THE The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, FEB. 26, 1877.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 82, 26 February 1877, Page 2

THE The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, FEB. 26, 1877.

I_ is greatly to be regretted fbft tbe bonne offered by the County Conn^il foi* a water supply scheme bae not, so far, resulted in any practical good. In response to the offer of tbe Conncil but one plan was submitted, and that was to be incomplete, and, there- % fort, ordered to bei returned. W bei h w the proposal will be amended sod •gain submitted, there is no present means of ascertaining, biit from w_rS we can gather tbe ittbeme, even if amended, ia not likely to be approved of or adopted by tbe Conncil, bei«i» regarded ss too elaborate for tbe present requirements of tbe iowo But though the object of tbe Conncil has failed in tbis instance, it is to be hoped tbat the subject will not be permitted to slip into the limbus of forgotten things. Tbe question is one wbich is no* to be shirked, for it ! g 0 f too serious importance to the health of the community, and, therefore, in dealing with it tbe Conncil should make a fixed and determined stand. We have been told, as possibly we shall be again when the subject is revived in the Conocil, that the undertaking is an essentially local one, aad ought therefore to be provided for or subsidised by a specipl fo -m of taxation. It j ia to be hoped, however, tbat such an argument will not be allowed to influence tbe Council for an instant. We have had already by far too much tp-:a-tion in Keefton, and for wh'ch we bave not received anything like a com menlorate eet off in tbe way of public works, The drain npon the householders of tbe towu daring the put three years bag been very heavy indeed— much heavier in faot than it bad any right to be, and wbat have we to show for it— -^a few: halfformed streets, tbe entire expenditure «poB wbich would scarcely represent tie proceeds of one year's taxation of the property, and where has tbe retenue of the Koad Board gone ? It lias gone chiefly in forming roads and tracks in outlying localities, wbere the revenue collected is a mere nominal turn, and tbis expenditure has been goinß on year after year, to the ne/?-

lect of the town, and now we are confronted with the argument that it would be something amounting to a misuse of the County revenue to ex* I pend a few hundred pounds in pro* [ Tiding this community with what is unquestionably its moat urgent public need. We are not now in a position to say wbat proportion of the entire taxation of the County falls upon the property holders of Reefton proper, but it must be apparent that we here contribute the bulk of tbe total amount, and consequently in a matter of such vital importance we should have no aualms about standing out firmly in the demand. If olaims such as this are to be quietly pushed on one Hide by the representatives of the out districts, we shall ■ -probably in time be driven to consider the advisability of cutting connection altogether with the County Council, and in its place substituting municipal form of govern* ment, Thia would of course give us the absolute command of all monies raised within the town, in which case the out districts would fare rather b?dly. Without at present hinting at tbe deslrabilty of such a course, we desire to point out that in this matter of water supply the Council should take a firm stand, for when, as in this instance, the public health is at stake, there is no room for anything like lukewarmness. In the amount we have already contributed for expenditure upon works in other localities, we bave airly earned the outlay now asked for, and with that and nothing less will tbe community be content.

The Hopeful Company, Boatman*!, will •tart oruabing on or about the lat March. Itis intended, we are informed, to crush 1000 tons before stopping, the quantity of the etone already out* ahd that exposed in the mine, leafing not the least doubt as to that quantity being available. The Fiery Cross Oompany are undei stood to have cleaned up on Saturday evening last, but up to the time of our going to press the gold had not been brought into town, and will therefore reach here in the course of to-day. The retnrn is very satisfaotory } though we have not learnt the precise yield. It is believed, however, that the proceeds will enable the company to decUre a dividend of 4s per shaf c. It is further reported that on Friday last another extensive block of stone was struck in the mine. The quantity of stone crushed up to Saturday was between 350 and 400 tons. If not an angry, at least a rather animate d discussion was provoked at the Koad Board meeting on Friday last, on the subj et of tbe short track to Boatman's. A report of the proceedings will be found in another column, from wbioh it will be seem that ihe work is to be undertaken. The arguments both for nnd ! against were not without cogency. In the one case it was urged that the Board being on the eve of dissolution it wonld be better to let the Cjpunty Counoil decide upon the subject, as that body would eventually have to provide the money to pay for the work, and that It was against public interest that a small body like the Board should go on heaping np liabilities upon the County Connoil without giving to the latter bor'y any voice in the matter. It was urged on tha other hand that the Boad Board might last for another three months, and by that time winter would be upon us, and the work would cost nearly twice the amount to. execute. The road was an absolute necessity, and wonld hare to be done sooner or later, and the Board might just as well take advantage of the season and thereby do a service to boih the inhabitants of Boatman's and the County Council. The proprist-irs of the Town and Country Journal, Sydney, have bit upon a novel expedient for assisting impecunious new^-ap^r proprietors. They publish a douhlerpt^e sheet, containing literary extracts. These sheets are famished at so muoh per hunrhvd copies to other papers, the title of the pti vr requiring them being printed thereon, ns also the ward M sn?plement," the title being of course altered for each purchase*. The expedient would be a yery good one, ao doubt, bnt for one important drawback. Owing to the faot of the "liters-? " (-election bong made and printed in Syc'ney a leog vpe previous to the "supplement's" rei-cbiig New Zealand, most of the matter by th* lima it reaches local readers is as " old as the hills," consequently of about as much utfUiy io the pnblio as would be a sheet taken from a beck number of the Australasian, 0" any other old weekly publication. Jounja'i'-tio enterprise is one thin--*, but the attempted revivication of stale literature in the form referred to is hardly to be classed in tbis cato_on\ We observe that several.West Cq/si par*°i* . M*'now issuing these "supplements/ ' The few hours warm rain which fell during j Friday pigbfc last caused an extensive fresh in the Inangahua river on Saturday rrom ; r,g, tbe river being almost as high as on any occasion for the past six montb". No d« tangs was however done to the protective wor.s, but a large tree, evidently up-oofed by a land slip higher up the stream, was brought down by the flood and lodged in mitt stream near Ross Town, causing a considerable scour by tbe current, and taming the river on to the southern bank. As the flood q _ c ldy subsi-.l»d no damage was done, but it is possible tbat should the tree not he removed succeeding floods will work considerable mischief. T_e mails were unable to leave. M» Joha Willifms, of lern Flat, in attempting to cross the Xeft-hand Branch, on Saturday evening last, was washed off the fo:d, and swept a considerable distance down tVe stream. Being well mounted, however, be managed, after a hard struggle, to effect a landing, owing his life in great parfc to the borse be was riding, which beiug an excellent swimmer brought Mr Williams out safely. Other horsemen there at the time seeing Mr Williams's narrow escape, very prudently tinned back, declining to take the stream.

Mr and Mrs Ootterell are giving an enter, tainment, disassociated from any adventitous aid, at Greymouth to delighted audiences. The writer of " Here, There, and Everywhere," in the Grey Argus says everyone on the Coast will remember James Montgomery—everything by turns, and nothing long; one week comparatively wealthy, and next as poor as a church mouse ; now boating up the river, then building tramways — here, there, and everywhere, until some months ago he dropped out of sight altogether. But he bas turned up literally, and right side uptoojjnot here, but at the other end of the world. He left New Zealsnd for America, where he had friends, and when at New York it appears he in some way set his faculties at work to effect som'' improvement in the method of transporting caicass meat from New York to England, and so far succeeded that he was appointed by the company to whom he communicated his invention to a very lucrative position as one of their chief agents in Great Britain. He was seen not long ago in London, looking a well-dressed, middle-aged swell. So turns the wheel — " Rouge et Noir, Messieurs ?" Immediately after the close of the last sitting of the County Oonnoil, the clerk, in aecerdanee with instructions, telegraphed to Mr Butler, oivil engineer, Wellington, to the effeot that he had been appointed County Overseer, and that no private practice would be allowed, and that he would be expected to be in Reefton within fourteen days. Up to the present time no reply has been received, and it is the general belief that the appoint ♦ ment will uot be acceptedWe are informed that the Wealth of Nations Company are now deriving an income of £t>o per week from the savings of the four berdans reoently added to the company's plant. As soon as the present stock of blanketings is put through, it is intended to extend the blanket tables, and to provide additional berdans so as to finally exhaust the tailings as they pass from the ba'.ceriesi It is likely also that the whole of the company's past tailings will be treated in a similar manner, rsliable tests having shown that the tailings contain more than suffioiont gold to coyer the oost of reduotion. We are informed that Mr M'lnerny has disoovered a new and extensive coal seam a short distanoe from his house, in the direel ion , of Soldier's. The deposit has been traced for several hundred feet, with a thickness news varying f-om five to eight fep*. The , quality of the coal is said to be first classShould this turn out to be the case, the dis** covery is one of great importance as tbe coal oan be delivered in Reefton at a mere nominal oost. The provinces being abolished (writes " The Loafer in the Street "), things are I suppose, different. The old order chnngrth, giving place to the new, I haven't seen rruch change myself yet, bnt as most of the honorable members in their po't-sessio^al ui'evancea have made morituri de sa nrant talks. It suppose we are dead or changing in some form or other. The whole thing was explained to me once or twice, but I haven' fmastered abolition yet. Grrsbor uf has though, partially. Abolition was thrust on him. He was riding in a railroad kep •a <d the guard requested hit ticket. He produced his pass, whioh was a Provincial Council perquisite. The guard observe :l th-t xhi n\ss was like the property of a gentleman r*mvn ing to India, there was no further i.ccasion •<> it. *'Well," said Gr-wboeuf, ' I trough I'd stick to the provinces as long ; 5 they stuck to me, but you'd best pi s? roe because I mean to be a member for aru ing." "And a very good member you'd be, sir," paid ,h» guard, "aa long as the riding is free." And the other passengers saw the joke, and laughed, but I don't expect you to. We clip the following from the Manchester Weekly Courier :— An amusing example of popular ignorance in reference' to the Mahometan religion occurred at the' Liverpool Police Court recently. A Pwsse was being sworn on the Koran, and ihe e- ier of the court* in concluding ihe :<dmmhtratiofi of the oath said in the ; mpsfc .solemn manner, "So help yoar Koran." A good d n al of merriment was created, much to the as'onMi" ment of the cier, who afterward*-, explained that h? thought Koran wm the Mahometavi name for God. In connection with (says the Ota*o Daily Times) Sir James Fergussou'i recent unsuccessful candidature for Frome, you wiU be amused to hear thifc his supporters were ?o cur* of victory that they had p-intad mock i »- vitations to the funeral of the hop*s 0^ tho Liberal candidate, Mr Samueiso'i. These invitations had a deep black border, rntl were surmounted wi h a coffin, in the style which Fenian threatening letters have made fuma* liar. The Conservative party arc exceedingly chagrined at their defeat, and, pftw much r'eliberat'ioa on tho matter, have resolved to dispute Mr Samuelson's return on the ground of b ibery and corruption. It is stated, bowever, that any such notion, if undertaken, wil be withoat Sir lames Fergusson's approval.

Bo on the Alert if you hare "rmp'wns annuncing the approach of kidney .or l-'addT disorder*. Pains across the' Kidneys, tui-v-id nine, difficulty in past ing wotcr burning hi the urethra, proolain that something is wrong; and -bat ' Bomethiag " if diu-ega-ded .. may de-tdop into a most sji-ipivi evil. Bo ay not a moment if there is the slightest uriatvy d_tcu!t to apply the remc-Jy "specially recommended by the faculty lor such disorders, Udolpho WoiFa's Fchirdam AEOMATIC S.CHKAPI-S.