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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 553, 11 September 1869, Page 2

The prospects of the northern terraces near Westport improve every day. A fresh lead of gold was recently struck on German Terrace. This week, on the Caledonian Terrace, Walker and party, have struck a new run of gold 120 feet further into the terrace than their former workings. We learn that the auriferous ground near Nicola's Half-way House, midway between Charleston and Westport, has been wrought before. It is a beach deposit of black sand. A right of water has been applied for by Morgan, and there is no water in the vicinity to enable other parties to work. A concert, at which some excellent music was discoursed, was held in Charleston on Thursday evening, in aid of the Charleston Hospital. The sale of the tickets realised w£Bs. We are unable, at present, to notice at greater length an altogether highly creditable entertainment. His Honor Judge Richmond was a passenger to HoMtika by the steamer Charles Edward.

Mr Macdonald has been appointed Manager of the Union Bank at Nelson. Ho was formerly Manager at InvercargilL It is stated by the Nelson Colonist that Mr Stafford is about to return to Nelson, and once more to take np his residence there. Another of the ex-Ministers, Mr J. C. Richmond, has already done so. The following notice of the death of early settlers of this Province appears in the ColonUt: —One of the early settlers of this Province, Mr Bernard Gappor, died at his farm at Appleby, on Tuesday last, aged sixty-throe. Mr Gapper arrived in tho ship " Clifford" in 1842, and was assistantsurgeon on board. He had a large family, and like other settlers underwent his share of the pr ; vations which followed the breaking up of the New Zealand Company. He was draffcod as one of the constabulary to go the Wairau at the time of the massacre, and stood third in the canoe which crossed the stream towards the Maori position, and saved the life of Lieutenant Howard by shooting a native who was in the act of firing his piece at the Lieutenant. The next shot that was fired by the natives took effect in Mr Gapper's right hand, which it smashed, arvd for treatment of this wound he was afterwards a considerable i ime in Wellington hospital. Subsequently he was appointed second ofSe/>r of H. M. Custom;; (under Mr Logie) at Nelsoa, but afterwards resigned and settled on his farm in Waimea East district. Mr Gapper had suffered from heart disease for forty-seven years. He was much respected a3 an honest, straight-forward settler. Another old settler, Mr AVilliam Gardner, twentyseven years in the Colony, has also gone to his long home. Mr Gardner came out in the " New Zealand " in 184-2, and had, we believe, tho merit of being the first ropemaker in this Colony, his ropes being made from New Zealand flax. He was sixty-seven years of age. The statutes of New Zealand are increasing with amazing rapidity. Such is the maxim which the Nelson Examiner attaches to the following statement of facts :—" On closing the Assembly, his Excellency the Governor gave his assent to fifty-two Acts, which, with twenty-four we have seen in print, make seventy-six Acts for the session. But we are by no means certain that this comprises all" the Acts that were passed, as others, not yet published, may liave been assented to. But assuming the whole number passed this session to be the number stated, these added to ninetyfour passed in 1867, and eighty-one passed in 18BS, give 20l new Ac's in three yea~s. These are in addition to tho Acts yearly passed by nine provinces." Tho Examiner appropriaily utters thefollowing "moral:"— " Surely there never before was a country so prolific in new laws." We quoted recently from the advertising columns of the Nelson Mail, the following suggestive intimation :—" Notice. The friends with whom my wife gossips will do well to advise her to go home, and attend to her baby, eight months old, which suffers much by her neglect.—W. R. Paroienter." W. E. Parmenter and his wife do not seem to have agreed, and in a subsequent domestic revolution W. R. seems to have come off "second best." The Examiner says:—The time of the Resident Maglstra'e was occupied on Saturday last, and again yesterday, over the matrimonial dissensions of Sir W: It. Parmouter and his wife. Mr: Parmenter was proved to have assaulted her husband and threatened to stab him. The case was adjourned from Saturday to Tuesday, to enable the parties to mike an arrangement between themselves, the Magistrate reccommouding a separation, but on their appearing in Court yesterday, nothing appeared to have been effected, and Mrs I'avmcuter was therefore bound over to keep the peace for six months, and to find three sureties of £2O each. As an illustration of the manner in which the rebel Natives procure ammunition, the Wellington Independent gives the following statement of a Maori who is ref jrred to as a good authority : —" There is nothing serves our purpose better than a good fight. After the pakehashavo retired, which they generally do, we pick up hundreds and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Whole packages we often find thrust under the roots of trees and all sirt.s of out-of-the-way holes and corners. This was especially the ca-e at several of tho engagements on the West Coast. We used to buy from the soldiers too, sometimes, and once got 200 rounds for Is 6d and a tin pot.*' But the sources of supply are failing now, and there is reason to believe that the want of ammunition is the chief cause of the surrender of the natives. When Tito Kowaru was surprised at Otoutu, whence he decamped so hastily that he left his coat behind with .£l2O in cash in tho p lekets, several packages of ammunition wen; found with more than one teaspoonful of powder to a dozen bullets, and the small package of powder wrapped up most carefully in almost innumerable folds of paper and cloth to preserve it from damp. The Wanganui papers report the death of Mr Hugh Ross. Mr Ross for many years occupied a high position as a solicitor'until failing health compelled him to retire into private life. Mr Ross was in town on Friday, the 20! h inst., and got a slight cold, which resulted in influenza. Symptoms of apoplexy followed, and ho expired on tho 2Sth inst., having attained his 73rd year.

One of the oldest and most loyal of the Wanganui Native Chiefs died sit Aramaho on Thursday last, after a lingering illness of two years. In a memorial notice of the old Chief, the Times says:— Tamati was one of the five chiefs who in 1847, pursued and captured the murderers of the Gilfillan family. In that case summary justice overtook the murderers, four of whom "were hanged at Wanganui. In consequence of the action then taken by Tamati, his pa was subsequently burned down by the rebels. He was one of the very few real fisrhting chiefs during General Cameron's West Coast campaign. He again took the field under General Chute, was present at every battle in which the troops were engaged, and led the natives who -went with General Chute round Mount Egmont and returned by the beach. Tamati's son, Wirehana, is the chief who is now with his people at the hot springs attacked by Te Kooti. Tamati's los 3 will be felt by the really loyal natives whose acts in bye-gone days have made them most obnoxious to the rebels.

Bachelder's Diorama of the American War which was exhibited in Westport lately, in now being exhibited in Wellington. The following letter addressed to the editors of newspapers by a native chief named Henare Potae, appeared in the Post on Saturday last: —" O friend. I have seen something very good. It is a representation of the fights of the Americans. It was Bplendid. Those wars of the Europeans which are going on at their places across the sea are things to he feared. The foolish Maoris here are Baying that they are at war here. The wars are those of the pafceha, I have only now seen them—at eight o'clock in the evening of this day, the 3rd of September, 1869. I am desirous that this representation should be' taken to the Maoris on the East Coast and shown there.

so that some persons who are averse may see the wars of the pakoha, and thereby be frightened by it, and that those tribes who are loyal to the queen may admire it. Sufficient."

As as indication of " local progress" the Wanganui Times states that, during the past two or three months, notwithstanding the depressed state of trade, building has gone on as briskly in Wanganui as in the days of greater prosperity. Hotels, shops, and substantial dwelling-houses have gone up. and are still being put up in the town and suburbs to an extent which unmi3takoably shows that the settlers have unshaken confidence in the future prosperity of the district. The Times " gushingly " adds : " When the Patea and Waitotara settlers are enabled to return to their ruined homesteads prosperity will again smile upon Wanganui and the surrounding districts." '