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Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 243, 12 May 1868, Page 2

The tramway across Gladstone street, from the Court House, is again laid down, and to-day, in addition to the prisoner's labor, horse-power is also to be employed in drawing sand for the purpose of filling a hollow between the Post-office and the Court-house. This may or may not be necessary, but as soon as it is accomplished, it is to be hoped that the impediment at present offered by the tramway in the main street, will be removed without loss of time. It is a particular nuisance to both those on horseback or with vehicles, and if some dark night any serious accident occurs, the authorities are clearly responsible for permitting such an obstruction.

It has been proposed that an endea* vour should be made to get up some races at or near Westport shortly after the approaching Hokitika races, which come off at the end of the present month. The prizes given there are sufficiently large to attract good fields from other places, on the principle of little fish being sweet, and if races were held here the week or so following, the horses would no doubt pay us a visit, and fight their battles over again. It might be so arranged without difficulty, and an excellent chance is given to secure good sport and a pleasant gathering, Let some of our sportsmen take up the matter.

We are informed, though we cannot positively vouch for the correctness of the statement, that the Bank of New South Wales propose re-opening a branch at Addison's Flat for gold buying; purposes aud general business, almost immediately. If this is the case, no doubt the other banks will follow suit, to the great convenience of the mining community.

In Rambles on Railways, Sir Cusack P. Roney observes : —" On Australian mail mornings the weight of mails is 46 tons ; to carry these at the rate of 15 cwt. per mail coach from London to Southampton, 71 miles, it would be necessary to have 61 coaches, and 4751 horses, besides guards and coachmen." The Spectator of February 1 contains the following remarkable paragraph on the Victorian " navy " and its uses:— "Mr Corry, First Lord of the Admiralty, attended the annual dinner of Australian colonists, and made an interesting statement. "Victoria has organised a naval reserve ; the Nelson, a fine line-of-battle ship, has been presented to the colony as a training ship, and an iron-clad is building for the defence of Melbourne. The cost of maintaining both will be defrayed by the colony, but the iron-clad will be under the orders of the officer in command'of the station. Victoria has set an admirable precedent, and if the other colonies will imitate her, Australia will have a powerful little fleet. She will want one, should it ever be her destiny, as we believe it will be, to conquer and utilise the islands of the Indian Archipelago, a dependency which may be worth more to her than India has been to us, and which no other nation can hold."

By the ship John Temperley, which arrived last week from Calcutta, there has been imported into this colony a pure Arab stallion of high-caste pedigree and distinction there by his successful performances on the turf. The arrival of an Arab horse of this character calls for special notice, as no doubt the original introduction of the blood in England tended more than anything to the improvement of the racehorse. Such a horse as this should get admirable stock for the Indian market, as any horses sent from here with a strain of Arab blood in them always command a high price there The pedigree ac-

companying the horse, with its parchment and seals, and sworn translation, is quite a curiosity in its way.— Arqus. At the Caledonian, applications' are being made for a large number of races and dam privileges, a good sign of the prosperity of the district, or at least of the confidence felt in its payable character. The original prospectors, Steele and party, having worked out their claim, yesterday disposed of their interest in the water-race they brought in, for £IOO, Albert and party being the purchasers. One of the prospectors however, still keeps his share, as he considers the price at which it is sold much below its value. In every direction about the Caledonian, signs of contentment and satisfaction with the prospects may be seej, and when the new track is made Westport will feel the advantages of having a near and accessible goldfield. At present we are almost as much cut off from intercourse as though twenty miles intervened between the two places. A Sittings under the Bankruptcy jurisdiction will be held to-day, before S. P. Harris, Esq., registrar. The business will not be of great importance, and probably will be confined to a meeting in re Peter Bossard, restau-rant-keeper. Another blank police-sheet yesterday. There were three or four civil eases, in which neither plaintiffs or defendants put in an appearance, and the business of the E.M. court concluded. We are requested by Mrs Eyan to gratefully acknowledge "the kind assistance recently afforded her and her family by a few friends during the absence of her husband. She wishes to return them, and especially Mr Pringle, who so kindly exerted himself on her behalf, her most heartfelt thanks.

A petition to the Waste Lands Board has been prepared, and is now going round for signature, praying for the grant of a site for a Mechanics' Institute in this town. There can be no doubt that it.will be given, and we presume on ground iu the vicinity of the present Government Buildings. Several gentlemen have expressed great interest in the matter, and a public meeting will, we hear, be shortly held for the purpose of discussing it at length. As will be seen by our commercial column, the " starved out miners " who recently excited the commiseration of a correspondent of the Hokitika Evening Star sent down another little proof of their destitute condition on Saturday night last, the 10th inst., per Bruce in the shape of 2156 oz. of gold. The same impoverished class forwarded 1744 oz. on the 6th, making up the the current month's return to the paltry total of 4200 oz. shipped in ten days, saying nothing about the quantity in hand not a bad kind of poverty that. The Waikouaiti Herald gives an account of a most distressing accident which happened to a boy about five years of age, the son of Mr Robert Pearson of that town. It appears that a bullock team, loaded with goods, belonging to Mr William Jones, of Goodwood, stopped at Mr Pearson's store to obtain some things, and that during the absence of the driver inside the shop, the boy, who was playing outside, got on the dray from the off-side, and it is supposed commenced to amuse himself amongst some boxes near the guard iron, which hid him from the view of the driver, who had no sooner started the bullocks than he heard the shrieks of the boy, whose head had by some means got jammed between the guard iron and the wheel of the dray, and although the driver immediately stopped the bullocks, the wheel had drawn the boy out of the dray, and his body Was found jammed between the wheel and the side of the dray. When taken out he was insensible. Medical assistance was at once sent for, and Doctor Harding was promptly in attendance, and proceeded to examine the injuries sustained, when it was found that a dangerous wound, about three inches in diameter, had been inflicted on the left side of the head, and the left ear was lacerated to an alarming extent, fully two-thirds of the ear being torn from the tendons. The body of the poor little fellow, who after he recovered his senses, bore the pain bravely, was much bruised, and a portion of the scalp, from two to four inches in diameter, had been rubbed off by the friction of the wheel. Fortunately the skull appeared to have escaped injury." "The other day a gentleman from Queensland paid a visit to Geelong" (says the Advertiser), and left at this office, for the inspection of the curious two samples of sugar, manufactured on the Pimpama plantations. They are of good bright color and grain, and command in the local market prices equal to that obtained for parcels of the same quality imported from the

Mauritius. Wewereinformed that Mr Eaff, of Brisbane, is now cultivating the sugar cane to a great extent ou the Cobulture estate, the property of the late cotton company, and from having imported the machinery for the manufactory of sugar, he is enabled to turn out an article superior to any thing yet attempted in Queensland. Oue of the advantages of our neigh* bours growing sugar is that they have a market in the adjoining colonies that will consume all they can produce for many years to come, and will tend to make prices equable, as the produce of the crops in the Mauritius is now very uncertain. "The same gentleman also left a sample of ruin of Mr Baff's distilling ; this is of a very fine quality, and sells at a higher price than the imported spirit. The local production is protected by a differential dnty, and this stimulates native industry." The particulars of a remarkable escape from death are given by the Bruce Herald of the 29th ult. It seems that a carrier, proceeding up country, camped for the night at the Provincial Hotel, Evans* Flat. Among the other articles in his loading were two kegs of powder and some bags of chaff. Before going to bed he struck a match to light his pipe, and then threw it away. The match must have been still burning when thus thrown ; at all events, a bag of chaff was set on fire. After smoking for some time he found there was more smoke than came from the pipe, and on looking round, discovered the chaff on fire. He immediately sprang to extinguish the fire, but while in the act of doing so, both kegs of powder exploded. Aa a matter of course, the loading was scattered to the four winds of heaven, the carrier himself escaping with hands and face considerably scorched. He was removed to the Lawrence Hospital, where he now lies. There is no immediate fear as to his recovery. It is a marvel that he was not blown to atoms.

The Lyttetton Times says t —"Owing to the disappointment universally felt by the North Island natives at the Duke of Edinburgh's departure for home, before paying his intended visit to jSTew Zealand, it has been thought expedient that the Governor should personally visit those upon them who expected to see the Duke. His Excellency has accordingly visited the Thames natives, and on April 15 he was to leave Auckland for the Bay of* Islands, where there was to be a great native gathering. On his return thence he Was to go to Waikato, Kaipara, Tauranga, and other places, returning to Wellington about the end of May. We understand that his Excellency will visit Canterbury, Otago, Nelson, and the Middle Island generally, after the close of the next session of the Assembly." The Thames quartz reefs appear to keep up a good yield. The Southern Cross of the 20th ult. says :—" By the s.s. Airedale, which left the Manukau on Saturday, the Bank of New Zealand shipped for England via Panama three boxes of gold, containing three thousand one hundred and odd ounces, the produce of the Thames goldfield. This, W8 believe, is the largest parcel which has been yet shipped by the New Zealand Bank during any one month since the goldfields were opened ; but, doubtless, as the large number of machines now in course of erection come into active crushing operation upon the hundreds of tons of quartz now stacked at the various claims, the export will be immensely increased. We believe that, by the shipment of the gold to England, considerable advantages accrue in regard to the separation of the very large percentage of silver—about 30 per cent.—* with which the gold is impregnated in many of the samples obtained at the Thames. The actual saving effected upon the silver is found to repay any extra cost sustained in forwarding the gold to London in preference to Australia."

The dispute between the Government and the Panama Company in reference to the damage done to the wharf at Wellington by one of their boats has baen settled. The Evening Post says : —" Our readers will share with us the very great satisfaction which has been caused by the announcement made in town this afternoon, to the effect that the impending action in the next Supreme Court between the Provincial Government and the Panama Steam Company, for damage done to the wharf by the s.s. Otago last September, has been compromised. A careful examination of the wharf has convinced all parties that it would not be desirable to go to the expense of repairing the damage in iron, but that by the use of wooden piles, &c, the wharf may be made firmer, and the repairs effected at less than half the cost. The estimates for repairing in wood, vary from £ISOO to £2300, but

there is no doubt that the cost will be slightly over £2OOO. Taking into consideration that in the event of going to law each party would spend £SOO, and that it is not to the; interests of this pott, unnecessarily to| make enemies of such companies as the P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Co. j the Superintendent and his Executive yesterday decided to clench the negotiations which have lately been going on by a definite and final offer. Captain Benson having '(without prejudice) offered to compromise the disputofor, £6OO or £7OO which the 'Government would not listen to, the Executive offered yesterday to take £IOOO in full, being one-half of the estimated! ■cost of repair. This offer Captain Benson, on the advice of his friends, i has to-day consented to accept, and' the last of the disputes which lately threatened an appeal to law is at an' end. "We think there can be no two opinions aa to the sound common sense which the Government and Captain Benson have mutually shown in this matter. ft