OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2097, 3 May 1894, Page 17

OUR WEST COAST LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Ross, April 24, ANOTHER JOURNALISTIC WAR, And again thie cause is — not a woman — but only that attribute generally surrounding a pretty woman, the green-eyed monster ; yet the jealousy in this instance is begotten of a different parentage. The odds are not even, but for all that the battle wages in favour of the weaker. It appears that the Greymouth Star newspaper has been, red-rag-to-a-bull-M c, dangling, as it were, for months past in the faces of its irate contemporaries every issue and right over the leadiDg column, the following burning words :—": — " The Evening Star, the only journal on the West Coast subscribing to and publishing Bpecial cable messages," and at frequent intervals of this trying time occasional passages-at-arms have occurred between " the little enemy " and its offended brethren. The climax, however, was reached when the Star blew off some additional • ' gas " over some columns of extra "specials" last Thursday, and hinted thab as no other paper had them tee "tninkler" was the very best medium, &o. This so enraged the Grey Argus and the West Coast Times, that both '• We's" thereof immersed their pens holder deep in their " gallest" of ink horns and " went" for the common foe. The former brought up his " multiple mortar," and belched forth an" acre of adjectives, of which "Gibbering monkey," " cockadoodledoo," " hogwash," and a "sick monkey stretching out its little hauds for coppers," &c, formed " centre shots." The West Coast Times opened its batteries by offering to bet the Star two £5 notes it (W.C.T.) pays more for telegrams than the Grey twinkler, same to b8 handed over as donations to" the local hospitals. To the Argus's attack the Star contents itself to allow its big contemporary to " wallow in hogwash — his native element ! " But to the West Coast Timea's challenge the Star says last Friday : — "We accept our contemporary's challenge. Twelve months' cost of telegrams and cable messages to be the basis, to be certified to by declaration before a justice of the peace, and accounts produced, and will lay £100 to £5 that the Greymouth Star is the only West Coast paper subscribing to and entitled to publish within protected hours the • special cable news ' of the Press Association." Next day the West Coast Times came out as follows :— " The Grey Star has accepted our challenge as to the relative cost of telegrams to the two papers, and the matter will soon be put to the test. Arrangements for verifying the statements mu&t of course be conducted by letter." In my opinion the whole of the foregoing is detestably vulgar, for it is very like asking a friend to dine, and then substituting for polite table-talk ill-bred, inexcusable brags of the cost of each dieh or course as ife is served up. But for all that these "hashes" appear to ba relished by the bulk of the West Coast reading public.

fiONE OVER THE RIVER !

The week's death list records the departure of no less than four old identities from the world of men and things. A "forty-tighter" named R. Thimbleby, of Ileefton, who has mined continuously on the Coast since 1865,

crossed over with "the boatman pale" last Wednesday ; another old fellow named James Cattle, also of Reefton, followed suit next day by getting drowned in the Inangab.ua river. Old John M'Lead, pioneer miner, and working till within a few days of his demise, at Razorback, was burned last Wednesday. Yesterday Mr Timothy Markham (for many years wardsman in the Totara Hospital) was lowered into his grave. A few years hence and none of those hardy pioneers, who have made the Coast so famous, will survive. ANNUAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS. The following are the results of the annual elections for school committees at the different towns : —Ross : Currie 44, S. Evaas 70, J. Petrie 68, J. Sharpe 34, C. Free 33, J. Hammond 32, J. Smith 31. Mr Currie was elected chairman. Hokitika : Messrs J. R. Hudson, T. Browne, J. M. Aitken, W. A. Thompson, J, J. Breeze, J. Tait, R. M. Crawford, D. Kenny, and D. Benjamin. Mr Hudson as chairman. Greymouth : The mayor (F. B. Waters), A. MathesoD, B Harper, William Kittlety, A. W. Yarrall, H. Castle, F. Kilgour, G. H. Boyd, and RF. Bell. Reefton : C. Cohen 67, E. J. Scanblebury 61, J. F. Clark 60, T. North 52, Ray. B. Huteon 49, Rev. J. Edwards 48, Rev. T. A. Cato 48, R. H. Baylis 46, D. M. Anderson 45. Chairman, Mr T. North. MISCELLANEOUS I TEMS. At the last meeting of the Westland Charitable Aid Board Mr M'Lean Watt Jack, in nine different motions, succeeded in increasing the remuneration of the rather under-paid staff at the Hokitika Hospital — in four cases by about 15 per cent. The Premier has had tenders called for the supply and delivery of telegraph poles for a telephone connecting Okarito with Ross. The southern folks are naturally jubilant. The Coast County Council is endeavouring to arrange reciprocation in the matter of licensed persoßS, who in payment of a nominal fee get a free pass through all the counties. For neglecting to affix a stamp on a beer cask, W. Williams, of Westport, was fined £20 last Monday ; and another boniface named Jop Berlin, of the same town, was fined £6 10s for drawing beer without defacing the stamp. The Westporb Coal Company are going in for retrenchment. Their engineer has received notice for the end of May, and there is talk of other reductions to follow shortly. All the local governing bodies are asking Government to defray the cost of the late poll in connection with the absurd Licensing Act now in force, and there is some talk of resisting the iniquitous impost. The plant of the Specimen Hill Company (Reefton) having been seized on a judgment summons for arrears of rent, representations were made to the Inangahua County Council, with the result that the pressure has been entirely removed from the shareholders, who have expended much capital in trying to develop the property. Some contemptible "cuss" having surreptitiously laid poison about the streets of Reefton, geese, dogs, and general pets, which had taken the places of "corners" and "booms," got pcisoned wholesale, whereat a general cry of lamentation has gone up. A Mr S. O'Riley has just made a demand on the Westport Harbour Board for £28 15s, for the loan of an anchor for 115 weeks at 5s per week ; but, hiß conscience evidently pricking him, he modestly offered to take £20 for the anchor. Yet the hard-hearted board cannot see their way to accept of his liberality in the latter respect, although for obvious reasons they have decided to make the " tiudorhearled" O'Riley some slight offer: Our old friend Fred. Barrington Waters, Greymouth's mayor, is kicking up a "great shindy " in the Grey papers over what he terms tho "Government's liberality in proposing a ' lean-to railway station ' for Greymouth." One or two Coast papers publish the rumour that the Grey Valley Coal Company aro likely to accept the proposals of the Brunner Mines Committee for the flotation of a mewr new company, in which the present owners would retain the value of the mine in paid-up scrip. General regret is expressed by the Coast papers over the sudden death of Constable Cashion, better known on the Coast as "Dublin Dick," from heart disease. Last week the tributers in Craig's freehold, South Spit, Hokitika, obtained 40oz s£dwt of gold for five and a-half days' work. Bishop Grimes, of the Roman Catholic Church (Christchurch), has bean visiting his West Coast diocese, and at all the centres has received a "West Coast welcome." This consists of illuminations, sacred concerts, and reunions. Buller won't have single tax at any price — or at all events Buller's city fathers will not. A public meeting, it appears, carried ' resolutions in its favour and left the sere seniors to give effect to th^ saoie ; but these " adverse critics ' shelved the idea by treating it with contempt — a proper tbirjg to do, as there are, after all, only a limited number of sane folk. A Brunner News correspondent reports that the gale was so heavy last Monday that " it struck Nelson creek, which banged on the schoolhouse J windows, and prevented the annual meetiDg of householders for that night." They have capital coal in large quantities in Reefton, and the Reefton Guardian reckons if an arrangement could be made with the Midland Railway Company for cheap transport, a company could be formed to work the coal measures, and output 500,000 tons annually through the port of Greymouth to sell at lucrative rates.