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Westport Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1967, 17 January 1882, Page 2

The improvement ot the means of communication between the seaboard at Mokihinui and the reefs up the river is a matter which calls for immediate attention from the County Gouiicil, now that promise of Government assistance has been given. Apart from the quartz reefs, jfc is reckoned that if the road was made up the river, a distance of 13 miles, some 400 alluvial miners could at once find profitable emplbyment. The monev laid out would soon find its way back into the County coders in the shape of gold duty and other revenue arising

from the development of the auriferous resources of the country. A Mokihinui correspondent senda us a letter, perusal of which shows the great disadvantages and drawbacks which beset men in the heroic work of opening up the country. We will give our correspondent's tale in his own words:—" The reefs are the principal attraction here at present, although there is very little known of them—nothing more than we knew years ago. They require prospecting, which is at present an utter impossibility, owing to the impassable state of the roads in the neighborhood. Although a portion of the road has been under contract for two years, not the slightest attempt has been made to repair it, in the way of removing dead and fallen timber, or clearing slips. A few twigs only have been cut knee high. The main part of the road is composed of big holes and loose boulders. After the traveller escapes the dangers of this road he arrives at the ' chair.' It is a perfect puzzle how the eaid chair bears its own weight. Its condition was the cause of a narrow escape a few months ago, through the line carrying away while a passenger was in the cage. I hope the County Chairman will forward instructions to this locality to cut the whole concern away before any fatal accident occurs. I will do the work gratis if authorised. If a person escapes the road and chair, a still greater danger awaits him, being the platform on the north side of the river. So completely rotten is that platform that it one breathes heavily on it the whole structure vibrates. I would advise that the County Road Overseer be sent up here to attend to these things." Such, then, is the experience of travellers to the reefs, and can it be wondered at that men complain that the prosperity of the district is being seriously retarded ty this state of things. The shareholders in one of the Mokihinui companies have decided to register; others are about to follow. Thus the time has arrived for the County and General Government to undertake road works in the locality. As the correspondent previously mentioned says —" There is very little doubt that Mokihinui will prove a second Lyell after we hare proper roads to enable prospectors to <wr>l.>,.« +U„ ->lo-~ »

Three tenders were received for the erection of an addition to the Girls' School-house, viz.—W. Bull, £1G8; H. H. Lange, £164; J. Marshall, £l5B. The Committee met on Friday evening and accepted Mr Marshall's tender. A meeing of the Golden Crown Quartz Mining Company, Mokihinui, was held on Friday night at Gilmer's Hotel, when it was resolved to at once register the company, and Messrs Jones and Campbell were entrusted with the management of the same. Since the appointment of a Rate Collector by the Borough Council, £l2O have been got in. Summonses are being prepared in the Borough Council office against all persons owing rates. The Hospital Committee met on Friday evening. It was resolved that Mr Poole's salary be reduced to £BO per annum, and that Miss Clyde's remain as at present. Three applications were received for the post of attendant, from D. Cunningham, F. Summers, and Miller, and it was agreed to leave the appointment in thd hands of the Medical Officer. Almost every day, lately, telegrams tell us of ' another fire,' and it would seem as if the mania was upon New Zealand as fierce as during the time of Cyrus Haley and company. Of course (as the Grey Star remarks) all these fires are not the result of mere accident, and point to a depression in trade ; an over-insurance. There is no doubt that the competition among the insurance companies is too keen for the public safety, and it will be well if this matter is dealt with speedily. Mr John Campbell, of the firm of Jones and Campbell, together with several experienced miners, returned yesterday from a visit to tho Mokihinui reefs, from which thoy brought down some splendid stone, which can be seen at the office of the firm. The stone, according to the opinion of experienced miners, has every indication of having come from a very rich reef. The reef shows at present about two feet in thickness, and the stone shows good gold right through. The only drawback to the development of this and other reefs in the district is the want of roads. At present it is as much as a man can do to take himself up there without carrying tucker or anything else. If the County would only open up tho diffrent localities by making, say, an eight foot track to the reefs it would facilitate the transport of not only provisions, but also machinery and thereby open up large auriferous districts to the great advantage of the town of Westport. At present the track is quite impassible for horse traffic and dangerous for footmen, and the chair across the river has been condemned some time ago by the Overseer. [Since the above paragraph was written, we learn that Mr Stitt interviewed the Hon. Mr Rolleston when in Westport on the question of a track to the Mokihinui reefs. Mr Stitt presented a statement in writing showing the necessity for the work, also stating that such an undertaking was beyond the revenues of the County, and that there was no doubt payable quartz reefs existed there. The estimated cost of the track was about £2OOO. Mr Rolleston replied that the Government would be prepared to assist in completing the present track to the reefs as soon as the mining interests of the Mokihinui warranted it. In the representation of this matter to the Minister Mr Stitt received valuable assistance from the member for the district.] A sitting of the District Court, before his Honor Judge Broad, was held yesterday. Thomas Castron was charged with attempting to pass a counterfeit coin at Scanlon's Hotel, on the 2Sth November last. Ms Perkins, Crown Prosecutor, appeared for the Crown ; the prisoner was undefended by counsel. The evidence was substantially the same as that taken in the R.M. Court, and published at the time. The prisoner was sentenced to six

months' imprisonment. In bankruptcy, William Walker's application for discharge was granted. Mr Haselden appeared for the bankrupt. This was all the business. On Wednesday last Mr R. B. Denniston presented each pupil attending the Denniston school wfth a book, purchased at his own cost. The pupils are making satisfactory progress under the care of Miss Elliott. Mr A. Horn, of Westport, has handed us a copyof the half-yearly report and balance sheet of the Welcome tfoldtnining Company, Limited, Reefton. We learn from the document that, since the last halfyearly meeting, there has been crushed at the Company's battery, 21G0 tons of quartz, from which there was obtained BGo4ozs lodwts of gold. During that time there has been paid in dividends the sum of £22,500, equal to 30s per share, after paying off the liabilities then due by the Company. Petitions to the Borough and County Councils are being circulated praying that a means of communication other than the railway line should be provided between Westport and Sergeant's Hill. It is dangerous for travellers, especially young children, to use the line, and they are apt to be treated as trespassers. The Hon. Mr Rolleston and party did not lose any time during their visit to Charleston on Thursday. They left Westport at 6 a. m., and upon arriving at the Totara river the Minister inspected Costello's property, the point at which the tailings enter the stream, and the diggings itself. This was done on foot, and was no light work. Shortly after leaving the Totara the party were met by half-a-dozen horsemen from Charleston who escorted them into the township. The Argyle dam and part of the race were next inspected. Upon returning to town the Minister received several deputations at the Court House. He promised that contracts would be at once made, or day labor employed, for the repair of the small races feeding the Argyle dam. The cost of this work will be about £6OO. A dispute between the leaseholders at the Nine-mile Beach and the Croninville difficulty were also introduced. Mr Rolleston visited the Nine-mile Beach, and left Charleston for Westport at 2.30 p.m. He attended the banquet in the evening, and started for Reefton at G o'clock this morning A special meeting of the Hospital Committee will be held this eveing. Applications for the appointment of attendant will be opened, and the following motion will be considered : —That Miss Clyde's salary be increased to £75 per annum, conditionally that she agrees to all the washing connected with the Hospital. Increase to date from Ist February, 1882. The telegraph wires in operation in New Zealand are 9587 miles long, bringing in a revenue of £83,000. The Colony of Victoria has G578 miles of telegraph wires in operation, yielding a revenue of £85,000 ; New South Wales, 18,689 miles, with a revenue of £84,000. It is stated that the publication of the Melbourne Evening Mail (issued from the Argus office) has caused the proprietor of the Melbourne Age to contemplate issuing a farthing evening paper. In order to supply the necessary change, he proposes sending to England for £IOOO worth of farthings. Richard Owen, formerly of Charleston, has died at Nundley, N.S. W. In future all payments made by School Committees, under the Nelson Education Board, for the carriage of books and school materiel will be refunded by the Board. The Scottish Imperial Insurance Company one of the chief of the Homo offices, has now opened branches in New Zealand under the Melbourne Board. Mr J. Stuart Reid is the general agent for this colony. The Wakatipu on her last trip took two Chinese from this colony to New South Wales. They had to pay £lO each on landing. Coal of good quality has been found in Mohaka, Napier district, but it is so far from town that it is questionable whether it will pay to work it. Reference was recently made to a silver cup presented by Mrs Seddon for competition at the Kumara sports. Writing thereof the Kumara correspondent of a Greymouth paper says:—" The cup arrangement has been much commented on. Of course the Corrupt Practices Prevention Act prevented the member elect from giving the cup for the benefit of his leading supporters, so the difficulty was got over by the presentation being made by Mrs Seddon. The cup has a history of its own to which it is not necessary to refer, but when it is put down as valued at 30 guineas, it is too ridiculous altogether. It is proposed to establish a woollen factory at Ashburton. The Dunedin police are satisfied that the bottle found on the Waikouaiti beach, asking for assistance to a shipwreck, is palpably a hoax. It would be well if the perpetrators of this most stale and idiotic joke could be found and severely punished. The collections in Melbourne recently on Hospital Sunday amounted to £0,600. From a late issue of the Western Star, we clip the following paragraph :—" The handfull of Europeans at Round Hill are being brought into contract with the Chinese question in an uncomfortably prominent manner. It is well-known that a system of organised robbery of tail-races has been in vogue there for some time, and the evil has now reached the climax that to prevent robbery there the miners have to keep strict watch over their claims day and night. It is said that several miners who have had the gold stolen from their tail races, have set a night watch, with firearms in their possession, and to such a pitch has the feeling against the perpetrators of the robberies reached, that we will not be surprised if a fatal issue results at any moment" The following paragraph we clip from the Melbourne Evening Mail: —" E. Trickett, of New South Wales, rowed F. Plaisted, of Boston, on the lGth October, and the Australian won easily. The Han-lan-Ross match fell through, in consequence of Ross not coming to the scratch. Trickett then challenged Hanlan to go on with their match for the championship of the world, but the Canadian positively refused to row the Australian and preferred to go all the way to England to meet Boyd." Business frontages in Reefton have risen immensely in value of late, and jirobably command a higher price at present

than at any time since Reefton has been settled. We (Inangahua Times) understand that the two frontages opposite the office of this paper and adjoining Thomas and Mcßeath's were sold privately, the figure stated being £440, Mr C. Cohen, stationer, being the purchaser. The exact sum collected at Christchurch for the Dutch sailors of the ship Albasswaard is £l3O 19s. Of the ten seamen, nine have shipped from the port, and the remaining man is in the Hospital. Capt. Srhultze and Mr De.Brent, second officer, return to Holland. They are very grateful for the assistance rendered. The Nelson Colonist, stating that the Westport Times of January 10 contains ten applications for goldmining leases in this district, remarks that it is a " healthy sign." The Hon. Mr Rolleston was deputationised at Lyell. The matters submitted had reference to the Buller Road subsidy, Nelson and West Coast main road improvement and the bridges on the same, the Inangahua Junction bridge, Zalatown dray road, New Creek track, Lyell and Mokihinui prospecting track, prospecting votes, appointment of justices of the peace for Lyell, opening of the local telegraph office on Sunday hours and for half-an-hour each evening on week days, accommodation at the Government buildings, and purchase of Pensini's freehold for recreation ground. The replies given to the various questions were (the Times states) of a generally favorable nature. Speaking concerning the question asked him re prospecting Manuka Flat, Mr Rolleston said that an application was already before Government for a prospecting area coverning a portion of the flat. He said Government were prepared to assist prospecting companies in the purchase of rock borers and diamond drills, and one or two instances where assistance had already been extended to companies of the kind were mentioned. The accident to John Whelan, at Lyell, occurred on Wednesday evening. He was going home to his hut from Zalatown, when he fell over a projecting root, se verely bruising his leg. He managed, however, to reach his hut, but the accident did not become known until Thursday evening. As soon as it was reported a large number of willing hands assembled and conveyed the sufferer to Lyell. The survey of the site for the projected bridge at the Inangahua Junction was completed on Monday last. Mr Wilson informs the Lyell paper that the test piles driven have given satisfactory results, showing a fairly solid holding for the heavy piles with which the bridge will be constructed. The position selected is between the Junction of the Inangahua with the Buller and Mr C. MindermaniVs residence, the bridge being taken across at an angle from Courtney's towards the Lyell road. The approaches on the northern side of the Inangahua will form a considerable item in the contract, but the site is considered a most favorable one. We understand that tedners will shortly be called for the work. A telegram from Dunedin informs us that John Dupree, the Dunedin policeman, who was charged a short time since with fowl stealing while on duty, and whose offence was traced home to him by the gory drippings on the pavement from the decapitated birds which John was conveying to his abode, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment. ALyttelton Times correspondent writes : " In making a necessarily hurried and imperfect synopsis of the number of votes polled at the late general election, I put it at about GO, 000. I have since ascertained that the exact number is 73,155, viz, 60,001 for European members, and 4004 for Maori members. Of the European votes, 57,538 were polled by successful candidates, and 35,017 by unsucessful ones. Successful Maori candidates polled 2200 votes ; unsuccessful, 1078. The successful candidates who polled the largest number was Mr Levin, Wellington, 772 ; the lowest, Mr J. E. Brown, St. Albans, 218. The unsuccessful candidate who polled highest was Mr F. Guinness, Greymouth, 053. The Western Maori electorate presents the anomaly of being represented by a member who polled 000 votes, while 1855 were recorded in favor of the other candidates. The only candidate whose successful poll is represented by one figure is Mr Seymour Thorno George, Rodney—4repeated thrice, 444. Mr Young, Coromandel, scored a duck's egg ; and several candidates obtained one, two, or three votes only. At Ashburton, since Saturday (says a Christchurch paper of the 7th) about nine persons have died from dysentery. This disease was very severe last year, and calls for the attention of the sanitary authorities. The Christchurch Telegraph says:— " Another week has gone and still the plains of Canterbury sigli for rain, the grass which ought to feed the cattle is parched and hay-like, containing no nourishment, and of no earthly use. On Tuesday we had a shower which lasted three minutes, it was a novelty and caused some excitement. On Wednesday a gentleman arrived by the 7.35 p.m. train from the West Coast, and casually remarked .as he was preparing to leave the carriage at Christchurch that his coat was not dry. He immediately became an object of curiosity, and in answer to the question as to how his coat became wet, replied that it was by rain at the West Coast. Oh ! favoured laud of the west, would we could twist you round, and change places with you for a month,"