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Westport Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1159, 17 March 1874, Page 2

The clocks at the Post Office and Telegraph Office appear to need regulating, as they indicate at times as much as six or seven minutes variation. The clock at the Court House also seems to have become suddenly furnished with an independent movement, and keeps its own time, but at variance with the others, and neither of the three accord with the time marked at the Custom House. This oftentimes leads to annoyance. Until lately the clocks in the various departments have heen regulated, we believe, at stated intervals, and for the sake of public convenience the arrangement should not be discontinued.

By the Charles Edward, last evening, Mr D. Barrie and family left Westport, en route for Glasgow. He takes with him the best wishes of all who know him, not unmixed with regrets that the district does not aii'ord sufficient attractions to keep him her<=. Many other residents on the terraces have also left during the past week or two, and others are preparing to flit. Some chaffered out, and others lured away by tales of more prosperous diggings. The following remarks on the approaching " big " race at Greymouth are from the Colonist: —" Yatterina is handicapped at Sst. Tibs, and will probably meet Malvina as Sst. 3lbs., from whom she therefore receives Tibs., age allowance considered. Malvina's performance in the Metropolitan Handicap of two miles, at the late Canterbury meeting, which she won in 2min. 3-faec, carrying 7st. 121b., stamps her as a mare of no mean pretentions, and notwithstanding the concessions she will receive, Yatterina, good mare as she is, will find in the daughter of Diomcdos, if brought out well, a formidable opponent. The two Traduccr mares, Malice and Gossip, may probably also show at Greymouth, and as both are favored in weight—each 2'ettini: 71bs, from the Auckland mare, and a stone from Malvina, the chance of one or the other pulling off the Cup should not bo overlooked, although we do not look upon them as really dangerous. There remains Lacenfeed, at Tst. 51b., and on paper the race is a gift to the locally-owned mare." Malvina has not been entered. At last a decided effort lias boon male to commence the long talked of Four-mile Creek water-race in the Charleston District, The business men having taken a more active interest in the matter, tenders are called for cutting four sections.

A serious accident occurred in the Nile claim, Darkie'a Terrace, on Friday last. A large mass of cement suddenly fell upon a miner named John Perrin, causing a fracture of the hip bone and leg aud also internal injuries. lie was removed with all care to the Charleston Hospital where he now lies in a very precarious condition. The Greymouth Star has raised its subscription from Gd to Is per week. It says of the sixpenny venture:—"This step, distasteful though it be, is absolutely imperative, unless the paper be carried on at an actual loss. During the time that the experiment has been made, the income has not amounted to the cost of the white paper and expense of distribution." The Grey River Argus is informed, privately, that the Premier, with the Minister of Public Works, will visit Westland early in April. A Wellington paper say, "it is believed that Sullivan is still in Auckland, aud that if anything is heard of him it will be from the Fijis." The right to occupy section No. 179, adjoining the Times Office iu Palmerston street was sold at auction, Friday afternoon, for ,£6l, by Mr Johu Munro. The purchasers were Messrs Stitt Brothers, About ninety applications for licenses have been made under the new Licensing Act, in the Inangahua and Lyell districts. Mr Warden Broad has recommended that Messrs Gissiugo, Bull and Brennan should be appointed Commissioners for the purpose of deciding to whom licenses shall be granted. The Inangahua Herald of the 10th instant says s—The exact return from Anderson's was not known yesterday evening, but ; t is currently stated at 55'J ozs. of gold from ;3(10 tons of stone. The same paper also says the Victoria Company arc cleaning up with an expected yield of a little over an ounce to the ton.

The Lycll telegraph office was opened on Saturday, and numerous messages were sent through from Westport. Considerable interest is expressed in local Building Society matters, and the meeting at the Empire last evening wa3 numerously attended.

On Faster Monday nest, the Gth proximo, the juveniles of Westport will bo giren another pie-nic. The Sunday School Committee of St. Cauuice's Church having made arrangements for a juvenile gathering near Thielo's Half-way House, Addison's Road, and to the gathering all the children in Westport arc invited, and with them also the numerous lads and lasses of Addison's Flat, who for the first time in school picnic arrangements hove been invited to attend. The Committee are working zealously to make the holiday a success and in addition to their careful provision for the youngsters' pleasure have also arranged with the watermen on the Bailer to take adults up and back at kalL'-faros, and have likewise arranged for the services of tko Westport Brass Band, Should

fino weather prevail the pic-nic will prove a glorious ■' outing " for townspeople. Tho boating trip up-river, tho fun and frolic on the green sward, and tho meeting with a host of friends and acquaintances should make tho Easter Monday holiday tho most enjoyable event of the season. Tho members of the juvenile amateur dramatic troupe have rehearsed diligently for their performance to take place this evening, and it' perseverance commands success they aro likely to achieve it Other dramatic efforts are also on the tapis and it has been suggested that a full Hedged amateur histrionic club might bo established with credit to the promoters and profit to the local institutions needing an occasional lilt in pecuniary matters. Amateur musical efforts have charms no doubt, and so have readings and learned dissertation on popular themes, but the gentle public seeking entertainment like it lively, and dramatic efforts will serve as spice in the cup to winter evenings pleasure. We have received from Messrs Gordon and Gotch, of St. Bride's street, London, a copy of their Australian Handbook and Shippers' and Importers' Directory for 1871. The book has reached the fifth year of issue, and each succeeding volume shows many improvements. The present comprises several hundred pages of information expressly compiled, and also several well designed and clearly engraved maps. It forms a desirable addition to colonial reference books. The gold from tho Break o' Day crushing will bo brought down in a day or two. Our telegram shows that the crushing has yielded over Sozs. to the ton. The Reefton Courier mentions that the Inangahua and Grey Valley Districts have contributed largely to the stream of outward bound miners affected with tho Palmer Hiver fever, and expresses fear that the exodus now going on from all parts of tho West Coast, and in fact from all new Zealand, will seriously affect the progress of the colony. A meeting of the friends and sympathisers of tho late Mr Kynnersley was held on Saturday evening last, at lleefton, to secure the co-operation of the residents, in aid of the Kynuersley Memorial fund. Without the intervention and circumlocution of Municipal authority, an action against the owners of stray pigs has been maintained in the Reefton district, One O'Donnell sought to recover £lO, damages for trespass committed by pigs, the property of Gallagher Brothers, of Cronadun. His Worship C. Broad, Esq., said that as the trespass was admitted, it was only necessary to assess the damages. There was a wide difference between the estimate of the plaintiff and defendant, but he thought 20s would meet the case. He thought the case had been brought not so much to recover absolute damages as to show that people who owned pigs were not allowed to lot them wander about to the annoyance of the neighbors. An inquest was held at the Little Grey Junction on Monday week last, on tho body of a man named Anthony Henderson, whose dead body was found under the verandah of O'Malley's Hotel on the previous evening. From the evidence it appeared that on the previous evening the deceased had par- ; ticipated in a supper and incidental spree on the occasion of an acquaintance leaving the district, and had been drinking heavily. A ' verdict was given that death occurred from congestion of the brain, caused by heart disease. The deceased was an old resident in the Grey district. The West Coast Times of Wednesday says:—A woman residing in North Rfivfill-slrfißt, -who lias for years past been . in the habit of conducting herself in a most eccentric manner, took a fancy yesterday to lay down in the surf, and was only induced to come asaoro after strong efforts , had been made to prevent her from drowning. We are informed that when the police visited her house afterwards, she jumped through a window in puris naturalthus, and fur the time succeeded in ! escaping, and it is said that she snugly ensconced herself among broken bottles 1 under an old cottage until tho danger had 1 passed away.

An inquest was held on Saturday afternoon last by Dr Giles, Coroner, on the body of Bartholomew Alfred Walker the infant child of a Mr and Mrs Walker, residing at the South Spit. Mr Eekerman Suisted was foreman of the jury. From the evidence given it appears that the mother of the deceased had been washing clothes during the day, and up to ten or eleven o'clock at night, and instead of going to bed had laid down on a sofa with the child lying on her arm, and had so slept until five o'clock in the morning. On waking she found the child dead, and from medical evidence it appeared it had then been dead some two or three hours. A verdict of death from accidental suffocation was returned.