THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1886.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5404, 26 January 1886, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1886.

J. G. Thomas, Esq., ex Mayor, has presented a handsome watch to be competed for by the Greymouth Nava l Artillery and the Greymouth Rifles. The conditions of competition are to be decided by the joint committee of the two corps.

It will be seen by an advertisement elsewhere that a public trial will be made to-morrow evening, on the Camp Reserve, of the Harden Star Hand Grenade. If testimonials count for anything, then there never was a patent that met with such universal favor as these hand grenades. Their efficacy as a fire extinguisher must be wonderful.

The import and export returns for the colony for the quarter show an increase over the December quarter of 1884, the exports especially, which have increased by more than £100.000. The imports have increased by £40,000. The imports and exports for the year 1885 were smaller by about £200,000 than in 1884. There are increases in minerals, fungus, timber, bacon and hams, frozen and preserved meats, wool, flour, barley, malt, oats, hops, and there has been a very large increase in coal, fish, butter, cheese, and grass seed, but a falling off in gold, silver, oil, whalebone, skins, kauri gum, salt beef, hides, live stock, tallow, bran, oatmeal, potatoes, fkx and biscuits, and a very heavy decrease in wheat.

The change in the weather, or some other reason, induced the St. Leon Company to strike their tents yesterday morning and move off for Kumara. There is very little doubt that had they remained the night they would have had a tolerably good house, as about 100 people came in from the country yesterday, mainly for the purpose of seeing the circus.

Nancarrow and Co. will sell by auction this day, at their rooms, apricots and plums.

At the recent opening of the Catlin's River Raiiway Line in Otago, Mr Stout made a speech. In the course of it he 3aid : — "The Mayor had referred to the troubles of a Premier, and he might say he often wished the Parliament of New Zealand was like the people of Balclutha. In Balclutha the Mayor was elected seven times in succession ; he was kept in office long enough to show what he was made of, and what good he could do for the town. But the misfortune of Parliament was that there were so many members anxious to show that they could be Ministers that the tenure of office was often very short." This is about the most illiberal proposition that has yet fallen from the lips of our Premier. Fancy the present government being allowed to retain office for seven years. Mr Stout apparently would like the day of grace extended to seven years.

The Nelson Inspector of schools reports as follows concerning 'the Westport boys' school :— "lt is not often that a school like this, which for several years past has stood in the first rank, suddenly falls back to a very low place. Nor is it easy to account for so great a falling off. It is true that the second master left some four months before the examination, the head master following him about eight weeks afterwards. But school work was never interrupted, temporary teachers being engaged at once." In the sa.ne report concerning the Hope school he says :— " An almost unvarying experience has convinced me that the appointment of a temporary teacher during the interval that often unavoidably occurs between the lexving of one teacher and the taking

office of a successor, has a disastrous effect on the scholars. lam not indeed at all sure that it would not be better, in most cases, to close the school altogether until the new master can take charge." These two statements in the one report are scarcely reconcileable.

A correspondent at Wellington says : — the revenue returns for the nine months include the following chief items:— Customs, . '£1,044,794 ; railways, £723,980; Stamps, £426,474. . Comparing these with last year" and with the Treasurer's Estimates it will be seen that the Customs show a considerable deficit, that Stamps hare done well, and that the railways have done even worse than might have been expected. Their receipts for the quarters being £113,000 less than three-fourths of estimate for the year, in spite of a considerable increase in the mileage and in actual traffic carried.

The following story is at present going the round of the papers : The dead body of an English or American lion tamer named Stewart was, it is said, lately found in the room of a house at Romainville, outside Paris. By the side of the remains was the corpse of an old lion. Stewart had fallen on evil days and went to Romainville with his lion. It is supposed that he succumbed to an apoplectic stroke, and the lion lay calmy down and died of grief and hunger by the side of his master.

It is stated that at the present time nearly twenty thousand acres of land are uncultivated in Berkshire, in the neighborhood of Lambourne, and within sixty miles of London. It has hitherto cost as much to convey corn from Lambourne to London as from Chicago to London.