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Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 741, 24 November 1870, Page 2

The October Suez mail, with detailed news to October 16, and telegraphic advices to Nov. 2, is duo in Melbourne to-day. The Rangitoto was advertised to leave Melbourne for New Zealand ports on Nov. 23, via Hoki tika, and as -far as precedent may serve as a guide, she may be fully expected to bring the mail news. The Malta this month is the P. and O. boat from Gallo, and it is even likely, she being a very fast and powerful boat, that the mails may be delivered in Melbourne on the 23rd. In that ease the Rangitoto would bring on the New Zealand portion. At a meeting of the Race and Sports Comn ittee, held at the Prince of Wales Hotel, on Tuesday, programmes of the races and sports were drawn up, and are now submitted to the public in another column. The Committee had to deal merely with tho funds in hand, and it is probable that after the sale of the booths on Saturday next, the programmes may be somewhat enlarged or some of the stakes or prizes increased. It will be remembered that Mr Jones, in consideration of his draining the ground and otherwise improving the course to the satisfaction of the stewards, was to have the use of the grand stand during the races or receive the sum of £SO. Mr Lempfert, of the Prince of "Wales Hotel, and Mr David Barrie, of German Terrace, offered to pay the Committee £3 3s over the amount asked by Mr Jones, which the Committee accepted. It is expected that there will be a special plate given by the proprietor of the Race Course, but of the name or value we have not yet been informed.

The application of Shields and party of six men for a prospecting claim on the third newly discovered line of reef at the Inangahua, -will be considered at tho Warden's Court, to be held in that locality on the 13th proximo. Tho situation of tho reef is about a quarter of a mile dist.tnt in a direct lino from Kelly's reef at Murray Creek, and about three-quarters of a mile from Anderson's reef at the Inangahua. The reef is about sis feet in thickness and is dipping to the westward. It has a cas-

ipg of soft blue slate und the gold appears to run in veins through the stone, and is coarser than that in Kelly's reef. A prospecting claim has been surveyed for the applicants, and registration for the same will in all likelihood be granted by the Court.

Mr Donne, member of the Nelson Executive, arrived from Charleston yesterday for the purpose of proceeding to the Murray Creek reefs. When there ho will form an opinion as to the relative inerit3 of the Grey and Inangahua Valleys as a line of route to the newly discovered workings at the Murray, and report the same to the Superintendent and Executive. A variety of other matters will also, we understand, engage his attention both in the Builerand Grey Valleys.

All but sixty tons of the four thousand tons of stone, the amount specified in ths contract for the construction of the Buller protective works, have been deposited on the river-bank. The groin has now been formed in the shape it is intended to permanently assume. There was a small flood in the river yesterday, and the effect of the work was found to throw off the current half a chain clear of the bank at all points. The observations were taken at half t'de and low water with corresponding results. What the precise effect of the work will be with a heavy flood yet remains to be seen.

Mr Jones is busily occupied preparing the course for the forthcoming races. The ground is being thoroughly drained and other improvements are in progress.

We learn that Mr V. Wakefield, until recently operator at the Westport Telegraph Station, has been offered, and has accepted, the appointment of Warden's clerk, at the Ahaura, rendered vacant by the recent decease of Mr E. H. Bullen. A second lot of flax from the local mills, consisting of ten tons, is now ready for shipment. The quality of the fibre is good, and the parcel exhibits a care in the dressing which cannot fail to secure for the sample a high figure in the Melbourne market. Some of the unscutched fibre measured fully ten feet.

It is a notable feature in connection with the business of Westport, that despite the complaints of depression, a large number of entirely new buildings have been erected for business purposes, while others formerly contiguous to the beach have been pulled down and, in an improved form, re-erected on more favorable sites. Nearly the whole of the buildings, consumed by the fire in December last, nave been replaced by others, conspicuous among which are the new premises in course of erection for Mr Maofarlane, hotelkcoper, at the corner of Gladstone and Freeman Streets. The building is two stories high, and is of exceedingly neat design. The following names of subscribers to the fund in aid of the injured miner, named Maloney, were omitted from the advertised list:—Rev. T. Walsh, £1 ; P. Sexton, .£1; James Tlnydon, <£l ; Richard Harley, £1 ; Hugh Conway, £1 Is.; P. Monahan, 10s.; P. M'Eutee, IDs.; Charles Kent. 10s. The beach workings in the neighborhood of Brighton and St. Kilda, have been paying very handsomely of late. At Red Jacket's Terrace there are six parties working, one of whom Henry White for some time past has been making from £l2 to £l3 weekly. The large quantities of quicksilver obtained with the gold shows that the richness of the beaches is partially due to the tailings, that have been washed down from the old terrace workings. Between Brighton and Razorback the beaches are moderately payable, but are being worked at great disadvantage, owing to the almost impassable state of the road. The late flood has doone much injury to the approaches to Pox's river; in several places they have been entirely swept away, and the slips on the road sidelings have also rendered communication very difficult and dangerous. It is estimated that a sum spent on repairing the beach road, and extending it, so as to embrace all the beach workings, would be the means of saving as much as L2O per ton in the price of provisions to those working between Razorback and Brighton. This is a matter that deserves the early attention of the government, and is of much importance as affecting the interests of the Brighton people. The latter have at all times advanced their claims moderately and without self-assertion or demonstrati veness, but however praisworthy their patience and forbearance, it is a question whether a firm vindication of the claims of the district would not have been better calculated to awaken the Government to the neglect, under which both miners and townspeople have been long sufFering.

The Rev. Mr Lewis held a farewell service at Caledonia Terrace, on Tuesday evenin". There was a large attendance of the resident population. At the half-yearly meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, held at Auckland on the 26th ult., a dividend at the rate of 10 per cent., with, a bonus of 5s per share, making together 15 per cent., was declared.

The Auckland "Herald" of Nov. 7, supplies the following information about the Thames goldfields :—The yield of gold from the Thames for the past month, as nearly as can be ascertained, was 12,4510zs from 8840 tons quartz, showing an increase of 24520zs over that of the previous month. For August the produce was 13,0030zs from 7750 tons; in September, 10,0290zs from 7302 tons; October, 12,4810zs from 8840 tons; giving a return of 35,5150zs from 23,892 tons for the quarter. The following dividends were declared during the past month:—All Nations, 4s per share, £IOBO ; Dauntless and Sink to Rise, Is per share, £160; Golden Crown, .£lO per share, .£1920; Long Drive, £l, £1200; total, £4380. The Kuranui and Sho£over companies have declared dividends this month of 3s and 2s Cd per share respectively, amounting together to .£4705. A Marlborough paper states that excellent house brooms are now being made in that province from New Zealand flax. The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a form of supplication to Almighty God, praying that the horrors of war in Europe may bo assuaged, and peace restored. It is to be addressed to all the bishops of the Southern Hemisphere, with an earnest hope that they will recommend their people to add this prayer continually to their private and family supplications. The annual cost of public education in the Colony of Victoria is £L 75,000. A Wellington paper states that Sir Chas. Clifford intends paying another visit to New Zealand, aud that he will probably accompany Dr Featherston. A prospector named King returned to Napier on the 15th from Patea, bringing a specimen of black sand, can taming gold. . From an Auckland exchange, we learn that Capt. Jacobs, of the mission schooner Southern Cross, has presented to the Auckland Acclimatization Society a pair of Solomon Island pigeons. Tho birds (cock and hen) are oxtremely large and handsome, and if tho climate suits them will prove a valuable addition to the ornithology'of tho colonv-

A Timaru contemporary of Nov. 12, says : We tiro sorry to learn that on Saturday last the woolshod at Benmore station, belongingto Messrs Campbell and Low, was totally destroyed by fire, together with about thirty bales of wool. An iron building adjoining, used as a wool store, also narrowly escaped destruction, being considerably damaged. A match has been arranged between the Yeomanry Cavalry and the Christchurch Artillery, for eight men a side, with five shots each at 200, 300 and 400 yards, Hythe position, to be fired on the 29th inst. An ingenious contrivance for use in small sailing craft, the invention of Captain Bouman is mentioned in the Hokitika papers. It consists of an appliance for working vessels with a screw, the motive power being obtained by moans of a windmill. The flanges of the mill-sail are constructed of iron, and so formed and arranged that the wind on striking any one of the flanges runs into the others, exercising its force round the whole series. The motive power thus gained is applied in the movement of levers, which work pistons and cranks, which in turn act upon the shaft upon which the screw is to be fixed. The wind-mill can be worked in any wind—even the most adverse, and vessels can be propelled by means of the screw right in the teeth of the very wind from which the power is obtained. A man named Robinson fell dead at Havelock on the evening of the 14th inst. Eight hundred electors met to hear Mr Vogel, at the Mechanics' Institute, in Auckland. The doors and windows had to be opened, and hundreds had to go away owing to want of standing room. The vote of confidence was carried amidst enthusiastic cheers, only five or six hands being hold up in opposition. The telegraph between Patea and New Plymouth is to be commenced forthwith. Dr Russell tells a good story of French wit and Prussian practicality :—There is a great tobacco manufactory in Nancy, on which the Prussians descended wxth irresistible elan. Cigars and tobacco, which they consider a necessary of life, were seized at once, and all that was needed to be done was to carry the treasure off. The director made his bow, took perhaps a pinch of snuff, and said, with a bow, " Apparently M. le Colonel has forgotten something ?" " What ?" " There ■is a quantity of tobacco in leaf which he has not been good enough to notice. Will he not kindly take charge of it ?" "Oh dear no |" said the Prussian, " set to work at once and manufacture it. We will pay the workpeople."

The freshes in the Rakaia river during the recent rains have caused considerable anxiety. The Ellesmere Road Board has already spent about ,£l5O in throwing up embankments of shmgle, which have disappeared.

The total amount collected in Canterbury up to the 3rd inst., in aid of the sufferers by the late fire at Lyttelton, was £1269 Os 6d.

The agitation among the miners regarding the increase of the Chinese on the Otago goldfields continues. It is proposed to memorialise His Honor the Superintendent on the subject. The rate of cartage between Cromwell and the Nevis is from £o bo £6 per ton, while the distance is only 17 miles. A miner, named George Eobertsou, in the employ of Messrs Hales and Hinde, Blue Spur, Otago, has been crushed to death by the fall of a largo block of cement. The "Advertiser" is informed that the Wardenship of the Thames Goldfield has been offered to Mr Hugh H. Lusk, M.P.C. for Parnell, but Major Keddell is spoken of as the most probable successor of Mr Davy.

The Hokitika " Star" states that the rate of wages of the miners at the Brunner coalmine has been reduced, without any corresponding reduction being- made in the price of the coal. A belief having spread that this change was brought about by the action of Mr J. Wilkie, M.P.C., for the district, an effigy has been prepared at Brunnerton, which it is intended to set on fire on the occasion of that gentleman's first visit.

Mr Button, solicitor of Hokitika, has consented to staud his candidature for Ross for the County Council of West land. The sum of £SOO voted by the Provincial Council for a road over the Saddle, which divides the Inangahua and Little Grey water-sheds, was promised by his Honor to be spent, it having been represented that the sum of ,£SOO had been subscribed by the inhabitants of that locality to supplement the Provincial vote. It was on this representation alone, the Government not having had it in view to expend the vote this year, that the sum of £SOO was promised" to be expended. We are since informed that no such sum has been subscribed by the people of the Grey Valley. A. despatch has been telegraphed from the Imperial authorities in London to the Governor of Victoria, enjoining the strictest observance of the neutrality laws. Of Mr G. M. Stephen's " patent gold and diamond cradle amalgamator" the Master of the Sydney Mint says:—"The finest blanket-caught *reef gold' (only visible under a double lens) was repeatedly put through the machine, after being weighed, with tons and half-tons of wash dirt, sometimes with, and often without any mercury, in the Sydney trials and experiments, and and not a grain was lost during seven weeks."

An Auckland telegram states that Shotover and Long Drive shares are rising in the market.