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Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 296, 13 July 1868, Page 2

We are compelled to hold over much local matter. A post mortem examination of the body of poor Moore, late chief mate of the Nightingale, was held yesterday by Prs. Thorpe and Cotterell. The cause of death was easily arrived at, it being found tliat the skull of deceased was completely fractured from the base at one ear to the other. The unfortunate young man was the son of Captain Moore of the Alma, and has left a mother and sisters to lament his loss. He was highly esteemed as a seaman, and his loss is truly deplored. All the vessels in port and the hotels that usually fly flags, hoisted their colors half mast high yesterday. An inquest will be held this day at two o'clock on his remains. Complaints have reached us as to the incorrectness of the Mokihinui shipping reports in this journal. All we can say is, that we have not of late professed to give any. If the acting harbor-master will favor us with returns we will willingly publish them. The Assembly has already met, and some of the late members are already en route for their new scene of operations. We do not know whether our member, par excellence, Mr Gallagher, has gone or not, for up to the present time, the Westport public have never had an opportunity of seeing him either as candidate or member, but we presume he has by this time taken flight. Mr Harrison, M.H.E., arrived per Kennedy, from the G-rey, and proceeds by her to his new field of usefulness. The sum of £IOO has been granted to the Westport Athenceum, out of the amount voted for public libraries, by the Provincial Council at the last session. We are not aware how this has been obtained, but as the subscriptions amount to nearly £l5O, the grant is by | no means excessive. In addition to

this, a site for the new building will bo granted on the Camp reserve; we ommitted to mention that the sum above referred to is to be specially de-

voted to building purposes. The subscz'ibers will we tire sure not object to that, and we therefore have every reason to hope that before many weeks have elapsed, the Westport Athenceum will really have a habitation as well as a name. We beg to draw attention to the sale of Solomon & Co.'s store, &c, this day, by Mr J. Munro, as also the building and premises. Some ten days or a fortnight ago a man was reported to have been lost in the bush somewhere in the neighborhood of No Town, up the River Grey, but it was supposed by his mates that he had returned towards the Grey, as he had expressed his unwillingness to proceed. It appears however that the poor fellow, instead of retracing his steps to the river, had missed his way and wandered into the bush, there to be irretrievably lost, as his body was found the other day in asteep gully about three miles from the town, at the door of a tent which the deceased had just been able to pitch. There is Jiule doubt that the unfortunate wayfarer had died of absolute starvation, as his mouth was found full of fern leaves, a quantity of which was also clenched in his hands. His eyes had been pecked out by Maori hens, and his face was mutilated by rats, so much sc as to render identification almost impossible. The body was found by a party of prospectors, and was conveyed by them to the nearest store, there to await a coroner's inquiry. The Melbourne Evening Star says : —" The most skilful can be mistaken. It is said that a well-known medical practitioner, bVing not a hundred miles from Collins-street, and who is reputed as the greatest authority on special diseases, had a patient on whom, after repeated consultations, he proposed operations for ' ovariotomy.' The fee demanded was £IOO guineas. The husband requested delay of a week, as he was not prepared to deposit this large sum at so short a notice. Nature, however, the greatest healer of all ailments, stepped in, and, lo ! to the husband's delight, and horror of the infallible practitioner, the tumour turned out to be another ' phantom,' and the first-named gentleman found himself the father of a handsome child. He purposes presenting a full length photograph of his infant, in lieu of the orthodox claret-jug, to his wife's medical attendant."