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Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 987, 16 July 1872, Page 2

The meeting of the General Assembly is fixed for the 10th instant. All kind of opinions are entertained as to Ministers retaining office. The day of trial is near at hand, and we shall soon learn what are our prospects. A healthy firmness is observable in scrip transactions. Kxcelsiors are quoted at £6, and Anderson's £s. Dissatisfaction is still expressed at Reefton at the continued curtailment of areas applied for under mining leases ; in opposition to the expressed recommendation of the Warden. A petition in favor of the Permissive Bill, to regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors, is to be put in circulation throughout the Buller District.

A correspondent at Reefton favors us with the following items of news:—Mr Bird, Inspector of Telegraphs, arrived at Reefton on Friday, and states that the line from Reefton to Ahaura will be opened in fourteen days. He has made arrangements for all telegrams forwarded to or from Reefton to be taken at the usual rates ; the Government paying the cost of transmission by horse express between Ahaura and Greymouth, until the through lino is completed. Mr Ashton, of Greymouth, has contracted for the express service. A temporary office has been hired at Reefton, and Mr Stringer is now installed as telegraph agent. The through line to the Grey will be completed in about a month or Ave weeks.—Mace's company had an interim crushing before proceeding with the 300 tons they have engaged to crush for Pat Hunt. The result was better than their first trial crushing—2lo tons yielding llG'i ozs of amalgam, calculated to give 2 ozs of gold per ton. The VVeatland Company will finish their first crushing of 100 tons about Tuesday next. Anderson's company are going ahead with the erection of machinery. At present Mr Comfoot, the manager, has utilised the water-wheel as a motive power for sawing timber. Some very valuable stone has been discovered at Boatman's, and the place is going ahead rapidly. Notwithstanding the lack of ready-money in the district, over £IOO has been subscribed towards the erection of a Presbyterian Chapel at Black's Point, and it is intended that the building when completed, shall be available for services by any Protestant minister. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, a good audience assembled last night at Sheahan's Assembly Hall, to witness the performance of the Comedy and Burlesque Company, consisting of Mademoiselles Jenny Nye, Cassy Matthews, La Petite Amy Thornton, Messrs Woolfe, Thornton, Cripps, Ingles, and last but not least, Signor Donato, the wonderful dancer, whose one-legged evolutions are in themselves, as a marvellously clever performance, sufficient at any time to "draw" an enthusiastic audience. The lady performers are well known to the New Zealand public as actresses of undoubted ability. Miss Nye as a vocalist, danseuse, and burlesque actress has gained well won laurels, and the name of Miss Cassy Matthews is familiar as household words to every playgoer in New Zealand. Her many friends who knew her during her novitiate in Dunedin, gladly accordedaineed of praise for her rapid advancement in her adopted profession, Little Miss Thornton who, not long since, made her dehvt before a Dunedin audience, has succeeded by her winsome ways and clerer mimicry to make herself a pet of the public wherever she appears, and Messrs Woolfe and the other members of the company appeared with much success, and were received with hearty plaudits. The first piece presente 1 was " Hunting a Turtle," a farce wherein comical situations do not much abound, and which served more as an introduction between audience and actors, than a performance wherein any of the characters could display their individual powers. Songs and danco3, winning inevitable encores, followed, by Little Amy, and then Signor Donato, the one-legged dancer, who is, we think, the same celebrity who, some years since, astonished London audiences at the Covent Garden pantomime, and set managers of rival houses hunting madly far and near for one-legged dancers; then displayed his agility to the intense astonishment of all beholders. The performance concluded with the burlesque of Lurline, in which the lady performers excelled, each in her particular style of personation, and the gentleman sustained their parts with credit. We must not omit to add that Mr Sheahan has converted his Assembly Hall into a commodious theatre, fitted with stage, scsnery, and accessories, andthecomfort and convenience of visitors are duly cared for. The performance this evening, if the weather is favorable, should attract a crowded audience.

The appointment of a Surgeon to the Reefton Hospital has been postponed until the 17th instant. At the Anatori river mining operations have been much impeded in consequence of recent heavy rains. About forty men are on the reef lately discovered there, but are notable to do much towards testing it until the fine weather commences. Specimens taken from the cap of the reef in the Prospectors claim show good gold in the solid stone. In No. 4 South, 7dwts were obtained on striking the reef in a shaft sunk on the reef. Specimens have been obtained in No, 1 North, where the party are drivinsr to strike the reef, and they obtained gold in leaders crossed in the drive. A party at the head of the Independent Creek have obtained splendid specimens in loose quartz boulders, and -have good hopes of soon striking a payable reef. At present the diggers have to go into Collingwood for the transaction of all business in mining matters, which occasions great delay and expense, and should be remedied, as the district is. a very promising one. A few parties aro doing well at alluvial working, but owing to the weather much cannot be done at this time of the year. Mr Toll has commenced packing to the reef from the shore at the mouth of the Anatori, having made a track from the river at his own expense. The 'Greymouth Star' of the lOth says : To-day there were 1220 ounces of amalgam brought down from Mace's claim, now

known aa the Ajax Company, at Eeefton. This cpjantity is undergoing the operation of melting, at the Bank of New Zealand, and the net result will probably bo known this evening. There is every likelihood of the return showing over 4DO ounces of gold. This quantity of amalgam is the result of 203 tons of stone put through the machine during the past fifteen days and if the ultimate yield shows the quantity of gold predicted, after melting, there is no doubt of the valuo of the claim; were many thousands of tons of stone, equally accessible, are likely to be obtained for many years to come. • •

An auction sale of New Zealand produce will bo held by Mr Munro, at Kennedy street, this afternoon. The list, as advertised, includes several lines in good demand, and should attract a spirited competition. Severe snow storms are prevailing in Duncdin, and up-country travelling is well nigh impossible. Mr Hannan, member of the Arahura Road Board, has been fined £SO by Warden Price, for filling the office of assessor to the Board for his own personal profit. A Melbourne telegram of June 29th, states . —" On Tuesday the first message was sent by the overlaud lino to Tennant's Creek, thence by horse express to Darly Waters. Thirty business telegrams, and several congratulatory messages to the Queen and Emperor of Germany, and President Grant were sent." The ' Inangahua Herald' says it is in contemplation to construct a tramway or road from Westport to above Snag Palls, to avoid the chief difficulty in river navigation.