THE GREY.

West Coast Times, Issue 29, 9 August 1865, Page 2

THE GREY.

I (FKOH OTIK OWN COESESPONDENT.) August 7th, 1865. Considerable excitement and commotion was caused here on Saturday the sth insk by the arrival of the steamer Wallaby, from Nelson, with the Superintendent of that province, some of the principal officers of the Provincial Government, and the chief surveyor and staff of assistants. It was a fine morriing, and the steamer came over the bar and steamed up the river in beautiful style ; she anchored on the Canterbury side of the river, nearly opposite to the house on the Nelson side, which I am informed is a custom house. The Superintendent and officers put off in a boat and took up their quarters in this building, to which was quickly transferred a considerable quantity of luggage" — portending a lengthened stay. Their presence is hailed with considerable pleasure, as the Nelson people have ever evinced a laudable endeavor to follow with immediate improvements the well defined tracks of the wealth-producing miners who have hitherto visited their entangled and sheltered gullies. Great and immediate alterations are spoken of as about being made in the relations between the Nelson Government and the miners, the traders, the hotel-> keepers and merchants. The former, it is asserted, will claim the duty on all gold crossing the river, as well as put in force all the laws under the Goldfields Act for raising revenue from miner's rights, , "Business licences, &c, necessary for maintaining proper government among the mining community. All these measures have long since been expected, and most ■ men are provided with the necessary means, many expressing ' great satisfaction at having the opportunity to start and get a footing in their several callings before" being hunted down for fees ere they could have a chance of making a living. Protection is the first and great thing needful on the Nelson side, and a court of justice the next, as much cheating and many artful dodges for entrapping the unwary are 'practiced on the outlying settlements. I heard of one very cruel case whilst in court on the Canterbury side .-the other day. A man came to ask Mr Warden Revell's aid under the following circumstances : he and two mates kept a store >alv the Twelve-mile, and were in good credit on this side ; they owed a considerable sum, and sent their mate as usual to Greymouth for goods ; on his return he iound the store and all the goods in the possession of a stranger, who had purchased them from his partners, and on his asking the latter for his share of .the proceeds and money enough to pay for the .goods had on credit, they flatly refused to pay him a shilling, and told him to do his best, which was an appeal to Mr Revell, I .vt.o informed the unlucky wight that he | eculd do nothing fir him as the affair ocj curred in the Nelson province. Jumping j flhiinr too has been practiced to a consider- :.- -'- silent for the want' of police ; but it has "riot yet terminated in loss.of life, as repafted inVyour issue of the 26th tilt. pSfloy^cases are" reported, antH3ire-Ba*£s-~ jtnuVr my immediate notice, where two mates ouc prospecting found what they thought payable gold. They had occasion to.leave their claim for a short time, when on their return a party had taken possession and refused to give it up ; they were backed by a large party from a neighboring gutly, and the luckless prospectors had nothing for it but to dig away at the foundation of a large rock, which overhung the gully, a%dwere determined on letting it down . upon the lawless crew. This truly perilous mode of employing physical force was avoided only by the [claim — after various washings of the stuff — turning out valueless. Such events, and the ocurrence of many similar ones, show the great necessity that existe for immediate police -protection on the diggings, and the establishment of a court of justice at the government township. .The hundreds of miners \re have constantly heard of, as making their way back from the Grey goldfields, have not as yet put in an appearance in Greymouth. True, on Friday last, a considerable number made their way back through the township — say about 60 or 70, but with this exception not a hundred more have gone back for a week, whilst nearly that number have arrived and passed up. I have spoken to many returned miners who tell me there is any amount of payable ground when provisions beome cheap. The cost of articles of consumption are enormous, for flour costs froai Ll3O to Ll5O per ton; on some of the farthest diggings a 501 b bag of flour costing a price almost incredible — I have heard of as much as L 4 10s given. - Many claims in Maori and Red Jack Gullies are turning out a pound weight per day, .with a large area of ground to work for a considerable ,%iSH6 v to""cdme. Grtymouth is begirtning to wear a more important appearance,; good wooden and iron buldings are being erected as. fast as hands can construct them, in readiness for the goods, which must be brought here by the shipping, Three sail put in an appearance on Saturday morning, manoeuvring ' about the entrance to the river, two steamers also were in sight for some hours — one making out to sea, the other seeming inclined to run in here. The lona, laden with coals from this port, put to sea just after the Wallaby entered, but in doing so. had'a narrow escape from being stranded as she kept too close to the lee shore on making out A mostSdaring robbery was committed here a fe-fc evenings ago, whereby about LSO woith of goods were abstracted from a store in Blaketown ; the goods have been discovered by the police. An enterprise of considerabh importance to the residents is being actively carried out in the shape of a buoy bridge stretching across the lagoon which divides the government township from what is known B. This laudable undertaking ii cc Germans, who are con° ut of their private purse, at a een L3OO and L4QO. It i s ' ttree hundred feet in length-— c footways across the ' low

ground — and will be above the highest tide. What is the postmaster general engaged at that there is no regular post established between this and Hokitika ? Mr Wait the storekeeper here receives letters it is true, and no doubt sends them forward by some flailing vessel or some other uncertain mode, but for regular communication we iu*e obliged to despatch by some friend direct to Hokitika. Perhaps the Canterbury people will stand by and see all Greymouth crossing in b.>ats to the Nelson side <vith their letters. Be this as it may, great dissatisfaction exists at the absence of a post; we could do with a daily post between this and Hokitika, but three times a week and a return post the same day is absolutely necessary at once. • The Lyttelton, p.s , is outside waiting high tide to cross the bar. Wind high, blowing dead out. Three sail outside, y/