WEST COAST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 265, 31 May 1878, Page 15

WEST COAST.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Kumara, May, 1878. At the present moment things are very quiet on the West Coast. That reaction, to -which all alluvial diggings are subject, is felt on most of our gold fields, but in no place is this change more perceptible than in Kumara.

Prior to Father Heimebery's arrival amongst vs — a period of six weeks — the hotels were doing a fair trade, but that is a thing of the past, and now you may traverse the streets of Kumara for days, nay, even weeks, and not meet an individual under the influence of the " jolly god." This is the story not only of our town but of every town visited by the reverend gentleman in the course of his Mission on the Coast.

In Greymouth, the number who pledged themselves to total abstinence was five hundred, and in Reefton the number was four hundred and fifty, which was very large when we come to consider its population. If we look npon Father Hennebery's Missions from a wordly point of view, and value them only for the good of which we are cognisant, we are insensibly filled with a spirit of praise and thanksgiving to the Almighty -who has been pleased to make us, His unworthy children, the recipients of His grace, thus enabling us to return once more to the fold of the Good Shepherd. And if the tongue of calumny should ever lead us to entertain anything disparaging of the rev. missionary, one glance at the now happy homes, and a remembrance of what they were, are enough to dispel the haze of slander in which his enemies chooss to represent him, and to show forth his holy and self-denying character as a priest. As I write the good work is in full swing at Ross, a gold mining centre in Father McCaughey's parish, about twenty miles due south from Hokitika. Here, as elsewhere, the local clergy are labouring zealousy in conjunction with Father Hennebery in advancing the good cause ; and, if we may judge of the future from the symptoms of the present, I can safely say, without any claim to be a prophet, that their labours will be crowned with a grand success.

Of Father McCaughey's zeal too much cannot be said. Not satisfied with Laving Missions throughout his own extensive parish, wherever the work of God is to be done there he is to be found a willing and able worker in the vineyard of the Lord. It is exppcted that on Sunday, the 12th inst., the mission will be opened at Waimca, situated about nine miles from Kumara, on the Hokitika Road. After closing this mission, Father Hennebery intends remaining a week the guest of Father McCaughey. During his sojourn he will deliver a lecture, the proceeds to go towards liquidating a debt which remains on the church and presbytery.

Since my last communication the only event of importance was a fire in Kumara, which has laid waste a considerable part of the main street. At about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 4th inst., the inhabitants were aroused by the ringing of the fire bell. On arriving at the scene of the alarm it was found that the flames were issuing from the windows and crevices of Mr. Bulstrode's Club Hotel. In a very short time the fire had also spread to the adjoining buildings, and had it not been for the laudable exertions of the local fire brigade, the beauty of Kumara would have been destroyed There were seven houses burned — the Bank of Australasia, McLean's Store, Mulligan's Drapery Establishment, Club Hotel, Robinson's Scotch Pie House, Foley's Butchery, and Murphy's Boot and Shoe Store. It is satisfactory to learn that all the houses had been insured for nearly the value in the New Zealand and South British Companies, except Mr. Foley's butchery,