The Westport Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 519, 19 June 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 1869.

It was quite to be expected that t£e Nelson papers would notice, in a tone of deprecation, what we thoroughly agree with them in calling the " contemptible robbery" of the petition which Mr Lightband had in his possession. No one could anticipate any other result. By many, allowance would even be made for an exaggeration of the facts, or for a misstatement of the motives of others besides the actual purloiner of the document. "We believe, however, that there are very few, even out of Westport, who were prepared to attribute, as the Nelson papers have done, the act of abstraction to the gentlemen forming the Separation Committee, op

to insinuate that those who have labored honestly, sincerely, and fairly iu the advocacy of the cause would condescend to the ill-considered trick of stealing the petition of the opposite party, if party it may be designated. Still fewer, we hope, are prepared to assert that those gentlemen are, in point of sense, such arrant asses as even to connive at the theft of what the most despicable pick-pocket would have recognised as worth neither the shame nor the trouble of stealing. We j,o as far as to hope that not even one single person, in Westport, and intimate with the value of the signatures to the petition, will consider that the fellow who stole it was more than a miserable trickster—one who has, in his composition, many more of the attributes of the fool than of the rogue —or one of those unhappy beings who can never perpetrate a joko without hurting the feelings of their friends. We have just one more thing to hope, and that is that, having now discovered

the very valueless character of his supposed prize, the foolish man will have the decency to return it to its owner, that it may once more rest in the courier-bag which we now hear was so ruthlessly rent, or in its probably ultimate depositary—the dust-bin of tho House of His failing to do so will almost incline us to believe the unkind, though popular, insinuation that it is with Mr Lighthand, and not, as the Nelson papers will have it, with the Separation Committee, that there has been connivance to suppress what the Colonist calls "tho truth " —the very ugly truth represented in the number and character of the signatures to this unlucky petition.

In the remarks of our spirited and spicy contemporary, the Colonist, there is much that might be noticed, and a great deal that can, with truth and fairness on our side, be denied. We refer not to the deductions of the writer, which would bo correct enough were it not that some of his premises are wrong, and we refer more particularly to his description of the other and open steps taken to cheek-mate Mr Lightband and those of whom he was the very humble, if honest, representative. " Agents," we are told,

"were sent to dog Mr Lightband's steps." In this one expression there is much dark and mysterious meaning until it is explained that it was not behind him, but before him, and on the open platform, that he was encountered by certainly " dogged " gentlemen, who acted entirely on their own responsibility, and discharged that responsibility so well that, in the result of a fairly conducted meeting, Mr Lightband was " bested." The newspapers, wc arc also told, were hostile to Mr Lightband, and so they were, but hostile only to the extent of treating the work in which he was engaged, and the manner in which he discharged it, with probably more contempt than they should have doue. That they were " singularly unjust " cannot, at least, be said with regard to this journal, and in reference to the faithfulness of its reports, for Mr Lightband took care not to pat to the test the spirit of fair-play which we shall be bold and vain enough to claim for the local Press. " Any correction of statements, any letters in explanation, any narrative of facts were systematically refused publication," asserts our contemporary, writing, no doubt, on the faith of Mr Lightband's "narrative of facts" to his unfortunate Committee. Kow, did Mr Lightband correct any statement, write one letter, or, during the whole of his canvass, narrate a solitary fact ? We do not believe it, but most especially do we refuse to believe that, if by any chance he did, the facility of publication was denied him. Anyone who knows the West Coast will know also that the existence of, what our contemporary calls " something like a terrorism over store-keepers and others opposed to Separation" is something very like—a whale, and that the statement as to " a vast number " signing the petition in the belief that it had something to do with miners' rights is equally apocryphal. As apocryhal, we were going to say, is the statement of the numl er of signatures received, but we shall leave it to the conscience of him who stole the petition, and to the genius of some local Tennyson, to reveal to the world the names and virtues of this second six nr/NDHED.

time been without a visit from a clergyman of tho Presbyterian denomination, and it is to be Loped that the presence of Mr Shirriffs may have some effect in uniting the members of that Church, and of inspiring them to activity at least equal to that of the members of the Church of England, who, next to the Roman Catholics, hav? been exemplary in affording facilities for public worship after the fashion of their Church.

It is feared that another fatal accident has occurred in the Buller. A Maori named Tuhua is missing, and it is supposed he has been drowned. On the 15th he went up the river, as far as the pah, in a canoe. On the following day the canoe was found, half full of water. The man has not been seen since, neither has his body been found.

Some now ground has been opened within the past few days between Hatter's Terrace and the sea-beach. The first prefects were obtained in the sides of a creek between Christmas and Hatter's Terraces, where about two feet of washdirt were exposed, yielding five or six grains to the shovel; the gold being of a heavier description than that got in the Hatter's lead. Several parties had pegged off claims yesterday, and are putting in tunnels. Probably, in a week, the character and value of the lead, if lead it is, will be tested.

It is difficult to say when the Westport portion of the Englishman will be received. The steamer Wallabi had left Wellington before tho Eangifcoto arrived, and we have no advices of any other steamer being on the berth at Wellington for Nelson. It is not improbable that the mails will make a tour of the country as far as Lyttelton, and bo sent overland to llokitika, whence they will be forwarded hither. We direct attention to a notice of the Postmaster, announcing an alteration of the time for closing the mails to Charleston, Brighton, and Cobden, after Thursday next. The mails to Charleston are to be daily, to Brighton bi-weekly, and to Cobdon every Monday; the box at the Postofnee closing one hour before the departure of the coach.

At Wanganui Police Court, Dougal and Charles Cameron have been fined £SO each for having an illicit still on their premises at Tarakina.

As an anecdote of the Prince's visit to New Zealand, the following- has appeared in the Wellington Evening Post, and is said to Le substantially correct. An industrious washerwoman of Wellington thought herself fortunate in obtaining the officers' washing; and shortly before the departure of the Galatea, the woman took her washing on board, and applied for payment, the sum being about ,£26. This she didn't get, and the vessel sailed a few hours after. The woman, thinking she would not be done, proceeded to Auckland, and made a personal application to the Prince on board the vessel, and stated her grievance. The Prince interrogated the officers, who demurred to paying, alleging that the linen came on board wet. Ultimately, the woman had to be satisfied with the payment of £l3. The trip to Aucldand cost the woman about £S 10s., so that she loses about £l7 10s. by the transaction. A splendid specimen of water-worn gold and quartz, weighing forty ounces, is reported by the Thames Advertiser to have been brought up by two men from Kennedy's Bay, and sold at the Bank of Australasia. The nugget was crushed and retorted, and will turn out a very handsome yield of twenty-three ounces of gold, more than half the weight of the stone. The men state that they have been prospecting at the Bay and neighbourhood for nearlv nine months, and this is the first good luck they have had. Kennedy Bay is on the East Coast of the North Island, about twenty miles below Cape Colvillo. Messrs Sargood and Co., of Sydney, were defendants in an action tried in the Supremo Court recently, in which Mrs Do Lacy, wife of a tailor, claimed damages for injuries she sustained through the negligence of the defendants, in keeping unguarded a hole in one of the floors of their warehouse. Mrs De Lacy had gone to the store to purchase some goods, and accidentally fell through this hole a distance of fifteen feet, fracturing her collar-bone and breaking two ribs. Her husband claimed £I7OO as compensation, and Mr Sargood proposed to refer the matter to arbitration. This offer was refused, and this action was brought. The jury awarded the plaintiff £750.

A discovery of an extensive deposit of meerschaum clay has been made in a district not more than thirty or forty miles from Auckland. An informant states that there are at least two acres of it, and that its depth is as yet undetermined. By -way of Mauritius we have received intelligence from the Cape to the 31st March. Great excitement has been occasioned by the discovery of an exceedingly valuable diamond near Colesberg. It was found by a Mr Niekerk, who was the finder of, or who brought to notice, the first diamond, which was sold to the Governor for £SOO. That brought in by him now he purchased from a Hottentot or Kafir doctor using it as a charm in his profession. Niekerk gave him 500 sheep, ten head of cattle, and a horse for it. The diamond has been disposed of to Messrs Lilienfeld Brothers for £11,200.