THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. Tuesday, December 8, 1885.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5364, 8 December 1885, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. Tuesday, December 8, 1885.

--Owing to pressure on our space, telegrama, locals,, " Tempus Fugifc," and other matters are crowded but;^i . ...The. preparatory work in connection with /the i removal of the apron on the north side of the training wall is going on briskly. It is intended to remove aljl the outer stones to a depth of four or- five Eeet below low .water, and build them in khe form of ,a; wall insiiiei A' derrick' has been rigged at the upper end of the apron that is capable oi. lifting stones of fipe or six tons weight., . A siding has beenj laid along to the seaward end of the apron, where a steam crane will be set to work. After the, top .^stones have been removed and stacked as convenient to the mole as may be required, the services of a diver will be availed of in order, to take ouli the atones ureter \vaten It is considered that • : when this" has been carried ; out thoroughly, little or. no,.jdanger will exist of ; T,easela . coming to grief, on' the apron. This scheme, it -\ is thought will be safer and more, effective than $hat of driving' piles ron [ the outer .', edge \ of t r the ,' apron,' it being feared that sucli "an irregularity in the contour of the' harbor I 'works would exercise : a p rejudiciar effect - 1 r up6n { the channel. It is riot anticipated that the job wiU be so long 1 or expensive as may be imagined. The estimated:, cbst, it is understood, will nbtiriucli exceed £500, though estimates of cost vi regard to public works in this, district : have; not usually been so near the mark when the result haS been worked; ;but as to cause them to be accepted tb ariygreat extent— Cobden bridge to wit. However, eW.n-if the estitriate; should, be .doubled by the time 'the work 'is ? cbmple'ted," the money will, have been well spent. The removal of such' a perm.'nerit 1 'darigei? ! to the navigation of -the port will prove a boon of such lasting value that it cannot be measured by hundreds or thousands of pounds. ' - : , Mails for Honolulu, America, and the United Kingdom, via San Francisco, per Mararqa, close at Auckland , on Tuesday, the 28th mat., at noon. Due in London on January 15th. i There ia no longer any doubt as to the whereabouts of the lost cylinders of the Cobden bridge. On Sunday morning the men at work on the new cylinder struck the edge of one of those carried away last January. The obstacle has interfered a good deal with the smoothness of the sinking, bat .. by Sunday evening the cylinder was so perpendicular as to indicate that the cylinder • was going down level. A. large quantity of 1 fragments of metal came up in th<* buckets of gravel on Sunday afternoon, and according to what we learn the men have not gone quite tnrough the cylinder yet. It is of course impossible to say whether in the sinking of the other cylinder any difficulty of the like kind will be encountered. • In addition to the Greymouth youths announced the other day as having passed the Civil Service Examination, it may be mentioned that W. J. Joyce (son of Mr T. Joyce, brewer) has passed the Junior Civil Service Examination successfully. There may be others who have passed that we are not yet informed of ; but the n*»xt Government Gazette will no doubt contain the names of all the successful candidates. Tenders for the removal of the wreck of the s.s Wallace close at noon to-day. Two narrow escapes from drowning happened at Hokitika on Satarday last, one to Walter Trice, son of the harbormaster, who, while bathing, took a fit in the water, and would most probably have been drowned but for the timely assistance rendered by a youth named Keane, who jumped into the water immediately, without waiting to divest himself of his clothes, and managed to get Trice safely on land. Shortly afterwards George Aitkin, who was bathing on the beach, was carried out by the bye- wash of the breakers. He was rescued by a youth named Alexander Lennie. — Times. Three cases of drunkenness appeared upon the charge sheet yesterday morning. This is a most unusual number for Greymouth at any time. Even race time or Christmas seldom or never is followed by so many inebriates being brought up. James Gibson, convicted of drunkenness, was fined 10s, or in default he was ordered to be imprisoned for 48 hours. Thomas Nealon, who was brought up the other day on a similar charge, was convicted of habitual drunkenness, and sentenced to be imprisoned with hard labor in the public prison at Hokitika for a term of 14 days. Although the Magistrate gave no reason for sendin? the prisoner to Hokitika, when he could be kept in the Greymouth prison for a month, it is quite evident that he is aware of the state of the ramshackle building, and 'sent the delinquent to a prison whe r e there is at lsast~ a reasonable probability that he will be found in the morning after being put in at night. In our fiaol he nright kick hia way out, as a prisoner very nearly did a few weeks ago. Eliza Hutchinson was also charged with drunkenness. Accused said she had taken just one glass "for her stomach's sake," because she felt ill, and it deceived her. She alleged thai it wa3 the first time she had ever been before the Court on a similar charge. She was accordingly dismissed with a caution. The hon. secretary of the Grey River H spital begs to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of LI la from J. G. Woon, Esq., as a special donation to the funds of the institution. The school examination started yesterday by acting Inspector Robinson, and good progress was made. The 6th, sth, and 4th standards did arithmetic and grammar. The infants were inspected and dismissed, and the Ist standard got through their arithmetic. It is expected that .the examination will be completed by Thursday afternoon. The papers so far are shorter than usual, but are rather more difficult, especially in the 4th and sth standards. At the regular monthly meeting of the School Committee, held at the Secretary's office,^ ; the following memhers were present : — Messrs -flelms (chair), Holder, Smith, and Perotti. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. The report of the head master showed 390ohildten on the roll, and a working

average of 467 for the month. The master again pointed out the necessity to have another male teacher appointed, and as the school is now entitled to another assistant, Messrs Lord and Helms were appointed to wait upon the Commissioners to urge upon the two at once to call for applications. Leave of absence was granted to Mr Malcolm from the 14th inst. to attend examinations. The request of the Sunday School Committee for the grant of the ground and school room for the annual picnic was granted under the usual conditions. The Secretary was instructed to ask several ladies to examine the sewing. This, and some arrangements for the forthcoming concert and distribution of prizes, terminated the meeting, which stands adjourned till next Thursday week.

A concert for the benefit of the Grey River Hospital will be given at the Volunteer ,'H all this evening.