THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEB. 4, 1881.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 4 February 1881, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI- WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEB. 4, 1881.

Thompson's Diorama of the American war from the Confederate 'aspect, opened in Dawson's Hall, last night, in the presence of an over-flowing attendance, and ihe exhibition gave unbounded delight. Lieutenant Herman is undoubtedly one of the very best ventriloquist we have seen. On the whole the entertainment is a very enjoyable one, and should not' be missed. There will be a special mid 1 day performance to-morrow, The exhibition will be again" on"view tonight. The underground repairs and improve** ments. which were being carried out in the Just-in« Time mine, have now been com* pleted, and stone is once more being broken down. About thirty tons has already been landed in the paddock, and crushing will commence at the enJ of the present month, when we may hope to sec the dawning of a more prosperous career for the company'. 1 ' •• •' ! ! '■'•* :The reef in the Fiery Cross mine is 4ft. in thickness, and the fall length of the shaft. The lode is well formed, but the etone is heavily charged with antimony. Further particulars will be finished in a subsequent issue. The suspension bridge over the Lp ft -hand Branch on the ; short"' track to Boatman's being no longer safe for traffic, has been dosed to the public, pending the completion of repairs. , Bain clouds have been hanging about Recftan very tantalisingly ' for last forty-eight hourß, but up to the time we write there is no sure prospect of a downpour. Only one short and slight shower fell here during the month of January, and such a long spell of dry weather hove not bef ir experienced for many years. Alluvial mining has been completely stopped through the district for weeks past for the want of water, and the same drawback is now extending to quartz crushing. The next sitting of the Magistrate's and .Warden's Courts will be held on tW 10th inßtatit. There is as yet no business of importance down for hearing. Severallarge bush fires have been raging during the last day dr two to the west of Reefton, and .on Wednesday last the town: was enveloped in smoVe, which acted as an apology for a 'jbotf wind, It was reported yesterday that the fire had destroyed one of tVe bridges On the Grey road, but we have since learnt that the rumor was .without foundation.' We learn that an enterprising resident has in contemplation the erection of public balli3 in Reefton. Probably ho thinks ''that it is time some of the people washed themselves, but at anyrate he ia much taken with tho idea, and will shortly start to' carry it ont. The baths will be in a central position, and be fed by a running stream 1 . * ' A letter has been received from Mr Angus Sutherland, :! o'ated Durban, Natal, South Africa, where he went to on leaving Reefton, and as a number of his friends, both here and in Westport, will bef glad to hear from him, we have beep permitted to raalce the following extracts. ' After referring to private matters, be writes :— " I shall now describe Natal, which 1 only mont.ior,ed cursorily in my former letter, I lite the country better and better every day, the climnte is splendid, nnd a prettier country I never 6av, but I have only seen 12 or 14 miles of it in two different direction^ ' There is no ett'iiv'itio-i *o ep<"'A ' r : 'vr?:'yrt"A%' i? -V'j J!"t,' ■'

original state, with exception of a few bouses hero and there. All thej do hero is to plant orange trees, bananas, and pine-apple traps, and never trouble themselves with them afterwards, bul only just take and eat the fruit in ifs season. I was oat with the boss to his country place about 12 miles from Durban. The place is beautiful with tny amount, of trees, loaded with fruif, but not a potatoe or a cabbage, nor even a goose* berry bush, and such rich soil, which only wants to ba t'lled, but they are too lnzv themselves, and the Kaffirti don't know how to grow vegetables. The only ones grown are raised by Coolies, than whom a elowcr lot does not exist anywhere. The potatoes they have are like marbles in size, The sweet potatoes grow very large, but I don't care much for them. . •. . White labor is at a discount here, but tradesmen are in good demand, especially the building trade. Masons, bricklayers, carpenters, and plasterers, are all very busy jut now— wages ranging from 103 to 13s per day. I itm getting 12s, and if I work a mi'e from the shop the pay is 13s. Board is from 20a to , 30s, even as high as £3 10a, per week, but not as good as in New Zealand, When I came to Durban I had to pay 12s per day till I gofr 1 settled where I am now. Kaffirs^ •na-c^ get from Is fld to 3s per 'day. Monthly niggers get £1 pe* month and their keep, which con sis ts of mealies and Indian corn, which costs from 8s to 109 per month. They do all sorts of work, even to cooking and washing clothe?, bnt nothing well. I have not had a decent shirt since I came to Natal, although I have changed my washer-people four or five times. It would do your heart good to see the motley crowd in every conceivable dress possible to imagine. I am getting used ro it now, but at first I was much amused at their costume. On Sunn days particularly, you would Bee them strut* ting about in every shade and colour ; great big fellows with a girl's .hat on trimmed with ribbons of all description for a head*' dress, the rest consisting of a big sack with a hole for the bpad to go through. It is useless » to describe the endless variety of costume you would see in a walk of a mile, which is about the length of the main street. Durban is situated on a narrow neck of land, the ocean on one Bide, and the bay on the other, and only about 8 or 10 feet 'above the sea level. The place 1 where the nobs live, about a mile and W half from town, is on an elevation of 200 feet above the sea. This is a pretty place, commanding a fine view of the shipping in port, also of the ocean. I intend, to remain in Durban for some time; unless, gold is struck up-country, and a rush takes place. Great mnny parties are out prospecting, but; nothing has been heard from them lately, except that terrible floods, had occurred, re* tarriing operations. The country (Sekukunis) 13 700 or 800 miles from this, and it takes about four months to .get there. Some'-wfo^ gone to Zuiuland to prospect, that is only 200 miles away, so that if they strike gold there, the distance will not be so great. A shipmate has gone to Pretoria, which is the capital of Transvaal, and 480 miles from here, he walked the distance, but you can go up in the post cart for £20, besides £5 or £6 m«re for travelling expenses ; by bullock waggon you can get there for £8, but it tnk6S two months to do tho journey, but that will not ttop people if there h any* thing to bo done in the shape of gold gettint' April is the beginning of the dry season, which is the healthiest,, with cold nights and mornings, sometimes accompanied by frost and snow. Kumouw of good finds are frequently in circulation without any foundation, but if anything reliable occurs, I will write as soon as it is confirmed. The Post says :— " It is alleged by a Bos*ton paper that Miss Imogene, the actress who visited Auckland about a year ago, is the wife of John A. Woodward, who recently relieved the Hub City Treasury of £16,400. • Hef maiden name was Amy Louise Knowlton. Imogene was arrested in Boston ou the 2lst as an accomplice in the defalcation and held in £2500 bail.?' : }> The year 1871 (says the « Pall Mall Budget ") was the year of Greatest railway construction, in thie United States. The total track laid in that year was 7200 miles, or 600 miles a month, the ffreatest length of track being, for reasons of climate, laid in the last half of the year. The present year (1880) seems likely to rival 1871. For the first six months of 1880 the trark lakl ha« been 1900 miles, against 761 miles in 1879, 600 miles in 1878, 618 miles in 1877, 673 miles in 1876, 401 miles in 1875, 675 miles in 1874, and 1408 miles in the inflated year 1878. The mileage, therefore, of the first six months of 1880 is about three times the mileage of any bribe six years 1874 9. There is some doubt as to whether the rowing match between Banian ond Laycock is' really for the, championship of the world dr faot. ? The New York Clipper states that the ! ' articles for a match for 2500d01. a-side the Sportsman's Challenge Cup, and the Championship of England, were signed at the "Sportsman's "office on the 13Mi November, half the Btakes being deposited, but that a iuter telegram stafes than Hnulan objects to have the next race for the Championship of the World take place anywhere else than on Toronto Bay, and that the understanding between tbe principals in the present match is that the title shall not be involved in tbe issue. Election day in San Francisco (writes tbe Herald's correspondent) deserves a word of noticp, as being the very quietest and most orderly day of the yenrr No liquor is allowed to be sold, and as you walk- along the streets there is nothing to be seen except a proup of quiet men at every second corner with a little table on wlrcb lie the election tickets. You wonder where the voting is going on, when a face appears at a small window and you Bee men waiting quietly ond unobtrusively through an opon door, whore ' in a room used for the occasion, t.K> vote; are r'pcovdtfcl. No 'drnsikertd's, no ri-.-t, iio souiifH !

process of celebration. In fact the election law of tlm State is tho best in. the United States and the polling in the different wards is an immense improvements, on the grand housing system. *•■ .. Referring to the oft discussed question of ••What is libel ?■' an English contemporary says j — " Perhaps some journalists who have the fenr of the libel law constantly in mind mny find a uspful hint in the following anecrlnte: In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one Peter Palmer of Lincolns Inn, brought an action against a barrister of th 9 name of Boyce, lor having, with the intention to injure him in hia name and practice said " Peter Palmer is a paltry. lawyer, and hath as much law as a j .ckanapes." It was moved in arrest ihat the words would nofc maintain an action becp.u«e they were not slsnderou3. Had Mr Bcyce said, " Palmer has no more law than a jackaoopes." it had been nctionatle, for then be lessened tbe opinion of his learning. But the words were "he bath as much law as a jackanapes." This was no impeachment of his learning, for every man that hath more law than a jackanapes hath as much. Judge Berkley says ib has been adjudged where a person said of a lawyer that he had as much law a3 a monkey, tha words were not actionable, bedause hiOath as ariuoh law, and T^nQ^^^iai^Jan^^^^ti^^ would have been actionable." Mr Jutice Hawkins decided at the Leeds assize?^ that prisoners may make to the jury a statement of their version of the matter with which they are charged, bnt not upon oath. Mr Justice Lash, who was sitting in tbe nisi ■ prius Court, was consulted on the point, and entirely agreed with the ruling of Mr Justice^ Hawkins. Accordingly, in the case in. which the question arose, the prisoners in the dock made their statement to the jury after the address of their learned counsel. Speaking of a recent running match, the Press soys : — Before the special feature of the evening, a competition, occupjing one hour ; ia performance, took place, being a running match for a silver ettp. In tbis the following well-known peds tpok part :— Webber, Whiting, Pentecost, anJ^agan, the latter an Auckland man, who carried off several trophies at recent popular meetings in Christchurch. A start was made at half-past eight, the competitors all B tasting from scratch. The course was not suited fo thii kind of match, being 'too narrow intthyfirsJpWje, and the corner ' turns w^re e|cl^ingi|^ha>p. rraking it occasionally di^ultt to fesp foot-hold on a spurt. The"p|iUipns ocirtlpiod by the men at starting were|^(^ijer,'V^hiting, Pentecost, B^|an, and rteyjDrdceeded thus for the first mile/ after s*hicß|^e order was slightly changed by S^gatt Overlapping Pentecost. In ; ihe meantim^f^ing Wuek to Webber very pluckily,:.; At; thjS fourth mileFagan passed Webber dowtt*^fie long stretch to the right, shouts off an^lajjfc greeting the spnrt- A .good deal oflpfere'st was manifested in the- : %t'%iorage; k&n it appeared evident that the race lay Webber ard the* Auckland man, but as Bhown later on th's was not so. In the siith mile Pentecost gave out, having. g6rxr $ m'les and 20 laps. He struck his arm violently against a sharp comer of the wall, and being in great pain could not proceed. Some very • pretty manoeuvring between the two first men then took place. Webber passed Fagan tsrice, but tbe latter, on each occasion' immediately regained his position of leader; being, in perfect form k alid as fresh as a daisy. The positions remained unaltered, except that Whiting, though going in good form, lost several laps. Webber fell out after doing 7 miles and 8 laps. When time was called, at the conclusion of the hour Kflgan had done, 8 miles 13 laps, and Whiting 8 miles 5 laps. Mr Edwards then came forward, and having stated the distance accomplished by the winner, presented Fagan with a handsome silver cup. Three cheers were given for Whiting, who ran the hour in company wi h him.