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Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1130, 5 December 1873, Page 2

It has been suggested by some friends of Mr Curtis in the district that his Westport supporters should make their names public, as a sort of counterblast against the heavy puffs indulged in by the opposite party, and as also giving a moral support to the miners on the terraces, who have shown plainly which side has gained their sympathies and suffrages. There is little need for Westport residents to do this, nor would it be expedient. Intimidation, threats, scoldings, and abuse, would immediately ensue, as already occurring in instances wherein, by words or actions, individuals have shown that they are likely to vote for Mr Curtis. The ballot alone is the safeguard of an elector's freedom and self-respect, and his protection from the violent. His Worship the Mayor, on behalf of the citizens of Westport, forwarded a telegram yesterday morning to Greymouth, addressed to his Excellency the Govei-nor, expressive of the wish of the Westport public to join with the people of Greymouth and Hokitika in welcoming him to the Coast, and expressing also the hope that on some future occasion His Excellency might find time and opportunity to visit Westport, and by personal observation become assured of the great resources of the district. By recent telegram from Lyttelton it is reported that His Excellency's yacht lately arriving from England has been fitted up for a summer cruise. We may yet hope to see her in Bullcr waters. Than which no safer resting place can be found along the whole coast line of New Zealand. By telegram—Betting on the Superintendence election, 2 to 1 offered in Eeefton in favor of Curtis. No takers. A letter from Mr Knowles, Uuder-Secre-tary, to the Nelson Inland Communication Committee, says:—"The survey of the Foxhill and Brunnerton Railway will be commenced as soon as the Engineer can be spared from work in hand, probably in about three weeks." This was on the 7th of November. We have received a copy of Letts' Australasian Diary, containing a telegraphic map of Australasia. The edition is published specially for the Australian Colonies, and contain a considerable quantity of information useful to the settlers in this part of the world. Amongst other tables the Customs tariff, with the duties levied byeach Colony, arranged in parallel columns. Unfortunately, the publishers had not received information of the change in the New Zealand tariff, before compiling their tables, but for comparative purposes the information placed on record will prove most useful. The Diary is well got up in the style wherein the firm has obtained such excellence.

According to the Greymouth Star, the arrangements for the reception of the Governor were to be as follows.—The Governor and suite, after arriving by the Titan.were to be met by the Mayor and Borough Council and general body of inhabitants, and presented then with an address of welcome and congratulation. He was to be escorted to Gilmer's Hotel by the Volunteers and Band and there to breakfast. He would then be taken to the Brunner Coal Mine, where refreshments would be provided by the Nelson Government. At six o'clock a public banquet was to be held at Gilmer's Hall, and a torchlight procession, on his departure, by the Greymouth Fire Brigade. It was not known where the levee would be held, but arrangements were expected to b*e made to hold it in the afternoon at the Masonic Hall. A large triumphal arch is erected opposite the Albion Hotel, and all the available bunting in the town was ransacked for making a formidable and suitable display on the occasion. The advertised programme for the Greymonth Christmas athletic sports shows fifteen events. The aggregate prizes offered amounting to close on one hundred and fifty pounds. The chief event will be the Westland Handicap Champion Race : points; 440 yards, 200 yards, 300 yards— First p»ize, £ls; second do, £5; third do, £2 ; fourth do, £1 ; entrance, ss. ,£54 is given for wrestling. The Examiner of the 28th says:—Nelson is not particularly given to sporting, but very long odds were offered yesterday as to the result of the coming election for the Superintendency. As much as 300 to 200 was offered on Mr Curtis, but though the offer was telegraphed to Westport there were no takers. The Herald says:-In No. 2 South, Larrys, the reef is now seven feet thick and showing excellent gold. Quite an excitement ensued in the district on Monday night, parties being busily engaged pegging off ground on what are supposed to be leases which have been forfeited. We learn however that the leases in question, though not executed in all cases, have not been declared forfeited. Commencing this month three mail routes to England will be available to the Australian colonies for the transmission of letters. The Torres Straits service will be opened by the steamer Sunfoo, followed by the Flintshire and Tom Morton, By this line the transmission of China and Indian Archipelago correspondence will occupy a month less than by the P. and O. Co.'s existing arrangement. On the 20th the Australian and Californian R. M. C.'s chartered steamer Macgregor will leave Sydney with the mail for the United States and England. On every succeeding fourth Saturday one of the other chartered vessels will sail on a similar until the regular mail steamers take their places. The P. and O. steamers will arrive at Sydney as usual for the next three months, and after that a branch service will be commenced. We have just received news of a most encouraging character from the Mokihinui. Mr Kinnis, jun., well known in the Auck-

land reefing district, has just returned from a visit to the Halcyon prospecting claim, and he is so thoroughly satisfied with the prospects that he has already made an offer to furnish the necessary machinery, erect it on the ground, and bring in the water. The prospectors have sunk upon most excellent stone in the north drive to the depth of 60 feet, and in the south drive to a depth of IG feet, the reef having an average width of two feet, and in all parts showing a highly payable prospect. Mr Ninnis is of opinion, from the striking resemblance of Mokihinui reefing districts to the Thames, that an immensly valuable goldfleld will be discovered, and which only awaits the necessary influx of population. The mails close for the United Kingdom, Continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, the West Indies and Sandwich Islands, by every steamer to Nelson to catch the mail leaving there on the 10th instant. The fourth anniversary of the Charleston Branch of the Hibernian Society will be celebrated by a ball and banquet on Newyear's Day. Charleston, generally to the fore in supporting Art Unions, is already asked to speculate in shares to the extent of £334, for prizes to be drawn on New-year's Eve. _ A quantity of black sand has for some time been deposited on the beach a short distance north of the Orawaiti river, in which a fair prospect of gold is to be obtained, and which probably would pay if water could be obtained.

Mr La Nauze, Eesident Magistrate and Warden for the Okarito district, has commenced his new duties.

The latest news from the Haast is unfavorable. Three men came into Okarito very lately, and brought no news except that prospecting was still being carried on with very moderate results. The Hokitika Exhibition Committee have published an Exhibition News, which will give a weekly resume of their progress in arrangements for the show. It says:— The number and variety of articles', the product of the West Coast, which it has already been intimated to the Committee will be forwarded to the Hokitika Christmas Exhibition may be taken as a rough gauge of the great capabilities of this district, and the wide field which is here open to enterprise of all kinds. In France the authorities look sharp after the dog-tax, and the citizens are equally sharp in trying to evade it and, according to a Paris journal, the inquisition relative to dogs is carried on in a way that is at least odd. Anyone gifted with organs which enable him to bark like a dog is worth, it is asserted, a couple of hundred francs a month. His business is not to believe the concierge, but, while palavering with her, to bark in the hall, and thus incite the various canine inmates to reveal their existence and liability to taxation by a bark in xi ply. If the story is to be credited, these men-dogs are scattered over all quarters of the capital in search of information. Here is a good idea to be worked out by any new Provincial Councillors who assert that the Dog Tax is a loss to the province.

Another well intentioned and well directed effort to augment the District Hospital Funds has been decided on by residents at Addisons. A concert entertainment will be given on Tuesday evening the 23rd instant, at Mr P. M'Enroe's Hotel, and will, without doubt, be eminently successful. Preparations and rehearsals are already engaging the attention of lady and gentlemen amateurs.

The Westport Volunteer Fire Brigade paraded on Tuesday evening, and after some preliminary company drill in front of the Engine House, took the engine and hose-reel up Palmerston street and there practiced. The brigade makes a really creditable appearance, and the recruits buckle to with an energy that speaks well for their prowess in the hour of danger.

A separate Road Board District has been proclaimed for the country round about Matakitaki and Hampden. The Break-o'-day stone at the Lyell is said to be improving wonderfully. A crushing Company is being started at Larry's Creek. Capital, £12,000 in £1 shares, and it is proposed to crush stone for all comers at £1 per ton.