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Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1757, 23 March 1874, Page 2

It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we hear of the sudden death of Mr W. H. Shepherd, 'the edjtorand part-proprietor of the Westland Register. Mr Sheppard, although not long enlisted in the ranks of professional journalism, had displayed considerable powers as a public writer, and assisted largely in creating a healthy public opinion in the district in which his labors were exercised. Mr Sheppird was in the prime of life, being only about forty-years of age. The result of the scraping up of the plates of the Wealth of Nations claim for last week gave 3550z lldwts of amalgam. Mr J. W. Jones, one of the candidates for election to the Provincial Council of Nelson, addressed the electors of Moonlight on Thursday evening, and those of Half-Ounce on Saturday. Mr Lash also held a meeting at Half-Ounce on Saturday. Mr Hayden holds a meeting at Moonlight Creek this evening, and Mr Maguire, at No Town, on Tuesday. It will be seen by orr telegrams that the nomination for a member of the Grey Valley district in the Nelson Provincial Council, in the room of Mr Guinness, resigned, took place on Saturday. There was a large number of candidates proposed, and it waa intended to propose others, but the nominations arrived too late. The candidates proposed were— Messrs Bernard Maguire, of No Town ; W. H. Lash, of Noble's ; J. W.Jones, Chairman of Ahaura Road Board ; and Mr M. H. Hayden- The show of hands was in favor of Mr J. \7. Jones. The poll takes place on the 28th. On Saturday evening there was a good house at the Volunteer Hall to listen to Miss Aitken's readings. The programme was a most well selected one, and it is needless to say that the audience was intensely delighted. To-nieht Miss Aitken appears for the last time for a short period, she having received a most flattering invitation from Weatport to give some readings there, to which place she proceeds after to-night's performance. It is understood that this talented lady will return shortly to Greymouth, and appear with the amateurs in some of her best stage parts. The programme of to-night will be found in our advertising columns. In the Hokitika Borough Council on Friday night Mr Cross moved— "That his Honor the iSuperintendent be requested to allow the Provincial Engineer to report to the Council at his earliest convenience upon the desirability of closing the entrance to the south channel of the Hokitika River." Mr Hawkins seconded the motion, which after a long and angry discussion was negatived. On Saturday John Lightfoot \yas fined lQs and costs by the Resident Magistrate for neglecting to keep lights on an excavation in Arney street on the 17th inst. A summons for similar neglect on the 19th had been issued, but was dismissed, as the two had qeen served on the same day. Patrick Hanney, for neglecting to keep a light burning before his licensed house on the night of the 17th inst., was fined 5s and costs. Mr M'lvor, the owner and rider of Tommy Dodd, ran a foot race for LlO a side with Mr Halligan on Saturday, iv the police paddock There was a considerable number ofpersons present. The race was easily won by M'lvor. During the afternoon a number of foot races were held in the front street for money given by a few spirited individuals, and Lll was given in public money. The race was run in heats and won by points, the first prijje L(5, second 13, and and the third L 2. There were twelve entries, and the following was tb^e handicap for the 150 yds— Dan Twohill, scratch : Fraser Martin, J. Heaphy, and M'lvor, 3 yards each ; E. Long and David Twohill, 5 yards ; Halligan and J. Twohill, 7 yards ; William Heaphy, S yards ; % Coy, $ yards ; P. Kyle and J. Staplet n, 10 yards'. The first heat was won by Fraser Martin, after a splendid race. W. Heaphy, 2; J. Twohill, 3; the others well up. The second heat resulted as follows: -300 yards: John Twohill, 1; M'lvor, 2 j David Twohill, 3. Third heat.— 200 yards: Praser Martin, 1 ; John Twohill, 2{ D.. Twohill, 3. Fraser Martin consequently cajr'rigd off the first prize, The drawing for the Marsden Sweepstake on the Greymouth Jockey Club Handicap took place at the Pioneer Hotel, Marsden on Monday, the 16th instant, with the following result :— Yatterina, 165 ; Hatred, 158 ; Tauranga, §3; L,acenfeed, 92 ; Azucena filly, 160 ; Kakapo, 30 ; Gossip, 142 ; Malice, 137 ; Malvina, 150 j Calumny, 2. Messrs Thos. Clarke, Jno. Patterson, Wm. Reid, Hugh Rigbye, and Wm. Card were appointed a committee to conduct the drawing, and they have forwarded us a certificate that they examined the blocks of tickets sold and checked the tickets remaining unsold ; that the drawing was conducted fairly under their supervision, and that the numbers given above are correct. The foiLost/jng places, during the ensuing alection for the Nelson Provincial Council in the Grey Valley, are at the 'Court House, Ahaura ; the Court House, No Town ; Muir's ' store, Nelson Creek ; Boyd's store. Moonlight ; Police Station, Granvilie ; and Mackley's store, Noble's. This arrangement again ■vhtually disfranchises the whole of the elec£ors"in t&e extensive and important districts of the Lit'tfe'Cfrey jind Antonio's Plat. Had a polling'place been proplkuned' &t one or other of the suitable buildings at the ' Little ' Grey Junction, the electors resident at the Blackwater, Snowy, Mossy, Rocky; Slatey, and other creeks, as well as those at Martin's Terrace, Greek's Gully, and other places, could avail themselves of the opportunity to Ireeord £h«ir votes, but to do so now would necessitate a 'journey to Noble's and back, a distance of between 30'and'4Q mjjes, with the payment of ferry charges on the Grey River. In any case, the electors of Antonio's Flat and Big River districts have to submit to a practical disfranchisemeut, because it would require a journey of two days and the loss of a third before they could exercise their votes. The r neceßiaj£y of having to refer continually to the absence 'of a sufficient number of polling places afc elections % tile Gpey 5f allay shonM have been done away with long ago. ; Complaints on this score do not recur with such frequency and good reason elsewhere. "The only business transacted at the Resident Magistrates Court, Ahaura, on Friday was the disposal of a s'roall debt fiase—Montgomery v. Harris for storage and ffe?&ht, , The defendant, who resided at the Inangahua, ' did not appear, and judgment was given £or the amount claimed with costs. Execution was p£ayed for one week to enable the defendant to 1 ' receiyg due notice. In the Warden's Court the business was confined to the granting of a number of applications, of which the following were the most important: — George Hayne applied for a certificate of registration for an abandoned head-race formerly held by Knight and party at Back Creek { gra'nte&. Ami Voisin received a grant of a double area of aUrjf erp.us ground in a creek near Browne's rush, Noble's. William Randle and party obtained a grant of 203 ft by 104 ft ground at the Caledonian Creek, Moonlight. Giovanni Reseoni received a grant of a double area at Neighbor's Creek, Nobie-'s. Both Courts were adjourned to 27thMaJcW " '

Mr Rochfort with his staff have reached Nelson Greek with the flying survey of the Nelson and Greymouth Railway. The advance party passed through Ahaura last week, blazing the bush in two lines of direction, either of which will be chosen when the detailed' Burvey is made as the course of the future railway. One of these lines, with slight variation, follows the telegraph line from Totara Flat to Nelson Creek, crossing the Ahaura River opposite the Post Office and Telegraph Station. The cost of this preliminary survey ia said to amount to between L4O and L5O per day. The Premier writing to the Chairman of tbe Liberal Association at Birmingham, under date October 22, says : — "I am not able to assure you that we shall continue for a lengthened period to give free passages to the Colony." Sir Charles Dilke has again delighted his supporters at Chelsea with an harangue against Royaity, Government, Liberalism, and every other ism save Dilke-ism. ')ur Sovereign Lady the Queen is credited with saying one of her "good things" in conneci tion with one of these utterances. "I do not," the Queen is said to have said, smilingly, "I do not understand why he dislikes us so. His father's feelings were so very different. I have had Sir Charles on my knee when he waa a child, and I have etroked his hair. I suppose I must have stioked it the wrong way." Those who met with the Republican baronet in Australia, and who have read his book thereupon, will perfectly appreciate the cfispuess cf the Royal epigram. '^Jie Wanganid Chronicle thus comments up^£ the action of the 'Vestland Council in allowing its - peaker to take part iv debates : " The Provincial Council of Westland, at its first session, has made a strong innovation in Parliamentary practice. It has determined to allow its Speaker to take part in its debates. The reason urged for this curious proceeding was that if Mr John White, the present Speaker, were not allowed to join in the debates, he would not retain the chair. Mr White is an extremely useful man in his way, albeit somewhat eccentric in his conduct in the House of .Representatives, but it would really have been better to dispense with his valuable assistance as Speaker than to have broken through that wholesome rule which forbids the Chairman of a legislative body from participating in the discussions of that body, since doing so could hardly fail to have the effect of swaying his judgment when called upon to rule from the chair." The Wellington Evening Post mentions as a proof of the extent to which the accommodations of Wellington are taxed at present by new arrivals and visitors, that when the s.s Wellington arrived the passengers scattered themselves over the city in search of sleeping places for the night. With scarcely an exception they returned on board, not being able to find beds for the night. At the wreck of the ship Wellington the other day, Captain Hill and nine seamen got fntq one of the boats (the others were all Sweijfc away) in a rather remarkable manner. This boat was on the, top of the deck-house, with a pover fastened on it. They cut the lashings, but could not extricate it on account of the lumber. A sea, however, came and carried it and its surroundings right away, clear away of the wreck. A succeeding sea providentially brought it right alongside of them, and with difficulty they got into it. Having been covered, it was found that the oars, tiller, &c, were all intact, and they proceeded to pull to the harbor. The stern of the boat was to the sea, and owing to the heavy swell it was impossible to turn it or use the rudder. They however succeeded in reaching the wharf at half-past six in the morning It ought to be mentioned that the plug was out of the boat, and the cap of one of the sailors was used as a substitute. The men say that they were hailed by the crew of the Cyrus, but owing to the heavy sea running were unable to render them any assistance. Ttye Elizabeth, Company, Crqmwell, says the Moipif Ida Chronicle., has crushed 200 tons of stone, which yielded 160oz. The improvement promises to be permanent. The Southern Cross humorously remarks : — " Ig is by no means our purpose to involve ourselves in the controversies of rival advertisers, but the following gem from the Church Herald surely deserves a wider sphere to shine in than that publication oan furnish. Comment on our part is unnecessary : — ' Wine for the Holy Communion. This is a question that should interest all good Chnrchmen, as it is most desirable that a pure wine should be used. Purity in wine can only be secured by a perfect fermentation, as unfermented grape juice is not wine, any more than uhfermented apple juice is cider, or unbaked flour bread. The vino purq imported by' [here follows the name of a firm] ' although a perfectly natural wine, is so completely fermented that its keeping qualities can be guaranteed. No wine could be better adapted for suoh a purpose.' " The English Commissioners have received the financial statement from the Government of Fiji. It shows a debt of about LBO.OOO, which may, when all outstanding current accounts shall have been estimated, be slightly increased. The Commi9-ion have appointed Mr Sahl, German Consul-General in Sydney, and Mr Horton, manager of the Fiji Bank, as auditors. The appointment of these two gentlemen has given general satisfaction . So soon as audited the accounts will be published for general information. The Dunedin Athenaeum, numerous as is its collection of books, does not, says the Daily Times, possess a copy of the Holy Scriptures. One evening a little girl gave a message to the librarian asking for " a big Bible." There was no Bible, large or small, fco ba given her, and further it appeared there was 'no. Bjblg jn the Athenaeum collection, which, however, possesses a gopy of the Koran. ' The Otago Daily Times expatiating upon the improvements in Dunedin says :— " JSo one, unless destitute of the faintest tinge of enthusiasm, can walk the streets of Dunedin and look on the many fine buildings erected, qr now erecting ; nor jostle and be jostled by the biigy crowds which throng the streets, without being deeply impressed with the conviction that there is an inherent vitality about it which is rapidly developing itself. The value of property appears to have taken a spring within the last few years almost fabulous. Building ground is not to be had foj either love or money ; the swamps bordering on th« Ocean Beach, once regarded as uninhabitable, "orb now, in many places, occupied by neat and pleasantJodking cp.t r tages. The following passage from an Auckland letter would apply just as well to Westland : — 7 We have an increasing anxiety to know \rliat aid'tfre Province is to have— if any — from the General jn garrying on its internal affairs. The Provincial Revenue is, as I have before written, utterly inadequate. The Council meet on the Ist May, but there is not the leasb idea yet of what they are likely to do. Meantime everything is miserably starved, and the people are setting ashamed of tbe backwardness of their public institutions, the inferiority of which is noticed bj every visitor. Something must be done. Either the General Government must contrive to content itself with less of the revenue, or must take over the hospital, schools, police, and public institutions. That seems to be'the general OQnpliisiqn — a cpnplusion in which the Southern Provinces'. 'not feeling the pinch' through their 'fi'u'e Land Revenue, are not likely, I presume, to concur, bo long as that revenue lasts."