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Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 961, 12 April 1872, Page 2

It will be seen that the Government have invited tenders for felling timber and clearing a horse-track along the blazed survey line from the bridge-site on the Arnold to the bridge-site, Ahaura, on the proposed dray-road. This is with the intention of extending telegraphic operation to the Ahauia. The work is to be completed within two months from the date of the acceptance of tender; and tenders must be lodged with the officer in charge of the telegraph atWestport. Grey mouth, or Hokitika, on or before the 20th instant, addressed to the Inspector of Telegraphs, Christchurch, and in accordance with the other conditions specified in the advertisement. Notwithstanding the influx of population to the Inangahua, we are informed that labor is by no means plentiful in the district. Men are asking as high as 14s per day, and it is with difficulty some of the contractors can obtain wages men at that price. Morris & Co. have over seventy men at work on their contract between the Gorge and Larry's Creek, and are in need of more hands: and Mr Courtney is advertising for 150 men for axe, pick, and shovel work, on the Reefton and Grey road. Some excellent quartz specimens have come to town this week from the prospectors' claim at Larry's Creek. They were taken by Potter and Walsh's party, the prospectors, from the face of the reef, and give unmistakable indications of the richness of the claim. One large piece of quartz from this claim was broken in the store of Messrs Bailie & Huniylirey on Wednesday last, and the fragments of stone, which filled an ordinary tin dish, contained gold visible on all sides and intersecting the numerous veins which ran in all directions

throughout it. The choicest specimens were soon pounced upon by those who were present when the piece was broken, but had it passed through a mortar and crucible, we have no hesitation in saying it contained several pennyweights of gold. If, as is reported, this specimen can be taken as an indication of the average run of gold throughout the claim, all we need say is that the shareholders may, if they choose, acquaint their "friends at home" of their likelihood to visit them after a few crushings. Captain Leech, harbormaster, has furnished the Nelson Executive with a full report on the state and position of the Nakawa coalmine, together with the depth of the river, and its harbor advantages. Mr Dobson, Provincial Engineer, will also doubtless embody in his annual report an account of the mine and its likely capabilities. Miss Clara Stephenson, supported by Miss Grace Fo.land and Mr Charles Burford, gave their first entertainment on the Coast at the Masonic Hall, on Wednesday evening. The performance commenced with the comedy entitled ' Killing Time/ in which Miss Stephenson appeared as Lady Jane Desmond, Mr Burford as Captain Lumley, and Miss Folland took the part of Mary the attendant. During the evening both ladies sang several new ballads a;d songs, and Miss Stephenson and Mr Burford played ' Helen and Modus' with much taste and ability. The programme concluded with the extravaganza of ' Mr and Mrs Lullaby,' which caused considerable merriment. The company appear again this evening," when 'Othello the Moor of Venic?,' will be pourtrayed by a gentleman amateur, who is said to excel in that difficult but beautiful character; this will be followed by the lively pieces ' The School for Scandal,' and 'What may happen to an unprotected Young Man." Many new songs will be sung in the course of the evening. We regret to hear from Charleston that Mr Robert Shepherd, butcher there, met with a serious accident on Thursday morning last. While in the act of handing meat out of his cart, the horse suddenly started off, causing Mr Shepherd to fall alongside the cart. Before the horse could be stopped the wheel passed ever his right leg, breaking it below the knee. He was immediately taken to the hospital, where he was promptly attended to. This is the third time Mr Shepherd has met with an accident with similar result. Mr David Hay, of Westport, has been promoted from the fifth class to the fourth class in the civil service of the colony, and has been appointed clerk and. landing-waiter in the Customs' Department here. Mr James Wilkie, member for the Provincial Council of Nelson for the Grey district, has resigned his seat, and a new writ has been issued for an election to supply the vacancy. A writer in the ' Greymouth Star,' referring to the recent discovery of coal at Nakawa, says :—The announcement that the p.s. Result, the Westport local steamer, has brought coal from the Ngakawaho, or the Nakawa as it is familiarly known, will take no one by surprise, for coal was obtained from that part years ago. The only wonder is that it has not been worked hitherto, for access is easy and the mineral exsts in large quantity. It was supposed to be so strongly impregnated with sulphur as not to be fit for use; but if the latest obtained is, as represented, of first-class quality, this objection cannot apply, and the discovery or re-discovery, promises to be most valuable.

Attention is directed to the list of goldmining and affrieultural lease rents Huw overdue in this district, and the lessees are requested to pay the same at the Warden's office. The list is published in another column. The Central Board of Education has resolved upon granting a subsidy of ,£SO per annum to the Reefton school, subject to the approval of the Inspector and the rules of the Board. In the Resident Magistrate Court on the 10th instant, two cases of drunkenness were brought before his Worship ; judgment was deferred till the defendants were in a proper state to receive sentence. A lady correspondent writes to the 'Coromandel Mail' to record her escape from the jaws of a dog, which seized her crinoline instead of her leg. The ' Wanganui Herald' says that the Defence Minister has been encouraging a system of espionage at Pntea. Mr Morton Tavares, who has been playin"at Christchurch, has gone to Dunedin. Auckland, according to the * Herald,' is " notably ripe for an epidemic." Another crusade on the Chinese, to make them take out miners' rights, is about to be commenced. The ' Tuapeka Times ' states that Mr A. Blewitt, the Chinese Interpreter had been instructed to visit the VVaikaka' Switzers, and Nokomai districts, for the purpose of looking after "John." Three friendly Maoris engaged on the Taupo road works have been murdered by the Hauhaus. The usually quiet town of Tokomariro has produced a would-be rival to Haley of Auckland renown, in the person of George "Williams, the ex-boots of the White Horso Hotel there, who wrote a letter to Mr Langley, the landlord, threatening dire vengeance for some supposed grievance. He was tried for the offence of sending the letter on March 20, at Tokomariro, before Mr J. P. Maitland, R.M., and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, in default of sureties for his good behavior. The inhabitants of Reefton are already talking about starting a Jockey Club and a Cricket Club. According to one of the Ross papers Mr Warden Aylmer has had the title of "Marshal" conferred upon him, and he now bears the designation of Marshal Aylmer. It seems that the recent telegraphic announcement of the approaching resignation of his seat by Mr Lightband, M.H.R. for the city of Nelson, was premature. The 'Colonist' says:—Mr Lightband has not yet resigned, nor, as we understand, will he resign until he is about to leave the colony, as circumstances might possibly occur to prevent his departure. According to the 'Southern Cross,' one in every thirteen persons in the city and sub. urbs of Auckland is engaged in trade. The Resident Magistrate of Auckland recently expressed it as his opinion that the lunatic asylum, rather than the gaol, was the proper place for the treatment of drunkards. A certain dog having been killed lately at the Thames, the owner had him buried, and got a nice head-board made for the grave, which bears the following inscription: —" In memory of SancV.o, killed by savage curs February 22nd, 1872. Here He the remains of my faithful little friend, whose fidelity and love were without human selfishness and hypocrisy. These virtues, so rare in man, I found in my poor dumb pet, and place this tablet as a record of my 1035." I

The Auckland City Council are paving: the streets with scoria or freestone flagging. A wire footbridge, 150 feet span, is about to bo erected where the Ross >\jad crosses the Totara. A telegram from Wellington states that Mr M'Beth, junior, has been appointed Receiver of Land Revenue for Westland. The Hon. J. A. Bonar has been appointed manager of the llokitika Savings Bank, and the following gentlemen have lieen appointed trustees—His Honor Judge Harvey, and Messrs Forsyth. Benning, Todd, and Tabart. A telegraph station was opened at the township of Arrow, Otago, last week. I Tavvcst hands in theMarewhenua district, Otago, have been getting 12s, and even a sovereign, a day. The ' New Zealand Herald' suggests the establishment in Auckland of a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Mr Brogden has been paying a visit to The ' Guardian ' believes that the great railway contractor's object was to test the advisability of bringing in the Mikonui water-race. The Auckland Protection League is soon likely to be a thing of the past. Even now a quorum of the members cannot be got together. There were 1278 cases of druutoniKKx, adjudicated on in the Auckland police-court during 1871. A correspondent of a Marlborough paper says that accovmfc sales received there show the expenses charged against flax shipped to England amount to .£lB per ton. Surveyors are engaged in Auckland between Mechanics' Bay and the Breakwater in laying out the ground for a railway station and buildings. The first bell cast in Nelson was most successfully turned out at Mr Moutray's foundry last week. It weighs about a hundredweight, and has a clear ringing tone that is soon to awaken the eehos at Collingwood, for the church in which district it is intended. The Canterbury Music Hall is to be altered into a theatre. Messrs Brogden are inviting tenders in Dunedin for 200 ballast-waggons, to be delivered in Auckland, The Dunedin tenderers are sanguine of securing the contract. Good coal and freestone have been discovered in the Malvern Hill district Canterbury. Major H. F. Turner is gazetted an Inspector of the first class in the Armed Constabulary Force. Post and telegraph offices will shortly be erected at Hurunui, in Canterbury, and at Waiau and Motueka, in Nelson. Passenger trains are expected to run between Christehurch and Kaiapoi about the middle of this month. The bridges on the northern line as far as constructed were tested recently by an engine. During the archery practice of the Auckland Club, March 23, a daughter of Dr Nicholson, about seven years of age, strayed from her nursemaid to a spot a little beyond the target used by the gentlemen, when an arrow, missing its mark, pierced the flesh of the child's aim and went through it. A letter has been received in Nelson from Mr W, Walters from Dunedin, stating that, after visiting Timaru, he should bring on his horses to Nelson, and hoped to arrive there on the 16th. There is good reason for believing that several of the horses engaged in the Easter races at llokitika—including Black Eagle. Flying Jib, Lacenfeed, Sailor, and others, will find their way to Nelson by an early steamer. Robinson, who recently broke out of Mount Eden gaol, is s+ill at large, and has stuck up several persons in the neighborhood of Auckland.