OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 13

OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Ross, February 7 A I'LUCKY NEGOTIATION.

The theme among seafaring men and in shipping circles is the plucky negotiation of the Grey bar last Saturday by the schooner Clyde under somewhat adventitious circumstances. The litble craft, which hailed "from Lyttelton in ballast, came straight on through the tremendous surf, rolling in under the influence of an almost phenomenal gale that had been increasing in fury since the previous night, and after battling in the broken water, being sometimes even lost to tho sight of the anxious crowds ashore, she hove up alongside the Grey pier amid the cheers of those assembled to witness her incoming. The captain and his brave wife were at the wheel during the time of the dangerous passage, and it was a case ef neck or nothing with the ship's company — comprising the captain and crew, the captain's wife, and three children — as the ballast had shifted ; and had the effort not been made and accomplished thatovening the chances are the little vessel would have gone to the bottom, as the storm reached its climax during the night — a night which will be a memorable one up and down the whole of the West Coast. YOUTHFUL BURGLARS. I regret to say that Hokitika town can boast of the unenviable notoriety of possessing an almost veritable " Bill Sykes." The town also possesses a certain vintner named Dedriech Blunck, whose wines are as red as his choice tomatoes, as potent as his jokes, and as exhilarating as is a stroll through his vineyard, which is at once his pride and pomp. Having frequently missed many articles necessary to the success of his vintage, Mr Blunck hied him to the police station, with the result that a local constable entered the wine shop last Monday evening, and there awaited the turn of events. Between 8 and 9 o'clock he became alert through hearing someone fumbling at the cellar door, and presently two lads entered, one of whom, by name William Eastgate, he pounced upon, and on whose young person of burglarious tendencies he found no less than nine different keys of various patterns and divers shapes. The other young rascal — Foster by name — eluded the clutch of the constable, but was taken shortly afterwards. Both lads were brought up at the R.M. Court next day, charged with the offence, but were remanded till Friday next. "iTs AN ILL WIND," &C. On Friday and Saturday the West Coast was visited by one of the severest storms — a perfect tempest— known for many years back, and much injury has resulted by hundreds of poor folks losing their entire garden crops for the season. The wind came off the sea, which tumbled higher than I have ever seen it roll in on the western beaches. The salt sip fetched on the wings of the wind smothered most vegetation with a saline coat, and the storm scattered the half-ripe fruits on the ground. Next day the " verdant" Coast was in mourning, and all the trees black v<hn r.uger— Mich -vas the effect of the saltvp.pour oa the Jpfives ol deciduous trees hud shrub's though evovprpens remained un- ■ ajri>ft p d. A*, rt - -TiscjuiVi • i ■mS-^of jj»ripe j'pi'les tire vow bc-iug hawked p* Id per lb. rr '. " viir. To-morrow owning tb.au cslimable cuainer Mrs Miller, who has been giving lectures in Hokitikn, since the close of the Greymouth Exhibition, closes her series, and proceeds to Westport. Mrs Miller, speaking from experience here, demonstrates that the class evincing the greatest anxiety for thrift in the culinary " art " are those people bearing the envied title of " well-to-do." THE EADICAI/ CRAZE GONE ROARING, RANTING MAD. Although the time when this state of affairs will have to be recorded is yet remote, still keen anxiety is feltaud expressedamong the provident over the crisis at Brunoerton, it being generally held that unless an extra turn in Fortune's wheel discloses some new act in the coal drama the Grey Valley Coal Company will withdraw its countenance from Brunner and close up the mines there. In view of such a probable contingency, various schemes calculated to meet the dreaded emergency are being propounded, chief among which the astounding cry "Co-operation" is making its voice heard. "Let us compel the 'company' to work its lease or relinquish it, and in the latter event co-operation will show you how it will pay," say the advocates thereof ; but where all the money necessary for such resumption is to come from no disciple of this radical craft has as yet been found bold enough to hint. And this train of thought leads mo into another. I once knew a body of "hornies" move Heaven and earth until they got a large special claim held by the hated "capi alist" cancelled. "Horny" was to work it on the co-operative system, but " horny " had no money ; so " horny " hied him to the bated monopolist, and said: "Look ye here, Mister C, we are the people ; your moneys no good wi'out /ius. Say, will ye join /tvs an' develop that there claim ? " " No, do," cries Mr C, "b cause I would be taking all the risk. You would have none." Later on I chanced to hear the "hornies" discussing the pros and cons of " this 'ere affair," and the general sentiment expressed was that " Hif the spec turned out /tall right we reckons we vas hin it; but h\i it wur no darned good, why we'd nuthin' to lose ! " But to return to our coal. I need not give your patient readers the many other leather-headed opinions expressed anent this bitumenous subject, although the Hokitika morning paper does advance the theory that to " uphold the dignity of labour " a corporation should be constituted at Brunnerton for the working of the coal dpposits there. The coal miners are to be the members thercc f , making their own law?, &c , and the coalminerß are to be their own operativps, &c, &c. There are to bo no more " strikes," no growlings or rows, and everyone is to bs bis own "boss," and is to take and /textcute hvJ Aowu /torders from no one but his /town self ! MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. The northern Coast prohibitionists are developing a new line of battle. The. News gives currency to tho rumour that the C.W.P.'s (cold water party) are endeavouring to raiae £280 or so to buy all the publicans' booths at the forthcoming Easter races in order to run them strictly on a teetotal basis. If they do succeed in smothering Boniface, the question of a profil; must become very "deliberate" — very, especially in a town where John Barleycorn, Esq., appears to be held in such esteem. Mr Thomas Hughes, a Kumara miner, aad secretary of the Kumara Miners' Association, was killed in the following distressful fashion last Friday : — Whilst at work in his claim, a big stone fell from the face and knocked him into the tail race, and before his mate could go to his assistance he was carried down a distance of 2000 ft, falling in that course a sheer drop of 13ft. When the body was recovered life was extinct. Mr Hughes was a prominent man on the Kumara goldfield, and once represented the miners in a deputation to Wellington iii re reduction of rates charged on the Government water race. His remains were interred last

Monday, people attending the funeral from all parts of the Coast. Dr Gaze, that intrepid speculator, is now pushing fortune at Charleston by erecting a cement battery at Piper's Flat to treat the cement from the lead known to exist there. A number of idle men are importuning the Coast editors and the mayors, and representations are being made to Government to have work found them. The customs revenue for the Greymouth district for the month of January 1894, as compared with that month of the previous year, shows a total increase of £182 2s lid. I regret to say that latest news from the Teal Duck creek puts the rock down as a rank " duffer." The insurances on the property consumed by fire at the Black's Point were — Walsh's building and contents £175 in the Commercial Union, and the stock and furniture in Tonkin's in the Standard Office for £100. The Albion Hotel, which was considerably damaged, was insured in tho Standard. Most of the uncut crops of the Totara Flat settlement, Grey Valley, have been almost totally destroyed by the late storm. Westport sent a deputation to Wellington in re county finance, and in the hope of getting some pecuniary assistance told Ministers that the Buller county has an ordinary revenue of £1600, and licenses, gold revenue, &c, with £2000 of subsidy from the Government, bringing the total revenue up to £3840. From this, salaries, interest, and office charges, &0., amounting to £1550, have to bo deducted, and out of the remainder the roads, &c, of a large country have to be maintained, the Buller road alone costing some £1200 a year. The reply from Ministers is only what might have naturally been expected — viz., that the office expenses were too much. At tho annual meeting of the Brunnerton Literary Society last Wednesday evening the balance sheet showed a credit balance in hand of £44 15s. The local branch of the Public Service Association, Greymouth, have decided to present Mr Thomas Ronayne with a testimonial as a token of their esteem. Gre^mouth exported 543,118 ft of timber during last month. Hokitika, being unable to raise the necessary £600, has formed a side club in connection with the Westland Racing Club, and is going to run for £350. Of course all horses competing at this "branch" will be disqualified by the metropolitan club. The Greymouth Trotting Club have adopted their programme for the 20bh March. The list includes six different events, worth in all £105. The City Fathers of Ross borough are terribly vexed over a mendacious report that has somehow got about to the effect that their borough, like that of Kumara, is bankrupt, and cannot pay its way. The statement, which is grossly untrue, I believe, first found vent in an evening paper at Hokitika, and has since been sedulously copied by some of the Coast exchanges. The fact is that the Ross Borough Council seems to be the only solvent local governing body carrying on business on the West Coast of the Middle Island. Last Friday a large pine tree brought down by the gale demolished the Ahaur* miitvay station, on the Midland railway liuc, Grey -Vaiiey. - ' -v_ — A dispute has arisen between employers aud employed of the Mokihinui Coal Company, which may end in a strike. It is the old sore — wages* and tho "poor down-trodden working man ! " The Greymouth Borough Council, having kicked up a row about the county council having been made the executive body under the new Licensing Act, Government has rescinded the clause, substituting the civic body as the administrator of the law in that respect.