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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 510, 29 May 1869, Page 2

The claims on the Shamrock Lead, to the south of Addison's Flat, have lately proved to be very rich, and ■within the past few days ground has been taken up as far as the Tatar a, near which gold has been struck.

We have been requested to intimate that Mr Gallagher, M.H.R., will address a meeting of his constituents this evening in Westport. The hour and place of meeting have not, so far as we know, been fixed, but these particulars will, no doubt, be sufficiently intimated during the day. Three fatal accidents have happened in thisneighbourhood within the past week. In eaehcase death was causedby drowning. The first accident happened at Fox's river, and proved fatal to a man named Robert Kyme. The evidence at the inquest will be found in our Brighton correspondence. The second accident happened on Tuesday, and at the Totara river, midway between Westport and Charleston. Mr Isaac Sampson left the latter place on horseback, and was last seen to the southward of the Totara fey one of Mr Loring's men. Afterwards Mr Loring found a brown horse—the horse which deceased had ridden—washed up on the beach to the north of the Totara. Active search has since been made by members of the police force from Westport, but no trace of Sampson has been found. On the night before, he had been present at a ball in Charleston, and started too fatigued and excited to undertake the careful crossing of dangerous rivers. On Thursday the police received information from Eobert Cross of a fatal accident to a man named John Haw, one of the men employed by Mr Bray, the contractor for the formation of the track along the perpendicular cUff on the Buller river known as Hawk's Crag. The men were at work blasting the rock. There were two charges one of which did not explode. Haw was in the act of going to ascertain the cause of its failure, although warned by Mr Bray, and, when in the act of doing so, he slipped over the rock, fell into the river, and disappeared. The deceased, who was a native of Yorkshire, had for some time resided in the Buller district. The accident happened at four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon.

The sittings of tho Supreme Court at Westport commence on Tuesday next. There are two criminal cases to be heard— Henry Collins, charged with malicious injury to property, and Mary Ann Hannah, charged with stealing from the person. There are no civil cases on the list, but there are two appealed mining cases— Marshall and party v. Tupper and party, and Barker and another v. Tapley and party and Bradley and party. For the bankruptcy sitting the cases appointed to be heard are fifteen in number, seven of these being adjourned hearings, and eight first hearings. The adjourned hearings are in the cases of James Godfrey, John Lewis, and Philip Eooney, for whom Mr Tyler appears, and Thomas Gellibrand, E. F. Williams, Thomas Tracey, and George Somner, for whom Mr Pitt appears. The following are the applicants for first hearing—George Carruthers and Phillip Griffiths, represented by Mr Pitt, and Charles Gardiner, Hugh Robertson, George Haller, Andrew O'Neill, William Luke, and Peter Leslie [and Francis Sweetrnan (partners), represented by Mr Tyler. It will be seen that tho public lecture which Dr Giles had undertaken to deliver will be given at the Masonic Hall, on Tuesday evening, when Judge Clarke is expected to preside. Dr Giles has chosen as the subject of his lecture " The Influences of Science and Literature." The lecture will be the first of a winter series, to be givon in aid of the funds of the Athenoaum. A recent number of the Provincial Gazette contains a report from Mr Blackett, the Provincial Engineer, on public works in the Province, and two reports from Mr Lowe, the late Engineer in this district—one on public works, past and prospective, and the other upon the organisation of the Survey Department. Both of Mr Lowe's reports are very elaborate and interesting. We make some quotations from them in our present number, and shall have occasion to refer to them again. A West Coast resident, at present in Nelson, sends us some rather strongly worded expressions upon the manner in which Mr Donne endeavors to discharge his duties as M.P.C. We do not hesitate to publish the communication, but we may state that, whether it represents the feelings of his West Coast colleagues or not, it does not emanate from any of them. In the Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday, Mrs Labatt was charged with ■'assaulting the irfant daughter of W. Lloyd, by striking her on the neck with a towel." The case was dismissed as too trifling for any penalty. We notice by a report from the Provincial Engineer, that it was found necessary, after the earthquake which took place in October, to tako down and rebuild no less than 14 chimney shafts, in the Government buildings at Nelson. Mr. Dillon Bell, M.H.R., succeeds Mr Julius Vogel in the Otago Provincial Council as one of the members for Dunedin. He obtained a majority of 300. A fire broke out in a store at Waiiouaiti, Otago, on Wednesday, May 19. Property to the value of £2500 was destroyed.

Mr. M'Ucill, lato member of the House of Representatives for Wallace, Southland, has been supplanted by Mr Cowan. At a public meeting held a few days ago, at Christchurch, a tea and coffee service and set of four salt-cellars were presented to Mr. Anderson (Mayor of Christchurch), for the manner in which he fulfilled the duties of bis office during the visit of his Eoyal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Queen has sent a copy of her book, entitled " Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands " to the General Assembly library at Wellington. The Nelson papers report the sudden death of Mr James Cook, of Riwaka, one of the first settlers in this Province. He came out on the preliminary expedition in the Will Watch, which sailed from Gravesend on the 27th April, 1841, arrived in Wellington

on September 4th, and entered the harbor of Nelson on November 3rd of the same year. Had he lived until November next, he would have been twenty-eight years in this Province. In his speech on the occasion of his re-elec-tion as Superintendent of Wellington, Dr. leatherston said : —He behoved no long time would elapse before the Imperial Government would put forth its strength and finally crush the rebellion, and this would have been done long ago if different measures bad been pursued in the Colony."