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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 452, 14 January 1869, Page 2

The Warden, Dr Giles, and the District Surveyor, leave town to-day, accompanied by Constable Hunter, on a visit to the diggingson the Lyell and the Upper Buller. The party expect to bo away for a week, and, no doubt, a valuable addition will be made to official information as to the district and its resources. We hope to be able to give some account of the expedition on its return to Westport. Wo understand that, after returning from Hokitika, the steamer John Penn will proceed to Dunedin by intermediate ports, it being the intention to have her there docked and overhauled, after which she will loadup at Dunedin wharf for Westport. We hear that, after her next trip, the steamer Wanganui is also to go to Dunedin, to undergo an overhaul and repairs. It is apparent that the new floating dock at Port Chalmers, and the presence of good iron foundries, are securing for Port Chalmers and Dunedin an amount of trade and employment connected with shipping which will soon give them a pre-eminence among New Zealand ports. Hatter's Terrace seems to be at present the principal point of attraction on the Great North Lead. Several holes have been bottomed, or tunnels completed, and payable gold has been struck in each case. The most satisfactory feature is that the driving is not more than 150 or 170 feet. Two stores and bakehouses are now in course of erection, besides a number of well-built slab and weather-board huts, and the prospects of the place-are generally good. By M'Gowan, Currie, and others, a water-race is being cut from a creek in the neighborhood. It is about three miles in length, and is expected to be finished in three weeks.

A man named Charles Beal came into the Hospital on Monday with his face and hands injured by the explosion of somo gun-powder. He states that he was proceeding to the Caledonian Terrace, carrying the powder in his hat, and that it became ignited by some matches which he had also with him. The injuries he has sustained are not of a serious character, and he will be able to resume his employment in a few days. The Charleston folkshave announced a day's races for to-day, but we have been shown a telegram received yesterday with the

words, '* Westport not allowed to run." We should have thought, from the publicity given to the races by the circulation of hand-bills, &c, that this unkind cut to the Westport horseflesh would not have been given at the last moment. One or two were preparing their entries from this quarter, but have been obliged to stable their nags since the receipt of this excluding announcement. Our Wellington correspondents letter contains several items of interest. The Governor, it «rill be seen, was to leave Wellington for Lyttelton on Sunday, and no Panama steamer had then arrived from Sydney, nor was there any certainty of any arriving. There is no intelligence or a definite nature to hand concerning the Panama Service. When the Gothenburg left Melbourne the advices of the intention to continue the service had not reached that place. The Mataura was still to sail direct for England, but her departure was postponed by advertisement, a few days. This shows she has not filled up, in which case, on the intelligence reaching Sydney that she was to continue in the Panama Service, there would be no difficulty in telegraphing for her, and starting her, but it is now too late. Mr T. Johnson, late of Westport, who was the publisher of the Fijian Weekly News, has stopped the publication, for a time at least, as being in advance of the requirements of the settlement.

An article on the Separation question, and some quotations on the same subject, arc held over till next number. The horse Cossack was raffled for on Satur. at the Empire Hotel, and, by the purchase of a chance, became the property of Mr M'Laren, of Messrs M'Laren and Austin. Considerable improvement has been effected upon the Post-office Hotel by the conversion of the dining-room into a large hall, suitable not only as a dining hall, but for public meetings or entertainments. In different directions new buildings are'to be seen in course of erection, and material improvements are being made in shop-fronts by several store-keepers. The number of private residences to the northward of the town has been increased by the erection of houses for Mr Southern and Mr Criswick, and we believe that Mr W. Pitt proposes erecting a house on some ground adjoining. Dr. Thorpe is also having a house erected a short distance beyond the Robert Burns Hotel.

As an illustration of " honesty rewarded " a correspondent writes: " A young boy named William Sheard, having found a purse containing two cheques of the value of £135 Is 6d, a miner's right, and several other valuable papers, thought it would be worth his while to return it to its owner, and to his surprise, when giving it to the owner's agent, he was offered the handsome reward of five shillings sterling ! Now, Mr Editor, be so kind as to give room to these lines so that the public may know how some people would reward honesty." For several days the weather has been exceedingly warm, and the atmosphere rather too close to be at all times pleasant. There has naturally been an earnest demand for drinks presumed to possess cooling properties, and the more ambitious thirsty souls have had a hankering for ice, but that is not as yet a luxury procurable on the West Coast. Numbers have taken to seabathing very kindly, and it is a pity, for their sakes, and their habits of cleanliness, that the facilities for bathing are so very indifferent. It is very likely that a flood will ensue if the present warm weather should be accompanied by even a moderate rain-fall The recently-elected Westland County Council met for the despatch of business yesterday, at Hokitika. The first and most important thing the Council has to do is to elect its Chairman, as provided by the Act. • Administration of the personal estate of the late Mr Ambrose Kyte has been granted to his widow. The property was sworn under ■LIO.OOO.

A writ having teen issued for the election of a member for the Grey District in the Provincial Council of Nelson, the Returning Officer, J. R. Dutton, Esq., R.M., has appointed the nomination of candidates to take place at the Court House, Cobden, on Tuesday, 26th instant. The poll, if necessary, will be taken on Friday the 29th instant. The only names which we have yet heard mentioned of gentlemen likely to contest the seat are those of Mr J. D. Pinkerton, Ahaura, Mr D. Girdwood, Greymouth, and Mr Bain, Charleston. It is said that the Galatea is timed to reach Wellington about the end of March. From Wellington, the hesd-qunrters, the Prince will doubtless visit the more important towns and places of the Middle Island. The time allowed him in the colony will admit of this, as he will not leave Auckland (his last place of call in the Colony) till the latter end of May. From Auckland, he will sail for Yokohama, in Japan. Some time ago we reported the disappearance of a young man known as Louis Martin, but whose proper name was Carl Ludwig Martin, who was supposed to have been drowned while on his way from Greymouth to the Eight-mile Terrace, New River, where he was working. We regret now to learn from the Grey River Argus that the worst anticipations have been realised by the finding of his body in the New River. Mr Wm. Thompson, an in. timate friend and countryman of Martin's, offered a reward for the discovery of his body, and after 'five days' search a miner named Richards found the body, on the 2nd instant, entangled in the brushwood in the river, with feet uppermost, about two and a-half miles from the spot where he was expected to have crossed the New River on a log. The body was too much decomposed to be removed, and was buried near where it was found. The deceased, who was wellknown and much respected, was a native of eFrankfort-oa-the-Main, Prussia, and slight-

ly over twenty years of age. Hw brother is a merchant in Melbourne.

His Honor Mr Justice Johnston, at a recent sitting of the Supreme Court in Bankruptcy.at Wellington, strongly condemned the present Bankruptcy Act. According to the Independent, His Honor characterised it as one of the most complex, unworkable, and vexations measures which the ingenuity of the Legislature could inflict upon the profession and the public. It contained a system of Procrustean i-ules which could not be carried out, and which was totally inapplicable to a country like New Zealand. It was like the application of a complicated steam engine to break a stone on the road, which might be more expeditiously accomplished by a more simple process. Ah Cha and Ah Kaw, two Chinaman charged with selling gold at Cromwell, in the province of Otago, have been discharged, as there is no Act to meet this offence. The same result attended the charge against Chung Fat and Low Thung, who with the first two named, formed a gang of spurious gold manufacturers. They were, however, committed to prison for three months as vagrants.

A .sixth share in the Maori Chief Steam Cement Company, Charleston, has been sold, says the Herald, for .£275, the purchaser being Mr Ching, of Messrs Ching and Russell. The seller, Mr Barron, is leaving the colony in consequence of ill-health. There was a very heavy gale at Dunedin on Saturday, the 2nd last. Much damage was done to buildings and to small vessels in the bay. Messrs PatCTson and Hepburn (supporters of the Stafford Ministry), Otago members of the House of Representatives, have resigned their seats. Mr Ballance, cornet in the Wanganui Cavalry, and editor of the 'Evening Herald, has had his commission cancelled for an article which appearecl>in his paper. •Two smart shocks of earthquake were felt in Lyttelton on Saturday, Dec. 25. The heaviest was about 3.30 a.m. ; the other at 7.30 a.m.