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Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 24, 4 June 1877, Page 2

The Licensing Bench will sit at Reefton at noon to-morrow, wben the whole of the applications tent in for renewals and fresh licenses trill be heard. The returns of the Wealth of Nations Company for the month ended on Saturday last, jwero 469 ozs 3 dwt melted gold. Tbis returb, more properly speaking, only vepre-sents-about three weeks erushijg, as the batteries were idle nearly tbe whole of last week, owing to the landslip already referred to. Mr Warden Shaw, accompanied by tbe legal manager and directors of tke Vulcan Company, visited tbe scene of the recent landslip at Crusbington on Saturday last. We are kfonned that eyery effort is being made to bring about a ready and amicable settlement of the dispute wbieh has arisen between tbe Wealth of Nations and Vulcan Componies in respect to the londslip, bat we are not in a position yet to ialbrm oar readers beyond tbis. The Reefton public bodies cannot be said to be in a bad way financially. The County Council ie reported to possess a credit balance of some £350, and tbe Road Board, about £250 j but the latter body bas over-run tbe constable to the tune of something approaching £2000, and contemplates " touohing"its august contemporary— the Council-^-for yet another " centuary " or two before giviug up

i the ghost. By the time, therefore, of the dissolution of the Board (4th July next), the ' debtor and creditor relationship of the two bodies will represent something like £2609, If, however, the Board is playing the Prodigal i with the County revenue it is doing a vast amount of very urgent County work, and 60 long as this continues there can be no objection to tbe obligations which Peter incurs at the hands of Paul. We very much regret to hear that the first effort made to introduce imported game to the Inangahua has met with signal failure. Of the ten brace of Oalifornian quail shipped at Nelson for Mr Alexander Simpson of the National Bank, Reefton, bnt one bird has survived the journey. The season of the year was very unfavourable for the attempt, added to which, owing to the irregularity of steam communication with the West Coast, the birds were caged much longer than was anticipated. We are glad to learn, however, that efforts are not to rest here, as a number of private residents have agreed to subsoribe a fund for a further supply of the birds, wbich will reach here about Ijjie middle of spring next. Gentlemeft^fefhEpfis of assisting i the project, and possibly of extending the present proposal, will be readily welcomed. Communications on the subject, to Mr A. Simpson, or to Mr ?otts, office of this paper, will be duly acknowledged. 1 The work of repairing the Saddle road was commenced on Saturday last, but as the required tip drays did not arrive until yesterday, but little has yet been done. A camp has been formed at about a quarter of ami'e on the Square Town side of tbe Saddle, that portion of the road requiring the most urgent attention; Our reporter, yesterday, went over tre road as far as Devery's Terrace, and his report is tbat consider'ng the time of the year, and the quantity or exceptionally heavy traffic which the road has to sustain, it is in a very passable condition, and certainly not half so bad as it has been painted. Between Reefton and the Saddle tho ruts have been worn down considerably it is true, but in not more then about half a dozen places on the whole of that section is there any material impediment -to traffic, and even iv the places referred to the state of the road is almost wholly to be blamed upon the teamsters themselves for hugging the bank too closely, and thus destroying tbe water table. What is termed the "wet sidling" is in a rather bad condition. The metal appears to have al most whoJSy disappeared, and instead of the road being sloped in towards the bank, as a meanSaOf idrainage, it ia quite level, and there is consequently no escape for the waterFrom Square'jTown to Devery's Terrace, tbe ruts are worn down a nearly uniform depth throughout, of from two to three inches, but there ore no really difficult places along tbe line, and the road appears to want nothing more ihan the larger stones clearing off aid broken into the ruts. What the condition of the road from Devery's Terrace to the Grey Junction may be, we know not, but can quite believe a good deal of what bas been said of it, but as about four«fiftbs of the entire road is river bed, we cannot very well see how it can be worse at this than any otber season of I the year. Referring, however, to the condition of tbe road between Reefton and Devery's Terrace, there is no question whatever that to fi'l up tbe ruts with gravel would be like pouring water on a duck's back, for owing to the dcicription of gravel meed, no sooner is it placed in the ruts than it is forced out by the first heavy waggon passing over it. As the whole of the wheel traffic follows the same ruts, the wear and tear must necessarily be heavy, and the only eflfeettral way of meeting this is to pave the ruts throughout with broken metal, and this done we see no immediate necessity for proceeding with the wholesale work of re-metalling the whole of the road. The body of tbe rood is in remarkably good repair, and as the wear aud tear upon that portion is never likely to be heavy so long as the road remains the present width, the proposal to cover the road with nine inches of gravel appears to us something like pbysioing a healthy patient. The following particulars regarding the proposed transmission of war news to New Zealand papers during the small hours are given by the New Zealand Times : — " The stations comiog within the arrangement are Auckland, Napier Grahamstown Wellington Blenheim, Nelson, Greymouth, Ohristohurcb, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill, and at all tbese stations an operator will sleep, in order to be ready to take off the wires anything that may come through. The operator at Wakapuaka has beeu supplied With an alarm clock to awaken him at the necessary time ; nnd if he discovers that there is anything to be sent from Sydney, he will rouse tbe opentor at the Elenheim and Nelson stations, the farmer passing the alarm on one side along to Wellington, which will communicate with the northern station, and so oa till all are awoke, while onthe other hand, the Blenheim operator will pass the word on to southern stations. To this end electric bells have been laid on at the offices above»mcntioned." There isaa "eternal fire" on the shores of a peninsula in the Caspian Sea, Tbe flames rise to a height of 15 ta 18 feet, nnd are fed by a sovtofoil of naptha wbioh exudes from the soft, and all about the spot the surface can be set ablaze by applying a match. A number of Parsoe fire- worshippers lire near, and their mode of cooking is singular. The fire is lighted by simply applying a light to oil ou the surface, and is extinguished by throwing on a few shovelfuls of earth. A bright light is obtained by sinking a hollow reed into the ground, and lighting tbe topmost end. At a revival meeting held recently in one of the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, the room became so crowded with perspiring souls that the forms provided for their accommodation proved insufficient to seat the sinners, many of whom were " under conviction." As there were a good many chairs . stowed.; away in a .kind, o/ cockfbft over the room in which the prayers 3t\(J exortations were going on, one of the members went up to hand them down ;

the leader gave out the hymn, " Hold tho fort." The attic floor consisted of the plaster* iog which constituted the ceiling of tbe room below, of wbich circumstance tbe seeker waa not aware } so just as the choir, commenced the first stanza down oame the leg of the ° unfortunate chair hunter. The choir however did not notice the circumstance, and went on ( singing, " Oh ! my comrades, ccc the signal a waving in the air, reinforcements now are coming," &c. Just at that instant tbe other 1 leg appeared, and the singing was diownod by the roaring laughter of the congregation. < Mr Lawrence Oliphaut's article on the s Eastern question, iv the North American i Review, is a valuable contribution to the < literature of tbat subject. Pew men are g better qualified to speak with some degree* of ( authority ou Russian and Turk than Mr , Oliphant. He knows Eastern Europe well. He has been behind the scenes of diplomacy ; , and his friendship with Omar Pasha, whom . he accompanied in his Caucasia campaign, gave bim access to sources of infovmalion such as are not ordinarily accessible. Be holds that if Lovd Derby had been allowed to carry out the policy of the British Government " untrammelled by popular demonstra* tions, and the pressure of a publio opinion governed by passiou instead of reason, tbe Christians in Turkey would have been spared the horrors of the war wbich now threatens them with ruin and their country with desolation, and a decided amelioration would have been assured to them." He does not attempt to deny or palliate the misgoveroment of the Porte, but he shows that the efforts of Russian diplomacy, both in Turkey and out ol it, have been systematically and malignantly directed to render all government there impossible ; and that a political and religious propogand* has been maintained for the express purpose of encouraging Christian insurrections and bringing 'about a dismemberment of the empire. But be expresses himself very confidently on.lhis point—" That before many months Bre over there will not be a Christian peasant in all Turkey who will ' not share in the hatred which Servia now 1 feels for Russia, and he will extend it to all ' bis co-religionists in Europe to whose 1 Christian peasant and most injudicious ' intervention ou bis behalf all the woes and ' miseries in store for bim aro mainly due." Mr ' Oliphant at the same timo warns the mother ' country of the terrible consequences which ' may arise from tbe out break of a religious war ' which would draw into ifc the Mohammedan populations of India, Asia Miuor, and Africa. » , " Tbe more formidable the Cbiisfc.au coalitio.i ' In Europe becomes," he observes, " the more ' readily will 180,000,000 of Moslems combine ' to meet it." — Melbourne Argus. i 1 The Princess's Theatre has beet* temporrorily closed by ovdcv of Mr Givdlestone and * [Mr Martin Evans, the city health officers, on * account of tbe insufficiency of exit in the event of fire. The theatre, when originally constructed, was deficient ia tbis respeot, and 7 tbe proprietors were compelled to construct 8 an external staircase, that should be available ' should a fire break out. Tbe staircase still 1 exislß, but it has been rendered useless by the fc erection, of a boarding between ifc and the * street, and tbe gentlemen referred to hare 1 very properly publicly prohibited the use 9 of tho theatre for publice purposes uutil tbis * obstruction has. been removed.. At present, 9 it is doubtful whether this alteration will be } deemed sufficient, as tbe building itself 9 manifests such indications of insecurity that ' the city surveyor has been instructed to ' examine it and report upon its safety. Xt ii ' anticipated that the present sU'uctuve will * have to be ronclcmned as unsafe. — Melbourne f Argus. b ! „