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Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 814, 18 May 1871, Page 2

A preliminary meeting of persona, desirous of bringing Westport under the operation of the Municipal Act was held at the Empire Hotel yesterday evening, Mr Munro in the chair. It was decided to convene a public meeting to consider the matter, and that the same should be held to-morrow evening. The Suez mail, now due in New Zealand, is hourly esrected by the s.s Kangitoto from Melbourne. Up to the hour of going to press there was no sign of the arrival of the above steamer at Hokitika. Mr Seaton's Supple Jack has arrived in town, from Greyinouth, to take part in the coming races. In our reference to the salo of the right to the grand stand and refreshment booth during the ensuing races, mention was omitted of the buyer. The purchaser is Mr David Emanuel, of the Little Grey Hotel, who, as a public caterer enjoys a very wide and favourable reputation. The reported discovery of a seam of coal near to the Fnivdowns led to aparty of townspeople visiting the site of the alleged lindon Tuesday lost. On reaching the spot iudi-

catod, fruitless search was made for the coal, and an adjoining gully was also examined without the slightest trace of the mineral being discovered. Severe floods have occurred in the Okarito district. At Wanganui rise, a Mr Bell ha 3 been a very heavy sufferer, his house, boat, and crops, together with about 200 ft of his ground having been washed away. Mr Baker, of Waitaki, had his horse drowned. The Waitaki and Wateroa, formerly ono river, have now two distinct outlets, 300 yards apart. Mr Harris, the Okarito mailman, in endeavouring to cross on his way to Hokitika, was washed off his horse, and had a narrow escape from drowning. The punt on the Okarito river was also washed away, and large numbers of cattle and sheep were drowned. Altogether, this is the most disastrous flood that has occurred in that district for some time. It is expected that Mr Hoos ex-Chairman of Westland, will be returned to the Council for the seat vacated by Mr Reid. Mr Higgin contests the election. Wc learn from a passenger by the steamer Murray, from Hokitika, that a crushing of 120 lbs of stone from Shiels's reef, Inangahua, has yielded loz 15dwt, or nearly 330z per ton. The stone was tested at Hokitika. A man, named Bromloy, of Bromley and M'Millan, has been missing from the Razorback, for the last ten days. M'Millan was engaged for three days repairing the Government track to the Razorback, and upon returning, on Saturday last, to the house where he and Bromley lived, he found the place closed, and Bromley was missing. On the table was a writing, partly iu ink and partly in pencil, a3 follows :—" I leave all I have in the world to my mate, M'Millan; I am pursued by a lot of devils. Good bye, Geordie, you have been a good mate to me, but I have been a disgrace to you. Write to my mother and tell her that I am dead. Don't tell her how I did it. Tell her gently." Bromley's two dogs have been seen each day, and all day long, on a cliff looking towards the sea, from which it is inferred that the unhappy man must have drowned himself. His body has not yet been recovered.—" Herald." The Aucklanders evidently think that some of the wonderful success that has attended the Prussian arms is due to their frequent practice of singing, for we find in the " Gazette', that his Excellency the Governor has accepted the services of "The Auckland Harmonic Rifle Volunteers." The Christchurch Artillery have challenged the Cavalry to a trial of skill in sword exercise. The conditions are six men from each corps, consisting respectively of one commissioned officer, one sergeant-major, one sergeant, one corporal, and two privates —that is troopers from the Cavalry and gunners from the Artillery. The representatives are to be pitted against each other according to the general result. In a recent article, the Canterbury " Press" thus refers to the Land Transfer Act: —" The public will, no doubt, be much astonished to find that the advantages to the colony of the Land Transfer Act will be marred at the outset by one of the most silly blunders which could possibly have been made. It seems that persons obtaining conveyances of land under this Act, can, by taking advantage of it, instead of accepting a conveyance prepared by a lawyer as under the old system, comfortably escape ptLj-ins to the revenue the duty on the transfer of land prescribed by the Stamp Act. Indeed, if we are not misinformed, so clear is the position of this Act that transferees of land have not even to undergo the inconvenience of objecting to the duty, as it is not even claimed. The duty amounts to one-half per cent, on the purchase money—a very appreciable item of revenue. It is tolerably obvious that there will be no lack of business in the new office as soon as this somewhat alarming fact becomes known. It will bo plainly the interest of everyone with pending land transactions, and of all intending purchasers, to hastily complete their arrangements, and take advantage of the Act before the defect can be remedied by the Legislature. Fully three months must elapse before this can be done by passing an Amendment Act; and probably even a longer time will be required, as the Assembly can hardly be called together for this special object, and the wanderings of the Colonial Treasurer are, likely to postpone to a more or less extent the meeting of Parliament. It is, therefore, plain that no inconsiderable loss of revenue must arise to an exchequer already impoverished as regards revenue, if not as regards loans." The "Taranaki Herald" notes as an interesting fact that a butcher in New Plymouth lately killed two bullocks in one week. The Provincial Government of Auckland, in consequence of statements which have reached them regarding the conduct of Provincial officers at the Thames, have given intimation to them to the effect that no employee of the Government is to have any interest, direct or indirect, in any mining venture, on pain of dismissal. A telegraph station has been opened at Hampden, Otago. A nugget weighing 7950z 16dwt has been found at Berlin, Victoria. A party of Chinamen were the lucky discoverers of this fine specimen, which is estimated to be worth £3OOO. A theatre is about to be built in Wellington at a cost of ,£3OOO, the capital to be raised by 300 shares at £lO each. At Christchurch, a child has narrowly escaped death from poisoning, through chewing a piece of a green collar-box. On analysis, it was found that the box contained both arsenic and copperas in its composition. The nomination of a person to serve as a member of the Westland County Council, in the place of W. S. Reid, Esq., took place at Hokitika on Friday last. Mr H. Mace proposed Conrad Hoos, Esq., as a fit and proper person to represent the town and district of Hokitika, which was seconded by Mr James Holmes. Mr Duncan Macfarland proposed James Midgeley Higgin, Esq., which was seconded by Mr C. S. Tabart. Mr F. W. lime proposed G. F. Hawkins, Esq., which was seconded by Fred Dick. A proposition to nominate Mr F. De la Careras fell to tho ground, that gentleman not being on the roll. The Returning Officer then called for a show of hands, which resulted as follows: —For J. M. Higgin, Esq., 26; C. Hoos, Esq., 22; G. F. Hawkins, Esq., 12. The Returning Officer declared Mr Higgin duly elected on the show of hands, Mr H. Mace, on behalf of Mr Hoos, demanded a poll, which was declared to ta.ke place on tho 19th instant. Tho results of tho census in Timaru have boon published. There are 729 males and and 689 females, being an increase of lbti males and 205 females during three years. The total number of sheep in the Province of Taranaki at the commencement of the present year was 23,560, owned by 130 persons. Harrovians willbo interested to loarn that the present year, 1871, is tho tercentary of Harrow School, it being the throe hun-

dreth since tho charter oi foundation was granted to John Lyon. A meeting was hold at Willie's Booms on March 30, the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby iu the chair, when a committee was appointed to consider the best means of commemorating the occasion. A number of sheep, landed temporarily on a shingle bank in the Hokitika river, wore carried away by the flood*. They were the property of Mr John Walker. In the Supreme Court, Hokitika, on Wednesday, Thomas Betts, a wel-known butcher on the West Coast, w) indicted for having at Stafford, on the 6th day of January, 1871, attempted to commit suicide. The prisoner pleaded guilty. Mr Button, on behalf of the prisoner, addressed the Court in mitigation of sentence, and stated that one fact was quite clear iron the testimony of the whole of the witnesses on whose evidence the prisoner had been committed for trial, namely, that prisoner was suffering severely from the effects of pressure of blood upon the brain, caused through hoavy drinking, and that immediately after the act had been committed, he felt sorry for what he had done, and being relieved from the pressure on the brain by the loss of blood, he immediately sought relief at the hand of a medical man. The prisoner had been at large on bail since, and, as would be proved by Dr Matthews, had since joined the Order of Rechabites, and ever since the unfortunate occurrence, been a pattern of sobriety and good conduct He would now call Richard Matthews, sworn: I am a duly qualified medical practitioner residing at Stafford Town. I remember being called to prisoner after his attempt to commit suicide. I had seen him for two or three days previously; he was then suffering from delirium tremens. On my seeing him after the attempt, he said he was very sorry for what he had done. He has since taken the pledge, and has kept it to my knowledge ever since, now nearly five months. His Honour stated that under the circumstances he felt justified in discharging prisoner, on entering into sureties, himself in ,£IOO, and finding two sureties to the satisfaction of the officer £of the Court in .£IOO each, to keep the peace for twelve months. The prisoner, on the above sureties being provided, was discharged. Patrick Cruise charged with criminally assaulting a girl of seven years, was acquitted. In the case of William Christie, for obtaining possession of a valuable document by means of false representations, the jury found him guilty, and his Honour sentenced him to twelve months' imprisonment. Nearly all the Parisian journals signed a pact not to appear on the day of the entry of the Germans into the city, nor on any subsequent day of the occupation, in order neither to give the Germans the satisfaction of reading any comments on the hardship which they compelled Paris to undergo, nor to run the risk of exciting any feeling of resentment in the Parisians by the recital of wrongs which might drive them into fury, and on to massacre. The pact was signed on behalf of fortythree journals, all of which, with one exception, are daily papers. The practices of the English pedestrians in Christchurch attract large crowds. Of Bird, who it will be remembered has made a match against time to run twenty miles in two hours, the " Press" of the 20th ult. says, "He took a spin yesterday of eight miles over the ground." He was in heavy ■ training costume, and the time must be considered very good, considering that he is not yet in form, and that this is only preliminary training. His time for the eight miles run yesterday, as stated, in heav training costume, was a fraction over G mins. 4 sees, per mile. We understand that the backers of time are very confident of his inability to do the distance, so much so that they have offered to double the stake; and, on the other hand, Bird is equally confident of doing the distance in the time and having something to spare. A Denv>cratio Association has boon formed at Leicester with the following programme : The election of the Prime Minister by the people, the forcible sale of uncultivated lands, universal suffrage, vote by ballot, triennial Parliaments, disestablishment of State Churches, and the abolition of royal grants and the hereditary House of Peers. A proposal to call the society " Republican," instead of " Democratic," was defeated by a small majority. Australia will ho considerable gainer by the sale of the Count Lagrange's two year-olds. Mr J. Moffat, of Victoria, bought Etoile du Soir. a brown filly by Gladiateur, out of Etoile du Nord, for 520 guineas. Mr Moffat also bought Mobile for 570 and Patrie for 500 guineas, and three others—Gironde, Orleans, and Etincelle —for 330, 100, and 50 guineas respectively. Mobile is by Monarque out of Tolla. Patrie is by Gladiateur out of Chevrette. Gironde is by Monarque out of Mis 3 lon. Etincelle is by Plutus out of Aricie. Orleans is by Plutus out of Jeanne d'Arc. The highest price of the sale was 060 guineas for Artilleur, by Monarque out of Stradella. The number of horses sold was 42, and the sum realised was £B6Bs—an average of nearly 207 guineas. One of the elected members for Christchurch for the General Assembly has promised that in the first session he will bring in a bill for the punishment of females who may be found gudty of bringing unsubstaniated charges against men for rape or indecent assault. He was induced to make this promise, because several cases of rape which on the hearing were proved to be unfounded, have been brought before the West Coast courts lately. The latest was that of a man named William Croko brought before Mr Revell, E.M., Greymouth, charged with attempting to commit a rapo on a female named Monquillet, The prisoner was a mate of the woman's husband. The woman was proved to bo of indifferent character ; had previously lived with another man, and was known to be frequently drunk, and in the habit of taking liberties with men. Mr Revell, very properly, dismissed the case. The charge preferred by the woman was one of those only too easy to make, but very hard to disprove. Fortuuately, the prisoner was enabled to clear himself, and obtain a dismissal. But at present there is no law whereby the woman can be punished. Count Moltke has told General Ducrot that the question whether he w.;s justified in escaping from Pont-.i-Mousson, after Sedan, will bo considered after the conclusion of peace. The reported suie'do of Ducrot was without foundation. One of the most romark 'bio and successful iipor'tions that has been performed at the Geelong ILispital, was made (>ays the " Geo long Advertiser," 3rd April) by Dr Keid about a week ago. It consisted of the presentation of, an old man with a new chin. The chin which Thomas Sccnay had worn for seventy-three ycai-3, like ali other mundane things, began to decay. Tlio under lip was affected with cancer, which overy month became more extensive and pnintuL Dr Reid, being consulted, strongly recommended the owner to undergo an bperation.jandjrisk the loss of his old chin for the ehanco of a new one. But the olu man did not fancy the experiment, and so the diseased lip and chin were allowed to remain unmolested. It. so happened, however, that about a fortnight ago

Seinay had his upper lip diriJad by a kick from a horse, and on being taken to the hospital, the wound was sewed up, and he recovered rapidly. So speedily was the damage repaired, that ho determined to givo Dr Reid an opportunity of restoring the under lip from which ho had suffered so long. The operation was performed on the 21st ultimo. The whole of tho under lip and chin were cut awr.y ; incisions wero made down the centre of the throat and across the jaws, so us to admit the skin and Hosh being stretched over tho place where the chin formerly resided. The result has equalled the most sanguine expectations of the surgeon and his patient, for already old Sconay can boast of a now lip free from any disease or defect of any kind, and the chin, that is in some respects an improvement on the old one, so neatly moulded that when he emerges from the hospital ho will • look younger than he has done for the last j twenty-years.