THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10,1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1902, 10 September 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY THURS DA Y , SEPTEMBER 10,1874.

The members of the Greymouth deputation to the General Government regarding the proposed harbor works, returned to Nelson in the Pbcebe on Tuesday nie;bt. They will have to wait there for one of the coasting steamers, and will probably arrive home by Sunday. With regard to the result of their visit and interview with the Premier, our own correspondent ab Wellington, sent us the following message yesterday : — " So much confidence is felt in the assurance given by the Government to the Greymouth Harbor Works deputation regarding operations to be carried out this year at Greymonth, that arrangements are being entered into for the importation from home of screw colliers specially adapted for the trade." A vocal and instrumental concert is to be given this evening in the Volunteer Hall, in aid of the funds of the Town Band. r lhe programme, which will be found in another column, is a very attractive one, but in addition to this there are many other reasons, well known to the residents in town, why there should be a crowded house. The Town Band is a credit to the community, and ought to be most liberally supported. The Borough Council elections take place to-day, and judgiDg by the excitement which has recently prevailed it will be one of the warmest contests that has ever taken place in Greymouth. For the East Ward Mr Griffen will be returned unopposed. In the Middle Ward the fight for the seat will be between Messrs Thomas Joyce and William M'Millan, both of whom, along with their ! friends, have for the last few days been energetically canvassing for votes. For the West Ward the candidates are Messrs Wickes and Eissenhardt, and although the former is at present absent on business connected with the improvement of the harbor, and has no opp-rtunity of being present, his committee will no doubt make a strong fight to Eecure his election, but we believe it will be a close run, whoever is returned. A meeting of the Committee of Management of the Grey Hiver Hospital was held at Gilmer's Hotel last evening, Mr E. Masters in the chair. After the minutes of the previous meeting had been read and confirmed, the hon. sec. read a telegram which he had received from Messrs W. S. Smith and Mr Kennedy, in reference to the General Government acquiring • the present hospital site for the public offices. It was resolved to defer consideration of the matter until the arrival of the deputation from Wellington. The hon. treasurer reported receipt of LI Is from Mr W. M'Kechnie, Maori Creek ; and L 6 6s 9d from the Bed Jack's Benefit Society per J. Gillen. The Visiting i;ommittee state the number of patients in the Hospital on 3lßt July to have been 25 ; admitted during August, 14; discharged, 11; remaining in Hospital, on August 31, males 23, females 5. The accounts for the month, amounting to L2lB 3s Bd, were laid on the table and passed for payment. The other business was purely formal. A man named. James M/Gonnell was ar> rested at 8.20 p;m. yesterday for assaulting Francis Ryan with intent to do grievous bodily harm. It appears from enquiries made that M'Gonnell aud Kyan had been Barrelling and had a fight over it, but

after it was over, and while Ryan was standing on the footpath outside tho Kail way Terminus Hotel, M'Gonnell came up and Btruck Eyau across the nose with a sharp, instrument, inflicting a severe wound. The case will come before the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning. With reference to the report of the Supreme Court, in another column, the "Register" remarks : — Kersting, who was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment on Tuesday, at the Supreme Court, for house-breakiag near Paroa, was, in appearance, a smart-looking man, and about one of the last persons one would imagine to be the hardened and desperate criminal he really is. His appearance was so much in his favor, that one of the witnesses against him, a man named Ford, employed at the Newmarket Hotel, took him to be a surveyor. " White coal" is the latest Australian discovery. It consists of felted cabbage-tree fibres, like peat, which contain interspersed between them fine grains of sand. It is easily combustible and burns with a bright flame. The white caal covers large tracts, requiring no mining, and it is said to be already used to a large extent for fuel. How a party of tributers were "sold" at the Thames gold-field is stated at follows by the correspondent of the " New Zealand Herald:" — " A couple of days ago a telegram was forwarded that the tributers of a certain mine had crushed ten tons of quartz for a little under tiOozs of retorted gold. The old adage of 'all is not gold that glitters,' was never more verified than in this instance, for on Mr Logan, the tributer, having the supposed gold melted, it lost nearly one-half, and was reduced to 320z 15dwt. The original retorted cake of gold, it appears, contained fully 45 per cent, of lead, and how this came there was only found out to-day. Some people up the creek are in the habit of making their own 'shot,' and for this purpose pour the lead through a sieve suspended over the shaft, which was then dropped to the bottom, where there is a constaut stream of water running out through the bottom of uhe shaft The tributers throw their stuff also down the shaft, and in shovelling it iuto the trucks to pass from the adit to the mill, they have no doubt taken up a lot of lead unawares." It will be remembered that some time ago an Enalishman, named Bateman, shot one of the French Commandants in New Caledonia, through jealousy, the officer having, in his opinion, paid improper attentions to his quondam wife. Bateman was tried before a French Court, and banished to au adjacent Island, there to await the sentence which might be passed upon him. The sentence, with all the due formality of the French Court, was pronounced to tke effect that the delinquent should undergo imprisonment for the term of ten years. Bateman, at the time of the receipt of this intelligence, was located on He Neu. The " Southern Cross," on information received ftom New Caledonia, says: — "It was understood that Bateman, for whom great sympathy existed amongut the English residents, would be despatched to France by the French transport L'riorne. If he is to serve his ten years in the galleys in France, it is expectrd that some monster demonstration will be made by the British, subjects residing in New Caledonia, calling upon the mother country to put the Extradition Treaty in force. No other subject has agitated the public mind at New Caledonia for a long time to such an extent as the foregoing ; and there is little doubt, if news is received that Bateman is dealt harshly with, it may be cause of disturbance." It would appear, from a statement made by Mr Calcutt, in the Resident Magistrate's Court, Dunedin, on the 3rd inst., that the runholders of the province have no reason to complain of the rate of assessment charged them by the Government. Mr Calcutt is, we. believe, a large runholder himself, and was defendant in an action for the recovery of wages, brought against him by a man who, along with others, drove a flock of sheep for him from one part of the province to another. Thrnxgh careless driving, however, or some other cause, they lost 587 of them by the road. These, it would seem, found their way on to Mr Shennen's run, aud were not reoovered for five or six weeks. Mr Calcutt stated that he would lose half-a-crown a head and the lambs belonging to these sheep, and he had also received an intimation from Mr Shennon that he would pay him L 443 8s 6d for the tresoass of the sheep. In consequence of this he disputed the claim for wages, and brought a cross action for damages. After considerable hesitation, he stated, in answer to the opposing counsel, that he considered 2s 7 id per head a year would be a fair charge for the depasturing of sheep. As the Government only charges the runholders 7d per head, it would seem that they only pay about 25 per cent, of the value of the grass. With regard to the payment of the honorarium, a writer of " Passing Notes " ia the "Otago Daily Times" remarks : — "Did you ever see a pack of hounds fed ? The whip-per-in awproaches the kennel doors with the brose seething hot, and the flesh bloody-raw, and instantly a howling and keening is heard enough to deafen the staunchesc listener. So, even so, do our representatives appear when the great honorarium question comes on. The thin lacquer of zeal for the public good cracks and peels off, and the solid blockhead appears in his undressed nakedness. I Give us LIOO, or Ll5O ; no sick allowances ; pay us for our labors, although our constituents never knew we were going into a good billet ; 'I believe jn payments of members, and I, and I." Now, it seems to me, too, that members ought to be paid. lam quite j sure that we shall ne er get good real work out of them— never make them useful — until they can be paid and dismissed too. The horrid spectacle of the Northern members looking ior their votes' worth, has gone far to prepare the country to enter some other system. When you pay a man L3OO per annum, you know when to have him, and you expect just six thousand shillings' worth of work out at him. But this blessed complimentary style in which the servant of a constituency entreats the honor ot the electors' votes is an outrage on common honesty too. I don't believe in sentiment, and I firmly trust a time will come when the country will find that the present sentimental term of engagement is a ruinous tax upon their pockets"