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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 558, 23 September 1869, Page 2

The second anniversary of the formation of the Loyal Charleston Lodge of Oddfellows of the Manchester Unity was held in the Casino de Yenise at Charleston on Tuesday evening. By the members of the the Westport Lodge who were present in the exercise of what Mr Artemus Ward would call their affinity, and in the exercise of considerable contempt for very uncomfortable weather, the ball is reported to us to have been " one of the most magnificent and successful affairs of the kind—perhaps the most magnificent and successful —ever held on this side of HoMtika." We believe these were the words, and believe them to be thoroughly justified. Altogether the companynumbered 150—fairly proportioned as to ladies and gentlemen, considering the few "wall-flowers" who were inevitably present j and for richness of toilet—to say nothing of beauty of course Charleston occupied what Westport has always admitted to be Charleston's "pre-eminent position." The band is well known to be the best on the coast, and it decidedly delighted the ears of the strangers on this occasion, besides satisfying all. " Too much praise," we are told, " could not be given" to the Managing Committee for their preparatory and subsequent exertions, and special thanks are due to Mr Veale and others for voluntary assistance as amateur attendants. Until seven o'clock yesterday morning " the ball was going on." Historically it was a great local incident in Odd-fellowship and good-fellowship. Other characteristics of the merry meeting will probably be, as they deserve to be, more particularised in our next number. Tuesday was a most boisterous day in Westport. Incidents, if there were any, must have occurred at hotel bars and in billiard rooms, and consequently they did not come under the notice of otu- reporter. He endeavored to find in the streets the subject of a local paragraph, but was disappointed and drenched. Naturally splenetic, he has since endeavored to manufacture, with the assistance of Mr Joseph Miller, an animated description of the appearance of a heavy swell on the bar and of several others who selected the day for a visit to the Waimongaroa quartz-reef. Tie confesses his attempt in that direction to have been a failure. He is consoled by knowing that the attempt in the direction of the Waimongaroa partook of the same character. With the assistance of Mr Miller he hopes for more success next time, and with the assistance of Mr Jones it is hoped that the reefing party will, next time, reach their destination. Joe (Miller) suggests a general picnic there on October sth. In the Warden's Court, on Tuesday, among the mining applications, there was one by Peters and Rogers, of the Shamrock Lead, for protection for a claim on that lead. M'Farlane, an adjoining claimholder, objected, on the grounds that the claimants had not consented to join in driving a tunnel 3000 feet in length for the purpose of draining their claims, and that they had reduced their party from seven to two—a number insufficient to work the claim. The Warden made an order for protection for thirty days only, until some equitable arrangement could be made with regard to bringing in the tunnel. Stewart and party, from one of the Northern terraces, applied for leave to extend an existing tunnel. Moore and party . objected, demanding that the extension should be made in strict accordance with the rules. The Warden withheld any order on the subject, until a plan of the ground was procured. The Bank of New South Wales shipped on Saturday, per Murray for Hokitika, 243:>ozs idwts and (>grs of gold. The Bank of New Zealand shipped, yesterday, 10;$3ozs 7dwts and 18grs, per Murray, for the same destination. The protection of the beach, at the point where it is most assailed by the sea, has occupied the attention of the District Engineer and a gang of men for the last few days. A heavy surf unfortunately came upon them before their work could be completed, but it was pushed on with much vigor, and seems to have been effective in protecting a block of buildings which were imminently threatened, as well as in preventing the intrusion of the sea towards the centre of the town. We understand that some suspicious transactions with dice, alleged to have occurred at a raffle on Saturday, are to be made the subject of inquiry before the Resident Magistrate this morning, under an information laid by the police. " Citizen," writing to the Wellington Independent on Saxby's warning, and referring to the inhabitants of such towns as Napier, says:—They should be informed that the sth day of October in England corresponds in time, with the time here—that is—that these twenty-four hours in England are the twenty-four hours from our twelve o'clock at noon of the sth to 12 o'clock at noon on the 6th, as in round numbers we are twelve hours in advance of London time. A gentleman, says the Wanganui Chronicle, has been at the pains to go over all the General Government Gazettes since the Ist of January last, and to tot up the capital invested in mining companies at the Thames goldfield, and he finds that a sum of upwards of Two Millions sterling has been paid up as shares of the very numerous companies formed there. An astounding sum truly, and one which proves either that there is much more money in the country than one is at first sight apt to suppose, or that there has been more kite-flying than is at all good for legitimate trade. The Nelson Mail understands that a Mining Company for this province, under the Limited Liability Act, is about being formed there. And says the Mailj —V?l do not see why this province should not have a venture in some of those wonderful claims we hear of at the Thames, and if the company succeeded in obtaining for their General Manager in Auckland, the gentleman we have heard mentioned, Mr Robert Lusk, we congratulate them, and predict a. reasonable chance of success. The salary of Mr Weld, the Governor of Western Australia, was to be £I2OO ; it is now to be .£2500. Mr James Cooper, the official liquidator of The New Zealand Banking Corporation, attended on June 28th at the Rolls' Cham-

bers, I-ondon, before Mr Hawkins, the chief-clerk, and obtained an order for a further call to pay certain promissory notes to settle the matter, and pay the creditors the balance of the admitted claims. The debts were, in the whole, £133,000, and the settlement proposed will now be carried out. The steamer Omeo was to call at Nelson on Monday, for the purpose of taking Manuka, Peeress, and Misfortune on to Melbourne, where the former is engaged for the Cup. A run from Richmond into Nelson was made by two velocipedists on Thursday last, and the distance of seven miles and a half was accomplished in fifty-five minutes. From the Star and Garter to the Turf Hotel, a distance of nearly three miles and a half over a favorable piece of road occupied only eighteen minutes. Two items of news from Brighton are the death of Captain Ferrier, and the departure to Victoria of Mr Lynch and his family. The W. C. Times is responsible for the following report:—" From reliable information received in town we learn that a rush, likely to assume some importance, has taken place to gullies the other side of Lake Brunner. Parties came into the Greenstone on Saturday, and gave glowing accounts of success in prospecting. In every gully, and many were tried, gold was got in payable quantities." A regular, although secret trade has sprung up in Auckland for the sale of quartz specimens for the purpose of " salting" newly discovered reefs. Under the heading of " Streets of Gold " an Auckland contemporary relates that considerable excitement prevailed in Shortland some days ago from the fact that gold was discovered in the sand which forms the pathway in front of Messrs Harrison and Co.'s establishment in Pollen street. A crowd soon collected, and dishes were brought into requisition. Several fine prospects were washed, the gold being of a coarse flaky character. It appears the stuff that forms the pathway was brought from the Karaka creek. The Town Board must have viewed with consternation their footpaths being pegged off and the traffic impeded by gold-washing.