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Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 31, 20 June 1877, Page 2

At tho adjourned meeting of the Church of England Committee, held on Monday evening last, a resolution was carried affirming tho desirability of erecting a church building in Keefton, and it was decided to hold a basaar during the coming Christmas holidays in aid of the project. There was a sitting of the Kesident Magistrate's Court yesterday, but tho only case set down for hearing was that of Dowsing t. Eumble, in which judgment was given for the amount claimed, with costs. In the Warden's Court there were one or two unimportant applications for registration certificates for alluvial workings. The Court then adjourned. .An attempt has, we believe been made or is about to be made by a few of the G-reymouth business people to remove the management of another Eeefton company to G-reymouth Probably when road communication is open with Westport, which will bo in the course of a few days, the people here will reciprocate this little unselfishness which Greymouth occasionally evinces. Verily " A stitch in time saves nine." The carrying away of the suspension bridge has already put the Board to an expenditure of something like £50, and we are yet without safe means of crossing the nvor. The sum named, had it been expended in repairing the bridge when tho necessity for repair was first suggested, would have saved tho structure and spared ratepayers an outlay of something like (before it is done with) £500 or £600. A ferry boat at £6 per week is a rather expensive luxury it will be found, and at this rate that particular horse will not be long in accomplishing the rather unequine feat of " eating its tail off." More Suspension Bridge! At tho meeting of the Eoad Board on Monday last some discusßion waa occasioned over an account sent in by George Brown for work done in aiding the river to carry away the suspension bridge. One guinea per day was the amount charged in the account, and this wa3 objected to as being excessive, and the account was referred back for reduction, but to thi3 Brown clemurrod, stating that be had always received £5 per week from mining companies, and he could not think of accepting less than tho amount charged. Mr Keliy remarked that people employed by the Board seemed to think that they were entitled to charge what they pleased for (heir services. It was ultimately resolved to pay tho amount and havenothing further to do with ;Mr Brown, It wo 3 also suggested that in future greater care should be exercised when employing men to work for the Board, by stipulating tho rate of wages beforehand. There was an adjourned sitting of the Licensing Court yesterday, before Mr Shaw K.M., and Messrs Brennan and Ball, Commissioners. Robert Wolfe applied for the transfer of an accommodation license for premises situated at the Left-Han d Branch, from Michael French, to applicant. The parties were in attendance, and acquiescing in the application, it; was granted. Mr Pitt appeared for the applicants. — C. R. Ncilsoa, accommodation license, Cement Town. Applicant sought a reduction of tho fee to £5, owing to the out-of-the«way situation of his premises. Application granted nt the reduced rate of £5 per annum. — Mary M'Konwv, 11 o'clock license for the Club Hotel, Keefton. Granted. — John Quigley, 11 o'clock license for tho Golden Age Hotel, Roefton. Granted. —Thomas Smith, storekeeper, Black's Point, wholesale license. Granted. The application of Mr Jacobsen was withdrawn.— The Court then adjourned. The Bos'n's Chair across the river was com' pleted yesterday, but the trial trip of the concern, like the trial trips of most other concerns, did'nt prove quite a success, Our friend, Mr Hans Jacobsen, was the first to venture aboard, and instantly that the chair was let loose it shot away like a forty horsepower, high-pressure, double-action torpedo, but arriving about mid«way, directly over the stream, it came to a dead standstill, and there remained, notwithstanding an immense amount of physical exertion to the contrary on the part of the occupant. A crowd o f , people soon gathered on the bank, and proceeded to offer friendly suggestions as to the best way out of the difficulty. Somebody suggested that the main wire rope should be cut and the chair with its occupant let into the river, but Mr Jacobsen didn't seem to enter into the spirit of this proposal. Others mentioned that Mr Jacobsen should abandon the chair to the underwriters, and corre ashore ala Blondin, and finally that they should ring the fire»bcll and call out the police. However, it is needless to say that none of these courses were taken, and after a long struggle with the wire, the pulley and the law of gravitation, Mr Jacobsen finally got the cantankerous machine under weigh, when he lost no time in resigning that chairmanship— You bet. A special meeting of the Eoad Board was held on Monday afternoon last, the members present being Messrs Brennan, Davies, Felly, and Aikcn. Tho meeting had boon called for the purpogo of considering an application sent in by Dash and Co , contractors for the river p-otcctive works, foe extra back filling required owing to tho washing away of the river banl;. Tho sum nsted for was £100. A ; discussion ensued, in the course of which the specifications of the work were road over, and by which it appeared that the contractors took the contract with all its attendant risks,

and were therefore bound by the terms of their agreement to cany out tho work now claimed for as an extra. It was further pointed out that the contractor* were themselves in^grcat part to hhnxo for tho washing away of Sj tho river bank, as they had been warned of the probable action of the river, and had failed to take the suggested procautionary measures. Ultimately it was resolved not to entertain tbe application. The Overseer was directed to iuspect the portiou of the Bpatman's track already formed and report thereon. Complaints were lodged as to tho manner hi which the ferry was being worked by T. Pattinson. It raa represented that the ferryman had refused to allow the men working at the " Bo'sn's Chair " to take material across tho river in the ferry boat. It was ultimately decided that the Secretary should interview tho ferryman, and in the event of the latter refusing to carry out instructions given that his contract should lie there and then annulled and other arrangements made for crossing passengers. The lettor of Mr 3 Pattinson requesting the Board to make provision to enable her to cross the liver to Reefton daily with milk from her dairy, was ordered to stand over: The meeting then adjourned. We have simultaneously the reported improvement in the prospects of two mines in the Murray Creok district. In the one case it is reported that a block of stone has been met with in the Anderson's Extended, and another in the Defiance. We have no wish whatever to detract from tho real merits of r either of these finds, but we do most em- [ phatically object to the attempt which is evidently being made in a certain quarter to create a temporary flutter in the market by rating all these discoveries, or whatever they may be termed, upon a wholly fictitious and deceptive standard. In the case of the Anderson's Extended Company, some very promising indications have been met with in the mind, but to now attempt to magnify them unduly for the purpose of getting up a fleeting excitement for speculative purposes is calculated to do a permanent injury to tho venture. It may for a time serve thoir interests of those who alone hold the interest for speculative purpose, but to tho general body of shareholders who hope to see the undertaking brought to a successful issue a result of a contrary nature is rather likely to result. The same may be said with even greater justice in relation to the Defiance. We were yesterday morning informed in the most cold-blooded manner that scrip was "nominally quotod at 5s 6d," but significantly enough, that thero were " no sellers," and per sequitor "no transactions." Now this appears to us as simply an effort to force the market in a direction in which it has no present disposition to go. We have taken the trouble to feel the pulse of the " market " and wo can therefore verify that portion of the information vouchsafed as to their beinj "no transactions," nnd we are in a position to B!»y that tho market quotation would have been more correctly stated at Is Gl, bat even that value would have been qiute.a " nominal " one. N"o ono would have be'en more glad than ourselves, in !ho interorfc of the district, to hive boon abb to bear out the truth of the paragraph m question, but we cannot too strongly deprecate the ntttempt made to " move off " a oluirgisli currency by ill-timed and unctuous cnjolcry of tho kind referred to. In a recent number of tho Solicitors' Journal, London, appeal's, under the head of " Legal Notes," a characteristic paragraph, in referenco to an old m.T much respected Resident Magistrate of Nelson — long since passed away— Mr John Poyntor; Wo may stato, for the bcaofit of tho-.e who know not ' Joe," that the cicvi referred to is Mr Joseph Havley, at pivjont m Nelson. Th' czitriot is C 3 follows : — " A New Zealand paper, quotod by tho New Zealand Jurist, 9ays that when the late Mr Poynter was Resident Magistrate of Nelson he was famed for being a 'split»thc«diffjrenco Judge ;' and in those priori' iro days and quiet localities would do a deal more than most magistrates would attempt now. A case of trespassing cattle or horses was before him, and the prosecuting officer was short of a witness ; thereupon Mr Poynter, ejaculating ' I saw them nmelf,' came down from the Bench, entered the witness-box, saying to the clerk of the Court, ' Swear me Joe.' ' Joe ' swore his Worship, who gave evidence to an empty Bench, returned thereto, and fined the owner of the animals. This story may seem strange, but it has tbe merit of truth ; acd so has another connected with the same Magistrate, who once fined himself 10s because his horse had strayed about the streets." When we see Mr Warden Shaw's horse wandering "at its own sweet will " through the streets of Eeefton, we cannot help exclaiming O tempora 0 mores.