The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1878.

Kumara Times, Issue 575, 31 July 1878, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1878.

A largely-attended meeting of ratepayers was held at the Helvetia Hotel, Goldsborongh, last evening, “to take into consideration the present position of the County of Westland as affecting this district.” Mr R. J. Seddon was in the chair. The speakers were Messrs Thompson, Blake, Griffiths, and Walsh. The following resolution, proposed by Mr Blake and seconded by Mr Lock, was carried unanimously:— “That in the opinion of this meeting the County Council of Westland should, in accordance with the wishes of the ratepayers, merge the Read Board ; and that, failing this, the ratepayers refuse to pay either bodies rates.” •

The man Charles Nygreens will be brought up at the Resident Magistrate’s Court to-morrow, charged with stabbing Mrs Campbell in the month of December last. There are also, we understand, some cases of friendly quarrel to be decided between tho elite of Little Bourke street. A large number of civil cases are set down for hearing. We understand that an entertainment embracing campanology, or the art of ringing bells, will be given during the ensuing week, in aid of the funds of tho Wesleyan Church.

The Government intends to propose making a railway from Greymouth to Hokitika, says a Dunedin paper, as soon as Parliament meets. The line is to be started from the Greymouth end, in order that it may be utilised for conveying timber from the forests through which it will pass, for the harbour works at Greymouth.

From some parties who have just arrived from Christchurch with cattle, wo learn that tho snow on tho Pass was fifteen feet deep, and that it was with the utmost difficulty they were enabled to get through. Mr Thomas Power, the driver of the Hokitika coach, gives a very graphic description to the Christchurch Press of the difficulties that beset travellers from the West Coast owing to the recent heavy fall of snow and the severe weather experienced on the ranges lately. So far as his post as driver of the coach is concerned, that portion of his duty has been a sinecure lately, as the coach has been unable to come through for the past few weeks. The mails and passengers have had to bo packed over, in many cases the latter undergoing great hardships, and some narrow escapes from frost bites have occurred. The track through the ranges has been through a wall of snow, a narrow road having been cut through it, and the snow being some distance above the horses. The Lakes present a very pretty appearance being entirely frozen over, and some very good skating has been obtained on them. Last week in coming over Mr Power found a man lying on the snow, who had been out ali night, and who had a very narrow escape of his life. So far gone was he, that he had to be strapped to the pack-horse and brought to the Gass, where he was rubbed with snow, and other means adopted to restore the circulation. Some idea may he formed I of the cold at the Cass, when it is men- \ tioned that at the hotel all the bottled beer

was frozen, and to enable the landlord to procure supplies from tlie casks of draught : beer, a pan of lire coals wr phu-ed under : the tap. even this expedient faded. j as the beer became frozen in the casks, j Yesterday the milder weather had the | effect of melting the snow somewh:u, and | it is anticipated that tho coach will Vie able to get through a portion of the way j next trip. ;

A pubhc meeting eyas held last night, i at the Town Ha'l Hokitika, relative to I; the railway question, when the following ; resolution, moved by Mr Purkiss, and i seconded by Mr Chesaev, was carried : j

“.That the line which presents toe I greatest advantage, in a public point of i view, is that which, stai-v.ng at Hokitika. I should be extended through the southern | portion of this pgprinco, and via the Haasfc Pass to and north, ward, to j Grey mouth.” Awanrd-tee was afi'.'i’- • wards foimad to w-tv lip petitions for i presentation to the Houses of Parliament. !

A correspondent of the Grey River I Argus, telegraphing from AUauoa bust | Tuesday night, says:—“Communication | with Reefton and Greymouth is stopped, j The rivers are rising, and it is now snow- | ing at the Ahaura. ” We notice by an advertisement that ! appears in another column that our sug- i gestion relative to a bellman for Hillman’s j Town has already been acted on, and that i Mr G. Stewart will, in future, enliven this ' and the neighbouring township on all occasions in which his services may be engaged.

They have a time gun hi Nelson, which : is fired every Saturday at 12 o’clock. A week or so ago when it gavo its, usual boom, the end of a settler’s house, right in the line of fire, was immediately “ rapped” by a stone weighing a pound' and a half ; or two pounds—an ugly thing to get a ; clout with. The stone when picked up ! was quite warm and smelt of powder, i The Nelson Mail says an affair of tins ! kind wants inquiry. “Atlas’’ in the “World” is responsible for the following ;—“ He was a North of Ireland farmer pur et simple and had married three wives in the course of years and buried them ail three. They happened to have, all been ‘ comfortable’ I and had each brought him a trifle of 1 money, a bit of land and a pig or two its ! their respective dots. To him the Parson j said, consolingly, demise of No 3. 1 Well ! • Andy, i’m sorry for your troubles ; but ' anyhow you can’t be badly off considering’ : what they brought to you. ’ ‘ Yer no just richt about yon, Sir.’ said Andy, pensively, ‘A ‘tell yer what it is, Sir, ye ma’ b’lieve mo that what wi’ fetchin’ o’ them in and fetchin’ o’ them oat there’s no so much profit on them as, may be, ye think.’”

Tlie following is a clever, though vulgar, story ; —“There was excellent pigeonplucking at a noted hotel down in Melbourne the other night. It was glorious work for the ‘ unemployed, ’ and three chevaliers d industries netted close upon a thousand between them, the pigeons being two well-known young squatt.ocrats, who’ were ‘ bust up ’ in a moat approved style. However, the young fellows were not so much asleep as folks thought. They signed cheques payable not to ‘ bearer,’ but to the parties who won the money, and further ciossed them ‘ Bank of so and so.’ Now the effect of this was that the holder’s could get no third or ‘ innocent ’■ parties to take them, and, of course, on presentation to the bank, the cheques were not honored, being stopped. Sharp pi’actice, but quite justifiable. So it seems the hawks were plucked instead of the pigeons.”

The following decision given by the Master of the Rolls in the Court of Appeal, London, recently will be of interest to sporting men. Tlie question was, whether money lent to pay a bet which had been lost was, or was not a debt for an illegal co iside-ration. The decision concluded as follows : —“lf a number of men were round a gaming table, and one asked another ho lend him money to game with, and he lent it, that would bo money lent for gaming. And so, too, in the case of betting. But in the present case the evil had been carried out. The money was advanced to enable the man to pay his debt of honour, which was quite a different thing. The law, therefore, resolves itself into this ; that money lent to make a bet is not recoverable, but that money lent to pay a bet which has been made is. ”

Scipio said that “a valiant and brave soldier seeks rather to preserve one citizen, than to destroy a thousand enemies.” Gollah on a similar principle, destroys the thousand pains of rheumatism, sciaticia, and lumbago, by his “ Great Indian Cures,” the wonder of the nineteenth century. Testimonials may bo seen in another column, and medicines may be procured at all Chemists.— [Advt.]