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Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 637, 26 March 1870, Page 2

The richness of the Lyell reefs is said to be an undoubted fact. One reef is stated to be five feet thick, with gold visible. .£3OO has been offered for a share, and the prospects altogether are described as excellent. A good many parties were seen wending then* way yesterday morning to some ground lately opened and reported payablo between Westport and Charleston. The exact locality is about three miles on this side of Charleston, and one mile inland from the beach. It is reported to be shallow sinking, and the prospects are said to be payable. There is a rumor of gold having been struck in the neighborhood of the Four Mile, to the southward of Charleston, and a rush is said to have set in to the locality. "VVe learn that five of the shareholders in the Southern Cross Company, at Charleston, were fined, at the Warden's Court, yesterday, twenty pounds each or three months' imprisonment for proceeding with the work in the claim contrary to the order granted by the Court. We understand that the men acted under advice, and that the proceedings are notyet ended. The Westport Fire Brigade, having failed to procure a suitable fire-engine in the Colonies, have, through the agency of Messrs Bailie and Humphrey, ordered an engine and accompanying appliances from Messrs Shand and Mason, of London. The order was forwarded by yesterday's mail. Westport waits with interest the Provincial Secretary's statement that the protection works shall be proceeded with. Westport remembers, not the Ides of March exactly, but the 31st, the end of the financial, and wonders whether the Secretary will speak before that day passes. The first mail from the West Coast to Auckland, for transmission by the San Fransisco line of mail steamers, left Westport yesterday by the steamer John Penn. From Greyrnouth and Hokitika the John Penn had eight passengers on board bound for America and England by the new route. It is expected by the Postmaster that a supplementary mail, in sufficient time for the departure of the Wonga Wonga, may be despatched by the s.s. Murray. She is announced to leave on Sunday, and the Airedale, for Manukau, does not leave Nelson till Wednesday. The Provincial Gazette contains no notification of the meeting of the Council, but it is expected to be convened about the third week of April. Should the Assembly meet on the 30th of the month, the arrangement will certainly be inconvenient, but a further adjournment of its meeting will likely be made. It is possible that the Council will not be called together until after that greater event—the Nelson racemeeting, which commences on the 19th. The Provincial Secretary and Provincial Engineer, Messrs Greenfield and Blackett, returned to Westport yesterday, after a visit to the Grey district. Mr Greenfield will visit the northern terraces, where he promises to investigate as to tracks to German Terrace and elsewhere, and, after visiting Charleston, he proceeds overland to Nelson. He will probably reach the Upper Buller in time to meet Mr Kynnersley there In the Eesident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, William Cutcliffe was charged with assaulting Charles Osterland, at Deadman's Creek. The parties, it appears, are "dividing mates." It was apparent also that, as mates, they are divided. Osterland presented himself with his cheeks considerably swollen, and the vicinity of both his eyes much blackened. It was represented by Cutcliffe that, as a mate Osterland was in the habit of getting into town, and, when there, getting on the spree, to the neglect of his own and Ms co-part-nership interest. For this he corrected him by giving what had evidently been a severe "punching." Cutcliffe, under these mitigating circumstances of aggravation, was fined 10s and costs, with the alternative of imprisonment.

A reliable and experienced correspondent at Wangapeka writes: —" So far, this is the poorest place I ever saw, the men getting no gold, and having no money. If all the reefs found prove payable, it may in time turn out well, but of this I have great doubts." With Nelson as the centre of police inspection, and with no regulations issued to the officers, some strange illustrations of dicipline occasionally occur. At the Ahaura there has been one. Constables Sweeney and Dorris are stationed there, Sweeney acting as Warden's clerk, bailiff, and constable. A difference arose between the two as to the division of bailiffs fees. The circumstances may have no connection, but Dorris got drunk, and, after a struggle in the camp, he was locked up by Sweeney, who kept him under arrest from February 9th to March 14th. On the latter day he was charged before Mr Whitefoord with drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Mr Whitefoord considered the charge of drunkenness proved, and fined Dorris 10s, but he did not think the offence was of such a grave nature as to justify Sweeney in locking the defendant up. It would be for Inspector

Shallcrass to take further steps in the matter, as it came immediately within his jurisdiction. The evidence disclosed a inoßt discreditable state of affairs, for it was shown by the officer in charge that he had no regulations for his guidance. The Grey 'River Argus comments favorably upon the unobjectionable manner in which the Westport Miners' League Committee have so far plainly expressed and legitimately advocated some of the mining wants of the district, and it urges the extension of the League throughout the Colony. One argument in favor of this is that a general movement would be most successful in achieving what the Committee, by-the-by, omitted |rom its programme—the reduction of tho export duty of gold. The Argus advocates discussion rather than the hasty adoption of views on Mining Boards. The discovery of a supply of stone in the Lagoon is the latest event in connection with river protection. There was an alarm of fire in Greymouth on Sunday night, caused by the bursting of a kerosene lamp in the Brighton Hotel. The Fire Brigade turned out promptly, but were not required. The Government are said to intend forming a railway from the Brainier mine to Cobden, and a stone wharf at the latter place. The reported massacre of thirty Native women and children by Te Kooti is not confirmed. Fifty prisoners are said to be taken, but it is alleged that many of them were Hau Haus, and probably wore voluntary prisoners. Mr Fox, the Premier, has been lecturing at Auckland on teetotalism. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Hokitika, on Monday, Julius Eberhard Mathies, charged with executing a deed of trust with the object of defrauding his creditors, was committed to take his trial at the next sitting of the District Court. The amount of gold sold in Greymouth by the diggers during the race-week is said by the Star to be larger in the aggregate than had ever been offered on any previous occasion during the same period of time. Commercial credit in Dunedin continues shaky. Mr Edward M'Glashan is the last mentioned as having made an arrangement with his creditors, and several small firms have failed. A -memorial to the Government of Otago is being taken about the Thames for signature, setting forth that the memorialists were unemployed miners who had been deluded there by " the false representations of the Auckland press," and praying that Government to provide for them the means of transit to the Province of Otago, where they felt confident of success in their mining avocation.

A double area of ground has been granted to three brothers Fisher, near German Gully, Waimea. Prospect, two grains to the dish. Has averaged eight ounces for three men for a fortnight's work. A good many parties have marked out ground with the intention of working. A bazaar in Dunedin has realised £350 for the new Wesleyan church there. Some paper took fire in a shop window in Invercargill lately. The fire was found to have been caused by a decanter-shaped bottle of salad oil acting as a lens under the rays of the sun. In the district rifle-shooting, Groymouth has again been successful. Mr J. Smith and Dr. Morice took the first two prizes by scores of 44 and 42 respectively. Mr Henham, Hokitika, took the third prize by a score of 41. An early Auckland settler, Edward Penny, has hanged himself through grief at the supposed loss of .£BO, which he missed from his box. After his death the money was found in another box. The Hokitikans have announced an Easter Eace Meeting, the first day's events to come off on the 18th April next. Mr Whitefoord, Warden in the Grey District, is gazetted as Coroner, Registrar, and Returning Officer. It is thought that the amount due to the miners at the Thames for wages exceeds .£3OOO. A meeting of those to whom wages is due is to be held at Shortland. A starch manufactory has been established at Castlemaine. The Treasurer of New South Wales proposes to borrow £1,571,600 for railway extension and public works this year. This woidd bring the debt of that Colony up to £11,775,630. Mount Victoria Hill, Evans Bay, Wellington, is being prospected for quartz. Some leaders have been found, and good hopes are entertained as to the discovery of a reef. At the Thames, on St. Patrick's Day, there was to be a foot-ball match for £IOO, with thirty players on each side. News has been received at Sydney that the notorious Captain Hayes has been arrested at Samoa, for kidnapping. Dr Suter, M.8., son of the Bishop of Aberdeen, died at Patea, on the 10th March, in the 29tli year of his age. • A Mr Horn has died at Napier from an abscess caused by a small piece of wire which he had unconsciously swallowed some time ago. The Lancashire Bellringers have returned to Nelson from Hokitika. The American glass-blowers are also exhibiting in Nelson. The Carandinis are in Christchurch. The Bank of Australasia has opened a branch in Wanganui. Upwards of fifty red deer were recently seen in the neigbom-hood of Nelson. The Acclimatisation Society are procuring hares and Californian quail. The 4lb loaf sells hi Melbourne at sixpence. Cobb's coach now runs twice a week between Wanganui and Patea. It conveys a weekly overland mail for Taranaki. A Temperance Hall is about to be erected by a small but enthusiastic body of teetotallers in Invercargill. The horse Nebula, formerly the property of Mr H. Stafford, won two stakes of 40 and 50 sovs. at the Napier races. A mail leaves Nelson for "Wangapeka every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon. Five seats in the House of Representatives require to be filled up. Besides Messrs Cargill and Burns, Mr Hankinson, Southland; Mr Ball, Monganui j and Colonel Brown, Taranaki, have resigned. The appointment of Henry Day as Postmaster at Brighton is gazetted, and dated February 1. The Eev. J. Whiteley, of Taranaki, shortly before his murder, wrote to the Superintendent of the Province, warning him of the attitude of the Natives. In this letter he said:—"Why should not the Maori King be required to do his part, or be held responsible for his people ? Say to

him' You are a King; we did not put you in that position. Your people did; keep these people in order, or we will uiako war upon you as their responsible head, and serve you as we served Theodore of Abyssinia." Mr Williamson, M.H.K., late Superintendent of Auckland, has been appointed Crown Lands Commissioner for that Province. Butter is quoted in Lyttelton at fid to 7d a pound for the best description. Two firms have taken advantage of this low rate to export to London 140 firkins. At Melbourne, John Todd, grocer, of Gertrude-street, Fitzroy, has been fined £ls, and £7 7s costs, for selling Henneasy's bulk brandy in bottles bearing the genuine "battle-axe" brand. Captain Massey, who was manager for the Berkley Castle Company, and thirty other companies at the Thames, died suddenly at Short land, on March 14. He died of disease of the brain. Grass growing in the streets; deserted houses and shops on all sides; the main road only gravelled or metalled; cows and goats browsing undisturbed on unoccupied quarter-acre sections; open drains in all directions, which, however, thanks to the thinness of the population, the constant breezes from the sea, and the frequent scourings from the abundant rainfall, have not hitherto told injuriously on the health of the town; such is Invercargill of the present day, according to a description in the Bruce Herald,. A new rock-driller, invented by F. B. Dcering, is mentioned in a late number of the English Mining Journal. The average time of an experienced miner in drilling a hole of 18in. in the hardest white granite would be about three hours, and the abovementioned chiller would do the work in ten to fifteen minutes, calculating for stoppages. Mr John Sinclair, of the Toi Tois, Otago, is described by the Bruce Herald as the first discoverer of gold in that Province. He is said to have made the discovery eight years before Gabriel Head, but the then Superintendent, Capt. Cargill, " wise in his generation," at once declared that if the discovery of gold was once made known it would ruin the province for ever, as strangers would rush the country, and carry off the benefits, to the ruin of the settlers. Knowing that Mr Sinclair, whom he accompanied to Otago in the John Wickcliffe, was a freemason, he strongly urged secrecy, which Mr Sinclair promised, and to which promise ho proved faithful throughout.