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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1752, 17 March 1874, Page 2

In accordance with their annual custom, the members of the local branch, H. A^C.B.S, will meet at the branch-room at 8 30 this morning, to join in the St. Patrick's Day procession.' In the evening a grand ball and supper will be given under the auspices of the Societynn the new Transit Shed. We again direct attention to the entertainment to be given in the Volunteer Hall this evening, in aid of the funds of the Literary Society. The programme selected is a first-class one, and there is no doubt that the entertainment will be most liberally patronised. A grand bazaar is announced to be held in the stores in Tainui street, recently occupied by Messrs Kennedy Brothers, on the even- i ings of Wednesday. Thursday, and Friday. The object of the bazaar is to raise funds in aid of St. Mary's School, Ahaara, which is shortly to be given over to the Sisters of Charity. The Council appears to have been the arena for some curious scenes if the Hokitika papers are to be believed. The Register of yesterday says : — " On Saturday Mr Seddon most appropriately finished his performance as a Provincial Councillor by obtaining (seconded by Mr Guinness) an order that all strangers should withdraw from the House. The cause of this singular misuse of power was to be found in the fact that our morning contemporary had made some ' odious comparison ' respecting costermongers and members of the Provincial Council, which abuse Mr Seddon construed into breach of privilege. The reporters having, of course, been ordered out, the awful and mysterous deliberations nf the Council must always remain unknown. Putting aside the absurdity of the Provincial Conncil talking about privilege, the discussion of the question with closed doors, it must be apparent to anyone as a most ridiculously proceeding. It was fortunate fr Mr Seddon, anc for his seconder, Mr Guinness (who has shown a lamentable deficiency as a Councillar) that the doors were closed, as the members generally fell foul of the well-matched pair as actually to aba«h them for once. This much information, we may say, we obtained from several of the members, and it was corroborated by the dejected faces of Messrs Seddon aud Guinness when the doors were opened." The Star of Saturday evening thus expresses itself :— " The vagaries of some members of the Provincial Council have, throughout the session, been beyond the remarkable, and, owing to the newness to legislative business of many, might be passed over without serious comment. Last night, however, things were brought to the climax of ridiculousness, and on the Council adjourning this morning a fight between two hon. members was only prevented by the timely interference of the others. All we have to say is that we hope that the members will return to their places next session not sadder, but wiser men." The West Coast Times, referriag to Mr Seddon's affair, says: — "Mr Seddon then said thj.t he felt it was useless to appeal to the Council, as he should not get justice from the members. His Honor the Superintendent then rose and delivered a severe rebuke to Mr Seddon, who it is to be hoped will for some time to come retain a lively recollection of the lesson so properly administered. Mr Houlahan declared that if the proceedings were to be conducted with closed doors, he would no longer sit in the Council. The doors ware unlocked, but not before the member for the Arahura, Mr Seddon, had been enabled to arrive at a tolerably correct opinion as to what members thought of his conduct." The scale of honorarium to members of the Provincial Council has been fixed at LI per day during the whole time of the session (except Hokitika meir.bers), and eighteen psnce for travelling expenses, once. The Superintendent of the Grey River Hospital desires to acknowledge with thanks the following contributions to the Hospital : Parcels of pnpers and illustrated journals from his Excellency the Governor, Mr Dixon, Mr Roche, Mr Parkinson, Mr Hogg, Mr Warden Whitefoord, and Mr Chamberlain ; from Mr H. Kenrick, a set of chessmen and board ; from " A Friend," the Band of Hope Review and the British Workman ; and from Mrs Woods, a parcel of linen. We are requested to invite contributions of old linen, a material which is of the greatest value in dressing wounds. Mr Pelling has presented the Hospital with a parcel of seeds of useful vegetables. Yesterday a man named Allan Skeeles, who fractured his leg at the ancle joint the other day whilst working cutting scrub near Marshall's store, Duffer's, was brought down by boat from Ahaura, and admitted to the Hospital. He had previously been treated by i)r Phillip?, but it was considered advisable to pl:,ce him in the Hospital for further treatment. We draw attention to an advertisement in another regarding the Handicap Derby Sweep previously advertised to be disposed of at the Railway Terminus Hotel. The drawing is postponed until this morning at 9 o'clock. Should the weather prevent the races being run on this day, the drawing will be further postponed until 9 o'clock this evening. The recent gale was strongly felt at Havelock. A correspondent of the Nelson Colonist states that a furious tempest raged against the town ; two houses were tarn down, scattered abroad, and their wrpcks blown about like straws. A man wan blown down in the street, and another was heard relating how a similarly humiliating catastrophe had occurred to himself. At Mr Tear's Hotel a .very.heavy chimney was blown down upon the roof. The fences everywhere are smashed. The waves of the creek were beaten down and their white crests driven like smoke before the gale. A rec a nt visitor to the Nevis gold-field, Otago, informs the Lake Wakatip Mail that the miners there are, as a rule, doing exceeding well. He mentioned one claim in particular (M'Donald and party), where the result of seventeen days' work was- the handsome amount of 1720z. They are now stripping another paddock, from a fourth part of which they have already obtained 620 p. , Of course this is an exceptional cisc The Chinese also are reported as do. ng welt^ jon this field. It was announced, a^f orlhjght^mtb^t M-rs' Bernard Waymouth^son of a^smpbuilSii-; 1 ' bad lost his life whilst endeavoring to reach the North Shore, Auckland, after harmS

escaped from a sinking cutter. His body has since been picked up on the beach near Lake Takapuna. His hat was close to it, and there has since been found at no great distance to leeward, a 14ft deal, which he had bought and put with other timber on board his cutter before starting for Waikehe. The impresssion first raised is therefore now confirmed. He must have swam across the Strait — seven or eight miles— between the beach and Rangitoto, supporting himself with this deal, which suddenly struck him on the head as it touched the breakers on the beach, and stunned and drowned him. just as his | gallant struggle for life seemed crowned with success. The Southern Cross states the Provincial Executive recently discussed the question of the Provincial Government resuming, the management of the police force. A long and stormy debate ensued, and it was at last agreed that the Province should resume the charge of the police force as in former years. The Herald denies the truth of the report, and says the Executive has not met at all lately. The Medical Record says that the first meeting was held recently at Zurich of a society having the title of La Societe de la Mort, having for its object to found a sect which, at the death of each member, orders and provides for the incineration of nis body. A Mr Belvie, of Wanganui, is stated to have grown over a ton of grapes in the open air, in his garden, this year. Herr Bremer, German explorer in Africa, in a letter to Dr Petennan of Gotha, dated at Zanzibar, says Dr Livingstone died on the 15th of August. This date differs from that of the previous report, but all doubts have been set at rest by an official dispatch received by the Government on January 27 from Zauzibar, which states circumstantially that Livingstone died in Lobisa, after crossing marshes for hours, with water above his waist. The sufferings of his whole party were terrible, and ten died in consequence. The members of Cameron's expedition were suffering from fever and opthalmia, but would await the arrival of the doctor's remains and bring them to Ujiji. From the latter place they would be conveyed to Zanzibar, where, it was expected, they would arrive next month. The Wellingcon Evening Post states that Mr W. E. Stanley Hickson, son of Mr Wm. Hickson, an old and respected citizen of Wellington, who joined the service oftheNational Bank on its formation, has received merited promotion in beiDg transferred to their Greymouth branch, which was recently opened. •We heartily wish Mr Hickson every success in his new sphere of labor. Mr C. O'Neil, M H.R, writes to the Auckland papers to contradict an impression which is abroad t" the effect that he intends to resign his position as member for the Thames. He says that he has not the slightest thought of so doing. A few days ago, in Nelson, a man named Hugh Graham committed suicide by hanging himself in a closet behind the Provincial Hotel, of which house his mother was land' lady. Deceased was a steady qniet yruug man, and generally well liked. He obtained a scholarship a few years since at tbe Nelson College. No cause can be assigned for the act. The Argxis says : — "From the evidence of Mr English at the inquest on the late Mr Maxwell Reynolds, it appears that the lid of the box containing the combustible material by which he lost his life was made to turn on a nail at the end of the box, whereby the explosion was caused. A somewhat similar arrangement, although not precisely the same, appears to have been made with regard to to a box sent to the New York Custom House in December last, of which we have the following account in the New York Tiibune of the 3rd December :—' Controller Green received a box through the mail last week, and from the suspicious appearance of the package it was judged to be an infernal machine. It was thoroughly soaked in water previous to examination, and was found to contain half a pound of gunpowder an ' 18 metallic cartridges. Fastened on tbe bottom of the sliding lid was a piece of emery paper, and this rested on tbe heads of a number of lucifer matches.' We bear of no matches in connection with Mr Maxwell Reynold's box, but ignition by friction may have been provided for in that case just as in the New York one."