THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY OCTOBER 9, 1876.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXI, Issue 2547, 9 October 1876, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY OCTOBER 9, 1876.

, Whether by a piewranged plan, or through some extraordinary mismanagement, tihe first appearance of the new steamer WaJkatipu, °ff. this port yesterday, was attended by v ;hat,:toordiaa.ryritinds, seemed to be very '; useless and unprofitable neglect of the interests of a port, the trade of which is worth cultivating,, "arid of those of the owners of the steamer. The Wakatipu showed up at about higa water, aud the tug Dispatch was outside ready to tender her, and although by signal and hard whistling the captain endeavoured to attract the attention, of the Wakatipu, , no' notice, was takeD, and she proceeded on to Hokitika, although ■there was no' chance of : her passengers being landed ; 6n ! tnat : tide; ■ > There were -several outward -passengers! = booked from heie, who, of course, after being taken out into : the roadstead •: and brought back again, were very much disappointed at losing their passage. Last evening a telegram was received. irom the. Hokitika agents of the Wakatipu, stating that the steamer would ; to Up off the Grey upon last m ight's tide, but ; aS it was manifestly unreasonable to expect j that the Dispatch would go out at such an j unreasonable hour after the contemptuous manner in which she was treated yesterday [morning, the. Wakatipu. will: not now be ten-, df red until noon 1 to-day.: This is only one of ; the many: stupid tricks .which the Hokitika. agents, under the guise of smartness, subject ithe ocean steamers. Thi3 sort; of thing icannot, -however, be satisfactory to the Union.' Company. Greymouth is better worth cultivating than Hokitika. •:■:': .-■■■■. •.;■■•■ ; The amount J of amalgam collected at the i Wealth of Nations Company, Inangahua. for ithe week ending 7th October, was 3200zs ( ißdwts. .*•'■■",'.]. . \ The of candidates to fill the vacancies in the Local Education Committee, .caused by the retirement by rotation of ; Messrs F. Hamilton* Harry Kenrick, and James Kerr, takes place to-day. All the |Tetiring;membera are, eligible forre-electibn, (but Mr Kerr, who has temporarily left the jdistribt;.;: will; not on this occasion present jhimself.. Probably the other two retiring jmemberß ,\yill <fte again elected, and we are (told that for the third vacant seat there will ,be a sufficientnumber of candidates to enable the electors to make a good choice. An accident which proved fatal to a horre jtook place on the Brunnerton line on Satur!day afternoon, in the immediate neighbor, jhood of; Omotumotu Greek. While th c

engine was turning one of the shavp curves the animal was observed on the line, and although the breaks were applied the engine could not be stopped ia time. The horse trotted along thi- line in front of the engine until it came to a culvert, which it tried, to jump across, but failed, its hind legs going down, -when the engine came on it and doubled it up. The animal had to be cut out piecemeal before the engine could proceed. . Mails for Australasian Colonies close at the Bluff per Otago, on Tuesday, at 11 a.m. sharp. Telegrams will be received at the Grey mouth office, up till 10 a.m. We remind our readers that the Vaudeville Company give their first performance in the Volunteer Hall, to-night Owing, however, to the sudden indisposition of Miss Bryant, who wan prevented thereby from joining the company in time for this evening, some aiteratf ou in the programme is of course necessary. It is expected, however, that the yonng lady will here arrive in a day or two. Notwithstanding this temporary drawback, the company will be able to present a capital programme, and we hope they will be well supported. Who is the gentleman whom theKumara Times will not name ? " but who," to quote that journal, " from the position he occupies should have shown a better example," mis« behaved himself at a public meeting on Thursday night ? It is sated by our contemporary that he " gave utterance to some of the most absurd nonsense it has been our I lot to listen to. 'Poor old Cheffings, of Cheffings and Whitting, he's dead now,' seemed to be the burden <>f kis talk. ' James A. Ronor, busnacking around Wellington ;' ' Henry Lee Robia&on, fanoodling ;' those two old cards, Conrad Snos and l.ahman, were specimens with which he delighted his audience. Altogether, it was a lamentable exhibition." A public meeting was held at Kumara on Thursday evening, at which resolutions were passed urging the necessity of the punt at tbeTeremakau being purchased by the Government, and of the immediate construction of the dam of the Waimea Water-race,and the division of a portion of the race to the Kumara gold-fields. We learn from the Kumara Times, of Friday evening, that on the previous day several claims were bottomed on payable god, and that two others were equally fortunate on Friday. The Wealth of Nations Company have subscribed L2l and the Energetic L2O to the Reef ton Hospital. By the new "Education Bill, which has passed its second reading, rates of every kind are to be universally abolished — whether property rate, household rate, capitation rate, or any other. The only payments to be demanded of individuals are payments to be made by parents who have children to be educated in the public school. lC From and after the Ist day of January, 1877, every person, being the parent, or other person having the care or custody of a child between the ages of six years and fourteen yeirs, attending or not being exempt under this *ct from attending any public school, shall pay to the local school committee the sum of one pound annually for every suoh child, such Bum to be payable quarterly in advance : Provided always that no person be liable to pay more than two pounds in the whole for the children of one family." In consideration of this change school fees are abolished. Mr Kennedy, M.H.R., has given notice to move that, any member of the House of Reoresentatives interested in pastoral leases and voting the same, shall be liable to a fine of LilOO for eac' vote he may give, to be recoverable in the ordinary law courts of the colony. Of course, persons interested in mining leases may do as they choose for anything Mr Kennedy cares. By a telegram received by the West Coast Times, it appears that Roberts, the champion billard player, has at last determined on visiting the Coast before proceeding to Wellington and Auckland. He has made arrangements to play on Wednesday evening next at Greymouth with Weston. who accompanies hi in to the Coast. His arrangements in respect to Hokitika are not yet completed, though negotiations are pending, and he will doubtless appear here one or two nights next week The Wellington Argus of Tuesday says, if the rumors of the lobby have any foundation there is mischief brewing in the Onpoaition camp. The Permissive Abolition Bill introduced by Sir George Grey has now been twice postponed when its turns for second reading came on, but it is not, we believe, intended to abandon it. The rumors to which we allude state that next Thursday is to witness a> demonstration of the strength of the Opposition over this Bill, and that every means possible will be used to force the Government to modify its proposal in respect to abolition in Auckland and Otago This is the secret of the return of Messrs Stout and Lusk. The following clause has been added to the Municipal Corporations Bill :—" 'f in any proceedings by information at suit of the Attorney or Solicitor General it is decided that the Council of any Borough has wrongfully or illegally disposed of any real or personal property of the Borough, or has, applied the same to any purpose to which it was not lawfully applicable, or that the Council has permitted any of the reserves,' the management of which is vested in the Borough, to be uafd for purposes not authorised by law, o>- if by any 6unh proceedings , v .he Council is restrained from doing any such; things, ihen it shall not be lawful for the; C otmcil to pay out of the Borough funds any! oo sts or other expenses arising out of such j proceedings, or incurred in doing the things to -which such proceedings relate ; but the Court shall order that the members of the Cou ucil who by voting or otherwise assented to tbie illegal acts complained of shall pay all such costs and expenses/