THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MAY 16, 1881.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 16 May 1881, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, MAY 16, 1881.

Mr Lines, the Westport mail contractor, managed to get through to Reefton on Friday eveni|^4lli^OfHng, jßoweve? , to heavy JariHslips, the coach was unable to travel, and the mails were brought thtough on horseback. It is believed that wheel traffic will be stopped on the road for some days. A proposal has, we believe, been made for the amalgamation of the Just-in-Time and Fiery Cross Extended Companies, Boatman's. Meetings of the companies will be held at an early date to discuss tbe proposaL All defaulting County ratepayers are to be sued at the next sitting of the Magistrate's Court, Reefton. Wo understand that the black list is a very long one. The Court will sit on the 19th instant. The inhabitants of Boatman's have at last secured what they have been long fighting for, namely, a separate school district under the Education Act, The first election of committee took place on Monday evening when Messrs Ferris, Boardman, Slowley, MAuley, Billett, Duggafn, and Smith, were returned. Mr Ferris was appointed Chairman, and Mr Boardman, secretary. We believe it is the intention to strengthen the tbutments of tbe Inangahua bridge by two additional sots of piles; The contractors for the formation of the racecourse at Smith's paddock, will have their work completed by the end of the week. We are informed that Mr-Q-. G. FitzGrerald will visit the Grey Valley electorate id the course of the incoming week, for the purpose of addressing the electors. A quoit match for £20 a-side was played on Saturday last in the yard of Cochrane's Hotel, between Mr R. Craig and Mr T. Naj smith. In a match for £10 a»side played by tbe same parties some weeks ago, Mr Naysmith proved the victor, whereupon a second match for a larger stake was arranged, and came off as above. There was a very large attendance, and betting was fraely indulged in, each man having enthusiastic supporters. In the early stage of the game Naysmith managed to obtain a' 'slight lead, which, however, he soon lost, and thence to the finish Craig led. the game at the conclusion standing at Craig, 61, Naysmith, 31. It is likely that another match will grow out of the affair. A general meeting of the members of the Reefton branch of the Irish National Land League was held at Williams' Hotel, jesters day, and was numerously attended. It was mentioned that the branch, numbered eighty members, and was daily increasing. It was staled that during the current week the hon. treasurer of the branch would be in a position to remit a sum of £30 to the Executive of the League in Paris. The report showed that active steps were being taken to extend the roll of membership. The meeting then adjourned. The Gaey coach reached here last night, bringing a full load of passengers.' ' The detention of the coach was caused by a heavy land-slip on the road, about two miles this side of the Twelve •Mile, the obstruction, has however, now been removed. We elsewhere publish Mr E. Master's parting address to his constituents, as also a short exposition from Mr G. G, FitzGerald, who is up to the present time the ouly candi* date in the field for the vacancy. As is usual on such occasious, the names of several persons are mentioned as probable contestants, and amongst tbe number those of Messrs F. Hamilton, A. B. Guinness, and James Kerr, but, so far as we can gather, tbere does not appear to be any ground for these speculations. We fully expected that the writ would have reached us in time for our i issue to-day, but it did not, however, come • |o hand. We understand that the representatives of the late Mr Chancy Burgett have taken the necessary steps to ensure the identification of the body, should it come ashore. There is reason, therefore, to believe that the body has not been amongst any of those already recovered, but eveiy day now will lessen the possibility of identification. The wreck of the Tararua has been sold by and ion, subject to the underwriters claim to the cargo and specie. The Union Company were the purchasers, at £40. Mr Cox. Inspector of Mines, ia on a visit to the luungabua, On the last visit of Mr Hodgson, School Inspector, to Reefton, he at the request of the committeo of the Catholic School, and with the consent of the Nelson Boarql of Education, conduoted an examination of the children, and has since forwarded a written Report, which has been handed to us for publication. Qwhig, however, to pressure upon our space, we are compelled to defer its insertion until Wednesday. The following is the text of the reply received by the Mayor from Sir Arthur Gordon's private, secretary, in answer to the iuvituti:;n sent to his Excellency to visit West*

land by the Borough Council, at the instance of Mr John Cross :— ' la reply to your letter of the 14th March, I am directed by his Excellency to express his reget that he is un« able at this time to visit Hokitika. His Excellency hopes next summer tore-visit the southern part of the colony, and trusts that circumstances may then allow him to see so interesting a portion of New Zealand as is Westland- His Excellency is well assured that whenever he does bo, he will reoeive the welcome which you promise him. and for which he desires me to express his thanks." There are some even in the teetotal ranks who do not look with favor on Sir William Fox's Temperance Lesson Book. At the last meeting of the Marlborough Education Board his circular was discussed with the following result. Mr Connolly proposed that the Board take no action in the matter. He had been a total abstainer himself for a number of years, but he thought it was absurd to expect children to enter into the scientific aspect of the question. Mi Fox, it appeared to him was riding his hobby to death. Mr Ward seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr Thomas Collier, late of Nelson, has started a parchment manufactory in Blenheim. In the Government offices at Wellington alone £600 worth of parchment is used annually, and as Mr Collier can compete with the imported article both in^ulfttyand^pice, there is a chance of his securing a lucrative traie. Thirteen years ago the world was startled to hear that in South Africa large diamonds had been found in Oriqualand West, far and wide the discovery was noised abroad. At once there began a rush to the diamond fields from every part of the globe. An army of speculators, diamond merchants, diggers, and shopkeepers betook themselves with all speed to the spot. The desert of a few months before was changed into a town of daily in* creasing dimensions, and not a few of the early comers made no small gain by their dis* coveries of the precious gems. Let us take a peep at the Kimberley mine in its work-a-day dress. We arrive first of all at an enclosure of nine acres. This was at one time a hill, but now it is a vast pit, apportioned, out in about 400 lots, and excavated to a depth of between 200 and 300 feet. The workers in the pit are chiefly Kaffirs, and jfcheir number is about 3,500. These are employed shovelling the blue earth into metal pans, which when full, are drawn to the top, and carted off some little distance from the mines, where the soil is allowed to lie till the lighter portion is washed away, and the heavier part in which the diamonds are concealed alone re* mains. The top portion, which has been rendered soft and muddy by the rain is examined for any stray diamonds it may contain, and the heavier is then shifted again till all the precious gems are extracted. But the stones of the greatest value are generally discovered in digging in the mine, and as the Kaffirs are many of them very clever thieves, the greatest care and watchfulness have to be exercised 1 to prevent the workmen from stealing them. Yet even when the fullest precaution has been taken a certain pera centage are sure to find their way into the black men's mouths, or are secreted by some other method. If the Kaffirs are djscovere/J in . the possession r of any^gtolefi proper ty-tHey are severely punished, but the temptation to steal is unfortunately often too great for them. About £1 000,000 a year has been paid for labor, so that you may form some idea of the value of the diamonds produced at the Kirn« berley mine. An Exchange says :— There was a queer scene at one of the churohes recently. Il seems that during the past week the seats had been newly varnished and somehow the var* nish was not rightly dry, it was terribly sticky. You know when you pull anything off stickey varnish that it cracks. Well, the audienoe had all got seated, when the minister got up to givo out the hymn, and as the basement of his trousers left loose of the varnish of his chair there was a noise like killing a fly on the wall with a palm leaf fan. The .minister looked around at the chair to see V he was all present and that no guilty man's pants had escaped and read the hymn. The choir rose with a sound of revelry, and after the tenor had swallowed a lozenge and the bass had coughed up a piece of a frog, and the alto had hemmed, and the soprano had shook out her polonaise to see if the varnish showed on the south ride, then the audience began to rise. One or two got up first, with sounds like picket firing in the distance on the eve of battle, and then a few more got up, and the rattling of the unyielding varnish sounded as though the fight becoming more animated, and then the whole andience got on its feet at on.cc with a sound of rattling musketry. The choir sang, 'Hold the Fort.' the orchestra had concluded the people sat down gingerly, the services short, and all went home praying for the man that painted the seats. It is estimated that, at the first colonisation ot the colony now called Victoria, the aborigines numbered 5000. When the colony was separated from New South Wales, the number was officially stated to be 2693. In 1877,. the Central Board for the protection of the aborigines took a census by means of which they ascertained that the aboiiginal population had become reduced to 1067, of whom 63.3 were males and 434 were females j the adults numbered 770, and the children 297 ; those entirely black numbered 774, and those of mixed blood 293 — Acsording to an estimate made in ihe Department of Mines, the gold mining population in Victoria numbered at the end of 1879, 37,533 ; of these 14,784 were engaged in quarlz, and 22,769 in alluvial workings j 28,433 were Europeans, and 9110 were Chinese. Tho followers of this occupation in 1869 are estimated to have amounted to 63,787, and siuce then they have been gradually falling off in numbers. —The Melbourne branch of the Bojal Mict was establi-hed in 1872. From the time of its opening to the end of 1879, 3,385,6550zs of gold had been received thereat, valued at £13,495.328. Gold is issued from the Mint as coin or as bullion. The former, with the exception of 160,000 half-sovereigns! ia 1873, and 80,000 in 1877, has consisted entirely of

Sovereigns, which have numbered 13,283,000. She bullion issued has amounted to 23,158 |zs, valued at £87,539.— The gold raised in Victoria during 1879 amounted to 758,9470z5, as against 775,2720zs in the previous year. Since the firßt discovery of the Tictorian goldfielda in the middle of 1851, the total quantity of gold recorded aa having been raised therefrom is 48,817,5960z«, og* gregatevulue at. £4 per oz of £195,270,384, These figures give an average per annum during the period of about 1,700,0000z8., which is more than twice the quantity raised in 1879. A writer in the South African is not complimentary to New Zealand legislators. He says :— ' The French Reform Bill proposes to re-establish « scrutin de liste ' for • scrutin d 1 arrondisement.' Under the latter system, which gives one deputy to each arrondisea ment, and another for every additional 100, 000 inhabitants, none but local candidates have much chance of success. Under the former, which gives deputies to ewh depart* raent in proportion to its population, and each elector as many votes as there are seats to be filled, it is argued by M. Garobetta that the local candidates would be nowhere. The contest would turn upon questions of national importance, as the electors of a whole de« partmeut would know nothing of the particular affairs of the several arrondisenienta, ~*^\h^6iore "llicy* wTfulJ4oof^ufloi l Tne^^f public character and reputation. The Bill is not likely to find favour with the local doctors, lawyers* and editors, of whom there are many in the Chamber. This system should be tried in New Zealand, where, more than anywhere else, perhaps, representatives are men delegates, whose seats depend upon their success in obtaining public money for local jobbery. Hence the enormous debt under which New Zealand has in vain striven for nearly three years to get upon her legs again. Abolish small constituencies, says the Bepublique Francaise, which will never be persuaded but that the mission of their deputy is to be their champion against the State. Members of Parliament in New Zealand do not go ' against the State 'in thai sense ; but plundering ,the Treasury and spending money lent for other purposes, on mere local enterprises, is also * against the State.' Speaking of the preparations for taking the census iv Victoria, on April 3, the Age says : —The necessary papers for the census to be taken to-morrow have been distributed by a special staff of about 2000 sub-enumerators at eyery habitation throughout the colony. Already 260,000 forms have been put in cira culation by Mr Hayter, and 20,000 additional copies are held in reserve. "'pemanda for additional forms are hourly reaching the Government Statist's office. The PostmasterGeneral has consented to provide a special delivery on Saturday of all letters addressed to Mr Hayter, in order that no time be lost in supplying applications for more forms. All telegraph offices will also be kept open on Sunday morning between ten and eleven o'clock, for the same purpose. A request has been made by Mr Dayter to postpone the excursion trains to Melbourne on the Northeastern lines until next week, in order that the population of the townships along the line tpigb* be accurately ascertained on Sunday, The Minister of Railways has, however, declined to disturb existing arrangements, because too many tickets have already been issued to excursionists. It is expected that the first.' luminary of the census return will be ready by the [10th of next month. Attention is directed to 'an advertisement in another column, in which {the Government Statist requests that all cases of neglect on the part of the census collectors may be reported to him, and mentions 'that letters addressed to the Government Statist, Mel* bourne, are delivered free of postage if endorsed with the word " Census,"