Untitled

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1277, 28 May 1883, Page 2

Mails for the Australian Colonies and United Kingdom via Sydney, will close at Auckland, immediately after the arrival of the Australia. Mails for the Australian Colonies only, via Sydney, per Te Aiiau, will close at Auckland, on Friday, June 29th, at 3 p.m. Mr. G. C. Bowman announces an important sale of household property at Boatman's on the sth June next. The rain still holds off provokingly, and although some smart showers have fallen the supply is not anything like sufficient for the general resumption of alluvial mining. His Honor Judge Board reached Reefton yesterday evening, and the sittings of the District Court will open this morning. There are one or two cases on the criminal side of the Court, and several applications in bankruptcy. The sitting, however, is not likely to be a very lengthy one. It is claimed for the Reefton coal that it is the best in the Colony for household purposes, and, acting upon the suggestion of a recent visitor, it ha 3 been decided to send a ton of it to Wellington to be burnt in the grates at Belamy's during the coming session. The idea is an excellent one, and as an advertisement will be worth its weight in coal. The tea meeting and social gathering held on Thursday evening last, under tho auspices of the congregation of the United Methodist Free Church, Reefton, was very largely attended, and proved a most successful affair. The tables were bountifully provided by tho ladies of the congregation, and the appetites of the army of juveniles being fully up to concept pitch, emphatic justice was done to the good things available. After tea addresses were delivered by the Rev. Mr. Sedgwick and the Rev. Mr. Penny, the interval being filled up with sacred and secular songs, recitations, &c. Altogether a very enjoyable evening was spent by the parents and children. Acting, it is to be presumed, upon legal advice, the Chinese residents have refused to pay the £20 reward demanded by the finder of the stolen coffin, and the case will therefore probably come before the local Court. Since " the day of resurrection " the Chinese have been in great tribulation over the lost remains of their countryman, and their troubles will now be prolonged till " the day of judgment." In the meantime, however, the recovered body has been forwarded on to Dunedin, and will reach there in time for shipment with the others to China. It seems that 213 bodies in all will be taken to the Flowery Land from New Zealand <>n the trip in question, that being the tutal number of Canton Chinese who have died in tho CVuny. The Cantonese are

the only division of tho great Asiatic family who gather their dead to their own soil, the Hong Kong and other Chinese being a little more cosmopolitan in this r espect, and are content to allow the bones of their departed countrymen to find a resting place in any land. The fund for the recovery and conveyance of the dead to Canton is raised by public subscription, and the work is performed by contract The price for landing the bodies in Dunedin is £14 per head, and. the entire outlay upon the undertaking, will reach £6,000. A correspondent writes to us on the subject of the tire brigade. He states that there is no brigade now in existence, and the period for which the officers were appointed having expired, the organisation is practically at an end He further states, that tho amount being subscribed towards the Night-watchman is insufficient to pay his weekly salary, and that a debt is thus accumulating, which will in time "eatup" thefireengineandapparatus. The letter is too lengthy for insertion in our issue of to-day, but if the facts are as the writer suggests, it is high time that both the local insurance agents and the public bestirred themselves in the matter. We are now entering upon the most critical period of the year for fires, and have already had one premonition of the danger ahead, and this ought certainly to be sufficient to arouse the people to a sense of the great insecurity which surrounds them. We do not know who it was who informed the Nelson Mail that £8000 of Reefton money, and £2000 from Timaru had been lost in bets on the Inangahua election, but it is pretty safe to Bay of him, whoever he may be, that money is no object to him. There was a good deal of betting on the election it is true, sufficient at all events to point a moral for future legislation on tho subject, but to talk of thousands having been lost and won on the event is simply nonsense Taking the whole of the electorate, we do not think that the total sum staked on the result exceeded £250. The largest single bet made in Reefton was £20 to £16 that Mr Shaw would win with a majority of over 50. The bet was laid by one of the local supporters of the successful candidate, and was taken by a gentleman from Timaru, who happened to be in Reefton on the polling day, and the Timaru man consequeutly won the money. The same lucky gentleman, who wa3 Mr Mosß Jonas, made two other bets, amounting together to £17, both of which he won, and we think we are quite safe in saying that this was the only case in which Timaru money figured in the betting. The Reefton betting was mainly on the side of Mr Shaw's supportei'3, tho wagering being chiefly that Shaw's majority at Boatman's would beat Waketield's majority at Black's Point, but notwithstanding that some twenty or thirty Shaw voters were sent up to poll at the Poiut, the numbers at each place just tied, and consequently the bets were off. Had there been an additional vote recorded at either place, probably about £50 additional would have been lost and won. It is beyond doubt, however, that in other respects a large amount of money was let loose by the contest. For instance, one of the candidates travelled through the Grey Valley with a bottle of Henessy's brandy in each pocket of his great coat, and it 13 even said that the route of his canvass is paved with " dead marines." Public-house " Shouting " was another conspicuo 13 element in the contest, and on one side, at all events, must have run into a big sum, and when added to the cost of coach, horse, and cab hire, &c, &c, &c, would no ; doubt make up a very respectable total. Considered in regard to preventive legislation, the contest, however, is not without its lesson. Either it should be made lawful for candidates to have paid canvassers; posters, hired vehicles, and all other time-honored or dishonored electioneering accessories, or the law on the subject should be made sufficiently stringent to effectually prohibit them altogether. Existing legislation does neither of these things, and it has been j reserved for the Inangahua to prove it to demonstration. One thousand mulberry trees, for silkworm culture, are flourishing at the Thames. There is a groat dearth of water at Rimu. The paddocks are all full, and most of the miners are in the bush getting timber. There has been no washing up for the last fortnight, and consequently little gold has been offering at tho banks. The Gabriels Gully Tailings Company on tho 12th May, washed, from three dishes of stuff taken from the bottom of some new ground in their claim, over 1-| oz of gold. Tho sample was a splendid one, the gold being coarse and heavy, showing the highly auriferous nature of the bed of the gully when wrought for the first time. — "Taupeka Times." The Springfield Coal Company have determined to bore below the present strata worked in their mine, with a view of determining if coal of a better quality is procurable at a lower level. With this object in view, the Company's manager has recently left for Melbourne to purchase a diamond drill, which it is expected will be at work in the mine in a few weeks. There ia a good deal of talk about Rusden's notoriously untruthful " History of New Zealand, " in which Mr Bvyce is persistently and obviously vilified. So arc also Judge Prendergast, ami other prominent politicians who have been variously concerned in Native affairs; but Mr Bryce is openly accused of slaughtering Native women and children in one of tho former wars, and the charge is put in such a way as to be peculiarly offensive and damaging, not only to Mr Bryce's reputation, but

also to ihe'whole Government, and, indeed, to the Colony at large. The latest rumour is that Mr Bryce contemplates going to England to prosecute the author for criminal libel. Certainly the slanderer richly deserves condign punishment but still more so do his mendacious informants, however high their places. Much comment has been created by the curious resemblance of tone and style of portions of Rusden's work to certain gubernatorial dispatches. It has also been remarked that the earliest copy of the book which reached N.ew Zealand came to the Hon. Mr Mantell, who had his, I believe, a month before the work came out in the regular way. A meeting of the creditors of G. Moonlight, of Hampden, was notified to take place this afternoon, but since the proceedings were initiated it has been observed that Hampden is not within the Nelson district. It appears that Hampden is within the Westport District Court jurisdiction, and within the Westland Supreme Court District, although places considerably beyond Hampden are within the Nelson Supreme Court District. Proceedings are to be recommenced in the District Qourt at VYestport, and the result will be increased costs and greater inconvenience. — Colonist. Only aWrir'eight or nine members of tho Hunt Club followed the hounds during their run oh Saturday afternoon (says the Otago Times of last week), j although a fair number of people as- j sembled at Waikari to see the throw-off. The meet was held at Mr. Hungerford's place, and a very stiff line of country had been laid out. Tho small following, however, rode on the whole pretty straight, and one or two slight mishaps occurred, not attended, fortunately, with any serious results. There will most probably be a larger 'meeting at Mosgiel, where it has been arranged to hold the meet next Saturday. Permission haß been obtained from various landholders for the run to cross their property, and the direction taken will most likely be from the station towards the Chain Hills.