THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1891.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 6985, 10 February 1891, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1891.

) At any time during the last b!x or nine I months we could hear it bruited that the j coal syndicates commonly known as the Paparoa Coal Companies were just on the point of beginning work in real earnest. ) (Would not Paparoa coal lease speculators be a more appropriate title for these gentlemen 1) We can hardly recollect at this distance of time with sufficient exactness i to be positive as to all that they intended to do. It is enough to say that they had solemnly determined — so they led those who listened to them to believe — to have j no more dilly-dallying, no more fruitless negotiations with each other as to running , powers or the construction of the line* Even those Iniquitous terminal charges were not going to daunt them in the leaßt, • as they intended to go right on regardless of expense. We listened, but at the same time doubted the reality of all those virtuous resolves. Pleasing little romances i of that kind have become bo common as to invariably call to mind that old copybook lesson which says that " Familiarity 1 breeds contempt." It is not more than a week or tiro ago at moßt when the public were assured that operations were to be commenced almoßt for h with ia connection with one or both of the Paparoa coal leases, the particulars not being stated. But there is not a whit more evidence of that now than there was twelve months ■ hence. There is j ÜBt a possibility that the Ninemile syndicate intend to take some practical steps towards the opening and working of their lease, though we are ■ strongly inclined to think that they are on the same "lay" (as the nautical phrase has it) as their neighbors, and are a great „ deal more anxious to sell out than to work the lease they hold. We see from the _ London correspondent of one of the colonial pspers, that Mr A. M'Dougall is now ' in London endeavoring to interest capitalists in the Cobden Railway and Coal Company. .It maybe also mentioned in f this connexion, though it does not affect the local point of our argument, that Mr J. E. Nathan, a rathe c clever Israelite, 1 formerly of Wellington, is trying to float a company in London to work a coal

mine on the property of " Mokau" Jones, on the banks of the Mokau river. It 1b quite clear from this that the !Cobden Hallway and Coal Company do not intend to risk their own capital in developing their property, though they were very demonstrative in assuring the residents of the town that they were thoroughly in earnest and would lose no valuable time in setting to work. The answer to all this is Mr M'Dougall's mission to London. If we mistake not Mr M'Dougall and Mr Joseph Nathan will have an opportunity of consoling one another over their respective failures to get at John Bull's breeches' pocket. The smart men of the Transvaal have already performed that little bit of financial presdigltatlon all too successfully. Between Johannesburg and Argentina the London capitalists have developed a fit of caution and look with suspicion at anything in the shape of colonial mining investments. While city men are in that mood it 13 hopeless to expect to float any mining venture, let it be never so genuine or valuable — and least of all in coal. The business men of London who usually risk their capital in such ventures know just as much about the coal trade of this colony as we do. They know that the mines already open on this coast could be made to meet all the coal requirements of New ,'Zealand, and that this market is practically controlled by one company ; they know that a acore of good coal mines could be opened very soon if only a foreign market could be obtained. That is the one great want, and until a foreign market is found the colony must remain in the hands of those who at present control the coal trade. In a few weeks time the tunnel at Blackball will be on the coal, but no one expects to see the present company develop the property. The certainty of large subsequent expenditure to enable them to do so and make an independent trade connection will be so considerable as to intimidate them from going further than they have done. Like others, they too will cast round to find some combination to take the property off their hands at a profit, indifferent as to whether the combination is of local or foreign origin. It may yet even go as the Brunner mine has gone, and the Wallsend, and the Coal Pit Heath. There is nothing to prevent such an arrangement ; it is even possible, though it may look like an exageration, that the same directory might, like Aaron's rod with the serpents, swallow up the Paparoa properties also. The only thing then left for the citizans to do in that case would be to hand over the control of Greyraouth and everyone in it to the same body, and' then offer up a i prayer of thanksgiving for the blessed disi pensation of having such a company in the colony. lalt not a little ridiculous that the people of New Zealand, while boasting of the -natural resources- of the country, should allow the control of all. those resources to pass Into the hands of mere speculators, which is only one phase of monopoly? For the last 16 or 18 years all the coal lands between here and the Nine Mile have been nearly always looked up in the hands of impecunious persons who had no intention to work the properties, and company after company had to abandon their leases after paying rent for years poorer and wiser. For a. short time we did believe in the lona fides of the present leaseholders of these coal properties, but soon discovere^, that there was really no. difference between them and their predecessors. Each wanted to command the opportunity and wait for events. The one set exhausted their patience, and touched their pockets ; and aodordlng to all appearances the present leaseholders will have a like experience, la the meantime the great natural facilities for creating industry and wealth are looked up— -as much shut out from the enterprise of the world as if they were Ujtiated at the North Pole. Is the position going to remain ever thus ? Are %his people of. New Zealand to always sit dpvvn. contentedly while a few keen busineas^mati are allowed to play,shpttlecock with the greatest source of wealth the colony possesses ? Surely everybody must by thlk itime be sick of those so-called efforts "to develop our natural resources. The eyes of the land of the colony have long ago passed into the possession of wealthy individuals, loan agencies, banks, and other nnanclal.concerns. Are our cokl seams and other mineral resources to follow suit ? It looks perilously like it. There is certainly this to be said : the people have the power to remedy all these gross perversions in our social economy ; and unless they choose to take effectual steps to correct the mistakes of the past there can be no hope that the interests of the mass will supplant the interests of the few. In the meantime, as we have a "liberal" Government \n power, the present unsatisfactory state of the way in which the coal lands of the West Coast are locked np in a dog in the manger fashion should be brought conspicuously under their notice. It is time that a remedy was devised by which the natural opportunities o f the colony were rendered available to honest enterprise, as contrasted with that of the very knowing gentlemen who impound the source of millions of natural wealth, who lock up the springs of national industry and prosperity, bo long as there is a hope that they may individually make a hundred or two pounds. Because that is what it amounts to. We look to the Government to take some steps to checkmate this class of ingenious exploiters and so arrange matters that bona fide Investors may have an opportunity to expend their capital in this colony in a legitimate way without having to payjtoll to those who lie on the hay in the manger. Let the members of the present Ministry look into this ; and if they devise a way to put a stop to this practice of locking up the natural resources of the country they will survive, a3 they will deserve to survive.

Trahey and Troy are the names of the Blackball miners who so quietly left their creditors in the lurch, and a warrant has been issued for their apprehension, so as to bring them back. The information has been laid by one of their mates. In a- few days more it is confidently anticipated that the tunnel on the Blackball coal property will strike the coal. Leakage from the surface Is now coming into the drive, which shows that the drive is not far from the Beam of coal. -A most dastardly attempt was made last night to wreck the 8 30 down train by laying a sleeper across the rails. There were 17 trucks of coal basides passenger crrriages on at the time. The sleeper was dragged some distance by the cow-catcher, and became jammed bo tight that it took

at least ten minutes to get it loose. There i Is no clue orTsuspicion as to the culprit or l culpritß, but the matter will be placed in the hands of the police to investigate. 1 Our Brunner correspondent writes un- ' der yesterday's date :— " The poll taken > to-day to enable the borough council to i borrow LISOO from the Sinking Fund 1 Commissioners was carried by the narrow | majority of four votes and 2 voters." 1 The Wellington correspondent of The ' Australasian, in writing to that journal, says that a friend who recently contested 1 a city constituency in the colony had to pay over L2OOO for the luxury of the contest and the pleasure of making a dozen speeches to hooting and howling mobs. About LSOO is the average cost of standing for a tovra electorate to a moderately truthful man. The amount of truth you are prepared to tell is an item in the consideration of coat. On the labor ticket 1 under- - stand that the thing can be done under three figures, and if you garnish your speeches with the enthusiasm of humanity it will save a good deal of money in drinks. A country constituency can be contested forfromLlootoLlso. .^, ■ The Highland Land Court issued decisions on the 29 th August affecting several estates in the west of Ross-shire. On the Dundonald estate the crofters have got an average reduction of 25 per cent on their rents, and have had 68 per cent of their arrears cancelled. On Sir Arthuf Mackenzie's estate of Coul the rents have been reduced 40 per cent and 80 Der cent of the arrears cancelled. In Ullapool, which is the property of Lady Mathieson, of Lews, the crofters have had their rents reduced 15 per cent and 50 per cent of their arrears cancelled. E. P. ware, cutlery, &c, for presenat, Forsyth and Masters have the best assortment. — Advt. Brisbane appears to be in a rather. bad way. The unemployed cry in the middle of summer is something of a phenomenon in Australia but Brisbane afforis a example of it at present. The Government are being waited upon by deputations seeking work, and it is stated that there are about 800 men unemployed in the city, the building trade being particularly slack. [Bat the same may bo said of almost every centre of population in any or all of the colonies.] It is to be hoped that the War Office authorities will cease prating about the ;admirable physique of the Army when they are reduced to such direful straits, through the slackness of recruiting, as to be compelled to advertise for "growing lads" for the Royal Artillery, who may now be taken at sft 3in !— Truth. An English practitioner, Dr J. B. Curgenven, recently. discovered * method of treating scarlet-fever by means of eucalyptus oil, which obtained results as promising in their' way as Dr Koch's vaunted remedy for tubercular disease. Although no secret, however, has been made of the preparation, some twelve months have gone by without the English medical profession making any general use of the remedy. Fireworks for ihe new year should be ordered early to secure. Forsyth and Masters, importers —Advt. The exports from New Zealand for the year 1890 are more than a quarter of a million ahead of those of 1889, which were a million and a quarter ahead of those of ,1888, which were three-quarters of a million ahead of these of 1887, which were a quarter of a million ahead of those of 1886. How is that for progress ? says a New Zealand correspondent of an Australian paper. [And yet the country has too few people while all the townß are too full. Whoever is benefited by the marvellous exports, it does not seem to be the poorer classes of the community.] English Masons are much scandalised at the introduction of the sable pugilist Jackson into the General Gordon Lodge at Sydney. From all accounts this is the first time in the history of the craft such a ' monstrous liberty has been taken. One of the .American papers announces that the collection of laces owned by the ladiea of the Vanderbllt family is valued at upwards of half a million dollars. A "Society lady" in New York recently paid twenty-five thousand dollars for a lace dress. The Sydney Telegraph of a late date gives its readers the following news : — The Australian opossum has become the subject of official correspondence between the Australian Government and New Zealand authorities. One of the acclimatisation societies of New Zealand a few years ago introduced the Australian opossum in New Zealand. So rapidly have the opossums increased that they are now a dangerous pest in the native forests, and even orchards. In the provincial district of Canterbury, which, compared with the other parts of New Zealand, is somewhat dovoid of natural forest lands, the opossums have become so numerous that their consumption of the foliage threaten to end in the utter destruction of the trees. The Government of Near Zealand are now addressing the Government of Australia with the object of obtaining information which will enable them to combat with the new peat." At Coventry lately a tramp who was brought before the bench charged with begging said men of his cla3s hoped that General Booth's scheme would do something for them, and he was therefore making his way to London. The police superintendent informed the bench that the Warwickshire roads Bwarmed with vagrants, all going to London with the same idea of getting something from General Booth. Albert G. Craig of Vevay, Ind., says a certain set of furniture, consisting of a bedstead, a dresser, and a washstand, made at Vevay, costs 90dol. The factory there has a large trade with Mexico. The Mexican tariff on furniture is 25 cents a pound. The Bet of furniture mentioned weighs 500 pounds, consequently the tariff is 125dols— 35dols- more than the furniture costs here. Now, what Mr Craig wants to know is, who pays the 135d015. tariff. It woold Beem from the latest information that shortness of food had much to do with the recent agitation amongst the American Indians. Father Jule, a missionary, has returned from a perilous journey to the! camp of the hostile Indians. The chiefs declared that they would have one big meal before they starved ; then they would fight, and the whi'es would see more blood shed and more people killed than ever before. Upon the receipt of this intelligence the authorities at Washington took steps to have food supplied.

There are two things needing these days (says Edward Atkinson)— first, for rich men to find out how poor men live, and second, for poor men to know how rich men work. Travelling trunks. Fobsythand Mas j tees are the cheapest. — Advt. From an American paper we learn that Mr Edison, when asked whether he thought the present style of telegraphy wbuld soon be done sway with, replied, " Yes";' but not until the oldtimers have disappeared. . The operators now Hve a deep-seated prejudice against any inventions that will simplify telegraphy. But some of the inventions have already been made, and It is only a question of. time when a man can rush into a telegraph office, scratch off a note to his wife 1b Chicago, and the exact duplicate will be delivered over the wire to his wife. This will not be all by any means, but maps, pictures, (newspaper piotures) will be transmitted promptly by wire. These new inventions will be for the coming generation to see in practical übb." The Ving Tinne Siecle, a review published in Paris and devoted to Christian social economy, contains, a letter from Cardinal Manning, in which His Eminence says : —"Hitherto we have been strangled byexaggreated individualism. This century will show human society something greater and nobler than anything purely individual. Politicians and economists of the modern school have had their day. The twentieth century will be altogether for the people and for laws that will ensure common prosperity under a Christian regime." Very fine pale dry Port Wine for Invalids, guaranteed 40 years 'old. — Griffen and Smith, Beehive Stores, Boundary street. — Advt. On Saturday next and following two weeks, Christopher Smith will offer the whole of his . well-selected stock of drapery and clothing at pricas that will astonish the public. Those who doubt his word Bhould call and see the goods ticketed up afc the door. All goods marked in plain figures. — Advt. Miners will find Forsyth and Masters the cheapest for all their requirements. — Advt. Mr ' Greenwood, Dentist, will re-visit Greymouth m March.— Advt. Prime. English York hatns, from London by last direct steamer. Griffen and Smith, Beehive, Stores.' — Advt.