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Cromwell Argus, Volume VII, Issue 353, 15 August 1876, Page 4

Our Dunedm correspondent has again disappointed us by neglecting to forward the usual telegrams. On Friday Mr Cololough disposed of by auction a share in the Golden Gate raining company, which realised £4OO. Mr B. B. Baird was the purchaser. At a meeting of the Education Board last Thursday, an application by the Cromwell School Committee for £IOO, to render habitable the schoolmaster's residence, was referred to the Executive. The Tuapeha Times of Saturday gives particulars of a determined attempt at suicide on the part of a man named Robert Maxwell, a miner at Waipori. The unfortunate man inflicted frightful wounds on his head with a tomahawk, and is not expected to recover. He now lies in the Tuapeka Hospital. Owing to the small amount of gold lodged during the past few weeks, we believe the usual escort from the northern goldfields has been postponed for a month. The very severe frosts recentlj' experienced have put a complete check on all but river workings. The season now promises to be more open, and mining industry will be resumed with spirit. It has been found that the wigs and pistols discovered in the lodgings of the man Donnelly, together with a cornet, were stolen from the Queen's Theatre some three or four weeks ago. It appears that he attended the special services at the. Theatre on a Sunday evening, and, remaining after the audience, was locked in. He then helped himself to the articles above stated, and effected his escape by one of the windows.

Quite a novelty in the " show business" ii announced to appear in the Athenaeum Hall to-night and Wednesday, namely, Mons. Oriel's troupe of wonderful performing dogs. The performances of the animals are spoken of as something extraordinary and well worth witnessing.

At last week's meeting of the Waste Lands Board, Mr Oram Ball, on behalf of himself and J. H, Simms, applied for six months' protection to prospect for minerals (tin) on run No. 230, near Lake Hawea. Granted.—The application of Mr J. ft. Simms for six months' protection to prospect for mineral on Run No. 362 was also granted.

The suggestions lately thrown out by " Bunyip," as to the possibility of leads of gold existing in the flats in the immediate neighborhood of Cromwell have set some people thinking seriously on the subject. Some of the oldest resident sluicers in the district give it as their decided opinion from local experience that there is every probability of such leads being found in the locality indicated—indeed, are almost willing to vouch for their existence. The cost, we learn, of sinking and timbering a permanent shaft for prospecting purposes would not exceed £250 or £3OO. Is there sufficient speculation amongst us to initiate this important ache me?

The Arrow Observer records the following instance of perseverance being rewarded in mining pursuits :—One of those incidents oi success in mining which reward every now and again the patience and perseverance of individual miners repeated itself the other day in the locality of the Arrow River Falls. In the case we are alluding; to, the tenacious individual not only stuck to his claim for considerably more than twelve months without making anything more than " strong tucker," bu*; actually wore out the pa'ience of not less than six mates whom he had taken into partnership in regular succession. Nothing daunted, he worked away, and a few weeks ago struck the lead, from which he took out in two days not les<s than soz. of gold, and last week brought to light a nice little nugget, which turned the scale at six and a half ounces. In the District Court, on Thursday, his Honor Judge Harvey gave an opinion whinh is of much interest to holders of land under the deferred-payments system. The case was that of M'Raev. Marsh and M'Cormick (as executors in the estate of W. U. Goodall, deceased), in which the question of assignment to plaintiff of lauds held by the late Mr Goodall was the principal cause of action. His Honor gave it as his opinion that the Waste Lands Board had no power to refuse an assignment, although it might exercise a discretion as to the assignee. It was most unreasonable to refuse assignment in a case where the original licensee was dead, as in that under notice. His Honor said he would, with consent of the parties, state a case for the Supreme Court. The suit being a friendly one, and both parties willing to complete transfer, this wa3 agreed to, costs to abide result. The decision will be looked for with anxiety, as the action of the Waste Lands Board in the ma.ter of assignments has created much comment throughout the Province. From the Daily Times we learn the following particulars about a big arbitration case now going on between the Provincial Government and°Messrs Howell and Loughnan :-—The Provincial Council required 14,500 acres of the Mount Pisa Run, at Cromwell, belonging to Messrs Howell and Loughnan. The compensation claimed, we have been informed, was little short of £12.000. One of the witnesses for the runholders, however, on Thursday, fixed it at something like £BOOO. Certain it is, however, that when the compensation demanded and the cost of survey would, have been deducted from the probable proceeds of the sale, there woull have been nothing left with which to replenish the coffers of the Government. So, under these circumstances, if the sale were to be proceeded with, arbitration became absolutely indispensable. Mr H agitt appears for the claimants, and Mr F. R. Chapman on behalf of the Government. Mr Loughnan and Mr M'Kellar (Goldfields Secretary) both attend the enquiry also. The arbitrators are—for the Government, Mr J. B. Bradshaw ; for the runholders, Mr W. A. Fraser. Mr James Maitland is umpire.

The quarterly meeting of subscribers to » . the local Hospital, called for Thursday evening * '-last, was very poorly attended, only members of committee being present. After waiting some little time to see whether any of the contributors would put in an appearance, the chairman (Mr Dawkins) decided to go on with the business. Minutes of the previous meeting having been read and confirmed, the Treasurer, Mr Gudgeon, read the finance report for quarter ending 31st July. The statement showed that at end of April last there was a balance of £7B 16s 2d ; during the quarter subscriptions and donations to the amount of £52 4s 9d had been received ; from paying patients £34 15s, and Government subsidy |£357 4s—making a total under head of Receipts of £522 19s lid. During the three months the expenditure had been £366 3s sd, leaving a balance in Bank of £156 16s 6d. Add to this amount Government subsidy due up to 31st July, £167 19s 9d, made the total assets £324 16s 3d ; while the liabilities came to about £2OO. On the motion of Mr Marsh, seconded by Mr Jolly, the report was received and adopted. There was no report submitted from the Surgeon or other officer of the Institution. Mr Wakefield raised the question of members' tickets being mnrle terminable at a fixed time of year, and expressed au opinion that the plan militated against the success of getting in subscriptions for the reason that when, for instance, six months of the financial year was gone a subscriber paying then only got half value for his money. He thought it would be found to give greater satisfaction, and increase the subscriptions, were the tickets to be made available for twelve months after issue, no matter at what period the subscription was paid. Some discussion took place on the point, in which decided differences of opinion were expressed. M r Wakefield gave notice that he would move at next quarterly meeting a resolution in accordance with his views as above noted. The meeting then closed.

On Tuesday last the licensed victuallars of Cromwell met in the Town Hall at the invitation of Mr Mosley, from Dunetlin. We believe the object of meeting was to form a branch of the Otago Licensed Victuallers Society, an institution which has been formed for trade protection purposes. We are informed the meeting took the necessary step 3 for the formation of a branch.

From Saturday's Daily Times we extract the following late telegrams respecting the political position : —The Opposition, on the division which will take place on the Separation resolutions, are in a minority, but there is an arrangement with the Canterbury members that, so soon as Sir George Grey's resolutions are disposed of, a vote of want of confidence will be immediately proposed, the result of which will be the defeat of the Government. Mr Stout and other Otago members declare they will support the Government right through as soon as this debate is over. This is supposed to be what Mr Stout meant when he spoke of adopting the drunkard's cure, and steeping everything in Abolition.

A Canterbury paper says that the rumor that S. Brighting, the well-known Christchurch fish-hawker and bottle-collector, had come into an enormous fortune, is now fully substantiated. Brighting and his wife who, the other day, were living in a state of extreme indigence, have now almost unlimited credit at every business establishment in the city, and, figuratively speaking, they roll in riches. They are leaving substantial reminiscences among their old acquaintances in the shape of costly presents, and intend proceeding to England in the American mail boat. The gross amount which Mr Brighting has inherited is, it is affirmed, over £IOO,OOO. Considering that he occupied the lowest social position conceivable, this is one of the most marvellous strokes of fortune on record.

The Star's Wellington correspondent, telegraphing on sth instant, says:—"At last evening's sitting Mr Ree«s kept the floor for two hours, repeating the wildest assertions, and saying all sorts of nasty things to a bare House. He said Mr Prendergast's elevation to the Chief Justiceship was the result of personal feeling, as had it not been for ill-feeling between the wife of a minister and the wife of a Supreme Court Judge, another gentleman—who from long service had a right to expect the office—would have been, appointed. While Lady "Vogel and her family were in the gallery, he went on to say that Ministers were not only retained in office by bribing districts, but private hospitality was brought in as a means to an end : Sir J. Vogel's dinner parties and his wife's entertainments being given with the sole object of purchasing political support. This statement was received with hisses, mingled with some cheers from the Opposition. As a proof of his assertions, he was about to refer to a paragraph in the Walcatip Mail, which brought Mr Manders to his feet with an explanation that the paragraph in question had been taken from a private letter of his. He was sorry it had been printed, and it was bad taste to make it public.

The Wellington Argus advocates direct payment of members. In an article on the subject our contemporary says :—One hundred and fifty pounds, the amount of the remuneration heretofore given to members residing outside of Wellington City, is far more than sufficient to pay the expenses of some members, aud quite insufficient to pay the expenses of others. We know some who have year by year saved a nice little sum out of £l5O, aud of others who spend a great deal more every session. In any case, the £lO5 which the Wellington members receive is proportionately a far larger remuneration than the £l5O given to those who come from a distance. It is impossible to adjust any scale of payment which would be just sufficient to cover actual expenses, and this being so, it would be better to at once establish the principle of paying members a salary. We believe that if • by Act a salary of £3OO a year were attached to a seat in Parliament, we should have a very much better class of men occupying those seats. It is true a salary might induce political adventurers to seek for seats, but the constituencies would be very unlikely to extend their confidence to candidates of this class. Now, constituencies are very often forced to put up with representatives in whom they have not confidence, simply because the men they would like to confide their interests to cannot afford to leave their b/>mes for a quarter or a third of every year. The present system throws the power into the hands of the rich, and claps legislation is the result.

The suspicions that the man Donnelly, who recently came to Cromwell to manage the Catholic Academy, was in some manner associatedLwi'.h the robbery of a considerable sum of money from the residence of Father Kehoe, have now received confirmation from his proceedings in Dunedin. Charles J. Donnelly, as he called himself here, turns out to be a blackleg of most accomplished type, and has made good use of his time since he left Cromwell a few weeks ago, no less than three cases of daring burglary being charged against him, each having been carried out in a most adroit manner. Detection appears to have followed Donnelly's attempt to pawn some of the stolen property, and it seems strange that having so cunningly and successfully carried out his depredations he should have rushed into the arms of the detective's assistant, the pawnshop. Donnelly seems to be a man of good education, and his appearance would not lead anyone to suspect him of the crimes of which he is no doubt guilty. While in Cromwell he appeared very devout, attending church regularly and otherwise seeming an exemplary character. After the robbery at Rev. Mr Kehoe's, Donnelly graced his figure with fashionable clothes and jewellery, which no doubt led to his being suspected of appropriating the missing money. There not being sufficient proof to warrant his arrest he was allowed to h-ave for fresh fields—not, however, without his " description" being sent with him, in case of accident, and no doubt this forethought on the part of Sergeant M'Gann had something to do with the speedy termination to his career of crime. To show what the man is it, may be mentioned that last Sunday week he taught a class in a certain Sundavschool in Dunedin, and the sarne n'ght broke into two houses and made away with £l5O worth of jewellery.