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Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1032, 24 December 1872, Page 2

At this festive season it is an honest, homely custom, to proffer good wishes alike to friend and stranger, to breathe the hope that peace and good will may everywhere prevail, to take a retrospective glance at the progress made or difficulties encountered during tho fleeting months of the year, now vanishing into the shadowy past; and profiting thereby to ' point a moral or adorn a tale' that may haply cheer the despondent or encourage the hopeful, to throw care to the winds, to enjoy tho passing hour, and to welcome the advent of the coming Year witli renewed hope and brighter dreams than ever. Wo need not address our readers in flowery language or words of dulcet harmony. Sharing with them day by day in tho struggle against adverse influences, sharing also in their hopes that tho bright day of Westport's prosperity is not far distant, knowing also that as they advanco in prosperity, so shall we achieve our meed of success, we iu fancy, grasp .each by the hand, and wish one and all A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Some little dissatisfaction wa3 expressed yesterday by miners who had brought in their Christmas parcels of gold for sale, on finding the prices ruling here did not correspond with Charleston rates, and for some time many refused to p'irt with thengold, preferring rather to take atrip to Charleston. Ultimately tho matter was satisfactorily arranged by the bank managers. A large number of passengers left yesterday for Nelson by the Charles Edwards, to spend their Christinas holidays amid new scenes and new faces. The salo of tho Westland mining property on Saturday last, atMunro's Auction Room,

resulted in nothing very satisfactory to tho shai'eholdors. The attendance was very limited and bids languid. The mine realised .£2O, the coal lease £52, and the tools £5. Wo have received reliable information but too late to publish in this issue, that tho reported new reef at the Cascades is a myth. Our informant has ,vi»ited the reef which is an old one opened up four years ago, and there has not been two days work done on it since. The most interesting specimens to be seen at tho camp of the prospectors in a collection of empty gin bottles. The letter will appear in our next. Latest news from tho Lycli, received last evening, states that on Allen's nc'-' line, Golden Crown claim, a lender of splendid stone wag struck on Saturday lust. The claim is situated about a mile and a half to the southward of tho Little Wonder, and the stone is said to equal it in richness. On No. 2 north of Moloney's a rich leader lias been also struck. Tho Little Wonder is again about to crash in the Alpine battery. Thar own machinery has been safely landed on tho beach. In the Warden's Court on Thursday the. business was unimportant. The great social event of late has been the theatrical performances on the Lyell of Mrßurlbrd and Miss Stephenson, with some other professionals, who played four nights at the Lyell, and ono night on the reofs, drawing good houses on cadi occasion. Miss Stephenson was unfortunate on her travels. While coniiug from Eeef ton, a packhorse carrying her wardrobe, bolted, and a small box containing her stage jewellery was smashed, and its contents irretrievably spoiled. The.township is making strides, Mr Cullen lias opened a drapery store there, and is doing a good trade ; and Messrs Campbell and Murdoch have erected a commodious billiard room. The Lyell residents intend to petition for an extension of township sections. The lessees of the Ngakawhau coal mine have received notice that a wharf site, half a chain wide, has been granted them, on the Buller river bank, at the end of Broharn street. An accident happened a few days since on the Orawaiti road which proves, beyond all oft reiterated words of warning, how necessary it has become that some stringent rule should be enforced to prevent the rambling too and fro of stray horses on the streets and by-ways. A little boy, three years of .age, the son of Mr .Alexander, Chief Postmaster was violently kicked by one of these stray quadrupeds, tho result being that the poor little fellow's thigh bone was broken. Latest reports state that the sufferer is progressing favorably. Mr Vorley, whose repute for artistic taste and skilful manipulation in scientific photography has won him well deserved laurels, has returned to Wcstport, and has opened hla now studio in Palmerston street. Town residents or country visitors, who looking their best and happiest at this festive season, would e'en convey to their friends a presentment of their felicity, will do well to pay him a visit. The Hose of Eden has cleared out with a cargo of Ngakawhau coal for Piccon, where, no doubt, a ready sale will be found, and the demand for further supply induce ofher crafts, heretofore sailing hence in ballast, to take in coal as return freight. The supply coming down from the Ngakawhau has improved much of late both in quality and quantity. Messrs Seaton and Biley keeping a constant supply on hand at their new wharf. We hear that at the pit the seam has widened to eighteen feet, and opened to an angle of sixteen degrees only, instead of thirty nine as heretofore. We received from Mr W. Pitt, honorary secretary Lu the KeeUuu Exhibits Committee, a report, printed in neat pamphlet form, comprising a brief history of the Inangahua district and a description of the various claims (machinery and workings) whence exhibits have been obtained. It shows that 23 claims supplied specimens of quartz ; including the Alpine, Little Wonder, and Golden Crown claims at the Lyell. The summary of machinery erected, motive power, and cost, exclusive of claim workings in eight claims including the Alpine, is stated as follows: —Crushing power (steam) thirty heads, (water) sixty-four, and aggregate cost; £40,500. A number of copies of the pamphlet have been forwarded to Chiistckurch for distribution, and the balance will be disposed of in the district. Tho publication of this little brochure will be productive of much benefit. The business of the District Court, at Charleston comprised ono case of assault and two bankruptcy cases. In the first, Maloney against Treadwell, wherein the accused was charged with assaulting the complainant with an axe, in a dispute arising about some fencing, which!prisoner, in the act of removing off Maloney's ground as liis property, was stayed from doing by Maloney's interference, whereupon prisoner lifted an axe and made a blow at complainant, which be (Maloney) sworj would likely have killed him had he not been able to divert tbe blow with his hand. The accused was defended by Mr Shapter, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. In the two bankruptcy cases, re Andrew Wilson, and re Robert Searight, certificates were suspended and protection withdrawn for two years and one year respectively. Tho cases of John Coughlin and the Enterprise Company were adjourned until next sitting. In the civil case, Glenn Bros. v. Searight, claim for £l5B 16s lOd, judgment for amount claimed, and cost £lO 103 was recorded. The case of Gardner and Sutton v. Ching and Henderson was withdrawn, being settled out of court. At the Nelson College Sports recently held, a held a three legged race proved the most amusing event of the day, the ' Mail' says:—ln order to determine who should be coupled together, numbers in duplicate were placed in a bat, and those who drew the correponding ones were to run in pairs. The consequence was, as might have been expected, that the couples were assorted in tho most fantastic manner, without regard either to their size, power, or speed. Two of these, however, happened to comprise four of the biggest of the competitors, and they naturally went to the front, but when within a few yards of the winning post they jostled and fell, and formed a foundation for a heap of others who tumbled on the top of them, the consequence being, that one pair, for whom, the raco had seemed hopless, came in the winners. The hat that contained the numbers was on this occasion guilty of a strange freak that gave rise to not a little amusement. On tho numbers being called it wa3 found that Stafford and Luckie (not the Stafford and Luckio of the political arena, but offshoots from the parent trees) were to run together. The coalition did not prove a success. Tho boys strained every nerve, did their very best to win, but it was of no use ; Stafford and Luckie could not be made to run in double harness, and tho want of confidenco that was felt from the start in their ability to win when thus tied together by the leg was fully justified by the result. The Ro3s ' Guardian' describes a very interesting little model which Mr Warden Aylmor has prepared for the Hokitika Exhibition. It represents a section of the Morning Star Goldmining Company's ground

showing the open shaft from the surface to the lowest level worked, viz., 267 feet or sixth bottom. Commencing with the first change of stuff met with in sinking (the 110 bottom(, and the different strata shrough which the shaft pasaes, aro accurately represented by layers of the original washdirt, false bottoms, and taken from the ground ot the Morning Star, and when thus disposed, the striking contrast presented by the different colors is most remarkable. The depths of the various levels are given on the frame and furnish all information requisite to simplify the section. The whole is enclosed in a very neat red-pine case with glass front, and is made precisely according to scale.