WEST COAST LETTER.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7155, 17 September 1888, Page 3

WEST COAST LETTER.

fFROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.]

GREYMOUTH, Sept. 6 ' The one absorbing topic of conversation at the present time is the late earthquake, and the various incidents in connection therewith. It was undoubtedly a heavy shake, and as the majority of people on the West Coast had never experienced anything to equal it, the late visitation alarmed them very considerably—indeed, many imagined their last hour had arrived. The outlying districts appear to have felt it more severely than we did on the Coast, a good deal of damage being sustained by hotelkeepers and others at Mareden ana other townships. A miner from the TotaraFlat district, "between Greymouth and Reef ton, whom I met in town a day or two ago, said, "The shock at 4.10. a.m. on Saturday made a fearful commotion; one could not help wondering what next was to happen. Quite a number of trees on both sides of our claim were thrown down, pigeons were, ilying about, having been 'unroosted' at that hour, kakas and moreporks were screaming their level best; in fact, it was as though a menagerie had broken loose and some Jumbo of an elephant was upsetting the caravan. There was not much damage done, however to any of the mining property, though one sluicing face fell in, smothering the race and boxes." The damage in town waa comparatively trifling when It is considered that no precautions are taken to guard against this kind of thing. : InWellington and elsewhere the hotelkeepers, chemists, and the like, have wires stretched along the shelves to prevent the bottles from being displaced, thus when an earthquake occurs little or no damage is occasioned. Perhaps the people on the West Coast will now take warning and adopt a similar safeguards In one or two hotels at the southern end of the town a few bottlesbf spirits were thrown, off the shelves, and a few weak chimneyfell to the ground. Beyond this no damage was done of any consequence—excepting of course that sustained by the nervoua systems of several persons. Fears were entertained for the ,safety of the new Catholic Church and the lofty brick chimney stack attached to the engine -> house of the hydraulic cranes, but I am glad to say, these did not suffer' "In any way. Last week was a—tusy one In the way ol shipping business, notwithstanding tha bar being unworkable for three days; over four thousand tons of coal were sent! away, 2113 tons being shipped on Saturday by the Taupq, Brunner, Kawatlrl, and smaller boats. Had the bar been smooth the export would have exceeded five thousand tons. The Pukald arrived from Melbourne on Monday evening,. shipped 1100 tons of coal on a draught of 15ft, and sailed for New Hebrides and Fiji this morning; the Ohau, Brunner and Herald are now loading, and, given fine weather, this week's export will equal the last. A paragraph under the heading " The effect of the strike in Christchurch" which appeared in the last WbbK-Y' Press to hand, to the effect that the. Grey .coals are not fit for household P9rpfl'se4.._as given rise to some comment on the subject, as we differ from this view, the coals, in our enough for all purposes, provided the feeling of prejudice is laid aside and tbe fuel made use of upon its merits, During the continuance of the strike at Newcastle householders in other parts of the colony will have to make a virtue of necessity by nsing the Grey Valley coals, and I nope this will result in breaking down the prejudice I have alluded to, and that In* future our coals will be in greater demand; for domestic purposes. I have no doubt! in my own mind the verdict will be, in) the course of a few weeks, "that Greymouth coals are not so bad after all." Mr Martin Kennedy finding'that no. notice is taken by the District Engineer of the repeated protests made by the narbour* master and captains trading to this por* against the further prosecution of the vrorfc: in connection with the inner training wall in the north side of the river, which I pointed out some time ago has been carried far enough towards the entrance, has sent a lengthy telegram to the Minister, for Public Works, urging bJm to stop the, work in Question, as otherwise the bar will become unworkable even in ord_aary weather. It Is to be hoped the .Government will act promptly in the matter by stopping all works on the north side witha view to carrying on the south breakwater more expeditiously, as It is In urgent need of beinp- parried out some three or_ fourhundred feet further—aye, a thousand feet*, if possible, in order to protect the bar from the prevailing south-westerly seas. Considering the great importance of this port, and the works lv connection therewith, I think it is absolutely necessary that theEngineer-in-Chief,, his assistant, or Mr Napier Bell, should, visit the port and see that the works are being properly carried out. If thiai were done there would be no necessity for repeated protests from master mariners,, as I am sure the gentlemen I have named; would never allow such a trap to be set for unfortunate vessels as we are having, formed at the present moment. Any one of them would have seen at .glance the j Impropriety of carrying on the faner waJlj and have thereupon stopped it. No doubt, it looked all very well in theory and upon i paper, but on putting it Into practice it, proves to be quite the contrary. However, > as public attention has now been drawn to the matter by one of our leading and influential citizens, perhaps something will be done, at any rate we will hope so, and that soon.

The little excitement to which I referred, in my last letter the alleged discovery of payable gold on Mr Fairball s property in the old Mareden road, has subsided, the two prospecting parties who were granted permission to sink a couple of shafts, having failed to discover anything of a payable nature. Mr Fairhall was therefore justified In his. refusal to allow his paddocks to be overturned until he was convinced of the existence of a payable lead, for had he oiven way «t the time, and allowed aU who wished to overrun his property, the land would! have* been rendered unfit for use, with little os no return to compensate him for bis loss. The local skating club, In order to keep the affair going, have been obliged to ( make a call upon the subscribers—five shillings for each gentleman and two. shillings and sixpence for each lady, thusadding considerably to the already heavy expenses incurred by those who were induced to join the club. The West Coast member previous to leaving Wellington waited upon Mr Mills, managing director of the Uuiou Steam Ship Company, and requested_hlm to ma one of the company's boats direct from; West Coast oor\s to Melbourne.during tha exhibition. Mr Mills expressed his wifllngness to comply with their request provided there was a fair prospect. of saPPO-fo the return fares to be £14 e_Joon, and £Ut steerage; the steamer, to leave mor abou* 20th of October, and again on 4th o£ November. Mr Nancarrow is > now .prepared to book the names of all those w*o intend to avail themselves of the opportunity of visiting the B_h | "tff«*__2* having to go the round , audit now remains to .*».*_f B -J_g* l _f these would-be excureionu-te, m »_*7 °i whom were loud in their i_^£sS^JS__f__ ra w_f§3 _SB__JSSV"i"pBM: wrong.