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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1898, 5 September 1874, Page 2

The usual meeting of the Borough Council did not take place last evening, there beiDg no quorum We are very glad to learn that the monotony in the lack of amusement that has of late characterised Greymouth is about to be bn ken by the advent of the Star Comedy and Burlesque Troupe consisting of that favorite actress, Miss Clara Stevenson, Messrs Hydes, Burford, Miss Jessie .Raymond and others, fourteen performers in all. The adjourned meeting of the Greymouth Early Closing Association took place at Gilmer's Hotel, on Thursday evening, when there was a good attendance of representa tives of the various trades. MrTomlinson was called to the chair. A set of rules was adoptsd, and a managing committee appointed, consisting of Messrs Tomlinson, Shields, Maclure, Bish, Holliday. Mr Bryant was elected hou. treasurer; Mr Crocker, secretary. Our telegrams from Wellington yesterday inform us that the Greymouth deputation on the subject of harbor works interviewed first the Minister of Public Works and also the Premier. The demands of the community, as represented by the deputation, are to be submitted to the Government in writing, to which an official answer wi]l be teturnttd. The deputation appears to have been favorably received by the members of the Government, bat until the question was fully considered no answer could be given except the very p2a£a hiat givea by the Premier, that the Government regarded coal harbors as Colonial works. This is a simple corroboration of what he said in his financial statement, and we have every faith that the harbor works required at this port will be carried out. The deputation leave Wellington on Monday at midnight per Phcebe for Nelson. We have to acknowledge receipt of a copy of the second annual report of the Secretary for Agriculture of Victoria, issued from the department of Lands and Agricultuae of Victoria, and have to thank Mr Wallis for it. We consider it one of the most valuable publications that has been produced in these Colonies, and are very happy to see copies of it circulated in. New Zealand, in the hope that it will prove an incentive to our Go-' vernment to produce a volume containing information of a corresponding nature relating to this Colony. A hasty notice of such a valuable volume ought not to be given, and we shall refer to it in detail on another occasion. The losses sustained by the various Insurance Companies through the late fire at Messrs Guthrie and Larnach's, Dunedin, have we believe, been all met. At first, there was some slight delay, there having, it is said, been an understanding on Monday among the agents interested that payments should not be made until the following day. Tbe agent of one Company, however, resolved that he would pay at once, and proceeded on Monday afternoon to the office of Messrs ' uthrie and Larnach, cheque in hand. To his surprise, when he got there he found two other agents who were parties to the "understanding," both bent on a similar errand. While a man named Michael Wren, who is employed at Longbeach station, Canterbury, was attempting to cross the Rakaia on Thursday morning in a spring-cart, the horse in the shafts fell into a hole, overturning the cart, and washing Wren out of it. Mr Wm. Compton, who was s >me distance on horseback, fortunately observe i the accident, and galloped into the river, just in time to rescue the man, who had s ink twice, and was in a very exhausted state when rescued. He was at once removed to the South Rakaia Hotel, and shortly afterwards recovered. The horse, however, was drowned, before he could be pulled our. At the last meeting of the Royal S ciety of Victoria the- following resolution was handed round, and several members signed it :•— " We, the undersigned members of the Royal Society of Victoria, regard with al-

probation the practice of cremation, and consent; to have our own bodies burned after death, and we further undertake, not; only to declare this as our wish and desire to our representatives, and to enjoin them to carry out our wish if possible, but pledge our selves to further, as much as in us lies, a movemant for tbe introduction of this system. " Further news from the Greenstone arrived at Hokitika, but is rather unfavorable. The rush at Revell's Terrace has had a check owing to two shafts, one. sunk by Stewart sand party, and the other by Barrett and party, having been bottomed without finding .payable gold. In addition to this ill fortune P. Macintyre and party have been tunnelling at each end of the terrace without success, and they have abandoned tbeir ground. There has been no proper washing up as yet, but it is confidently expected that the claims on gold will prove highly payable. The first business place actually in joperation on the rush is a baker's shop, opened by James Bigg, and so far he has every reason to be satisfied jsvith his enterprise. Learning to play on the pianoforte is to become a thing of the past ! A patent piano player has just been invented by a Frenchman, by means of which, it is said, the veriest novicß can perform the most difficult pieces. The instrument is thus described :— It occupies a position in front of the keyboard of the piano, and extends from above it to the floor. Over toe keys of the piano I are keys corresponding to those beneath them. These are the h'ngera of the machine, and they have this advantage over the human hand, that they have a finger for every note. The top of the machine is about I one foot in width, and has in the ceutre two rollers, which are moved by a crank. These J carry the music through, and as it passes the piano plays 16. The music is on paper, and the notes are made by cutting holes in squaies. As these holes pass a certain point they allow a hammer to pass through, and the stroke of that hammi-r is communicated to its own key on the piano. Each key has its hammer. It only requires that these holes be cut at proper intervals, to strike any number of keys in a give • series. The machine can be adapted to any instrument with keys. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, Thos. Kitchingharn, master of the tug Dispatch, wa s charged, on the in-fo-mation of Captain Allardyce with a breach "V 6 t,- arbor Regulations in towing the Khza Firth and berthing her alongside the whart, knowing at the same time that that vessel had powder on board. Mr Perkins appeared for the defendant. The fact of the vessel having powder on board was not disP uted ' » ut it wa s argued for the defence that the defendant acted under the orders of Oaptam Allardyce ; that he was not told to :u aYe TT , tow at tfl e lower anchorage, but f f m^ 1 " faster berthed the vessel bims j . c ac^ion was more particularly detended on technical grounds— first, because m the information it was stated that tbe oflence was committed between Sunday, the 30 .b, and Monday, the 31st August j second, because no proo f had been adduced that Greymouth was a port ; third, because, if any party was y ia ,,he,] c , it was the master of the schooner, and not tbe master of the tug, who, it w as contended, was only in the service of the schooner for the time being. The Magistrate overruled the two first objections, but nonsuited plaintiff on the third, without costs The only other case was the Paroa Koad Board v. E. B. Garven, a claim for L 7 JOs. rate assessed on one half of the bridge over the Arnold river. Mr Newton moved tnr a nonsuit on the grounds that the Bridges and Ferries Act exempted bridges from taxe s . After a long discussion the Magistrate overruled the point raised, and a vernict was given for the plaintiffs with costs. Mr Guinness appeared for the Board.