The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 23, 1881.

Kumara Times, Issue 1451, 23 May 1881, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. MONDAY, MAY 23, 1881.

To-morrow being tlie Queen's Birthday will be observed as a holiday at all the public offices. Mails will be made up at the Post-office, Kumara, for despatch, as usual, by the early morning routes, but there will be no mid-day mails forwarded either to Hokitika or Greymouth. The Warden's and R.M. Courts will be held on Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock. Persons well informed in political circles, state distinctly that the general election for the Assembly will not take place until February next. We are glad to hear that Rochford, the miner who last Friday morning was thrown down a jump-up and carried feet foremost along a tail-race 1300 ft. long, is rapidly recovering from the effects of the injuries he then sustained ; and the doctor informs us that if all goes well he may be at work again in a few days. Thirty-six hotel licenses for the disti-ict of Kumara (which includes Dillman's Town and Larrikins) have been applied for. The Licensing Court will be held on Tuesday, June 7th. The former Warden of this district, G. G. Fitzgerald Esq., passed through Kumara yesterday on Iris way to Greymouth, from which point he will at once commence an energetic canvass of the district.

The Westbrook Public School was opened to-day, under the management of Mr Frank Byrne. The eighteenth competition for the Ladies Gold Challenge Medal took place at the Kumara Rifle range on Friday and Saturday last, when Vol. Close became the winner for the first time, with the excellent score of 85 points (including 30 as handicap). The following were the scores of those who fired :

To-morrow (the Queen's Birthday) all who accepted for the rifle match on the Kumara range are requested to be on the range at 9.15 a.m. sharp, for as there are 32 entries, it will take all day to fire. The usual parade will take place in the evening, after which the prizes will be presented to the winners at the day's contest. A protest against the last competition for the ladies prizes will also be taken into consideration. The population of the town of Westport numbers 1013. There are 246 inhabited, and 49 uninhabited dwellings. One thousand five hundred bags of New Zealand oats were sold in Melbourne last Friday, at 3s 4d. The Amberley correspondent of the Christchurch Press writes :—"Mr James Ashworth, junr., thinks one of the bodies he saw buried on the Tararua wreck ground was that of the Rev. J. B. Richardson. Mr Ashworth had journeyed from his residence near Leithfield to the scene of the disaster in order to identify and see buried his father, who was a passenger by the ill-fated vessel. In this he had the mournful satisfaction of succeeding." The Daily Times states that it believed that an additioual passenger named Robert Whitelaw was on board the Tararua. As an instance of journalistic enterprise, we may mention that the Melbourne Argus telegraphed to New Zealand for full telegraphic details concerning the wreck of the steamer Tararua. The Argus received some 3000 words, which cost it in round figures about £l5O. The heads of the Australian Goldfield are said to have been discovered at the head of Mary River. A hundred and eighty Chinese are on the ground, getting half an ounce per day. Lady Egerton Tumour, an English lady of fortune, now in New Zealand, is said to contemplate visiting Victoria, to judge of the colony as an emigration field for the English poor.

Yards Handi200 400 500 cap. Tl. Private Close 22 17 16 30--85 Private Stennard. 22 25 25 scr--72 Private Dove 21 21 21 8--71 Private Green ... 20 26 11 12--69 Private Barnett... 23 18 10 14--65 Private Havre ... 11 8 12 30--61 Corporal Sampson 24 20 16 scr--60 Private Robinson 23 22 15 scr--60