Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 2002, 7 January 1875, Page 2

His Worship the Mayor, G. W. Moss, Esq., has received official intimation that he has been appointed a Justice of the Peace. A Post Office has been opened at Antonio's Flat, Little Grey district. Mr J. Johnston is the Postmaster, and the Bervice is weekly. The Smith's Combination Troupe gave their last entertainment in the Volnnteer ! Hall last evening. One-third of the proceeds was to go to the widow and children of the late Edward Murphy, who was drowned in the Orey River on Monday last. There was a, very good house and an excellent performance, which was justly appreciated by the audience. We believe the Company will make their next appparance at "Reef ton tonight. The takings at the door last night amounted to L2O 14s, but Mr Airec made the third share for the widow up to L 7, which he last; night placed in our hands, as he and his company were to leave by the early coach for l.'eefton. The excedingly efficient manner in which the Ani;lo-Austra)ian Telegraph Agency attends to its clients, is exemplified by the fact that yesterday, although we received a telegram headed " Additional News," we were left in the dark as to its source, and only guessed by its character that' it came via 'Fubco. We received none o fthe following items which appeared in the " West (oast Times" of yesterday :—" The s.s Macgregor left San Francisco on December 8. She was detained three days for the arrival of the English mail. She left Honolulu on the 18th Passengers— For Auckland : Messrs A. Waddell, N. B. St John, Mr and Mrs Stock and two children, Klliott, and 13 steerage. For Dunedin : Mr H. E. Cameron and one steerage For Sydney : 11. For Melbourne : 7 Cargo : 2647 bag< sugar for Auckland, and a large cargo for Australia. London, Dec. 7. — Calcutta telegrams state that the Government are satisfied that the man cADtured is not Nana Sahib. Foreign i ffice despatches state that Dr Liviogstoue'a letter had arrived at Zanzibar. A meeting of K oman Catholic Unions in London have resolved that the loyalty of Catholics is not affected by Papal infallibility. The ship carpenters of the C'y<?e have resolved to strike. Partizins of Don Alphonso in Spain are endeavoring to negotiate with Serrano for a restoration of monarchy. He positively refuses. The La Plata, from London to Granada, foundered off Ushant. Sixty lives were lost. Thfl others were picked up after being 24 hours in a boat. The Argentine rebellion has been settled by the unconditional surrender of General Nitre and his army after a defeat by the Government forces." We understand that Mr J. B. Johnston, Borough Surveyor, apppointed by the General Government to arrange for the settlement of the claims for compensation for the sections and properties required for the protective works, has been successful in coming to an arrangement with the claimants, with the exception of a few, who will in a short time be called upon to refer their claims to the District Court, should they not accept the Government offer. The rain which has fallen during the last few days has enabled the Wealth of Nations' claim once more to go to work, a supply of water being obtained from Lankey's Creek, although the head-race had been carried away. Fifty-four tons of stone were put through the battery befora the Witer fell light, and 2750z lldwt of amalgam were scraped from the plates, which shows a yield of 2oz to the ton. The iron pipes for the syphon across Lankev's Creek- are being pushed ahead by Messrs Rae and Sewell, and the balance of the iron sheets required are supposed to be on board the Maori, which is expected to be here from Dunedin to-day, after visiting the Bluff, Martin's Bay, and Hokitika. A general meeting of the Greymouth Rowing Club, was held last night at Gilmer's Hotel. The treasurer submitted a statement of accounts which showed that after the purchase of the boats Swallow, Western btar, and Formosa, and two boat-sheds, there was a debt balance of L2O. It was resolved that an entertainment be got up to pay oft the Clu>'b liabilities. Votes of thanks were passed to Mr Brown and the brews who so successfully oompeted during the late races. ' On Tuesday, at the Arahura sale yards, a painful accident happened to Mr Frank Lock, of Goldsborough. -While he was riding after some cattle, with the intention of turning them, his horse rushed at a fence, and, failing to clear it, broke down the top rail, throwing Mr Lock over the fence. The horse then fell on him, producing a frightful compound comminuted fracture of the right leg close to the ankle joint. The sufferer was brought to town in <<n express and taken to Dr Maunsell's surgery, where splints were applied to the limb. As the foot was hanging to the leg by the skin only, the case was one for immediate amputation.. Mr Lock was therefore removed to the Hospital, where the leg was amputated below the knee joint by Dm Maunsell and Fsatherstonhaugh. The patient is, we learn, progressing so favorably as caa.be expected under the circumstances. ;Mr Lock is peculiarly unfortunate, seeing . that \, about abouc fifteen months' ago Dr MaunsoU attended him for a fracture of the. same. leg. caused by his horse falling whsn crossing ; ; the Arahura bridger : [ '.'. I Theconntry reporter of jthe !,' .Otago l>aily Times " in one of his letters writes :— ♦' All the way up* the: road between Tuapeka and this there exists one universal complaint of dullness and stagnation of trade, and various are the causes assisted for this depression. Commercial travellers pull gloomy looking long faces, and, declare they are not earning their horse-feed. Cromwell, the busiest of the gold-fields towns just now, is literally canvassed to death; beyond that exists a terra incognita of commercial doubtfulness. One well-kuown traveller that I came across; dubious of penetrating further northward than Cromwell, telegraphed to an esteemed client at Queenstown inquiring—' Is it worth while coming on ?' when he quickly received a reply in the negative, and retraced his steps accordingly." ■ • ■ . The " Dunstan Times" hears from Tinker's that the Christmas washings-up of the various claims were exceeding the expectations of owners, 800oz is the result of one, and 600oz from another, whilst the other claims are looking proportionately well. Dunedin papers state that old clothes, unredeemed pledges, from the East End London pawn. shops, have been for some months past regularly imported to Dunedin and there disposed of by auction, without having been fumigated or otherwise purified. TUia is

surely an evasion of the Quarantine Regulations. We understand that the survey of the proposed Hue of railway between Hokitika and Greymouth is to be commenced immediately, under the direction of Mr O'Connor, District Engineer, whose staff of surveyors has lately been strengthened for that purpose. The "West Coast Times" of yesterday, says :-»'• Members of the police force, Constable Macdonald and Detective Browne, had another exciting^adyenture last evening, with aa apparent lunatic, and very strong combatant when itrcame to a trial of strength. In the afternoon a man who gave his name as John Peterson, and who is understood to to have walked up from Okarito, was, for the public safety, and oh the recomme da* tion of Dr Dermett, introduced to the police camp by Inspector O'Uonriell. He was placed in one of the cells which adjoin the office, and during his supper time sat quietly and chatted reasonably enough, but, when Constable Macdonald and Mr Browne were about to proceed to remove his belt and such clothing as it is necessary in such cases to take away at bod-time, ho suddlmj made a rush between them, sending each frttiifferent directions, and escaping through the open door of the office into the camp-yard. Both were quickly after him, Browne cannoning against a large iron bucket which stood in the way and in the dark, while Macdonald managed to bring the man ' to grass' in the yard, with the result of finding he had ' caught a Tartar ' After a struggle he again escaped, and was pursued as far as ' Tne Poet's Corner,' when he was again brought down, and endeavored to be secured, but he proved too powerful, and, having got off a third time, made a sudden turn into the backyard of this office. There he found himself in a cal ct&mc, and so did the police, in the dark, and with some ugly implements about, which made it dangerous work for anyone to be present with the madman. He raised an alarm by yelling wildly, aod there was a rush of young printers and others to the scene to ' assist,' as requested by one of their number, ' to catch a madman,' but they were soon scattered like autumn lewes. After some time a light was procured, just as he was cornered, and by the efforts of the two members of the force, he was handcuffed and conveyed back to the Camp, making much noise as he went, avowing that he had done nothing to deserve being taken in charge. It is to the credit of Constable Macdonald that he stuck to his duty so well, and it is fortunate that the man was so early secured, whether he be a pronounced lunatic or only temporarily ill." The "New Zealand Herald" states:— "It wilT be in the memory of our readers that Sir George Grey sent a petition to the Superintendent, urging him to put himself into communication with the late Governor, Sir J. Fergusßon, on certain matters connected with the land funaV&c, which he (Sir G. Grey) considered of serious importance, and calling for instant action. His Honor approyine of Sir George Grey's petition to himself, adopted it, and sent it on to Wellington as the petition of the Provincial Government. Thereupon Sir James Fergusson, it will also be remembered, declined to communicate through the Superintendent, but addressed a letter to Sir George G-rey direct. This letter was, however, published in the newspapers before it reached Sir George, and he was thus well acquainted with its contents. It has come to our knowledge, upon authority on which we placa implicit dependance, that on receiving the letter in the course of post, Sir George Grey at once sent it, unopened, to the Superintendent, requesting his Honor to return it with a copy of the letter under cover of which he then sent to his Honor. Sir James Fergusson, or rather his responsible advisers, evidently caught a Tartar when they sought to cast a slight upon an old Governor, whose ofhci&l experience enabled him at once to perceive the joint in their own armour, and give him the opportunity of retorting by returning unopened, but in perfect courtesy, the letter in which they flattered themselves they bad made so great a coup that they could not refrain from publishing it prematurely in their own papers." i Rumors (says the "Southland Times") have beea prevalent in Invercargill that the building regulations of the Municipal Council are, from some cause invalid. The fact is, that so far as the building regulations of the Council are concerned, their validity has not been disputed in a court of law, but it has been recently decided by Mr Justice Gresson, in an appeal case in Christohurch, that it was necessary for all munioipal regulations to bear the approval of the Superintendent of the Province on the face of them, by his signature ; that hitherto the Provincial Governments of Canterbury and Otago had simply gazetted the regulations, and Provincial Gazettes being published by authority, the fact that the regulations were gazetted being considered by the Government to sbow that they were "approved." This decision of Mr Justice Gresson, if upheld by the Court of Appeal, will have the effect of rendering, probably, the whole of the regulations passed by all the municipal bodieß invalid. As Mr Wales and his mate were fishing a few days ago in Port Levy, ne*r Lyttelton, they hauled up alargefisb similar to a skate, on taking hold of it to take the hook from its mouth, Mr Wales felt a strange sensatim as if he were paralysed. After a few minutes, on recovering, he seized the fish again, and ttis time he felt distinctly a powerful shock the moment ne touched it ; determined not to be served in this way again, he attacked the fish with an iron hook that was in the boat, and was surprised to find that he received a stronger shock than (he other two He asked some Maoris who were close by if they had ever seen a fish of the sort before, and they replied in the negative, and he proposed t« bring the fish to Lyttelton, with a view of sending it to the Museum, but was dissuaded by his. mate, who assured him it was no rarity. He mentioned the matter to Dr Rouse, who showed him a sketch of the torpedo, which he recognised as an exact portrait of the fish. He estimated the fish to weigh from eighty to one hundred pounds. The fish was left high and dry on the beach. It is a pity it was not preserved, being so great a rarity on the coast. Some bagmen appear to have a decided penchant for practical joking, and one of the class who paid a visit to KivertOD recently played upon the local undertaker an old trick with results which will cause him to live in that functionary's grateful (?) recollection for a long time, according to the \ " Southland Times ' this facetious traveller reported to the undertaker that the Town Clerk of the place, who is just recovering from a severe attack of measles, had breathed his last. The man who does the box business immediately rushed away, rule in hand, to take his measure. Having* reached the house— which was approached in rather a frantic manner — he was violently assaulted from the rear by two dogs, oausing numerous abrasions to his nether garments, as also the beating of a speedy retreat, to the great amusement of the Town Clerk, who happened to be looking out of the window at the moment. The Otago expedition to the Haast via Pyke's Track was to start on Monday, 28th December, under the leadership of Mr David fiutcheson. We understand that they propose clearing a wide track, and making the route traversable for horses throughout, so as to connect the three Provinces, and the '• East and West Coasts, by a main artery of communication. ;