BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

West Coast Times, Issue 603, 30 August 1867, Page 2

BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

( FBOM OUB OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

RECALL OF HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GREY.

PASSING OF THE WESTLAND REPRESENTATION BILL.

Christchurch,

Thursday, 4.45 p.m. Arrived — the St. Kilda, with the Panama mail, ; the Lord Ashley from the South , Breeze, from Buller ; the Red Rose, from London ; and the Affiance, from Newcastle. Sailed — the Airedale, for the South. Despatches have been received by the Panama mail recalling Governor Sir George Grey. They contain the intimation that a fresh appointment will be made immediately. The Bill providing for the increased representation of Westland in the General Assembly has passed .both. Houses.

It will be seen from our telegram that his Excellency Sir Goorge Groy lias been rocalled. The announcement will take the public by surprise ; but it is not difficult to understand the influences that hare been at work to induce this rciult. When the despatches are published the grounds on which the Derby administration have acted in dismissing one of the most experienced of our colonial Governors may bo discussod. His Excellency has, no doubt, been the victim of intrigues, set afloat by military men of the stamp of Colonel Weare, and of their busy relations at homo, Mr Bonar has announced a meeting to be held at the Prince of Wales Theatre on Saturday (to-morrow) afternoon, nt which he invites the attendance of electors and others. A meeting of gentlemen favorable to Mr Bouar's, return will be held this morning, at the Cafe do Paris. The " Increased Representation Bill," having passed the General Assembly, Mr Moorhouge will, on its being assented to by the Governor, become the "Member for the Westland Boroughs." A writ will issue after the present session shall have closed for the election of a GfoldfielJs member for " Westland South "" — which means the West Canterbury Goldfields District. John Casey, who was taken to the Hospital on Wednesday, suffering from a fractured leg, received whilst working in a claim, at the Wairaea, is, we are glad to state, progressing favorably. • Several of the jury who yesterday attended the Hospital at the inquest complained — and we think not without reason — at having to pay the boat-hire to and from the place where the inquest was held. We are aware that the Coroner is powerless in such matters ; but it does seem hard that gentlemen should not only give their time, which i 3 valuable, to attend on inq\iests held at the Hospital, but that they should, in addition, have to pay for being taken over the river in order to serve on a Coroner's jury.

We observe that Miss Harriet Gordon, a yery clever, painstaking, and deserving actress, takes a farewell benefit to-night, at the Prince of Wales Opera House. The entertainment comprises the musical comedy of " The Merton Family," and the comedy of "The Ladies Club." We may mention that several amateurs as well us professionals have kindly volunteered their services for the night, and we .trust that fcho public will show their appreciation of " Miss Gordon's talent, by filling the Opera Houae on the occasion. Owing to the inclement weather, the lecture on " Memory and its uses," which was to have been delivered last evening, by the Venerable Archdeacon Harper, as the opening one of a series in connection with the Literary Society, was postponed until Thursday evening next. An inquest on the body of John Smith, who died iv the hospital on Wednesday morning, from injuries to the head inflicted by Griffiths Jones, with an axe, was held yesterday, at the hospital, and terminated in a verdict of "manslaughter" against Griffiths Jones, who was committed for trial on the coroner's warrant.

There seems a probability of the old Teremakuu diggings "being extended southwards on this side the river, as wo hear that a shaft was bottomed last week about a quarter of a mile from the Maori pah, and a bed of washdirt struck that yielded eight dwts. out of the square of the shaft. A rush sot in and one hundred men had assembled upon the ground on Monday .last, the general opinion being that the old Candlelight lead had been picked up again. We have received a few scraps of news from that out of the way and seldom visited locality the Greenstone Creek diggings, far from being deserted, are yet occupied by nearly one hundred and Jifty miners, who appear to be in a very prosperous condition. The old place is not half exhausted, as we are assured there is scarcely a man there but can mako L 5 per week, whilst many obtain L 8 and LlO. The Greenstone community is somewhat scattered about, twenty miners being located at the Three Mile, as many more about the Government Shed, and from fifty to sixty at Mnori Point, where there are a couple of stores and a butcher's shop.

The severity of the weather in the mining districts during the past fortnight has, to a great extent, stopped mining operations for the time, and the quantity of gold collected was bo email, that it was deemed advisable to delay the Escort for a week.

A fatal accident occurred at Ross yesterday. A miner named Peter Outsen was removing a large stone from a drive, when a heavy fall of earth ensued, which completely buried him. His mates and others immediately set to work to dig him out, but upwards of twenty minutes elapsed before that work was accomplished, and when at length the body was recovered life was extinct.

The following items of mining news from the Blue Spur, Tuapeka, are furnished by the " Bruce Herald "of the 14th inst. :— " Most of the sluicing companies have been idle dur« ing the past week, on account of the scarcity' of water. The races of the Tuapeka and Waipori Water Companies are snowed up • and the heavy falls of snow that occurred during the week rendered all attempts to clear them quite ineffectual ; but if the present milder weather should continue, it is probable that the companies will have then* water on to the spur again at the latter end of the week. The depth of drift snow is fully twenty feet hi many places on the high ranges; and a plentiful supply of water from the melting snow may be confidently relied upon ' during the ensuing summer. Some speculation has lately taken place in ihe shares of the. Perseverance Sluicing Company ; and one of our local capitalists and practical miners, Mr Wm. Evans, has invested upwards of LI3OO in the Company's shares. The Company owns a valuable water-race and dam, find a lease of four acres three roods four perches of the deepest cement ground on the Blue Spur. The company has not hitherto been in a position to pay dividends to the shareholders, but the universal opinion of practical miners, acquainted with the ground, is, that it is of great value; and no doubt Mr Evans will eventually be handsomely repaid for his outlay. Kepple and Co. fired a heavy blast on the sth, which was entirely successful, and brought down their ground to the boundary of tha Perseverance Company's ground. M'Nab and Co. fired a charge of 900 pounds of powder on the 9th, with excellent results. Fife and Co. will fire a blast in a few days."

Wo have Adelaide files to the 14th instant, The following telegram from the Commodore to his Excellency the Governor has been published :—": — " It is expected his Eoyal Highness will arrive at Adelaide from Cape of Good Hope about the 29th September, and at Melbourne about the 14th October. His stay will therefore be short. Until my arrival at Syd-~ ney I cannot determine on the movements of the squadron, but do not think any ship will meet Mb Eoyol Highness at Adelaide, but will communicate with your Excellency from that place." — It appears that an agitation in favor of a change in the land system so as to provide for free selection, with deferred payments, is gaining ground amongst the agricultural class in South Australia. At the last meeting of the Mount Gambier Formers' Club, a resolution which had been adopted at a public meeting at Freeding, condemning the auction system with its upset price of Ll per acre as detrimental to the interests of the colony, and advocating free selection ob more advantageous, and as affording scope for combining cattle-feeding and wool-producing with agriculture, was read and approved of, the meeting promising the movement their best support.

By the arrival of the ship Parisian, the " Otago Daily Times " is in receipt of files of papers from Victoria, in Vancouver's Island ; from New Westminster, in Columbia j from Port Townsend and Olympia, in Washington Territory; and from Portland, in Oregon. The items of United States news which they contain have already been received, and the local intelligence is chiefly of a political character, and of very slight interest to readers in New Zealand. From the Cariboo diggings, there was, up to the date of the latest paper, 22nd May, no particularly good news, but a considerable quantity of gold was being brought down the country, and about 300 diggers had, previous to the Ist of May, proceeded to the mines. Exciting accountß 'appear in some of the papers of an affray which had taken place at Port Townsend, Washington Territory, between Mr J. W. Tripp, of that place, and three sailors, which residted in the death of two of the sailors and probable fatal injury to the third. It appears that Tripp, who is a lawyer, had done some professional services for the sailors, out of which sprang dissatisfaction, culminating in an assault upon the lawyer. When assaulted he levelled his gun, shot two of the men dead, and clubbed the third to the ground. His wife and brother-iu-law were present during the affray, and the latter, with Tripp, had been arrested and committed for trial.

We take the following from the "Otago Times" :—": — " A Chinainan, charged with murder, strangled himself on Monday night, in the Milton (Tokomairiro) lock-up ; the suicide being about as cool and determined a one as possible. A short time ago, the Commissioner of Police received information that Gon Chu, who was charged with having murdered Ching ang Yung, at Kaiandra, N.S.W., in 1866, was believed to be in Otago, and a request for assistance towards scouring him, with a view' to his removal to New South Wales, for trial, was made. The information from Sydney and Melbourne was to this effect : — In April last, Gon Chu woB at the Dargo, where he called himself Wong ah Ping. He was traced from Dargo to One-Foot, thence to the Buckland, and thsnee to Melbourne, where he took passage for Otago (to go to Tuapeka), in the name of Chung^h Yee. Hints were also given as to the company in which Gon Chu would be found in the Tuapeka district. The police, after most caieful inquiries, apprehended the deceased, as the " wanted" man ; and the evidence given before Major Croker, E.M., was - such, that he remanded the man to New South Wales. Gon Chu was brought from Lawrence to Milton, on his way to Dunedin, \ to await the arrival of a New South Wales officer, with the warrant for his apprehension on the charge of murder ; and on Monday evening he was lodged in the lock-up at Milton. There he was visited by the officer-in-charge, each half-hour ; and yet he contrived to strangle himself. The outer corner of the door of the cell did not fit quite closely to tl c upper part of the jamb. To that corner of the door Gon Chu fastened a Bmall silk scarf, which he must have worn under his shirt; and, fastening the other end of the scarf round his neck, he sat down and strangled himself. — By a telegram received last evening, we are informed that an inquest had been held at Milton, and thnt the verdict was to the effect that the decea?od had wilfully destroyed himself. The jury added, that no blame whatever attached to the police j but that the door of the cell ought to be altered at once, do as to prevent the possibility of such another case of selfdestruction."