The Westport Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1873.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1040, 24 January 1873, Page 2

The Westport Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1873.

So many attempts have been made from time to time in Westport to obtain redress for local grievances by memorialising those holding authority, and so little actual good has resulted from the efforts of the memorialists, that the bare mention of yet another petition will be sufficient to evoke stroug expressions of contempt for all constituted authority, and disinclination to take the trouble of putting pen to paper. But even as there at present exists no other medium whereby the wishes or claims of this isolated and long neglected community can be represented in the proper quarters, howsoever futile may have been all previous efforts, it is still meet that we should not altogether discard the instrument, inefficient though it may be, or abandon all attempt to obtain justly sought for privileges. There is even now a subject that demands instant action, concerning as it does the interest and convenience of every resident in Westport. We allude to the position of the Post and Telegraph Offices, and the probable chance of the business being shortly transferred to the buildings now erected on the new township site. The temporary offices at present in use, facing Cobden street, are most conveniently situated for the requirements of the entire population of Westport, and form a centre around which all the principal business premises of the town will be very shortly gathered. It might have been that had the Provincial authorities acted with ordinary businesslike promptitude in carrying out the resolutions of the Council as to forming the new township, and offering inducements to settlement thereon, the majority of the mercantile men of Westport would have gone there en masse, and following in their footsteps, the rest of the resident population would have removed there habitations also. But the uncertain and snail-like pace of departmental routine but ill-accords with the exigencies of every day commerce. The trading community of Westport could not afford to wait and watch through an indefinite period the slow progress of government works, and they have in point of fact almost process of road making and the removal of government buildings to the new site has slowly proceeded. The consequence is that the Court House, Custom House, and other public buildings erected on the reserve facing the extension of Palmerston street, are secluded from the business portion of the town, and will not in all probability be surrounded by anything beyond suburban residences for some years to come. In view of the probability that the postal authorities, if not made cognizant of the real facts of the case, will shortly give instructions for the discontinuance of the use of the present office, we counsel that an instant memorial should be signed praying that until the new township site becomes more fully inhabited than it is likely to be under present circumstances, the use of the temporary office opposite Cobden street may be continued. It is not an ornamental or imposing structure, but its utility in the present position is unquestioned.

The crushing of the Little Wonder stone yielded, from 75 tons, oOlbs weight of gold, which has been lodged in the Bank of Now Zealand, YVestport. The stone put through was ono third slate and casing. Messrs Bull and Bond, the contractors for removal of the Government Buildings acting under instructions from the Warden have placed tlio Athenaeum building on Nelson street, facing towards Talmerston street. A position that will admirably suit the convenience of subscribers living in any part of the town. Several claims on new alluvial ground have been taken up during the past few days, in the timber belt between the Pahikis and the beach to the north of the Orawaiti, about four miles from Westport. The prospects are said to be good and the sinking easy. A small pile of locally made bricks have been stacked for a day or two at the end of Lyttelton street, near the signal staff. They are creditable specimens of local industry, and although hardly as well baked as the bricks of Nelson manufacture, would be found equally as serviceable for many kinds of work. The following letter has been handed us for publication. It will interest the former holders of freehold sections :—Superintendent's office Nelson, 13th. January, 1873j Sir,—ln reply) to your letter of the loth instant, I am directed to inform you that the Provincial Government have not sufficient sections at their disposal to carry out their intentions for relief of freeholders in Westport, whose property was washed away, without further authority from the Provincial Council. Ton will therefore iiave to wait until the meeting of the Council like other persons who are in a similar position.—l am &c, Geo. Hodgson, Clerk.—-To Mr John Kafferty, Westport, An accident occurred at Christy's on Tuesday morning, resulting in the loss of a horse, the property of Chailes Lyons. The person who had the horse at the timo wished to cross the river, and an attempt was mode to tow the animal across stream in the usual way behind a canoe. The currentwaa so strong.l and the horso probably frightened and unwilling, that the men in the boat were unable to make headway, and

had to let go the horse, upon the chance of its swimming') ashore. The chance was against its doing so, and the last seen of the animal was its rapid disappearance over tho falls. A correspondent at the Lyell refers to what evidently is a well-founded cause of complaint, as to the present mail service, and it would be well if a few of our leading merchants, who are as muoh interested in the matter as the Lyell residents, would consult with the Chief-Postmaster as to remedying to some extent the. inconvenience complained of. The short time allowed the Lyell people for replying to their correspondence arises from the mailman, who lives at.the Junction, carrying the mail up to the Lyell, and waiting there just an hour or so for the the return mail; but it does not appear that there is any absolute necessity for the interval between the arrival and despatch of tho mails being limited to something less than two hours. The 'Charleston Herald' says:—"The very handsome sum of L 33 5s Id has been added to the funds of the Hospital, being the net realisation of the lato Amateur entertainment in aid of tho funds of the Charleston Hospital. The public will, no doubt, feel highly gratified to learn that so unusually large a sum has been secured from the gross receipts, and consequently will not be slow in again patronising those gentlemen who have husbanded their offerings so carefully, and laid it out to such advantage. Westport amateurs might, with profit to themselves and the public, take a leaf from the book of their Charleston friends. The 'Nelson Mail' of the 17th instant, says:—" A woman named Mary Ann Woodman, from Westport, charged with manslaughter, was brought up before the Judge of the Supreme Court this morning under circumstances of a rather peculiar nature. Some short time since she was tried at the District Court for a violent assault on one Catherine Macarthy, convicted and sentenced to two years penal servitude. Shortly after sentence was passed, Macarthy died from the effects of the wounds inflicted upon her, and a coroner's inquest was held, when Woodman was committed for trial for manslaughter at the Circuit Court, the sittings of which have just terminated. She was sent up to Nelson, and this morning brought before the JJudge, when the Crown Prosecutor applied for a remand until the next sitting of the Court as the jury panel had been dismissed. The prisoner not objecting, she was remanded accordingly. The merits and demerits of the rival candidates in the Inangahua district, for election of the Provincial Councial have been freely commented on in the Eeefton paper. One correspondent expresses an opinion in which he is not singular. He says he does not believe that a man entering the political world of Nelson requires to be endowed with large legislative capacity, as the majority of the Nelson Provincial Council members are below the average standard of intelligence. We learn from tho ' West Coast Times' that the Government steamer Luna called off Hokitika without crossing the bar, and Mr Harper and Mr Eeid were landed on the South Spit in the ships's boat. The latter brought ashore a letter from Dr Hector to the Hon. J. A. Bonar, from which we have been permitted to extract the following:— " I must defer my inspection of the Kanieri Coal-mine till after my return to Wellington. My plans were arranged to have crossed from Ohristehurch, but I had to Seize me - -r-ioitlag- -P-Qsoi-r(vtiorw Inlet Coal-mine, or I might not of had another opportunity, and I havu promised to report on the coal working there for several years. So much time has been occupied with this trip that I must return to Wellington for a short time. I hope you will explain this to the Coal Committee, and inform them that I will lose no time iu returning to the Coast. We have had a good trip, good weather, and fair winds. I spent several days at the coal-mines at Preservation Inlet. The Luna got aground in Milford Sound, but no damage was done to the vessel; it was only a few days' detention, but the time was very well spentJ" Lights on board the Luna were sighted Charles Edward on the night of the 13th, and the Luna evidently bore the full force of the gale then prevailing. The statement that tho Honorable John Hall intended to resign his seat before the next sitting of the Asssmbly, has been authentically contradicted by the * Post,' which says:—The Hon. Mr Hall doe's intend at somo time to visit England on purely private business, but when is still a matter of uncertainty. Should ho be in the Ministry when that time comes he will resign his seat, and to that extent only is the rumor correct. The Wellington 'Post' says:—ln the very heart of the Government Buildings, a large strong room is being built, the wallsof which are of brick, and about two feet in thickness. At one side an opening is to be seen, sufficient to allow, with some difficulty, egress to a man, and above it, in largo printed letters, appears the following startling announcement:—"For members only." It is iu the lobby of the Parliament houses. Two sections of tho " Public Health Act, 1872," are published in the Gazette for general information. The one makes it compulsory on medical practitioners to report to tho local board any cases of highly infectious or contagious disease coming professionally under their notice, under a penalty not exceeding L 10; and the other provides for householders giving similar notice of cases occurring in houses occupied by them, under forfeiture of a sum not exceeding LlO. The General Government Gazette of the 9th instant contains the following notification referring to the Post-office service:— Noticejis hereby given, that from and after the first day of January, 1873, all Postoffices in New Zealand [will be closed on Sundays. When mails arrive on Saturdays, after the ordinal y hour for closing, Ja delivery will be made from the window for one hour during the same evening, and mails arriving on Sundays will be sorted early on Monday morning, and bo ready for delivery by the ordinary hour for opening the offices.—Signed, John Hall, (in the absence of Mr Vogel.) We have received a copy of a small pamphlet printed at the «' Bay of Plenty Times," and entitled "A Guide to the Hot Lakes, by a traveller. Tho description of the trip is good and readable, and will prove of use to intending tourists. The printing of the little brochure is better than could be expected in such an out-of-the-way corner of New Zealand.

" Figures won't lie," is not supposed to apply to a fashionable woman's figure. " Alabany has four hundred dwelling houses and four hundred inhabitants, all standing with their gable ends to the street." So we read in a school geography not long ago.