THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1884.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXX, Issue 4788, 28 January 1884, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 1884.

Owing to a pressure of matter last evening an account of the presentation to the Rev. Father M'Guinness, on the eve of his departure for Timaru, was unavoidably held over. Mr Woon, our worthy Collector of Customs, returned toGreymouth on Saturday by thes.s. Grafton, afterashort absence in the North Island. He was received with cordial greetings from his many friends, who were Avell pleased to see him back again and looking in such fine health. Mr D. Lundon, who acted as collector during Mr Woon's absence, left for Wanganui by the Grafton yesterday. Amongst the Greymouthians who rej turned by the Grafton on Saturday was | our old friend Mr R. J. Tonks, who has i been absent from here for some little time on the East Coast of the island. Mr C. G. Andrews, one of the sub- ! inspectors of the Bank of New Zealand, is j at present on an official visit to the West : Coast branches, being at present located in j Westport on his way south. < Mr George King, well-known once as ' Captain of the Greymouth Fire Brigade, publishes the following letter in the Melbourne Age of the Oth inst: — "Sik, — Being an ex -captain of a New Zealand volunteer fire brigade (retired by reason of 1 loss of eyesight through injuries sustained whilst on duty), and hearing this morning of " accidents to firemen," may I take the opportunity of invoking your powerful influence to further a scheme that has long : been in my mind, namely — that the volunteer fire brigades should form a • general accident fund to recompense in some degree the possible loss of life, limb or eyesight. Say that the brigades should . subscribe, augmented by property holders , and insurance companies, and the Governj ment would no doubt lend their aid to I avert what, but for the firemen, might j prove a national disaster." | Mr Willmott's Company, after a nnJst successful season at Hokitika, will make , their reappearance here to-morrow evening. The company appear to have been playing in their best form lately, and as ■ their bill for to-morrow evening is a } capital one, a good house ought to be j looked for. j Messrs Nancarrow and Co. will sell today at ten o'clock a. m. at their rooms, prime new butter and fruit. Woodyear's Electric Circus plays at Hokitika the latter part of this week. American lawyers are sorely perplexed about a will case which lias recently been brought before the Hickman Circuit Court. A Kentucky gentleman, on his deatli bed, made a will in which he bequeathed to his wife, who was euciente, in pase she should be delivered of a daughter, one-half of his estate, the other half l;o such daughter : but in case the expected child ; was a son, one-third was to go to the wife and two-thirds to such son. Shortly after '. the testator's death the wife gave birth to : twins— a boy and a girl. The question now puzzling the lawyers is, iiow shall the I estate be divided ? The wife claims one- ! half the estate because she had a daughter, ; the daughter's guardian claims one-half i the estate under the will, and the guardian of the son vows he will not accept less J than Wo-thirds of the estate. ■ At the public hall in Waikato lately, the Hon. F. Whitaker contrasted Australia, which he has recently visited, with 1 New Zealand, and thus gave his impressions: — "The people who have cast their ] lines in this part of the country, or in any i part of New Zealand, have no reason to complain of their lot. I have been travel- c Hat? ately, as you are doubtless itware, '/

through the Australian Colonies, and though great wealth is to Ke found there, this country is a better one, and I would not exchange New Zealand for either Victoria or New South Wales. There matters are entirely different. Great fortunes are realised, but land is held in large estates of hundreds of thousands of acres, and the country is not nearly so well peopled as that of New Zealand. We have better opprtuniticsfor i^.j „;ttlement of the country by a small class of independent freeholders than they have either in Victoria or New South Wales. By-and-bye the population of New Zealand will be three or four times as great as that of the other Colonies. Although Australia has all the elements of the production of wealth, it lacks our rivers and watercourses and, above, all, our climate. There they are subject to severe droughts. In some of the settled districts no rain has fallen for as long a period as three years."