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Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 745, 3 December 1870, Page 2

. A supplementary mail for Europe via San Francisco will be made up to-day per Charles Edward, closing at 3 p.m. There was a good muster of officers and members of the Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade yesterday evening, on the occasion of the first practice with the engine, recently arrived. About eight o'clock the engine was taken down to the river, and worked for about half an hour with a single delivery. The engine is a very handy one, and appears to have very great power. A good jet of water was delivered with ease over the Empire Hotel and the mainmast of the steamer Wallabi. A general meeting is called by Captain Hughes for Monday evening at 7-30. for the transaction of business and brigade practice. A small rush is reported to alluvial workings at a locality situated nine miles above the junction of the Lyell and Buller rivers. A few parties have proceeded from Westport to test the value of the discovery. The balance of the timber required for the construction of the line of tramway from Westport to the Orawaiti, arrived by the steamer Kennedy, from Hokitika, on Wednesday. The line will be completed to Atkinson's Hotel, Orawaiti, in the course of a few days. A hastily convened meeting, at which a few Charleston residents attended, was held at Weitzell's Hotel, on Wednesday evening, for the purpose of establishing direct communication between Charleston and Murray Creek. The necessity of immediate steps being taken was urged, and after an animated discussion, a committee of eight were formed, who, with the chairman, Mr T. G. Macarthy, pledged themselves to offer £SO as a .reward to the projector of the most desirable route to those diggings. Several notices to that effect have been posted about the town. At the K.M. Court, Charleston, on Thursday, three prostitutes were charged with drunkneness and disorderly con duct, m one of which the Crown prosecuted. They were severally fined £2. A miner named Jenkins was charged with stealing from one Phalin a pair of truck wheels. Jenkins, who appeared on bail, denied the charge, and, on investigation, the case was dismissed, the Court being of opinion that no shadow of a felonious intent had been proved. The schooner Three Friends, which recently proceeded with a cargo from Westport to Brighton, has been chartered at the latter port by Messrs Glenn Bros,, on whose account she will proceed to Greymouth, returning with cargo to Brighton. During the recent bankruptcy sitting of the District Court at Greymouth the procedure of the police with, reference to the granting or refusal of licenses was the subject of remark, by. Judge Ward. A banknipt- staled as one of the causeß of her insolvency, the refusal of a license by the police, without reason given, aftet she had taken a house, which compelled her to sell out at a loss. It was stated that the practice in Greymouth was for applications for licenses to be lodged at the Police Station,

and remarks made thereon by the Inspector before it was passed on to the Magistrate. In the present case no answer whatever was returned to the application, and upon Mv Perkins applying for an answer he was simply told that no answer would be given. The Judge said it was much to be regretted that such a practice should have been introduced, because it left a power in the hands of the police which might or might not be used properly on all occasion. In all these cases tin, grounds of opposition should be stated in open Court. That was the practice at Home, and also in this Colony in other places. He was not castiug any blame on the police, but still it was to be regretted that every ground of opposition to the granting of licenses was not stated in open Court. Most of our readers will have heard of the Emperor Maximin, who, in addition to immense strength and extraordinary stature, possessed an unexampled appetite, which could only be satiated with an amount of solids and liquids sufficient for a score of ordinary men. We have also heard of men who would demolish a leg of mutton at a sitting, but thesehave at last been eclipsed by a debtor at present in H.M. Gaol, Westport. The following are the items contained in one account for which judgment was sought to be obtained in the. R.M. Court, yesterday:—Nov. 15—1 bottle vinegar, 81b potatoes, 81b cheese, half-doz. boxes matches, 21b candles, 1 kit oysters, 1 do do., 3 loaves bread; Nov. 16—1 pkg maizena, lib coffee; Nov. 17—1 kit oysters, 2 bottles calves foot jelly, 2 tins jam; Nov. 19—1 pound cake, 1 loaf bread, 1 fig tobacco. In addition to the above items another claimant sues for board and lodging, also shortly prior to his arrest, while fowls, eggs, and vegetables amount as sundries to £l 15s.

We see, by the Christchurch papers, that our old friend Mr W. H. Bent, alias Shoo-Fly, has made his debut at the Theatre Royal as Uncle Pete, in the Octoroon, and judging from the favorable criticisms passed upon him by the press, ho seems likely to shine quite as much in the legitimate drama as he did as an Ethiopian Minstrel.

Mr and Mrs Lachlan M'Gowan opened on the 24th ult, at Hansen's Assembly Rooms, Hokitika. To-night they are announced to play at Greymouth, from whence they proceed to Sydney. A prisoner who was arrested at Hokitika on a charge of bigamy, and taken do-wn in charge of a Ballarat detective by the R'.vngitoto on her last trip, escaped at the Bluff, but has since been captured. It appears that when he got away from the steamer he concealed himself in the scrub, and defied the efforts of his pursuers to make dim speak by the ordinary process of beating. The strategy of smoking out was next resorted to, and with effect, the fugitive being forced to take the open once more. He was caught on the Bluff ;ioad, shortly after the Rangitoto sailed.

A most amusing fight took place the other day in Melbourne between a German and a Frenchman. The cause of the quarrel was that the Frenchman had named his dog Bismarck, and used pertinaciously to take him for daily visits to a cafe devoted almost entirely to Teutonic refreshment, where he also used to seize every opportunity for using the following language : —" Venez ici [come here], Bismarck, you sacre tief, you come here." For some days the proud dwellers on the Rhine stood it, but on the day mentioned their patience had apparently reached its limits, for as the words •' sacre tief" came hissing out of the Frenchman's mouth, a huge German rushed at him, and proceeded to take vengeance for the insult offered to his country. But the Frenchman was quite as ready, and a battle royal took place, in which Mr Bismarck deliberately turned traitor, and assaulted the calves of the German with a ferocity that would have done credit to a Turco. Eventually, after the Gorman had been tumbled into a soda-water bath, and the Frenchman's hat caved in twice, the police were called in, and the combatants removed, Bismarck growling defiance at United Germany to the last.

Mr John Blackett has been gazetted Engineer under the Immigration and Public Works Act, and Mr J. T. Stewart District Engineer.

The drilling of schoolboys throughout the Province, is advocated by a writer in the ''Dunstan Times." "The benefits already enjoyed at the Dunedin School," he says, " should be extended to every school in Otago. Our constabulary force could well furnish practical instructors for both adults and cadets."

A gift auctionia,' nid of St. Paul's Church, Dunedin, has resulted in the gross proceeds of over .£2OO.

The yield of the Thames goldfield during the month of October is stated in a return published in the "Advertiser," to have been 12,4810zs 13dwts lgr, being an increase on the preceeding month of 23520zs 9dwts 6grs. The average yield of gold per ton of stone crushed was loz odwts.

Mr William Gawne, grocer, Hokitika, has assigned his estate. His liabilities were about £IOOO, and his reliable assets about £4OO.

The Wellington Provincial Government are in a state of financial collapse. The General Government have arranged to pay all arrears and liabilities of the Province for the maintenance of necessary departments until the end of the financial year. The City Council of Christchurch have imposed a special rate of 1-Jd in the pound, for the purpose of meeting the expense of watering certain streets in the city during the summer months.

The survey of the Manukau bar has been completed with satisfactory result, inasmuch as there is a depth of water for the largest man-of-war to enter the harbor.

The mimber of schools in the late province of Southland is stated by an Invercargill paper to be only 11, with an average daily attendance of 195 pupils. A simultaneous rifle match has been fired between the Dunedin Artillery and the Perthshire Rifles. The match was fired on the 27th August last, and the score of the Perthshire men arrived by the last mail, and the result leaves the Otago men winners by 88 points. The conditions were—eight men a side, to fire simultaneously. Distance, 200, 500, and 600 yards ; severr shots at each, regulation targets ; position "at 200 yards, standing, and at 500 and 600 yards, any; Governirent rifles and ammunition pull of trigger not less than 61bs. The highest scorers on the part of the artillery are Sergeant Muir and Corporal Ogilvie with 67 each, and on the side of the Home company, Private, Stewart with 63. The totals were Perthshire, 390; average, 48"75. Dunedin,47B; average, 5975. The Ballarat correspondent of the " Argus " gives the following incidents in connection with the singular dream of the late Mr Craig, the owner of Minblefoot. A story has been going the round of some of the papers about a remarkable dream which the late Mr Walter Craig had, relative to Niinblefoot winning the Mel-

bourne Cup, 1870, which has been called in question as a fabrication. It is nothing of the kind, as I have had it to-day from two friends of the deceased gentleman, of undoubted veracity—one of them being the medical attendant of the family. It appeared that eome months ago Mr Craig told his medical adviser that he had dreamed he was uu the Melbourne course looking at the 1870 Cup race, and that it was won by Nimblefoot. The dreamer fancied he went up to his jockey, who had a piece of crape on his arm, and asked him why he wore it, to which the jockey replied, " It's for the old gentleman at Ballarat; he's gone at last." Mr Craig was so impressed with this dream that he begged of Mrs Craig, should he die before the race, to see that the horse ran for the Cup ; and, having told another gentleman of his dream, he begged of him to back nothing but Nimblefoot for the race; but he was only ridiculed for his faith in his dream by this friend. His own faith in his dream was so great that, had he lived, he would have backed his horse for his last shilling, and would have achieved the great ambition of his sporting life—to win a Melbourne Cup with a horse of his own. As soon as Mrs Craig heard of the horse's luck, she acted, to the numbers who called to congratulate her, with the most profuse liberality. Another incident in connection with the Cup, and the deceased gentleman is worthy of record, as, if it be true, as I have every reason to believe it is, it reflects the greatest credit on a Melbourne bookmaker—a class of men not at present, or very often, in good odour. Some eight or nine months ago Mr Craig ventured an opinion in his billiard-room that Croydon would win the Sydney Metropolitan, and Nimblefoot the Melbourne. Cup. The bookmaker referred to 'replied, " I'll bet you .£I,OOO to four drinks, or four cigars, that they don't." Mr Craig ordered in the cigars, and the bet was booked. It is said it was taken over again by another gentleman also. After Mr Craig's death, the bookmaker was asked what he wished to do about the bet. He replied, that he had such a high opinion of Mr Craig, that he would prefer transferring it to some one in the interest of his widow, and, if lam not misinformed, the bet is available as it was made ; but it is not likely, under all the circumstances, that payment in full will be demanded, perhaps not expected. A telegram from Napier, recently published, stated that a miner, named King, had discovered a deposit of black sand containing gold in the Province of Wellington. The following particulars are from the Hawke's Bay Herald: —King, one of a party of three men who, assisted from the funds of the Hawke's Bay Grold Mining and Prospecting Co., has been engaged for some time prospecting the country, returned to town on Friday last. His immediate object in coming was to get further assistance, the rough nature of the country in which they are working, and the consequent necessity of packing supplies, rendering the original allowance—twelve sbilings a week per man—altogether inadequate. We believe no difficulty was offered to a reasonable increase, and the man returned to the ranges on Saturday. He left with Mr Tiffin a specimen of black sand, in which several specs of gold can be distinctly seen. He reports that stuff equally auriferous is to be found through a' belt of country twelve niiles wide, which they have lately explored. It is on Hie Kaiamanawa range, and is, SO far as we can gather, near the locality which the Messrs Sweeney examined and reported favorably upon. The formation is different from that of most of the country they had previously explored, being a schistous slate, thickly intersected with quartz veins. The precise locality is not known, but it is believed to be somewhere on the run of the -Messrs Birch. In all this there is really nothing that we did not know before. Nevertheless it strengthens the idea which we, in common with many others, have all along hold, that the gold is there, and that the uniy question is whether, in so inaccessible a country, it can be got in payable quantity. Another week may probably tell us more about the matter. In the meantime it would be folly to be sanguine. The position, we believe, is in the Province of Wellington, but it is more easily got at from Napier than it could from either Wellington or Wanganui. A specimen weighing lOOlbs recently taken out of the Shotover mine (Hunt's claim), Auckland, is said to be the richest yet obtained from this claim.