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Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2173, 27 July 1875, Page 2

The steamer Alhambra i 3 expected to leave Bluff at 11 a.m. to-day. Telegrams for the Australian Colonies or Europe, via Java Cable, will be received at the office here, for transmission to the Bluff, up till 10 a.m. : The Hon. Mr Bonar, Superintendent of Westland, purposes proceeding by the Albion, now due, to attend to his legislative duties in Wellington. . . A petition from the inhabitants of the Tnangahua district has been reoeived by the Postmaster at Grey mouth for transmission to the head of the department at Wellington, the object; of the petition being to obtain a mail service between Greymouth and Keefton three times a week, instead of twice weekly, as at present. The petition and the signatures attached thereto make rather a formidable document, the whole being about 25ffc .in length, and containing as many as SOO signatures. As ie is uuderstood.that the proposed service would probably be provided, at very. slight extra cost, .it is to be expected that the Post Office authorities will consent to the additional convenience to the public, and source of profit to the department, as soon as the summer weather wiil improve the condition of the roads and permit .-f the traffic being more regular than it can possibly be at preseut. The Westland Government has received an offer, since the auction sale, for the right to collect tolls at the Kawhaka and Loop Line gates in excess of the upset price, LISOO, but it appears that the Government is precluded by the Act from accepting any offer by tender. Consequently the tolls in" question are likely to be again submitted to_ public auction.; .. : , ; The cargo of the schooner Esther, stranded on the rocks at Rangitata, and subsequently towed into Nelson, included forty tons . of produce consigned to Messrs Woolcock and Co., which was covered by insurance. We have not heard who were the other consignees, ■ . A gentleman in New South Wales writes to a friend in Melbourne, respecting the Palmer diggings, thus {-"The enormous yields at the Palmer diggings drew/ very many miners from New South Wale's, but now the Chinese are arriving there in thousands. We hear of thirty thousand being on their way. Twelve thousand ounces of 4old per week will draw half China, and Ohinauien with capital are now investing largely in town (Cooktown) property, aud buying it of European bred men at enormous ; prices. Their undertakings surprise . ail, but yet they make them pay. The. whitepeople cannot stand the climate_ there ; it seems impossible for them? toZwork in the sun " - ■ '- . : ; The West Coast Times suggeststhe propriety of the Borough Council of Hokitika procuring a weigh- bridge,- and placing it in some convenient gar.t p£ the town. A similar •suggestion may ' with equal ; propriety ibe made in .Greymouth. The want-, of a weighbridge is very frequently felt, and it 3 presence would be a great convenience to;the sell ere and purchasers, of coal and pro uce. while the cost would, no doubt, be defrayed in no long time by 'charges for its use on a scale similar to the charges., made: in other (Joldnjal towns. <•••■■- . Wi hina 'fortnieUtjflor' th'ereabouts, sayis the Westport Times, two^lpCQnjojbtjreAengines for the Westport railway will be ojrought down from Wellington, transhipped from Home, vessels to sailing craft for the Uoast; :; "■ ;■; .• < ' ■ • ; ,•" Robert : Glover, the actor, has been sentenced to six '. months' imprisonment at Wellington, for stealing blankets. He was the juvenije cpmedy man of the Stephenson troupe, when last on the Coast. The' following particulars of the firje lately occurred in Gilmer's Melbourne Hotel, Uhaileston, are given by the local papers ':'— [t occurred about four o'clock in the morning and appears to have broken out in the commercial'room, setting the' ceiling on fire an I extending through the "ceilings of every other room on the ground floor. Strangely enough the Bcrjtn and paper burnt away without igniting the timbers, and timely warning having been given 'assistance was soon on the spi>t aud danger . averted. There was of in the confusion, some damage done by has y removal of effect?;, but the whole cost of replacement will hot ' exceed a few pounds and is covered by insurance. " The following paragraph appears in the Nejson Times of the 19th :— " We are informed that a greaj; number ;ofv passengers landed at Greymouth from the s ij. Alhambra, numbering nearly one hundre'l^are returned diggers, i^ho have been trying their' luck on , the Palmer dryings, to meet with but little success N o doubt; they !will be; welcomed , baik again to their old quarters.'' No doubt they would be welcomed, but unfortunately the nearly one hundred did not come. Our. contemporary has been misinformed. ■■'■i f The Ross Guardian reports thac on Thursday Mr Martin inspected and 'passed No 3 seccioa of the Bowen and Okaritq .road (north end). The further extension of the road, at least from this end, is now suspended until afber the present session of the General Assembly, at which a fresh appropriation for this work is expected to be made, when tenders will be called for the construction of the middle section?. '> The farmers in the Waime as, Nelson, are complaining' so sadly of the injury done to their crops by small birds, that a meeting has been called for the purpose of considering the best measures to ba adopted to check their devastations. - ■ : •-■■;; ■:; ; -■ -;\,r\ A sale of furniture and household effects, at Charleston, under a writ of fi fit, Moss Davis v, Thomas Dwan, took place on Saturday. The defendant, says the Westport Times, has departed to parts unknown, and left his accounts with mercantile "firms considerably in: arrears. '"'' There are still 70 or 80 immigrants, including children, in, the Hokitika barracks waiting engagement. The West Coast Times fears that the married couples with families will find some difficulty in meeting with en- : gagements, and says it is intended to transfer one or two of them to the Jackson's Bay Settlement on the next trip of the Waipara. Mr J. C. Frew has been appointed engineer to the Koh-i-noor Gold-mining Company, Koss. It has been currently rumored for the past few days that -Mr T. Hungerford's tender for the construction of the permanent;, way and plate laying on the Greymouth and Brunner Railway had been accepted, the alleged cost of the work being a few pounds 1-ss than L9OUO, but we understand that no contract has yet been finally made. The late heavy storm of wind has caused a great amount of damage in ihe Okarito district. Houses, outbuildings, and fences, have been levelled to the ground. : The local;---/correspondent of the West Coast Times States' that at Gillespie's the front of a large store, lately occupied by Mr J. Ritchie, was blown i out, and the . building so damaged thai; the ipresent proprietor, Mr JB. Ryan, has, had; the building takw dp wn piecemeal, Damage

was also clone to mining property. On the Five-mile Beach several large trees were blown across the Okarito flume, at the south end where the fluuie takes a curve towards the saw-mill, and about seven chains of fluking was destroyed ; all hands on the Beach are now busy repairing the same. Of late a few large black swans have been seen in the Ukarito district. Two of these interesting strangers, along with their young —three in number — on last Sunday, were seen sailing down the Okarito river with the ebb tide, and were taken out into the surf. The old birds took flight, "but the young ones were tossed about in the break and thrown up on the beach. Captain Thompson's two sons happened to be near the spot, and picked them up still slive. ," On; the following morning- Captain Thompson placed them in the river, .near flood tide, and had the satisfaction to see them go up the river in safety. . In the course of a recent lecture on "Congregational Psalmody, the Bey. Dr Allen, of Dunedin, noticed some of the injCongruities that used to occur, by. the awkward division in repetition" iines. For: instance", " Love thee better than before " was divided "Love thee bet-;" "My poor polluted heart", becomes "My poor pol-;" "We'll catch the fleeting hour" was sung "We'll catch the flee-;". "And take thy pilgrim home " became " And take thy pil-;" " And in the pious he delights " was ''And in the pi-;" " Send down salvation from on high 1 ' became "Send down sal." A soprano, in one case, sang " Oh for a man-;" and the chorus responded "Oh for a mansion in the skies." In one case the soprano modestly sang " Teach me to kiss ;" the alto took up the strain ''Teach me to kiss ;" while the bas3 rendered it quite prosaic by Binging " Teach me to kiss the rod." < ; We have much: pleasure in calling attention to Smith and Barkley's splenoid stock of blue Venetians, blue Victoria twills, blue diagonals, ■ and waterproof tweeds in all the newest' shades, suitable for ladies' dresses land^ostnmes 5 also a large stock" of heavy ■"Blue andjjlack cloths for jacket j, and a lot of mantlings'iB v< new colors. In addition; to the above Messrs, Smith and Birklsy have a magnificent stock of winceys, serges. French merinos,, wool plaids, and homespuns. The same firm have also opened a case of Scotch wool shawls. — A DVT. . j A curious insight into the nature of what arts called temperance cordials was given lately in the Auckland Police Court in the case of Patrick Ryan, who- was charged with having committed: several unprovoked assaults, Mr Joy, the counsel for the accused, stated as a fact (it was not fproyed on sworn testimony) ,that. the assaults were simply the effects of drinking of the temperance cordials which had produced such a state of intoxication in Ryan that he was. utterly demented. These cordials, 'as? described by the learned gentleman, are: a compromise between alcohol and nojnspirituous liquors, and are taken as a stimulant by O pod Templars. . . ■ ;- ' -j "",•?■ 1 \ Lovers of real fine old Pure Malt Whisky can obtain a very superior quality in bpttle or bulk from Duncan M 'Leah, Bbtindary street. - Advt. " ■ . ;■■ ; ■:■■:•>'■: \v'> \