Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 624, 18 January 1870, Page 2

A meeting of the Waste Lands Board, for the sale of sections in the Township, is to be held at noon to-day, at the Resident Magistrate's Court but we expect it will be adjourned to the Town Hall. The Metropolitan Race Meeting at Chri-t---church was commenced yesterday, but our correspondent was unable to send the results before the closing of the Telegraph office. Another boat accident is reported as having taken place in the Grey River yjsterday, between the Arnold Junction and Langdon's Ferry. No definite information is to hand, but it is said that the boat was driven on to a snag and capsized. The man and horse got ashore, but the cargo was thrown into the river, and partially recovered, in a damaged condition. At the Resident Magistrate's Court (Town Hall) yesterday, before W. H. Revell, Esq., R.M., Isaac Handring, James Lloyd and Mary Foley, were each fined Ll or 4S hours' imprisonment for having been drunk and disorderly. They had been rolling about town behaving themselves in a most disorderly manner, and when cautioned by the constable they threatened to make it caution to him if he interfered with them. With the assistance of night-watchman Boylan, they wore all taken into custody. Lloyd, for obstructing the police in the execution of their duty, g>t an additional week's imprisonment. , The Dunedin Erfio relates the following amusing anecdote of the independence of " a young Colonial" : — "'The holiday last Saturday (New Year's day) greatly interfered with the distribution of the Eclio published on that day, the boys who usually perform the task evidently preferring the Caledonian Grounds to the more monotonous occupation of selling newspapers. In order, however, to effect a good circulation, we requested one young Colonist to accept a thousand copies of the newspaper without charge, to sell them o:i the Recreation Ground, and pocket the proceeds. With some hesitation he accepted this ready means of earning L 4 3s 4d, and left us speculating upon the future of a country which possesses such, an independent spirit amongst its children, wheu to our intense surprise the lad returned and suggested that it was ' very 'ot,' and he thought that, as the papers were ' 'eavy ' his passage toth c Ground by a car should be paid. It was paid. That boy will be a member of the Provincial Council— or rather the House of Commons of New Zealand — when he grows to man's estate. The presentation of the prizes contended for by the Volunteers on New Year's Day took place last evening at the Volunteer Hall, Mrs llevell handing the fortunate winners their various amounts. The proceedings were graced by the presence of a number of ladies, and a Urge concourse of spectators. The winners of the different matches were as follows : ■—Company's Match— Private G. Taylor, L 5; ditto W, S. Smith, L 3 ; ditto A. (J. Hardy, L 2; ditto G. W. Moss, Ll. All-comers Match— Private W. S. Smith, L 5 ; ditto G. Taylor, L 3 ; ditto, A. C. Hardy, L 2 ; ditto -r-r- Pell, Ll. Company's Handicap Mateh — Private George Simmons, L 4; ditto G.Taylor, L 3; ditto, W. S. Smith, L 2; Sergeant F. Paul Li. Consolation Stakes— W. H. Revell, L 3 ; Private J. Smith, L 2 ; Sergeant J. G. Thomas, Ll. On being handed his prize, Mr 1 Revell at once returned it to the Company, in order to set an example to others to subscribe, &c, to obtain a good road to the range, sud to help to . make i$ a place fit for

ladies to visit -\vheh matches are being held After the presentations were completed. Captain Hamilton called for three Qheers for the ladies, which were heartily given by the Company, eliciting a reply on their behalf from Mr Revell. Three cheers were also given for Captain Bonar, Hokitika. Volunteers, who was present. In reply, Captain Bonar stated bhat the Government were now sending down plenty of ammunition, and that the time for shooting for the district prizes was extended to the end of February. Captain B"ttaralso stated that arrangements are being made for having battalion drill a,nd muster about: Easter at some cental place, to be afterwards determined upon. As the company has uot yet had the opportunity of acting with another, this is most desirable, and will we hope be carried into effect. The number preseut, according to muster roll, was 32. With to-day's publication we present to oar readers with the Greymouth Almanac for IS7O. It ought to. have been published earlier in the year, but unforeseen circum--stances prevented, -Another narrow escape from drowning was experienced yesterday by Mr Laphain whilst returning in company with Mr H. Kejirick. In fording the Kapitea Creek Mr Lapham's horse, iv a moment, sank to the belly in a quicksand, and ie, with great presence of mind, rolled over the horse's neck and got ashore on this side. The horse,, after some struggling, also reached the shore. The new building in Pollen street, Grahamstown, recently ecrected by Mr O'Donnell for a butcher's shop, narrowly escaped being burned down on Thursday week. Some man went behind the building to light his pipe, and incautiously threw down the match into a heap of shavings, which quickly blazed up, and got a partial hold of the weather-boards, which were charred for three or four feet up the side of building. Fortunately, the lire was discovered in time to be got under. The usual monthly compulsory practice of the Greymouth Volunteer Fire Brigade took place last night on the wharf, opposite the Cosmopolitan Hotel. There was a capital muster both of officers arid men, and an excellent practice. As showing the extent of hose now at the command of the Brigade, we may mention that at the same moment one jet was playing in front of Kilgnur's Hotel, and the other in the back yard of the Albion, with over 200 yards of hose to spare. The men displayed much efficiency in their various duties, so much so as to call forth the commendations of Captain Whall at the close of the practice. A correspondent os the Wairarapa Merury gives the following " simple, cheap, and effective receipt" for destroying that pest, the blight in cabbage, viz : A tablssptoaful of kerosene to a gallon of water, put the mixture in a watering can, an-.l apply it lightly over the plants once each day, for three days, which is a perfect cure. " I had," he says, ' ' some plants, which were attacked 1 y blight in my garden, I applied the mixture above mentioned ; it had the desired effect, and my plants now look a3 well as any one could wish." Already the approaching Greymouth Kace Meeting, which takes place annually on St. Patrick's Day, is .attracting considerable attention, and it is high time that some step 3 were taken with regard to the preliminaries. There is good reason to believe that we will have an excellent field, as, aino.igst others, the names of the following horses are mentioned as almost sure to be present :—Backbiter, Flying Jib, Foretop, Native, Policy, Fair Ellen, Magenta, Sir Tatton Sykes, Kuhler, Deception, and a colt belonging to Mr Garforth, which ran at the last Hokitika meeting. Mr Harrison has given notice to move the fo'lowiug notice in the County Council : — "That this Council is of opinion that it is no longer necessary to continue the machinery of the District Court in Westlaud, and that the General Government be requested to abolish the said Court, an 1 to established a Petty Sessions, and also to appoint a DeputyRegistrar of the Supreme Court at Greymouth. It is supposed that the man Counsell who was killed at Napoleon on 13th inst, had a considerable amount of gold planted someplace, the locality of which is unknown to any person but himself. It is said that just b fore he died, he made several desperate but ineffectual attempts to make its whereabouts known to the persons about him. In cousequence of the nature of the injury which caused his death., the unfortunate man was unable to articulate distinctly, and the secret has been buried along with him. At the Resident Ma istrate's Court, Cobden, yesterday, before J.H. Low, £si.,R.M., a miner named R. K. Williamson was brought up on suspicion of being of unsound mind, and was remanded for a week for medical treatment. John Kirwan, on remand from Camptovvn, was charged with having assaulted Henry Hamruet, as far back as April last, Owing to the prosecution not producing a witness named Olarkson, whose evidence was material, and as the other evidence was insufficient, the Magistrate gave him the benefit of the doubt and discharged him. Weaver v. Ashton, an assault case from the Ahaura. The complainant kicked him, gave him two black eyes, and fractured his ribs. The medical evidence went to show that there were no signs of the fracture complained of, and that the complainant was quite convalescent. The case was adjourned to the Ahaura for the production of furthei evidence. The following business has been transacted in the Supreme Court, Hokitika, since oui last :— Rody Kiley was charged with assault' ing James Wilson at Okarito on the 10th oi March last, was found guilty and sentenced to three months' imprisonment Charles O'Neil was charged with assaulting anc beating James Wilson to his bodily harm, a\ Gillesme's Beach. He pleaded guilty to i common assault, which was accepted by th< Court, and he was sentenced to two months imprisonment. In passing sentence his Honor made the following remarks : — "H< did not like offences of this nature, which al the present time were rather too prevalent

it was unmanly for three men to beat one. A fair tight would be les3 objectionable, but the other way was, cowardly. The prisoner's sentence would be leas than the other mau's, who, it; appeared in the declaration, had kept himself sober for the purpose of beating Wilson. He (his Honor) had no idea that Irishmen would ever bo kept from fighting, that was a thing past praying for ; but lie regretted that so many men, of such a brave, hospitable nation, should be continually brought before him, charged with offences of this nature, A singular accident occurred at the Ahaura ferry on Saturday, loth inst. Mr Galbraith, the ferryman, w.is after swimming a horse from the opposite side to the old township, and while atten ling to the animal, the ferryboat, by some means., got adrift. Mr Galhraith made a. rush after the fugitive, and succeeded in laying hold of it just as he got out of his depth in the water ,« after making one or two ineffectual attempts to get into the boat he desisted, but being au adept at managing a boat under any circumstances, he succeeded iv getting it ashore before, he, was takpn into the vortex formed by the junotion of the two rivers. One cannot help admiring the marvellous skill and dexterity, and the wonderful prese ice of mind displayed, in manoeuvring the boat through the labrynth of snag 3 with which the river is studded, and the only conclusion to be arrived at is that the outside passenger in this case must be reserved for a more exalted position, or he would must assuredly have been drowned. In a circular issued from the General Postoffice, and dated Jau. 1, post-masters are informed that, in future, correspondence for the United Kingdom may be forwarded " via Brindisi" and any letters or newtpapers specially directed " via Brindisi" very legibly marked on it. The postage on letters for the United Kingdom "via Brindisi" will be : — When not exceeding half an ounce^ is 3d ; when exceeding half an ounce and not exceeding one ounce, 2s 6cl ; when exceeding one ounce and not exceeding two ounces, ss ; ai.d so on increasing at the rate of 2s 6d for every additional ounce or fractional part of an ounce. Newspapers will be liable to a charge of fourpence for every four ounces. The postage on letters and newspapers must be pai>l in advance. Oddfellows will be interested in the following paragraph from the Alia California of 10th September :— Special District-Deputy Grand Sire, A. D. Meacham, formerly of this city, arrived on Thursday evening from Australia, to attend the session of the Grand Lodge. Mr Meacham has been absent in Australia two years, where he has successfully introduced the American work, and completed the organisation of the Grand Lodge of Australia, A.1.0.0.F., which works under a charter from the Grand Lodge of the United States. Deputy Grand Sire Meacham reports the relative strength of the Order in Australia as follows : — Grand Lodge of Victoria . 40 lodges, 2000 members. Grand Lodge of South Australia : 22 lodges, 1500 members. Grand Lodge of Tasmania : 7 iodge3, 509 members — making in all, in the jurisdiction of Australia, 4000 members. The members of the order in Australia were very enthusiastic over the adoption of the American " Constitution" as they term it, and the order has taken a fresh start forward. Mr Meacham returns with health fully restored, and will receive a warm reception from his host of friends both inside and outside the order. During the late agitation, respecting the sale of the Stoney Lead it will be remembered that a deputation of miners was sent to Hokitika, and their expenses were subscribed, on condition that should they be repaid by the Government the subscriptions should go to the Grey River Hospital. The amount was voted, during last session, and paid a few days ago. On Saturday the amount which was subscribed — L 22 19s— was paid over to the Treasurer of the Hospital. •By request, we publish the names of those who contributed : — Barclay, Grant, and party, LI ; Gadd and party, LI -, James Keith and party, LI ; Walker and party, LI ; D. Howieson and party, LI ; John Miley and party, LI ; llobert Dykes and party, Ll ; Kenneth Cainpbell and party, Ll ; John Robertson and party, Ll ; Drummond and Johnson, Ll ;P. White, Ll ; M. Scanlan, 15s ; Hugh Fleming and party, 15s ; Flynn and party, 10s ; Robert Stansell aaid party, Ll ; S. Heron and party, 10s ;A. Greaters, ss ; Hugh Barnbill, Ll ; Maurice O'Connor, Ll ; William Treewy, 5s ; Gardner Davidson, 10s ; Adam Irving, ss ; William Leach, Ll ; H. Studdart, Ll ; John Aylmer, 3s ; Michael M'Kenua, Ll ; Michael M'Donogh, Ll ; D. M'Lean, Ll Is. -Total, L 22195.