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Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1083, 17 January 1872, Page 2

An extensive rush took place on Monday to the head of Boatman's Creek, Inangahua District, owing to the rumor navng been spread that a rich quartz reef haa been struck. Some splendid specimens were shown by the prospectors, but whether a reef I lias been struck or not was not satisfactorily proved when our informant left. However a prospecting claim has been applied for. The funeral of the late Mr Patrick Flannery took place yesterday afternoon from Booth's (late Flannery's) Hotel. Over two hundred of the residents followed the remains to their last resting place. The procession was headed by the Town Band, playing the Dead March in Saul, the members of the A.O.F. (of which deceased was a member) in regalia followed the hearse, and the private residents on foot and horseback brought up the rear. It was one of the largest funerals that ever took place in Greymouth, and while it passed through, the streets every place of business was closed. The Excelsior Company at Ross cointuenced work at their main drive— now in about 100ft— on Saturday morning last, and expect to strike the Cassius wash after driving from 15ft to 20ft farther. Their workings were found to be all right on the men turning to. . The residents in. Grey mouth are among the most provident in the Colony if, aa is generally supposed, Life Assurance is a test of thrifty habits. Between the proposals obtained by Captain Baldwin and those previously obtained by Mr M'Beath, the Postmaster, the assurances in the Government Department at Greymouth will amount, we believe, to nearly L 45.000, whilst the Australian Mutual Provident is said to have obtained nearly L 15.000. L 60.000 for Greymouth is not bad, Captain Baldwin leaves town this morning. During his stay here he obtained upwards of 60 proposals. He intends revisiting Greymouth and the country districts before leaving the West Coast ; meantime, proposals can be made as heretofore to the Postmaster, or to Mr Wyldc, who has, we understand, been appointed a local agent at Greymouth. Mr Snort, Travelling Agent for the Mutual Assurance, likewise left town a few days ago, but will also revisit Greymouth, when it is his intention to make a tour through the up-country diggings. Mr G. W. Moss, agent in Greymouth for the above Company, will, meantime, receive proposals from intending assurers, in town or country, at kis office, Tainui street. Throughout the Ross district we (Ross News) hear complaints of the scarcity of hands, and it is asserted by parties competent to give an opinion on such matters that over one hundred men will be required when all the claims get in working order. The execution of Kereopa was the first occasion on which the extreme penalty of the law has been cairied into effect by hanging in the Province of Hawke's Bay. By a bye-law of Auckland Town Council, every person keeping a goat is liable to a fine of L 5 ! The brutes have been very destructive to gardens, and viewed as an intolerable nuisance. Payable gold was struck by Mr Samuel Greer Vaughan on Friday last, on the terrace about a mile from the Chinaman's flumiug, towards Lagoon Town, near Ross, which is supposed to be a continuation of the Aylmer Lead. It inquires hut n. small oui'lay to pnt a claim in working order— in fact twelve men could drain the inner lagoon dry in a day. This party, however, are still prospecting. On Monday, the Greymouth Rangers fired a match with the No . 2 Company, " Dunedin Scottish" Volunteers, and, for the first time during the last two 3 ears, our men were beaten, having made, only 373 points to their opponents 3SB, thus losing by 15 points. This result was expected as soon as the score of the local ten was known, they having fired decidedly worse in this than in any former match. One or two of the best shots were also unavoidably absent. The lowness of the score can only be attributed to want of practice, as the weather was not at all unfavorable to shooting. We believe the Rangers do not intend to take their defeat quietly, but will endeavor to get a return match off as soon as possible, when they expect to reverse the present result. We give the detailed score of our men. The range 3 were 200, 500, and 600 yards, Wimbledon targets, and no sighting shots.

The nnisance of horses, goats, &c, btraying in the streets of the Borough is again becoming unendurable. The following complaint is received from a correspondent on this subject :-" I would call the attention of the police authorities, through your journal, to the practice of certain individuals turning their horses out on Sunday to find grazing accommodation wherever it is to be found. It is not, I believe, that they are ignorant of the Municipal bye-law forbidding such a procedure, but that they are simply running the jEfauntlet, fancying no doubt that any fine inflicted at the Resident Magistrate's Court will be compensated by the amount of fodder picked up during the holiday the animals enjoy. For a longtime past Tainui street has been their principal place of resort, a street much in favor by pedestrians as being one of the few outlets from town, and a locality where a large number of children reside. On behalf of the lady and children portion of the community, I appeal to owners of horses to keep them in secure paddocks, and should that appeal be disregarded, then I solicit the police authorities to put down this intolerable nuisance." We have received a long letter from Mr Thomas Colton, a member of theParoa Road Soard, supposed to be in reply to some recent .comments of our New River correspondent on the financial position of the Board, but where the point of the reply is we are unable to determine, The first portion of the letter is preliminary. Mr Colton then proceeds to say :— " Now, to explain the dead lock. The Board seeing that in such a state of affairs it could not exist with any advanta^j? to the district, came to the conclusion to levy a small rate in 1871 for the purpose of liquidating its liabilities. ' It might not be out of place here to state that the County Chairman in a conversation with some members of the Board, approved of the rate; but after, when the Board applied for his written sanction, as required by the Act, to their surprise they found, when too late, that he declined, though the Board bad paid th<? sum of Lsi for assessing the property in the ■district. To make a long story short, he would not give, his sanction, unless the Board complied with his conditions, and these were to rate mining property. Now, sir, throwing every other barrier out of the way with regard to

valuing mining property, I think the Board did well to pause before incurring another liability for assessing, lest it would meet the same fate .is the former L 54. Now, sir, though the rate in question is similar to the rate of 1569, the County Chairman informs the Board that the County Solicitor is of opinion that it is not in conformity with the County of Westland Act ; but, strange to say, it was the same County Solicitor who Wisin office in 1869, and it was the same Act that was in force in 1869 : here is an enigma for the public to solve. But ! almost forgot to mention that between the time the County Chairman gave his verbal" sanction, and the time he was requested to give his written sanction, the question of annexation had cropped up. On this important question the Paroa Eoad Board took a different view to that of the County Council, and perhaps this was the means of bringing the indignation of the Chairman down on the head of the Paroa Eoad Board." A report was circulated the other day, in Christchurch and Lyttelton, to the effect that news had been received— how or from where no one could say— of the Matoaka havicg turned up. We are not aware that there is any foundation whatever for this cruel and senseless report. We learn that mining matters are pro-: pressing favorably on jthe Aylmer lead. Ross, Lapley and party, close to Miller's claim, got good prospects last week, and O'Donnell and party, who have taken up Captain O'Brien's claim, also struck payable ground. A share in M'lntosh's (storekeeper) claim changed hands last week at a good figure, and the returns fully bear out the good reports given of it. Holley and party's claim is reported to be paying first-rate, and the majority o£ the claims on gold are giving good wages. We are informed that Major Ropata has acted really handsomely in his method of dealing with the well-earned LIOOO reward paid by the Government for the capture of Kereopa. It is usual for the leading chief who may sell land, or otherwise obtain possession of money, to appropriate all of it, or as much as he possibly can, for his own exclusive benefit. Upon receiving the LIOOO, however, Ropata divided it evenly between himself and followers, every member of the {>arty receiving as large a share as their eader. Such an act is not only creditable to Ropata, but shows that the confidence which the Government have reposed in him is not misplaced. The Knight of the Burning Brand, the— par excellence— gallant colonel has changed his venue, and commenced his bailiff-like vagaries in Auckland. The correspondent of the HaioMs Bay Herald reports :— "During his late visit Colonel Gorton was very inquisitive about the Governor's blankets, and cast wistful eyes on the Viceroy's bedroom crockery, handling it with ever-increasing affectionate solicitude, and making memos on the same Mlth a black-lead pencil. His alleged inruption into Government House, at Wellington, during his Excellency's absence from home, is not looked upon in Auckland as evidence of disrespect, for disrespect to superiors of any grade is quite out of the gatlanc Colonel's line. • Colonel Gorton deeply lamented, when last in Auckland, that he was not a favorite with ministers, excepting (as he implied) the Hon Mr Gisborne, but seemed to be partly consoled with the reflection that he could twist that gentleman ' round his finger.' " At the Resident Magistrate's Court, at Camptown, on Tuesday, 16th inst., before C. Whitefoord, Esq., R.M., Ellen Page was fined 1/5 for abusive language at No Town. — Edward Kirk was fined L 3 for assaulting Neil Lamond at No Town,— J. G. Heslop was summoned for using abusive language towards James Molloy at the Twelve- Mile Landing. The defendant was fined L 2 and costs. — Two fashionably-dressed females, named respectively Elizabeth Anderson and Minnie Brown, were charged with using abusive and offensive language and with assaulting John Quinlan at No Town. The alleged assault consisted in the defendants playfully patting the complainant on the head with riding-whips. The complainant did not appear, aud the defendants were dismissed. They applied for their expenses, and one of them stated that the information had been laid by the complainant through spite, because he had been imprisoned for stealing a brooch belonging to hpv. The defendants came from Greymouth to attend the Court, and they were allowed Ll each expenses, and the complainant was adjudged to pay the costs of the Court.— ln the Warden's Court, Prank Beynon and party sued , .William Noonan and party for damages for illegal interference with a tunnel, at Cockney Terrace, No Town. The. plaintiffs claimed £50. After a long hearing, the Warden gave judgment for the plaintiffs for L 5 with costs. The Courts were adjourned to 26th January. • Our Maori brethren have taken very kindly to all manner of European luxuries, rum and racing, tobacoo and tea-carts, slops and sidesaddles, missionarjes. and mortgages, and now they are adopting our peculiarly distinctive game— cricket. A Maori playing at cricket seems as out of place as a sweep at Ascot; but it appears that the pupil can not only play, but play well enough to beat his pakeha master by one innings and 10 runs. A correspondent of the Lytklton Times says:— "On passing by Little River district en route to Akar'oa, I was agreeably surprised to see cricket so far advanced in that locality. A match was being played between eleven white men and eleven Maoris. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to see the batting of the white men, but the cricket displayed on both sides was well worthy of note. The batting of the Maoris, especially that of Ihaka, Herniatai, and Hernipere, was really a creditable performance. The white men scored in the first innings, and IJ. in the second. The Maoris, whose names I append, are the following : — Kiore, 10 ; Ihaka, 24; Wiremu, 8; Tamatiwaka, 5; Warena, 10 ; Herniatai, 20, not out ; Teonepere, 0 ; Ruera, 4; Hernipeve, 13 : Ruru, 3 ; Mataia, 0. Total, 97."

. . 200 Vol. Eevell ... 32234 Col.-Sergt. Chamberlain ... 32323 Vol. Hogg .:. 22424 Vol. Moss ... 24024 Vol. Shepherd ... 32233 Vol. Hardy .. 23343 Capt. Hamilton 42332 Vol. Broadbent 23323 Vol W. S. Smith 02320 Serfc. G. S. Smith 23202 500 600 Tl 44444 22332-41 33434 42204-4! 23333 22234-4: 33444 03332-4 33443 33203-4: 33034 03223—3! 32202 22433—3: 40332 30044—31 32234 00034-2} 33332 00000-21 37;