The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 155, 29 January 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1868.

The Declaration of the Poll.— The state of the poll will be officially declared this day at the Court House at noou. Wesley an Meeting.—At a meeting held at Mr Prazer's schoolroom on Monday last by the members and friends of the "Wesleyan Church, it was finally resolved that a Wesleyan Church should be erected at Westport, and for which tenders will be issued in course of a few days, in order that the building may be ready on the arrival of the minister appointed for Westport, and who is expected to arrive about the beginning of April. Emigration to Abyssinia.—The inhabitants of the goldfields are reckoned among the most restless of beings, and who apparently are neve happy except when they are moving, and accordingly they do venture into some queer places, but of all the queer places, we should think that Abyssinia must certainly be the queerest, yet we are assured on very good authority, that several of our townspeople are making preparations to visit that delectable land and experience some of the tender mercies of King Theodorus. They certainly have no idea of the nature of the country they purpose settling in, or tke description of the country over which they will have to travel, and the many other difficulties they would have to encounter, to say nothing of the climate, or Abyssinia would be about the last place they would think of turning their faces to. Alluvial Diggings in Auckland Province.—The New Zealand Herald of January 16th says;—" Perhaps the most satisfactory intelligence yet received from the Thames is the opening of au alluvial digging at the Tapu Creek. The successful result of the rush which has lately set in to that

place is now put beyond a doubt by the appearance in the market of alluvial gold. Yesterday, Mr Hogg, of the firm of Hogg and Co., of Shortland Town, showed to us a fine sample of alluvial gold, altogether weighing '33 oz., which had been purchased from miners arriving in Shortland from Tapu, and which, in the course of the day ; was deposited in the Bank of New Zealand. We were also shown another sample by Mr Sceats of some 12 ozs. brought from the same locality, chiefly fine gold. Our informant adds, that at Tapu, where there are now some hundreds of miners, there is a general appearance of welldoing, and that a considerable amount of gold is now in the hands of individuals. Amongst the gold shown to us yesterday were several nujrgets varying from half-an-ounce, to a piece the size of a walnut; other pieces, again, contained more or less of quartz. We are assured that there is a large extent of country which has every appearance of being auriferous, and from which, in various places, alluvial gold has been obtained, while for those desirous of quartz-reefing, there is in the neighboring hills a large field for exploration." Action Against a Baliff.—The Nelson Colonist of the 24th inst. says : —ln the Resident Magistrate's Court, on Tuesday, before MrPoynter, Frank Fisher, auctioneer, at Westport, sued Alfred Helps, bailiff, for the sum of £66, under the following heads : "Amount paid by me (plaintiff) to obtain possession of my cattle taken in execution by you (defendant) more than you were entitled to demand, £2O ; damage sustained by your unlawfully taking and driving away my cattle and retaining same, £3O ; price of one bullock taken by you and not returned, £l6. Total, £66." The case was a long one ; Mr Pitt for plaintiff and Mr Kingdon for defendant. It appeared that defendant on a distress warrant obtained against plaintiff, at the slug of Mr Morey, on a debt of £SS odds and costs, had distrained cattle, twenty-nine in number. After the seizure was made, according to the evidence of the plaintiff, he tendered to the bailiff the sum of £9O, which was refused, and he afterwards had to pay £IOB odd before he could obtain possession of the cattle, and when he did one was missing. By defendant's evidence it appeared, that some of the cattle, which were very wild, broke away into the race-course, and did, damage to the extent of £lO. Another witness proved that the missing bullock was in Mr Saxton's paddock. It was argued for defendant that if plaintiff had paid the money on the day of the seizure only £B7 14s 9d would have been the amount payable ; but as the cattle were taken on the Wednesday and not claimed by the plaintiff tiil Saturday, and as the cost of possession was great, the defendant had refused to accept £9O, demanding instead £IOB 3 s 9d. . Judgment was given for plaintiff for £5 55., together with an order to deliver the missing bullock that day, or pay a further sum of £ls. Costs, £7 18s, payable by defendant, who has since delivered the bullock. In the Court yesterday, before the Resident Magistrate, the Messrs Daniel and Brunner, Justices, Mr M'Tavish, Manager of the Union Bank of Australia, got judgment against Frank Fisher for £B9 3s 10d., the balance of defendant's bank account. The action was not defended. Costs, 30s. Stolen Fire. —The Nelson Colonist of the 21st, has the following caustic strictures on certan journalistic malpractices, which will hit home in other quarters than those precisely indicated : —There appeal's among sundry evening papers to be a chronic disorder prevalent, which takes the form of filching. Editorial—promptitude, we were about to say, but that is not the word, because they annex other people's property with a promptness worthy of a better cause : —but ordinary writing capacity must, like thought and invention, be at a very low ebb in such cases. We have had various specimens of this kind of evening amusement in Nelson, and it is not seldom that the greatest sinners in this way are they who profess the greatest saintships, reminding one of the printer who was a pillar in his church, and balanced his account every Sunday for printing infidel tracks during the week ! The frequent evening delinquencies of our small local friend the Evening Mail in this department of morals, appears to act as an evil example to others similarly situated ; for another of those disgraceful pieces of literary pillage has been committed by the Hokitika Evening Star of which we had hoped better things, as it really had some pretensions to newspaper capacity. The worst of it is that the thefts in such cases are only examples of many depredations, as there are generally ten appropriations for one detection ;

especially when the literary rogue makes a trade of the business and artfully places in a note-book "likely" articles to be kept snug until they are forgotten by the public, and then issued as original. This " little slip" of the Hokitika Star, is, however, not one of those kept articles; but a prompt and dexterous, although a decidedly too daring, piece of piracy. On 28th December last, a leading article on the Customs' Revenue, with various pertinent reflections thereon, appeared in the Nelson Examiner. The steamer Rangitoto left Nelson for the West Coast the same day. On 31st December, " three days after date," the very same article, word for word, is published in the leadinging columns of the Hokitika EcenEvenina Star as its own original matter ! Such discreditable conduct cannot be too severely reprehended, It is such • frauds, committed by a few unworthy exceptions, that give a handle to the ill-natured remarks respecting the press of New Zealand which angry men, like the premier, take opportunities of publicly expressing. Every honest journalist should denounce such conduct, and refuse to recognise those who practise it. It not seldom occurs that unsuspecting proprietors of papers are made the victims of such dishonesty. Those who condole it are as bad as the annexers themselves. We have .no objection to frankly borrowed light; but when any literary luminary like the Star attempts, however feebly, to blaze by stolen fire, its own light is only " darkness and eclipse."