Laura, within seventy miles of Cooktown, on proposed new track ;no authentic information ; geld coming in freely. .Flour on. Palmer, Is Gd per lb ; sugar, &c, at similarly reduced rates. There are several teams on the field, and more are arriving. Carriage to the diggings is faUinj. Cooktown markets are steadily falling, owing to the late heavy importations. Salt provisions are quite a drug, The Southern Cross brought a cargo of cattle and sheep, Beef, Is per lb. Horses have fallen in price. From similar causes, a further reduction is expected. Heavy fains have fallen during the last fortnight. The Civility arrived to-day with a heavy cargo and' a number of passengers."