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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 472, 2 March 1869, Page 2

It is understood that Mr Lowe, District Surveyor, has accepted the appointment of Warden at Cobden, which was offered to him by the Provincial Government. It is unnecessary to say more than has been Baid in reference to this appointment, or to prejudice Mr Lowe in the discharge of duties which he may prove himself thoroughly competent to fulfil. It is only to be hoped that Mr Lowe and the Government will not be the first to repent an appointment made on a new and exclusively Nelson principle of promotion. The Westport company of Rifle Volunteers may be said to have virtually collapsed. The Acting Captain, Mr J. P. Martin, has left the district, and we hear of no intention of electing a successor. Many other members of the company have left the district, and it would be well if the .rifles and accoutrements belonging to them, at least, were to be called in, and kept in something like decent order by the police or whoever may be their proper custodians. We have a suspicion that there are not a few rifles in Westport which might be better employe'! in the -North .Island than in rusting.on the nails of back shops or occupying undignified positions in propping up stretchers and infirm bedsteads.

News was received in town yesterday of an unfortunate and fatal accident having occurred in the river Mohikinui. Mr Garvin, who is working the coal-mine there, was coming down the river in a boat laden with three or four tons of coal, and accompanied by a man named Bismarck. When " shooting" the Falls which intervene between the mine and the wharf, the boat struck and got swamped, and the two occupants were thrown into the water. There are rocks on one side of the stream, and a shifting shingle bank on the other. Mr Garvin made for the rocks, and, after much exertion, saved himself. While struggling towards tho shore, he saw his companion, Bismarck, standing on a sandbank, holding an oar, and Bismarck was calling to him to come his way as the safer place. When he next looked round, however, he saw the end of the oar nearly perpendicular out of the water, and Bismarck had suddenly disappeared. He was never seen again. Search was made for his body, but up to yesterday morning it had not been found. Bismarck was a young man, trustworthy, and much respected by his employer and others. A narrow escape was made by a miner on Giles Terrace on Wednesday evening. While engaged working on his claim, a heavy landslip occurred from a perpendicular cliff adjoining, and knocked him down. He had just sufficient time to get away, but not without receiving several bruises about the chest and loins. Dr Bruon was sent for, and rendered his services, and we are pleased to learn that there is no apprehension of danger. The Bishop of Nelson held service on Sunday last at the Court House, in the forenoon and evening, when he delivered edifying discourses to numerous hearers. To-day the Bishop proceeds to the Caledonian Terrace, where he will hold service in the evening, and on Thursday evening next ho intends delivering an illustrated lecture, on behalf of the Church of England Building Fund, on the subject of " Artificial Stars." We have no doubt that, both to benefit the object for which this lecture is to be delivered, and to listen to an eloquent and able speaker on a well-selected subject of instruction, as many will attend as can be accommodated in the Masonic Hall. On Wednesday evening the Bishop will hold a short service in the Court House at half-past seven o'clock.

At the Charleston Resident Magistrate's Court, on Friday, Timothy Dowd was charged with stealing a half-sovereign, the property of the Bank of Now South Wales. Mr Home appeared on behalf of the bank. The prisoner was one of several persons who had picked up half-sovereigns when three hundred and twenty-one of these coins were recently lost by an accident to a pack-saddle on the the road between Brighton and Charleston, and he was suspected of having picked up a considerable number. After the evidence of Constable Dorris, and of other witnesses, who themselves confessed to having picked up half-sovereigns, Mr Home claimed a committal for larceny. The Magistrate remanded the prisoner until yesterday to examine the evidence and consider whether he should deal with the case summarily or commit him to take his trial in the District Court.

On Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday, the tides at Westport were higher that at any time since July last, and as there happened to be a heavy surf prevailing on the first two days, the water overflowed several parts of the river bank and the more level parts of the beach. The site of the township, in fact, assumed very much of the appearance of a peninsula, and with a very narrow isthmus. For a time, the cemetery, and the group of buildings near Mr Tyler's, were situated on an

island, a regular channel having been formed between them and the township, from the river to the sea. At the part of the town which, by an extreme stretch of courtesy either towards the' place or its fair inhabitants, is designated an Esplanade, there was a constant and heavy breach of sea at high water, and considerable damage was also dono in Gladstone street, some ugly incisions being made jn the street and the slight protective works which, though temporary in one sense, are very permanent as a source of pecuniary outlay to the holders of property in the neighborhood. Yesterday was the day of the highest tide, but fortunately the swell and surf had gone clown. The Orawaiti overflowed considerably into its usually dry lagoons, and several large logs have been carried on to the recently formed race-course, as impromptu facilities for the performance of a steeplechase. At Charleston, and along the coast j southward, the surf, we believe, has been unusually heavy. The lectures on phrenology and mesmerism given at the Masonic Hall on Saturday and Monday evenings by Dr T. G. Carr were numerously attended, especially on Monday evening, when it became known that two lads under the mesmeric influence had been told to be at the door:of the hall, punctually at 8 o'clock, the one eating a loaf of bread and the other nursing his coat as a baby. The lecturer first dilated on phrenology, after which he invited those from the audience who might desire to undergo a phrenological examination. Several residents of the town were very truthfully informed by the lecturer of their strong and weak points, in some cases much to the amusement of the audience, if to the slight discomfiture of the " subjects." The concluding portion of the lecture, when those mesmerised were made to go through all sorts of antics at the lecturer's bidding, was thoroughly appreciated, and was in some particulars most laughable. We understand that there are several sceptics on the subject of electro-biology, who purpose volunteering their services during this week, with the view of ascertaining whether they -can be acted upon by the mysterious nervous influence, and this evening there will be two Maoris on the stage, when Dr Carr will have an opportunity of exhibiting how far he can " soothe the savage breast." The Reception Committee at Nelson have already had several {meetings, in anticipation of the arrival of the Duke of Edinburgh, and have allocated £ 150 of the Government subsidy to the Turf Club. Not a word or a pennyworth of consideration has been given by the Government, by the Committee, or the people of Nelson to the Gold-fields of the Province. They are evidently under the delusion that Nelson town is Nelson province. The delusion extends to their sense of meum and tuum, in relation to the source of the Provincial revenue. The Gold-fields share the pay, but not the honor. At least we he ar of none of the honor coming our way • yet. Hokitika evidently expects the Duke, for the German residents aro preparing for his reception, and an illuminated address is being engrossed, to be presented in the name of the citizens generally. Canterbury is also making preparations, but Wellington has done little or nothing. The condition of the colony as a whole is certainly not calculated to encourage an extravagant or costly reception, however loyally and hospitably disposed the colonists may be. The Greymouth and Greenstone Tramway Company have resolved to take no further action in the matter at present. A man named Edward Downey has been found dead in his bed at the Hutt, Wellington. A lad named Andrew Laing, employed in the Government Printing Office at Wellington, has been drowned while bathing in a mill-dam.

By the courtesy of Mr Frank Atkinson, who has riddon overland from Hokitika, we have later Hokitika and Greymouth papers than those received by steamer, but they do not contain any items of interest. Some months ago several paragraphs appeared in Colonial papers about " the swindler Stevens," who escaped from Melbourne to Lyttelton, and thence no one knew where. He has turned up at Panama, as great a swindler as ever. The Panama correspondent of a New York paper says:— Captain Wright of the Australian steamer Rakaia, when last here unwittingly introduced a notorious thief, who came as passenger from Sydney, to his friends here. The fellow represented himself as a very worthy man named Stevens, from Sydney; and "Wright, who has a weakness for "big bugs," landed him in Panama as one of the leading men in Australia—an " awfully rich man," that every one should look up to and respect. He was a plausible-looking old fellow, about fifty-five—plain, gentlemanly, and jolly—and took kindly to his whisky. On arriving in San Francisco he represented himself as special agent of the Australian Steamship Company, and as having gone to make arrangements for the transfer of the line from Panama to that port, on the strength of which, and Captain Wright's introduction, he sold one draft for §2500 on the agency here, and no doubt many others afterwards. Wright certainly had faith in him to the extent of about SBOO, having endorsed a draft of his here to that extent, which may cure him of his penchant for being acquainted with the leading men of the colony.

The news from the East Coast of the North Island is nearly as unfavourable'as that from other parts of the country. Though the Wellington papers deny that Te Kooti has re-established himself at Opotiki, and incline to believe that he is dead, the Auckland papers describe the news from Opotiki and Whakatene of a serious character. An attack on Opotiki was considered imminent, and the military settlers, with their wives and families, had been compelled to leave their homes and come into camp. The latest accounts from the Greenstone diggings are given by a correspondent of the Grey Biver Argut. He says:—Until rain

comes, the Greenstone diggings are at a complete standstill, and both money and gold absolutely not to be got. A good few persons are now commencing to trace their steps backwards, to find out other fields, as they imagine, more profitable. Business has not commenced to improve yet, but most people think that in other two weeks things will look much better, and more money stirring; as it is, it is one continued scene of people hunting after money—sawyers and carpenters espeeia'ly, so many new buildings having been put up; the storekeepers then hunt up the other people to pay the sawyers, and thus the bull is passed from hand to hand; money, in fact, is a myth on the Greenstone just now.

The collections after morning and evening service at the Court House on Sunday, when the Bishop of Nelson officiated, amounted to £S Os lOd. I There are two vacancies in Auckland in the House of Representatives —one of the seats for the Northern Division, and that for Newton —Mr G. Graham, the well-known Maori sympathiser, having resigned his seat for the latter district. The vacancy for Marsden has I just been filled up by the election of Mr J. Munro, an old Nova Scotia settler.