The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

Kumara Times, Issue 801, 25 April 1879, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1879.

A crowded public meeting was held at the Town Hall last evening, at which a resolution was passed "requestingthe Government to give effect, without delay, to the letter and spirit of the report of the Goldlields Committee on the position of the burgesses aud miners on this goldfield re the Education Reserve." Our report of the proceedings is held over. We learn on the most reliable authority that Mr Warden Price has applied for three months' leave of absence, in order to go to Melbourne to undergo an npthalmic operation, as his sight has been gradually glowing worse ; arid should the disease not ba arrested, total blindness must be the inevitable result. Under the circumstances the Government can hardly refuse the request, aud we only trust that the operation will have a beneficial effect in restoring perfect sight to our estimable Warden

The Claud Hamilton, from Melbourne, arrived at Hekitika early this morning, and was iipnediately tendered. Her mails may be expected by this evening's coach. The case of Armstrong and party v* the Government, which was to have been heard at the Resident Magistrate's Court to-morrow has been postponed until the 10th proximo, as one of the surveyors, whose evidence is material, has not yet returned from the Southern district. Shortly after two o'clock this morning a fire broke out in Mrs Howie's Masonic Hotel, Mawhera Quay, Greymouth, which at first promised to be a very serious one, but through the active exertions of the members of the Fire Brigade it was confined to the premises in which it broke it out. We understand the property was insured in the National for £3OO. A train on fire is happily a rarity in this Colony, but a case occurred on Monday last which has been kept very quiet. The train leaving Waikouaiti for Dunedin on Easter Monday (a day when a large number of passengers might reasonably have been expected) at 3.35 p.ni was full to crowding then, and yet hundreds had to be picked up on the line as it came on. No provision had been made for an extra number of passengers though the authorities must have known from the number of return tickets issued that they would be awaiting transit. A dozen on each platform of a carriage, the seats crowded, and as many standing between as could find footroom was the state, when suddenly a cry of fire was raised, and it was discovered that a heated axle had fired the woodwork. Cries yells, whistles, shrieks failed to attract either the guard or the engine-driver, but providentially some workmen on the line saw the danger, and by them the driver was iniormed by signals. Grease and slackened speed eventually did all that was required. The Samoa Times of Feb. 15 gives the following "ccount of the shooting of Capt. Woolf, of the schooner Vavau :—" Wo regret to learn by the arival of the schooner Vavau that her master, Captain Woolf, has been seriously and dangerously wounded by a ball from a revolver. The following are the facts as we have gleaned them. Captain Woolf had a patent lock revolver, which, upon arriving at Savage Islands, he sold to a native. Having, as he thought,, securely locked the instrument, he handedIt to a native and defied him to fire it off, and said that he might point it at him. The native, after pulling at the trigger, was in the act of lowering the revolver to give in, when it went off, and Captain Woolf fell. The ball entered the stomach just under the ribs towards the left side, passing out at the back, injuring the kidneys on the passage. There were no hopes entertained of the unfortunate man's life when the Vavau left. The schooner Vavau arrived in Aqia harbour on Feb. 13, from Auckland via Tonga and Savage Island. The mate brought her across from the latter place." Mr. J. G. S. Grant, writing of the Waimate Plains affair, says:—"We cannot serve two masters. Either the Parliament at Wellington or the Parliament of Parihaka must be supreme in this emergency. The Premier has shewn himself ready with counsels for the British Cabinet as to the way they ought to crush out disloyalty and insurrection in Southern Africa. Has he no advice to give nearer home ? Is he at his wit's end when danger threatens the place of his habitatin ? Can he not device means to stop this rising conflagration ? Is he Incapable of filling up the opening sluice ere it overwhelms the land ? Why is he silent in this momentous crisis ? His colleagues rove ad libitum over the country; the Native Minister is as usual bouncef ul in words, but weak in actions ; the At-torney-General leads the bar in Dunedin, takes the largest fee, and quietly pockets his salary ; the Treasurer flounders over his accounts ; and honest Fisher is dumber than Balaam's ass." Mb W. WittWAY having sold his plans and interest in the Dyeing Business to Mk R. Upjohn (who has become practically acquainted with the trade), begs to solicit the kind patronage hitherto afforded him to his successor.—Mrs Upjolm announces that she is prepared to clean and dye hats, feathers, gloves, &c.-, in the best style. N. B.—Gentlemen's clothes cleaned, dyed, pressed, and repaired on the premised.—Advt.