THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1702, 17 January 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1874.

The pressure on oar space occasioned by the publication of tbe most important parts of the Premier's speech at Punedin compels us to omit cur usual editorial article and other original matter. la the last General Government Gazette, the following sections In the town of Greymouth are reserved for wharves and coal depots and other purposes of the General Government :— Sections 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, and 227. * Five hundred and ninety-two allotments of lands will be put up to auction by tbe Ne'son Government at Westport on Thursday, the 12th February. If by any possibility the Town Clerk could have wished to incommode reporters at the sittings of the Borough Council, he could uot have bit upon a better plan than that adopted last nig-.t. To commence with, there was great deficiency of light, and the table was carefully Dlaced as far from what little there was as could decentiyT)e done, Secondly 7 the position of the table was such as to allow of the full force of a keen current of air striking upon the uncovered head, and although a door was once shut to remedy this, it was immediately re-opened ; while lastly, we have always to complain of the space allowed, but when that small space is curtailed by the Town Surveyor coolly seating himself upon and covering half of the diminutive reporting table and keeping up a constant whispering and obstruction of person, the inconvenience becomes all the greater. J*ett<ej?s of naturalisation have been issnsd jn favojr of F. W. JJiegler, Otto P. Car3jtcns, and Ols^n Ludwjg all qi Stattord Town, W. S Smith, Esq., Mayor of Greymouth, and W, Todd, Esq., Mayor of Hokitika, have been gazetted as Justices of tbe Peace. Mr Tfcos. Sugpufl has been appointed Receiver of Gold iteyjenue #t $he fiaast. Sydney does not appear to be the most moral of cities. The anunal report of the Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages of New South Wales has recently been published, and from it we hear that during the last ten years there has been an average of GO illegitimate births in each 1000. But if individual years are examined, it will be seen that this immorality is increasing at a yery rapid rate. In 1869 the number of illegitimate births in each, 1000 was 55; ia 1870, 64 ; in Jg7l, 69 ; and in 1872, 63. While this is taking place the number of marriages is decreasing. In J.B6S there were B*l9 marriages to each ICOO person? Jij^ng in New South Wales, but year by year this proportion has dwindled down to 7.41 in 1872. This certainly does not present a bright prospect for the future. During last year there were registered in Dunedin JJI7 births, 351 deaths, and 297 marriages. The excess (says the Tiinfo) over death was therefore f 6s, or at the rate of 218 23 per cent. In 1872, %tyrths exceeded the deaths at the rate of 243 43 per .c'eni;. We take the following from a recent issue of the Southern Cross : — It will be remembered jfchftt spme two years ago Messrs Barry and Nolan want on a prospecting to the Tuhua district. The£ s^'p yyelj. received by the natives, and during their iou? p J-hafc district found gold in more than one place. Owing to the lateness of the Reason when they were despatched, wet weather came on, and thjey had to return. About the same period some of the Armed Constabulary stationed in the Taupo djsfcrigt also prosJiected aome of the .creeks falling Jnto that ake. and were successful jn finding not only alluvial gold ia small quantises, but also found gold in the creeks, |nd otherwise very encouraging prospeote of a gold? field ia the neighborhood. The wet weather, however, put a stop to all operations at that time, and no effort was made to resume them daring the past summer. Since that period various native reports have been received respecting the finding of gold in several places bordering upon the Tuhua and Upper Wanganui districts. All these reports have only tended to confirm the general impros* s : on that what shall prove to be a very extensive gold-field exists in the southern part of the Auckland Province, southward of the confiscated boundary ljne some 50 to 60 miles. In the event of a rich gojld-^eld being opened there, the Kawhia harbor, or tin? at the boundary of this Province with that of might beoome the shipping port of the gold.-fie.ld. It is satis factory to know thajb under tbe r#igu of the new Superintendent, Mr Williamson, another effort is to be made to discover the hidden riches of that vast traofc of table Jand in the Tubua district. Mr Barry, who is prepared to make another exploration, is quite san, guine of success, and when it is stated that the Provincial Gpvernmeni; are willing to pay his actual expenses while in the interior

it shows that Mr Barry's professions do not belie his actions. At present the Provincial Government are waiting for an answer from tbe Native Minister upon the subject. He has been written to,' and as soonj as. he advises Mr Williamson that Mr' Barr^may go, a start will be made, it may therefore be anticipated that in the course of a week or two Mr Barry, and a reliable companion, will be on their way to bring to light some of the hidden mineral wealth in the centre of the territory over which Tawhiuo seeks to exercise his sway. Let a rich goid-tield be discovered there, and the influx of European population that would set in would for ever settle the sc-called "native difficulty." The Manchester Guardian states, on the authority of a correspondent, that a number of British ironmasters have recently acquired nearly 20 square miles of property in the Wharekawa district, in the Province of Auckland, New Zealand. The property embraces 8700 acres "of coal and ironstone. The chief seam of coal is found in some parts within a few yards of the surface as thick as 20ft, and it is computed to be capable of yielding an average thickness of 10ft throughout tbe whole 8700 acres. This represents no less than 126,000,000 tons of good coal. The ironstone is of the brown hematite class, and contains as high a per centage as 62 of fine iron, and is believed to yield an average of 50 per cent. Four specimens reported upon, after analysis by a metallurgical chemist in the Midlands, showed 60, 59, 50i and 36. per cent, . respectively. Calcined, it will be worfchin this country— as prices are just at present — 30s per ton. It can be brought across from the Frith of Thames at about 5s 6d per ton. Made into iron upon the estate, the coal and limestone, estimated each at 8s per ton, and the limestone, also found on the estate, at 7s, would enable a ton of hot blast pigs to be produced at L 2 133 per ton, and the quality would be equal to British iron, which is now selling at L 7. Made into cold blast iron, the cost would be about L 2 17s 6d, and the quality would be equal to the British iron, which now realises L 8 per ton. The Otago police have subscribed about LBO for a monument for the late Mr St. John Branigan's grave. A fire, accompanied with a melancholy loss of life, occurred at Onehunga on the 6th imt. The premises destroyed belonged tc Mr John Kerr, a pensioner. The fire was observed about one o'clock in the morning Constable Greene and the neighbors were quickly on the spot. The inmates, who were suddenly roused Irom sleep, were rescued bj Mr Donaghey, Kerr's son-in-law, who lived next door, and succeeded in getting out Mn Kerr and some grandchildren. It appears, however, thafcgMr Kerr himse'f was sleeping in a front room, and the heat and flames wen so intense that it was utterly impossible tc render him any assistance, and when th< tire had burned itself out, the remains of his body, burned to a cinder, were recovered. For the future the Nelson ColonUtt will b< published thrte times a w>ek, namely, oi Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. We learn from the Fiji Times of 13tl December, that Commodore Goodenough hai issued the following notice :— " To Britist Subjects. —lt has been represented to mi that various prisoners of war, taken in armi against King Cacabau's forces, are now beinj tried at the Island of Coro for the crime o rebellion, and that their services will bi offered to British settlers, under the llegula tions dated 4th August, 1873, and pubHshec in the Fiji Gazette of 19th November, 1873 I hereby warn all British subjects that th< hiring or engaging of these men is an act o slavery, under 6 and 7 Vie, cap. dS, anc will so be regarded by me." A pedlar. _at_ Oamani, waa fined Is anc costs for selling jewellery by lottery. Th< maximum fine is LSO. A Bpston preacher, in speaking of thi danger of permitting the Bible to be crowds out by the newspaper, perpetuated the fol lowing pun : — " Men, now-a-daya," said he, "are like Zaccheus, desirous of seeing Jesus, but they cannot because of th< Press." ' At a recent meeting of the Nelson Jopkej Club it was agreed to postpone the races until the end of April, the time advertised being inconvenient both for harvest and tc the owners of horses, clashing as it does witt other meetings. It was at the same time resolved to extend the programme.