THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1876.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXI, Issue 2364, 8 March 1876, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY , MARCH 8, 1876.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, the only business was the disposal of the following civil cases :— Greymouth Coal-mining Company v. Atkinson— Ll6 10s : 7d for three calls and interest. JNo appearance of defendant. Judgment for plaintiff with coßts, L 2 2s. Manson and Co v S. Poole — Judgment summons. Mr J. Jones appeared on behalf of plaintiff, but his Worship said he could not' allow him to appear without authority. He must; employ a solicitor or the case would be dismissed. Mr Newton was then engaged, and the defendant was ordered to pay 10s per week, in default, one month's imprisonment. At the - Licensing Court yesterday before W. H. Revell (chairman), W. H. Harrison, Jno. Greenwood, and D. Lundon, Esqrs, the following transfers were granted :— From Grand jean to Aldridge, Conrt House Hotel, Gresson street ; and from Hector Sutherland to G. Wetherhead, Melbourne Hotel, Mawhera Quay. The Court will hold a sitting at Greenstone at noon on the 9ch lost. It will be seen from our shipping prargraph that the Arawata, of Messrs M'Meckan, Blackwood, and Co. ; s line of steamers, does not, as heretofore, visit the Coast, and we understand that the next steamer due at the Bluff (the Ringarooma) likewise returns i from Nelson. When we are likely to have a I direct steamer to Melbourne is a mystry, as on application at the agent's office, we can

only learn they are without advices. Why the West Coast should be treated so cavalierly by the owners of this line of steamers, we really cannot understand. That in former years they did reap a harvest off the Coasc, is well-known to all, and we cannot but think that their now ignoring Greymouth and Hokitika does not redound to their credit, or will add to their purae, as it only leaves a loop-hole for any other company to come in and take up the running. . A cricket match will be played on tbe Camp Reserve to-day between the Gie>« mouth and Greenstone Clubs. The team chostn to represent Greymouth consists of Messrs Perkins, Newton, Cresswell, Nixon, M'Gregor, Gorrie, Howie, Wethered, Woods,; Masters, Gleeson, and Guinness. Dr Acheson will act as umpire. A presentation bat will be given to the highest scorer on the Greymou 1 ;!! side. The Rev. Mr Flavell, late of the Grey Valley, has been nominated to the cure of Merivale, Canterbury, The Ohristchurch Gas Company imports its coal from Greymouth, and has just reduced its price for gas to 12s 6d per 1001 ft. The Greymouth Gas Company charges 20a per 1000 ft, and only allows 25 per cent discount if the gas is paid for within three days of the delivery of the account, la not this a monstrous imposition? The large profits, about 40 per cent, made by the Company chiefly go out of Greymouth, and it is altogether absurd that the present rates should be maintained. And this too by a company which, except as a company with limited liability, has no legal statua, and is entirely at tbe mercy of a majority of the Borough Council, The Inangahua Times says that in spite of the caterpillar nuisance, against which complaints were so rife at the beginning of Spring most of the crops in the luannah.ua Valley have turned out remarkably well this year. The produce has certainly been a little behind time, but that drawback has been fully counterbalanced by the extra weight of the crops. It is informed that one of the largest farmers in the district ia anxious to import some sparro W8 to devour the caterpillars which infest his land, but he is afraid that the birds, like the Goverum:nt immigrants, will not remain where they are wanted to, but migrate to some other part of the district. It is suggested that all the farmers in the district should club together to acclimatise the birds. A private European cablegram, we (Inanhua Timea) are informed, was received iD Reefton yesterday stating that Mr and Mrs Tbeophilus Mabille, late of the Lyell, who were passengers by the ill-fated Strathmore, are among the survivors. One of our Reefton contemporaries informs us that the work of building and otherwise improving the appearance of the townships of Black's Point, Wealth of Nations, and the Public Batt«ry, is still going on, and the area of each is being iapidiy extended. Cultivation is also being proceeded with, and almost every private dwelling has its vegetable garden. In most places the log huts and hastily erected buildings of the early days are giving place to houses of a more substantial and pretentious character. The handicaps for the first day of the Hokitika Races have been declared by Mr Tabart, and published in the West Coast Times. For the Trial Stakes, in the first day's racing, the weights are as usual in such events, namely, weight for age, which places Nero top weight at 9st 71b. John Stofel and Kingfisher, both five year old-, Btand at 9st 61b, and Isaac Walton, a three year old, comes in at 7st 111 b. For the next three events the weights are as follows :~- Gold:fi elds' Handicap. St. lV>s. King6sher 9 6 John Stofel 9 6 Black Eagle 8 6 Nero 8 0 Isaac Walton 711 Handicap Hurdle. Septimus 10 7 Nero 10 3 DickTurpin 10 0 HoKiTtKA Handicap. Kingfisher ... 9 7 JohuStofel 9 7 Septimus 8 3 Nero 8 0 Isaac Walton 7 9 Banker 7 9 The first day's races will conclude with a Selling Hack Race, and a Hurry Scurry Eace, for each of which post entries will be taken on the course. For the Handicaps and Trial Stakes on the first day, the acceptances will be received up to 9 p. m. on Wednesday. The Southern Cross says, in telegraphing to Sydney it may be useful to remember that, as we are two hours in advance of Sydney in- point of time, a telegram sent from New Zealand after business hours here, may reach |ts . destination at Sydney considerably within business hours. Our Hokitika contemporary devoted half of its space on Monday to an article descriptive of the large latitude exercised by the Victorian, papers in their criticisms upon the recent proceedings of the Legislative Assembly. The article was interesting enough in its way, but as its intention was quite manifest, we may question the propriety of a newspaper which is the subject of an action for intemperate comments, endeavoring to excuse itself on the eve of the trial of the action, by quoting illustrations, which are really not analogous. At the same time we quite agree with the following remaiks which appear in the article in question : — " It would rather be a matter of surprise to the public, and a discredit to public journals, if silence were preserved in the presence of facts opposed to the ordinary sense of order, derogatory to the character of public debates, and detrimental to the progress of public j business. It would indicate an indifference to the mainteuauce of the proper character of public proceedings, and a feat of commenting on the corporate or individual actions of public men in their public capacity, which would be altogether unusual in a country possessing democratic institutions. The attributing of base motives or" venal practices, or any intrusion upon the sacredness of private life, without just cause, would not only be reprehensible but deservedly punishable ; but under any other circumstances, public comment on the public conduct of public men would only be what is common, and seldom, if ever, sought to be made the subject of actions at civil law." The terms under which the cable between New Zealand and New South Wales has been laid are, generally, as follows ? — The Eastern Extension, Australasia, and China Telegraph Company, Limited, undertake to lay a submarine cable between Australia and New Zealand, to provide all that is necessary for its due working, and to keep it in good order and repair, in return for a subsidy of L 7500 a year ; of which LSOOO is to be paid by, N-aw Zealand and L 2500 by New South Wales. The duration of the contract is ten years. It is further provided that the rate of charge shall not exceed 7s 6d for a message of ten words, and 9d for each additional word, and shall be reduced to 5s and to 6d respectively whenever the daily average of messages for six successive months reaches ,200. A proportionate deduction is to be made from the subsidy if the line is out of order for a number of days amounting in th c aggregate to 90 in any one year j and the contract may be determined by either colony

(as regards its share of payment) if the line remains out of order for more than 183 days continuously. A New Zealand Gazette recently published, contains the Registrar General's report on the vital statistics of the principal Boroughs in the Colony, for the yea- 1875 from it we learn that the deaths in Hok tika were seventy-four, or in the proportion of 21 30 to the one thousand of population. This is a lower per centage than that of any other Borough, with the exception of the Thames, where the per centage was 18.16 in the thousand. In Hokitika there were one hundred and thirty-eight births. These returns show an increase of twenty-ssven deaths ia Hokitika, as compared with the previous year, and an increase of two births. In the whole of the Boroughs, there were seventy-nine violent deaths, in 1875, as against fifty-fire in 1874. The Otago Daily Times of the 29th says:— '• After Beveral tedious remands, the charge of forgery against George Hyde Campbell has fallen through. Prisoner surrendered to his bail at the Police Court yesterday, and from what had dropped from the Bench on the previous occasion, it was understood that unless some definite information was forthcoming respecting the informant and his witnesses, no further remand would be granted. Inspector Mallard owned that he was iv possession of nothing further, but, acting on instructions, applied for another week's remand,, which, under the Foreign Offenders Act, he submitted he had a perfect right to do, and the Commissioner would then set the telegraph in motioD. Mr Pyke refused any further remand, and discharged accused. Referring to the account of prisoner's capture by Detective Farrell published in the New Zealand Times, and reprinted in several Victorian journals, his Worship stigmatised the arrest as one of the greatest bluders that ever came under his notice. The. following are some of the graceless flowers of rhetoric so freely employed in the Victorian Assembly — " an unmitigated lie ;" "you dare not say that outside;" "a low, mean, skunk ;" "1 do not take any notice of what gorillas say." These are the arguments flung from side to side in that body which is supposed to represent the wisdom of the Colony. The Melbourne correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser, writing under date Feb. 18ch, says: — "Some little time since we were all excited about our ol ( acquaintance Sullivan, of Mangatapu. Reports have for a long time been current that he left us. As a matter of fact it may be well to know that he still resides at Mr Castieau's, that his health is still unimpared, albeit the indolence ef his daily life causes him to put on flesh, and that his only care is the desire to know when the contemplated marine excursion will be provided for him by the Government." The Government has, we (Post) are glad to learn, recognisei the necessity of the step which we advocated of stopping all further foreign emigration to this Colony. Peremptory instructions to that effect were forwarded to the Agent-General, by telegraph, on the 17th of January last, and consequently we may expect that the onlj f urthei shipments of foreign immigrants which we shall receive will be those whose passages had been arranged before the receipt by the Agent-General of the instructions referred to. A stupendous land-swindle ha 3 just been unearthed in South- Eastern Missouri. It appears that deeds to lands in North Arkansas and South-Eastern Missouri hive been forged for some years past, and agencies for this work were established in Cinccinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Manchester, England, ft is estimated that deeds to over 12 000,000 acres of land h%ve been forged and disposed of, the valuation being 25,000.000 or 30,000,000 dollars The land operated upon is owned by nonresidents, and as the records were mostly destroyel during the civil war, the Ring had every facility to carry out the enormous swindle, and the deeds have been sold all over the United States and in England. The grand jury of Shannon county, Mo., has indicted Dr Thomas K. Herman, David D. Bingham; and James L. Lawton, got complicity Lawton Beems to be the executive man, and operated extensively in England,