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Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 965, 26 April 1872, Page 2

At the close of the case Stitt v Gallagher heard at the District Court on Wednesdaj, a little dispute and banter took place between the members of the legal profession. The Judge in taxing the costs of the-witnesses enquired what thedistance is between Westport and Ileefton. Mr Pitt considered thedistance 52 miles, while Mr Button contended it was 58. At last the sergeant of police was referred to, who assured his Honor that it was 59 good miles. Mr Button disputed the goodness of them, and considered the distance should be reckoned as a hundred miles for the badness of the road. Mr Pitt could not agree with bis learned friend on this second point, in as much as he had just ridden down in three parts of a day, to which Mr Button retorted that probably his learned friend had travelled a.l night, a mode of travelling which all witnesses could not be expected to undertake. Finally the Judge resolved on stating the double journey as one of five days, inclusive of the one day at Court. Judge Harvey gave it as his opinion in the District Court, on Wednesday last, that, a section could be legally occupied on the goldfields by the holder of a business license, whether he built for himself a palace, a tent, or a hut, or lived in a tree, or under the ground. Mr Michael Organ, it will be remembered, lost a dray by the last flood, it having been swept out to sea. On Wednesday last the dray was found on the beach midway between here and Charleston minus only one of its wheels. In consequence of the Masonic Hall being engaged by the Diorama Company on Monday evening, the social entertainment intended to have taken place on that evening has been postponed to a later day in the week, due notice of which will be given on Tuesday next. Mr A. Ileid, M.P.C., reached here yesterday by the Charles Edward, from Greymouth, and proceeds by the Kennedy on her next trip northwards, to take hi 3 seat in the Provincial Council. Mr Donne left by the Charles Edward yesterday to be in time for the opening of the Council on Tuesday next, and Mr O'Conor means to leave for the session by an early boat. In consequence of the Warden having notified his interition to suspend protection to Langdon's Punt Perry over the Bailer river, he " being satisfied that the ferry is not conducted in an efficient manner, and in accordance with the conditions," Mr Langdon reached here yesterday by the Charles Edward l'or the purpose of arranging that the ferry shall be conducted in the efficient manner required and according to the prescribed regulations. A sure sign of the progress of any particular trade on the diggings in former years, was the disposition for pugilistic encounters or terpsicliorean demonstrations in the public thoroughfares oil the part of those who were meeting with the largest share of success. Oil Tuesday last along the wharf, this old sign wa3 fully illustrated, denoting that something like *' good old days" among the boatmen had returned. There was " whisky galore," and the business was being dona hi anything but a

whisper. At last the general disposition tended towards a round of fisticuffs, in which "Tom, Dick, and Harry" shared, just for tho love of the thing and of themselves, combined with plenty work and high price?. The end of all was an addition to the Provincial exchequer of thirty shillings tho following morning. The American War Company have been drawing crowded houses at Charleston this week. The Diorama will be exhibited here on Monday and Tuesday evenings at the Masonic Hall. Mr Eainer, on these occasions, offers the additional inducement to the public of a distribution of free gifts. The prizes will be on view in the window of Mr Dickenson's shop, next the Bank of New Zealand on Monday and Tuesday next. Mr King, manager of the Bank of New South Wales at Greymouth, and Mr Pitt, solicitor, made a quick journey from Reefton this week. Both were seated at tea in Westport at half-past five o'clock on the same day of their leaving the reefs. The new masonic Lodge room at Weitzell's European Hotel, Charleston, was consecrated on Monday evening last. The ceremony of consecration was conducted by Bro. Harvey, Provincial Grand Steward, S.C. Many who have recently come down from Eeefton speak of the cold up there as a *' caution," and say that the crowds who were recently wont to stroll along the thoroughfares, during the evenings, now either seek the shelter of a hospitable hostelry, or stop at home in their huts. A great many comfortable small dwellings, whose chief characteristic is the fireplace, have been lately erected, and their occupants feel the advantage of foresight in this respect. The consequence is that many who are not compelled to stay have migrated lately, and purpose waiting till the seasons are more favorable. We are told that many buildings in course of erection have been stopped for a time, owing to this exodus. Nevertheless reefing generally i 3 flourishing, road-making is progressing, and despite the cold, the district is making rapid strides. Mr Frank Guiness and Mr E. A. Drury were nominated at Cobden this week for the vacant seat in the Nelson Provincial Council. A writer in the Greymouth " Star" suggests that, as there is so little to choose from, the competitors should adjourn to Gilmer's and go " Yankee grab" or " freeze out" so that the expenses of a poll might be saved. , The case of Drury v. Cooney, Kennedy | and others, which was lately tried in the ! District Court Greymouth, and resulted in a verdict for the defendants, will come on again before the Supreme Court. The •' reply of Mr Justice Richmond fixing the day of hearing is now waited for.

Among the current topics narrated in Greymouth, a writer says:—The District Court sittings in bankruptcy have given great dissatisfaction to most of those persons who played the principal parts on the occasion, and it is really feared that debtors will have to cash up, and creditors get their due, if thi3 kind of thing goes on. I need hardly say that Judge Harvey is now responsible for disturbing the Elysium of insolvency that prevailed in days gone by. Out of a dozen applicants for fiinal discharges only two were successful in getting whitewashed out of hand. The rest were either sent back or had certificates granted, after various months suspension only. Under some circumstances, this condition would be a trifle, light as air, but as his Honor ruled that during the term of suspension the individual could be arrested as though he had no protection, the case is materially altered. I am told, many of those lying under the ban, have thought it advisable to take a country trip for the benefit of their healths, since that ruling was laid down. The Nelson races take place on Wednesday and Thursday next, the Ist and 2nd proximo. The following are some of the entries:—Turf Club Handicap, 1J miles; Mr Redwood's Peeress, 6 yrs, Mr Hale's Flying Jib, aored; Mr Hale's Black Eajle, aged; and Mr Waters' Yatterina, 6 yrs. For the Handicap Steeplechase, 3 miles, the entrances were as follow:—Mr J. Arnold's Eclipse, aged ; Mr Hope's Heiress, aged; Mr M-Glashan's Ronald, aged; Mr Proffitt's Sailor Boy, 5 yrs. The Nelson Government have prepared a Highways Bill, a synopsis of which we publish this morning. The Bill, we understand, will be applicable to the whole Province. The " Colonist,'' we observe, states that it is the intention of the Government to prepare and introduce a Bill which shall provide for the establishment of Boards of Works in all towns in the Province which may be desirous of obtaining such institutions. The Nelson race meeting has been postponed from Wednesday, 24th, to Tuesday, 30th instant. The object of this postponement is to consult the convenience of some of the horses coming from a distance. The * Examiner' states authoritatively that the five best horses now running in New Zealand will be present, barring accidents, namely, Peeress, Black Eagle, Flying Jib, Slander, and Yatterina; and the meeting will have more of the old spirit of racing than has been seen since Nelson was visited by Knottingley and Backbiter. i A case of genuine distress appears to have occurred in the Halfway Bush district, Otago, where an unhappy farmer is so hardly pressed by the badness of the times, that, according to his own statement in the Resident Magistrate Court, he can't afford even to get drunk. A local writer of Casual Notes, referring to the circumstance, says : —The poor unfortunate moreover ia a Scotchman—a fact which is at once the best proof of" the genuineness of his distress, and an aggravation of the hardship of his case. A Scotchman who cannot afford to buy whiskey must indeed be hard up; and a Scotchman who is thus deprived of his chief solace is an object that cannot fail to excite the pity of the most flinty-hearted of men. The tortures of Tantalus were nothing to ! those which such a luckless individual must suffer when Saturday night comes round, and he is compelled by "chill penury" to go to bed toddyless and sober. An incident, illustrative of the use of advertising, has come to the knowledge of the ' Otago Daily Times' A Dunedin solicitor was some time ago instructed to ascertain tbe whereabouts of a young man who was wanted to return to Britain. TheyOuthhad left < )tago and gone to Victoria. An advertisement was seat to the 'Argus,' and the result will be seen from the following extract from a letter received from him by last mail: —" I have just read an advertisement in a a 'Argus' several weeks old, requiring me to send my address to you. I have been working at jobs connected with a new railway, and work is here apparently both scarce and of short endurance when obtained. I am travelling up the bush at present out of anything to do, ond write this at a roadside store, where I bought some tea, which was wrapped in a scrap of torn newspaper containing the advertisement in question." A wire footbridge, 150 feet span, is about to be erected where the Ross road crosses the Totaia,

The infliction of so heavy a fine as £lO, and £2 la 6d, in the case of the Police v. Sheahan ought to be a caution to the several publicans in town. It does appear rather a severe penalty, looking at the evidence. We should be sorry to extenuate for a moment anything like rowdyism or other impropriety in publichouses, and in such cases should hail with satisfaction the imposiiton of the heaviest penalty. But to visit a landlord with such a penalty for permitting a harmless game of cards, even although a round of drinks be the stake, is carrying the doctrine a little too far. Of course Magistrates are bound to follow the letter of thelaw. But it is an exploded ideato suppose that people can be driven either by Mrs Grundy, Sir Andrew Agnew, or by Act of Parliament into those paths of strict and austere propriety which parsons, magistrates, and other such sublimely correct people are supposed unswervingly to follow. Passenger trains are expected to run between Christchurch and Kaiapoi about tho end of this month. The bridges on the northern line as far as constructed were tested recently by an engine. The Auckland City Council are paving the streets with scoria or freestone flagging, Mr Sheehan, M.H.E., is the first member of the General Assembly, of the European race, born in the colony. The 'Taranaki News' has changed hands, and is now the property of Mr Charles Brown, late of the firm of Brown & Duthie, and formerly Superintendent of Tavanaki. A child, nineteen months old, has died at Napier from the effects ef poison contained in lucifer matches which it had sucked.

The Mayor of Dunedin is endeavoring to obtain from the Provincial Council the fees derivable from the hotel and auctioneers' licenses, and also the dog tax. The gate, grand stand, sites for booths, &c, on the Nelson racecourse at the forthcoming meeting, were disposed of at auction last -week by Messrs Stavert & Co. for £l2O.

Eobert Eyton, formerly of Auckland, has been apprehended in Melbourne on a charge of passing a valueless cheque on the Bank of New South Wales in Auckland. Eyton, who waif the gainer of the £SO prize for an essay on colonisation awarded by the General Governm' nt a few years ago, was known to some persons in Nelson and Greymouth, from several of whom he obtained money on cheques given on his account in Auckland, when there were no funds to meet them, his account being closed. We have been informed that between the end of December and the middle of January no fewer than nine or ten of these cheques were presented to the bank in Auckland and dishonored.

A private letter received in town this week states that further and even richer stone than was last reported was got out from the Westland Crushing Company's Claim on the Ifith. One of the more sanguine shareholders has given it as his opinion that the first 30 tons crushed will pay the total cost of the machinery now being erected. Without being so sanguine as that, they no doubt have a splendid future before them. At a recent sitting of the Licensing Bench in Auckland a petition was presented, bear ing 2600 signatures, against the granting of more licenses. All new licenses were refused and several old ones were cancelled, A writer in the Nelson 'Mail' thus alludes to the two candidates for the vacant seat in the General Assembly:—" Mr Luckie," he says, "swears hy the present Ministry, Mr Richmond swears at them." Under the heading "" The Grand " the Dunedin 'Echo' contains the following paragraph:—Wo are informed that the Hon. Mr Julius Vogel keeps up in the colonial cities the same style as he kept up in London. In Melbourne and Sydney he had two footmen to wait upon him, while his equipage was second to none. He also has given sufficient dinners, &c, to prove, we suppose, that New Zealand is a very wealthy country. It is a good thing for us that we are enabled to send a peripatetic minister who can do '* the grand." Of course the small bill for travelling expenses will not be grudged. A learned Italian, the astronomer Giovanni Bastro, announces the end of the world for January 11, 1877.. The shock of a comet is, he declares, to annihilate the unfortunate planet. We are first to be suffocated and then burnt.

A correspondent of the " Southern Cross" writes :— ' I have just seen something new in the matter of barmaids. An hotelkeeper here advertised for one when he received a reply from a young lady at Christchurch. The communication enclosed three photographs. These were all of the same young lady, but each in a different kind of a getup. They were numbered one, two, and three respectively. The lady wrote as follows : —" My terms for style No. 1 are thirty shillings per week; for No. 2, thirtyfive shillings per week ; and for No. 3, two pounds. Nos. 2 and 3 are very expensive to keep up, and I would as leave come down as No. 1, unless you prefer to the contrary. My washing must be paid for and I decline to clean glasses. I must refuse to enter the bar before eleven o'clock in the morning. I have always doubled the bar trade of any hotel I have been engaged in." Arrangements have been made for a wrestling match between Mr Manning, the conqueror of Curley Bray, and a man named Irwin, who resides in the Q-rey district. We are informed that Mr Manning, who is an amateur from Auckland, has already won no less than sixteen gold and silver cups, in various parts of the colony, as •*{^l- nM £« A 4.VI A A.r *_ 1 4-1._4. .G_. -J! VAVtAM IU ttKUWUU DJJUIta, U.UU i/liUlO 11 V t? U.S. the trophies have been won in wrestling matches. The match which is now pending will be for .£IOO a-side and the championship. In the course of an address delivered recently by Mr Spurgeon, ho said he had received a letter from A ustralia, containing an order for three Baptist ministers. He could hav£ executed the order at once, but the letter contained a postcript to the effectthat he was not to send *■ duffers." Under these circumstances, the execution < f the order must stan:l over, the proper articles not being in stock.