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Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 780, 23 February 1871, Page 2

The February sittings of the District Court of Westland North, holden at Westport, will be held at the Court-house tomorrow. The Court will sit only in its Bankruptcy Jurisdiction, and the followingcases are set down for hearing:—Charles Martin Fox, George Limbrick, Owen O'Neil, Cesare Nosei, John A. Carr, Duncan M'Laohlau. The proceedings of the District Court, held at Charleston on Monday, were limited to several applications in bankruptcy for a final discharge. The following insolvents obtained their final order:—James Jenkins, Thomas Curtain, William Eeid. The Court then adjourned sine die. We were shown yesterday a very promising sample of quartz from the Prospector's Claim, Lyell. The stone was broken in our presence, and in most of the fragments gold was visible, while on some the gold was of a coarse description. All will be ready for crushing in ten weeks, so that in the course of three or four months we expect to hear of a first class yield from this claim. In spite of many weeks' dry weather, portions of the road to the Inanga.hna exhibit no improvement, horses sinking to the girths in many places along the track. The road must become totally impassable after heavy rains, and if communication is to ho maintained, repairs should be effected immediately. Probably half the sum that would be required a, few months hence to place the trnck in order, would now suffice to complete all that is necessary. A general meeting of tho Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade was held at the Empire Hotel on Monday evening. Mr Fagg was appointed drill instructor, and attention was called to the buckets at the various stands, which although recently filled with water, were again empty. It was suggested that horses might have made

free with the content*, but the suggestion was rendered 'improbable by the brackish, dirty state of the water used for the purpose of lining the buckets, in consequence of the dry weather, which made it unlikely that Bfcray horses had emptied thebuokets. It was concluded that the act was that of some mischievous or malicious person's, and members were in 1 to keep a vigilant look out for the offenders. Captain Hughes stated that he was likely to be away for some little time, and appointed Lieutenant Bond to act in his absence. The Brigade will meet again for practice on Monday evening. The melancholy fate of the Government schooner Mary had nearly been eclipsed by the total loss of the barges. On the Charles Edward leaving port she came into collision with the former as they lay moored to the buoy, but, fortunately, without inflicting further injury than the tearing away of a few of the upper planks of one barge. The Mary still lies submerged near the upper wharf.

Complaints continue to reach us of the inconvenience caused by the insufficient mail service between Westport and the Buller Reefs. We trust that the matter will receive the immediate attention of the Postmaster-General. Surely no more important matter could engage his attention.

A man, named Hughes, was accidentally drowned at Nelson on Sunday night. It appears that he was known to Captain Bailie, of the ship Wild Duck, that recently arrived at Nelson from London, and had been employed to do duty as night watchman, while the vessel was discharging. On Sunday night Hughes was instructed by Captain Bailie to shift the gangway, and it is supposed that in doing so he fell overboard, and was drowned. The body was picked up in the harbor ou the following day.

The following caution to tlio public appears in a recent issue of the " Nelson Examiner".—"The public are cautioned, when posting- newspapers in envelopes, not to stick the stamp partly on the envelope and partly on the paper, for when the papers reach England they will be charged as letters. The stamp must be placed either on the envelope or on the paper."

The General Government do not intend appointing a special poll to be taken at Okarito. The official declaration was to take place on Saturday, Feb 18th. when MiTribe would be declared duly elected, and the defeated candidate left to his remedy—if there be one. Monday, the 13th hist., was the polling day in the election of a Maori member for the South Maori District in the House of Representatives. The candidates are William Cotton, Native Chief at Nelson ; Thomas of Kaiapoi; and George Grey Taiaroa, of Dunedin. The Courthouse, Greymouth, was one of the pollin<>--places. and Mi- Greenwood acted as returnin a- Officer. The votes polled there were— Taiaroa, 4 ; Green, 2 ; Cotton, 1. Had the Rullerbeen a polling-place a larger number of votes would have been polled here than were given at Greymouth. The " Ross News " reports that the contractors foi- the tail-race in course of formation on Jones's Flat are progressing very favorably with their work. On the side of the Morning Star the new tunnel has been broken through into the old one, and the whole work was to have been completed by the end of last week. The writer from ' Undor the Verandah" in the Melbourne "Leader" thus mourns the declension of sqnatocracy:—"The old race of squatters is almost extinct. Nearly every station is held in the name of a banker, a money-lender, or a squattingagent. The jovial fellows who, in days gone by, used to haunt Scott's and the Melbourne Club, who drove fonr-iivhand and tandem, drank champagne and moselle and took fine houses for 'the summer at Brighton and St Kilda, are now rubbed out, They have either sought the remote solitudes of Queensland, Fiji, or aback block, or else they are overseers on the stations which were once their own. I suppose the country is the gainer by the change, but there were good qualities among the ihepherd kings. They were men of thews and sinews, practised a rough hospitality, and in their own way wore not devoid of generosity. But the world has grown too civilised for them, and, like the aborigines whom they displaced, they have almost died out. Arrangements are being made, both in Hokitikaand at Ross, for meetings of Welshmen on St. David's Day The late Mark Lemon has left, a novel called " The I'etticoat," which will be published shortly.

Tie following was b:-bfly referred to in a late Auckland telegram:—ln the Caledonian Company, the amalgam, of which there wa3 9700 «, was fired early this morning-, and the result 2-l4Loz of retorted gold. Fully 20006z of this has bjen got from the specimens broken out since Saturday, and the average is loz to the pound. There is a further quantity of amalgam in hand; but this will pass over into next month, as it will take a considerable time to clean ; and it is no joke cleaning it, for when it comes off the plates it lias no equal on the field for dirt. I must congratulate the shareholders upon their stroke of good luck this month, for up to four or five days ago the yield for the month looked very " seedy," and in lieu of an expected deficiency, there is a prospect of 303 or 40s per scrip being paid, as close upon ,£7ol>o worth of gold has been deposited this day. A telegram from Dunedin dated the 18th inst. in the " Independent," says that in the Supremo Court, on Wednesday, Mr Barton, Barrister, applied for a rule nisi, calling on Messrs Driver and Maeandrew to show cause why a criminal information should not be filed against them. The presidin j ju Ige said that the case bore a political aspect, and he suggested a postponement till after the election of the Superintendent. Mr Barton agreed to postpone his application if the case of Driver v. Dick, in the Resident Magistrate's Court, was also postpone t, which was agreed to by the other side. The Ida Valley Deep Lead Company, 3;ago, has struck a rich lead at a depth of 170 ft. The washing stuff is'in a gutter, and is of considerable width and thickness. Its value may be imagined, a? it gives from one and a-half to two ounces a load. The following are the numbers as officially declared polled by each candidate for the Totara District:—Tribe, 134 ; Keogh, 131; Carreras, 79; Hoos, 15. Mr G. H. Tribe was declared duly elected. The mining news from Coromandel is not very important. The claims are steadily at work, and moat of them are getting gold. The machines will be busy for some time, most of them having already work for the next month or six weeks. The Golden Beit has a cake of twelve ounces, bat ths crushing is not completed. The Nil Desperauduai battery has erected four additional stampers. A small crushing for the Bay View gave throe ounces to the ton. It may surprise people to know that on the first day of July, 1870, there were 1483 individuals (exclusive of military) drawing

salaries from the colonial chest, and that during the previous year appointments, representing in salaries £27,753 6s 8d per annum, were uiado by the Government. Of course these were not all new appointments, but the amount shows how very extensive is tho patronage exercised by Now Zealand Governments.

In the Wakatip district, a memorial is in course of signature to the Provincial Council, praying that a reward, either in tho shape of a sum of money, or a grant of land, may be given and made over to Mr Pox, tho wel. -known explorer, for discovering and making known the Wakatip gold field. His claim on the ground of making the iiokl known is a good one, but he is not the discoverer of it. We are glad to hear that Mr Commissioner Bnmigan is not so ill as reported. The doctor reports that a few days' quiet will place him beyond all danger. ■