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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1082, 20 June 1873, Page 2

Wo remind dwellers Within the Municipality, electors and non-electors, that the nomination day for Municipal Councillors is fixed for the 7th July proximo, just seventeen days hence. Little time enough to arrange preliminaries for the coining contest. If contest is int3nded. A meeting of tho Coal and Railway Committo? was held on Tuesday, and, amongst other business, it was decided that an agent should be at once employed to obtain signatures to tho memorial to the General Government, asking for protection of the river bank, as necessary to any expansion of tho coal trade ; and it was also decided that tho deputation to Wellington should be sent away as soon as tho necessary funds had been raised by public subscription or otherwise. A telegram from the Town Clerk of Hokitika to Judge Harvey, who had kindly made enquiry on behalf of the Committee, was received, stating that tho cost of the protective works at Hokitika had been jEI 18 per chain for totara piles and sheathing, and three and sixpence per yard for brushwood. The cost of the work hiving been increased by the necessity of rragging tho piles from, the bush for distances varying from sis to twelve miles, and also by the high rate of wages then prevailing. It was calculated that the cost of similar works in Westport at tho present time would not exceed i; 80 per chain, and thus a comparatively small outlay would protect the bank from the spit downward, until the formation of a railway to the Ngahawhau afforded means of gradual replacement of the wooden structure by a permanent stone embankment, It was suggested also that an effort should be made to get the Honorable Julius Vogel and the Minister for Public Works to visit the port and Ngakawhau. Tho request of the Hokitika Railway Committee, that the Westport Committee should co-operate in agatating for the extension of a main trunk line of railway, connecting Nelson with Greymouth, Hokitika, Christchurch, Diinedin, and the Bluff, was also discusssed and the conclusion arrived at was, that while concurring in the opinion as to the feasibility of the scheme, and favoring the proposal that tho West Coast representatives in tho General Assembly should be at one in its promotion, the efforts of the Westport Committee would be best devoted to effecting the intention for which the Committee was elected, namely, the construction of the Ngakawhau railway. That accomplished, the Committee might then adopt a. wider scope of action and endeavor to obtain tho connecting link of railway between Westport and the lnangahua, and thus work harmoniously with the promoters of the general scheme of inland communication.

An extraordinary mooting of the shareholders of the Excelsior Company, Lyell, will be held at the Post Office Hotel Westport, on the 30th hist., when the following matters will bo brought under consideration.—To increase the capital ; to purchase and erect machinery; to empower the directors to borrow money on behalf of the company.

John Thomas, a seaman who had beon employed on board the Cynthia, was committed on Monday last for six months imprisonment with hard labor, for having attempted to steal a shirt from the shop of iMr Eobart Why to, in Lyttelton street. The contract for fencing', clearing, and otherwise improving the Orawaiti Cemetery has been completed, and visitors there ui 1 remark a decided change in the once desolate and neglected aspect of God's acre. The replanking of the Orawaiti bridge will be commenced to-morrow, and the contractor has expressed his intention of pushiug on the work expeditiously. Saturday last, the 14th instant, was the day appointed by the Superintendent, in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, for the election, throughout the several districts, of members to fill vacancies in the local committees of education. We have heard of no election in Westport, and therefore presume that no vacations have occurred in the School Committee heretofore holding office. It may possibly occur to some interested in the matter, that if the date of election had beon advertised locally, no one would have accused tho Provincial Secretary of needlossly expending public money. No precise intimation has come to hand that tho sittings of tho Nelson Provincial Council closed on Saturday last, but the fact that the West Coast are reported on their way back, some by sea and some by land, may be accepted as proof that tho annual farce is conclude:!. Very unsatisfactory news comes to hand from ttoofton. Doubts, fears and perplexities, long prevailing as to the meagre results likely to accrue from somo of the erstwhile favorite claims on Shiel's line are being unpleasantly verified. It is said on good authority, that tho last crushing of some 300 tons of stone in tho Band of Hope yielded only 25 ounces, or thereabouts, and the result of tho last crushing in the Ajax claim is ominously kept secret. The impression is confirmed that the reefs on Shiel's line can only be profitably worked from the Murray Creek level.

The Colonial Government havo given an order for a quantity of Otago made twine for uso in the departments.

A raid has been made among the Greymouth tradespeople for unlicensed storage of kerosene. Tho informations were dismissed from non-observance of legal formalities in testing the contents "of the packages.

The Greymouth Star says prospects at the Orwell Crcok are improving, and that in about two months fourteen claims will bo in full work there. Storekeepers and butchers are shifting from Napoleon Hill to the now Topsy townslup. Cheap prices for meat aro ruling at the Lyell. Prices quoted for beef ranging from 3£d to Gd. Hotel a.nd restaurant keepers getting their supplies at 5d all round.

The late flood did considerable damago at the Matakitaki. Nearly a foot of sand has been deposited on some of tho bost grass in tho district.

Tho Monte Christo Company is to bo at once registered under tho Limited Liability Act. '

Tho following aro somo maxims by a Quaker printer:—-'Never send thou an article for publication without giving the editor thy name, for thy name often-timed secures publication. Never do thou loaf

about a printing office, ask questions, or knock down type, or the boys will love you as they do shade trees—when thou leaveth. Thou shouldst never read the copy on the printers case, or the composer thereof may knock thee down. Never inquire thou of the editor for the news, for behold it is his business at the appointed time to give it to thee without asking. It is not right that thou shouldst ask him who is the author of an article, for it is his duty to kecx> such things unto himself. When thou dost enter his office, take heed unto thyself that thou dost not look at what may be lying open and concerncth theo not, for that is not meet in the sight of good breeding. Neither examine thou the proof sheet, for ■it is not ready to meet thine eye that thou mayest understand." The last crushing of the "Wealth of Nations stone, realised 234 ounces from 290 tons.

Shocks of earthquake were felt in Nelson, White's Bay, Foxton, Wanganui, Patea, Hawera, and Opunake, almost simultaneously on the twelfth inst. Messrs Pindlay and How'arth of Hokitika are about to place a locomotive on their tramway to bring in logs from the bush. It is being built at the Vulcan Foundry, Dunedin. It will weigh when ready for work five tons, and will be capable of travelling at from seven to twelve miles an hour.

The Dunedin correspondent of the Grey River Argus says that " in an empty shop in Princes street there is on exhibition a hairless horse, having a skin as smooth as velvet, resembling india-rubber, which was lately caught in the wilds of Queensland!!"

A circul&r from the Homo Government, dated_ 28th February, 1873, informs the Colonial Governments '* that the National Assembly of Spain has adopted for the National Colors of the Republic the old Flag of Spain—a horizontal stripe of yellow between two stripes of red, but without the Royal Cross, which was previously inserted on the yellow ground. The notification is accompanied by a request that the fact will be published for general information. The proposed new Goldfields Act repealing the now existing Act of 1866, and amendments, is in the hands of the Government Printer. It is said to be a most voluminous document. Among other matters, it provides that one Miner's Right should be applicable to the whole of the Colony, but that that document shall no longer constitute an element of title, but shall be considered only as a source of revenue. Water licences are to be issued for a term not exceeding fifteen years, and a yearly rental of 10s per sluice-head per annum will be charged to the holders of such licences. The bill makes provision for the setting aside by the Government of land for the formation of sludge-channels, and for the deposit of tailings. The bill also proposes a somewhat simple form of mortgage to enable the owners, or as tbe bill says, the "lessees" of water-races, to bo-'row money on the security of the races. The Greymouth Star asks:—"What ratio does the increased consumption of spirituous liquors bear to the increased volume of water iu the river in the time of flood." To this question we have been unable as yet to obtain a satisfactory answer, but hope that further researches will yet enable us to establish a definite and regular connection between the height of water and the absorption of spirits. Many were the w.iders who seemed to bo enjoying themselves immensely, spite of the very chilly nature of the elemont Indeed two gentlemen, ordinary of a sedate and staid aspect, become so jovially inclined as to indulge in a game of romps, trying to push each other into the water. So fast and furious did their innocent sport become, that it was not concluded until one had put his head through a large shop window—a sad, but characteristic termination to fun. Another lot of men seemed to take great delight in larking with an old toper, who has more than once attended Mr Revell's diurnal levees at the Court. This individual had yesterday evidently been worshipping at the shrine of Bacchus, and his devotions seemed to have produced upon him a very peculiar effect, bad iu fact rendered him absent minded, and wandering, or, as the vulgar have it, " boozey." To recover him from this condition was doubtless the aim of the philanthropic persons who collected round him and superintended his repeated immersions in the waters of the Grey.