THE Grey River Argus, PUBLISHED DAILY

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1986, 17 December 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus, PUBLISHED DAILY

: ~"By ; , the ..steamer. Charles -Edward^ which .aYfivedj'yester/iay. the Rowing Club received a first; class' boatj., purchased from the Star Club. Wellington, named the ; glower. 1,-IMs boat is, a fast cone, .and .abo.ufc 42f-t : £n length. • ■$ ■ ■.-■■•■'■ .■■.. \

Intending competitors for the Westland Handicap Champion Race are reminded ithat entries must be sent-in totlis Secretary, 1 Mr Payne, on or before Friday (to-morrow), 18th December.

' At.the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday; before "W." H. • Harrison, and fl/. H. Lahman,, Escf, J.P.'s.'two inebriates were fined 1,03';. with' the ' alternative of 24, hours' imprisonment, and a cliarge.'against a; boy ' for deserting from the barque Samuel Merritt was; dismissed*; there being no evidence and the Bench deciinging. to grant a remand.

Tfce Weart Coasfc Go2d-fieMs are gradually attracting visitors, all'of whom express their surprise at the condition and advancement. of the various settlements. The p s. Charles Ed-ward^-amongst other passengers, brought Mr W. Watt, late Mayor of Waoganui, and another visitor from .the same district' Tliey, yesteriJay, went ..up to^ phe Coal-mines, and express themselves as very much gratified as well as -astonished, at the evidences of the.

resources of this pact of the Colony watch they have seen,

Mr John Ollivier, Provincial Auditor of Canterbury, and father of Mr John Ollivier, of Ahaura, it looked upon as the probable successor of Mr C. C- JBoy.'en in the Resident, Magistracy of Christchurih. : GurTaroa correspondent Bend? 118 the fol- j lowing :— ln -mining there is very little to ! note, excepting that all the : miners are! anxious for more rain to enable them to wash up . before the Christmas holidays. . 'Some' of the claitna ''on -Revell's Terrace at 1 the Greenstone are -reported to be paying well. At Cariboo two or three of the oldest identities .have lately, left. . ., .Welshman's Terrace seems to be a very favorite locality for' the Chinese just now. They appear to be paying a.flying visit, to ;.all the gold-fields seldom staying long .anywhere. Rutherglen and M aori. Ureek , appear to be. their head qnarfcers.— A meetiiiq of cricketers ; took place last Saturday 1 evening, at the Pioneer Hotel, Marsden, to initiate the practice of the noble game for: the ensuing season/There, was a very fair' attendance. Arrangements were made with miriebost of the Pioneer for the use of one of his paddocks to play in. Several new members were enrolled, and some interesting matches were spoken of as likely to be played during the season. A testimonial in the shape of a splendid illuminated address was presented by the. children" attending the Marsden Sunday School to Mr John Bain, an old resident of Cariboo, who had been principally instrumental in establishing the school, and -who superintended its chief management up to Sunday last, when it* became known that he was about leaving the district. The presentation. was made on Sunday afternoon in the presence of the parents of the children by Miss Leach, who read the address, to which Mr Bain very feelingly responded -by expressing his deep regret that, circumstances had necessitated his removal, lie having become so endeared to all his little flock, but he had no doubt than others'would be found to take as deep i an interest in their spiritual welfare as he had done. During the afternoon some very valuable prizes were distributed amongstt the children for good conduct and regular attendance. There isanata'-alfeelingofdiaeustatithe idea of there being another poll for the three members f*r the Road Board. Greatinterest was taken throughout the district at the'last poll, and it is hard that men should be called to go through the same ordeal again. Besides, it is aske'l who is to pay the expense of another -voli. The Board is now involved enough, for it is said the debt is" something, like LI 100, and 12 per cent, interest promised, .which is yearly added to the principal. Comment is unnecessary, for it will soon take the l-on's share of the rates to pay interest and' the working expenses of the Board." without" leaviug — wirjr*lx»«»g — £•»• — tu»farce that is not being enacted.

We notice by our Nelson files to hand, that the first direct ship from China, the Lunan, is flow due, there with a carge of new season's teas, rice, and fancy goods, for Messrs H. Davis and Co, of that city.

A general meeting of theshareholders of the Rainy Creek Quartz-mining Company was held at the Register's Office, Greymoutb, on the 10th instant A new directory was appointed, which will lead to the management being retransferred .to Reef ton. • A facetious writer in the Christchurch " Press," in prie^of his recent contributions says :— "There's a kind-hearted old gentleman lives— well I forget where— but not in ( 'hriabchurch anyhow. He )e»JiB money. He can't help it, he says. He likes it. He makes a rule never to ask more than forty per cent,' and that only to personal friends. He makes ''money oat of his business as a rule. He has a loss now and than I'm going to tell you of one of them. He was sitting in his office when an old dried-up man about seventv-nve years of age came iti and said he had just got Lsoo)eft him and;; being a childlees orphan, he said he didn't expect he could last much longer, and had lost interest in things, generally. The lender of money Said he thought he might give him

a hundrsd a year for^his L500,> and. they cosed the bargain. Now mnst.people; would have played fair, and died after a. couple -of years' comfort, but jthis dear, old cripple didi . otherwise It is&pw fifteen years i> r since;he' bought fhis annuity, and he still lives. Year after year does this meek, childless old man walk into the office of the money lender and draw bis cheque, and then that money -lehnerj'pr'ances'rfd.und-l'ihe room; attttblesses the man who invented-annuities, and throws,-, ledgers about, and makes it lively for iiWold lonely prphan^goes^ "away "Mreet, and' feels "every more and mere that; he has not lived in vain." j * The Dunedin " Guardian " publi^h^s . a letter fiom %r ■ Johii-'Gillies, >• M.H.R., M.P.C., to the T^komairiro' Grarimiar School Committee, in ,which he .intimates that he has placed the LBO recently presented t'oihim by his Tokomairird friends, in the Bank, - together with L2O added by himself to found ! ( a. scholarship in the^Grammar School, 1 the : interest of the sura' to be devoted tp'-assisting th r e .education of'Whnse boys' or girls who may choose the profession of a teacher.

According- tq the ,'V Arrow Observer," potatoes are £ very scarce! article 'in jfchafc raarkefaab present, and the price' has risen to abont Ll4per ton, tue supply being limited even attbat figure. r Onljj a few months, ago. could scarcely be. disposed of at L 3. per ton, holders,., being; anxious to sell. . One farmer r had ; over /forty;, tons, on hand which •ba,v6_ Ven ; deyoted^tp f.eed\ng r pigß, Taia. quantity would now represent * sum over

The failure 'of/ Mr Allender, soap boiler, Auckland,' for L6000l ; following Mr J. '\, Morrin's failure for L 22 000, has caused a feeling of uneasiness. Both were brought to a climax by pressure of the banks, which are putting the screw oriv 1 l 'l\lr John Roberts, the Martin's Bay mailman. ~ arrived in QueenstowD on the 30bh iuitinio' from that'iawtrib6.'' r <rhe-;'f v iWak'atip Mail"-- states'-that' he reported things going on quietly and satisfactorily when he left — -in one respectV and that was, the settlers' supplies were running.Bh.ort. ! ■ I).. )^y i i :" ; ' ■■ ;? ; \ ;•„ It is" reported (says the " Westport Star") that L two, or .three of therKaramea settlers have f >uad their way along the coast back to ; Westporfc'i' and prefer th'e 1 chance" of work hereto their, prospects on the new settlement. '■' . '. ■ ' • ; "'.

The local paper states that during the re■centi .ape.ll of fine weather good progress has been made in the Westport railway On the, Pakihis between. Sergeant's Hill and Pairdown the two. gangs of men working crom eitlier end at cutting and grading the line, have now very* nearly met, and that portion of the work completed, the only heavy work remainine will be the unfinished portion of tUe Sergeant's Sill cutting and the bridge across the Orawaiti. A layer of likely looking wash has been struck, giving the color of gold, and as the drift is getting firmer as the cutting proceeds it is thought not impossible that payable dirt may be found. In such case Sergeant's Hill Terrace will quickly get more turning over, as payable ground in that locality would suit many. The construction of the bridge across the Orawaiti can hardly yet be said to be commenced, the only : sign made being the preparation of timber and material. Nearer town pile driving on- the smaller spans across swampy pat'-hes is being pushed on, and frraa the terminus to the first bridge the rails are Ifcvd and ballasting will now be commepced. On the whole the line is in a fair state oi progress, and' the contractor's only error of judgment would appear to be in not making an earlier commencement of the bridge work. ;

It is stated that the receipts of the Auckland and Onehunga Railway do not meet the expenses iiyL'lso a month. ■ Brobably when toe Nelson and Foxhill, and the Picfcon and Blenheim' lines are open for. traffic a similar result will accrue; But in this matter they would; be no worse than some of the American lines, for a correspondent of the "Argus," ;■ about the American railways,, says that Illinois has bub five companies, oub o£47,;,that pay any dividend one out of 14; Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, and Minesota not one out of 98. The roads throughout the country, are in default for interest on their bonds, in the proportion of one dollar in four, and tLere are more 1 than 300,000,000.101 invested in these roads, which do not receive one cent of income. It wouW seem that two classes only have made money on railways— the contractors who built and who were paid extravagant profits, which m one w.ay or other they often shared 1 with the directors ; and the farmers, whoso land has derived from the roads the only value it can possibly have. •.-••■;•'.

■ Speaking of the Legislative Couucil of New, Zealand, the Christchurch "Press " says :— "As long as the principle of nomination is retained, we may be pretty sure that the Council (speaking of it as a whole) will remain what it is at present, a collection of political old fogies and rich respectable nobodies."

"An American View of Emigration" is the title of an article in the " Forthnightly," by a writer in the United States, "who brings forward a powerful array of facts to prove that the 'condition of labor, agricultural and otherwise, in that country is by no means so rosy as is generally supposed. Indeed, he succeeds in making out a very strong case on behalf of the following propositions : — l. That the labor market, especially for agricultural labor, is overstocked. 2. That the especial disadvantages of American labor more than counterbalance its especial advantages. 2. That English labor is-in the main as well ' off as A merican labor. 4." That capital is an essential for a successful immigrant to the United States. At"thesame : time it is only right to state that this; unfavorable condition of affairs in that country is only exceptional and temporary, and has been chiefly brought about by the malignant operation of protection : for, as the writer observes -" Our h'gh tariff, which, when we were, living under a full pressure of speculation, swelled some branches of manufacture into unhealthy size, has now brought: about a general prostration. The reaction haß come." The Road Boards in Canterbury are not smcs-ncjTrxmfvor-it ■ Lij^Mr. fy» rpf i ixmjetter to a Cbristchurch paper Bays is correct. ~H¥~ says : -"I observe in Mr. Stafford's speech, which you lately reprinted on local revenue, that he rightly, describes, the grants made to Road Boards but of the proceeds of land sales as 'Endowments.' Such, iudeed. these .funds ought to be considered, and the .trustees of these endowments ought to make it their first car© to secure remunerative investments for their trust funds, and apply oi ly the interest in aid of rates for the gradaal opening out and maintenance of highways. Instead of 'that they seem only to try to devise means of squandering the "capital entrusted to them in the ways (as a general rule) least productive of advantage or convenience to the public, and without a thought of the burden to be oniailed on future ratepayers. I will give my vote and influence to no candidate for the Provincial Council who will not pledge himself to move for. a, • ommission tp inquire into the doings of Road Boards, with a yiew to the establishment : of a permanent Board at headquarters to control and direct the operations of these irresponsible bodies." :i;A /correspondent of the "Marborough Express " furnishes the following particulars respecting an old Wairau settler, for many ■years on the Avondale run : —

" Before leaving England for this Colony some : tventy years since, Mr Ives, was engaged .to ibe married to a young lady, and left home with the understanding that he was to send for.her as soon as he got settled. Her'distant lover being, however, being so long away, and a suitable offer presenting ijtself, she got married, and had three children— all of whom, however, with her husband died, jand she was left a widow. Mr lyes then- returned to England, and married iher, having previously taken a public house, with the intention _of settling, but after mar.-., "riagefhe^tef ed "His mind, 7 ah'd r 3etermined"t 8 s return to New [Zealand. His wife, however, refused to accompany him, and he .then fell .into a, desponding state ,and,Jt is believed, ■Wilfully destrbye'd^hiinself by'lyihg-his neelc' on the rails -'when an ,express train ; was coming. ;Ifr" is thought. 1 he had • gone out of Xis t miii'di,' ; aB ; a relative 1 of his died iv an 'asylum/, and another; also died insane. ■ He I had 1500 deposited in the Australian Bank, j .-which he-.took out,; and^put.in his; wife's name.. ; He : leaves a poor old mother 84' r years of age,, who is. nearly, .destitute. ! Mr lyeSi Was a. member of ther.Loyal Renwick^ Lodge 1.0.0.E.M.U., who it ia to be hoped will forward.. his. funeral money to his ;mothaf. .-.^ : :-.i. ; .|/L «'.:' ..i •-..•■ . ■ ■:■;' ' •.-.:- :

An Actof Parliament has just been printed: in England the object of which is to render " personation "a felony, and no doubt resulted from the trial- of the Tichborne Claimant. It is now enacted that if any person shall falsely and deceitfully personate aby-pdrson^ or the heir,; executor, or adminis*'. trator, wife,' widow^next" of kin, "or relation', of any person,', with intent fraudulently to obtain any land, estate, chattel, money, valuable security, or property, he shall, be guilty of felony, and liable to penal servitude for life, . or to not less than fiye years, or to imprisonment not. exceeding two years, with : or without bard labor, and with or without solitary coofiaemenfc. The offence is not to be tried at the Quarter Sessions, .- •. :

It has been finally decided we '("Times") :understand tha6' : buildings -for the Otago University shall be erected within the old Botanical Gardens. That having been arranged, a. Comniission^as appointed to ex-aiaine'iihe-'ground Root- oi -the present TJni-, versity Building, and report whether; the apartments could without much expense be made available for the Supreme Court and the offices usually attached to it. The Commission, we hear, have reported that; the premises can. be made suitable without : any considerable outlay, and in all probability their \iews r will have effect given them. Should the ground floor be occupied by; the Supreme Court Chamber and offices, it is likely that some of the upper rooms will be used as offices for the Telegraph Department, . and that the officers of the " Deeds " and "Stamps" "departments will have to migrate thither.

"Barboa ■ Bros, khe ■we)l-ltnowii piofcographera of Dunedin, have just completed some very fine views of that bity, taken from the top of the spire of the First Church. The " Otago Daily Times" Rays : — The work of getting the apparatus iv position was one of considerable risk and difficulty ; but the result fully repays all the trouble, as the pictures of the city aad the surrounding country are the best that have ever been taken, as no such yiew point; was available before. There are in all ten views, which fold up into a book. When placed in a circle, they embrace the whole of the city, with the Ocean Beach, the hills to the north and west, and part of the Upper Harbor.. The only building of nohe thai? eannofc be readily found is the most prominent one in the city —the First Church ; but of couise this could not be included. From the height at which the views -were obtained," ieach picture has a map-like appearance, and nothing could give a. better idea of the extent ot the city and suburbs, while, as a work of art, they are a credit to the photographers. ,

The Singleton correspondent of tie Maitland " Mercury" reports the marriage of five sisters in a' family in that; district to five brothers of. another family. ..He says :— "On Wednesday last a young man named Bailey married a Miss Pernance, at Singleton. Taken by itself this announcement would probably interest the • rsaders of the "!Mercury" as much as a statement that something had occurred in an outlandish country about which nobody would care a straw. But when we stated that four brothers cf the bridegroom .were previously married to four sisters of the bride, the matter assuma a very different aspect. Five brothers married to five sisters ! believe that such a thing stands unexampled in the his;ory of the Australian colonies — perhaps the whole civilised world."

Mr J. Reid Mackenzie, a Punedin sharebroker, .reports in the " Otago Times " that business is dull, .and the money market tight. He fears there will be no recovery until after the shearing; cr possibly the . return from Europe " of tbe- very foremost man of the Equator, with his surpassing genius and tact, indomitable pluck and in-, dustry, fertility of . resource, . and entire devotion to the interests of the colony." He adds, "Let one and all- earnestly pray for his safe and speedy return to the land he has so ably and faithfully served, and to whom thousands and tens of thousands owe a deep debt of gratitude for his wise and beneficent measures, in which he has been so' ably seconded by our worthr and talented Superintendent)—another of the foremost statesmen in the Southerr Hemisphere, . who is still happily among3t us to frown down croakers, ■ laggards, and men of fossilised' ideas." Th somewhat similar rhetorical style Mr Mackenzie delivers himself of about another half column on things in general, funtil one wonders whether " tightness " is peculiar to the money market, „ : "■'-' In a speech recently delivered in Foranto, the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Duiferin, referred to a discussion on board ship when be was going to Canada, and the case of tfc* man who had "the misfortune to have to* maay children." Being called upon in m/ turn to address ; the company,' I' allied to this phrase, which bad grated hp'shly on my ears, arid remarked that perbips no better idea could be given of the (ifferences between the old country and their lew home than by the fact that whereas in England a struggling man might be overviaigbted in_tha.bii,tLla_Qf ii£e_fejr. n._niim.9rouo' "fahily, in the land to which they were going ainan could scarcely have too many children. Tipon which I was greeted with a appro vine; tbimp on the back by a stalwart young enigrant, who cried out, 'Bight you are. Bit! That's what I've been telliag Emily.'"