West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1867.

West Coast Times, Issue 664, 9 November 1867, Page 2

West Coast Times. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1867.

Befoee Mr Hall leaves for Wellington — aud we believe it is his intention to do so about Tuesday next — some information ought to be sought from him as to the intentions of the Government with reference to the appointment of Chairman of the County Council. The present feeling on this subject is one of great uneasiness. Somehow or other the report has obtained currency, that the appointment is to be conferred upon Mr Sale, and no contradiction has been given to the rumour. Reports of this kind work great mischief; and if there is no foundation for them, it is the obvious interest of the Government to take proper steps to have them contradicted. Good government in a district like Westland, must be based entirely upon a foundation of confidence in the honesty and good faith of the Executive. It is • a dangerous experiment to let misapprehensions get afloat aud work their way. If it be untrue that Mr Hall contemplates the appointment of Mr Sale to the Governorship ofWestlaad, the success of tho new experiment -would be greatly promoted by a direct denial of the current report. If the report have any substantive foundation, we must fully endorse what our numerous correspondents on the subject have said — viz., thnt we are on the eve of the commission of a fatal blunder — one that will cause the people of Westland to throw away from them, as a thing utterly worthless, the " concession" which the General Government and the Assembly have made to us. What are Mr Sale's claims to this preferment ? He is a protegee of Mr Hall's, by whom he was selected to represent the Christchurch Government when the district -was first settled. He was chosen by Mr Moorhouse to be his confidential adviser and guide, when that gentleman came over to put himself "in contact" with the people. He has been a diligent and faithful servant to his superiors. He has shown considerable administrative skill, and a general attention to the. duties of his office. All these arc grounds on which he is entitled — it" not to promotion at the hr icL - f the General Government — to a continued provision, eqivil to the office he now bolds. Bu<- the whole field of colonial patronage is open to Mr Hall, and opportunity cannot be wanting of finding for the preset. Undersecretary an appointment that will be suitable to his merits. Mr Sale has undoubted claims upon the Government which he has served so faithfully. But he has no claims to be appointed to the chief office of administration in Westland. The reasons against such an appointment are clear and pateut. It goes for nothing to say that he is a man of industry, of intelligence, of ability. He is identified with the old system ; he has caught its spirit; he will rekindle its embers and keep it alive ; and under his rule there will be the same broad gulf between the people and their ruler, that has been the misfortune of the district ever since the Goldfields Commissioner was appointed. Besides, there is a fitness in things. We ask Mr Hall if it is seemly to hold out to us the Comity Act as a coucession in one hand, and to force Mr Sale back upon us with the other. No one knows better than Mr Hall that the whole agitation sustained by the Westland members through three sessions of Council, which culminated in the late Separation movement, was based upon a protest against the system of which Mr Sale was the active embodiment. No one knows better that when telegrams were being constantly transmitted from Hokitika to Wellington, begging the Government to proceed with their measure, and strengthening their hands with these assurances of confidence, the people here wero acting in the full faith that the measure would be so carried ont as entirely to do away with ; every vestige of tho old system. The Bill introduced, reserved to the Government almost unlimited powers ; but Mr Hall aud Mr Stafford were trusted. They bad the highest compliment paid them that t public men could receive from a free j people. We knew we were placing ourselves unreservedly in their hands ; but we gave them a generous confidence. That confidence, we do not scruple to say, would not have been confided in them, if it had been suspected for a moment that the government of the district was likely to be continued in the hands of Mr Sale. So anxious was the dis trie t'tn escape from the old regime, and to enter into an entirely new phase of political life, that even the appointment of a responsible minister ior the Goldaelds under the Provincial Government, was far from being accepted as a satisfaction in full of the claims of Westland. This concession had long been dcmauded by the members for the district. But when at length it was made, the time had passed when it might have proved a sufficient solution of the political problem. Yet Mr Bonar's appointment was ratified by a public vote, .as at least an instalment of reform. In j a certain appreciable sense Mr Bonar is I to be regarded as the representative of the change of system for which we have been fighting ; while Mr Sale is the representative of the old system against which Westland has revolted. To throw Mr Bonar over after his election by the people, for the sake of promoting Mr Sale, would be indeed a strange inauguration of the new regime. Without any regard whatever to the

comparative personal merits of the two men, wo cannot overlook the circumstances that attach completely distinct associations to each of them. We fully endorse all that was Baid by a correspondent whose letter we published on Thursday last, as to the effect of the approaching appointment upon the success of the new County experiment. It cannot be doubted that the nomination of Mr Sale would ensure its utter failure. ' It would secure the election of a Council entirely hostile to him. It should be Mr Hall's object to enlist the sympathiesof the district with the experiment he is trying. It would bean unfortunate initiation of a new policy to provoke a large population to oppose and thwart it. This we venture to assure Mr ' Hall -will be the case, if the rumours that are afloat as to the intentions of the Government are verified. Of course a Council hostile to Mr Sale will have no power of controlling him. We have none of the " legal guarantees" which we have been twitted with not having insisted on. Mr Sale is not a man to be " controlled" by " advice." He would be much more likely to make a stand against the eight Councillors and assert his rights as the Government nominee. What then is the prospect we have to look forward to, if the present rumors arc confirmed ? A perpetual antagonism of powers ; a new agitation, embittered by a sense of betrayal by those whom we have trusted; aud the marked protest of public discontent against the great experiment which is attracting the attention of the whole Colony. We earnestly trust that Mr Hall will disclaim the intentions that are imputed to him before he leaves the district. We shall be glad to find that we have done him injustice in attaching weight to the reports that are in circulation. But they have had possession of the public mind so long that they ought, for the sake of all parties, to have been contradicted — if they are not true.

Mr George Cozens, of Hokitika, is gazetted as having taken out an auctioneer's license ! Tho delegation under the Goldfields Act; to tho Executive G-ovornment of Otago is proclaiiuod. Tho cost of management and administration is also proclaimed to bo regulated by Acts of the Provincial Council. Last night turned out exceptionally fine up I to about ton o'clock, the rain holding up, and the moon and stars shining from a tolerably clear sky. Such, however, was nol the prolnise of the evening. Up to about six oMock the rain fell in torrents, and there was every indication of another of the boisterous nights of which we have had an almost uninterrupted succession for some time past. Under these circumstances, tho entertainment announced at tho Supreme Court-house, in aid of the formation of a Benevolent Association, was judiciously postponed until Monday next. Even those who regretted tho postponement when the evening was found to turn out fine,- ceased to find reason for regret when before'ton the rain again set in. The Secretary for the G-oldfielde, Mr Bonar, visited Greymouth yesterday, in order to ascertain the real extent of the damage done by the late floods. Thu Under-Secretary, Mr Sale, who had gotieto Greymouth on the previous day, returned to town last eveningThe Hon. John Hall visited Boss yesterday' and held a conference with several of the inhabitants. After the conference, a dejeuner took place at the Imperial Hotel, at "which Mr Hoos presided. We are informed that considerable damage has been done to the line of telegraph between Blenheim and Christchurch, owing to a very heavy flood in the Waiau, which has swept away several of tho telegraph posts. We understand that thia damage will take several days to repair. We never entertained any doubt of the ultimate*Buccess of the Maori Reserve Q-oldmining Company, providing the undertaking was carried oiat economically, and with tho requisite skill and judgment. Undor the pressure of adverse circumstances, work was for a time suspended, but we are happy to sco that it is to bo again l-esutned, and to that end a meeting of tho shareholders was held last night, at tho Swan Hotel, Wharf sbreefc. Messrs Hunter, Lynch, M'G-uiro, J. Era, C. Shaw. J.Williams, Powell, Clarke, and Baillio wore present — tho latter gentleman in the chair. It was resolved, upon tho motion of Mr Huuter, that a writton notice be sent to Messrs Recs and G-. Koyan for tho production of the Company's book on Monday tho 10th instant, in order that tho financial position of the Company might be ascertained, aud tho books handed over to the directors and shareholders then present. Upon the motion of Mr Lynch, ifc was resolved that, accompanied by tho manager, a deputation, consisting of Messrs Williams, Willis, aud Lynch, should wait upon Mr Rovell on the 11th insfc, with tho receipt for the ground rent paid for the fifty acres held by tho Company. The meeting then adjourned until eight p.m. on Monday next. At all times desirous to keep the public truthfully posted up in all matters relating to j the goldfields, we were very glad indeed to receive a visit yesterday from a miner named Mr Andrew Williamson, who was a passenger by the schooner Anne, from Martin's Bay to Greymoufch, and noticing that a paragraph which we extracted from the " Grey Argus,' anent the southern goldfields (a paragraph we may remark that was compiled from the report of the Captain of the Anne) savoured somewhat of exaggeration, he called at our office to make known the true facts of tho cuse, being desirous to prevent an unhealthy excitement that porchanco might occasion another of those disastrous "rushes" that have, on more than one occasion, led to a great deul of disappointment aud distress upon this coast. From tho tone of the paragraph we allude to, it might bo very well inferred that a considerable population was located at Martin's River, and that a new diggings worthy of attention had been discovered | there. This Mr Williamson denies. Ho says that ho workod during many months to the southward of Bruco Bay, was one o*f tho first diggers who entered the Haast River, and when that place collapsed he extended his resoarohos still further south, and from that time until tho Anne left Martin's Bay, ho worked about tho coast, and was, therefore, I tolerably conversant with the diggings in that direction, and knew nearly every man located upou them. According to his aocount there are only fifteen persons at work there, of •whom tix are at Jaotaon'i Bay, and nin« to tht

outh of it, including those at Martin's River. All wero getting, more or less, gold, L 2 per day being about the average returns per man, but the extent of available country is extremely circumscribed, being hemmed in by the high mountains, which there approach very close to the beach. During one of Ilia prospecting rambles, our informant crossed tho narrow belt of timbered laud that fringes the coast line, aud penetrated the mountains by following the lower and easier traversed spurs. This was in the County of Westland, within a few mile 3of the Otago boundary, and ho declares that indications of mineral wealth were everywhere apparent, those of copper especially so, and that he discovered a lode of that metal about eighteen inches thick, out of which he procured and brought away several specimens. One of them has been left in our possession, aud we shall be happy to submit it to the inspection of any person interested in such matters. The ore is not very rich, but at the same time we j believe that lodes perhaps as valuable as any yet found exist in the West Coast mountains, for the simple reason that nodules of virgin copper have been washed out of the beach sand, Mr Williamson having procured several by this process, one weighing 3dwts aud another about tho size of a pea. The latter he left in our hands. They musb have washed down from tho hills. We can offer no* voucher for the veracity of the above statements beyond the bare word of Mr Williamson, but at tho same time our convictions are all in favor of their truthfulness, the information being voluntary, and given with an evident desire for public enlightenment. With reference to tho destitute condition of the Martin'sßay diggers, womay say that provisions wero nob so scarce there as represented about a fortnight since, as the stocks of flour, meat, tea, and Bugar on hand would hold out until Christmas. Clothe 3 and tobacco were, howovor, at a premium, in fact not to bo had at any price. Privato enterprise has done much for the West Coast, aud of course received tho barest acknowledgment or encouragement from the Government, as witness tho tramway cornpanios and many other cases that could be adduced, besides one — tho very latest — that was brought under our notico a few days ago, and certainly doinands some notico from the powers that be. lv a former issue we alluded to the dangerous state of the approaches to the diggings on the right-hand branch of the Kanieri, as, lacking a. bridge, the miner 3 were compelled to cross the river upon a tree that had been cut down for the purpose, and at the best afforded very insecure footing. Excepting when the river was fordablo after a lengthened spell of fine weather, necessaries of all kinds, to supply nearly pno hundred and fifty men, had to be taken across this log, and on one occasion a digger narrowly escaped with his life, through falling off it into the river, with nearly one hundredweight of goods strapped to his shculder3. Tired of waiting for Government interference, Mr Kennedy, the only storekeeper on the right-hand branch, J at last undertook to build a bridge at his own expense, and has since completed a rough but serviceable structure, that pedestrians and packhorees can cross with safety. It cost him about L4O, and he very naturally asks the question, " Am I to be at this loss, or will'the Government reimburse this outlay?" We certainly think that, morally, the Government is obliged to do so, aud that gro33 neglect has been discovered in certain quarters in not earlier providing so simple and cheap an accommodation for the large number of revenue producers who constitute the community of the above thriving locality. We are glad to hear that the wovking3 there are yielding well, many of the diggers being in receijjfc of from L 6 to Ll2 per man weekly. Their operations are chiefly confined to tunnelling and sluicing, and it i 3 a significant and cheering sign that the quality of the ground improves tho further the - tunnels are driven into the terraces. Tho washdirfc is very thick, but filled witli lavgc boulders that are to be removed only by blasting. At the dinner given by the Mayor to the hon. John Hall o.n Thursday evening, that gentleman stated in one of his" pleasant speeches, that ho might call himself tho godfather of Wostland, having had the opportunity, when Mr Weld,a former Premier of the colony ,was in some difficulty on the matter, of suggesting to him the name of the district. The suggestion was adopted, and he stood, therefore, in the position of the young lady who had broken the champagno bottle at the launch of the good ship, and might bo supposed to feel all her romantic interest in its future career. He said that the Bhip was now well launched, and being well found aad well officered — ho hoped sho would sail bravely on the political sea,and have a long and prosperous political career before her. Mr Hall added that but for his anxiety to assist in carrying the Westland experiment through, he should before now havo retired into private life, and ! devoted himself to tho care of his own nffaii % 3 > but when the petition was presented, and some one was wanted to superintend the carrying out of the new system, he had felt that having some knowledge of the district he, could not forsake his colleagues, and had therefore consented to remain in offico, expressly to assist in accomplishing this work. We were somewhat in error yesterday in stating that Mr Pros3er, who we regret to say was suffering .from very severe indisposition, was the only member of the Town Council absent on the occasion. Councillor Bartlett was another absentee; being at present in Melbourne. The only toasts drunk on tho occasion, were the " Guests of tho Evening," " Mr Hall," and the " Goldfields Secretary," both proposed by tho Mayor ; the " Mayor," proposed by Mr Hall, who said he would have given it in the form of the Mayor and Corporation, except that in that case there would be only about three of tho company to drink it; "Mr Stafford tho Premier," proposed by Mr M'Beth, and responded to by Mr Hall ; the " Officers of the Corporation," proposed by Mr Bonar ; the " Press," proposed by Mr Button ; the "Legal Profession," proposed by Mr Higgin ; and tho "Ladies and Mra Shaw," proposed by the Town Clerk, and responded to by the Mayor. The dinner was vory capitally put on the table by mine host of the Empire. The Under-Secretavy for the Goldfields having forwarded for examination to Dr Ryley, a portion of the lung of a cow, which died rather suddenly, and which was one of a number belonging to a dairyman at Ross, the Doctor reported the result of his examination as follows :—" Rather advanced in tUcompoiition, crepitation entirely absent

throughout, the air cells being almost completely obliterated by inflammatory products, and tho lung tissue consequently containing no air. A small fportion in the second stage of pneumonia, viz. •. red hepatisation, of a dusky red color, and mottled on the surface j a portion of tho pulmonary pleura adherent to this, much softened from inflammation, *J and readily peeled from the lnng-j and ofl the smfaco of this membrane indammatory products were visible; a few of the air cells of this portion still patent— a very small quantity of frothy red fluid having escaped on Orm pressure. This portion is supposed to be apart of the upper lobe. The remainder of the lung in the last stage of pneumonia, or that of grey Jiepatisation ; the surface of an ashy grey color, and of the consistence of healthy liver, or firmer j all trace of air cells obliterated, the lung tissue being completely consolidated by infliramatory effusion, and in one small spot this had softened down into pus, constituting a small abscess. Every portion of the lung sank readily in water, owing to an increase in its specific gravity tvom the condensation produced by the produces of inflammation, and the consequent exclusion of air. I have no doubt that tho cause of death of the animal to which the lung belonged, was pleura pneumonia." Should tho weather prove favorable, no doubt the Irish sports which are to be held at the Avahura to-day will be largely attended, more especially when it is borne in mind that the proceeds are for the establishment of a hospital in the Waimea district. Tho cricket-match between Greymouth and Hokitika will take place to-day, on the new ground near Gibson's Quay. The following are tho names of the players : — Greymouth eleven — Messrs Bradley, Cohen, Buckingham, Croft, Jenner, Paul, Proctor, Revell, Southern, Wright, and J. Kisling, or M'Dounell. HokiUka eleven— Messrs H. Mace, W. L. Reeß,W. Pocock, P. Flaunagau, C. Staito, T. South, F. Uphani, W. Fisher, 8,, Bowon or Mackinuon, C. Mace, A. R. Bloxain, and C» Darcy umpire. We understand that the drum and-fife band will play on tho. ground. Luncheon will be provided at one o'clock. To-day, being tho Princo of Wales' Birthday, will bo observed as a holiday, and tho Government Ofliccs and Banks will be closed. A complimentary return ball was given by several gentlemen of the Hebrew persuasion, on Thursday evening, at the Assembly Rooms, Weld street, which were decorated with tasteful elegance with flowers/^evergreens and flags, and wore most brilliantly illuminated for the occasion. An efficient quadrille band was in attendance, to the music of which the guests, upwaid3 of 100 in number, moved in the graceful postures of tho many dances. At midnight a "supper" of the mo3t recherchi character was served, at which several toasts were duly honored,amongst which were " Tho Ministers of Religion," "His Worship the Mayor," and "Our Guests." After supper dancing was resumed, and was kept up until daylight peeping in warned the guests that the hour of departure had arrived.