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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1899, 7 September 1874, Page 2

3 The monthly meeting of the Greymouth 3 Volunteer Fire Brigade takes place tbis eveni ing, at 8 o'clock. 5 A special general meeting of the Grey- > mouth Literary Society -will be held this 3 evening at the rooms of the Association. Up to the departure of the mail from Ahaura, at neon on Saturday, there were not i any tidings of the missing man M'Laren. It i is now feared there is no ground for hope i that he will ever be found alive. I At a rough scrape up of the top plates at • the Just-in-Time battery, 01 Monday, after i having put through 103 tons of stone, I 3820z of amalgam were obtained. The bat- , teries had been running for eight days , only. i An analysis of the electoral roll, just pabi lished for the Grey Valley district, shows. , that there were 953 votes on the Nelson side, 710 on the Westland side, and 15 m dupli- | cate ;in all 1678. The >oil for the Hokitika district contains only 1423 names. We understand that Mr and Mrs Bunten (Miss Aitken) take their departure from Greymouth for Scotland next week. We hope before this talented lady leaves here she will give her numerous admirers an opportunity of again hearing her in some of her favorite readings. The Mayor of Christchurch intends, it is understood, prior to the termination of his year of office, to invite the Premier to a 1 banquet in that city. The Mayor of Grey mouth might take the hint, and follow the

laudable example of his Worship of Christ- < church. It was owing, under Providence and ] and the will of the Parliament, to the fact i that a former Premier happened to be present iv Greymouth (luring the great flood of 1572, that we now haveprotective works which have since saved the town, and who knows what might result in the way of a completion of these works, if Mr Fox's successor could be induced to come over the bar. The Municipal Council elections continue to excite considerable discussion, and some excitement, which will, no doubt, go on increasing as the lOfch' the day of election approaches. The canvassing in the two contested Wards, the Middle and West is getting very warm, and, so far, it is almost impossible to predict the result. In the Middle Ward the candidates are all present, and can fight their own battles ; but in the West Ward, it so happens that Mr Wickes, one of the candidates, is absent on a public deputation regarding the protective works, more particularly in the Ward he seeks once more to represent, and cannot be had before the day of election. He is certainly doing more good for the whole town where he is than if he had remained here to canvass for votes for a seat in the Borough Council, and there is no doubt this fact will be remembared and appreciated by the electors on the pollingday. The most reprehensible practice of allowing small boys the use of loaded firearms has been indulged in very frequently recently about the .outskirts of Greymouth. On Saturday a number of mere children were firing at random in the bush at the further end of Murray street in such a manner that a man who was at work chopping firewood had to run for his life from these juvenile musketeers. We'aiirecfc the attention of our readers to the particulars given in another column of a fatal accident which lately occurred in the North Island, whereby a respectable settler, and the father of a large family, lost his life through this cause. We would also direct the attention of the police to the necessity of preventing this practice in future, and finally we would direct the attention of the parents or guardians of these youugst»rs to the necesity of well whipping them and putting them to bed when next they want to go "a volunteering." The following particulars of the circumstances under which Mr James M'Gregor, of Matarawa, lost his life are given by the " Wanganui Herald " : — " It appears that a large number of young men were in the habit of going to some very broken ground to shoot cattle, and although they had been warned by the settlers to be very careful, as on such ground an accident of the kind may easily happen, they pursued their sport in the same manner as before. Yesterday afternoon they were out, and in the excitement of the hunt there was a good deal of cross firing. The deceased was missed after a time, and on search being made, was found dead, a bullet having passed through his head. It is perhaps a fortunate thing for the peace of mind of those were out with the party, that nobody appears to have the slightest idea as to who fired the fatal shot." Cattle dealers and owners in the upper parts of the Grey Valley are again complaining of the unaccountable loss of stock. There is already a Registrar of Brands at Ahaura, or an officer who acts as such, who keeps a list of the distinguishing marks and brands of each cattle and sheep owner in the district, and it is suggested that it would be advisable to have a more thorough examination made of the hides of all beasts slaughtered within the jurisdiction of the Registrar. The forthcoming bazaar in aid- of tha Roman Catholic Church Fund, Reefton, bids fair, says the " Courier," to prove a very successful undertaking. Already several very handsome and costly gifts are in course of preparation, and these will be largely supplemented by contributions of a less pretentious character, which are also now being operated upon by industrious fingers. Apart from gifts locally supplied, the stalls will be em'iched by a special consignment of bijouterie, which have been selected expressly for the occasion. It is a circumstance worthy of note that the ladies contributing to the bazaar are not limited to the Roman Catholic congregation, but many members of other denominations are also interesting themselves warmly in the cause. In the gold-fields report laid before the General Assembly it is pointed out that in New Zealand, as in Australia, the quartz mines yield a larger return of gold per man employed than the alluvial. On the Thames, during the year ending March last 59.356 tons of quartz produced 114, ISOoz, affording an average of loz sdwt 13f gr to the ton ; which, by an average obtained from twentyfive compauies on the gold-field is worth L 2 14s 6d per ounce, yielding per miner per annum L 174 15s. In Coromandel, during the year ending March, 1873, 8732 tons of quartz produced 16,3070z of the value of L 46.500, being equal to a yield of loz 17dwt 7gr per ton, and to Lll6 5s per head her annum. The weather has been of the most changeable nature for *;he last few days. Although for the greater part of the last week, the nights were intensely cold with the Gorge wnd blowing as fiercely as it has at any time during the late winter. The rivers upcountry are all freshed, and a considerable fall of snow took place on the high ranges during Thursday night. Moonlight Creek was all but impassable on Saturday, and traffic has been more or less impeded about the Little and Upper Groy Rivers for several days. In began to rain steadily at Greymouth last evening at sundown, and continued without intermission, accompanied by frequent squalls of wind throughout the night. It appears that the news from the rush at Revell Terrace. Greenstone, is not so discouraging as was stated in a paragraph published in Friday's issue. At the time our informant was on the ground, Stewart and party had bottomed on the main reef, and, as stated, obtained no prospects. Since then they tried the shaft higher up, on the false bottom, and the result was that a prospect of from 3gr to 4gr to the dish has been obtained. We understand that since these results became known, the back claims are nob looked upon so unfavorably. We (" Herald") learn that Mr Broad will shortly have to make definite arrangements for taking over the Gr^y Valley District, Mr Wnitefoord being anxious to be relieved of the duty as early as practicable. We take the following from the " Lyell Argus" of the 2nd insfc. :— " With reference to the various claims there is, since Saturday, very little change to chronicle. The Break o'Day stone is being passed through the machine as rapidly as possible, and the' tables look remarkably well ; in addition to which a number of men are employed at the mine blocking out, with the view of crushing as much quartz as possible. The Maruia people are getting out a great quantity of excellent stone from both their leaders. The Monte Ohristo tunnel is proceeding expelitiously, though very hard rock has beea met with. The Excelsior men can now almost dispense with powder, and are hourly expecting to strike the reef. The Tichborne drive is being continued. Matters wear a promising aspect at the Central Buller, on Allen's line. Work will shortly be resumed at the upper level of the William Tell. Calls are payable in the following Goldmining Companies on Wednesday next, the works in the same being progressive, and some time likely to elapse before crushing t

can be commenced :— Alexandra, 3d; United Band of Hope. 2,1 ; Caledonian, 12d ; Boatman's Creek, 2.1 ; Invincible, Id ; Hercules, 2d. A call of 3.1 per share is also payable in No 2 South Larry's, which company is at present crushing, it being deemed desirable to reduce the amount of the company's liability. Saturday's "Inangahua Herald " informs us that on Thursday the coach from Greymouth narrowly escaped being capsized at the crossing of the Little Grey, close to M'Hardie's. There were five male passengers, two ladies and two children, and. the driver. The fiv6 men got oat of the coach, and made their way through the bush so as to lighten the vehicle, At the crossing referred to the ford was very deep, and it was found necessary to turn the horses' head down stream, or the coach must have capsizad. ' The horses swam for some distance, and the coach of course wes pretty well filled with water. But for the cool and masterly manner in which the driver met the difficulty, an accident which could scarcely have failed to have been attended with fatal consequences must have occurred.