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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1750, 14 March 1874, Page 2

A meeting of the directors of the Greymouth Coal Company was held yesterday afternoon, at their offices, Mackay street, Mr W. S. Smith in the chair. Mr G. W. Moss, secretary to the company, read the minutes of the previous meeting, which were confirmed. An unusual amount of correspondence was read. It was resolved that the company purchase the engine and boiler on Cassius's claims, Ross, for the sum of L 750, and the pumping gear of the Will and Way glajm, Ross, for L3OO, and that tenders be invited for conveying the machinery from Ross to the company's ground, opposite Brunnerton. It is the intention of the directors to bring coal to market inline* diately. They are only waiting an answer from the Government in reference to the bridge at Brunnerton, and other matters in connection with the railway, in order to enable them to determine where to sink a shaft, erect machinery, shoots, &c. Boring, in order to prove the reserve previous to selecting under their lease, is still being con,

tinned. The engineer reports being down 204 ft, and striking the seam is daily expected. The Registrar of the Supreme Court gives uotice that jurors who are summoned to attend the Supreme Court; at Hokitika on Monday, the 16th instant, need not attend until 10 a.ro. on Wednesday, the 18th. The banks in Otas;o have raised the price of gold from L 3 15s 'to L 3 15s 6d, this step being due to the threatened exportation of gold to the Victorian mint. We learn that the dispute between the lessees of the Brunner Coal-mine was amicably settled yesterday by Mr Ostler, on behalf of his principals, accepting the terms offered him. One of the public who was present at a sitting of the Provincial Council one evening this week states that two of the country members spoke in Committee collectively seventy-four times in the space of one hour and a half. A sweepstake on the Greymouth. Jockey Club Handicap, which is to be run on Tuesday, will be drawn for on Monday evening at 7 o'clock, at Messrs Hamilton and Co.'s store, Marsden. The number of tickets (LE each) is unlimited, and the lucky drawer of the first horse will receive one-half, the second one-quarter, the third one-twelfth, while one-twelfth will be divided among starters, and an equal amount among non-starters. — A D^rby sweep on the same event is also to be drawn on Monday evening at the Railway Terminus Hotel, Mawhera Quay. The sweep consists of 400 members, at 10s each, and the holder of the first horse will receive the handsome sum of LIOO, the second L4O, and the third L2O, while L4O will be divided equally among starters and non-starters. — Another Derby sweep on the same event, of 200 members at 10s each, is announced to be drawn on Monday, at the Pioneer Hotel, Marsden. Wardens Revell and Whitefoord have granted protection for all claims, rights, &c, within their respective districts, from the 16th to the 20th instant, in order to allow the miners an opportunity of attending the Greymouth Annual Race Meeting. Although there has been no notice of the fact in the ordinary reports of the proceedings of the Provincial Council, there must have bean some very discreditable exhibitions on the part of several members, judging by the comments of yesterday's West Coast Times. Our contemporary says : — " We have no hesitation in saying that that limit was passed on Wednesday evening, when the proceedings assumed such a farcical form as to throw positive discredit upon the whole body. Every reasonable allowance has been made on the score of inexperience, and it was very naturally presumed that members would get better accustomed to the ordinary business every day, and that after a short time things would be carried on with tolerable smoothness, but that hope is now utterly abandoned by those who nightly listen to the miserable squabbles and personalities which are indulged in by certain members. . . . When the Council was in Committee on Wednesday evening, Mr White rose to the question of reporting progress, and his remarks evidently bore reference to a point of order, but he had no sooner risen than he was ordered by the Chairman of Committees in a most offensive manner to sit down. If the same words had been used in the same tone to any member of the Council they would have been most offensi/e, but as directed against a gentleman who filled the high office of Speaker, the utterance of the words constituted a positive outrage. In any other legislative body in New Zealand, the commission of such an offence would at once have been followed by a fitting censure upon the offending person, but Westland justice in such cases appears to be somewhat tardy. From the Boss Guardian we learn that the Old Whim Wheel Company, Jones's flat, are now opening out about 20ft from the surface. The face is not very large yet, but is gradually being extended. At first, when putt'ng through the topstuff, the returns were very indifferent, but as they go deeper the yield improves, and now the party are making good wases. The claim is very economically worked. There are but six shareholders — four of whom are employed in the face, one on the- brace, and the other at the sluice-box. About 1000 trucks of stuff a week are put through. The lease is two acres in extent, and the party have a long job before them, with a certainty of good wages, and, if men are put on, probably they will have large dividends to look forward to. Now that landing-stages are being built to the wharf, it should be the duty of someone to see that they are kept clear for traffic. Yesterday afternoon a quantity of timber was left on the stage opposite Boundary street, which considerably narrowed the appioah, and while one of the coal drays was being backed on to it, it slipped over the side, dragging th« horse with it. Plenty of assistance was at hand, and the horse was dragged oat with ropes, fortunately unhurt, but the wonder is it was not killed or seriously injured, A handsomo testimonial is to be presented to Mr Strode, late Resident Magistrate of Dunedin. At a meeting, at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, of the legal profession, held lately, the following resolutions were unanimously passed: — "1. That an illuminated address be prepared and presented, on behalf of the legal profession practising in Dunedin, to A. R. C. Strode, Esq., (a) Expressing the deep and sincere regret of ohe profession at his retirement from the judicial station which he has for so many years adorned, and in the discharge of the duties of which he has ever been actuated by a keen sense of honor, an earnest desire to administer justice impartially, and in which he has invariably manifested an ability and a laborious industry well worthy of a higher judicial position, {b) Congratulating him on his well-earned leisure and retirement, (c) Trusting that he may be spared for many years to come to enjoy within his family circle the retrospect of an honored and active life devoted to the public good. \(d) Hoping that the Colony at large may yet in some new sphere enjoy the benefit of his judical experience and observation. 2. That J. H. Harris and H, Howorth, Esqrs., be requested to draw up the foregoing address, winch, when signed, shall be presented in some public manner to Mr Strode. 3. That Mr Strode be reuuested to have an enlarged portrait of himself taken by a photographer at; the expense of the profession, the portrait to be hung in the Resident Magistrate's Court, with the sanction of the Colonial Government." Referring to the recent complication at Wellington between the General and Provincial Governments, the Post says that the Provincial Auditor having declined to certify warrants for the payment of Provincial accounts, inasmuch as warrants already certified were in excess of the amount legally available, the Provincial Solicitor and Mr Travers have been instructed to at once apply to the Supreme Court for a mandamus to compell the Provincial Auditor to certify the warrants submitted to him. | The Colonial Treasurer has given a hiut ' that should be valuable to those who venture Opinions upon the native policy of the Government.' \i "would seem that ' the perplexities whioh grow up in the native department are not wholly of Maori planting. Tb would seem that the aboriginal element of the New Zealand population read newspapers, employ "special" correspondents, and use the electric telegraph. They have a very keen appreciation of the anxiety of the European to extend roads through th Q

Colony. This anxiety is the measure of the value they set upon hereditaments Let us put the casa thus. A tribe of Maoris would be willing to sell their land to-day for a nominal sum. But to-morrow there is a Dublic meeting of Europeans to represent to their Government how valuable that land would be for, say. a railway, a road, or a telegraph line. Immediately the Maoris multiply the value by two. It would be a little curious to inquire the source of this in- ■ spiration of the Maori mind. However the fact is so. The Colonial Treasurer has publicly stated that the greater the anxiety for a piece of laud the more numerous are the barriers raisen by the natives against the Government obtaining it — except, we presume, at a price. The price would possibly be legarded as exorbitant for such land in any other part of the world. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, Dunedin, on the 4th instant, a case came on for hearing in which the cause of the action was the refusal to receive a quantity of ballast. The Act under which the case was brought was one in which the words " goods and merchandise" occur, and it was yesterday sought to be shown that ballast could I hardly be termed "merchandise." One of the counsel engaged in the case then proceeded to give a definition of the word, and quoted a case in which it was held that false teeth came under this denomination. His Worship thought that ballast came withia the meaning of the Act. The very fact that one of the witnesses had called himself a "ballast merchant" fully justified him in coming to that conclusion. We have Fiji news to the sth February. In politics there is not anything to report. The antagonistic parties are resting on their oars pending the result of the British commission. The Government coffers are empty, local creditors troublesome, the civil servants unpaid, and the Government notes dishonored by the bank. Upon these troubles is the fact that taxes are coming in very slowly, and not nearly in sufficient amount to relieve the embarrassment of the Treasurer. A trifling circumstance perhaps in itself, but considered as significient in the present juncture, is the changing the denomination of the Fiji currency. A notice has been posted at the Custom House that money will be reckoned by the British style of £ s. d., instead of by dollars as hitherto.