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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1074, 23 May 1873, Page 2

Mails for the northern provinces close to-day, 23rd instant, per Wallace at 5 p.m. The Suez mail was expected to arrive at Hokitika on Wednesday last by coach from Christehurch. The Albion having left Tort Chalmers, with the mails on board, for Lyttelton, on Friday at 5 p.m. The Wallace will bring on the Westport portion to-day. It will be observed that tenders are at last called for the Jfine Mile Eoad, and that plans and specifications will be ready on Monday nest. The prospect cf the work being speedily commenced will have quite a cheering effect in Westport, for apart from the permanent good to arise from opening up easy access to the country for a few miles inland, the expenditure on the work will cause the circulating medium to move a little more freely than of late, and thus lessen in a degree the dulness of the wiuter season. Taught by past experience men of business will be chary of trusting too confidingly in the promises of middle men, and if called on to provide means to carry on the work, will first secure repayment. It would perhaps best suit both employers and employed if the Government determined to employ labor to do the work under the supervision of a competent foreman of works. Some security would be then given that the road would be well made and mercantile men would run no risk of bjin" cioated by unprincipled or careless contract tors. The Coal Committee were .successful yesterday in placing in the local market nearly all the Albion Company shares reserved for this place. Out of LIO.OOO worth r,OO )0 have been subscribed for, and the balance will in all probability be taken up today as the canvass of the town is not yet completed. Uncertainty as to whether the directors will favor the railway scheme ■done prevents treble the quantity of shares be :ng applied for. An immense programme hac been issuel for the performance to-morrow at th°

Masonic. ' Tragedy, Comedy, Song, and Dance, will be presented, and the Hall should be crowded.

A comfortable tram carriage with cover overhead and cushioned seats) built to carry twenty passengers, has been put on Olive's tramway, running along Palmers ton street, and travels to and fro at regular intervals. Persons whose business compels them to visit the Upper Township may now get over the distance speedilv and with comfort.

The estimates laid before the Nelson Provincial Council show an anticipated revenue of £34,000 troni the Goldfields. exclusive of capitation allowance, laud fund, education rate, and revenue from the Brunner Coalmine, The proposed items of expenditure on the Goldfields are " Maintenance of roads and bridges, L 3500; road Hope to Inangahua Junction, L 3500; horse road, Lyell Creek, L4OO ; horse road, Reeftoc to Black's Point, L 350 j dray road or tramway, Black's Point to head of Murray Creek, L 1000; dray road to No Town, L.200 ; foot tracks, L 400; district roads, LSOO ; streets, and local improvements, LGBO j Pour-mile bridge, Charleston, L 15 0; harbors, &c, L4OO, buildings, L 100 0; cemeteries, L2OO. Total, L 12,780." The revenue is not likely to reach the estimated amount, nor, judging from past experience, will the expenditure on -Public Works reach the very modest total stated.

The assessment of the value of sections within the town of Greymouth required for the Brunner railway, will be made by Messrs Smith. M.C.C., and lloos, who have been appointed by the Colonial Government for that purpose.

The Grey Valley Times says:—lt may not be generally known that New Zealand lance wood, which grows in almost every part of the West Coast bush, and which is very abundant here, it is one of the very finest timbers in the world for veneering, and for the manufacture of violins and other musical instruments. It is capable of receiving the highest polish, and from the fineness and delicate beauty of its grain is peculiarly adapted for the manufacture of cabinet work. As a sample of its capability in the manufacture of violins, we have been shown an instrument made by Mr Bl'Oueon, of Noble's Gully, Upper Grey, and * which is stated by competent judges to be the most brilliant-toned violin in the colony ! Some months since Mr M'Queen forwarded to Mr J. E. Wright, for many years a resident o": Hokitika, but now one of the most extensive dealers in music and musical instruments in Melbourne, one of his violins, in order that it might be submitted to the judgment of Victorian musicians ; and by the last mail received back the pleasing intelligence that it had gained the very highest place in the estimation of the profession, and this announcement was accompanied with an order for several similar instruments.

The promoters of the Westland Steam and Freight Company have so far achieved success. A telegram was received yesterday stating that all shares therein had been taken up.

At the last half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand shareholders, held at at Auckland, the report showing the result of operations for the half-year ending 31st March, stated the net profits at that date, after making provisions for bud and doubtful debts and appropriations, to be £37,293 18s 6d, which, with £S,SGO 5s undivided profit at the 3oth September, left £46,154 3s (id available for division. The following" appropriation was recommended :—A dividend at the rate of ten per cent per annum, equal to £30,000, a bonus of 2s lid per share, .£7,500, and balance carried to profit and loss new account .CB,'j,i-i as 0.1. The aggregate balance sheet at 3!st March, including London Office Balances at 01st December 1573 shows Debtor account: Bank stock, £000,000; Reserve fund, £180,000; Notes in circulation, £357,257 ; Bills in circulation, £ 1,132,096 16s 2d; Deposits and other liabilities, £3,135,09-1 17s sd; Balance of profit and loss account at 30th September, 1575, £8,860 5s ; Net profit for half-year' £37,293 18s (id. The credit items being' Coin and cash balances, £G7S,ill 7s 8d; Bullion on hand and in transitu, £495,668 15s; Government securities, £3-1.7,528 Ms 3d ; Notes and bills on other banks, £4,074 14s I0d; Landed property, £23,196 8s 4d; Bank premises, furniture, and stationery' £72/21(5 3s sd; Insurance account, £2,703 4s Id; Bills receivable, bill discounted, and other debts due to the Bank. (id.

The township of Greenstone has been Gazetted, and the boundaries defined a? containing eleven acres, more or less, opposite the old Greenstone Township. The Grey Argus of the 13th says:—" We are happy to be able to state that Mr Deniston, who is employed by Dr Hector in prospecting for coal on the Westland side of the river reports the discovery of another seam in addition to that announced last week. This new seam is described as 8 feet thick, very good hard clear coal, with a westerly dip of 50 cleg. This cannot be considered otherwise than very satisfactory, and although the dip of both seams is very sharp, yet it is quite poseible that they will improve in this respect when further followed u.

A telegram, appears in the Sydney Morning Herald, as to the results of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, during the year 1873. The figures are taken from the report presented at the twentyfourth annual meeting of the Society. The report was unanimously adopted. The total number of new policies issued during the year was 2922, assuring the sum of' £1.003,000 on new premiums. The revenue for the year was upwards of £42,000; claims paid, including bonus additions, amounted to £j 1,000 ; the amount of receipts over total disbursements, showed a balance of £IOB,OOO ; the accumulated and invested funds are £1,133,000; and the gross annual revenue is now £252,G00. MiGeorge Falla is the local agent for Westport.

The Greymouth Star reports that the Grey channel is again in exctiient condition, there being ten to twelve feet of water on the bar at high tide. We learn that the Hokitika bar is with the recent north-west winds getting silted up. The Wellington Education Board has by arrangement, taken over the Roman Catholic City Schools. The new series of Irish National School books only are to be used for secular instruction, and half an hour at the commencement of each day's duty to be devoted to religious instruction, children's attendance thereat being optional with parents. On the 13th instant, says the Star, an inmate of the Greymouth Hospital named Alexander Allen, loft the institution unobserved at 10 o'clock in the morning, and walked to the wharf apposite Tainui street, where he threw oft' his coat, laid down his crutches and sprang into the river. Being observed by some persons near the wharf, no time was lost in giving the alarm, and two boatmen immediately proceeded with their boats to the man's rescue. Ho appeared to bo an excellent swimer as he floated and swam for some distance on his back. When the boats reached him he got quietly over the gunwale of one of them '

and w:i3 taken to tho Whito Horse Hotel. Ho has been a patient iu the hospital for sovoral months, having reached there from Nelson Creek with a fractured ancle. For some time past ho has shown symptoms of mental weakness, and has, in consequence, been more carefully watched than any of the other inmates of the institution. A. Masonic Ball will be held this evening at Greymouth in the new.Masonic Hall.

The mining manager and hands wox-kinjj the Ajax Company's Claim Murray Creek have established a hospital fund, which is to be contributed to at the rate of 2s per man every monthly pay day. Already .£5 •10s has been subscribed. Tho example might be well followed. The Napier papers have entered into discussion as to the relative merit:-! of Greymouth and Waikato coal. The Herald arguing that t'.ie latter coal is fairly entitled to the first olace as regards quality, while the Telegraph asserts that the brown hydrous coal of Waikato. can in no wise be considered as valuable as the anhydrous coal obtained at the Grey. Strangely enough the whole argument has arisen from the good report of the quality of the Ngakawln.u coal recently discharged from the schooner Cynthia, at Wellington, another cargo of the samn coal having been ordered for Napier. The rival editors are evidently not too well \ osted up in New Zealand geography, and do not know that the Ngakawhau river is nearer Napier by eight hours steaming than the Grey river. The Hokitika Evening Star advocates the formation of a local gas company. The Brighton Hibernian Society has made a donation of a 5 to the funds of the Charleston Hospital. The recent heavy rain did some damage to the roads thiough the Grey Valley. A slip on the main Grey Valley road, between Alabaster's Hotel, opposite Brunnerton and the Stillwater Creek, stopped the traffic on Saturday evening last, and caused the detention of the down-country mails which should have arrived on Saturday, until Sunday afternoon. Both the up and down coaches were stopped, but on the Sunday Messrs Ashtou and Cassidy, at their own expense, put on a gang of men and reopened the traffic. The Greymouth Star reports that a fatal accident occurred on Saturday at Eielly's Gully, in the Arnold district. Two men, named Maliehi Conlon and John Dougherty, who have been working in the locality for the last three years, have recently been ground-sluicing the bed of the left-hand branch of Kielly's Creek. The creek is very narrow and coufined between high and almost perpendicular walls of reef Conlon was at work by himself, his mate being at his hut, unwell with the ell'ects of an accident at the same place the previous day. At about three o'clock in the afternoon a crash was heard, and on the parties working in the neighborhood going to where Conlon was last seen alive, they found the place buried under several tons of fallen earth. The stuff came from one of the overhanging banks of tho creek. After a long search, and the clearing away of rubbish, the body of Conlon was found completely smashed, and with the life crushed out of it. The deceased was 32 years of age, and a native of Q.uiu, County Clare, Ireland. Proceedings have been instituted for the compulsory winding up of the Golden Hill Quartz Mining Company, and a general meeting of creditors will beheld on the 28th instant.