West Coast Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17. 1891.

West Coast Times, Issue 8076, 17 February 1891, Page 2

West Coast Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17. 1891.

The suggestion made by Mr Seddoa that the Mines Department should supply some mining expert, who could leport on any new mining ventures offered to the public, although somewhat new to us has been before the commercial public of several countries st different times. Amongst others the minister of Mines in Victoria proposes that the prospectuses of projected mining companies shall be Subject to the approval of a mining expert, appointed or authorised by the Government. In order to ventilate his idea he invited & deputation from the Melbourne Stock Exchange to meet him and talk the matter over. Accord ing to the report of the conference, the sbarebrokers did not respond to the proposal wifh if great amount of warmtb, They pointed out that they bad a stringent, rule in the Exchange blearing on the subject. This rule provided that before the shares of any company should become quotable on the Exchange, assurance should be given that at least 5 per cent of the oapital was paid up ; and that the risk wbfoh brokers would incur of losing their seats on the exchange, for which they had been paid, in some instances, over a thousand pounds, effectually prevented any of them from fathering bag a* companies. Mr Outtrim was" evidently aware of the rule, and was sceptical of its efficacy, for he intimated Ms intention of proceeding with a- bill in the desired direction next session. In this intention he has not met with the approval of the press. The proposal has been received either as an unnecessary interference in a , matter which is one between seller and buyer, and one in which the buyer is fully capable of taking care of his own interests, or has been condemned as a bar to all mining enterprise by placing it under the control ofa Government department.' The Otaga Daily/ Times, in discussing : the matter, says :— " It seems to vs 1 that both objections fail to meet the CBB6. The experience of mining companies shows that interference on behalf ofthe public is justifiable. Rose-colored prospectuses have still power to charm tfie unthinking, and tempt the cupidity of the knowing. This has been met in England by the Directors' Liability Act of last year. By the new law directors are responsible to shareholders not only for the troth ofthe statements put forward to induce them (o take 1 shares, but are' under obligation to snow, if they would escape personal liability, that there were reasonable grounds for their own belief in the truth of the statements. This highly desirable law was the result of a famous action, Peek v Derry and others. It was stated in a prospectus that a- projected tramway company had obtained from a- corpora- ■ eiori the 1 right to use steam for traction instead of horses. Tne r directors Dglieved the concession, would Be obtained, bu* consent was refused, nnd- tbe share* became relatively valueless. But as the directors had acted under (he honest" belief that the" required permission would be granted, they were absolved from liability, and the un« fortunate shareholder lost his money. Under the present law they would have bad to show that their belief Was' not only bonest but founded on reasonable grounds." The difficulty, no doubt,

would be first getting A mah in whom the public yduld haVd faonflHence, and then to have dome reasonable assurance that he was able to give 1 a fair and reliable fapbtt It yfßjiid naturally follow that when his reputation for the latter was well established tbe confidence of the public would soon follow, b'tit friS position would be hedged round with so many difficulties that most men so placed WoTiia ihrmk from SSmmiHißg themselves, Of many ventures it can safely be said that very much of their success depends upou" the existence of facts vtrnich the mining authority instanced would not be able to proVd or to disprove. Still where palpable absurdities creep into prospectuses, as they often do, be would effect a great deal of good by exposing them. Id a mining Community such as we have on the West Coast, the presence of a competentdisinterested authority like theone suggested would be found very-useful. All bona fide ventures would be glad ofthe additional weight thus lent to their prospectuses whilst of those which are projected to fleece the speculating public^ we can only Bay that the sooner •hpy are relegated to obscurity the better* In many directions may be found remarkably good openings for tbe employment of capital, but which are not utilised because people with means are chary of investing — were a favoroble report issued under tbe authority of the Mines Department, capital would soon flow in. The suggestion Seems a remarkably good one, but .we see many difficulties ia carry ibg it out— let us hope these may soon be overborne-

Extensive preparations are being made for the Lower Arahura picnic at Quinn's paddock, which will probably be the last picnic of the season. In addition to other attractions, arrangements have been made to have the St Mary's brass band on the ground.

The annual meeting of the Hokitika Harbor Board for the eleotion of Chairman will be held at noon to-day, and the ordinary fortnightly meeting this evening, at half-past seven.

A meeting of the Trustees of the Hokitika Benevolent Society will be held at the County Council Chambers, this afternoon, at four o'clock.

The following are the Beeffcm returns for the past week :— No. 2 Dark, 201o?s amalgam from 86 tons ; Globe, 1730zs amalgam from 190 tons ; Alpine,- 4i9oza amalgam from' B§s tons; Inkerman, 120ozs amalgam from 120 tons ; Keep-it-Dark, 83ozs amalgam from 94 tons; Wealth of Nations, 75ozs amalgam from 85 tons ; Cumberland, 1770zs amalgam 105 tons; Hercules, 70ozs amalgam from 65 tons ; Venus, 1490zs retorted gold from 220 tons t cleaning up.

The Eeef ton Guard'ion says that Mr Frank Hamilton, who holds a large interest in the G-olden Fleece Company, has determined to resume operations in the mine. Mr Matthew Bradbury has been placed in charge. A block of stone which, had been driven on by Mr Walker will be first operated on, and it has been decided to adopt a new method of getting out the stone, as the way hitherto practised proved too expensive. The same paper also" states that good news continues to arrive from the Globe mine. The manager reports having struck the reef in the No. 4 level 125 feet from the main shaft.

The Boss Advocate says j— Last Wednesday His Worship the Mayor, in company with the 1 proprietor of this journal, visited the long fiunnel of the Mikonui Water Race, and found the tunnel — with one or two insignificant exceptions, partioularised further on — in first-class condition. Before reaching the tunnel we found a miner named James Eegan, fishing by jSfconey Creek, and as the track from this point became obliterated, we impressed his sympathies up and into the tunnel. Provided with matches and candles* we made our way in taking particular notice of timberings aa we went. When in about 350 ft. we' halted to examine a place where the contractors experienced so much difficulty. Here the settes had all to be double-banked. We found two legs with kinks', but the cappieces on them had not moved, and the tunnel showed no Bigns of haying caved in anywhere, in fact it appeared here as perfect as the day it was passed. Thirty settes further on two more leg* had bent knees, the tunnel was" all right. From this point inward the timbers were very large, squaring, we should think, a foot each, and they were sound as a bell. Arriving at the first rock cutting, whioh is about 80ft. in length, we found the arohed roof standing securely without any timber. Another dozen of settes fetoh us to the second rock cutting— a length of about 40ft. This we also found secure, with the exception of a few loose pieces which had flaked down from the' roof, and dammed up the drain water to &• depth of over a foot, so that we made the.rert 6{ the way in knee-deep ai c.very step, which journey we continued till our candles went suddenly out. As the air here became very foul, and we could not strike matches, we thought it useless to proceed further, and so we turned back, carefully counting the settes all the way; out. On oomV paring counts we tallied 207, thus the settes,at 4 feet apart we reokoned we had been into'tue long tunnel 828 ft.f t . We noted that the further we went in the sounder and larger appeared the timbering. We were riot a little surprised at getting in so far without the aid of the ventilator, or air-fan, but this may be attributed to the fine weather and the consequent light* ness of air.

Ministers have, it is an open secret, (says the Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times) been very busy during the recess hold" ing Cabinet meetings and informal discussions very constantly. The result is that the policy Bills are in a forward State. Amongst these are Bills of the reform of the Upper House, and reform of the Civil Service ; Labor Bills, including a Conciliation Bill. One fgature of the Upper House Eeform Bill will be a seven yeaW'limit of tenure. The Civii Service Bill contains new provisions, and promises to be a very complete measure. The Conciliation Bill is not yet framed, but progress has so far been made in Cabinet that the South Australian Act Has been discovered to be too radical a measure, in the senso that it is radically faulty. The financial policy has been frequently canvassed, but the results hare not transpired. The Land Bill has got into something like shape, and has been muoh discussed. On the whole, the Ministerial policy -will be, it is expected, very carefully and fully matured before the meeting of Parliament.

A representative of the British South Africa Company has received a letter from a prominent member of the company's pioneer force, dated from" Mashonaland, October 14, in which the writer says : — " I rode down to the Umf uli Zumbi gold fields. You have but a faint idea of the extent of the importance and [richness of these fields. One reef, the Cecil, is particularly good. Several other good things have been found south of the river, the Monarch, a most important and rich lode> being about the bestjof them. Williams, who had been working for many years upon, the Tati Monarch, considers its namesake here by far the more important of the two. Three or four ounce prospects are very common and yielded by the greater number of the reefs showing old workings. Our own people are the only ones carrying on prospects with much system. After two days at Umfuli Zumbi fields wo rode on to the upper Umfuli. . Very extensive old workings exist here— l should say the largest in the country. On one of the reefs here we had our work done By a thirty feet, well-timbered shaft, which we have put down without help from the old workings, and have struck the redf at that depth, going down between straight walls. It is two feet thick, dips at a sharp angle, and the beauty of the vein stuff is that it carries gold through and through, being beautifully

•consistent throughout, and every piece yield'

ing the same fine prospects. Even Harman, with all his caution, could not say it is less than a three ounce reef, and I believe that it will mill about that. We have seen some really good specimens from the country between Forts Charter and Victoria, and are shortly going down that way. There is no manner of doubt then when well prospected the Mazoe district willbeprospectedtotJmfali. In addition to these places, we are going to mark off on the Sebakwe Bembesi gold area mentioned by Barnes. The gold is the backbone of the country, and it is well that you should know the important dimensions it is asumimg. I have not met a mam who is not over well pleased with his gold prospects, and the sooner the company realise the fact the better."

A coal mine is being opened out at Motupipi, near Nelson. A contemporary says that although the mine has been working but a very short time a considerable quantity of coal has been shipped, and in order to supply vessels at all times the enterprising proprietor, Mr T Harley, is having ■ a boat of shallow draught built.

According to the Wellington Herald the following notice was posted in the hail of the House of JEtepresentatives the other day, ■— " Notice— Will the Honorable Member who borrowed my umbrella, with my name scratohed on the handle, kindly leave it back where he lifted it from, and oblige^the tinder signed. 'He who steals my purse steals trash ? But he who filches from me my good umbrella takes equal to 20s cash.'— Kiohard REHvfcs. Parliamentary Buildings. February Ist 1891." The deepening of the river is now (says the' Weatporfc News) fairly under way, and the two hopper barges are daily discharging the silt taken from the bottom of the river, and seem to work well. There are 'nine men employed on the dredge and seven on each of the barges besides a number of boys. Six days' work has been done, up to yesterday, and satisfac. Tory progress has been made. A great deal of work has been done during that time, and a vaßt improvement in the depth of the river will soon be affected. Captains Nolan and Keeble are in charge of the hopper barges, Mr Charles Allen is in charge of the dredge and Mr Vickers is engineer, the latter came out from England with the dredge, in June 1876, to Lyttelton. " '

The Southland Acclimatisation Society being dissatisfied with the decision of the Resident Magistrate at Invercargill in the matter of a recent information against a a person for having kakas in his possession without lawful excuse during the close season, have instructed an appeal to be lodged, and application has been made to the magistrate to state a case for the opinion of the Supreme Courb. At the hearing the magistrate decided that the information contained no offence against the Aot referring.to the subject.

Agent wanted for a noted English maker of disinfectants (carbolic and pine), best quality. Best packing, and 26 per cent below usual prices; liberal terms to a firm who oould do aotive business. Hamilton & Go. Wandsworth, London, England. — Advt,

Aa the result of his acquaintance with the pigmies of the great forest of Equatorial Africa Mr H, M. Stanley counsels readers of his artiole in the January Scribner 'to relieve ther minds of the Darwinian theory, avoid coupling man with the ape, and banish all thoughts of the fictitious small brained progenitor supposed to be existing on land unsubmerged since the eocene period. 1 Intellectually, he saya, the pigmies of the African forests are the equals of about 50 per cent, of the modern inhabitants of any great American city of to-day. And yet, he maintains, there has been no change, or progress of any kind, among the pigmies of the forest since the time of Herodotus. He describes a ' little plump beauty ' he saw with Ugarrowwa, an ivory raider, as a ' bewitohing little creature 33in high, 1 and says,* it is possible that this beauty was due to perfeot health and the good food with which sh« was fed by the Arab. She was certainly a gen* worth seeing, and as calm and as stlf-porieiWct ai a well-bred lady,

In August last a halfcaste living at Chatham Islands saw rockets sent up evidently from a vessel lying on the wes'b reef iff the Chattiami, It was after this that ths 1 wreckage ofthe Assaye came ashore: " 4he h'alifcSite reported what he had seen to his people^' who only laughed at him. They now say that a fishing party had lights burning, but Mr Shand, a resident in the island, who has investigated the matter and questioned the halfcaste, is satisfied that this was a different occasion ; that the halfcaste's statement is true, ; and that the rockets were sent up [ from the Assaye.

One hears stories related in which the vampire bat figures, but rarely of a thoroughly authenticated case of death brought about by this blood-sucking creature. It seems, however, from what has been published in the Chicago Times, that a wholesale coffee merchant in business tit Calaboza, Venezuela, recently lost his daughter Under certainly very strange Circumstances. The young lady, who was in her seventeeth year, had been a somnambulist from her childhood, and could not be cUred of walking in her sleep. It is Supposed that; while in one of her frequent tranuee she left her home, and must have wandered several miles out into the country. I Being missed, her anxious parents searched for.her, find at length the poor girl was discovered in a country road dead, ,with a vampire still dinging, to her throat. At the approach of the party i,of searchers the bat rose from the body and endeavored to fly away, but so gorged was it with its -victim's blood that it was unable to make its esoape, - and was shot by one of the party. Tha unfortunate girl's countenance was perfectly placid, which would seem to show that death had been painless. Just over the jugular vein a small wound, resembling the puncture of a needle, had been made by the creatures sharp teeth, and through it the blood had been sucked until life was extinct. It ii surmised that the bat, a large one,

measuring 3fb and some incheß from the tip

of one wing to that of the other, fastened upon its prey as she sank down by the roadside stilTfasfc asleep.

We (Evening Post) thought the height of absurdity had been reached in customs intertation when a distinction was sought to be drawn between hogskin and pigskin, but an importer in Wellington has drawn our attention to a still greater absurdity, guch fancy [artisles as plush covered toilet watch stands are now classified and charged under the heading "Apparel and ready made clothing," the customs holding that aa the covering material is a textile fabric which might be used for apparel, the articles came under the heading named. What part o£ the human form divine the customs "wduld so dothe, we do not know, but if the Sapient interpreter would appeal himself in a suit of such articles there

would certainly be no difficulty in classifying him as a curiosity.

"The Fan-," opened at Te Aro House on Friday necessitated the closing of the premises on Thursday forthe purpose of preparing the balance of our Summer Stock for sale.

"The Pair," will present to all visitors a wonderful away of bargains iri all departments. We do not believe in the policy of carrying over goods from one season to another. We would rather clear out every season's stock in the same season. Hence the reason for " The" Fair," and the genuine unmistakable bargains that will be offered at Te Aro House.

" The Fair," then offers a substantial reason why customers should put up with the possible inconvenience of our closing one day, especially when by waiting till Friday they may nave the opportunity of purchasing some of the greatest' bargains ever heard of in connection with the drapery trade in New Zealand or at Te Aro House.

" The Fail-." ,We would remind the.public that all our goods are trebh, new arid clean. There is positively not an atom, of rubbish or unsound articles among the numerous bargains with which we hope to please and gratify our numerous customers at Te Aro Hbase, Wellington.