Untitled

Grey River Argus, Volume 21, Issue 2935, 10 January 1878, Page 2

Mails for the Australian Colonies and Tasmania per Albion, will close at the Bluff at 11 am oh Friday, Ilth inst. Telegrams will be. received at 'the Telegraoh Office, Greymouth, up till 10 a.m on the same day. It is notified that the attendance of jurors summoned by the Sheriff to the District Court for to-morrow, wUI not be required. At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, W. H. Revell, Esq, RM, on the Bench, a man named Andrew Anderson was brought up under the Vagrancy Act charged with indecent exposure in the presence of seveial children, and was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in the Hokitika gaol, with hard labor. The directors of the Urey Kiver Steam Tug Company have reduced the towage on ballast vessels to 2a 6a per ton register, in and out. This should offer inducement to vessels to come here for ooal, as it can be now shipped to any port in New Zealand at a lower rate than Newcastle. Mr John Hislop has been appointed permanent secretary to the Central Department of Education. The Cabinet assemble in Wellington next week, when the reorganisation of the Civil Service will be considered. The Westland Board of Education holds ita first sitting under the new Education Act to-day. A scandalum megnatum has occurred at the Hutt, Wellington. A youth of seventeen, Bon of one of the oldest and most respected settlers, has eloped with and married his mother's maid of all work— a buxom lady of twenty-eight. The family of course are intensely delighted. Mr Bowen, the late Minister of Justice, is at present acting as editor of the New Zealand Times in Wellington. It is not yet finally settled whether he will accept the appointment as a permanency, although much pressed to do so by the proprietary. The total area of land sold or otherwise disposed of in Westland from the foundation of the Colony to let January, 1877, was 66,265 acrea 28 perches, the total cash received by the Government being L 51,525 15* Id. ' The total area open for selection in Westland at the latter date was 231,870 acres. And the total area rem ining for future disposal, exclusive of those areas above mentioned, at the same date was 2,729,210 acres. In the District Court at Hokitika on Tuesday, Mr Button presented a petition to adjudge Michael Houlahan, debtor a bankrupt. The petition alleged that the petitioners, Messrs Button and Reid, had resided six months wiobin the jurisdiction of the Court ; that the debt due to Button and Reid exceeded 150 ; that on the 25th September debtor filed a deed under the 28th section of the Debtors and Creditors Act ; that the petitioners did not sign the deed ; and that the then arranging debtor had not applied in

time or done anything for the complete execution of the said deed. He would, therefore, apply for a summons for|the debtor to appear before the Court, and show cause why he should not be adjudged a bankrupt. Order made for a summons to issue, and the 4%h February next fixed for the debtor's appearance. The formal opening of the Hochstetter Water Raoe will take place to-day, and the event will be celebrated by a banquet and ball to be held at Hatter's Terrace. Among the visitors who are expected to be present are his Honor Judge Weston, the County Chairman, the Hon. H. HV Lahman, Mr W. H. Harrison, the late member for thn Grey Valley, and other prominent citizens. A petition to exclude the Chinese from the Northern Gold-Fields of Queensland for a period of five years after the proclamation has been signed by 1200 persons at Cooktown. We clip the following fiom a Home paper :— Professor Piazzi Symtb, the As-tronomer-Royal for Scotland, has announced himself as a weather prophet. He predicted that a " cold wave " would visit tha earth in December last — but whether it was to show itself by depressing the summer temperature of thia hemisphere, or by merely making the northern winter more severe, he does not say. He makes his deductions from the observation of a series of earth thermqmetera at Edinburgh, from which he has ascertained that there have been three great heat waves during the last thirty years. The first struck the earth in the summer of 1846, the second at the beginning of 1858, and the third in the autumn of 1868. The periods of mimimum temperature are not, it seems, in or near the middle time between the crests of these waves, but close up to them on either side. The next heat wave is to be in the summer of 1879. All this may seem to Mr Piazzi Smith to be a matter ' of course, but it does not appear that he has any adherents, lf he had prophesied the end of the world he would have had a better chanco of makiag converts. The receipts for nominations, acceptances, and for the right to booths aad gates at the recent race meeting at Reefton amounted to L 345 9a. Mr Crofts has again taken charge of the Catholic School at Reefton, Mr (Charles Woolcock received a vote of confidence at Reefton. His speech, as reported iv the' Herald, ia but a repetition of that he delivered in Greymouth, a full report of which appeared in bur columns. The Rumara Tim s of Tuesday gives cur--rfc_,^ — t_. — . jconott-that a rush had taken place on the previous day, about seven mile 4 aboye the Larrikins, but it does not vouch for its accuracy. • A public meeting is to be held at Kumara to-morrow, convened by the Mayor, for the purpose of urging upon the Government the necessity of at once proceeding with the construction of the Teremakau bridge. The members of the district have been invited to attend. The following case in rhe Supreme Court, Wellington, is reported by the Post t— " Wylde v Bank of New Zealand.— This was au application to make absolute a rule nisi obtained in the Nelson Supreme Court. The defendants brought an action against Wylde in the Resident Magistrate's Court at Reefton, when judgment was given iii their favor, and a judgment warrant issued. Wylde thtn applied to the Supreme Court 1 o restrain the Bank from acting upon the judgment, on the ground that the case was not within the jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate, and in support of the application, and Mr Gordon Allan (in the absence of Mr Hart) showed cause against. The rule was made absolute." From New York papers of November 2&, we learn that the great detective trial was finished on 20th of .same month. The jury in rendering their verdict found Mieklejohn, Drusoovich, and Froggatt the solicitor guilty, with a recommendation to mercy in the cases V>f Palmer and Druscovich ; Clark was acquitted. Palmer and Froggatt made piteous and heartrending appeals for mercy, and the latter looked utterly crushed and astounded at his fate. The sentence of the Court' was two years' imprisonment with hard labor in the cases of those who were convicted. Bishop Selwyn, of Melanesia, is complaining of the quantity of arms and ammunition that are being brought by return islanders from Queensland. The Nelson Evening Mail of the 3rd contains the following paragraph: — "The nice little sum of LIOOO was run into Nelson yesterday by the horse First King, the winner of the Melbourne Champion Stakes, he haviog been drawn in Tonks L2OOO sweep at Greymouth by Mr A. M'Gee for himself and eight others. Nel«on residents have been fortunate in this respect of late, Mr Alex Mackay having been the fortunate holder of the first prize ticket in a LIOOO. Bweep on the Melbourne Cup." I A meeting of the committee ofthe Grey River Hospital was held yesterday evening ; present — Messrs Greenwood (chairman), W. S. Smith, Dupre, Strike,. GUnier, Revell, Hamiton, and King. The Treasurer acknowledged receipt of payments by patients, Ll3 16s 4d ; Greenstone local commitoee, L 32 lOd j sale of tickets. Ll Is ; donations per Superintendent, Ll2. He reported the Bank account to be overdrawn L32S 3s 6d. Letters froni the treasurer of the Greenstone local committee and from the Colonial Secretary were read. Messrs Arnott, Dupre, and Greenwood, were appointed a visiting committee for the month. The senior and junior examination of candidates for the Civil Servics wiU commence at the Masonic Hall on Monday next. There are five candidates for the junior examination, three of whom will aso undergo the senior examination. One young lady is also a candidate.