The English. Mail, via San Francisco, arrived here on Sunday afternoon, but the letters were not delivered as early as usual, in consequence of instructions having been forwarded to the Postmaster, to cause all the mail bags and their contents to receive a thorough fumigation, previous to sorting. These precautionary measures are adopted in consequence of the outbreak of smallpox in America, and its rumoured appearance on board one of the mail steamers. A serious accident happened on the river on Saturday last, resulting in the loss of two fine horses, the property of Mr George White. One of his cargo boats proceeding up stream, got safely as far as the Ohika Falls, where, in making a short turn round one of the many points of obstruction, the horses were unable to pull against the force of the current, and the backward drifting of the boat dragged them into deep water. The rider too, was unable to cast off the trigger, or detaching gear, which, is usually available in emergencies, to unfasten the tow line, and he had to abandon the horses to save his own life. The men in the boat, seeing the accident, cut the towing rope, in hope to thus save the horses, but it became entangled around the legs of the frightened animals, and both were drowned. The loss is a heavy one, for the horses were the best two working on the river. A meeting of the Hospital Committee is advertised to take place this evening,, and the annual meeting of subscribers for the election of a new committee, and to receive report of retiring officers, will be held on Wednesday next. Messrs Suisted Brothers reopened their new establishment, the London Butchery, in Lyttelton street, on Saturday last, making a display of meat not often seen in Westport. The beef and, mutton were of excellent quality, and, dressed with all the care and neatness of the flesher's handiwork, presented an attractive and tempting show. A miner named Harry, or Sebastian, Carson, suffering under mental derangement, has been brought down from Larry's Creek, and is now under retaand in the Westport Gaol, receiving medical treatment, Another gap haa been made in the fast dwindling row of houses forming the western side of Gladstone street. The large drapery store of Mr Christopher Brown is now on its travels, having been shifted out of line, and hauled on rollers up to the corner of Moles worth street, en route for its present location at the corner of Wallabi street. Home shifting is becoming a steady branch of business at Westport. Mr Watson the diver, with Mr Butt, attempted on Saturday last, to recover the iron wheel centre, now lying under water at the Inangahua Landing, but were unsuccessful, The exact: position of the lost piece of machinery is doubtful, and it is very probable that it is now covered with snags and shingle drift. Mr Watson left
by the Murray last night for Nelson, having been engaged to recover the iron safe lately dropped off the wharf there. It was the intention of Mr A. Reid, to have met the electors to explain, generally, proceedings in the Council, as affecting this district, but he was called suddenly away to Greyniouth, on urgent business, before he had an opportunity of meeting them. We understand that he hopes to be able to pay an early visit to Westport to carry oat his announced intention.
The number of dogs registered at Westport for the half year, ending Jnno 30th, was eighty-three, and twonty-five abandoned, or unregistered, curs were destroyed by the police.
A traveller from the southward informs us that at Brighton things are looking much brisker than of late. The .miners are all at work, and have plenty of water, aud hence, money is in more ready circulation. The Totara river has been very high for some days past, so much so that, at dead low water, neiflier coach nor saddle horses were able to be crossed in safety. The tide, although at neap, has made higher than has been known for years. The Half-mile beach at the mouth of the Nile is now obstructed by a Jarge shingle bank which has formed there, compelling - the holders of beach claims to knock off work. Mining operations on the beaches are now extending gradually to the northward, and between the Totara and Nichols' the fiuuung of water races has been brought on to the beach claims, and a constant supply "of water is now flowing, Jumping a mining claim is a thing of every-day occurrence, and often proves successful. The latest phase of jumping met with is the jumping of a newspaper office. This feat is reported as follows by the San Francisco ' Chronicle '■: —'* A Gilroy date of the 27th hag this curious item :—W. H. Clipperton, proprietor of the Gilroy * Telegraph ' a weekly paper, having obtained an appointment in the mint at San Francisco, employed a Mr Shaw to edit and publish the paper during his absence. Mr Shaw, it seems, has : changed the day of publication from Wednesday to Saturday, and also changed the title from the ' Telegraph ' to the Gilroy ' Union. Clipperton returned from thi3 city to-day, and demanded' possession of the office, aud was promptly ordered out. Shaw has been arrested, charged with larceny, and it remains to be seen if a newspaper can be easily and successfully jumped as a mining claim." Referring to the matter, the ' Nelson Examiner' says—"The Mr Shaw spoken of is said to he well-known in Melbourne and New Zealand journalistic circles. A gentleman of that name was some time ago proprietor of the 'West Coast Times,' and mayor of Sokitika, but whether he is the hero of the above-named exploit we cannot sa y" .
A number of newspapers have been stopped in the course of transmission, at the Post Office, Dunedin, because of their bearing the stamp of the sender on them. The Postmaster-General was appealed to, but it has been ruled by him that, in consequence of the newspapers having the stamp of the firm upon them, that they would each be treated as a book packet and require the additional postage to be paid. The Postmaster wa3 waited upon and remonstrated with, but he was inexorable, and the cash had to be paid. The indiarubber stamp is handy, but it proved, rather too much so in this instance.
We have received some particulars relative to the accident to the Queenstown coach, already reported by telegraph. Mr Henry, the proprietor and driver, says that the accident was caused by one of the horses shying while passing a small gully in a very narrow part of the road between Clyde and. Cromwell, and in which there is a sharp turn. The coach, horses, driver, and pas-' senger were precipitated down a steep bank, about IUQ feet in height, into the Molyneux, which at this point is deep. The passenger either got out or was thrown out when the coach was about half-way down the bank, and escaped with some bruises. The driver, coach, horses, and mail bag 3 went into the river. The driver succeeded in swimming to the bank. One of the horses that got clear of the coach and harness, was found on the other side of the river next morning but the coach and other horses have not since been seen. Five of the mail bags were recovered at the scene of the accident, and one was recovered at the Teviot, about forty-live miles lower down the river. There were eleven mail bags in the coach. The accident was one which appears to have been purely accidental. The Thames Guardian expresses an opinion that if a few of the local bakers were branded as well as their loaves, it would not be a bad thing for ' the community.
Important discoveries are reported from Coromandel, and Bismarck shares have advanced to £6 10s. We have just heard of a story which is too good to keep out of print. The other day a telegraph clerk at one of the stations telegraphed to a brother clerk some hundred miles away, to the effect that his sweetheart was then in the office, and she had promised to marry him in a month. Now it so happened that the manager was in the operating room at the time, and reading off the message by ear, he sent back a reply which was short, sharp, and severe : " Tou are fined £1 for allowing strangers inside the office; turn the woman out." Poor fellow! the " turn her out," tacked on the money penalty was adding insult to injury. The following is from the * Otago Daily Times':—"The wife of a country settler, who lately came on a trip to town without her lord's permission, got into liquor, and then into "the lock-up. She was duly brought up 'at the Mayor's Court, and fined in a small penalty. Her affectionate spouse has emphatically expressed his indignation, not at the sentence, but at the insufficiency thereof. Writing to a gentleman connected with the police, he says:—'Dear Sir, —I see by the * Daily Times' that you have had my wife in charge for drunkenness. I hope the next time you will give her three or six months.
Mr Smythies' final appeal to be reinstated as a legal practitioner, has resulted in the following judgment by the Appeal Court at Wellington:—The Court regretted- they could not grant the prayer of the petition. The, petitioner had not succeeded in convincing the Court that the jury ought to have returned a verdict of not guilty. It was fair to state that Smythies' fraud was harmless and useless. Mr Sodon admitted having given the consent, and therefore he could not be defrauded. Mr Smythies was entitled to the costs for which he had brought his action against Mr Sodon, but he did actually use a forged paper fn recovering them, though that paper could not and did not have any effect. It was doubtful whether the Act of George I, which barred an attorney from practising in England, had not effect in this Colon . The act of which Mr Smythies had bet n convicted did not imply sufficient moi al turpitude to warrant his exclusion frcm practising, but he had failed to satisfy the Court of his upright conduct. The bnrden ; of the proof was on the petitioner. There
was absence of testimony in favor of the petitioner from clients and from the legal profession. The charges against him were not sufficient to warrant his suspension, but his conduct was not absolutely upright as required by the statute.
We (*Otago Daily Times') understand that the Preservation Inlet Coal Company are determined to at once develope the rich coal deposits known to exist at the Inlet. We hear that the coal in all respects is equal to that obtained at Newcastle, so that we trust that before long the importation of this valuable commodity will not be necessary.
Caution appears to bo very necessary in investing in Coromandel mining stock. The Coromandel correspondent of the ' Southern Cross' says ; —" Purchasers of stock in the various gold mining companies, established here and resident at Auckland, should exercise care in ascertaining before purchasing that the persons offering scrip for sale are bona fide holders, as I know that, in one office alone here, five transfers have been forwarded for registration, and none of the sellers' names appear on v the company's books." In a leading article, the •Cross' says:—"lt is much to be feared that the increasing activity in mining shares of late, especially at Coromandel, is already bringing in its train a measure of the same spirit of reckless speculation which, two years ago, involved such serious consequences to many persons in this Province. We would be sorry to say a word which might tend to discourage legitimate enterprise in respect either to gold mining or any other of the industries of the country, but we cannot help regarding with some degree of apprehension the sudden and numerous formations of mining companies now of almost daily occurrence in connection with the Coromandel goldfields. Not a few of these companies, it is ascertained, are of very doubtful origin and design. In some instances the land described in the company's deed has never been pegged out, or any title whatever obtained to it, and private property is being appropriated in this way, it is said, which has never been negotiated for. Parties are subscribing their names as owners of hundreds of shares in claims which either have no existence, or are never intended to be worked in a bona fide manner by the promoters or owners."
The comments of the ' "Wellington Independent ' upon the assistance about to be given by the General Government to the Thames miners, for the supply of their goldfield with water, are ominously ambiguous. That paper says : —" We cannot help expressing the opinion that the Government, in undertaking this work, is making a c >neession to the Thames Goldfield which is hardly in accordance with the principle upon which the Legislative agreed to provide money for the assistance of works of this kind upon Goldfields." The following are the latest items of Fiji news, received via Sydney : —No hur-ricanes-have occurred in the group this year, and a public thanksgiving on that account took place on April 10th. The Government is still unsettled, and the Protection Society refuse to dissolve until the Government is recognised. They are also awaiting the arrival of a man-of-war from Sydney. Mr John Church, late editor of the ' Bruce Standard,' and Secretary to the Tokomairiro Farmers Club, has been presented with a purse of 40 guineas. In testimony of the appreciation by the public of his services, as well as of his genial disposition and worth as a private citizen. Mr Commissioner Weldon has replied to the Dunedin police that the Government declines to accede to their request to be reinstated, adding that their application was couched in terms indicating that they wer. not alive to the gravity of the offence, The application was of such a nature that if acceded to, would be subersive of discipline. In the Canterbury Provincial Council a motion has been carried, "That in tho opinion of this Council it is expedinte that the administration of the Police Department be placed under the control of the General Government, and that the Superintendent take steps to carry the resolution into effect/'
The Resident Magistrate at the Thames, in order to put a stop to constant breaches of the Publican's Act has expressed his determination to increase the penalties in these cases in geometrical proportion until the maximum penalty is reached, aud said, if the publicans at the Thames could stand that, then they must be doing a better business than he thought they were. The writer of " free and easy notes " in the " Tuapeka Times" tries to show the fallacy of the opinion that mining enterprise is defunct in the province, by relating an anecdote, the truth of which can be vouched for. Some time since, he says, the returns from a claim owned by two men on a well known reef, began to get gradually smaller and smaller, and as time progressed beautifully less. One of the partners attended to the machine, and other supervised the mining opera tions underground. The diminishing yield of gold was a source of sore tribulation to the partners, and they resolved to sell out. In order to do so advantageously the resolved to perform that interesting operation generally known as " salting." Accordingly the underground man purchased 40 or 50 ounces of gold and placed them in the crushing mill. When washing up time came the yield was only two ounces. Where the remainder went to of course none could imagine, and John Chinaman was credited with the theft. The partner who looked after the machine, it was noticed, had a week's glorious spree.
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Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 984, 2 July 1872, Page 2
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2,665Untitled Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 984, 2 July 1872, Page 2
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