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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 456, 23 January 1869, Page 2

The Westport Athenrenm is now open to the subscribers every evening. The opening of this new local institution was not attended by any ceremony that we know of, nor was there any introductory lecture, as is sometimes given on such occasions. No doubt, ■ the Committee have, in abeyance, for next I winter, the project of a series of lectures. . Our reporter has not had the luck to visit , the institution when the doors were open, and the delightful task of recounting its contents must be left to another time. As will be seen bv advertisement, the Rev. ' air wnisn willorhciaie m tne xvuin&u v^atuonc Church to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock. Captain Perkins, of the schooner Brothers 1 and Sisters, has had two of his ribs broken by an accident on his vessel at Orreymouth. Colonel Whitinore and Mr Richmond, with the Napier forces, liavo returned to Wellington on their way to Wanganui. At the Melbourne New Year's Kaces fifteen thousand people were present. In the Hurdlo Race, Prince Alfred was first, Ellis second. Flemington Stakes—Charon, 1 ; Gondalier, 2. iJerby Stakes—My Dream, 1; Antelope, 2. There was a report current in Nelson, last week, that a coal field had been discovered two miles from town, but the Colonist publishes a letter from Dr. Rector, stating that he can find no coal seam in the quarter indicated, or anything to warrant further search. The appointment of Mr Francis Harris as Clerk to the District Court at Westportis gazetted on the 2nd inst. At Mtthurangi, in the North Island, last week, a boat was upset, and Mr Benjamin Short was drowned, along with an infant. Mrs Short, who is a good swimmer, saved herself. She searched for, and recovered the bodies. Several fatal accidents have lately occurred in Canterbury. The Lyltelton Times of January 5 reports that Mr Hooper, formerly one of the masters at the High School, Christchurch, has been drowned in the river Bealey. A week or two since, a youth named William Barnard, aged 14, son of Mr Barnard of the Hurunui, was sent out to catch a horse, and getting entangled in the tether-rope, the horse took fright and dragged him along the river bed, smashing his skull. Mr M'Cormack, of ; Sumner, Canterbury, has also been killed by being thrown from his horse. Speaking of the Canterbury races, the ' Nelson Examiner says :—Mr Redwood took the three great races of the meeting—the Cup, the Derby, and the Christchurch Plato, with the splendid son of Waimea, who has ' proved himself the best three-year old that ' ever ran in New Zealand, and we question whether his superior is to be found in all : the Australian colonies. To win, without ' ever being pressed, a three-mile race in < 5 mins. 42 sec., carrying 7st 71bs., is really ' a great performance for a three-year old, £ and, as far as we can remember, ha 3 never * been exceeded except by The Barb, who, on * the Ist of January, 1867, is said to have J won the Champion race at Randwick, * carrying 61bs. less weight, in 4 sec. less * time. Mr Redwood has abo won one race « wi'h Blackboy at the late meeting, while * the same horse was second in three other * races, one of which he would have won had | Mainsail not been favoured so greatly I by the handicapper. Mr Stafford, we I regret to say, has been unfortunate, and did not take a single race. , v

The Hokitika Daily News says:—"We are gives to understand that the price of gold has been raissd, the increase in its monetary value ranging frem 9d. to Is. 6d. per ounce." The Wanganui Chronicle states that the doctors hav« been making a raid among the newly enrolled men of the force—men chiefly from Melbourne and the West Coast—and that about fifty of them have been discharged an account of permanent and organic disease of one kind or another.' According to a Hokitika paper, the amount raised in the County of Westland upon the dog tax alone, lias reached" the extraordinary sum of £864 10s for the past twelve months. It would, no doubt, greatly diminish an intolerable nuisance, and contribute something

I also to the revenue, if we had the same tax in ' West Nelson. The Banks of New Zealand and New South Wales have deeided upon closing their agencies at Brighton. In noticing the circunistanoe the Charleston Herald remarks —"lt is with much regret and no little sur- ■ prise we find that these Banks have decided to withdraw their agencies from Brighton. We regret that the district after maintaining its celebrity as a rich and prosperous diggings should have at last exhibited symptoms, we trust, but temporary, of decay, and surprise that although probably the business transacted at present would not justify two branch banks being kept open, still neither should have elected to remain." Mr Bowen has been appointed clerk to the j District Court of Westland North, to be holden at Charleston, but at present, says the Herald, is unable to transact business, owing to the uon-arrival of the necessary forms and seal of the Court. The Herald adds : —" Now that the sittings of the District Court are to be held at Charleston, the authorities should hasten to provide suitable accommodation. We have previously referred to the inconvenience and annoyance parties having business in the Resident Magistrate's or Warden's Courts have to

encounter, and during the recent hot "weather the inconvenience has become almost intolerable." A few days ago, says a Victorian paper, six miners at Godfrey's Creek enter ed into a contract to sink a shaft 120 feet, and slab it all the way down in the space of six days. In two days they were down 60 feet, and no doubt will complete their work within the contract time. These men are each six feet high, and otherwise proportionately well built. A few parties of such giants would soon prospect the whole district. In the " Cruise of the Galatea," a book descriptive of Prince Alfred's last voyage, the following passage occurs with reference to the demonstrations at Melbourne—" The Governor and all classes had vied with each other to make the Duke's stay agreeable to him, and to testify to him, in the warmest manner, the pleasure and gratification which the visit of his Royal Highness had afforded them ; and in all this fervor of loyalty none were more earnest than the inmates of the Yarra Bend Lunatic Asvlum. wno erected, at the entrance to their grounds, an arch with the inscription, ' Welcome. Alfred.' " The Hokitika river has taken a fresh freak, which seems to be the cause of some anxiety to the inhabitants. The Daily Neios says : " The rapidity with which the shingle bank opposite Gibson's Quay has increased during the past few weeks has caused some alarm. The danger, most certainly, is very great, at the present time, of the narrow slip of water between the bank, where the steamer Lioness now lies and the quay, being filled up completely before many weeks have elapsed. Every day there is a perceptible decrease both in the breadth of the channel next the piling and also in the depth of the water. The cause is evidently the wing-dams which have been constructed some little distance up this side of the river, and which have the effect of throwing the shingle that is incessantly moving down the river into the middle of the channel. If something is not done without delay the present bank will extend itself as far as Revcll-street, and the wharf, in all probability, will be rendered useless." Messrs Thonaas Dwan and Co., are reported by the Charleston Herald to have purchased new and commodious premises, more centrally situated than their old mart, and recently the property of Messrs Mulligan and and Halligan. The building was sold by the above firm when Mr Crewdson was the purchaser, and the auctioneers repurchased it at a small advance. An accident resulting in the loss of a valuable saddle horse is mentioned by the Charleston Herald. The animal was the property of Messrs Jones and Co., and will be familiar to many by the name of Lucy. The marc was browsing near the North Head and slipped into a gorge where she . got jammed in a cltft of the rocks. His Excellency the Governor has limited his stay in the Middle Island to the Province sf Canterbury, and to only a very few days. H.M.S. Challenger returned to Wellington from Lyttelton yesterday. The 'Tasmanian Times of Jan. 2 records ;hc programme observed on the departure of Dolonel Gore Browne from the Government f Tasmania. Amongst other things a banquet was given to his Excellency by the Club. The most interesting feature, however of that common-place event was the presence of two brace of English trout, respectively six and four pound fish. These are said to be the first yet cooked in Tasmania. The Times states that there was a considerable difference in the firmness and flavor of the brace of fish taken by the rod from the River Plenty, and the brace netted in the ponds, the former being decidedly superior. In connection with this interesting subject, it is stated that both salmon and trout are now considered so thoroughly established in the Derwent and Plenty that all fishing restrictions will at once be withdrawn. Lady Bo wen has proceeded to Auckland, where she has been warmly welcomed.

Mr Barraclough, of the Nelson Public Baths, has beea suddenly bereaved ol a fine little boy, his third fion, under somewhat distressing circumstances. The Colonist states that the-boy, along -with others, had been allowed to fish hi the swimming bath for small fishes, which get into the bath from the Eel Pond. About ten o'clock on Friday morning he was seen thus amusing himself at the shallow end of the bath, but a couple of hours afterwards he was discovered standing where there was three and a half feet of water, and quite dead. There has been a snake found in the Upper Waikato, Auckland —the first of this order of reptilia yet found in New Zealand. Tho interesting specimen has been deposited in the Auckland Museum.