THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1880.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 7 May 1880, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1880.

The firtt snow of the season was visible on the mountain tops of the Inangahua yester* day morning, and its presence has since been made sufficiently conspicuous by the fall in the temperature, which was yeg'erday, in spite p" the sunshine, of the winte", wintry; A concert in aid of the Irish Relict Fund will be held at Boatman's on Wednesday evening next. Several of the Reefton amateurs have kindly given their services of the occasion. The Just'in«Time Company will finish their crushing and clean up totd^y. A return of 1 oz. par ton is expected. The quality of stone crushed is about 400 tons. We should not for some lime to come hear any complaints of scarcity of work in the Tnangahua, as the number of works now in progress, as well as others shortly to be com* menced should afford employment to every idle man in the district. The Welcome Company are spending a large sum of money in connection with the erection of their battery, and quite a small army of workmen will be employed at the work, which will bfl hurried to completion as fast as possible. The supply of telegraph poles will also emP lo y a good many hands. The Just-in-Time Company alfp. invite tenders for various works, as also do the JfJeece Extended, and the United Alpine Company. The County Council has several contracts ready for letting, besides whioh tenders for the alterations to the Court-house, Eeefton, and bridge over the Inangahua river will shortly be accepted, and these works together will, nc doubt, provide ample employment throughout the winter. There is also the Tunnel Company, which will shortly commence operations. Upon the whole, the amonnt oi work now available opens up a fairly cheerful prospect to the working man. We remind the public of the concert to be held in Dawspn's Hall to»morrow evening, in aid of the Church of England Fund. The programme has been carefully arranged, and as the various items have been diligently re« hearsed, the concert will no doubt prove a great treat. A full and final rehearsal will be held in Dawson's Hall, this evening, at 7 30 o'clock. The Eesident "Engineer for the West Coast, F. W. Martin, E?q., visited Eeefton yesterday, in company with Mr Gordon, C,E. The visH was in connection with the Eeefton bridge and other proposed public works in this County. The resignation of Percy B. Adams, of the Nelson Eifles has been accepted. A special meeting of the County Council was held yesterday for the purpose of dealing with the following matters: — 1. Adoption oi r the yearly balan"e«Bbeet. 2. Consideratior > of the proposal to license hawkers and p<*di > larg. 3. To decide upon the course to pur--1 sue with regard to oil defaulting contractors A resolution was carried adopting the bal , ance sheet. With respect to the licensing o hawkers, the proposal was after considerable discussion negatived. The defaulting contractors question was talked over at some length, but no determination was come to, the prevalent opinion beinj» tbat it did not lay with the Council, in the absence of any communication from the contractors, to take any steps in the matter. The meeting then adjourned. Under these circumstances it would appear that the contractors are to be left to work out their own salvation according to the 1 etter and spirit of the specifications. We regret very much to learn that the Government have really determined Jo abandon t! c proposed pxlension of the Fox» hill railway in the direction of the upper, Buller The reason urged is, of course, that the finances of the Colony do not warrant the Government in proceeding with the work. As the Nelson members assisted to brine the Hall Government into power in the fond hope of getting that pne? work pushed ahead, we pan quite understand the fipry indig. which the adverse announcement has caused in Nelson. The question of course more or less remotely effects us here, but the expectation was al-> ways rather to great for us, and we hav'nt therefore lived much upon it. A correspondent writes to us complaining of what he terms the monstrously exorbitant price charged for butchevs' meat in Eeefton. The letter reached us to late for insertion today, but will be dealt with in our next issue. Tenders will olftse. tocmorrow, at 7 p.m., for the supply of round timber, and carriage of sroods for the Just»in Time Company. Sppc'fieations to be seen at the office and at the battery. An extraordinary occurrence is reported by the Argus to have occurred in Flinders Lane, Melboui < n n , parly on the morning of the 20th. An elderly man was walking quietly along when he saw upon the ground a dark-looking object which excited his curiosity. He picked it up, and was about to examine it, when it suddenly exploded, a portion of it passing right through his hand. He at once nn up to the Melbourne Hospital, and was attended to by Drs Newman and Woinaralsi. It was found that a bullet or some other sub- | stance had passed through the hand, fracturing the metacarpal bone and lacerating the flesh in its transit. The man dropped the weanon wh»n it exploded, and it was not subsequently found, so that the matter is at present inexplicable. The man gave bis name as Alexander EobinsQn, and stated that he had only yesterday been put to work at stonebreaking by the Government. According to the New York Tribune twelve Ute Indians who chanced to yisit Pueblo in Colorado, very nearly paid for a particularly bad dinner with their lives. It sc "-..licH tbit, «"O^ »'tnr 1'..., r 1,.,,} n , /).....'

lately fought ngnmt the American 8 were at the hotel. The place was immediately surrounded by between two and three thousand people, who passed a resolution that the Utes ought to be lynched, This having been decided, the question arose as to the method of executing them, and m-anwhile some boys, hating provided themselves wuh bag* of coal, varied the proceedings by peliing the Indians with all the visour of which they were capable. Fortunately, at this juncture a train cane up at the side of the hotel, and the Indians with a dash ran into pne of the carriages. The engine-driver was equal to the emergency, and, despite • storm of howls and pieces of coal, started the train and saved the XTtes. It is unlikely that these men will return to Pueblo, esper-ially as some five hundred despendoes have gone upon tbe'ir two* with the intention of hanging them if they can find them anywhere out of their reservation. The London Daily Telegraph remarks :— 'Strange stories reach ua from India of the feats performed by a native mestneriser, named Bani, whose magnet power would appear to be found quite irresistible by the lower animals, upon which he exclusively ' exerts it. He gives seances, to which the 1 jiubiio are invited to bring all manner of I f jrocious and untamable wild beasts, and, 1 like the Ancient Mariner, he holds them with his glittering eye. In a few seconds they 1 subside into a condition of cataleptic stiffness, from which they can only be revived by ■ certain * passes ' which lje solemnly ex^cuters f with his right hand- An account of one of i the seances states that a snake in a state '•■ of violent irritation was brought to Buni by ' a menagerie proprietor enclosed in a wooden • cage. When deposited on the platform it • was wrthing and hissing fiercely. Buni bent ■ over the gage, and fixed his eye upon its > occupant, gently waving his hand over the ser- } pent's restless head. In less than a minute ' the snake stretched itself out, stiffened, and 1 lay apparently dead. Bu>i took it up, and ' thrust several needles into its body, but it f gave no sign of life. A few • passes' theD ■ restored it to its former angry activity. Subsequently a savage dog. held in a leash by its i owner, was brought in, and at Buni's command, let loose upon him. As it was rushing i towards him, bristling with fury, he rai-ed his hand, and in a second the fierce brute dropped upon its belly as though stiicken by lightning. It steemed absolutely paralysed by some uaknowa agency, aud was unable to move a muscle until released from the magnetiser's spell by a majestic wave of his hand *' _____ ~—