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Westport Times, Volume XV, Issue 1938, 30 September 1881, Page 2

The following is a list of letters lying unclaimed at the local Post Office : Donald Bethune, Frederick Crockford, Richard Hardy, Delia Howard (Miss), Giovanni Porsena, Thomas Sadler, William Richmond. Our Lyell correspondent writes stating that a writ for £2OO has been served upon the United Alpine Company at the instance of the Buller County Council, in connection with the promised contribution towards the construction of the Lyell Creek track. The Company intend to fight it out. One hundred and seventy-five telegraph stations throughout the Colony are now closed to the public on Sundays. The West Coast stations so dealt with are Ahaura, Charleston, Ross, and Lyell. When the Supplementary Estimates were under discussion in the House, a motion to oimt the item, remission of royalty to Westport Colliery Company, £531, was negatived on the voices, and the vote passed. There was no business in the Warden's Court on Tuesday morning. The net proceeds of the recent entertainment by the Lyell Amateur Dramatic and Minstrel Club, in aid of the District Hospital, amount to £ls, which has been forwarded to the Treasurer of the institution. A man named W. Smith, from Lyell, was admitted to the Hospital on Sunday, suffering from a severe rupture, sustained whilst indulging in the exercise of jumping, at Zalatown, a few days since. Owing to pressure of time, Mr Fagg neglected to mention, in his address at the Foresters' gathering, on Tuesday evening, some facts relating to the wealth of the Order. The Courts of Great Britam possess a capital of £3,000,000, and have £45,000 to the credit of their Widows and Orphans Fund. The number of Juvenile members is 45,000, holding a capital of L 48,000. Two more patients (making seven within the past fortnight) were admitted into the Hospital on Wednesday. A man named Phillips, lately working in the Koranui Company's drive at Waimangaroa, and suffering from sickness, was one, and the other is a Terrace miner named Charles Brandes, one of whose legs is broken. He was working in his party's ground sluicing claim at Christmas Terrace, and was engaged removing stones from the face, when one canted the wrong way, and caught Brandes on the leg, breaking it.

The coal and coke export from Greymouth for the last week amounted to 2150 tons, being the largest quantity (the Star says) ever taken away in one week from that port. The Public Works Department is calling for tenders for the supply of sleepers for the Hurunui-Bluff and Branches railway. This contract should provide the opportunity for the institution of a timber export trade from Westport—a matter of great importance to the community. David McGahoy has been acquitted on the charge of the murder of John Bell. The jury that tried the case were :—D. Fitzgerald (foreman), William Close, James Robertson, J. Mo ran, Patrick Kenny, John Smith, Charles M'Glander, Joseph Haddock, James Robinson, John Meares, James Case, Henry Jackson. Mr South prosecuted for the Crown, and Mr Arthur Guinness conducted the case for the prisoner. Judge Richmond presided.

The following telegram from Nelson appears in the Inangahua Herald :—Mr Reeves, M.H.R., denies that he has announced his intention to contest the Buller seat. It is true that he was requested to do so by a large number of electors. He has also received a requisition from Picton to contest that scat, but the probabilities are that he will remain true to his old love and run for the Inangahua. Letters of naturalisation have been issued to Mr Theodore Simon, of Ross. Prorogation of Parliament passed off very tamely on Saturday last. The Council met at noon. There were eight members present, including the Speaker. The Commission was read appointing Sir W. Fitzherberfc, Hon. John Johnston, and Hon. C. J. Pharazyn Commissioners to prorogue. The Acting Speaker and nine members of the Lower House having attended, the Commissioners prorogued Parliament to Thursday, November 24th. Thus ended the Parliamentary session of 1881.

Have you read the new version ? Boston Post. Yes. Have you read the old one ] —Philadelphia News. The Kumara Times reports the death of a gentleman, well-known in Westport, in the following paragraph : —lt is with regret wc announce the death of Mr Alexander Kettles, of the firm of Campbell and Kettles, of Kumara, which took place at Keller's Cafe National Hotel, Hokitika, last week. The deceased caught a severe cold a few weeks ago, which seems never to have left him, and he went from Kumara, purposing to visit Sydney for a change of air. He was well-known and well respected for many good qualities. He was an old resident of the Coast, and the news of his death will be received with much regret by a largo circles of acquaintances. The harbor of Kawhia, which has hitherto been kept closed by the Maoris, is one of the best along the West Coast of the North Island. It contains about 4000 acres, two sides of which are deep water up to the very shores. The bar is not a sand bar, but a solid stone ridge of no great width, channels or entrances through which could be easily made with dynamite. In the middle of the harbor there is an island of some 150 acres in extent, which adds still more to the means of securing shelter for smaller crafts. It is said that on the bar at present there is never less than 20 feet of water at halftide.

A writer in a contemporary, giving a running commentary upon the scenes of the stonewalling epoch, has the following : —" Many are the grins that spread over appreciative faces when Mr Seddon gets up and makes havoc of the Queen's

English—when he declares that pre-hemp-tory borders 'ave been sent by Government on occasions not befitting'—when he announces with vigorous action that his ' 'art boils Iwver within 'im at the wickedness of a bill that must 'arrow the soul of the most 'ardened sinner in the ' ouse' when he gives forth, in thundering voice, ' Hi ham, Sir, I say I ham,' and is suddenly interrupted by a member (for his credit's sake he shall be nameless), who, rising to a point of order, blandly asks if it is competent for the honorable member to introduce bad provisions into the House." The Hon. Captain Fraser, M.L.C., an Otago man, is becoming celebrated for his strong utterances. On the honorarium affair he said in the House, "If any officer in a regiment had acted as Mr Wood had done, he would be drummed out; if a member of a club were equally to blame, he would be expelled; and if it had occurred in the betting ring the defaulter would have been kicked out." The Inangahua Timessays:—The Chinaman who died on Sunday was buried in the Reefton cemetery. About seventy of deceased's countrymen attended and looked veiy attractive with their long white hat-bands, of unbleached calico. The way to the cemetery was strewn with joss-papers, the peculiar punctured marks on which would no doubt puzzle the Devil liimself to make out. Crackers were liberally exploded along the fine of march, to the great delight of a confluent stream of small boys, and to the deep confusion of the other party. Arriving at the grave the body was lowered and covered up. A roast pig or something equally appetising, was then set over the grave, and being decorated round with lighted candles, noxious smelling tapers, and bottles of brandy, the mourners fell to obeisance. This ceremony over, another discharge of fireworks followed, by way of a parting shot at Old Nick, after which brandy and other light refreshments were handed round, and this gave rise to much spontaneous sympathy on the part of the Europeans present for the deceased. The ceremony was then concluded. The Patea Mail of the 21st says:— " We believe that Kemp sent two chiefs to Parihaka, and they conveyed his offer of 500 armed men to help Te Whiti." Up to 4th September 14 persons had died from small-pox in Sydney. It is notorious that the banks are full of money just now. The Union Bank in New Zealand, it is said, holds more than two millions. A N.S.W. paper, noting the subject, says : —The banks abound in money. The deposits are equal to Ll2B of accumulated savings for every family in New South Wales. The last nine wool-clips of the colony were worth fifty millions. The thirty-five million sheep yield two-thirds of the total value of the annual exports; the year's clip is worth ten millions sterling. The land taken up during the last nine was twentyone millon acres. The banks have among them a large number of sheep runs. The big official " bandbox" at Wellington was always thought the biggest wooden building in the world. It seems that it is about to be "capped." The Japanese papers report that a new residence for the Mikado is about being built at Yeddo, which will be entirely of wood, and will cost 1000,000 yen (nearly L 1,120,000. There will be, however, a grand reception hall, in which all grand State ceremonies will be performed, which is to be built partly of tiles and partly of wood, at an estimated cost of 170,00 yen (about L 34,000). Mr John Cross, a member of the Hokitika Borough Council, has been elected Mayor to serve the remainder of the term of office of Mr Learmonth, resigned. The first contract for the new opera house (Auckland), C. Wright's tender, £4775, has been accepted. The total cost will be £7OOO. In China coal is sold at 3d and iron ore at 4d per ton. When machinery is adapted no other nation will be able to compete with them.—Exchange. Commenting upon the present Native troubles, the Wellington correspondent of the Christchurch Times says:—" We seem to be on the verge of war, but still it may be averted ; the future is, however, very doubtful, and the result can scarcely be guessed even. The natives have fenced on Crown Lands, but no arrests have yet been made. The Government is very f orebearing." The Western Star states that gold has been found upon a freehold section in South Riverton, in such quantities, and bearing such an appearance, as to indicate the existence of a reef in the immediate neighborhood. The Auckland boot factories are driving out imported goods. 3500 pairs are made per week.

The volunteer movement in Auckland is apparently declining. At a recent parade one company mustered one private and one officer.

Whatever may be its ultimate effect upon the field, it is beyond dispute that the Chinese are gradually gaining a monopoly of every available water-right in the district, (the Inangahua Times says). All the alluvial gullies in the Inangahua are now almost exclusively in the possession of the Mongolians. The Chinese population of the County now exceeds five hundred, and they hold the priority to nearly every tributary stream in the district. If then there is any evil in Chinese invasion the people here should shortly know something about it. It may be said that much of the ground they are now working would otherwise have remained unproductive for many years to come, but it would appear that the only advantage which has so far attended the opening up of the country by track-making has been to offer greater facilities to the Chinese to obtain a more firm footing in the field. Whether in this respect the game is worth the candle, is an open question.