West Coast Times. MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1887.

The Christchurch coach arrived on Saturday at the usual hour. Passengers — Mr Brown and family (2), and Miss Brown. At a meeting of the Committee of the Hokitika Cricket Club held on Friday night, Wednesdays and Fridays were selected as practice days, and Messrs H. L. Robinson, Tarleton and Tennant were appointed Practice Captains. Bodily comfort ia the aoeompanimenfc of healthful Tigor, and it will return when WOWS'* (SOHM.?J?/3 is employed. ,

In our report of the proceedings of the Borough Council on Friday week, it was made to appear that the Eev T. Gh Brooke upp'ied or tho «8O of the Town Hall for a soiree and dance. This was an 6rror, it should hare been soiree and concert. Our attention has onlj lately been draws to the error priEci- | pally from the fact that as dancing is disapproved of by the rules of tho church to • which Mr Brooke belongs, the report, unless contradicted, might lead to a wrong improasion • of the minister in the minds of the members of i of his churches in country districts. We can only express regret that our attention was not drawn to the error before. The funeral of Mr James Clarke, which took place yertarday afternoon was very laigely attended. Old friends and acquaintances assembled from a 7 l parts of the district to pay a tribute of respect to one who was so deservedly Iked. The cortege covered the i distance from hia residence i i Gibson's Quay t:> tho Aus,' L'alas'an Hotsl, fad the number following has been variously esfmated at from . 500 to 1200 persons. The cofPn was borne on , the shoi-'ders of the mourners i'rom the house to St. Ma j'b Chapel, pnd from thence to the cemeHy wheio the service of the Roman Catholic Ctiu"ch was read by the Eey. Father i Regaault. The road to the cemetery and the i grounds were tl> -on^ed with people, fully two i thousr <d being present. Not only men, but women and children also joined in the procession, which p>o included cone thirty-fire vehicles. Two youngsters named M. Bonar and W. Ward narrowly escaped drowning in the rirer Saturday. It appears they were engaged in fishing for whitebait at the coal wharf, when young Bonar overbalanced and fell, pulling , hie companion with him. Fortunately one of the compositors of the West Coast Times , Office, Issac Ambrose, together with Arthur Harrop, wera near at the time and succeeded in rescuing the youngsters from their unconi1 fortable position. Neither of the boys lost f their presence of mind for a moment. i The friends of Mr W. A. D. Banks and those of the public whose business took them to the E.M. Court will be sorry to learn of , that gentleman's prospective removal to Westpoct. In his duties as assistant clerk of the Court Mr Banks has always been most obliging to the public, yet still preserving the reputation of being a very efficient officei 1 , whilst those whose pleasure it was to know him privately will greatly miss him. Tho removal, though in one sense a promotion, seems to be the first retrenchment blow felt in the town, it being understood the Justice Department will not fill up the vacancy. Another fire occurred in the Eimu district l recently, this time Back £Creek being the scene. It appears that on Saturday, Mr I Philip Boyd, who has been mining in the locality for some time, had dinner in the cottage with his eldest son, a lad 12 years of age, and after tidying the place up a bit sent the boy on a message whilst he went to exauune his eel basket. He had not been long away when the cottage was observed to be on fiiv, and before anything Jcould be done the building and contents were destroyed. Mr Boyd is a heavy loser, all his household furniture, two watches, 'gun, and many other articles of value being consumed'and nothing insured. A year or two ago he had tho misfortune to lose his wifo who died, leaving five small children. Three of these are under the care of a person at Woodstock, the eldest boy lives with his father, and the remaining child stays with a relative at Back Creek. Great sympathy is felt for Mr Boyd theoughout the district where he is much liked and respected. Mr E . Bassett, who has for some time past been suffering from consuption to such a degree that he had been given up by the doctors? broke a blood vessel whilst chopping firewood yetterday, and died in a few minutes. Dr Collins was at once sent for and was promptly on the spot, but life was then extinct. Mr Bassetfc was just on the eve of a voyage to Europe as a last resource. It is understood a medical certificate has been obtained and an inquest is not necessary. In another column Mr H. L. Michel, the present occupant of the chair, signifies his intetiiion of contesting the Mayoral election. Mr Mandl's name is also freely spoken of as a probable candidate, but as yet he has made no sign. The Bishop of London may be said to have created a Btorm in a teacup. His Lordship holds that ballet dancers dress indecently, which, after a'l, is purely a matter of opinion, and his Lordship is as much entitled to his opinion as the GaieLy " masher " to his. However the ballet danoera or some of them affect indignation, posing as insulted members of his pastorate, and have issued a manifesto protesting loudly against ihe^" monstrous and shameful charge," the "foul accusation." It would be interesting to discover tho personnel of the authors of this production ; of course au impossibility . The costume of the ballet is as daring as it may be, and it is probable long usage which wears the edge of indecency. The Eishop of London cannot be supposed to have gone through a sufficiently long course of ballets to have reached this desirable condition, so Va horror must be forgiven him. A mistake which might have led to serious results has been discovered by the Victorian Defence Department. A consignment of several thousand rounds of blank ammunition for cadet rifles, from Messrs Kynooh and Co., Birmingham, was issued to cadet corps after on examination of samples. It now transpires that some boxes labelled as containing blank were actually filled with ball cartridge. 1 school teacher at the head of one of the corps brought the matter under the notice of the Defence Department, having himself quite accidentally made the discovery when distributing the ammunition. As the labels are unreliable, the Department has sent a circular letter to all schools in connection with winch cadet corps are established, warning the_n, and urging that the ammunition on baud should be carefully examined before being disturbed. Wells' Hair Balsam.— lf gray, it restores original color. An elegant dressing, softens and beautifies. No oil nor grease; A tonic Eestorative. Stops the hair coming out j strengthens, cleanses, heals scalp. No More Hard Times.— lf you will stop ■ ending so much on fine clothes, rich food, and style, buy good, healthy food, cheaper and-better clothing j get more real and sub* etantial things of life every way, and especially stop the foolish babit of employing expensive quack doctors or using so much of the vile humbug medicine that does you only i harm, but put your trust in that simple, pure remedy, Dr Soule'a American Hop Bitters; that cures always at a trifling cost, and you will see good times and hare good fcealtb,— Chronicle,

» We hear on goed authority that Mr Am3 brose Creber has been requested by a number I of the electors of Arahura Eiding to allow i himself to bo nominated for a seat in the J Oouity Council of Westlaud. If r Creber is 3 well and favorably kno w n through the district ■ haying taken an active part in the agitation for inoreased water supply and other matters affecting the welfare of the miners in KumaraHe was for ten years a member of the Kanieri Eoad Board and other local bodies there. Mi- W. G. Forbes, the newly appointed agent of the Eoss office of the Bank of New Zealand, was in town on Saturday prior to b>B taking charge of the agency. Mr Forbes is an old officer of the bank, having for ten years held a similar appointment at Mataura. Lately he has had a twelve months leave of absence, during the course of which he visited the Mother Country. Mr Arrow, who has been tamporarily in charge at Eoss, returns to Hoiitika branch. The Kumara Times reports a serious accident happened on Friday morning to Henning Bunz, a miner working in Peter Arthur and party's claim. It appears that through the breaking of a rope a loaded truck went down the incliue, Bud before Bunz got out of the way his leg was broken. He was brought down to the hospital on a stretcher by relays of wil'mg hands, and at once attended to by Dr M'Brearty, who found that both bones of the left leg had sustamed a comminuted fracture, about two inches above the aekle jont. The bone 3 were set, and the patient is is as well as can be expected under the circumstances. A Wellington correspordent of the Lyttelton Times telegraphs :— The history of the Atk.'nson Ministry's format ; on, andtb© events immediately preceding it, has not yet been made public, but some of it oozes out fiom time to time. There seems no doubt now that the Ministerialists who devoted so much time, and wasted bo much indignation in denouncing an imaginary proposal for a coalition between Sir JuUjs Yogel and Major Atkinson, supposed to hare emanated from the late Treasure?, were very much on the wrong track. A proposal for a coalition was made, but not between the Major and Sir Julius. The alliance offered came from the present Premier, and was an offer to Sir E. Stout. Major Atkinson, I understand, proposed to call Sir Eoberi; to the Upper House, and entrust him with the portfolio of Attorney- General. Sir Eobert, however, expressed his inability to entertain the proposal under any circumstances, or with any modificat'ons, so the suggested coali- | tiod fell through. According to the account given me there would seem to have been no ill-feeUng caused either by the making of the offer, or by its relusal. Undoubtedly Sir Eobert took the proper course in declining such an offer, but Major Atkineon was perfectly justified in seeking to form a strong coalition Ministry, after the confusion into which the late elections had thrown tha old political parties. Writing from Eio de Jsniero, where he arrived in the Ruapehu on August 18th, Mr E. S. Smytho says that " the establishment of two direct lines of steamers between New Zealand and London, via Cape Horn, opens a new route for theatrical artistes returning to Europe. In consequence of so few of the inhabitants speaking English a dramatic company would not be liberally supported, but opera and variety troups, both in the Brazilian capital and in Monte Video and Buenoa Ayres, generally attract large audiences. As, however, yellow fever ia never quite absent from Eio, and smallpox is very frequently prevalent, it woi^.d be necssary for an opera company to have not fewer than three or four prima donna and five or six tenors, in case any of the principals should be carried off by either of those epideatics, to which it would seem that contraltos, baritones and basses are not so liable to succumb. Vacanciei in the rank and file could be supplied from the large number of singing men and women that still survive in the chief South American cities — remnants of companios which have broken up through the directors or principal artistes having suddenly shuffled off their mortal coil. In fact Eio has probably witnessed the positively ' last appearance ' of more artistes than any other city in tbe world." Mr Henry Irriug, the actor, related the following experience lately : — I received an unexpected blow the other day at a Highland station. The stationmaster, a most obliging and kindly gentleman, suddenly grasped my hand, exclaiming, " Irving, man, I hope to see you some day on the same platform as Stephen Blackwood." I confess I was taken a little by surprise, and I said " Well, I hope bo too.'' j Then I recovered my self-possession, and bethought me that Mr Stephen Blackwood must be a popular and excellent preacher, and iaj conjecture was right, so in I plunged boldly. " My friend," said I, " we are all on the same platform. You look after the trains and take care of the passengers. Mr Stephen Blackwood labels them for their ultimate destination, and I do my best to amuse and entertain them upon their journey j so you see, my friend, we all do our best, and if we strive to do our duty we work for the same end, and no one really has a monopoly." What would Mephistopheles have said if one of General Booth's men had asked him about his soul ? 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Holloway's medica* ments daily prove most serviceable even " under the most untoward circumstances. 1 This well-known and highly-esteemed Oint* mept possesses the finest balsamic virtues, which soothe and heal without inflaming or I irritating the most tender skin or most t sensitive sore. Holloway's Ointment and Pills are infallible for curing bad legs, I varicose veins, swelled ankles/ erysipelas, scaly akin, and every variety of skin diseases Over all these disorders Holloway's remediee ■ exert a quick and favorable action, and where "i cure is possible, gradually but certainly arrive at that consummation. They are ° invaluable in the cure of scrofula and scurvy, v Woifi's Schnapps is an agreeable remedy i for debility, indigeetion, biUiousneas, &c, Be sure you obtain, Woira'Si '

Michael O'Brien, platelayer, was killed on Saturday morning between the Ohristchurch station and the gas works. While examining the line he was rdn over by tho train and killed instant'y. The body was terribly maugled, the entrails being strewn along th« line for half a oh&ih. He was a married man with six children. On Wednesday last Messrs M' Alpine and Danks, contractor for drhing the Ohristchurch Goldniining Company's tunnel, left Springfield for Browning's Pass. During several weeks, owing to the exceptionally severe weather, they have remained in enforced idleness, and they have now gone up to ascertain how matters stand in relation to the work in hand. Should they find a commencement practicable, they will (says the Lyttelton Times) immediately start off with a full complement of men, so as to prosecute the work with vigor, and they hope to render a good account of themselves during the incoming summer. Exhausted nature signifies by symptoms that she needs aid and iuccour. Use Woefe's Schnapps.