Untitled

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 24 January 1881, Page 2

Tbe Welcome Company cleaned up on Saturday last, and lodged 883 oz*. of re orfed gold iv the Baok^ ns the result. Owing to the late hour nt wlrcb Ihn gold reached town, we could not obtain inormationjMi to the number of tons crushed, our full partifultirs wll be furaished in our next issue. Some of the richest stone ever obtained in the field is being taken from the lowest workings,

Mr P Brennon on Saturday last offered at auction the oottage and three sections situated at the corner of Church and Smithstreets. Tho lot was knocked down for £7.6. Mr P. Murphy being the purchaser. A meeting will be held at Capleton 'his evening, for the purpose of drawing up a 1 programme of races to be held there during St. Patriot's holidays. , Mr H. C. Bowman offered at auction on Saturday, the shop and sectiou adjoining Twobill's Hotel, Broadway. The highest bid was £55, at which figure the property was withdrawn. A melancholy accident, which resulted fatally to a fine promising daughter, aged sixfpen months, of Mr P. Be^an 'of the [.Landing, occurred onFrirloy last, and a- great deal of sympathy is felt for the bereaved parents. It. appears that the mother Mrs "Regan had filled a tub with hot water for the purpose of scalding some milt pans in the kitchen, but before doing to her attention was called away elsewhere, and on leaving the kitchen she locked the door to prevent the children from getting into the room,'having also warned them not to enter during her absence. Some of the older children had, however, opened the door and admitted the poor little one, who unnoticed by the sotfcew t tamsed.in^& th&4ji^jwd 9 .*eceirea j such injuries as eventually resulted in tho death of the innocent sufferer. On hearing tli 9 scream the mother niched in. and administered sucli remedies as were at hand* The injuries not appearing serious, hopes were entertained of the recovery of the child, but a relapse having taken place, death en» sued twelve' hours after' the accident. The body was brought to Kecfton on Saturday, and an inquest held by Patrick JJrennan, ! E?q,, J.P., and a jury of 12, when the above facts were elicited. The evidence of Dr. Thorpe was also taken, and a verdict, in nc - cordance with the evidence returned. The funeral, which took niace yesterday afternoon, was largely attended, the school children in mourning forming the principal feature in the procession. The coffin was borne to the cemetery by -four girls, which added to tho I melancholy interest of the proceeding. j We are informed that the slight difference whhh lately existed between the contractors for breaking out quartz, and the United Alpine Company, has been adjusted, . and that sufficieut'ftone is.again forthcoming to keep the mine poing. This will appear to be sup* ported by the fact of the average quantity having been orushed'during last week, when 165 tons were tested, resulting in 302 ouuees of amalgam, the mine looks well and increased returns are anticipated, the amount h likely to be doubled and to continue for years, it could not have been considered an act of too great liberality had the road extension been undertaken and finished solely. with County funds. Our enterprising Lyell friends have all along had just cause of complaint against the neglect of their best interests fby the governing body of the County to whioh they are attached, and to the revenue of which they so materially add their large portion, and it i* to be hoped that with the chnnge in the proprietary of their representative public organ, their wants and requirements will receive better attention. The boat race between Hanlon and Trickett was to have taken place on Saturday afternoon last, but owing probably to yesterday being Sunday, the result did not reach vu, but will come to hand this morning. The Franzini Company opened in Dawson's Hall, on Saturday evening; and were greeted with a full house. The bills do not at all oyerrate the capabilities of the Company, for a more enjoyable entertainment has not been presented to a Reefton audience fo r a long time. Madame Franzini is a perfect wonder upon the bicycle. Bhe performs some really astonishing feats and with ease and gracefulness as to make them quite a marvel. The acrobatic feats, Christy Minstrelsy songs, and other performances of the company are all excellent, and possess the charm of being really new. The choruses from the world' famed Pinafore, are alone an entertainment of themselves. To-night will be the last but one appearance of the company in "Reefton and we can confidently recommend them to public patron iige. The next English and European mail via San Franc'sco will close at the Eeeffcon office on Wednesday, the 28th day of January, at 7 am. Although tenders for the construction of sections of the Nel^on^Reefton road closed on 12ih January, nothing is yet known as to the result of the tendering. It appears as though the G-overnment were determined to lose as much time as possible over the work. Some delay must necessarily take place between the acceptance of tenders and the contractor getting to work, and as we are now approaching well on to the wet season, it might be advisable for the Counfy Chairman here to give the Government a reminder on •the subject.' It appears that the late mail contractor on the Westport road, and the present holders of the contract, have Bettled their differences amicably, so that the travelling public will not have the advantage of tho threatened coach competition on the Grey road. The Westport mail contract, has, we are told bfen transferred to Mr Job Lines, who will resume running on that line. The Bubj -ct. of the appointment of a "Resident Magistrate and Warden for the Irangahun, appears to have quite slipped the notice of the Government. It is now more than eighteen months since the resident Warden was removed to Taranaki, and though the Government subsequently promised to fill the vacancy, no step has yet been taken, There never was a greater need for such aD ap« pointajent than at the present timo. The alluvial population is increasing ; new areas are being almost weekly opened up in the district, ana the annual record of business done through the Warden's offbe here affords the strongest argument in favour of the appointment of v resident officer. Mr Reeves, M.H.R. is, we understand, now in Wellington, and the opporturr'ty is, tnerefo^e, ripe for again bringing the subject under th<: notice of the Government,

i All travellers in the Upper Buller Jistrict unite in pronouncing tho sixteen miles of road up the Matakitalci, as one of the very worst pieces of bush travelling ever seen on the West' Coa*t. The old road ovev the Inangahua saddle is reported to be smooth sailing iv 'comparison with the Matakilaki tracfe, and, up this wretched slough the provisions for about two hundred and fifty to three hundred miners have to be packed. If ever there^waa a part of the colony which cries aloud for the expenditure of a portion of the vote fo^Roada on Goldflelds," it is the one in question, and we are told that the gpldjled o^ the Ufatakitaki could be increased a hundred fold if better communication were opened upi The cligjers are now paying foi' the nect'ssiries of life the same exorbitant charges levied by storekeepers in the infant days of the West Coast. It is the intention of Messrs Mitchell and Canfpbell to carry out their already declared intention of running a daily coach between Givymouth and Reefton, and should the inducement 'be sufficient they will continue doing so. 'They have now supplemented their plant With several now coaches, and the line is perhaps, one of the best running in the colony. ' Provision?^ r 'a " ChildrenV pic-nic in Keefton is &Ji|ynean matter, as may be Been by -tM foitwß^^arWin^wingini fuiinliS 1 ties of stuff consumed|on Thursday last- A " pic-nic," is undoubtedly a misnomer of a •' free pdblic dinner," would perhaps be a more appropriate designation; The- following quantities of eatables were disposed of : — 4O loaves of bread, 801bs of beef, and 601b3 of ham, cut into sandwiches, lOOlbs of dough cake, and ScOlbs of pound cake, 301bs of lollies, 6'bs apples, 201 n8 nuts, 7011>s of sugar (for ginger beer,) 50lbs sugar, lOlbs tea, and 7| gallons of milk, 90 gallons of ginger beer, besides numerous etcetras. The pic-nic com* mittee deserve the fullest praise for the manner in which the whole arrangements were carried out, for in Ihe hands of a committee less energetic an<l Witch ful, of the interests of the children, the affair could not liaye go no off bo successfully. There are interesting rumors (says a Home paper) of a new novel by aq eminent hand ; perhaps a very few weeks will see it in the hands of the public, by whom, no doubt, it will be even more eagerly devoured than his 11 Lothair." It is supposed that one element of interest which " Lothair " possessed will be lacking. It doe? not relate to the events of the present d:iy, and is necessarily dovoid of that direct reference to present-day politics which rendered readable descriptions that were otherwise not a little tedious of aristocratic upholstery, ropes of pearls, an .i other fineries. We may expect sovereigns arid statesmen, emperors and chancellors — n,ot drawn, we may be aure, in any spirit of «n---c.aurtly* realism, "but With the delicate adum» brations with which it is proper for art to treat nature. In any case, tho world will look with lively expectations for these late leaves from a stately tree. An extroardinary 1 phenomenon wns witnessed within the borders of the King County a fewr days ago. Snow full on the Tokanui and Eawau maintains; -and qtr«the Irifjriyingbetween them.'; In Wa memory of middleaged Maoris such, an occurrence has never happened before, even at the coldest season of the year. -It is a fact however, that the temperature during the last few days of December was lower than it had been since May : indeed in some parts of the district, we are assured that a slight frost was experienced last week. . The season is truly a strange one ; of a character calculated to inspire with hope the disciples of Mother Shipton herself. "Stands Scotland where it did, and doeß the wind still incline northwards ?" Interpreted into good English (says the Wellington Times) the foregoing sentence sums up the imprecations which at six o'clock on Tuesday morning, about a score of infuriated persons were heaping upon the locked and bolted front of a certain barber's establishment on Lambton Quay. A guileless, looking youth with nothing on but. a pair of trousers and an apology for a shirt, at last appeared, and as* sured the clamorous claimants that the worthy barber was " missing," and that his wife and family also had sought " fresh fields and pastures ; new." Eight o'clock arrived, and still tbe shop was beseiged. Telegrams began to roll in, and the hot haste of the preparing messenger contrasted sadly t no doubt, with the invigorating coolness of the missing man, as he indulged in the breezes of the South Pacific. Ona telegram from Hokitika waß especially excruciating. " Has your favorite professor really gone, and where ?■" As the sender of this laconic but highly pointed message was a loser of £50, his eagerness was, to say the least, excusable. The jupy empannelled to try Parnell and the others indicated for conspiracy consists of eight Roman Catholics three Protestant and one Q.uuker. Chief Justioe May after reading a slatement justifying liis language respecting the travelers when the application was made to postpone the trials, withdrew from the Bench. Judge Fitsgerald presides with Judge Barry as colleague. The Nelson Mail says :— " The Mount Arthur reefs are beginning to attract a good deal of attention among those interested in minina and it is by no means improbable that ere long a considerable amount of gold will find its way into Nelson from wbat has until lately been looked upon as a sterile and useless district, It is now some time since a reef runns ing from south.west to north-east was disoovered, and samples from it were sent to Wellington for analysis. These having been duly tested. I> Hector reported as follows upon them, under date December 17, 1879 : — By amalgamation, obtained god at tbe rate of 14oz;s sdwts 4jrs per ton. The gold is very fine, and was dispersed throughout the quartz. The sample weighed 17lbs, and the whole of it was crushed and assayed, It appeared to be a fair sample from a valuable reef. At the present moment three claims hare been taken up, the Panama i>t the norlh-east extremity, the Arkdll at the south-west, and the prospector's claim between the two- At the ■ after, four men are engaged iv driving into the reef, and it is intenieJ shortly to registe

a company under the Mining Companies' Act for the purpose of working it. A spare piece of ground between the prospector's and" the Panama claim is also being worked, On the whole the prospects of the district are exceedingly satisfactory. There is a strong reef with a faceexposed six feet in width, which is thoroughly well penetrated with gold from the hanging wall to the foot wall, both of which afford auriferous indications of the most promisiug character. As soon as the reeftt are more thoroughly developed it is in* tended to apply to the G-overment for B 8« tistance to make a track for the conveyance oi the requisite machinery. This will noS be a very expensive business, as the ground te far more easily accessible than were the reefs at tbe Lyell, which are now being worked with such satisfactory results.''