THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1751, 16 March 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDA Y, MARCH 16, 1874.

The Provincial Council terminated its first session on Saturday, the principal business on that day being the passing of a resolution recommending that the General Government should include in the next Public WorVs Bill a railway from Greymouth to Hokitika. We are glad that the Council has affirmed the desirablity of this work, than which none of greater- importance and utility could be constructed in Westland. Whatever route may be chosen for the railway to Canterbury, it is absolutely essential that the two chief towns of the Province should be connected by railway, and we have no doubt whatever that the General Government will accept the recommendation and authorise the construction of the line. With the prospect of a large production of coal in the Grey district, it becomes all the more important to provide facilities for its shipment, and if the railway be made no vessel will leave Hokitika in ballast, but will load up either with timber from the local saw-mills, or coal fro m Greymouth. The line has been -already surveyed, and the route does not present any special engineering difficulties — the bridge over the Teremakau being the only part of the line that will entail a large cost. But: thiß ; difficulty is not greater than similar works upon the railways on the East Coast, "and' it is thought by : those who ought to know that the Teremakau can be bridged at a moderate cost at the lower gorge. We have no doubt that' the Westland members will cordially unite in pressing the Greymouth and Hokitika railway upon the attention of the General Government next session of the Assembly, and insist upon its construction as an instalment of that larger share of railway expenditure to which Westland is justly entitled. . The proceedings of the Council on Friday do not appear, from the reports in the local papers, to have been of particular interest. The Province Administrative Bill was passed, but from the reports in the Hokitika papers we cannot discover in what shape it was passed. We cannot trace its fate anyhow, but we are informed privately that the Council declined to support the proposal of his Honor for the appointment of a Committee analagous to the Tender and Contract Committee of the old County Council, to act with him in the deciding of .'tenders and the appointment of officers during the recess. Mr White, whose performances with regard to this Bill have bejen of a most extraordinary character, appears to have regretted his vote against an Executive, and endeavored on Friday to! induce the Council to consent to a "Reces3 Committee, without whose advice and consent it shall not be lawful for the Superintendent to appoint, suspend, or* remove any of the principal officers serving under the Provincial Government, or to make or enter into any contracts or engagements whereby the revenue of the Province may become chargeable with the payment of any ; money," &c., but his motion was lost on a division and the Bill passed much in its original shape. We ate told that the reason of this was that the majority wpnjld aesepfc no half measure, and preferred to leave: fu)l power to the Superintendent during the sh.ort recess rather than give authority to a nonrreuponsible quasi Executive. We do not think that the majority acted wisely in this matter — they should have affirmed the principle of divided responsibility, and left the elaboration of the form which it should finally take until next session. According to appearances, however, it would appear that should Westland obtain the loan proposed, the Council will have no difficulty in insisting upon tha appointment of an Executive Council. Of the proceedings of' Friday we give the following summary : — The consideration of the report of the Petitions Committee, recommending the renewal of a toll gate at Stafford Town, was postponed unt/1 fihe next session of the Council. The Petitions Committee recommended that with respect to jths proposal pf Wm. Fox and others to prospect the southern districts, a sum of ,£2OO be placed on the estimates for that purpose, aud that a suitable boat be supplied; : We i; may remark en passent that paid prospecting parties of this kind have invariably proved failures. It does not appear thftt £he recommendation of the Committee was adopted by the Council. A report. was brought up, recommending the purchase. by the Province or Hungerford's bridge at the Arahura, the amount to be fixed by arbitration, but the decision of the Council is not in our possession. The Superintendent, in reply to Mr Guinness, stated that he had been in communication with the Superintendent of Nelson regarding the regulations fco be adopted under " The Miners' Rights Extension Act," and would forward suggestions on the subject. Mr Tabart aroused the dormant state of the Council to the fact that thg expenditure over the anticipated revenue would be ,£2646 on the Supplementary and £4741 on the original Estimates, making in all £6288, and with the amount which was in the hands of the General Government, and which was still doubtful, the wholq deficiency would be This is a fitting commentary upon the demoralises

tion of the Council with regard to finance ; members never seem to hiive considered ways atid means at all.

The following items on the Supplementary Estimates were passed: — Provincial Solicitor, £50 ; Warcen, Ross, Arahura, and Kanieri, j>100 ; Cattle Inspector and travelling expenses of Land Ranger, LSO; Cattle Inspector, Ist April to 31st December, 1873, i>4s ; Speaker, after a division of 9 votes to 6, JSO ; extra allowance for police, 6d per day, £219 ; warders of Gaol, ,£54 Iss ; assistants at the Lunatic Asylum, £36 10s ; Inspector of Weights and Measures, Ist April to 14tb September, 1873, £137 10s; compensation to Constable Cashion, £18 ; Maori Creek Court House, £150 ; Stafford cemetery, ,£25; Stafford road, £20; Hokitika, Greymouth, and Ross Fire Brigades, j£l2s ; Coal Prospecting Association, ,£100 ; refund business licenses, after a division of 6 votes to 6, by the casting vote of the Chairman ; claims due on current contracts, Survey Department, £366 Is 4d ; Borough Council of Greymouth, land fund, ,£550; Clerk to Council, .£100; grant to prospectors, ,£2OO ; total, £2646.'

. The highly satisfactory news was received in town yesterday that the result of the month's crushing of the Wealth of Nations claim, gave 352 ounces of retorted gold. This result is sufficient to pay off all charges, bank overdraft, &c, free the Company from debt, and declare a dividend of Is 6d per scrip. An entertainment has been arranged to be given in the Volunteer Hall, on St. Patrick's night, by a number of lady and gentlemen amateurs in aid of the funds of the Greymouth Literary Society. The first part of the programme will consist of vocal and instrumental music, and the second "part of the three-act drama of "Jocrisse, the Juggler," which, we believe, has been for some time in careful preparation. Miss Aitken, the celebrated tragedienne, was to appear at the Town Hall, Hokitika, on Saturday evening, to give a short series of entertainments, after which she is expected to appear here either on the 18th or 19th instant. The anniversary of the Greymouth Branch of the Hibernian Australian Catholic Benefit 1 " Society will be celebrated by a ball and supper on the evening of St. Patrick's Day. The dancing will be in the new Transit Shed, opposite Tainui street, aud the supper in the premises formerly occupied by Messrs Kennedy Bros., which are being handsomely decorated for the occasiou. The weights for two of the handicaps were declared on Saturday as follows by Mr Hastings, who is the local handicapper : — DiSTBicT Handicap. St. lb. Mr Graham's Lacenfeed ... 812 Mr Cochrane's Sandy ... 8 0 Mr Graham's North Star ... 7 8 Mr Cameron's Septimus ... 7 5 HURDLE HANDICAP. Mr M 'lvor's Tommy Dodd 10 12 Mr Carroll's Nero ...... 10 6 Mr Cameron's Septimus „, 10 0 Mr Seaton's Boy in Blue ... 8 7 We again remind our sporting friends that sweepstakes on the Greymouth Jockey Club Handicap will be drawn to-night, at the Railway Terminus Hotel, Mawhera Quay ; at Hamilton and Co.'s store, Marsden ; and at the Pioneer Hotel, Marsden. The members of the Greymouth Rifle Volunteers are reminded that an inspection of arms and accoutrements takes place this evening at the Volunteer Hall. Volunteers absent will forfeit their capitation allowance. At the Resident Magistrate's Court, on Saturday, the first case was brought by the Inspector of Nuisances under the Public Health Act. R. De Costa was charged with allowing a nuisance, in the shape of afoul closet, to remain on his premises. He admitted the fact, but said he could get no one toj remove the nuisance. He was fined 53 and costs, the Magistrate intimating that heavier penalties would be inflicted on future offenders. The telegraph line between Greymouth and theLyell is now open. ,The concert and ball given at the Court House, No Town, on Friday evening last, foi: the benefit of the Greymouth Hospital, financially and otherwise was a decided success. 1 hanks are due to the inhabitants for their contributions of eatables, drinkables, fruit, and other sundries, to the lady and gentlemen amateurs of the town and district for their vocal and instrumental assistance, and to the Hospital Sub-committee, Messrs M'Beath, Clifford, and Haisty, for the result obtained, which will be a contribution of fully L7O to the hospital funds. •The few hours' flood on Saturday week has had an extraordinary effect in Murray Creek. The Herald says that even a constant traveller would scarcely imagine he was passing over the same ground, and immense logs and stumps impede your progress in all directions, A fine tail-race recently occupied by Mr Nelson, and brought up a distance of over 200 yards, and a face of ground in excellent order waiting only for water to resume operations, has been entirely destroyed from end to end, and it is . very doubtful if the owner will again set into it.— P.uring the same gale, about 10ft of the upper part of the enginehouse chimney, at the Ajax mine, which was securely stayed with an iron rod, was completely carried away ; and at the same moment a large birch tree was thrown so near to the machine-house that the upper branches just struck the roof of the building with sufficient force to split two of the rafters. One of the men, who is constantly employed at the machine-house, was standing directly under the spot at the time, and had the headiof the tree extended a few feet further, he must certainly have been severely injured. Fortunately no great delay or damage was caused by it. A consignment of assisted, eligible, and very interesting immigrants arrived at Ahaura on Friday evening. One of Ashton and Cassidy's four wheeled "vessels" chartered specially fpr the occasion disembarked a full cargo of rather good-looking young ladies, who were " assisted" from Australia for special settlement at Half -Ounce. Ii is feared that these fair and desolate wanderers in a strange land will be the means of necessitating the holding commissions (f,e lunafk'q inquirendo among some of the lucky and plucky miners of Half-Ounce and Duffer Creeks. Larry's Creek presents such formidable pbs6aoj.es to the conveyance of machinery that Messrs Graham, Malfroy, and Co, in order to transport the machinery to No. 2 . South, decided to form a road cleap of the bed of the creek from the Buller road to Colinton, up which waggons will be able to proceed.. The road is nearly completed, bejug within about half a mile of the township, fhe total length will be about six miles. • A German named Carl Pleinen, $gsd 35 years, was admitted to the Reef ton Hospital on Wednesday, having received injury to the right eye, caused by a splinter from a stone striking the eye-ball while he was striking with a spal^ing hammer. The organ is much inflamed, and it is possible that the vision is permanently destroyed. We (Herald) are glad to learn that Iver Hjul, who received injuries from the ex* ' plosion of gunpowder a few days ago at Boat*

man's, is progressing as favorably as can be expected.' The manner in which the accident occurred shows the necessity of extremo caution. It appears that a lighted candle was stuck with a piece of clay to the side of the tunnel, and the heat of the flame having caused the moisture to partially evaporate, the clay lost its adhesive power and fell, together with the lighted candle, into the powder keg, which, of course, exploded. That the man should have escaped instantaneous death is almost miraculous. A correspondent of the Otago Daily Times thus describes the present condition of Taranaki :— "The dwellers in Taranaki appear to be principally the original immigrants and their descendants. No fresh blood has been infiltrated into the Province for the last 20 years. From Patea to the Waitara all the people appear to be related to each other. Most of the orjoinal settlera came from the counties of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall ; and the Province appears to have been preserved as an antipodean ' in-and-in' west country breeding ground. It is a Province where still life, clotted cream, wooden plough shares, mead and honey abound ; where ties of relationship do not count for naught; where Tom will resent an injury to Fanny, and Fanny will champion Tom against the charge of rusticity, condone the cut of his coat, and champion the correctness of the antiquated opinions he has inherited from his grandfather. The means of living are so easily obtained that men pause a day or two before they make up their minds to become employed in manual labor, even for themselves. The climate, perhaps, may be enervating ; but butter sells for sixpence the pound, eggs for sixpence the dozen, andothsr comestibles at a similar rate. Four-fifths of all the old settlers being landowners, further tends to induce independence of other men's labor._ You see no vags, poverty, or destitution in the Province ; the police have no vagrants to apprehend. If Provincial policemen in New Zealand anywhere have a sinecure, it is here. The people all knowing each other in this clover-nook, a stranger attrauts immediate attention. His antecedents and business are carefully inquired after ; the male population strive to ascertain what balance he has at his bankers, what lands and beeves he possesses elsewhere ; the softer sex learn whether he is married or single ; and if found to be without encumbrance consider if he may be regarded as an eligible partly The Province is called the garden of <New Zealand. The name is apropos. It is i too fertile to induce energy." The special correspondent of the Melbourne Artjus writes from the Fijis : -" Tax-gather-ing- in Fiji is no joke. The people as a rule are very poor. They cannot pay the Ll, but they pay Is or half-a-crown, or whatever it seems to them they can afford. I have heard the native and white Government officers say that when the men have to pay their taxes to the appointed persons on the day set apart for the purpose, they will rush into the room in a body brandishing their clubs, throw their money at the receiving officer, who often believes that his last moment has come, and after a wild howl make their exit as unceremoniously. But it is better to growl and pay than to complain and not pay. The native taxes have, however, got largely in arrears. The financial affairs of the kingdom are in a great muddle. The books of the first Treasurer were mysteriously lost, and with them a sum of 3P0,000d01. No one can state with absolute certainty the condition of the Treasury, but the calculation of the Opposition has never been satisfactorily refuted." A London correspondent speaking of the prospects of future projected penny newspapers in that metropolis says :— " Among the new announcements for the next year is the Circle, a daily paper to be devoted to "London news." There is also projected another new daily, the Independent, whose mission is expressed in its title That such veutures in this age are of a highly speculative and hazardous kind is sufficiently proved by the fate of the Hour, which, after not a very shining existence of nine months, has brought the proprietor to the Bankruptcy Court, with liabilities to the handsome amount of L 31.000. It is a result at which no' one can feel surprise, considering the small reason for existence offered by the new diurnal. There was nothing in the Hour to distinguish i? from any other morning paper orj to tempt the purchaser. Troubled fi om the first 'Hour 'by the "accursed want of pence," it has lived from hand to mouth in desperate expectation of something turning up), andi' still lingers in that mysterious way very common to men and newspapers in the last depths of impecuniosity. The truth is that the day for new penny papers has past for ever in London. The existing ones at that price do well because they have taken robt, and have secured advertisers, but to start a new paper at a penny is as hopeless an enterprise as the Guinea Coal Company withWallsend at 425. A penny in these days is not equal to what a penny was when the Telegraph and Standard were founded, and the lucky proprietors of those thriving concerns, with their princely incomes, may chuckle over the fact that they are practically beyond the reach of competition." |Even the greatest lover of sherry will feel inclined to give up his favorite tipple if he reads the disclosures regarding its composition which have been recently made in the Times. It seems, from the statement of the largest wiue-importing firm in. England, that no pure sherry ever finds its way into that country, the reason alleged for this beine; that it would not "keep" in the British climate unless fortified, though this assertion is in opposition to that of a high scientific authority. ■ Even to enumerate the various ways in which sherry is doctored would far exceed the limits of a paragraph like this. Suffice it to say that the doctoring is of all kinds and every degree until even the climax attained by the dairyman lately convicted of selling " milk " containing 100 per cent, of adulteration is reached. Sherry of this description is entirely devoid of the juice of the grape, and is composed of vitriol, beetroot, or potato brandy, sugar, water, this delectable compound being sold at a price that is as cheap as the stuff is nasty. While all the wines imported into England seem to be subjected to.. poisoning processes to a ereater or less extent, sherry seems to hold a bad pre-eminence— indeed the ne plus ultra of adulteration has been reached in such a case as that just mentioned. P. seems not unlikely, unless some reform is effected, that it will soon be necessary to label bottles of sherry as "Poison," equally with laudanum."