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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1071, 13 May 1873, Page 2

, It becomes a matter for serious consideration whether tho people of Charleston and Westport should not unite in mcmoralising the Postmaster-General for a resumption of the overland mail service from Greymouth, seeing that with the bad statfe of Ihe Greyinouth bar it may be a long tiino yet btf jre any regular steam service can be again depended on, and meanwhile the Buller district is virtually cut off from postal communication with Westland, and also finds the receipt and delivory cf Australian mails seriously retarded. There should be soma action taken to ensure Melbourne steamers calling off the Buller, and abo to obtain, temporarily, a more regular mail communication with the southern ports. Nearly a fortnight hps elapsed since either

Grey or Hokitika letters reached here, and it depends altogether on the chance of a heavy rainfall and consequent fresh in the rivers, as to whoa either the Kennedy or Charles Edward will again arrive. The one being bar-bound at Hokitika, and tho other at Greytnouth. The survey party on the Nine Mile Track have completed their labors, and nothing now prevents the instant calling for tenders for the road work except the absence of the District Surveyor, whose return is daily expected. Deflnito instructions have, been forwarded by the Minister of Public Works to expedite the' commencement of operations. The number of patients in the Westport Hospital on the Ist March last was 8, and during the month 5 were admitted and 8 discharged, leaving at the end of tho month 5 patients on the'books. During the month of April 6 more were admitted and 4 discharged, leaving on the Ist of May current 7 patients in the Hospital. A correspondent writing from Larry's expresses a very favorable and unbiassed opinion of No. 2 south&s being a well defined and rich yielding reef. A drive has been put six feet or more into the reef, and the stone obtained thereffbm, as also from the leaders is very rich. -Not only is the gold found throughout the quartz proper, but a conglomerate of sandstone and slate, intermixed with particles of quartz is found also to contain coarse gold, and will evidently pay well for crushing. The Prospectors are still carrying down their shaft, but in No. 1 south, work has for the meantime been suspended. A meeting of tho Social Institute Cominitteo was held on Friday evening to arrange preliminaries for a series of entertainments during the ensuing winter season. The attendance was limited in consequence of other private meetings being then in progress, but a quorum was present sufficient to transact business. The names of several gentlemen were suggested as useful additions to the committee list, and it was decided that the persons named should be 'waited on and solicited to lend a helping hand. It was also suggested that, as tending to popularize the entertainments by an addition to the usual musical performances and readings, a dramatic club should bo formed, and an effort made to secure the services of lady amateurs. Pending the result of such efforts the meeting stands adjourned. The shareholders in the Excelsior claim have good reason to be jubilant, as very rich quartz has lately been discovored in the main reef, this stone is estimated to contain at least 3oz of gold to the ton, and 'the reef, at the place of discovery, shows a width of 3 feet, The Star Combination Company have arranged to give two performances at Addison's flat, and for Friday evening next they notify a special dramatic performance at the Masonic Hall, assisted by Westport Amateurs,

Our old familiar acquaintance, Reuben Waite, is again before the public, respecf ully pleading for signatures to his petition praying that the Provincial Council will •take into consideration his claim upon the Government for the ratification of a promise long since given him that he should be permitted to purchase certain freehold land in consideration of services rendered as pioneer of the Buller district, such land 'being part of 9000 acres, known as Waito's Pahikis, which he leased from the Nelson f "~Z r"oV-T It "V < ,' tn - r ,flenasturin« purposes. In 1867 a sudden influx of diggers led to his run being rendered useless for stock .purposes, and many of the fences and a building thereon were destroyed, and lieuben, as a matter of justice, claimed compensation from the Government. The promise was made him that ho should receive £IOO in cash, and the right to purchase 80 acres of freehold at 10s per acre. The £IOO cash has been given him, but the right to purchase the land lias not been ratified, and up to the present date the bargain is uncompleted. The petitioner estimates his loss at £IOOO by reason of the delay, and pleads that the Government having continually received revenue from the occupation of his run by miners, should fulfil the contract with himself. To this intent he petitions the Provincial Council, and, on his behalf, the principal residents in the district have also willingly appended their signatures. The Council should, during the present sitting equitably dispose of this long standing claim. The Charleston Herald says:—" Mr C. E. Button, who came from Hokitika to conduct the case for the " Dublin City " in the Warden's Court, arrived in town on Wednesday evening, having, in company with Mr Wm. Blake, walked from Greymouth the preceding day, Tmmediately after the close of the Court on Thursday afternoon he returned by the same " conveyance."

" Night hawks," alias rowdy reprobates, who deserve flogging at the cart tail, have re-commenced their pranks at Charleston, removing signs, capsizing water tanks, and generally making fools of themselves and annoying their neighbors.

A banquet was given on Thursday evening last, to Mr C. Haines of Charleston, who is leaving the district for chango of scene and air as a restorative of. waning health; Ids friends wishing to testify their respect to himself personally, and to show their appreciation of the energy and perseverance he had displayed in consummating a mining work which in a great measure has been the commercial salvation of the district. About fifty-five persona sat down to tho spread provided by Mr Weitzel, and with Mr T. Dwah in the Chair, the night was spent most enjoyably.

The time for lodging tenders for the debentures of the New Zealand Government, particulars of which appear in another column, has been extended until noon to-morrow (Wednesday), the 14th instant.

At the last monthly meeting of the Central Board of Education it was resolved that the Inspector's suggestion that Mr A. Brown, of Charleston, be recommended by the Board for the Eeefton school be adopted. It was also resolved that the Inspectors recommendations as to other changes on the West Coast schools be published, and that the Board consider them next month. The 'recommendations referred were. 1. That a subsidy of .£SO per annum be granted to the school at No-Town. 2. That an additional grant of £25 be allowed to the Ahaura school (making in all £75), on condition that an assistant teacher be encased. 3. that the subsidy at Eeefton be increased from £SO to .£73, and that a competent certified teacher be recommended by the Board. 4. That a. subsidy of .£2O be granted to the Brighton school. 5. That the subsidy to Blackett street school bd discontinued, the subsidy to St. Patrick's being increased from £75 to .£IOO, on condition that an assistant Or pupil teacher be engaged. A raining case> presenting points of gen - eral interest was heard before Mr Justice Harvey, and C. Broad, Esq., E.M., at the Eeefton E.M. Court, on the 6th instant. Louis l)avies, in the name of the Golden Bell Company sought to recover from John '

Stitt ,£lB 15s being threepenco per share on 1500 shares held by defendant in tiie company. It was pleaded by counsel for the plaintiff that the directors cf the company, of whom tho defendant was one, although exercising their power to make calls, had subsequently refused to pay their Own quota, and omitted or declined to perform the duties necessary to establish tho legality of the claim against themselves. It was alleged that on the I9th March last, at a meeting of directors, tha defendant being present, a call of three pence per share was resolved on, and the call was afterwards duly advertised, but none of the directors responded. Subsequently a meeting of directors was called by the manager, Davies, but none attended, and the minutes of the meeting, whereat the call was made, had not been signed in accordance with the rules of the company. In evidence it appeared that the eouqjauy held no ground, tho area held originally by some of the members under miner's rights not having been leased as at first projected, and that the company had ceased to mine since August last. Incidentally it also appeared that the money sued for was needed by the legal manager to pay his own claim for salary, and to wind up the company. The Court ruled that the fact of Stitt being a director, and authorising the call or instructing the manager to sue other parties, would not bo an estoppel to his raising objections to pay the call himself, and counsel for tho defence apjjlied for non-suit on two grounds, firstly, that the minutes had not been signed as required by the statute, and, secondly, that there was no proof of the call having been made by competent persons. The Court overruled the second point on the ground that counsel had been stopped from giving evidence in respect to the appointment of directors, but held that the first point raised was fatal, further giving an opinion that no call could be enforced that was made for the purpose of winding up the company. Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted. A correspondent of the Examiner, writing from Anatori, complains of the delay in proclaiming that district a goldfield, the present state of affairs being most unsatisfactory to all concerned—especially to those who have already payable stone to work, and to those who, having obtained other reefs, are unwilling to open them until certain of protection for their ground. It is said the reef lately opened up there contains gold in payable quantities. Some of it, crushed from a heap already stacked, yielding at the rate of 1920zs to the ton. The value of advertising is exemplified by the Thames Advertiser recently making special note of the fact that " a gentleman by the name of Straehan, announces himself in the Westport Times as Physiognomic Operator and Professor of the Tonsorial Art."

The Evening Post has been compelled, in self defence to publish the times at which its telegraphic messages are lodged at the different stations and delivered in Wellington, in order to show that the complaints made about the unreasonable delays in the Telegraph Department are not without grounds. It would be well if every paper in the Colony adopted the same course.

The last advices from Hokitika stated that the promoters of the Westland Steam and Freight Company had placed shares to the extent of £12,000, out of the proposed capital of £15,000, and that a speedy commencement of operations may be anticipated.

In reply to «, *oie S m. m forwarded by the Aelson Inland Communication Committeo to the Superintendent of Canterbury, that gentleman expresses himself in favor of a through line joinmg the Canterbury Northern line with the West Coast, but not iu favor of giving land. A deputation has been appointed to proceed to Ohristehurcb. and consult with the Canterbury Government on the subjoet. Petitions are being extensively signed in and around Nelson against the proposed amendment of the Educational Act, whereby it is sought to repeal the provisions in clause 37 for permitting instruction in the Scriptures being given, subject to the sanction and control of the Local Committees. The petitioners deprecate, as unnecessary and inexpedient in the highest degree, such a fundamental change in the system, " believing that it would alienate very many of the warmest friends and most zealous supporters of the existing Act, and deprive it of that general acceptance which contributes to its vigorous utility and permanence."

The Nelson Colonist very pertinently puts the question, What becomes of the large sum voted annually for "Charitable Aid" by the Nelson Provincial Council, and who receives it ?" The writer says:— Surely we cannot have among ns any so poor as to require "'Charitable Aid" from the taxes of their fellow colonists, and yet so ungrateful as to despise the hand that helped. Why then wo ask again is all this mystery observed with reference to the expenditure of a vote which last year amounted to .£1700?

The Herald says:—" In connection with the recent most satisfactory yields from Anderson's mine, we may state that tho blanket washings were untouched, the same lying stacked until the berdan is ereeted. Hud the gold been extracted from them the result would have been fully lOOOoz." Referring to the recent abject apology made by the proprietor of the llcss News, the Wanganui Chronicle says:—" It is just possible that the fear of being cast for heavy damages may have made the unfortunate man swallow so nauseating a dose, which we should imagine had been specially prepared for his deglution by the plaintiff's Solicitor. The New Zealand law of libel sadly needs amending, as it stands now a man of straw can commence a costly action against an outspoken journalist and make him go to great expense in defending the suit, which, the plaintiffs Solicitors have perhaps taken on spec, after the manner of Dodson and Fogg of Pickwickian notoriety. If the plaintiffs had to deposit a reasonable sum to cover the defendants costs in case the latter obtained a verdict we should hear less of actions for Libel and the moral atmosphere would be none the worse of tho purging."

Some mining works of more than ordinary magnitude has been nearly completed in IheOkarito district by a party of twelve working men known as Graham and party, at the Saltwater Beach. They have built a dam across the creek, about 200 feet wide, and consisting of piles about three feet apart, and closely boarded, the seams being battened and the whole structure strengthened by diagonal stays. The dam being further protected by fascines and crates. The bye-wash has a wooden platform ninety feet wide by fifty feet long, laid on sleepers placed upon piles, and with sides standing up Beven feet six inches high, boarded and battened throughout. The sluice openings are forty in number. The work which has taken twenty months to accomplish, will enable the enterprising company t© work at all seasons.

A Hobart Town schoolmaster whose Services had been dispensed with by tho Education Board, endeavored to persuade

his masters to rescind their determination I by this appeal.—"After being thirteen years in this department, where upon, earth can I expect employment?" Tho Board did not attempt to answer tho question. 'This is tho question which would most unquestionably occur to nine out of every ten of the civil servants of New Zealand were they placed in a similar predicament. The township of Hoss seems as dangerous a locality as even Westport t for nocturnal peregrinations. The News cf the 22nd. says a yoiing woman, owing to the darkness, walked into a shaft which is about 50 feet deep. Fortunately, the residents of the neighborhood heard her cries, and rushed to her assistance, when, after some little difficulty, a rope was procured, and a miner was lowered down the shaft, to send the poor girl up. The hauling prOcess was speedily effected by a dozen willing hands, and it was found that, although she was very much cut, no sei'ious injury was tho result of the accident.

A correspondent to the Nelson Mail, writing about Picton says : —" Thinking that the experience cf the Pictonians in the matter of wharf building might at some future date be useful to us in Nelson, where a similar structure will soon be needed, I made inquires as to the material used, and the cost of its construction. The old wharf had proved to the satisfaction of all conoerned that birch piles were of no use whatever, as they were speedily penetrated and eaten away by the worms, but, accidentally or otherwise,—how it occurred no one seemed to know,—a totara pile had been driven in among the others, and this, it was found on examination, was perfectly sound and in good condition, not having been touched by the destructive insect in any part. Acting upon this knowledge the authorities decided upon having nothing but the heart of totara in the -piles that support the new wharf.

The latest move to encourage immigration is a notice appearing in the General Government Gazette, that a bonus of five shillings for every male, and ten shillings for every female, will be paid to persons obtaining nominations of emigrants to this Colony. The person introducing an applicant who wishes, or can be induced to apply to any immigration officer to arrange for bringing out one or more friends from the Home Countries, will receive a certificate in each case, and on the arrival of the emigrants nominated will be entitled to receive the bonus.