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Westport Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1969, 24 January 1882, Page 2

By the last Otago mail we were placed in possession of a copy of " The Duncdin Chimes Waltz," composed by M. A. Jones, of Dunedin. The music is very creditable if not altogether original, and as a specimen of local industry we trust it. will bo appreciated. An imitation of the chimes tolled from the tower of the Dunedin Town Hall is introduced, and hence the title of the waltz. It having been brought under the notice of the Government that penny duty stamps where affixed to letters posted have been refused by the Post Office officials, arrangements are now being made that peony ooafcage stamps may be used for either postage or for receipt purposes. The Christchurch Press is glad to welcome Mr James Bickerton Fisher, late M.H.R., for the Boiler, who has returned to Christchureh after an absence of some years on the West Coast, and commenced practice as a barrister and solicitor. It is stated in Dunedin that the Otago Daily Times obituary notice of the late l-espocted Judge Chapman was written more than a year ago, and by one who died before the Judge. Strange that the writer of the obituary notice should have predeceased the person whose death he wa-s epmnjenting on. Such a thing is, perhaps, unparallelled in colonial journalism. The tale reminds us of an incident which is said to have occurred in a Lou-

don daily newspaper office some years ago. It is the custom there to have biographies of eminent men prepared, in some instances, years before their decease, and put in type, ready for printing at a moment's notice. In the case under attention an excellent obituary notice of a person who had passed away during the night was published in the next morning's paper. The proprietor was so pleased with the article that he made enquiries for the writer, with intent to congratulate him, and was surprised to hear that he had been in his grave some years. Amongst eight applications for goldmining leases appearing in the last issue of the Lyell Times, are four for areas on Manuka Flat. The gentlemen who are interesting themselves in this matter (says the Times) are all men of large means, who, being thoroughly convinced that the ground is auriferous, have determined upon laying out a portion of their capital in testing its payableness. The first coach in connection with the : regular weekly mail service between Lyell and Nelson arrived at the former place on Tuesday evening last. The coach will arrive from Nelson regularly every Tuesday evening, returning at G. 45 a.m. on Wednesday. In a late issue of the Inangahua Times fourteen applications for leases are published. What Americans call a " boom" in the sharemarket is now on at Reefton, and as a consequence the Receiver of Gold Revenue, the Telegraph Department, and the sharebrokers are benefitting financially. Writing of the unprecedented activity in the market the Times says : The mining excitement continues, and shows no signs whatever of abatement. Every day seems to furnish additional testimony of the importance of the newly found reefs in the Specimen Hill and Imperial mines, and a large amount of business continues to be done in the stock of each company. The rage for mining leases continues, and enormous interests are hourly changing hands. A man named Wm. Hart has been arrested at Kaiapoi for indecently assaulting and brutally ill-using a girl eight years of age. The Grey River Argus's Barrytown correspondent states that a rush took place early on Wednesday morning to the north end of the north lead, towards Roadmen's Terrace. A party has obtained about Bdwts. from 3 or 4 dishes, on a higher level, fifty feet above the present workings. So far as can be judged, the present area is limited, but the lead may finally be found to extend to a greater distance. Considerable excitement was caused. A correspondent of a Christchurch paper telegraphed on the 13th as follows :—"A deputation waited on the Government to-day to urge greater facilities being afforded for the development of the Westport coal trade by the improvement of the harbor and other works. The Premier expressed the cordial sympathy of the Government with the enterprise, and promised to do all that was possible in the desired direction. I understand that probably £2OOO will be expended during the current year in improving Westport harbor. One of the deputation stated that had due facilities been now available they could have secured a contract for the supply of coal to Victoria." It is reported that the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Nelson has approved the laying off by the Government of a township near the hot springs at Hanmer Plains. The intended site, which is on a terrace thirty feet high, with all facilities for drainage and water supply, is an admirable one in every way. An iron girder bridge, estimated to cost about £3OOO, would be wanted at Arthur's ferry. The Thames Advertiser, speaking on the question of the existence of gold in the King country, sa3*s :—" Our informant is an old Taranaki resident, who recently arrived here overland from Stoney River, and having experience of golden quartz in the palmy days of the Caledonian and other rich mines on this field, as well as Victorian knowledge, he is not likely to have been mistaken. He travelled through the King country on a permit, and having heard of the existence of gold in the Tuhua ranges he persuaded the Natives to show him some. He was taken to a spot in the hills, where he saw a quantity of quartz stacked, and on examining it was astonished to find it was thickly studded with rich gold." An exchange states that a bricklayer resident in the suburbs of Dunedin has perfected a machine for the manufacture of gas out of animal carbon. The experiments have been most successful. A patent is applied for. The cost is vastly less than from coal. The members of the Jockey Club met at Gilmer's Hotel on Monday night, Mr Stitt in the chair. Mr Pain reported that the sum of £lO was to the credit of the old Jockey Club, and that a balance of £9 remained from the last races. It was agreed to hold races on St. Patrick's Day. The following committee was appointed, subject to the consent of the gentlemen named : —Messrs Nahr, Pain, Gilmer, Colvin, Roche, Hughes, Stitt, J. Suisted, Corr, Simon, Wright, H. Jones, and Dempsey. Mr Wright was appointed Secretary. A sub-committee was instructed to interview the com-mittee-men nominated, and the meeting then adjourned until next Monday evening. Very good accounts reach us (Reefton Herald) of the newly discovered quartz finds at Cascade Creek. The stone is estimated to show fully 2oz to the ton, with a thickness of 3ft, and it has been traced on the surface for upwards of 500 ft. The discovery is naturally exciting a good deal of attention at Lyell, Westport, and locally. The revival of mining in this locality is attracting outside attention. In ail issue of last week the New Zealand Times wrote: —Mining affairs are still looking up at Westport. We recently published a telegram stating that a quartz reef showing excellent prospects of gold had been struck at the Cascades, a point on the Buller river about ten miles distant from W"estport. The discovery was made by some Lyell prospectors, and we hear now from private sources that the prospects are equal to anything ever yet discovered in the famed Reefton district. Some years ago a party of prospectors were on the ground, though they found many small leaders all showing gold, they were never successful enough to strike the main reef. This has now been done, and the prospects are so good that sharebrok-

ing, long an almost forgotten vocation in Westport, is now in full swing there, the discovery having already incited further prospecting along the supposed line, and consequent speculation. Those who know the district have long predicted that, in addition to the wealth of coal there, gold also exists in abundance, and the new year opens with a chance of this prediction being verified. Alluding to coal, we may mention that the works on the Koranui Coal Company's ground are now approaching completion; another three months at the outside will see coal trains coming down the mountain side on the incline which has been many months in course of construction, and, in view of this speedy consummation of long expectant hopes, shares are held firmly. From private advices we learn that there is a local demand, and prices are hardening. Mr J. R. George, Managing Director of the Koranui Company, Cajrtain Williams, Mr Davidson, and two other members of the Company's Directory, were passengers by the s.s. Grafton, from Wellington. Their visit is made in accordance with a resolution passed at a late meeting of Directors. They come to inspect the progress made with the works at the mine, and to judge for themselves what is required to be done. The party went out to Waimangaroa by the afternoon train, and will likely remain there for a couple of days. The Roman Catholic School Committee are inviting tenders for the erection of a school building in Brougham street. Mr Wm. Hay Dickson, Secretary of the Westport Coal Company, and Mr Twining, Mining Engineer, arrived in Westport per s.s. Merksworth, this morning. Mr P. S. Dempsey, Town and County Clerk, who has been ill for some time past, is still confined to the house. In the meantime the Mayor has employed Mr H. Jones to do some clerical work in the Borough offices which was immediately required. That the Westport Coal Company will be supported as a New Zealand one in this Colony is attested by the fact that during the last few weeks it has booked contracts for over 00,000 tons of coal for the current year's delivery. At Riverton C. R. Martin was committed for trial on a charge of plural voting at the recent election at Wallace. A death that has just occurred at Dillman's Town, is said to have been the result of diptheria. In noticing a concert held recently at Ross, the local journal says, " It is almost needless in us to criticise the various efforts as they all went off totus teres atque rotundas besides Tros Ti/riusre mild mullo discrcmine agitur, therefore we publish the programme, with a few notes." How is that for high ? Mr Phillip Moon, one of the earliest settlers of New Plymouth, died on Sunday, at the age of 80 years. The Herald says that Mr Moon arrived there in the ship Blenheim on the 7th November, 1842, and with the exception of one or two years when he was engaged for a Copper Ore Company in building furnaces for them at Kawau, Auckland, lie has spent the chief portion of his life in New Plymouth. The Melbourne Cricket Club at a late meeting passed a resolution unanimously approving of the proposal received from Hon. John Bligh to bring a team of gentlemen cricketers from England to the colonies next year. A branch of the Irish National Land League has been formed in Greymouth. An unoccupied house at Greymouth, insured for £IOO, was burnt down at 1.30 a.m. on the 13th instant. At the inquest the principal witness was Mrs Patterson, who owned the house. It appeared from her examination that she bought the house about three years ago for £lO. She then expended about £3O upon it in putting it into repair so as to make it habitable. She afterwards insured it for £IOO in the Victoria. Latterly the house had been let to a man named Acres; but he having left it, the house had been standing empty for some time, until Mrs Patterson, determining to again occupy it, put some furniture into it on last Wednesday week. On Thursday last, she took some of her household chattels by hand, and placed them in the house. About ten that night she was on the premises with a lighted candle putting things in order. Before leaving she saw that everything was safe, and then she blow out the light and left. This part of the evidence was corroborated by Constable Casliion who had remarked a light in the house about that hour. Besides the ordinary household effect taken to the house, Mrs Patterson said that a number of trinkets were consumed that she would not take £SO for. An open verdict was returned. A vessel, drawing over 13 feet of water, has been towed up to the Dunedin wharf, and the Dunedinites are jubilant. Some idea of the magnitude of the Timaru harbor works may be gathered from the fact that the Board have just paid £250 for the storage of cement for two months. The members of the Government have, through the Premier, presented MiGeorge Beetham, M.H.R., with a valuable gold watch and chain in appreciation of his valuable services during 1880 and 1881. Mr Beetham was Government "whip." The white pine export trade is being developed. We understood that three brigantines will shortly be laid on for Melbourne. The Gleanor and Darcy Pratt are two of the vessels to arrive here shortly. —Wanganui Herald. Edward Haylock was acquitted at the Kumara Resident Magistrate's Court, of the charge of attempt to shoot with intent a drover named Andrew Curie, the justices being of opinion the case had not been established. A new evening paper is about to be started in Wellington, Mr Hutchison, M.H.R., taking a leading part in the undertaking. Under the heading "An efficient officer," the following paragraph referring to Mr Goodall appears in a recent Taranaki News : —The gentleman in charge of the police came here with the reputation of being a vigilant officer and a genius in conducting his cases in Court. From experience we entirely agree witli those recommendations. His Court duties are discharged with marked ability, and meet with the approval of Bench and Bar. The tide on Saturday was abnormally high, but no damage is reported. Both in the river and along the beach the '

water rose to a height very seldom previously noticed. Some little stir has been caused in quartz-mining circles by the disclosure of the fact that the ground taken up at Mokihinui by the Golden Crown Company turns out to be the property of the old Morning Light Company—Messrs Hassen, Muckle, M'Meekan, and Stitt. It appears that, for three or four years previous to 1878, this party held a lease of the ground, which they were then working, and for which they paid £2 10s per acre rent. In 1878 the Company applied for a reduction of the rent to £l. This the Government agreed to on the understanding that the existing lease should be exchanged for a new one. The second document was sent down, but was not executed until to-day. It will thus be seen that the ground was not open for selection when applied for by the Golden Crown Company. As shares in the Crown have changed hands some inconvenience will result from the peculiar position of affairs. The reef in the property is very highly thought of. The Bank of New Zealand shipped per Grafton, on Friday evening, two boxes of gold, containing 17450zs lOdwts, valued at £0983 4s. The Bank of New South Wales also shipped by the same steamer one box and one bag of gold, containing 1002ozs lOdwts, valued at £4250 Bs. The duty payable to the County Council thereon, £2BO 10s lOd, will be very acceptable at the present time. For the due appreciation of the following paragraph, clipped from the Auckland Free Lance, it is necessary to state that the plant of the Greymouth Star lias seen better days, and "spoils" is the technical name for sheets rendered unfit for publication by accident in the course of printing : —Since the popular proprietor of the Greymouth Star has become M.H.R. we notice a considerable improvement in the get up of that journal. Mr Petrie's printer, has evidently risen to the occasion ; either that or the exchange editor has ceased to send us a copy of his spoils. The Wanganui Herald of January 14th says : —The footrace between E. Webber and J. Gentry (of Blenheim) on Saturday evening on the racecourse was somewhat of a surprise to everybody but pedestrian quid-it unci. 150 yards no doubt is not Webber's favorite distance, but still it was thought that in his present high state of training he could pull off the event. The result, however, was different — Gently appearing to have the race in hand from start to finish and winning very easily by eight yards. Time, 17 seconds. For the future Webber will have few supporters at any distance under a quarter of a mile, though the universal opinion is, to say the least that he could have made a better fight of it than he did on Saturday last. For a considerable time past (says the Ashburton Guardian) ■ there has been a startling decrease, it seems, in the number of marriages contracted in France. This fact has engaged the particular attention of a member of the French Chamber, who proposes to deal with it in a manner which has often been suggested in fun, but which is now proposed in sober earnest. This is to impose a tax on bachelors, and the member of the French Parliament above referred to is actually contemplating the introduction of a Bill providing that every bachelor between the ages of 30 and 35 shall pay to the State a yearly tax of five francs, the sum being doubled immediately he has passed his thirty fifth year and until his fortieth, and increased in proportion as ho advances in life without entering the connubial state, until the yearly tax readies 100 francs. The London Truth is a paper which seems to take a delight in maligning New Zealand. In a recent article this colony is sarcastically described as the gem of the Southern Ocean, which grows more wheat per acre than any country in the world, and lias no market for it, and which rejoices in obligations to the extent of something like £35,000,000, and continues nearly every week to add to its debt. The Sunday Times, a Home paper, is responsible for the following :—Since the revisers completed their work on the New Testament, a manuscript of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark has been discovered in Italy, dating back as far as the fifth century. Its leaves are purple parchment and the writing is in silver ink. There are many illuminations and pictures. It is in every respect a remarkable manuscript. No authoritative statement is made as to the light which would have been shed on the work of the revisers if this manuscript had been discovered a year or two earlier. The following paragraph is going the rounds of the papers : —-About two years ago a Melbourne business man being on a visit to Tasmania, was induced to contribute £lO to assist in prospecting for tin at Ringarooma, in that island. On returning to Melbourne he entered the payment in his cash book, and had forgotten the transaction until March last, when lie was agreeably surprised at receiving a draft for £137 10s, as his first dividend in the Albert Tin Mining Company. Never having heard of the name of the company he was astonished, but coupling it with his £lO investment of eighteen months previously he wrote to Tasmania, and found that the draft was truly the produce of his ten talents, and that his partners had applied £ls to buying him a share in an adjoining claim. Since then he has received regularly £IOO a month from the two interests thus held. A few days ago a trim little yacht sailed into Milford Sound. It is called the Asteroid and is owned and commanded by one (or all) of three jolly young Englishmen who are engaged on a cruise round the world. Tiiey left the Old Country some months ago, and their last port of call before reaching Milford was Hobart. After cruising about the Sounds for a week or two, they will proceed to Dunedin, and afterwards they go further north. An inquiry into the circumstances attending the fire in Broadway, Reefton, on the Oth instant, took place at the Courthouse last week, before Mr Brennan, J. P. After hearing evidence the jury found that there was no evidence to show how the fire had originated, but added as a rider, on the suggestion of the foreman, that the police should take early steps to confine Cameron (who occupied the house where the fire started) as an habitual drunkard. Mr Samuel Morley, writing to the New York Tribune, says :—" I have unaltered faith in the soundness of the Freetrade doctrine, and a firm conviction, as the

result of a somewhat extended visit to various portions of the States, that it will ultimately become the policy of this country. I have been greatly struck everywhere by the evident and growing desire for Freetrade, and am convinced the American manufacturers need no protection. I think, taking into consideration the cost of living, that a laboring man is as well paid in England as in America. I recently helped to return to his native land an English mechanic, who assured me that he could live as well for 40s a week in England as for 60s a week in Philadelphia. The labourer seems to feel the independence of his position more here, but he is fully as independent of his employer in England as here." The llangitikei Advocate states that a Mr A. Stevens has made an interesting and valuable discovery on the shores of Kapiti, consisting of beds of sponge of a quality said to be quite equal to that of the imported article. The Australian Company, recently formed in London to work the trade, has fitted up on board the Sorrento, belonging to Messrs Houlder Brothers, a chamber on an improved principle, capable of holding 500 tons meat—the largest yet made. This Company have been carefully observing the various experiments by other people's experience. It is their intention to have regular consignments sent to the London market, and they mean to see what can be done in the way of giving the consumer the benefit of cheap meat at a far profit to the exporter and the wholesale dealer. The Sorrento \ was to sail for the Colonies either at the end of last year or at the beginning of this. Two other vessels of similar size being fitted up for the same purpose. Madame Lotti Wihnot delivered a farewell lecture last Wednesday night in the Oddfellows' Hall, Christchurch, to a moderate audience, the subject chosen being " One Year's Experience in New Zealand." After the lecture a spiritualistic seance was held. The Press says the " manifestations" were of a mild description. The Waipawa Mail tells the following story, under the title, " Too Good to be Lost" :—ln a town which shall be nameless, but not a thousand miles from the Empire City, where our members take " talking fluid" for their health, and afterwards work it off into Hansard for exercise, there resides a little knot of the elite who are gamblers by sympathy and a liking for the occui>ation of elbow-twisting. Not long ago—quite recently in fact—there was a Mayoral election in this nameless town, and it also came about that two of the knot of " cardists" aforesaid developed into candidates for the Mayoralty. They were, to make a long story short, the only candidates, and one of them had much better chances than the other. The one with the supposed worse chance had the strongest desire to win the election, and he arranged with two others of the gambling f/aw/Iio)i a nice little plot. The three confederates were to persuade the man with the "show" for the election to join them at a quiet "hand" the night before the election came on, and then to go in and "stump" him, "flyblow" him, " clean him out," or whatever term best expresses a desire to reduce a man to his last shilling, and afterwards to offer him his losings back on condition of withdrawing from the contest. The scheme succeeded, so far as the four of them sitting down to play was concerned, but the man who was to have lost was obstinate and lucky, and would persist in winning. After a sitting of eight hours, and when the breakfast bell of the hotel in which they sat rang out for " tucker," the obstinate one rose up a winner to the extent of a few coins over £2ooo—and then went and worked up the Mayoral election and won that also. This little yarn has the merit of being true.