THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1883.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXX, Issue 4618, 13 June 1883, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 1883.

Mr Braniff, who drives the engine running between the quarry and the tiphead, met with an accident on Monday which necessitated the amputation of one of his fingers. It appears that the engine had got off the line, and while the men were engaged in geiting it on again Mr Braniff was taking out a wedge in order to put in another when the screw-jack broke, letting the whole weight of the engine come down on. the blocks, catching Mr Braniff s finger and crushing it off. It is understood that Mr Martin Kennedy has been appointed a Justice of the Peace for the colony. Harry Wessels starts tins morning on his prospecting expedition to the NineMile Bluff. So far as can be gathered, no new discovery has been reported from Scotchman's Terrace, and some old miners who have returned from the rush seem to be very lukewarm over it. Generally speaking, such excitement as was at first oceassioned has subsided very much, if not altogether. The interminable gold-stealing case occupied the Court still another day, being again adjourned till this morning. As a goodly number of witnesses have now been examined for the defence, there is a probability of the case closing to-day, or to-morrow at the furthest. Colonel Reader has, in a communicamunication, addressed to Mr O'Hagan, late Mayor of Kumara, given permission to Sergeant Emerson, late of Kumara, to accej>t the gold watch subscribed for him by the residents of Kumara and the neighborhood. The Fieiy Cross Company will commence crushing in about a fortnight. There is a large paddock at present nearly full of stone. By the time the crushing is concluded it is calculated that at least 300 tons ■will have been crushed. The stone is expected to yield an average of 2G dwts. per ton. From the San Francisco Bulletin we learn that the American export of fresh meat reached its maximum in 1881, when beef to the value of 9,860,254d01, and mutton to the value of 256,008d0l was exported. In 1882 the figures fell to 6,768,881d0l worth of beef, and 131,641 dol worth of mutton. The increase of the Home demand seems to be the cause, but the Bulletin believes that the immense resources 'of the country will soon increase the supply, Since 1877 homed cattle have been exported to the average value of 15,000,000d0l annually. Mr Alfred Domett's v Christmas Hymn" has been chosen as the subject for the prize illustrations to be given in Harper's Magazine for December, 1883. In Berlin, with a population of 1 , 145, 000, the church attendance is less that than 35,000, notwithstanding that the library and public places are closed. It is estimated that there are five times as many kinds of insects as there are species of, all. other living things put together. The oak alone gives shelter and support to 450 species of insects, and 200 kinds make their home in pine trees. In 1849, Alexander von Humboldt estimated that the number of species preserved in collections was between 150,000 and 170,000, but, but scientific men now say that there must be something like 760,000 species.

In a private letter received from London, the writer refers to the frozen meat as follows: —"At a big butcher's shop just across London Bridge I saw posted up in gigantic letters 'New Zealand Mutton.' The sheep looked perfectly natural, and we bought a fore-quarter and some chops at B^d per lb., which would have cost Is 2d for English meat. It was impossible to distinguish it from fresh meat." The Tablet referring to the vist of Mr Redmond to New Zealand, strongly urges that a hearty welcome should be given to him. It says : —"Let us prepare them, to give our valiant young fellow-country-man, who has braved the anger of a whole new world, and laughed in the face of its prejudices, the reception he, and the cause he advocates, deserve : and let us send him on his way rejoicing with a cheery message to those at Home, and a substantial aid for them in his £>ocket —for that will be the crown of the whole affair." David Brady, employed on the Oamaru dredge, had his right hand so badly crushed recently that it had to be amputated. He slipped on the deck near one of the winches, and to save himself put out his hand, which was dragged in by a cogwheel of the winch. The Presbyterian states that there are at present six students in attendance at the Theological Hall ; that the Rev. Mr Currie is stationed at Oatlin River ; and that the convener of the Church Extension Committee has learned from a letter lately received that there is no great probability of the Rev. Mr Duncan, appointed last August by the Free Church, taking up his appointment in New Zealand. The Rev. Charles Strong, speaking, of Carlyle, says : —" Perhaps, poor man, he was not happy in his domestic life. Jano Welsh and he do not seem to have been made for each other." George Augustus Sala, writing after the publication of Mr Carlyle's letters says : —" Still there can be no doubt that the cherub Thrift continuously sate up aloft at Chelsea to look out for the life of the Carlyles. Unfortunately the cherub was unable to prevent the thrifty mansion from being haunted continuously by seven devils —the fiends of Arrogance, Melancholy, Dyspepsia, Sleeplessness, Ingratitude, Tyranny, and Intolerable Selfishness. These demons were installed in the library where one of the brightest genuises of the nineteenth century wrote his undying works. He was not accompanied by his familiars when he went abroad among the great folk. But he took them downstairs a great deal too frequently for the benefit of Mrs Carlyle. The constant contemplation of her distinguished husband's indoor qualities broke the i^oor woman's heart at last. Even ' Beautiful Thrift' will not always bring happiness, it would seem." The Lyttelton Times congratulates Dr Von Haast upon his admission to the Order of St. Michael and St George, and says : —" His scientific work, his splendid success in the Museum — though in a remote corner of the earth, it is placed by high authorities, amongst others by Professor Ward of New York, and the celebrated musiologist Doctor Finsch, amongst the first 15 of the world —and his adventurous career of hardship and toil, long ago won for him the Austrian honor he enjoys and the honory distinction accorded to men of distinguished achievement by many learned societies. It is satisfactory that the honor which eveiy man is sure to appreciate in the country of his adoption has at last been added." The London correspondent of the " Argus" says that a boy belonging to a training ship at Portsmouth took a small yacht that was lying near, and set sail in her for France. He was, however, boarded by the coastguard about twenty miles away, and brought back to port. He should make a plucky sailor some day