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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1080, 13 June 1873, Page 2

The appointment of Messrs Dobson and Giles to allot sections to claimants has given very general satisfaction. From the first there seemed no necessity whatever for the services of a special Commissioner, to be despatched from Nelson, nor had the method adopted on the last occasion when sections were allotted engendered any very wide spread feelings of content or confidence. The appointment of two local authorities, cognisant of the merits of individual claims, and who will exercise the functions of their office impartially, without " fear, favor, or affection," ;is just, what Westport people have desired. Mr Higginson, the Civil Engineer deputed by the Minister of Public Works, to report on the projected working of the Coalfield by Eailway or otherwise, arrived by the Wallace, and on Wednesday went up to the Ngakawhau in company with the Provincial Engineer. Telegrams have been forwarded from hence to the Minister of Public Works, asking that Mr Higginson might be instructed to also report officially as to the present condition of the Buller river, and the best method of protecting the town from further encroachment. A request that no doubt will be acceded to. At a preliminary meeting held on Monday evening last, to consider the advisability of memorialising the General Government for assistance in protecting the port from further sea or river encroachment, it was decided that a memorial should be drafted, and a public meeting thereafter convened to discuss the subject in all its points and bearings. Wc hear that such meeting will be held within a day or two.

The aoooptcd toniloi-B for woi'k on the Nino Mile road are—Section 1, Patrick Burke's; section 2, T. Watson's j" section 3, James Olive's.

At the last monthly meeting o£ the Nelson Central Board of Education a claim made by the Westport Committee for repayment of a debt of «£lO 9s Gd, which was incurred without the sanction of the Board, was disallowed, ,C 3 10s only being granted, and it was resolved, on the motion of Mr Rout, that the Westport Committee be cautioned not to incur liabilities without fie previous sanction of the Board beyond those which may be met by their incidental fuDd, The members of the Board present at the meeting were—Messrs Barnicoat, ( chairman), Campbell, Bout, Shephard, Wastney, Crosswcll, Tarrant, Rose, Simmons, Sharp, Kelling, Tarrant, Burn, Jessop, Smith, Wigzell, Thorpe, and Tunnicliff. Instructions have been sent to Collectors of Customs throughout the Colony to provent the exportation coastwise, except as dutiable goods, of the small pieces of iron punched out of boiler plates, the authorities having reason to snppose that disaffected natives are collecting them to serve in lieu of bullets for rifles.

A call of three pence per scrip has been made in tho Invincible. It is intended to extend the tunnel 150 feet further.

The holding of the Revision Court has been postponed until the arrival of the Revising Officer. The exact date is very doubtful, Mi- E. J. Lee having passed on to Nelson per "Wallace on Tuosday morning. The Post Offices at Ahaura, Ashburton, and Hurunui, have been appointed offices for the transaction of Money Order and Savings Banks business. Th'j memorandum of association of the Hokitika Gas Company has been registered under the Joint Stock Companies Act. Intending applicants will observe that all claims for sections must be eemt in to Messrs Giles and Dobson to-morrow.

Calls have been made of one penny in the Band of Hope, twopence in the Just iu Time, and eightpence in the Caledonian. At the last sitting of the Court of Appeal, the conviction in the case Regina v. Mary Ann Woodman, for manslaughter at Westport, was confirmed, An enterprising barber of Nelson advertises that Mr Eugene Joseph O'Conor's protegee, the " Rose of Inangahua, can have her hair cut gratis, (usual charge sixpence.") Residents at Addison's will have an opportunity during the next few days of availing themselves of Mr Vorley's services as photographer, he having opened his studio for a short time next Mr Lamplough's store. The chance of having portraits taken so near home will no doubt be gladly made the most of, and Mr Vorley's many new improvements in photography brought into busy requisition. Owners of claims also will now havo an opportunity of obtaining for transmission to their friends, faithful pictures of the localities from whence, sooner or later, they each expect to derive a homeward bound pile. Should sufficient inducement offer Mr Vorley intends arranging for the publication of a series of views, representing tho Addison's workings, in some one or more of the colonial illustrated papers. The Nelson Evening Mail referring to the recent amusing discussion in the Coun* cil on the question, introduced by Mr O'Conor, of setting aside a block of land for the first white Rose that budded in the Inangahua Valley says:—"Neither York nor Lancaster ever produced a blossom surrounded by so many thorns as was this flower of the Inangahua, and Mr O'Conor, recognising the many difficulties that stood in the way of attaining hia object, wisely

rotired from the field leaving his Kose in statu quo. It is said, with what proof we know not, that the mover of the resolution was heard to mutter as he left the Council Chamber n'y a poini rose sans epine.