Lyell Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1886.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 265, 20 March 1886, Page 2

Lyell Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1886.

The United Alpine returns for the week from plates, berdans and ripples, were 4370/8. amalgam from 200 tons of stone put through. The tributors in the United Italy have commenced work on their portion of the mine. The men put on by the company have been engaged during the week procuring the necessary timber for winze and will start sinking next week. In the Tyr Connell all hands are engaged blocking out stone, and extra hands have been put on to extend the main level on the leader. The stone coming to grass looks remarkably well, and under the management of Mr John Kelly, operations in the mine are being carried out in a thoroughly systematic and expeditious manuer.

Another change lias come into the country being gone through in the Larnach, the men having met with slate formation, and the inflow of water has ceased. A nasty accident occurred to one of the men named John Roberts 011 Thursday night, a piece of slate came away from the pick and struck him in the eye, fortunately without causing any serious injury to the eyesight, and will necessitate cessation from work for a couple of shifts. Owing to the unfavorable state of the wenthar on St Patrick's Day, the stewards of the Central Buller Race Club decided to postpone the meeting until Monday, the 12th April.

Mr O'Connor, M.IT R. for Buller, has been successful in obtaining a sum of £i)00 from the Government for the purpose of constructing a track to White Horse Terrace, Matakitaki. It is stated that the East and West Coast Railway Guarontors Committee have information that a powerful syndicate in London is in treaty with the Committee and the Government for the construction of the line. The foregoing information is dated Christchurch, March 16th.

At the present time Lyell is visited with an epidemic in the shape of whooping cough among the children, and hardly a family has escaped the visitation. The disease is more disagreeable than dangerous, except in the case of very young children, who are unable to stand the convulsions. The attendance at the State School for the past month, owing to this cause, has been very meagre, as out of a roll of 46, only six were able to put in an appearance on some occasions. Mr John Oxnam, who met with an accident at Newton bridge lately, was conveyed to Lyell last Sunday, and is now under the treatment of Dr Levien. The principal injuries received were a severe bruise on the ankle, the cap of knee displaced, the two ribs close to the vertebrae violently compressed, and general injury to the system. His medical adviser recommends complete inactivity for three week* or a month.

In our report of the proceedings of the Hampden Licensing Committee last issue we erroneously stated that Mr M'Gregor objected to the granting of licenses to accommodation house keepers instead of objecting to the granting of conditional licenses to owners of accomodation houses.

We have received per, favor of Mr C. Neville, the Newton Flat list of subscribers to Lyell District Horpital Fund amounting to i!ls 5s 6d. The list of subscribers will appear iu our next issue. Our Nelson . correspondent " Koriri" writes to the Motueka Herald as follows: —ln well regulated society there is no crime so irritating as petty larceny. In literature none in such bad form as clipping paragraphs foom contemporary journals without acknowledging the source of information. The " Slop Bucket " revels in getting hold of outre murders, suicides, and elopements for the benefit of those readers who delight in the horrible, and sometimes by mistake clips a sensible extract from other papers, but never gives the origin. As an instance in point I will take last Tuesday's issue in which under the guise of a letter, which they vaguely described as being taken from " a West Coast Paper," they cooly stole a pa; agrapli from my weekly contribution to the Lyell Times. The Editor of the " Slop Bucket" may innocently plead ignorance of journalistic etiquette, but I gave him credit for having a better discrimination as to the custom appertaining to the laws of meum and tuum in journalism than that. A " West Coast paper " may mean any rag published between the North Cape and Invercargill, so the indication given was no guide, Should such an instance of moral turpitude again happen I shall be compelled to abandon my usual amiability and mildly protest against the unceremonious proceedings of the premier journal of the province. The slop bucket is quite welcome to clip what he likes from my correspondence ; it may serve to enlighten his readers, and to give him an insight into the construction of the English language, but I have a parent's solicitude for my offspring and object to having the product of my thoughts diluted with his humid ideas. Verb sap. Complimentary railway passes were given by the Government to Cardinal Moran and Bishop Barry. Parliament, which at present stands prorouged to March 15, will be called together early in May, provided there is no dissolution.

There is at present a small rash on between Barrytown ancl Razorback. There is no doubt as to the highly auriferous character of the country, and there is therefore a probability of something good being struck. If that should result, it could not happen at a better time.

The Westport Star of 15th inst says:— We understand that if an effort is made, profitable work can be found at once for some fifty men at the Cape Foulwind Quarry. The Member for the District says he. will put about £4OOO worth of County work in hand directly. By these and other means we hope to see the unemployed absorbed, and so remoye the cause for complaint that is current. The Minister of Defence has, after full consideration, decided to confer the New Zealand cross on Lieutenant-Col. Thomas M'Donnell, of the New Zealand Militia. Col, M'Donnell's gallant conduct during the Maori war on the West Coast lives in the recollection of all old settlers in the colony, and some of the earlier instances in wliich he distinguished himself were borne testimony to by Generals Chute and Cameron, under whom the Colonial forces, commanded by Col. M'Donnell, were serving.

' The Wellington correspondent of a [ southern paper furnishes the following facts regarding the last ten months' railway revenue returns:—One curious feature is that the decrease in the receipts almost exactly balances the decrease in expenditure, thus leaving a nett profit just about the same as last year. The mileage open is, however, 33 miles longer, being now 1503 miles. The total receipts for 10 months amounted £864,135, which is about £SOOO less than for the corresponding 10 months of the previous year. The working expenses absorbed £774,997, which also is about .£SOOO less than the amount for the first 10 months of last year, consequently the ratio of expenditure to revenue is practically indentical, viz., G6 per cent., and also, as already stated, the nett profit of the traffic shows a considerable increase in all classes, the respective increases being as follows: 122,290 more passengers, 180 more parcels, &c., 75,438 more live stock, and 55,996 tons more goods. The North Island railways display an increase of £32,000 in receipts, the South Island lines a falling off of £3 /,000. Taking the individual sections, they give the following results : Increases—Kawakawa and Whangarei, £1000; Auckland, £15,000; Napier, £'9000; Wellington, £7000: Wanganui, £1000; Greyinouth and Westport, each £*3ooo. Decreases— Hurumn-Bluff, £44,000; Picton, £3OO. The three Musket colts, Trenton, Thunderbolt, and Nordenfeldt, have started in 15 races, in which they have won 13. The two races lost were the Dunedin Cup, in which Trenton ran second to Vanguard, and the Hawkesbury Guineas, in which Nordenfeldt was left at the post. Nordenfeldt has won five races out of six, Trenton three out of four, whilst Thunderbolt holds an unbeaten certificate, having won all the five he started for. Messrs Wbitaker and Russell have received a cablegram announcing that in the case of Bryce v. Rusden for libel, the Court awarded plaintiff £SOOO damages. Mr G. C. Bowman has resigned the appointment of legal manager of the Keep-it-Dark Company, and Mr W. J. Hindmarsh has been appointed temporarily to the office. The New Zealand Government announce in Home papers that they are prepared to entertain applications from Farmers and Agriculturists for assisted passages to New Zealand with a view to their taking up and settling on the land there. A Melbourne correspondent writes of Cooks, the manager of the South Australia Bank, that he had established a reputation ot being an extra steady young man with strong religious tendencies, and was a distinguished patron of a Sunday school. The mode in which he brought' disaster on the Bank is supposed to have been by granting large overdrafts to nine friends—men of straw —who engaged largely in mining speculations and made way with £170,000 of the Bank's money. The names of the nine gentlemen have been carefully withheld, notwithstanding a determined effort made by the shareholders to have them revealed. There is still a strong demand made to have the names published, because at present 50 leading commercial people are subjected to grave discomfort through being named as members of the syndicate of nine. Very general gratification will be felt throughout the colony at the news that a New Zealand bred horse has won the Champion Stakes. The Hon. J. White must be both the luckiest man and the best judge of horseflesh in the colonies, looking at his extraordinary success in the great races on the other side. The three Musket colts Martini-Henry, Nordenfeldt, and Matchlock, purchased by him at different times from the New Zealand Stud Company, have between them won almost every one of the most valuable stakes in Australia, including the A.J.C. Derby (twice), the Melbourne Cup, the V.R.C. St. Leger (twice), the Hawkesbury Guineas, and the Champion Stakes. Matchlock, who on Saturday put the seal on Musket's fame as a sire, ran five times as a two year old and won twice, his victories being in the Trial Stakes and the Nursery Handicap at the A.J.C. Autumn Meeting. He met with an accident in the early part of this season, and did not run in any of the great events of the spring. It is very remarkable that just as Nordenfeldt, who was reckoned a certainty for the St. Leger and Champion, breaks down, Matchlock, another of Mr White's team should be brought out in such form as to be able to win both these events. In view of the general election which must come sooner or later this year, it is desirable (says the Otago Daily Times) that voters should take an early opportunity of satisfying themselves that their names are properly on the roll of the district in which they reside. An alteration is necessary in the case of people who have changed their residence since last election, even though they may still live in the same district; and we understand that the rule in this respect will be enforced more strictly than could be done in 1884. Very little time elapsed on that occasion between the issuing of the writs and the election, and the arrangements were necessarily hurried. But this time the authorities are likely to be more stringent, and it behoves all who wish to exercise their franchise to ascertain in good time that their qualification is correctly stated on the roll. Au exchange says :—Journalists are a long suffering and patient class. It is said indeed that recent researches have disclosed the fact that Job himself was a member of the fraternity, and some color is given to this theory by his expressed wish that his adversary would write a book, and of course the only possible inference to be drawn by the ordinary student is that the man of Uz desired to criticise it.

Hp was, l>e it noted, a man of Uz and therefore entitled to use the editoral " Wc." Under the most trying conditions the journalist of to-day can give Job points in the matter of patience and still be polite. Listen ro the manner in which our brother of the Ellesmere Guardian, iii noting the fact tint another quarter had expired, would respectfully solicit prompt settlement of all accounts due:—" The expenses of conducting a newspaper are very heavy, and the accounts though individually trifling an amount, yet in the aggregate make a sum which if lodged to our credit at the Bank, would make the work of journalism much less unpleasant than it is." There is no bluster about this and such an appeal should find a ready response.

The rifle association meeting at Wanganui has come to a close, and seems to have been one of the most satisfactory ever held in New Zealand. A trial was made of the Auckland made amunition and proved a complete failure, the first shot fired burst a carbine, a second breech being injured, and a hammer was blown clean off, while some of the volunteers had their eyebrows singed, and the experiment had to be stopped. About time.

In connection with Sir Julius Vogel's recent meeting at Auckland the correspondent of tlie Otago Daily Times writes:—A very little would have sufficed to raise the demon of discord, which it would have required all Sir Julius' tact to allay. At it was, through his bold frankness, his judicious treatment on his subject, and consummate tact, Sir Julius succeeded in snatching a victory where he might hav» anticipated a possible defeat, and retired from the platform more than satisfied with the most cordial reception he has ever received at the hands of the people of Auckland. His victory is the more remarkable that he unflinchingly advocated the construction of the East and W r est Coast railway of the Middle Island, the mere mention of which has hitherto been sufficient to lash an Auckland audience into frenzy.