THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1875.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXI, Issue 2304, 28 December 1875, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1875.

The weather which was exceptionally hot and sultry during the last week, changed rather suddenly on Sunday morning about daylight. It rained in intermittent showers during the following day and night. On Monday the rain gradually became heavier, and interfered considerably wifch the enjoyment of the sport by those who attended the race meeting. Just before sundown it was a perfect downpour, but the atmosphere oloni*o«L again . *3x-tM*»g tlio orenisgi A most miraculous escape from fatal injury occurred to, Mr Duncan Fisher, an old and respected resident of the Noble's district, on the 24th instant. Mr Fisher had bean spending the day— Christmas Eve — with friends at Napoleon, and he left for his present residence, Brown's Lead, Noble's, shortly before dusk. He mistook the proper track it seems, and found himself at sundown wandering about the old workings of the Wellington Lead, in the vicinity of the site of the first township at Napoleon. The locality is a dangerous one to travel in during the daytime, and it is especially so after dark, in consequence of the numerous bigh steep faces left by the former slucing parties and the precipitous nature of the creek banks, which is a prominent feature in the physical conformation of the district, Mr Fisher fell over one of these cliffs, which is between 70ft and SOft, into the creek bed below, where he lay unable to move, during the night and throughout Christmas Day and the following night. He was discovered by a miner named Bostelli on Sunday morning, who procured assistance and had the sufferer conveyed to a place of safety. He was brought to Ahaura on Monday morning and forwarded to the Greymouth Hospital on the same day. It is feared the injuries sustained by the unfortunate man are very serious, and he describes his sufferings on Christmas Day from thirst as being most intense. He was within a few feet of plenty of spring water, but he was unable to reach it, and the torture of his wounds and bruises were as nothing to compare to the agony he was compelled to endure for want of water during the burning sun of the 25th December, which was the hottest day of the season. The Wheeler Troupe appeared for the first time last evening in the Volunteer Hall, on which occaaion the building was crowded to the 'door. The acting, singing, and entertainment generally was highly appreciated by those present, who will doubtless avail themselves of the privilege of again witnessing the antics and eccentricities of Ben Wheeler, the accomplished singing of Miss De Courcy, and the lightning change, artiste and character acting of Master Beimie, while those who were not present last evening have yet to witness and listen to one of the most legitimate entertainments yet given in Greymouth. We advise our townspeople and country visitors to pay a visit to the Wheeler Troupe, Mr Martin Kennedy addressed the electors of Cobden, last evening ; Mr Boase in the chair. The attendance was limited. After a patient hearing, Mr Bay, proposed, and Mr Sutcliffe seconded, a cordial vote of thanks to the candidate, which was carried unanimously. Mr Kennedy addresses the electors at Reefton to-morrow evening. In spite of the bad weather, there was a good deal of business transacted at the Wesleyan Bazaar last evening, and the hall of the Good Templars, even in its present unfinished condition, looked really pretty. What with the fancy goods, nic nacs, and smiling faces of the fair vendors, and the music of the Town Band, which played during the evening, there were very few indeed who left without bringing with them some of those elegant trifles which form the stock-in-trade of fancy bazaars. The bazaar will be open every evening until Friday. • Our correspondent at No Town writes ;— The advertisement re-asserting Mr M'Guire's intention to contest the election was a mistake. One of his supporters on the spur of the moment sent down the advertisement without consulting his ex-officio committee or the candidate himself. Mr M'Guire regrets that such a notice should have been placed before the public without his sanction, as he had no intention^whatever of appearing as a candidate. On the afternoon of the 25th insfc, a man,

who had been drinking heavily about Ahaura for a few days previously, was observed to descend the river bank behind the Camp Reserve, and after divesting himself of a portion of his clothing he plunged into the Ahaura river ab the spot where the young man Mackay was drowned on Christmas Day last year. The man struck out boldly into the middle of the stream, and as soon as the current, caught him he was swept over the falls below the Parsonage, and carried into the deep still water in the neighborhood of Gough's punt. The people in change of the punt, thinking the voyager was in danger from the manner in which he was behaving, put off in. a boat to rescue what they considered was a drowning man, but when within hailing distance he threatened if they came near to capßize the boat and swamp the lot of them. They therefore "left him to his fate " as they thought, and he was last seen at dark several hundred yards below the punt paddling his way past the confluence of Orwell Creek with the Ahaura, one of the most dangerous spots in the river. He, however, it seems landed near the site of the old Ahaura township, not far from the junction of the Grey and ahaura rivers, and made his way back to his adopted home m puris naturalUma, but perfectly sober, shortly after midnight, with only a confused notion of what had happened to him. The up and down passenger traffic has been unusually heavy through Ahaura and other towns in the Grey Valley during this Christmas season. The coaches going in both directions were all filled with passengers, but it is doubtful if the greatest; number of visitors, strangers, and sightseers, have not gone in the direction. of the new Qnartzopolis, instead of coming as usual to the seaside. The daily four-horse coach of Messrs Gilmer Bros, from Eeetfcon to Greymouth, brought down yesterday perhaps the greatest complement of passengers yeb carried for a stage on the West Coast. There -were seventeen adult passengers, and these, with the driver and three children made a tale of twentyone souls "onboard." The majority of the passengers were able-bodied and full-grown people, some of them were considerably overgrown people, and the whole . together made a very respectable addition to the " bulk " of the population for one day. At Marton, on Wednesday last, Mrs Margaret King waß charged with feloniously forging a cheque of the value of LI, the signature of the drawer purporting to be that of the husband of the accused. Mr King pronounced the signature a forgery, and gave his wife into custody. The prisoner was committed to take her trial at the next session of the Supreme Court at Wanganui.

> Tbe Melbourne Argus of a recent date gives the following particulars regarding some rather " shady " transactions in bank circles:— "On Friday last a gentleman engaged in stock operations under the verandah, received,. in the course of business, a cheque, which was passed through his banker for 1 payment on the same day, He heard nothing further of it until the second post delivery on Monday, when notice of dishonor, couched in the usual terms, was received by him, accompanied by a request that the cheque should be taken up. He immediately went to his banker's and handed |in his own cheque for that which was dishonored, which latter was given over to him. On looking at the cheque, he, to his surprise, saw that the signature was cancelled. He called attention to the fact, but was met by a sort of evasive answer, which did not mean anything. On examining still further, however, he again called out, ( Stop, what is the meaning of this ? Here is the paid stamp of the drawer's bank on this cheque. It has not been dishonored, and I want my own back.' Without a word more, the good cheque was returned to the gentleman, andithe dishonored cheque taken back by his banker, to "bo roWrnod to 1/h.e Dank \vtrtcii-ajjpareniay in regular course paid . the cheque for their customer, but finding two days afterwards that a loss was likely to accrue, adopted this rather questionable mode of throwing the loss on an innocent individual, who would certainly have had to submit had he. not been quick enough to detect the ruse that was attempted to be put upon him." Naturally enough, the publication of these particulars caused other customers of banks to look pretty closely into their transactions, and in a day or two another paragraph appeared stating that another person had found, on examining a cheque that had been returned to him as dishonored, that the signature had been cancelled, and the cheque marked for payment and paid. He took it to his bank, and demanded that the cheque should be properly placed to his account. This was refused. He therefore threatened that he would take action against the bank, on which the cheque was quietly taken and the matter dropped. All this is very sharp practice on the part of the banks. It is very 'cute, no doubt, but it is a kind of 'cuteness that is not easily distinguished from dishonesty.

Let me string together several little matters that seem to have some importance as evidence of our social condition (says the Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Times), A city councillor, auctioneer, and secretary of a building society, named Henry Clarke, has just absconded, leaving his wife and children destitute, and his accounts short and in confusion. A late Minister of the Crown, while a member of Mr Berry's Government, paid a visit to Pentridge gaol to see some old friend there, unforfcuately in prison under a sentence of seven years. Not being able to see his friend without the proper order, the hon. gentleman sent in his card, with the inscription ''Cheer up, old man— keep your pecker up." The other day a lay reader of the Church of England brought an action for slander against a member of his church for stating (Ist) that he had fallen down drunk when visiting a neighbor j and 2nd, that he had indecently assaulted several little girls at a school in which he was teacher. On the first count, as the drunkenness was not f ullj established, the jury gave a verdict of L 75; on the second they gave a verdict for a farthing. Since this a meeting of the lay readers' congregation has been held to express sympathy with him, and to give him a purse of sovereigns, We clip the following graphic but saddening paragraph from the Guardian of Friday, and we commend it to the consideration of municipal authorities of Greymouth, where sanitary matters are not " all they ought to be ":— At the conclusion of the evening service at Knox Church, yesterday, Dr Stuart i requested the special prayers of the congregation on behalf of a woman living in the neighborhood of Frederick street, who is ia very sad circumstances; A short time since this woman's son died at Balclutha, and was buried before she even heard of his death. Yesterday on visiting her, Dr Stuart found her sitting on the one solitary chair of her apartment, with the dead body of a daughter on one side, and a child lying dangerously ill on her other side. The death of the one and the sickness of the other are ascribed to the unhealthiness of the locality where the poor woman lives— cesspools and overcrowding being its characteristics. " I only wish," said the Doctor indignantly, "that our city councillors would sometimes accompany me into these places." We fear our city councillors would prefer giving such places a wide berth. They will make up their minds to the necessity of adopting stringent measures against the inroads of pestilence when it knocks loudly at their own doors, It is reported that Dr Haast, of Cant er . bury, has made a very valuable discove The Post learns from a private source t l ?* ------- jj Rt

in the course of his explorations the doctor oame upon a shallow cave, the limestone walls of which were covered for a space of about a hundred feet by five feet high with remarkable drawings of apparently great antiquity. Dr Haast had all these drawings carefully copied, and the information in detail will shortly be published. There are three distinct sets of drawings, the oldest of them in red, the others in black. The scaling off from the surface of the limestone rock affords proof of the great antiquity of the work. The most interesting circumstances connected with the real paintings is that they include sketches of the ancient moa by a prehistoric artist. ; The London correspondent of the Press supplies the following :— The Queen is still up in the Highlands, and has been affording some of the radical papers material for a few sensational paragraphs. The father of her "faithful attendant," John Brown, has just died, and her Majesty, accompanied by the Princess Beatrice, not only attended the funeral in person, but followed the hearse for a considerable distance on foot. It is contended by[some that John Brown's father was hardly as great a man as either the Duke of Wellington or Livingstone, and yet at neither of the funeral obsequies of these two men, who deserved so well of their country^ was her Majesty present. A motion by Mr Higinbotham for L6OO tp be expended upon a portrait of the late Mr Wilson Gray, will shortly come before the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is proposed to hang this portrait in the Melbourne Parliamentary Library. The Thames Naval Rowing Club have decided to send a crew to the Wellington Interprovincial Regatta, and two boats, one to contest for the Championship Prize (L 150) and the other for the Four-oared Inrigged Bace (L 100). We (Otago Guardian) regret to hear of the death of M. Fleury, the talented violinist, so, long and favorably known in this city. Mi Fleury died at Calcutta on the 21st October, from the effects of a serious attack of dysentry. It will be remembered that M. Flevry left this city, as musical conductor to Allen's Opera Troupe, at the beginning of the present year. Information reached the police yesterday (says Saturday's Tuapeka Times) of an occurrence at Tapanui, which looks very like a deliberate attempt at murder. It appears a man named Gayner, said to be a recent arrival, went lately to reside at Tapanui. He was accompanied by his wife and wife's sister, the trio living together in the one house. On the morning of Thursday, an altercation arose amongst the parties, which is said to have been continued for some time without personal violence being resorted to. Eventually, however, Gayner became excited, and proceeding outside, got hold of a gun, which he discharged through the window at the sister-in-law, lodging its contents —a quantity of small shot— in the woman's face. It is said that previous to the act being perpetrated, Gayner was heard to threaten the woman's life, and it is also alleged that he either armed himself, or made an attempt to arm himself with a razor for the further accomplishment of the diabolical act. The police were on the spot promptly, and had Gayner apprehended. He was brought before the local Court and remanded for further examination. The injuries sustained by the woman are not considered dangerous.