WEST COAST ECHOES.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXVI, Issue 7594, 31 July 1893, Page 1

WEST COAST ECHOES.

SUDDEN DEATH. Yesterday an inquest was held on the remains of Mre George Cooke, who died very suddenly the previous evening at Hokitika. It appears that her son, hearing her fall heavily on the. floor, went in and found her lying down, evidently suffering from a pain in the head and crying, ''Oh! my head. Dr Kendall, 1 who was called in, could do nothing to (Save her life, for she died a few minutes afterwards. A post mortem, held later ; revealed a clot of congealed blood as big aa a hen's egg on the brain. A verdict wns returned in accordance with the medical testimony. BURNT OUT. Last Friday, forenoon a "hotter," named Peter Poulsen, was burnt oat under most peculiar circumstances, Fol« lowing his vocation at Donnelly's Creek, Rosa, he left his hut for his dam, whither he went to mm on, the water, leaving, as is usual among sluicers, a ' wet shift to dry at the fire, Returning withia an hour he found only n heap of ashes in place of his hut. He also ' lost clothes, watch, silver, and a few pennyweights of gold, and came into town in the only things left—hi 3 wet slucing clothes. The Boss storekeepers were kind, and rigged him out anew. AN RRuW ESCAPE, "Millner and party, putting in a 700 ft tunnel through old ground at Kanieri had a narrow escape from fire damp last Wednesday, an explosioa taking place, and ;>.» line of fire-running down the tunnel. Fortunately the men . 5 got away without sustaining any injury. DR GAZE. Dr Gaze is now in Reefton superintending the initial operations of his plant at the Sir Francis' Drake Battery. The ! trial treatment will probably last about a month', at the end of which time great things are hoped for from the enterprise, west coast Public opinion, Concering the Premiership, the whole of West Coast -.newspapers, (a baker,B dozen) are unanijpoiw, ior , a wonder. 'I hey argue -and truly—that the Hon, Mr SeddonhiWoii the position fairly— by sheer iorca 1 of I 'character, devoid of plausibilities, servile compliances, and also from the fact of- his having been first mate at tlin'e® the Parliamentary I ship lw&ito,' .Some argue that he, being:posafffied, pf the .shrewdh'esa necesiary to perceive that if progress l is measures miiflt obtain, and the fact of his having the backbone to carry, them out irrea--1 pective of the theories! fads, or caprices . of of party, eminently qualify him . for the position be has attained, It is also freely asser* ted that Sjr Robertt Stout ought not to preaa his claim~jll» ( inleed, he has other than an imaginary claim - to the coveted position. A SCARE. Considerable disaatisfac'ion having been expressed by individual miners at • the yery. loose manner in which the Receiver of Gold Kevenue atßss3 collect rents from the big companies, the Miners' Association took the matter in . , hand and represented the position to the Hon. the Minister for Mines, who in reply has sent down information that instructions have been given to prepare lists of companies and lessees who are in J arrears giving ttem .the option of paying . 3 up at once or ; bearing , the penalty of t cancellation." The chief cause of irritation among the miners appears to be that the whole country is monopolised 8 by these useless concerns, and the miners , are ihuß prevented from prospecting it. The cry has become quite chronic— "We the company, hereby, object to Smith, Jones, or Robinson's application for water-race, because we have the.prior I right. Ac."—the] result being, "application refused.' notwithstanding that (he J evidence frequently proves the rights ! or privileges of objectors to have lain ' unused for 10 or 12 years. LOOMING TROUBLE FOH A SCRIBE. A paragraph appearing in the We3t Coast Times charging the trustees of the Kumara Hospital with having literally starved to death a late patient named John Cunningham, has excited so much feeling in.the home town of the J Premier that an inquiry was held by the , S House Committee last Monday, and the ' evidence of doctor,' wardsman. matron. ® and a special night nurse all showed the r most careful and liberal treatment; and • no complaints were mvle at the time 1 even by Cunningham himself, his wife, ' relatives, or friends; at d that the Times p statement was wholly without founda. ' tion, Under such circumstances the • board of trustrees is now to determine ® further action in the matter, On the i other hand the W.C.T,, replying to 0 their threat of consulting their solicitor, says: -' Should they do so, we are quite " prepared to prove what we said in a h court of law, a ' VERY SAD. ' r Before Mr D. Macfarlane, K.M., at -Rosa' last Saturday, a contingent cf those ir guileless almond*ejred. children of that

yellow army, the Heathen Chbw St p&rtioulnry auliry, It appears thtiy worked in a (on sufferance - only) immediately beneath a miner's ;tail raisp, but on hi? tailing site, and the. reaffron workers flowing the Jailings-of > Bomo, went 4 to court ; with all tbe wiling of .thoir tribe, eh" the most sapient of the counsel, : who of course informed them they were > bound to win ; whereat the leading 1 ' of the party: talkee-talkeed the celestial patois among his brethren, ; the outcome of wliich was that the lawyeiwbb toll tlia 1 hw' foes wero too 'mucbj and thai they were going to t cpndupt the case themselves. 1 his, of course, hid the effect of rousing all the inher- > ont cunning of thnjaw priest, who'quiet went over to the Jothelr side/ f :The r fe)f suit was very Sad in i W estimation of the children of the Flowery Kingdom", who not Only : lost.the casej but had f .to pay four guineas expenses, the lawyer's fee, and a pointed refusal to ha, allowed , to withdraw the information at the incipiency of ihe court.