THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1881.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 13 July 1881, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 1881.

We learn from Wellington that the West Coast southwards is to be divided into four electoral districts under 1 the pro* posed new Act. The Arnold river and i the Paparoa range are to separate the Reefton and Greymouth electorates. Totara and Hokitika towns will form an« other district, and the fourth— Kumara, will embrace the remaining area to the Teremakau on the north. We have not learnt what the proportion of represen'a* tion to each will be. The message goes on to say :— " Government will add £500 to move for the abolition, of the gold duty. P\kewill moyi* for a reduction in ihe price of miners rights. £he Native Re* i serves Bill and the Railway Bill are to ba* Woiight down immediately. To night Atkinson will introduce his local government scheme, and a great fight is imminent over it, and it is thought by many that it will bring about a dissolution. Weston and Reeves are to wait upon Ministers in regard to various local matters.' We gather from this and : other sources that the Government have not in any way strengthed their position by the political events of the past ten days. The local government proposals made in tbe Financial Statement have not been received with favor by either side Of the House, and feeling unmis-* takeably preponderates in the direction of a return to something more in the form of the old Provincial system, and it is 1 upon this point, more than likely that an appeal to the country will be rendered necessary.

We understand that beyend the £ for £ subsidy ■which the Government purpose to , grant in aid of constructing tracks on goldfields, they will favorably consider applica* tions for special grants to meet exceptional cases. Mr Weston had a long interview with the Premier and Mr Rolleston on the subject, and gathered as the result of his representations that the Government fully concurred in the work of track-making on ' the goldfields as a means of opening up country and developing now stores of wealth, and would consider money so expended as t well spent in the interests of the Colony 1 generally. Mr Weston took occasion also to f point out the necessity of a bridge over the i Little Grey river, and was able, from his seven | years' experience of coach travelling to fully I represent the need for such a work. Mr f Weston further pointed out that with the bridges now in course of construction between Nelson and Reefton, and Westport ' and here, this bridge over the Little Grey ' would make the line of communication be» tween the places named and Greymouth almost complete in all weather. In view of these representations the Government promised to place a sum of money on the Estimates for the work. It seems that in moving for a Royal Coma mission to inquire into the wants of the goldfields. Mr B. Beeves to somsi extent outran the wishes of the Goldfields members generx 1 ally, Ppon his arrival in Wellington Mr i Weston, agreeably to a promise made to the electors here, at once communicated with the 1 members of the Gold Gelds Committee on the subject, and by common agreement it was arranged that the recommendation for the appointment of the Commission should be made by the Committee, as likely to carry more weight than a motion by an individual member. But Mr Reeves would scorn to have hot concurred in thip, or was anxious to be' first in the field, for upon the next sitting day of the House, to the surprise of the 1 members of the Goldilelds Committee, ho moved the notice of motion already credited to him. ! A number of stamper-shoes, the first pro* i duction of Mr Kilgour's foundry a*; Black's Point, have been turned out, and are pro* nouhced by competent judges to bo all that could be desired. In appearaneo they are quite equal to the imported' urtiolo, and ns they can doubtless be supplied much cheaper than the distant manufacture, Mr Kil^our will no doubt' henceforth supply tho full needs of tho Hold in (.his respect. Arrangeinoiits arc in progress al, tin; fuundry for turning out rnoro cxtoribivc mining o:t.-4in£:'', uritl tho time i* not far distant wlifn " (.".vy yd — (jiiit>i!f: of Iho trsidu " will b : vn-vYv.A. !l:■tl

many other ways bo the meariß ofretaiuing in the district a large amount of capital which now fbws out of it. Up to the present time imported coke has been used for stnel'.ing, but the manufacture of coke from local coal i 3 to be another feature of Mr Kilgour's enterprise. We elsewhere publish a letter signed " Veritas," on the somewhat stale (opic of Mr Bayfeild's lease application. W e give the communication insertion although it is aU together too lengthy. We must, however, exact that in future correspondents shall be brief and to the point. Our columns are open alike to all shades of opinion, but our space is limited. The usu il fortnightly sitting of the Magistrate's and Warden's Courts wi.i be held to.* morrow, commencing at the usual hour. The : business set down for hearing is not important. It is the intention of the residents of Boat* man's to entertain Mr S. Burr at a. public banquet prior to his departure form the district. Mr Barr proceeds to Victoria, and thence to Tasmania. The banquet will probably be held on to-morrow evening. We learn that Mr B. E. Gulline has dei cided to proceed to Tasmania, whi'her bo , many West Coasters are now wending tbeir way. He will leave by the Hero, which I sails from Greymouth about the 20th instant. ! To the Westport Times is due the credit of being the only newspaper on the Weßt Coast that has published the Financial Statement in extenso. It was a rather formidable uni dert9king, filling nearly eight columns, and printed in new type, the Statement is presented in a very readable form. There was some little stir in town last night in regard to fhares in the Golden Point Company, Devil's Creek, and several parcels of shares were eagerly snapped up. It seems that some store was met with in the uprise a dtiy or so ago, and a drill was put into it yesterday afternoon, and upon washing the drillings a very nice prospect of coarse gold was obtained, A sum of £330 was yesterday received from the Government by Mr George Wise as accrued eub-idy to the Low Level Tunnel Corn* pany. Tenders for the driving of a further i section of the tunnel are invited to-duy, and > 'will close on Saturday next . The annual installation of officers of the Eeefton Pacific Lodge ! 6f Masons, was held last evening. The following officers were installed :— W. M., Bro. James Stevenson, 8. W., Bro. Charles Cohen; J. W., Bro. D. L. Cochrane ; Treasurer, Bro. J. I. Aiken. Secretary, Bro. Walter Irving; SID. Bro. 1 Henry Lines; J. D., Bro. Jacob M'Kenny ; ' I. G. Bro. Mark Loikington j Tyler, Bro. E. V. iKirby. Bro. P. M. Budge officiated as installing officer. Later in the evening the brethren sat down to an excellent ban- > quet provided by Bro. Eater. Saturday's Kumara 'Times says -.—Every person purchasing any miuing interest should make the most careful enquiries previous to completing the transaction. A r.:cent de- ; cision iv the Warden's Court, Stafford, is to the effect that a month's abandonment of any mining privilege vithtes the title for ever, al» though it may have passed into other hands and work resumed and carried on continuously. The Wanganui Herald thus refers to Dis- > trict Courts :— The District Court system, i bo far at any rate as Wanganui is concerned, is the most solemn of farces. On Monday 1 next Mr Hardcastle will exchange the usual 1 sober costume in which he adorns the Bench i for a wig, gown and bands, and transmogrify himself from a Magistrate into a full-blown J udge. And for what ? To try a man for , an offence which should have been dealt with in the Court below, and of which the defendant will be found innocent; and to hear an application for discharge in Bank* ' ruptcy, which Mr Woon, or any other Supreme Court Registrar, has full power to deal with. Nor does this end the farce. Thirty-six jurymen ha>e been summoned for 5 Monday next to try the one criminal case and although only twelve of these gentlemen can be utilised, the whole three do?en have to be paid in sums varying from 3s to 5s each. ' The Crown Prosecutor, and the witnesses do not attend for nothing, and it ia a moderate estimate to say that the District Court on Monday next will cost the colony between thirty and forty pounds. It is inevitable that we must come at last to Resident Magistrate's , Courts with enlarged functions aud better ( Judges, and the power to summon juries in certain cases ; with the necessary provisions . that the Judges of which are by no means , overworked, shall sit in Wanganui at least , once a quarter. The Westport Advertiser says : — Since the r abolition of Provinces there has been a remarkable reversion of public opinion. The counfy system is aow admitted to be a failure and tb° time has arrived when we can refer with pleasure to Mr O'Conor's words which perhaps, had more to do with his defeat than ! any other influence, at the election just prior , to Abolition. " A modified form of Provincialism" was, he said, what was' wanted. , But there were no believers in anything , that sayored of provincialism then. Now, , the County system has been tried, and al- , ready its death-knell is Bounded in Parlia- , raent, : The villiage of Menla Park has been lighted by 500 Edison incandescent lamps distributed over an area one mile long by half mile wide surrounding his laboritory and works. These lumps are of 19-candle power and included in a circuit of nearly eighiy miles. The feed current is generated by sine dynorao-electric machines driven by same steam-engine. The lights are screwed on and off as readily as gas ; the extinction of one is said not to effect the others ; and when a lamp fails in any way it can be replaced in a few moments. Three sizes of lomp3 are made by Mr Edison, one of five, one eight, and one of 19 candle power. The current to supply a 16 candle lamp for an hour is stated to require the consumption of two fifths of a i j ound of coal. But a greater economy is expected from the dynamo* electric machine which ia now being constructed- This gigantic generator is designed to fake the place of sixteen smaller Edison tnuu'i'.iurs with a view of saving power. The field vnr.^uelit, of which there tire' three, arc jo' l'r m io-iy ; Mncl the armature, 28' inches ■ '^ ;-■ diameter, is eaid to ■, :■; :■"■.-•:. i ;c vacliiue and motor, a

Porter- Allen engine of 100 horse power, are both mounted on the same ca t-iron bed, like the great Brush machine recently constructed for the admiralty. The electro motive force of the working current from the machine ia given as 140 volts.; and the re B sistance of the armature as 1-200 of an ohm. Such a current is expected to feed 300 incandescent lamps. -'Engineering. The Tuapeka Times says there are 1000 Roman Catholic Maoris in the Province of Wellington. Mr Northcroft, E.M., at Hamilton, has ruled that a husband is not responsible for goods supplied to his wife unless he has given written authority. We understand that Mr E. Kelling, from Ahaura, will succeed Mr Barton as clerk of the Cou'ts in Kumara and Greenstone. A match between Mr J. Bolton's Halfcast and the old West-Coaet horse Septimus for £100 was recently run at Nelson, and easily won be the latter. The population of Canterbury has increased nineteen thousand during the la9t three years. 1 The formation of a penal settlement at Point Elizabeth is likely to be brought up this session. The last link connecting the Weetland Education Board with Hokitika (says the Argus) has .been, rudely snapped as under. Tbe Waipara, which arrived yesterday, brought all the stock of books and stationery belonging to the Board, besides all the office fittings. It is said that the stock of books the Board has in reserve is worth fully £2000. A meeting of the umemployed was held at Wellington last week, on the ground at the back of the Government buildings. It was stated by one of the speakers that nearly 200 men were out of work at Wellington. It was resolved to address a petition to the Government, but to hold another meeting first in order to get as many signatures to it as possible. At the public meeting held at Hokitika on Friday last, it was resolved ' That in view of the sums of public money already expended upon the Hokitika and Grey railway, the Hokitika harbor works, and the Mikonui Water Race, the nonacompletion of which renders such expenditure valueless (save in the case of the harbor works) ; and in view of the great benefits that would accrue to this district, and to the colony generally, from the early completion of the works mentioned, ; meeting strongly urges upon the present Government to immediately take such meass ures as will ensure the early completion of same, so as to retain and increase the population, and to deyelop tbe chief industry of the country.' The amount placed on the Estimates for Educations.! ' Building purposes is £100,000. No doubt' an effort will be made to rr duce this sum, but such effort is not likely to prove successful, for the friends' of the present system muster pretty strong in Parliament. Tbe rate will be distributed, it is saig, on the basis of population, which would mean an allowance of £8675 to the Weetland Central Board, but it is thought probable that a special grant will b 3 given to the West Coast to enable the Board to erect better schools in the outlying districts. — Grey Star. The Regulations of Elections Bill now before the House of Bepresentatives, provides that any persons seeking election to the House of Bepresentatives, must deposite £10 with the returning officer, and if he does not poll one-fifth of the number of votes polled by the candidate who heads the poll the money will be* forfeited. If a member it elected, fop two constituencies, he must elect, within seven days which one he will sit for. On Saturday last (says the Hokitika Times) about 100 sides of leather were discovered in the neighborhood of the Three-mile Tannery, upon tbe land of a person living in the yicinity. Information of the discovery was given to the police, but nothing has yet trans* pired as to the why and wherefore of the S'ngulap deposit. The o^rner of the land denies all knowledge of the matter, and conjecture is busy. It seems clear that the leather has been surreptiously removed from the tannery at various, period?, but that is the only thing that is clear. Okarito is still dull, and to make things worse the bar is closed, and the lagoon is flooding the roads, back sections, and gardens of the township. To reach the township the wayfarer has to pull off boots and socks, tuck his unmentionables up along his knee, and that knee deep along a stoney road under foot. John Lundon is again to the fore. During the discussion in Parliament on tbe Licensing Bill, John pointed out that hotels in some districts were heavily mortgaged, and the proprietors could not afford to pay a license. He had one hotel which he had to pay a man to keep. The House looked sad at this misfortune of their brother politician, and might for his case, Or, at least to have fixed the fee at a very nominal figure ; but when he added, somewhat triumphantly, that he kept up the insurance in the hope that the building might one day be burned down, he lost the ground he had gained, and hilarious laughter succeeded sight and rueful countenances. We are pleased to announce that the two miners whose lives were recently imperilled by the fall of the face in their tunnel claim on tbe banks of the Teremakau River are progressing favorably towards recovery. Thomas Moffat left the Hospital last week, and P. Riley, though he can, of course, owing to broken bones, never regain his former strength, is improving a 9 rapidly as may be expected. — Kumara Times.