THE The Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1892.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 7313, 7 March 1892, Page 2

THE The Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1892.

THE question of the pollution of Nelson Creek by the miners is not likely to come on after all. It appears that Mr Drennan, after having weighed the matter more oarefally than he did at first, or perhaps being advised differently, has determined to abandon the action which he had instituted against Larkin and others for pollutting the water of Ne'son Creek by their gold washings. This will be agree able newß to every one In Nelson Creek, and indeed to the whole district. The question of riparian rights over streams on the goldfields, although fortunately comparltvely rare, are very disturbing when they do arise. It is sinoereiy to be hoped that Government will be warned by the past and take steps to prevent such disagreeable recurrences. In the few caßes that have occ rred in this Island Government has been primarily responßible. Land has been sold over and over again In known auriferous districts. That was notoriously the case at Mawheranui, when a block of land was Bold to a squatter in the middle of an auriferous district In which hundreds of men were employed, and subsequently the same squatter moved the courts to vindicate his riparian rights at the expense of the whole mining community, and in order that his few head of stock might drink of unpolluted water. Iv Drenuan's case the cfrcumstancea were not very dissimilar until we come to the sequel. The miners had been Bending their tailings and sludge down Nelson Creek for years before Mr Drennan lodged an application for the land, and for about 20 years afterwards he occupied the land and put up with the nuisance of polluted water without raising any objection until the other day. He wan probably well advised when he decided to withdraw the action, as the circumBtinces in existence when he acquired the land, and his occupancy of it ever since without queationiug the right of the miners to me the creek asaslucge channel, »3 they have been doing for the last 24 years, would have told heavily in court. So that after all he was standing on very uncertain ground, the only thing certain about the affair being an inevitable bill of coat?, and on the magnificent BCile incidental to Supreme Oouit caßes. It is abundantly cle \r to every one that the land should not have been eo'd to any one ; and in the face of that sale it would be monstrous to say that the last remnants of the miners who had been working the creek and its tribotaries for over 25 years should have been dispossessed of their only means of Jiving and sent adrift in their old age as outcaßta on the world. For perhaps there ia no sight more melancholy than to Bee the old greybeards of 60 years and over as they c»me out of their tunnels and paddocks at the end of the day and wend their way to their cheerless huts with none to welcome them Eave, perhaps, a fait ful watchdog. If ihe land at the foot of Nelson Creek had not been sold it is bard to %ay but tons of gold might have been taken out of the ground by this time ; bub once the land was sold it raised an impaßsable barrier to any further mining operations in a westerly direction. As gold haa been found as far up Nelson Creek as any prospecting has been done, it is only a reasonable assumption to think it would follow the gully all the way down. If therefore any real difficulty should ever arise over the matter of riparian rights on Nelson Creek, the burden of responsibility could not fairly be shifted from the shoulders of the Government for opening the door to the involved question of liparian rights. The best thing they can do now is to proclaim Nelson Creek a Bludge channel without any < delay and prevent the possibility In the future of any actions such as Mr Drennan threatened against j Larkin and party. There is every reason to believe* that Government will do this. The sympathy of the Minister of Mines fa well known to be with the minera, a class to whom he owß9 every- j thlog, and they loot to him with the !

utmost confidence when they have a grievanoe to be redressed. Indeed as soon as the" announcement was made that Mr Drennan intended to institute proceeding*, a telegram was sent to the Minister of Mines, wh« replied with the utmost promptitude, and gave indications of sincere Bympathy with the Nehon Greek miners as mubhaß'the'bfevity of a telegram would allow, besides asking to be supp'ied with certain information necessary to a proper comprehension of the caae, and apparently with the objeot of farther and decided action in the matter. We belle ?e both partiea will agree to pay theic own costs aa far as they have gone. A public meeting will be held shortly at Nelson Creek for the purpose of passing resolutions to call upon the Government to formally gazette Nelson Creek a public sludge channel, bo aa to close the door to any farther riparian complications.

Mr Edward Hopkin?, grocer, Boundary street, had the misfortune to lose one of his sons yesterday, a boy seven years of age, who fell off the wharf and was drowned. The accident took plaoe about 5 30, and a party immediately set to work dragging, but up to the latent account without result. Mr J. McCarthy, of No Town, who was burnt out recently, and uninsured, does not intend to succumb to his misfortune — and it was a heavy one to him. He intends to rise or fall with No Town, having bought out Mr Clifford's public house, where he will corry on business iv future. As Mr M'Oarchy is deservedly popular, no doubt his many old friends will rally round him if it is only out of sympathy for the very bad stroke of hard luck he met with lately. It is to be hoped that Mr McCarthy's enterprise and faith in the district will be rewarded. A patty of townsmen interested in the Midland Goldmining Company at Nelson Creek visited the workß on Saturday .^ The work is progressing very satisfactorily, a substantial and good working water balance having been put up, and in a fe r weeks it is expected that a paddock will be bottomed. So far as can be ascertained there never ha 3 been more than one paddock bottomed on the fUt, bo that the enterprising shareholders are exploring virgin ground. The annual general meeting of the White Star Football Club was held on Saturday evening, Mr A. Adams in the chair. There was a large muster of members. The annual repui t and balance sheet were read and confirmed. The election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows :— President, W. H. Jones ; vice-presidents, Messrs Adams, Kerr, Dupre, Sheedy and Dr Millington ; captain, D. Sheedy ; sub-captain, J. Walton ; secretary, M. Shannahan ; treasurer, W. Thompson ; committee, Card, Fannin, Arnott, Thompson, Dupre, and Harrison ; selection committee, Sheedy, Adams and Card; delegates to Rugby Union, Arnott and Thompson. A committee of five was appointed to meet the Grey Club committee to discuss the amalgamation question. Votes of thanks to retiring officers and to the chair concluded the meeting. The celebrated Irish comedian and character actor, Mr Grattan Kiggs, will appear iv Greymouth for the first time at the Public Ball, on Monday week, March 14 Although Mr Rigga has played in New Zealand for two seasons, he has not hitherto been on the Weeit Coast, so that his visit should be doubly welcome, espeoially as his repertory Is new tons, and ' as he is supported by a capable company. Mr Riggs will act throughout the week in Gr ymooth. His opening piece will be "The Icish Detective," a play written for him, and in which he has earned much fame throughout America and Australia. Messrs Nancatrow and Co sold the racing privileges for the St Patrick's meeting at the Albion Hotel on Saturday aiternoon. The results were as follow - — No 1 booth, James Brimble, L 37 10a ; No 2 booth, J. Shanahan, L 34 ; No 3 booth, J. Shanahan, L 22 10a. Fruit stands— No 1, George Simpson, L 4 ; No 2, George Simpson, L 3 10?.. Cardß— R. Wilson, Ll2. Total, Lll3. Nancarrow aud Co will sell by auction this day, at the roomß, bacon. Mr J. Drandsfield recently furnished the Wellington Chamber of Commerce with the fallowing official data of the land still in Native hands:— Not passed the Court and not leased to Europeans, 2,777,209 acres ; not passed the Court and leased to Europeans, 1700 acres ; passed the court and leased to Europeans, 2,442,469 acres; passed the court and not leased to Europeans, 5.629,808 acres. Total lands owned by Natives, 10,851,276 acres. R isolations are published in the Gazette referring to men and boys entering the Royal ftavy. For ordinary and able seamen the age required is 18 and under 30 years. The candidates must be well grown aud healthy, and produce certificates of good conduct 1> the merchant service. For boya the ages of admission are between 15 and 16 years. B'ys between 15 and 15£ yean mu^t be sft o£in, with a che : t measurement of 30r?in ;or between 15£ and 16 years sft 1£ In height, with a chest measurement of 31in. The boys must be robust and hea'tby and williDg to be vaccinated, and not have more than seven defective or deficient teeth. Each boy cmdtdafce must produce his birth certificate or a declaration by his parents or guardians that he is of proper age and they consent to his engaging to serve 12 years from the age of 18. Thise candidates will be required to read and writs— to write a passage of not more than six lines read slowly and then dictated word for word, aad sign hts name legibly Boys who come up to the standard will be accepted and sent to England for training with the paid-off crews of H M ships, and after undergoing the neceßsary training they will be employed m far aa poßsible on the Australian station if they ao desire. Boys will not he received from prisons or reformatories. j An old contributor of The Australasian tells the following story :— " Not long ago a young hop-o'-me-thumb, fresh from college and the Melbourne Athletic Club, took the management of a station in New South Wales. One morning he found a Unionist shearer cutting down fences, and threatened to punch his head if he didn't quit. The shearer told "him to get off his horse, and he too would take a Bhare in fie * punching,! but the juvenile manager thought bettar of it, and said, 'Now, look

here, I can box like the devil, but I never tried any fighting,- and I'm not going to begin now- — Good morning.' My correspondent adds that it was really the shearer who shirked the fighting, but that he dare not tell the story in that way less some bell-bottomed rouseabout from the New South Wales Parliament should come down and start a republic at Wantabadgery." Unearned increment with a vengeance ! The other day the South-eaßtern Railway Company, London, were asked no less a Bum than L 1,250,000 for a small and practically useless piece of ground in Bermondsey. The land is about 16 f net in depth, and comprises an area of 4,134 superficial feet, so that the claim is at the rate of L 13,000,000 an acre. A New York paper recently gave a piize of 100 dollars for the best receipt for keeping a husband at home. It is aa follows: — "Keep him at home by enoouraging him to go out occasionally. Employ no art or coquetry. Become his choicest comrade. Keep the details and the worry of the household from him ; to has his full share of worry outside. If, after all this, he goes elsewhere, he is not worth keeping at home." A London dealer recently received in one consignment 32,000 dead hnmmiog birds, 80,000 aquatic birds, and 800,000 pairs of birds' wings. While a professional fowler complains that while in the previous yeas he w»s commissioned to get 8000 gulls, last year he had not Bhot one, the ladies' aaaociation having stopped the demand. Such is the force of public opinion voiced through the Preßs. Mr Archibald Forbes in a gossipy article in the Nineteenth Century, gives an interesting account of his reminiscences as a war correspondent. He thinks that Julias C%3ar would have been an exceptionally brilliant war correspondent, but that Napoleon would have achieved first rank in that capacity if only he could have been a little truthful occasionally. The career is not without danger. The percentage of casualties among war correspondents is greater than among the actual fighting men. In the Servian war of 1896 three correspondents were killed and f.four woundei out ©f twelve who went under fire. Six died out of thirty that accompanied the Nile Expedition. The New Zealand Herald has the following :— A gentleman who is attending the Presbyterian General Assembly meeting now in progress, complaiQß that the speaking year af 'er year 1b monopolised by the same people, to the exclusion of younger men, and that in fact the opinions of the majority are not heard at at all. He says that the monopoly of ( which he complains detraots from the interest of the proceedings, and causes a good deal of disappointment and dissatisfaction. Saßt St Louis, aa a municipality is poor. It has to rake and scrape to find money fos necessary public improvements. Yet a man sd d land within its limits for $12,870, for which he paid two years ago $3,200. There wae 300 per cent added to the value of that land iv two years by the growth of the community, and the community got none of it. — St Louis Chronicle. The Scotch Highland Court, founded soon after the croftera' agitation of the agrarian queation about 10 years ago, and whose business it ia to fix rents, has made a sweeping reduction of rents, on nearly every eßtate in the Highland region. Thlß ia received with poor grace by the landowners, who object to suoh a tribunal and to its intervention in their private affiira, as they have a perfect right to do If land is justly private property. The best remedy for neuralgia, says a correspondent in an exchange, is a piece of sea salt Ihe size of a pea, to be Blowly dissolved in the mouth and then swall >wed It is better, while dissolving the salt, to keep the saliva in the mouth for a minute or two before swallowing it. Rock salt may do as well, but he had only tried the sea salt which may be got at the chemists. The Bea ealt, so marked, killed eight of tan attacks of neuralgia, the pain being relieved in two or three minute". He says he formerly used lotions and medicines for easing the agony, but since he has adopted the Bait he scarcely has any pain. It also cures the toothache in some oases, and the cost of it is within the use of amlost all. [Another cure Is lemon or lime juice.] There are now more than 100 women employed in the telephone exchange in Berlin, and it has been decided to employ in the future women only, for the reason that their voices are so much more audible than men's. There has been 27 cases of insanity in the Bavarian Royal Family during the i last 100 years. By means of electric light, a lot of tropical plants imported last winter for the Kew Gardens, London, were kept in health below deck during the voyage — when without this light they would be perished ; since on deck in the sunlight the cold would have been fatal. There has been a more hopeful feeling in Nicaragua about the construction of the canal, as the Unibed States has nowseen its importance in case of a war with Chili, in moving ships of war quickly. Hermann, the annes p«rf umer, uses 20 tons of violets every year. A despatch tells of a horrible duel fought in Corboda, Mexico Two prominent young men, in love with the same gH, quarrelled in front of a cathedral. The fight began ; both drew knives, and in a few minutes one was lying dead on the sidew Ik, completely disemboweled, while his antagonist was so terribly hacked that he died in a few hours. Mr Webley, Pianoforte and Organ Tuner, will return to Wrey mouth at the end of March. - Orders, tcay- be 'left- at M? W. H. Perkins', Messrs North and Wylde'a, or at Gilmer's Hotel, and will be then attended to. — Advt. We wish to remind our readers that Christopher Smith, the cash draper and clothier, is one of the largest importers of drapery and clothing in New Zealand, and is therefore able to sell a single article at the wholesale price, and our country friends will do well to pay him a visit when In town. — Advt. Mr Greenwood, Dentist, has arrived on a short professional visit, and may be consulted at his rooms, oppotilte the JMidknd Railway Chambers. Those requuing his services are requested to call early.— Advt. Sporting guns an ammunition, all aportJoen a requisites— largest at; lowest prices, -Forstch and Masters.— Advt i