THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1882.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXVI, Issue 4394, 23 September 1882, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1882.

This morning shortly before 1 o'clock a fire brake out in an empty house, situate on Albert Terrace, Tainui street. In a few moments the building was in flames, and shortly afterwards the Fire Brigade was on the Bpot, and throu.h the exertions of the members of the Brigade, aided by the neighbors, the fire was confined to the building in which ik originated. The house be onged to Mr M 'Davit ■;, and we believed is insured. No cluo, however, ii at preseut known as to how the lire broke out. In connection with fires it is strange that a horse is nos employed to draw the engine, as it is almost too much to expect men to drag it any disfcanca, We hear that the miners around Barry« town and the northern terraces are deternrced to leave no sbone unburoed iv obtaining bhe track to Parnell Terraco. There is no doubt ef the facb thab good ground doss exist in all the terraces that run from Barrytown towards Razorback, as gold ha 3 been found in payable quantities in Hiberniau, DubliD, Scotchmacs, Parnell and others even beyond, that, while proapecting ia being extensively carried on by several parties within the Buller County beyond the Grey boundary, notably in Deadman's, Paroa, and obher creeks. For the development of these, however, tracks arc required, and whether made by the County or by Government, or by both combined, does not matter, as long as they are made. That such is the opinion of the Barrytowa miners is proved by the news that ha 3 reached us that a petition to Government is being extensively signed, asking the work to be done by them, and as evidence of the tona fides of thair request they at the same time ask that a disinterested party, commissioned by Government, should go out and report upon them before any steps are taken to commence the work. We wish the Barrytown miners every success, and trust their desires and just right 3 may not again be ! prejudiced by any reports furnished by parties who really know nothing of the claims of tho district Jurors summoned to atteud at bhe District Court on Monday, are notified that their attendance will not be required, Numbers of miners are now prospecting along the terrace 3on the Deep C leek, No Town track, but the present wet weather has not baen favorable to tho work. It is tully expected that a good field will ba struck in this district during the eusuing summer. As the facilities now given for acc3?s will give the loug dejired opportunity to d velopa what is supposed not only to be an ext:nsive but a very rich track of , auriferous country. &. correspondent writes— " As it is most desirable that Langdon's district should be proved— and aa experts say it is not likely to be proved by tho present system of prospecting, wou'd it not be advisable bhab a low level tunnel company should, by the various claim holders, be started. Tho whole hill vould then be prospected, aud the present pottering sysbem would be pnt an end to. If this were done, a few months in all probabihby would see a second Reeftoa." Horse owners on the East Coaab should pay abtention to tha programmes isaaed for Christmas week's race 3on this side. On Boxiag Day and day following Keefbon offers L 450, aud Hokitika L 350. while on hew Year's Day (Jreymouth, it is said, will giro L3CO. burely some of these things aro goo.i enough to bring o\vner3 of horses over with surplus and disengaged stock. A meeting of tho members of the Greyaiouth Crickeb Club will be held this evening at the Albion Hotel, at 8 o'clock. The Eov R S Bunn will preach to-morrow evening at Wesley an Church. The Weatport Times of the 12th instant says:— "A specimen of quartz, 5£ r >zi in weight, from Stoney Creek, was crushed at tbo Bank of New Zealand this morning, and yielded a surprisingly large pro3pecb of the precious metal. Another lease was pegged out there on Friday, aad others are hkely to be taken up. The opinion is strengthening that the Stonoy Creek reefs are a continuation of the reef suppoaad to be in the Try Again grou::.; " The Kaitangata Coal Company declared a dividend of 15 per cen!;, and carried forward L 4600, nnkiDg the reserve fund, LIO.OOO. Says the London Globe : — "lt will ba observed that in the encounter at Ramloh our troop 3 appear to have aimd at very much as they did in South Africa — that is, at nothing iv particular. Or, perhaps, it may have been that they formed most erroneous judgment as to the distance of the onem-', and so adjusted thsir ' back sights that tho hul eta either struck the ground halfway, or flew over the heads of Arabi's brave warriors. Fortunately the sound alone sufficed to frighten the latter out of their wits and the gallanb horsemen who were, to all appearances, about (o annihilate the 60bh Rifks, bolted to a man. But the account says that although the enemy was only 500 yards distant, and although our men had everything in their favor for taking steady aim, the only result of the volley was — ono horse wounded. Nor was mure harm done later on, when the action came t"> ba renewed. There ia less excuse for the bad shooting of our men on thiß latter occasion, iaasmuch as they were under cover and tiring independently as skirmisher Instead of by platoon. Under similar circumstances, half the force of Boers would certainly have accounted for a considerable number of the enemy. It ia scarcely to be expected, of course, that the woudorful skill of tlnsa unerring marksmen will evar be equalled by the British soldier. But the English pnblic | cartainly had a rioht to look for better results tlian those chronicled, when it would have been exactly the reverse of the truth to say that every bulleb had its billet. Lot our present annual course of instruction be continued, but supplement it by constantly eacouraging tht soldiers to get np matches amoDg themselves, man against man, squad against squad, company against company, and wiDg against wing. Were this done by commanding officers in an earnest spirit, we undertake to say that the shooting of our troopa in the field would soon show sensible improvement.

In We south of Abyssinia, upon tbo testimony of the late Sir Gardfn-jr Wilkinson, monkeys are still taught several useful accomplishments. One of thesa is that of officiating as torchbearera at a supptr party. Seated In a row, on a raised bench, they hold the lights until the guests have dedeparted, patiently awaiting their own supper as a reward for their services. Occasionally an obstreperous an!mal will in'ten rupt the festivities by throwing his lighted torch among the guests, bub he is promptly caned inbo submission. Recently two persons on an excursion to the Col de Coux, not far from Champery, in the Valais, heard cries of distress, and saw a man clinging to a small tree, which had struck it 3 roobi into the face of the precipice, which was nearly perpendicular. The man was nearly 1000 ft below them, and the foot of the precipice quite as far below him, All they could do was to tell him to Btay where he was until they came back and hurry off for help. It was night when they arrived at Morzine, twelve miles away ; but a dozon bold mountaineers, equipped with ropes, started forthwith for the rescue. They reached the Col de Is Goleae, but it; being impossible to scale the rocks in the , | dark they remained tb. ro uwtil tha sun ; roBB. Three of the rescue party, fastened together with cords, wore then lowered to a ledge it bout GOOffc below. From this letfge two of the three lowerod the third to the bush. He found the man, who had bean seabed astride a kind of porch a day and a night, between life and death. It was a wonder how he had been able to hold on ao long, for, besides suffering from hunger and cold, he had been hurt ia the fall from the height above. He was a reserve man bu* longing to Samoens, on hia way thither from Lausanne, where ha had been working, to be present at a muster. Losing hia way on tho mountains between Tbonon and Samoens, he had missed his footing and rolled over the psecipioc. " A literary treasure," says the Abhouwum of June 17th, "of singular appositeness hag just turoed up in the form of a preface written by Thackeray for the second edition of his ; Irish Sketch Book,' but suppressed by the publishers as boing too ouispoken. The prefsco, which forms a long fssay on the politic xl situation in Ireland, will be pub'iehei in the Cen. tury. In it Thackeray not merely supports the disestablishment of the Irian Church, which he says • will no more grow in Ireland than a palm-t<-ee in Sb Paul's Churchyard,' bub^ven the repeal of the Union. He goes m far ai to prophecy that the latter conce33ion wi'i eventuilly be wrung from Sir Fobeit Peel. The paper ig said to be written in Thackeray's most vivacious anl characteristic style, and will form a curious contrast to those acid comments by Carlyle on Irish affairs which are now appearing in tha Centu.y Magazine." A story comes from Sb Petersburg tegard« lag a reported sad occarence : — Tho Bmparor was out walking in the Park, and for some reason or other became interested in the oparationa of several workmen or gardeners, who ware ai; work some distance off. His Maje3t appoara to hwa beckoned to one of tha workmen to come up to him, intending to speak to the man and perhaps s- '<k gome questions. Tha workman noticed the sign, threw down hia tools, and ran towards the Emperor, When only a step or two from Bis Majesty's person he fall dead at the Czar's feet, shot by a sentenel close at hand who had aofc seen the Emperor call the man and who had imperative orders to fire on any Bbfangers approaching the Emx peror. His Majesty, it is said helped to lift up the body and showed the bittetost griaf. The wife aad family of the unfortunate man are to be thoroughly cared for. Dr (3 anther, in a paper read before the Loudon Zoological Society, declares that there are no such things as the distinctive whitebait, and that herring and whitebait ao called, beloaj to one fiah family. A novel proposition has just been made No fact in physics is batter known than that a great store of heat is packed away in the earth's interior. Deep mines iv all parta of the world show that the increase of heat goe3 on in proportion as we descend, the average rate being about ldej Fahrenheit for every 20 yards. Shall we ever be able to avail ourselves of this supply, and draw upon it at will. This heat Bupply seems bo coaae nearer to the surface at some places than others. Thus the deep well at BudaPesth, suuk to a depth of 3000 ft, yields an abundant supply of hot water, which extensively supplies the city. Professor Milue hai just brought up the Bu'<J3ct of uti'is ition of the eartn'd internal heat before the Seismol;>2[ical Society of Japan. He stated that there was an unlimited supply of wa'er in hot springs within a radiua of 100 mi C 3 around Tokio, aud that the heat of these springs could bo converted into an electric current, and the energy be transmitted to the town. Tho hot springs or geysers of Iceland, the Yel.owatono Ke^ioa, and New Zealand, in view of the convertibility of heat iuto electricity, assume i a fresh importance. A serious explosion occurred at Oopmanhurat lately. A man named Alexander Michae', who was carrying 101 bof blasting powder under his arm, went inbo a blacksmith's shop owned by 'Jharlos Jordan, and while standing there a spark from tha anvil ignited the powder, causiag a terrific explosion, completely wrecking the shop. Jordau. Miohael, Charles Cocksadge, and Jo3eph Lollback, wero seriously injured, and I two others in the vicinity sustained slighter injuries. An eoormous landslip has occurred in the vicinity of Tararu, close to the roadway which Bkirts the Firth of the Thames, whe^e the side of the mountain slipped, and many millions of tons of eaith slid into the valley below. Tho following is the reply of Lord Kimberley to the deputation of Maori chiefs headed by Hirini (Maori for Sydney) Taiwhanga: — That In these matttrs it was necessary for the Queen to ba advise.d by the local Government, and after the great troubles that had happened it was thought their affairs would be bettermanagedbypeople on tho spot than by us who, however g od our intentions, were a long way off. and did not know any of the details. Tui3 did not imply that the Queen did not take great interest in the welfare of her Maori subjects ; it; wa3 because Bhe believed the interests of all in tho colony would be better promoted by arrangements made there than by interfere ence here that she had delegated these powers to tho Colonial Government. Although he could not in any way promise that there would be any commission of inquiry —for that was a matter which must he referred to the Government of New Zealand — full information would bo obtaiaed hereof the siate of affairs in New Zealand, for there was about to bo laid before Parliament papers which would give a full account of all thai; had happened with regard to Te VVhiti. The deputation t ;en thanked Lord Kicnberley and withdrew. Capbaln Hill, who was master of the barque Australind, wrecked at New Plymouth, has been appointed captain of the oteamer Manawatu, which will soon be ready to be put in commission. A company is bein>» formed in Wellington, with a proposed capiUl of L 30.000 to 1.50,000, to work ck-1 measures oa a leaso of 640 aorea, situated on VVeac Waiigunui Inlofcj on tliQ Weat Coaat of this Island, near Cape ; Farewell,

One of tho beautie3 of Church and State was lately made known in England. A diss'paced youn2[ Wari, who oied ab bhft age of 26 from the effects of a vicious life, had thirty-nine Church livings ia his g'fb. On bhe resolution relating to the vote o! L 50,000 for harbor defences being reported to bhe House, Mr HuLchis >n enbered a mild protest against the vote. He held that our beat pan was to oultlvate peace and com" merce. In any case, however, the sum of L 50.000 wa7, he maintained, quite inadequate to meet bhe requirements of the case. Tho resolution, however, was agreed to, bub a general feeling undoubtedly dee 3 prevail that the sum votied can only oe looked on as a first instalment, and is nothing like sufficient for the purpose. No doubt it will be exceeded i£ necessary. : A conteinoorary refers ', to the "infinite injustice of 1633 people owning 11,054,000 acres of land "in the colony. No country in the world of the size of New Z 'aland can show a land monopoly like this. When the item LSOO, School of Mines. Otago, was under consideration during the session, bhe member for Tuapeka elicited from Government the fact thab the Borvicea <of Professor Ulrica would' 'be. available for I Gtoldfioldß districts during the vacation. A conbemporary states tha.6 over LIOO was paid by tha Melbourne Argus and the Sydney Morning Herald to Archibald Forbes for his obituary notica of General Skobeleff. Choles New Vegetable and Flower Seeds, Seed Pobatoes and Peruvian Guano. — Gktpp 'n a.kd Smith.— [at>vt.]