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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1102, 29 August 1873, Page 2

The return of gold realised from the last crushing of Excelsior stone was inadvertently printed in our last issue as 217 tons 17ewt 3lbs 2ozs. The last two quantities should have been of course stated as 3qrs 2lbs, a fact which any one knowing aught of quartz would of course understand. The explanation is pnblished for the benefit of the few who do not. Mr Herman London has been appointed Postmaster at German Terrace, and has received instructions to open the office at his store on Monday next, tho Ist proximo.

The German Ton-ace Post office will prove of great convenience to the residents there and in the adjoining gullies, as being very centrally situated. The requisition requesting Mr O'Conor to stand as a candidate for theSuperintendency is now being actively circulated in the Inangahua district, copies having been forwarded to nearly every centre of population.

A vory serious accident happened to Mr Scanlon, butcher of Charleston, on Thursday last. While riding after some cattle on the Totara flat his steed ran close to a projecting stump, smashing Mr Scanlon's leg frightfully froai the ancle to the knee. He was removed to the farm house, where ho now lies in a precarious condition. Dr Henry is constant in attendance on the sufferer, but yesterday inflammation had spread, and hut faint hopes were entertained of saving the limb from amputation.

The last news to hand from Boatman's is that the Just in Time and Fiery Cross machinery is now nearly all on the ground, and the work of erection is progressing. The Fiery Cross men have constructed a good road from the machine situ up to the claim, and on the Just in Timo the contractors will, weather permitting, commence next week the wire tramway. In the Walhalla, next to the Just in Time, the main drive has been carried 260 feet, but owing to the depth at which the tunnel has been put in, and the consequent underly of the reef, it is not expected to reach the reef under 301) feet. In Caples the low level tunnel has been driven about 300 feet but the reef is not reached for similar reasons to that existing in the Fiery Cross claim. At Larrys good stone is being got out of No. 2 south from a five feet reef which has been reached by driving to the southward. In No. 1 nothing is now doing, the claim being protected for another three months, during which time the shareholders may possibly agree as to the best steps to be next taken.

The Temperance movement is about to be started in the AhauraJ and the promoters arc s.iid to be on the wrack for a "Frightful Example." The Inahgahua Herald says:—The official scandal attaching to the fact of a subordinate officer having been sued in lieefton, and judgment recovered against him for the funeral expenses of a deceased intestate, lias resulted in fresh measures being adopted for the administration of the estates of deceased persons in the Inangahna district. Another narrow escape from fire has occurred in Broadway, Eeefton. The wooden chimney of a cottage having become ignited about 5 a.m. in the morning. The flames were discovered by the night watchmen, who immediately awakened the inmates of the dwelling and extinguished the flames.

The luangahua Herald of the 23rd says : —The last instalment of a sum nearly reaching I'oOOO, the cost of machinery and erecting same, was paid to Messrs Finlay, Haworth aud Co, by the Anderson Creek Gold Mining Company on the 15th instant. With the exception of a small overdraft at the Bank the company is now free from all liability, and the shareholders have every prospect of receiving in future regular dividends. The actual yield of melted gold from the last crushing of 500 tons in Anderson's was 46(>ozs 12dwts, which realised the high figure of £S 18s 9d per ounce.

A road is to bo constructed from Keefton to Black's Point. The length to be constructed is 90 chains, commencing from Upper Broadway and terminating at a point about two chains beyond Anderson's Company's tail-race, Black's Point. Tenders have been called for the work which is to b e completed in twelve weeks, subject to a penalty of £1 per day. While addressing the electors at Queens town Mr Vincent Pyke, the successful candidate, was asked by one querist, whether it was true that, in the event of election, ho had been promised the oflice of Minister of Mines. Mr Pyke did not make explicit denial, but expressed his opinion that if such should be the case it would be call the better for the interests of his constituents.

Messrs Gillies and Street of Dunedin, are endeavoring to float a company to be called the Para Para Coal Mining and Iron Smelting Company, to work iron aud coal deposits at Collingwood, Nelson. A right to more than two scpuare miles of ground has been obtained and the iron is said to be first class haematite ore, yielding over 50 per cent. The promoters of the Company have an eye towards earning the bonuses for iron and steel offered by the Colonial Government.

It is proposed to hold an industrial exhibition at Nelson in connection with th horticultural show in November next, where, in addition to the exhibits of fruits, roots,and flowers,will be collected specimens of colonial manufactures from all parts of the colony and mineral, animal and vegetable products. A motion was recenlty carried in the Westlmd County Council in favor of meetings of the County Waste Lands Board being held in Greymouth alternately with meetings held at Hokitika. The Grey Argus, commenting therton, pertinently remarks;— The complaints made by MiKennedy as regards the Westlaud Waste Lands Board apply with almost equal force to the Waste Lands Board in the Province of Nelson. The inconvenience and injustice of the present system are, indeed, more widoly diffused on the South West Goidfields of that Province, and, although the requisite remedy may be different, the inhabitants of tke Grey and Bailer Valleys would do wisely to agitate for a reform from the plan by which the whole of the administration of the wasto lands is delogated to three persons, one of whom is

a rural resident, uud another of whom is periodically absent from the place of meeting.

A Wellington correspondent, writing of the Ooldflekls Bill says:—" The first sixty clauses of the Bill have boen passed by the Goldfields Committee, with a few alterations and amendments. The question of two heads of water being allowed to run down its natural course, upon being required for public purposes, lias not yet been settled. The passing of the Bill during the session is, in the natural course of events, certain." The Committee have given careful attention to suggestions made by the Mining Associations in Otago.