THE Inangahua Times PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1877,

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 16, 16 May 1877, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1877,

The war news which we publi-h this morning is full of interest as indicating the positions and prospects of the belligerents. Geographically, however, the intelligence appears faulty. The Koutnanian Chamber of Deputies, evidently deserions of profiting by the, rupture;, has struck for independence. The Roumanians have long panted for,, freedom. A distinct people from the Slay races of Turkey, they enjoy little of communtiy with their neighbours and probably so tha^t they succeed in castoff the yoke of the Sultan, care little which of the hostile forces sinks or swim*. A Turkish, iron-clad has been disposed of by the. Russian batteries at Ibaild, Following the. history of the campaign as well as can be, done, it seems that the present invasion is being carried, op upon much the same line, as. that followed by nwrs.hal WiJJgenslein in 1828, viz., to cross the Danube at Saturnora ancL Tuldscha. At this point of the river there is a bar across with hardly fourteen feet of water upon it, Assuming the. word Dudin in the cablegram to be "Widin, it ! would then appear that tin- p.-tsaage of the Danube has, been etc I by tb§ Husaians, •' Baloun " in live cable- j gram, we are unable from the atlas before ua, to. assign its. proper sltjua- j tion. But it mu*»t be a position qf some strength and imparlance lo judge from the loss accom.; -a. i} ing the Russian assault upon it. ' • '

The, next sitting of the Resident Magis*. tratu'a Court, at lteefton, will be held on Monday next. * The over-due Gbeymouth. coach arriyed at midday jesterday. Amongst ihe passengers were Messrs JRu.tton, Goutiness, H. Maoe, Dixon, and others.. Notices wero ycitcrd.iy ported, at each, end of tlie Suspension Bridge by the Road Board, caudoning tho public tbaj; the bridge is unsafe for traffic, and that persons crossing will do so at their own risk. A meeting of Amateurs, who took part in the recent entertainment, for tho benefit ojT Mr George Jaques, will be held at Dawspp's Hotel, this evening, ot 7 o'clock Bb.aip,fpr the purpose of deciding upon, the disposition, cf the fund.. It is desired that one or more representatives from each of the local Societies should attend the meeting.

I A man named Westbury, employed in the coal mine at the head of Murray Creek, was carrid down to the Beefton Hospital yesterday morning, suffering from severe bodily injuries sustained through a fall of earth, in the coal mine. Mondaywas the last day for filing applications for publican's licenses and renewals thereof, for > hearing at the sitting of the Licensing Bench on the sth proximo. We believe that between fifty and sixty applies* tions have been lodged. A cleaning up of the Rainy Creek battery by Meers Graham and Allen, after the recent crushing, has just been completed, but |h,e result is not stated. It is, we believe, the intention of the proprietors of the mine to put in a tunnel for the Rurpose of cutting the reef at a still lower level. We are very glad to hear, that the requisite instructions have at last been issued for enlarging the Court-House at Reefton, and we understand ihat the plans and specifications of tho contemplated additions are now being prepared by the District Surveyor. Plans and specifications for the new Catholic Church at Reefton are now being prepared by Mr Tumbull, architect, Welling* ton, and will be completed and forwarded to Keefton at an early date. The cost of tbe building will, we believe, not be less than £1500 and having regard to the large number of members ot the Roman Catholic persuasion in the Inangahua, no,fc the least difficulty is contemplated in wising the required fund. The survey of the Grey road for the purpose of calling tenders for the formation of that portion between Devery's Terrace and the Little Grey Junction was commenced yesterday morning. The County Council has engaged the services of Mr Raymond _itzmaiarice, a gentleman of considerable experionce in the supervision of roai works, and Mr Fitzmaurice yesterday proceeded to the Junction to take parfc in the lading off of the r,oad. The sittings of the District Court, fixed for yesterday, were adjourned until to-day, in consequence of foe int. bility of counsel : retained at Hckitikaand Grej mouth, to reach Reefton on Monday. The Court will, therefore, open this morning, and jurors are required to be in attendance, at the time fixed. There is one case for hearing be'ore a jury—that of Mace v. Lapham— which it is believed will evolve some rather interesting ; circumstances relative to mining adventure. It is gratifying to notice that -outside in. terest is awakening, regarding the Inangahua reefs, we observe that the Christchurch Press, of a recent date, publishes closed upon half a column of intelligence from our' columns, headed "Reefton Mining News.' Of late, there has been a steady flow ot , piiristchurph capital to. this, district, and we are equally glad to say tbat a considerable sum has also found its way thither in the form of dividends, some of the best iuterests in the field being held by Canterbury capitalists. Yestorday was a most gkvious day, and the atmosphere being remarkably clear, a good view of the surrounding country was available. The back mountains haye received an temple dressing of snow during the last fey days, and we are informed that the view ! yesterday, fiom Walsh's Look Out, was magnificent. Snp.w to a cousiderable depth still olinj*s to all the. high ground in the vicinity of the AJax hill, and on the higher altitudes, all trace of yegital iou has been covered up with snow. The following singular adventure and narrow escape, occurred at Cronudun, on Monday morning last : — • Messrs John iGaUagher and D. M'Ginley, were travelling on horseback along the Buller road. Arriving a,t the crossing of Boatman's Creek, the stream was found to be greatly swollen, the water running almost level with, the bridge. It was decided to take the ford, and the horses were accordingly turned into the stream at the regular ford. A cattle dog, ! accompanying Mr M'Ginley, preferred to cross by the bridge, but, strange to. say, the instant the dog jumped upon it, the bridge lifted from its supports and drifted down with the" current. Messrs J. Gallagher and M'Ginley found the ford deeper than they expected, and were compelled to . swim their horses, down stream., and it was, onjy by the merest good fortune that they escaped being s borne dowji by the floating bridge. They managed, however, after some difllculty, to effect a safe landing, but tbe dog drifted away with the bridge, and has not since shown up. In the meantime foot traffic down the Buller 1 road is suspended, and will probably, continue so until the bridge is rebuilt. Mr John Bathgate, of Dnnedin, must be added to the list of R.M's 1 who seek to enliven the dreariness of tho hw by sallies of wit. During the hearing of a case in which the plaintiff* sought to recover an account for groceries supplied, His Worship remarked that " he never saw a grocer's account without •; tho item ' salmon.' in it It appeared to him that salmon was a, delicacy indulged in by people who could not pay their debts." Mr Bathgate did not express an opinion, as to whether the nature of the food nyght acoount for the '■ fishy " condition of the persops referred to. Mackie's steam-driven composing machines are rapidly nearing perfection. Oae of a number now in the London office of the Warrington Guardian, we (Register) watched some days ago setting minion at the rate of 8000 an hour, with only a lad to attend it, ' whose duty was to supply it with typo and remove what was ac!; in long lines. Apart from that, the machine might have been in a ldoked-up room. We also saw Mr Mackie's perforators worked by a young woman, who had no. difficulty in keeping up to 8000. an hour. One composing machine of a large size was setting a nonpariel edition of the New Testament which is to bo sold in the shape of a newspaper (Globe-size) for a penny. Extensive preparations aro being made at Hurlingham for a mediaeval tournament, ip which four Saracen 3 and four Christain knights will participate. The Princo of Wales will

bo present in the fu?}d as the Bqldan Suleiman, ard will hay.6 command of the Saracen warriors. The designs for the Prince's costume are supplied from the South Kensington Museum, and when completed will represent days of antiquarian research. Princess Louise has laboriously overhauled tho British Museum for a design fqr the needlework embroidery on the Prince of Wales' tunic. Ihe speotyple will be one of the most splendid seen in London for years. Tho delicate question will come, however, when a choice is to be mado for the Queen q£ Love and Beauty. It has already been decided to settle this point by ballot, bu,t it is currently reported* that the ehoiqe has as gqod as fallen upon an Irish belle. In seconding the adoption of the report of that important and successful English Life Assurance Company— the Q-resham— Mr E. Solly, F.R.S., incidentally gave some account of the excavations for the new building in coarse of erection for tho. company. He said : «An army of housebreakers having pulled down the old houses, a gang of navvies were set to work in digging tho foundations, and in wat-.-hing the progress of t^ese works the history of England for 3000 years was exposed. There were many ourious records from the time of Queen Anne, and evidences of remoter periods, of the great fire of 1666 j traces of tho water-works which supplied the ponds of the nobility and gentry who lived afc Bueklersbury • relies of the period of the Plautagenet kings; earlier, still, a carved sandal of the noble Roman -, and descending lower still in the excavations, there were, in* dications of the true old British race, when the wild boar, deer, ancl the (-oat inhabited the fens of Finsbury. Between 6000 and 7000 waggon loads had to be carted away, and it was not till the men,, came to a stratum of primeval clay that they were able to begin the foundation of tho new office of the Qresham." The magistrates of Tadcaster havo sentenced a man named Leatham, wiio is. said to be in a good position in life, to two month's imprisonment for twioe audibly cursing her Majesty the Queen during publio worship held in a sohoolroom, while the prayers for Queen and Royal family were being said. He pleaded that he had been a liberal supporter of the schools, and had apologised to the clergyman, and that this bad language came out of him without thought, owing apparently to some irritation on the subject of ta^es. Of course that sort of thiug must be stopped, and is a great public scandal, but the penalty is surely quite beyond what is reasonable in such ft, case. A A llß w^ould have been far better, and if it was. really the. pecuniary annoyance of taxation which moved the man, to this gross indecency, a fbio would clearly have been keenly felt. Vindictive punishments of morbid acts like this havo a tendency to multiply such acts.. A correspondent of the Manchester GuAr** dian, whom we have reason to believe entirely trustworthy, reports from the Bosnian frontier that matters were never less kite settling dovi-n The Christian insurgents hold a mountain distnct of- two thousand square miles, and declare that they will make of it «' a second Montenegro ;" while the plains are terrorised by the Maliomjtnedau Beys, til; the 200,000 refugees in Austria. Servia, and, Mo.ntenegjjo, though, starving, absolutely refuse to return. They have only twopence a day each, and the seeje3 among them are ap». palling. The writer cacukte3 that, on the conclusion of the armistice, the pa.««s of mountain Bosnia will bo fended by SQOL) men, who could, by a few gifts, of amy, be er.aily raised to 20,000. Ho affirms that the BashjB|azouks are regularly let loose in Bosnia, plunder the villages, and kill women and unarmed men. There is not tho slightest i.lei, among the insurgents of submission, and tluey. will certainly not be conciliated by the new Turkish order, just iteported by telegraph from Belgrade, to raise £40,000 by fo eed loan from the rayahs of Bosnia, or Christian peasants only. The " forced loan " is, of course, a mere exaction, and tho BashjL* . Bazouks will levy twenty times tho sum in ,jew.els, household articles, aid provisions. Lieuteuant-Colonel Whitmoro writes to the Hawke's Bay Herald on the subject of the : county revenues :.—'.' It is quite clear that our local endowments, licenses, tolls, dog taxes, . and even subsidies. (s_o. long a ? they la3t), , are quite safe. from, any charge OP account of the deficiency of the land fund, but I fear it is equally clear that we should get into trouble if , w;e calculated upon any return of surplus land revenue. It remains to be seen, but I believe that in Canterbury there will be no such surplus to, divide, ampngst the counties; and therefore should Mr Whitaker next session bring forward again his proposal to make the land fund general revenue, a proposal Mr Stafford is pledge to, support, it is unlikely that the same opposition will be experienced as was. shown last yoar." The Lake County Counoil has published an estimate of their revenue and expenditure. The revenue is set down at £61.27 4,3., £2600 pf whioh is calculated from a shilling rate and subsidy theron. The largest item apart fronj. rates is gold duty, which is set down at £1500, being the duty 0n12,0000z ; the next iterc is the receipts from pnblicans,' billiard, and temporary licenses, £500 ; the sum of £720 from miners' rights is calculated upon, £420 being from Europeans, and £300 frpm Chinese.