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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1703, 19 January 1874, Page 2

There was a large crowd of people on the wharf last evening to witness the debarka-; tion of the 132 Chinamen brought by the (Alhatnbra. Under any circumstances there was much confusion, and we are sorry to say' a great deal of unwarranted bustling and! rough treatment of the Mongolians. We, should like to know what those who thus. misbehave themselves would think did it so happen that in. the course of events they had to land in China and be subjected to such treatment. From the Wealth of Nations claim we hear! that the amount of amalgam scraped off the plates for the week's crushing was 2460 z.i This brings the total amount of amalgam in! hand up to 5060z. The company do not intend to clean up or clean out the boxes till the end of the month. We " are informed that the boring on ' the Grey Coal Company's ground is now down 132 ft, and the Manager reports having struck the ''grit," and expects in eight days toreach the coal. ' The Hon. Mr O'jjorke, who was recently; elected Speaker of the Auckland Provincial! Council, over which body he has presided for several years, ; has declined .to accept any; salary for the office so long as he remains a Cabinet Minister. | The following remarks by the Premier! upon the question of conserving the natural; forests of the Colony, and planting young; trees are particularly worthy of notice by; the people of Westland, where no one ever, dreams of leaving patches of trees on his land, or of planting others:— "l say that ' the largest question demanding consideration at the present time is the question of the treatment of the existing forests of New Zealand, and of planting forests for the: future of the country. (Applause.) There; is no question, I think, which demands more thoughtful cr serious consideration from all | those who are disposed to deal with public interests in a statesmanlike manner. We are living under a system whjch almost de.mands as a right the exercise of private licentiousness in dealing with property of a value beyond all estimate. A man' may now buy for LI an acre of land with LIOO worth of bußh upon it. Ab it is bo easily ob- ■ tamed, bush land ia lightly valued ; and the consequence is that it is scarcely .too much to say that forests are burned down for the sake of lighting pipes, or boiling pots of tea. There is a most reckless waste of the timber of the country. No consideration is shown for the fact that those who get timber in improper seasons, or who fell it and make use of it as jit should not be used, are injuring not only thpjr own property but the property of others, by the qv\\. reputation they gain for the timber of the country. Take the': case of kauri. I believe that there is no more valuable timber than kauri; but it is 'now sent out of the country in such a stfltp $hat it does not' command anything like the value it should^ At present timber ib being cut and put into houses ivithin three months after its leaving tba soil. We protect oysters, we protect duuks, ye pro r tect other birds, and fish, all of which are. matured in little more than a year or two, but those urandwoeds' which require for their perfection scores or < yen hundreds of years, we deem beneath a moment's consideration." There is little doubt that the comparatively small extent of clearing that has been marie in this part of the Colony, has materially affected the climate. The weather generally is drier and the summer hotter, and should the time arrive when the natural forests arc all destroyed and nothing remains to take their place, Westland will become as dry and hot as the Canterbury Plains.

In his speech at Dunedin the other day the I'remier, referring to the jealousy and distrust which some years ago existed of the "new iniquity"— the 'Australians— said that when he first went North to attend the Assembly as an Otago rep*ii§!itative, there was much prejudice againlt Otago members ; especially, 1 may -add; against . * (Laughter. ) 1 think [ pj^*say there was a very general disposition -to deery r the t position and the prospects ofrDunedin ; a very general desire not to recognise the commercial position to which the city had even then attained, and a great readiness to declare that its prosperity was. ephemeral, because it.wps due.onlyjto the presence of a gold-mining population. (Laughter.) . May I ; be allowed to tell an anecdote ? It has the merit of being true. A Dunedin member, having goneito Wellington to attend the Assembly, was looking for lodgings. He went to a house, and ihe arranged with the landlady various details ; and then he added, "As I shall of necessity come home very late, you will have to keep the [door open for me." "Oh! sir," replied the landlady;,! ." when there's no Assembly sitting, we can safely keep the door, open all night. But now, we can't do it; for there are many people from Dunedin and Otago about!" A correspondent ' of a Southern contemporary states" that " about 150 or 200 natives, chiefly, Kingite, will immediately be set to road-making in the direction of Upper Waikato—perhaps ■from the Waipa to Baglan, and that the necessary tools and some arms have been issued for the party. More than common interest attaches to the pending negotiations for the purchase of large blocks of land in and adjacent to Taupo. Private speculators are bidding high for those lands, and it is possible that their agents may [compel the Government to; take a decisive step. It would be a subject for regret if the Hot Springs, the Te Motu, and other iiue blocks of land are not acquired for the Colony, especially so, as much, indeed a very large part of Taupo. is little better than a pumice desert. The Natives set a high value on Taupo, because it was a cradle of their race after the exodus from the mysterious Hauraki. Many spots and several of the mountains which abut on the Te Moana Lake are, or not long since were tapu. If I remember rightly, Sir George Grey was once prevented from ascending Tongariro, which was a burial place for great chiefs, their bodies being deposited in the crater." It was announced by telegraph some days ago that a disgraceful scene had occurred on the Auckland race course, and that Mr Hardington, the Clerk of the Course, had been shamefully maltreated The following are the particulars as narrated by the Herald: — " According to usage, Papapa was walked over by Derrett, her jockey. A number of roughs determined that the jockey should not return to the paddock unmolested, and formed a ring round the entrance to prevent the horse from being taken in. The movements of the crowd were observed by Mr Hardington, the clerk .of the course, and others, and, with the assistance of the police, an endeavor was made to clear the course. But the rowdies wete not to be baulked in their determination to injure the jockey, and while the few mounted, in their endeavors to praserve order, charged past the paddock entrance, a rush was made at them by the roughs. One man was knocked down by a horseman and ridden over. Mr Hardington's horse followed, and stumbled over the prostrate man, throwing his rider heavily to the ground Mr ' Hardington fell on his head, and in turn was ridden over and trampled upon by the excited an . infuriated throng. Observing the occurrence, a rush was made by the foot police and several of the lawabiding spectators, and Mr Hardington, who was lying o i the course at full length, apparently lifeless, was at once borne on the shoulders f his friends within She ring, while some in the mob yelled out 'Serve him right,' Dr Hooper was, hippily, on the spot, and attended the wounded man. Water was adminstered, and in a short space of time he was restored to his senses. On examination his skull was found to be hurt, blood flowing freely from his left ear. His jaw was broken, and he had a, severe wound on his cheek, while one of his ankles was found to be considerably hurt. He was shoitly afterwards removed to his residence at Onehunga, in Mr Watt's brougham, accompanied by Dr Hooper, who has remained in attendance since. ■ While this was going on the mob were not satisfied with the result of their riotous behaviour, and on Mr Broham, the Inspector of Police, endeavoring to clear, a way for the.race-horse to pass through, he was seized, dragged from his horse, and other wise ill-treated.. The constables, however, flew to his rescue, and succeeded in beating off the ruffians, while Detective Jeffrey captured a man named Christie, who was seen in the act of assaulting the Inspector." In the Argus report oi the cricket match between Mr Grace's team and Eighteen Victorians, we find that at the conclusion of the match "some champagne was drunk in liorior of both sides. Mr W. G. Grace, in proposing the health of the Victorian Eighteen, coupled with the name of the cap* tain, Mr Robertson, said he was afraid the Eleven had not been seen in their best form, but he hoped a return match would be played on the same ground, when he was of opinion they would make a very much better stand. Mr Robertson, in response, expressed the belief jihat the Eleven were not in form, mentioned $hat when he first came out from England he felfc yery much the effect of the different light, The ground had also been against the Enqli«hmen. Mr Grace had a^ked his permission that morning to have it rolled, but he felt that he was playing a match for Victoria, arid that he was bound to play the the strict game without conceding a single point. The ground was therefore not rolled, and the batsmen had had a bumpy wicket against them, though, of course, the Victoiians might havp had the game thing to contend with." ' ' - ■ - The •" pianista," a French invention, is an instrument which, being wJheeled U p a^ suitably placed in front of an ordinary pirio i or harmonium, may be mad 3to play any 1 tune desired upon these by simply turning a handle, just as if it were a bariel-or^an or a French piano. The only example of this ingenious piece of mechaci.m in Australia has just been imported by Mr Huenerbein, of Russell street, Melbourne, and we (Argus) are indebted to Mr Haselmayer, who, at some cost of time and trouble, has got it into working order, for the opportunity of inspecting it. The construction of the pianista represents a very marvel of mechanical skill, and though simple enough as to the principle adopted by the inventor, iR extremely complicated in detail. When brought up" in front of the key-board of a piano, it is found that, over each key, at a properly regulated distance, there is a hammer yiy similar to jbhe Jeath,er-faced 1 amraers which strike the wjres and produce the not^s jn a piano. On removing the other side of the pjanista a number of wooden rods, about the length and thickness of stair rods, are observed. These are attached ab one end to cranks, which, being lifted, the hammers are made to shake, and at the .other fnd they are connected with small bellows, in each of which there is, as a matter, of > /urse, a valve. . In the upper paii of the iuafcument there jjs.a large bellows which fore 38 the air, when required, into any one of tbe smaller bellows. The valves ; n the small bellows are opened by the raising of a number; of other rods, the upper extrudes of which end in brass points! and these project in a tow, over

which revolves a spirally-grooved cylinder. Between the row of these brass points and the , qyliuder, a long length of cardboard is made: to pass, just as if it were paper being printed, lt v is this length of cardboard, when folded up, resembles a book of oftailors' patterns, only much longer, that contains the tune to be played ; but the notes, instead of being printed in the ordinary way, are perforated. So long as the cardboard presses down any one of the points, the note it represents is silent, .but. when,. as it travels onwards, the perforated part arriv.es over the point, the latter rises, and ao. the note is produced. We have heard several operatic selections played by means of this instrument, and the effect is that of a well-practised pianist performing.