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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 521, 24 June 1869, Page 2

This is St. John's Day, upon which it is visual for the Masonic fraternity to have a dinner or other social and fraternal gathering. Last year, the members of the Thistle Lodge of Westport had a hall, which was a decided success. This year it was resolved to have a dinner and a ball. The dinner, the attendance at which is not to be exclusively Masonic, will be held at the Post-office Hotel, and it will, no doubt, be a happy reunion. The Ball Committee, wo believe, have abandoned the idea of having a ball, as intended, until some other appropriate occasion. The formation of a Volunteer Fire Brigade has been very successfully initiated in Westport. At an adjourned meeting on Tuesday evening, as many as sixty-one members were enrolled, and from among that number the following selection of officers was made:—Captain, Mr J. Hughes; Lieutenant, Mr Labatt; Foreman, Mr Suistedj Treasurer, Mr Pirie; Secretary, Mr Piesse. A committee of five was also appointed to canvass the town for subscriptions, and it will depend upon the liberality of property-holders whether a fireengine brigade or a hook-and-ladder company will be the form which the body will practically assume. A public meeting was held in Mr Fraser's school-room, Molesworth street, on Monday evening, for the purpose of considering how to establish a Presbyterian congregation in Westport. Mr R. Whyte was called to the chair. The meeting . was opened with prayer by the Rev. W. Shirriffs. Being called upon to address the meeting, the rev. gentleman stated that, at the first meeting of the Presbytery of Nelson, which took place in January last, he was deputed by the Presbytery to visit Westport, to conduct public service, and to use Iris endeavors to establish a congregation in connection with thatPresbytery,and to invite the co-operation of those belonging to the body and its well-wishers. He explained that attention would have been given earlier to the district, but for the circumstance that they had no spare men to send, and that even now his own church was closed in his absence. Mr M'Farland said he thought there was a possibility of dealing effectually with the matter, and he proposed:—" That a Committee be formed for the purpose of co-operating with the Presbytery of Nelson in forming a Presbyterian congregation in Westport." Mr Patterson seconded the resolution, and it was unanimously agreed to. The following gentlemen were afterwards elected as a Committee:—Messrs Patterson, Whyte, M'Farland, Fleming, Porter, Powell, Neil, Reid, Leech, Hum-

phiey, and Mr Barrie of German Terrace> and Mr M'Farland of Caledonian Terrace* Mr Patterson was appointed Trersurer, and Mr Whyte, Secretary. The Rev. Mr Shirriffs closed the meeting with prayer. We regret that, for this number, we must hold over our Charleston correspondence, which contains information of the starting of the survey of the great water-race, a description of a bal-niasque and " grand waltzing match," several other local items, and a large amount of shipping intelligence.

The letters brought by the English Mail, or at least some of them, were received on Tuesday. They were landed at Lyttelton, forwarded by special horse after the Hokitika coach, which had started, and were brought on here by steamer. The newspapers have not arrived.

The Hokitika Star is informed that Mr Johnston, the proprietor of the late Melbourne Hotel, Greymouth, and who was such a serious sufferer by the recent fire at that place, has entered into an arrangement with his creditors to pay them in full at periods extending over eighteen months. The two passengers by the Blue Jacket who have returned to New Zealand, we (Press) are sorry to learn, have lost everything. In addition to this their health is cpiite broken by the hardships they have endured, so that it will take them some time to recover. It is proposed to open a subscription list for their assistance. A man named Richard Russell, who some time since kept the Old House At Homo ; Hotel, in South Revell-street, Hokitika, and who afterwards had a hotel in Okarito, died very suddenly on Monday in a cottage in North Revell-street. He complained on the previous evening of a pain in the stomach, but his illness was so slight that no medical attendance was required. That morning, about 8 o'clock, he sat up in bed, and was about to get up, when he was suddenly struck with a paiu which threw him back on his bed. Disease of the heart was found to be the cause of death. The W. C. Times records that a sad accident occurred on Wednesday evening last, between the Little Paddock and the Blue Spur, whereby a man named Richard Skinner, a shoemaker, residing at the Hauhau Tramway Terminus, lost his life. It appears that he left the Little Paddock about eleven o'clock, and was provided with a candle to light him over the dangerous parts of the track. Nothing more was heard of him for some days, when his body, with nearly every bone broken, was found in an abandoned shaft. The shaft is about eighty feet in depth, and had only been very partially covered over, otherwise deceased could not have met death. It would seem as though he had gone down head first on to the main bottom, though,

strange to say, when found ho had the candle firmly grasped in his hand. The London Scotsman says:— " A successful merchant in New Zealand, a Scotsman, commenced business with the following characteristic entry on the first page of his ledger : —* Commenced business this day, with no money, little credit, and ,£7O in debt. Faint heart never won fair lady. Set a stout heart to a steep brae. God save the Queen.'" Where the late fire at Greymouth took place is now, says the Argus, the scene of busy labor, and the carpenter-power of the town and neighborhood is taxed to the utmost to supply the demand. Those who suffered by the lire are vicing with each other in the sijeedy erection of their places of business. The offices of Mr Perkins, solicitor, and shop of Mr Trist, blacksmith, have been re-erected on their old sites; the store of Messrs Hamilton and Nichol is rapidly approaching completion, and will be occupied in a few days. The piles are being put in for the re-erection of Johnston's Melbourne Hotel, and Mannary's Harp of Erin Hotel; and similar preparations are being made for the store of Forsyth and Masters, who have built and are now occupying a temporary building opposite the old site. Tenders have been called for the re-erection of the Bank of Australasia, but the others have made no signs, pending instructions from headquarters. An Auckland paper states that Mr J. Small was literally "an unfortunate man" when he awoke one day, for, having left the window of his room open during the night, some fortunate person took advantage of the fact to abstract his watch and chain. A telegram recently stated that the Dunedin Star had stopped. The proprietors having advertised that Mr Henningham was no longer manager, he took four men on the premises and turned the printers out. A gentleman in Christchurch has, says the Lyltclton Times, submitted for our inspection a really fine sample of fibre from the ordinary tussock grass. The sample was soft, silky, and free from vegetable matter. It will be sent to England for inspection in the proper quarter, and we may probably learn in due course that the tussock grass of New Zealand is as valuable as the esparto grass of Spain, or more so. Mr J. L. Gillies, a member of the Otago Government, is now visiting the various goldfields of that Province witli a view to ascertaining the wishes of the miners as to obtaining land on lease or freehold within goldfields. An accident occurred on Saturday last on the Hokitika and Greymouth Tramway, which, we regret to say, has since proved fatal. It appears from particulars in the Star that the unfortunate man, whose name is David Cobb, had been drinking at Lark's hotel the greater part of the day, and was anything but sober when he got into the carriage. When the carriage had proceeded about a mile from Lark's hotel, on the Arahura side, deceased fell out of the carriage close to the horse's hind legs.

Ford put on the break at once, jumped out, and went back to see if the man was much hurt. He found that the wheel of the carriage had. gone over deceased, and that his thigh was broken. He was taken to the Hospital, but died in an hour or two afterwards.

Mr William Shaw, late proprietor of the West Coast Times newspaper, has arrived in Hokitika by the Tararaa for the purpose, it is said, of disposing of his property and (putting the coast. A farcical story was lately published by some of our southern contemporaries to the effect that Mr Charley Williams had gone on an expedition to recover a wreck supposed to be one of the scpiadron of the ill-fated La Perouse. The Hokitika Daily News says Mr Williams is comfortably settled for the present at Okarito. He has sent a letter to a gentleman stating that the south is very dull, and that although he has got a first-rate shop in Okarito, rent free, he cannot make a living. He further informs the gentleman he has an intention to charter the Hope to bring to Hokitika a cargo of " cockles and empty bottles." Cockles and empty bottles ! What an ending for the romantic expedition.