THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1661, 1 December 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1873.

It waß on the Ist of January, 1868— six years ago, saving a month — that Westland was created or converted into what has been called a County, and it has existed, barely existed, as such ever since, an exceptional experiment alongside of an altogether different description of political institution. The intention of its creators probably was, as was the assumption of the local population, that as a County Westland should not only represent but realise the idea and the fact of local self-government. The idea was a generous one, if it was sincere, but the fact has been a failure. The causes of this failure rest not with the County conception per se ; the population are as capable of conducting their own affairs as are the inhabitants of any part of New Zealand; and the County system had; much to recommend it in its simplicity ; but, so long as provision was made for actual and active local government in each of the Provinces, the Colonial Assembly' found no general necessity for district' legislation, and failed to fulfil towards the County what the existence of provincial institutions would have provided. While advancing in material wealth and prosperity a,fc a rate unparalleled in the history of other parts of the Colony, the local form of government was feeble, inadequate to the requirements, aud calculated more to prevent than to promote progress. It was also defective in detail, and in no particular more than in the manner of electing the chief administrator for the district, This day, December Ist, 3873, is the date of inaugurating a change, and i a

therefore, by proclamation and with public approval, observed as a holiday. It is anomalous that, while in many parts of the Colony, Provincial institutions are the subject of condemnation, the introduction of the system here should be made a matter of congratulation. But there are reasons boih for the change, and for the satisfaction which i 3 being expressed on its occurrence. The popular feeling throughout the country is not now so pronounced against the Provincial system as it was, the admission being that ifc has merits if carried out. in its simple form, as contemplated by the Constitution, and the local wish is, and warrantably is, that Westland should occupy politically the same position as other parta, sharing with them the possible disadvantages of the prevailing system of local self-government, but enjoying the certain and marked advantages which are associated with it, as compared with the questionable advantages of continuance as a County. So long as a Provincial form of Government is a recognised article of the Constitution, the feeling is that Westland has a right to make common cause with the Colony as a whole, being capable of bearing the burden of its possible evils, and entitled to benefit by whatever amonnt of good there may be in it. The feeling of some, indeed, goes further than this, and favor 3 the belief that, whatever it may have been elsewhere in practice, the system is in theory one which is thoroughly worthy of popular approval and of local adoption, so long as the desire and determination are to reduce the theory to proper practice. It was only the other day that one who is a stranger to these shores, but who is a considerable authority on social questions — the Rev. Dr Begg, of Scotland— expressed sentiments on this subject which well represent the feeling with which the majority view this day's celebration. Speaking of local self-government, and addressing himself j to the colonists generally from a Dunediii | platform, Dr Begg said : — "There is one great advantage you have, and that is, you have to some extent the power of self-government. You' have not only a gpneTal Legislature, but you have a local Parliament for the management of local matters. We have not that advantage, and I believe, although we have gained immensely by the union with England, in some respects we are placed at a great disad vantage ; because we cannot make a crossing tbrongh a man's field, we cannot set water to any r.f mir towns, we cannot make the slightest change, without going to London. I hops yon will never uive up that power of self government. Fight for it to the utmost." Fortunately to fighr .for .this pover.is not now necessary in Westland Its propriety has forced itself upon the population and its representatives. The object has, more by t,he force of circumstances attd general conviction than by active effart, been gained, and, now that ifc is gained, what remains for the community to do is to receive their new institutions with faith as to their fulfilling their purpose, with hope as to their promoting the prosperity of the district, and with charity a 9 to their faults. ; and, as it is wristen, " the greatest of these is charity."

The annual cicket match between the Ffokitika and Greyraoutb Clubs takes place on the Camp Reserve here to-day. The Hokitika men arrived by the Lioness yesterday afternoon The event is creating considerable excitement, but the betting is all against the local team, although they are pliying on their own ground. The wickets will be pitched at ten o'clock sharp. The following are the nainv.-s of the two elevens:— Hokitika.: — Messrs H. Mace (captain) J. M. Glasgow, E. Bowen, A. E. Tennaut, P. W. Wade, Daley, Carew, G. Cozens, T. Croft, Gale, J. A. Bonar, F. A. Learmonth (12th man), Mr Tom Gibson, umpire. Greymouth :— A.R. Guinness (captain) F. Martin, J. Heaphy, Dan Twohill. T. Woods, F. W. Paul, W. S. Staite, G: H. Turner, A. E. Creswell, S. Poole, Dave. Twohill, Tom Gleeson (12th man), Mr A. Grut, umpire. It is stated that Mr Tilbrook is now the sole proprietor ot the Inangahua Herald, he having bought oat his partners, Messrs Ivess and Mirfin. The installation of officers of the Grey River St. Andrew Lodge, S.C., takes place at the Masonic Hall to-day, at 3 p.m. A banquet will be given at the same place in the evening. A meeting of the Volunteer Fire Brigade is to be held to-night at the Brigade Hall, when the nomination, of officers for the ensuing yeaT will take place. Other important business will be brought forward for consideration. The quarterly sitting of the Licensing Bench takes place at the Court House tomorrow morning. ' The Greymouth Rifle Rangers are requested by the captain, to parade to-day at the drill shed. The Greymouth and Grey District Almanac and West Coast Directory for 1874 has been published, and published at a price tbat ought to make it familiar in every house, store, or digger's hut in the district. It contains a mass of valuable information on nearly every subject to which «very-day reference is made, whether it be the Goldfields Rules, the Tariff, the Gardener's Calender, the Licensing Acts, Agricultural Lease Regulations, Postal Regulations, the Electoral Rolls for the Grey Valley, Hokitika. and Ross districts, a complete directory for the whole of the Westland and South-w«st Gold-fields, or almost any other suhj *ct The volume is very carefully compiled from the best authorities, and neatly printed, and is a credit to the publishers, Messrs Kerr, Arnott, and Co. A challenge has been retired by the Ahaura pfayers from the cricketers of Ross, hat it is intended if possible to arrange a ' match between the Ross and RokiMka clubs with those of GreymSuth and the Grey Va l ley. An eleven of the litter Cluh wi!l me.fCithe Greymnuth eleven at Greymouth on the 13th : December, and the return match between the Hrey Valley and Reef ton clubs will take place at Ahaura at an early date. A' lad named Genrge Thomas, resident at Ahaura, recently found )n Pyke's Flat, a purse, containing money and valuable documents. The finder advertised th 9 property, which k after some time, was claimed by Mr Joseph Woolfe, ot Antonio's Flat, who made good his proof of ownership The honettty of the lad was handsomely rewarded by Mr Woolfe, but his honorable conduct in restoring the treasure trove to the rightful owner deserves special commendation. We learn that on Saturday the upper plates of the . Wealth of Nations battery ■wej-e scraped, u^, the result being 3840z of amalgam, This is quite equal to the average of former cvushjngs. There were two days stoppages since the company cleared up on the 18th instant, caused hy the breakage of two atampet-Bhafts. The machinist, with aid of temporary laths, was enabled to repair the damage, and again start the battery jinfull wqrk, ■':•..:.

On Saturday an inquest was liel'l at the Brian Horn Hotel by M. Price, Ksq., J P., on the remains of John Cunnaan, miner, at Stillwater Creek, whose death was announced in our last. As the facts stated in evidence were precisely similar to those already published, we need not repeat them. A verdict of "accidental death " was returned. The funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, and was one of the largest that has ever taken place here. It was evident that the deceased must have been highly respected, as hundreds of miners and others on horse and foot arrived in town from Maori Gully, and all parts »f the New River district, to be present at the funeral. The tenders for making the Starvation Point and Saddle sections of the Amuri cattle track were to be opened at Ahaura on Saturday. A good many were sent in, but ifc waa feared that from the large amount of work to be done, and the comparatively small sum of money available, all the tenders would be too high. For the Starvation Point section Mr Drennan was the lowesb tenderer, and tor the Saddle section, Messrs Fox and O'Neill. The lowest total for both sections was Fox and O'Neill. We learn that the lowest tender was about L 2600, and that of Mr Drennan about L 2900. The final decision rests with Mr Dobson. A musical entertainment will be given in connection with St. Joseph's College, Ahaura, on the day after Christmas Day, in the new building recently erected for the accommodation ot the male pupils now attending St. Mary's School. The proceeds are to go towards liquidating the building debt. A man named Edward Whatmore advertises in the columns of our Ahaura contemporary that he is ready to promptly execute odd jobs in the way of " bellringing, billposting, haircutting, and grave-digging " on the shortest notice, for the residents of that place. With such a versatile and obliging individual living among them, it might be aaked " what more " the people of Ahaura can require ? The most prominent structure in Westport will be the new Empire Hotel now being built in Palmerston street by Mr John Hughes. Describing it, the Times says :— " The lofty frame-worlr of the building, as now f rected, gives the outlines of an iaiDOsing building, and the plans of the structure show that the new Empire Hotel will be one of the largest and must commndi us establishments on the Coast. Even nnw it is a land' mark from afar off a substantial testimony of faith in the present and future prosperity of Westport" Some sample bags of coal brought down from the newly opened seams at the Mokihinui are attracting attention in Westport. A trial of the coal has been male during the present week in the cooking range at the Empire Hotel, and the test has given most excellent results The cohl burns with a brilliant blaz \ throws out an intense, heat, and leaves very little ash. and appears to be an excellent coal for i>as or steam purposes. Mr J >hn Seaton has some of the coal in his possession, taken from a seven feet seam ab-ut two miles from the bank of the Mokihinui Ittver. iSamples have heen sent to the Nelson Exhibition and .ilso to Hokitika. The County Chairman promised a deputation on Friday that LSOO voted for educational purposes would be paid to the Chairman of the Board at one .

A meeting of the Tender Contract Committee whs held at Hoki'ika on Friday, at the County Chairman's office, when the following tenders were acc?pred ; — " For widening Callis»han's track to a dray road, 1,. Martini, amount L2S4; for widening Fox's tmck to a dray road, D. Campbell, amount I 29 )Ss ; for widening the Rosa road by 3ft throughout, and for maintenance of the same for three years, Cassi-ly and Clarke, amount L3DOO ; for the deviation of the Stafford and (ioldborough road, Waite and Roberts, amount L 137 10s ; addition to the police quarters, Greymouth, F. J. Gleeson, amount L6S 10s. The HokWka Dramatic Club play the comedy of " Checkmate" to-night, for the benefit of the Fire Brigade. Mr George Donne has at Charleston, says the Westport Times, spoken honestly and fairly to the electors. He said • that he sought no support from the electors on the ground of being a supporter of any particular candidate for the Superintendence He had no intention of sailing under false colors and wished it distinctly to be understood that he was not a supporter of Mr O'Conor, but would give his vote for Mr Curtis. Whereupon Mr Donne was applauded, and subsequently re-elected. Had his opponent been less vacillating, and boldly expressed Himself also as a Curtis man, the contest would have been exceedingly close. - We regret to note the death of Dr Mourilyan, at the Hokitika Hospital, into which he was admitted a few days since. His health, says the Register has been very indifierent for a considerable time past, and he has at last succumbed. He has been a resident of Hokitika for several years, generally practising his profession, though we fear with but little pecuniary profit to himself. He leaves a family in but poor circumstances, and we hear that efforts will be made to afford them much needed assistance. Great preparations are making in the country districts for getting up sports and racing during the approaching Christmas and New Year holidays. At Ahd,ura the right to occupy the grand stand, booths, &c. . at the Christmas races were to be sold on Friday, but the sale lapsed, owing to the unavoidable absence of Mr F. Guinness, who was to sell the privilege as auctioneer. There will be racing and athletic sports on Totara Flat on Boxing day and the day after. There ■will also be athletic sports at Nelson Creek, No Town, and other places. An attempt was made to have an arrangement so tint the Ahaura and Totara Flat races should not come off on the same days, but the nego tiation fell through. The Dunedin Star states that one of the largest blasts which have occurred on ihe eastern side of Bell bill took .place at a few minutes before n<>on on the 17th inst. The snot was a* the corner of the church property ; the drill 37ft deep, and 601 bof powdpr were used in the b'asc, which, when let off. brought down 1700 tons of rock. Although the rock was co firm, it contains a large qnantity of hlue stone, and after this has been extracted the remainder will beu^el for the purpose of harbor reclamation. This, we ate informed, willbe the last large blast on this side of the h'll. unless the owner? of the property on which Claremont House is situated allow the prisoners to blast away a P'-rfioa of. it, as they are now on the boundary of the Church's land and that property. One of the witnesses, in giving evidence in support of the charge brought against Capt. Renaut, at Christchurch, for supplying impure water on board the Punjaub, sai<? : — "We were always growling in our mess. I generally had a Hyde Park meeting outside my berth every Sunday night. — (Laughter ) Gondey was in my mess. I thought myself smart, but he was too good for me. He might have got the water changed without my knowing.it. He was a religious sort of -nan, hub he looked after his belly. — (Laughter.) ( I looked after mine, but he was too much for me.— (Loud laughter.)" The following are a few extracts from an Otaao nold-cH rt'er's account with his storekeeper in 1872 : — "2 loves, Is 4d ; 1 tin of coffee, Is j -jib toboca, Is fid ; 61b of beffe, Is fid ; 2of susger, Is id ; 1 of candles, 1 par of boots, 21b of purants, 2 dozen e«ge.

Ten shillings on account of N i riicb." Th-s above specimens, says the. Daily News, cleaily shows that the compulsory system of education was not in force in ihe young days of this gold-digger, who was so careful as to keep accounts. , Mr M. Hallenstein, the Melbourne partner of the firm which ia argely engaged in commercial pursuits lioth in Victuria and New Zealand, is sad to have coin-ileteil arrangements to start shortly in Uunedin an extensive clothing factory, equal to the largest establishment of a similar nature in Melbourne. The manager, with a complete and experienced staff of hands, will shortly arrive ia Dunedin from Melbourne. Mr H illenstein has also arranged with the Government to bring out a number of artizans from home. There are twenty tailors in the ship Zealaudia, now about due. About the half of them are Germans. The Cromwell Quartz-mining Company, Otago, finished a crushing on Friday week of 116 toDS, with the result of 2450z. Nearly seventy tons of this parcel was what is known as the "good" stuff, the balance being a very poor lot. A number of men having left the Waipori diggings, Otago, for the railway works, the claim*originally held by the absentees have been taken up by other parties in many instances, and let on tribute to parties of Chinamen, which arrangement seems to pay all parties concerned. We regret to notice that Mr James Stumbles, who received severe injuries by a fall of earth at the reclamation works at Mussel Bay, Port Chalmers, died in the Dunedin Hospital. Mr Stumbles was an old r silent of Port Ohalmers and its vicinity, and his funeral was very largely attended. Notwithstanding the large number of houses buiifc recently, and in course of erection, there is still a famine of dwellinghouses in Ounedin. Greymouth. greatly advanced as it is in possessing handsome drapery stores, must, we fear, exist a long time before it can compete with what we find thus described ia a recent Australian exchange : — " On Saturday Ust, Messrs Farmer and Co., one of the leading drape- y firms of Sydney, entertained over 300 of the commercial gentlemen of the city, on the occasion of laying the foundation stone of their new shop, which is to be the finest of the kind in Sydney, if not in Australia. Mr Mort handled the trowel, the stone itself having been brought from Victoria, from a quarry at VJalmesHnry. Tasmanian freestone, as well as New South Wales granite and ma-ble, is to be worked up into the new edifice The street front will have a recessed arcade, so that ladies can3topand admire the display nfthe windows withnnt impeding th« traffic: of the street. mx hundred hands are t<> be c ployed in the establishment, exclusive of shopm >n, and every provisi >n will he made fo> lisiht and ventilation in the worltrooms. The novelty of a refreshment room for ladies is also to be aided to the establishment. The Chief Justice took the chair at the entertainment, and warmly eulogised the enterprise of the proprietors." A number of charges have recently been brought by the pas«enners of the ship Pnnjiub, from London to Canterbury, aaainst the master and owners. During th • hearing of one of them at Christchurch, on the 20th, Dr Durham, the ship's surgeon, said: — "I had r.h" hospital under my care. There were not sufficient beds, from the first, for the bunks in the hospital —that is. there was not a bed fur every bunk. I think there were plenty of beds for al-. the passengers in the ship. I was not present when the beds w»*re distributed for the ship, but I heard the agent say there were half a dozen beds for mv'use for the hospitals. There were three hospitals, containing 11 bunks. There were 31 » p ssencers— eqnal to 264 statute svlnks. The bedding in the hospital was not sufficient for the sick during the voyage. I had to use double layers of canvas in some cases. The number of patients on my hands 'luring the voyage varied from 14 to 73. I had 25 children on my hands at one time. I made a note of the deficiency of beds in mv diary on the 16th June. We sailed on the 2nd of June. I did not know, of my own knowledge, that there were sufficient beds for the ordinary use of the passengesr. Tt is my opinion there were. The bunks in the hospital were not strong. The boards fsll out, and the patients above dropped down on. those bel w."

Thefollowing remarkable paragraph appears in the "New Zealand Herald." It is only charitable to suppose that a too close observation of the eclipse had slightly affected the writer : — " Astronomers could not have selected a clearer or a more beautiful firmament for a celestial phenomenon to come off ia th.6 way of a lunar eclipse than was witnessed throughout last night. It was in all respects a great success, and had the extreme merit of being punctual to time. As the earth intervened itself between the lunar and the solar orbs, the dark shadow crept over the face of the moon, infringing first the nearer edge of it, and increasing the profundity of the gloom as it slowly and almost imperceptibly prog'essed through, the hours of the night, until the sun rose resplendent in the east and bade the orb depart. The following simple directions carried out will enable those deficient in astronomic lore to understand thoroughly last night's arrangement. The earth being in the plane of the ecUptic, the centre of ics shadow is always in that plane ; if, therefore, the moon be in its nodes, that is, in the plane of the ecliptic, the shadow of the earth will fall upon it. The contrivance is extremely simple and easy of understanding. " A euriousfmeident is reported by the Melbourne Argus, in connection with the late races on Flemington course there. Our contemporary says : — "The meeting concluded with the Free Handicap, for which twenty horses started. The winner was Sunlight, who started at the short odds of 2 to 1 agst him. Planter, who ran extremely well, secured second place. In coming into the weighing yard, Planter seized the jockey of Kite with his teeth, dragged him out of the saddle, and flung him to the ground, breaking the boy's arm and injuring hi 3 leg. For some weeks past workmen have been busily engirt fitting up the snbmaiine boat — or hateav, plongeur — at the end of the Rattray street wharf, D.medin. They have now almost completed their work ; and it is to be hoped we shall soon have a trial of the interesting stranger. The boat appears to he a perfect puzzle to those citizens who take walks abroad in the direction of the whaif. This is scarcely to be wondered at, as the boat is the strangest piece of mechanism conceivable. Jt hears some resemblance to a large steam boiler, brought to a sharp point at one end, fitted up with a pair of paddles at the sides, and a thick funnel placed on the top. Sydney Smith asks why are we natural everywhere but in the pulpit ? No man expresses warm and animated feelings anywhere else with his mouth closed, but with his whole b>)dy ; he articulates every limb, and talks from head to foot with a thousand voices. Why this holoplexia on sacred occasions alone ? Why call in the aid of paralysis to piety 1 Is it a rule of oratory to balance the style against the subject, and to handle the most sublime truths in the dullest language and the dryest manner? Is. sin to; be taken from men, as Eve was from Adam, , by casting them into a deep slumber ?