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Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1127, 4 September 1882, Page 2

It is with very great pleasure that we draw the special attention of the cricketers of the district to an advertisement in another column, calling a meeting of those interested in this healthful and national English game, for to-morrow evening at the Southern Cross Hotel. The objects are to fornj a .'flfrib attd'make arrangements i or a cScket TherTSe^i/reSwy^a . i great many excellent performers with the willow and the leather, in the district, and it will be strange, indeed, if a first class club cannot be got together. The difficulty is in obtaining suitable ground but that, we are glad to hear, can be got over, cind if so there should be nothing else in the way. We sincereiy hope that a large muster will attend, and that all possible success may wait on the promoters of this noble pastime. At the Resident Magistrate's Court on Saturday last, John Cockburn was brought up on a variety of charges, the presiding magistrates being Messrs Bowman and Wise, J.Ps. Cockburn was first charged with having been drunk and disorderly on the preceding day, and for this lie was fined 20s, with the alternative of 48 hours' imprisonment. He was then brought up for resisting the police in the execution of his duty, and for this was sentenced to seven day's imprisonment with hard labor. The next offence imputed to him was assaulting the police, for which he was condeirnued to another seven day's» He was lastly charged, under the Vagrant Act with being an habitual drunkard, and the clerk nf the Court called by Sergeant Neville proved that the accused had been fined for drunkenness at that Court i on the 12th December 1881, and on the | 19th of July, and 18th of August this year. The Bench sentenced him to two months imprisonment, in addition to the other convictions, the sentences to the cumulative. Maurice Sullivan who was with Cockburn at the time of the latter's arrest was fined 20s or 48 hours for obstructing Constable Bam ford in the execution of his duty, and was sentenced to seven days imprisonment with hard labor for subsequently kicking that officer. A third party, who was present .at the- arrtst and had been called on in the Queen's name to .assist Bamford, but refused either to aid or fetch assistance was mentioned, and the police instructed to lay an information against him. The court then adjourned. Negotiations which have been pending for some time past botween Mr V. Fama and Mr John McGaffin, for the purchase by the former of M'Qaffin's Hotel, Lyell, were closed on Friday last. Mr Fama enters into possession jn the course of a week or ten d#ys, and may be fully congratulated upon his purchase. The hotel is one of the largest and best appointed establishments on the V\ est Coast. Considerable improvenfents have for some time past been going forward on the ReefUm race-com-se. A tender has been let for filling in all the inequalities round the course, and when this work is cornplated the running ground will be har.rowed and sown with English grass. Better standing ground has also been provided about the Grand Stand, and the sogtsof the latter arc to be raised, so as txi ati'oi-d a a. better view 'to sitters in the lapk ivivs. With the c^cujlont programing

which is to be put forth fur the coining meeting, the Reefton gathering should \ this year eclipat all former ones held oir g the West Coast.. ] Tlie quarterly meeting of the Liconsing i Committee for tlio Licensing district of £ Reeftop, will be held at the Court House, j Reefton, at noon to-day. There is no ; business whatever beyond the receipt of ' the police report, and this chiefly relates , to two houses the proprietors of which ; were ordered to make certain improve- ] ments. These have been effected and ( there is no new cause of complaint. I The quadrille assembly held in Kater's j Hall on Friday evening last, was very wejl attended, .and there is every pro- ' hjipHity that the gatherings will henceforth be held regularly. It is singular how, by degrees, though late in the clay, some of the Viest firms in the colony are waking up to the value of Reefton trade and have set. themselves down to assiduously cultivate it. The latest of note is the Canterbury Foundry, and a representative of that establishment is now in Reefton pushing business. There is no doubt a good opening for competition in this line inasmuch as it is probable, that a very large additional amount of machinery will be brought on the field within the next few months. The Canterbury Foundry bears a high reputation for its work and will no doubt secure a fair Bhare of support. The proprietor announces that he is prepared to supply every kind of work needed on a goldtield, and some of the requirements are . said to be specailities of the firm, we direct ,the attention of our readers to the announcement in another column. An adjourned meeting of the members of the Reefton Jockey Club was held at Mr Bowman's office, on Friday evening last, when there was a full attendance of members. A number of new members were elected as members of the club, and it was decided to increase the number of stewards by two, and upon a ballot being taken Messrs Shepherd and Twohill were | elected. Messrs Caples, Wise, Williams I and Lee were appointed to canvass the district for subscriptions, and Messrs Beilby, Cochrane, Richardson, Twohill, Williams and Potts were elected a subcommittee to prepare a programme, to be submitted to a further meeting of the stewards to be held on Friday evening I next, at the same time and place. The I meeting then adjourned. The following are the amounts spent in the several provincial districts out of loan I from the commencement of the public ! works policy to the 31st of .V'arch, 1882 : —Auckland £2,804,612; Hawke's Bay, £849,606; Wellington, £2,696,409;Taran- ! aki, £066,960 ; Nelson, £953,373 ; Marlborough, £302,978; Canterbury, £3,182, 507 ; V\ estland, £858,811 ; Otago, £4, 892,619; general, £1,897,271. "Total, , £19,037,257. The return was laid before | Parliament recently, on the motion of I M r Montgomery. The.../ New Zealand Times of this 25th inst says: — "The first clalm'Gpbn the Industrial Assurance Branch of the Government Insurance Department was made yesterday. The pai'ents of a deceased i child made application for payment, under a policy recently effected on the child's life. They had paid about 2b 2d only, at the rate of 2d per week, and were entitled to receive £3, which was paid them ; without delay. > j The following curious announcement of i a birth appears in an Invercargill paper ; i " Patterson — At Appleby, on the 30th 1 July, the Svife of Thomas Patterson of i her fourteenth child, a son. To be called i ' William, Prince of Orange.'" : A Mr Alexander, storekeeper, of '. Otakeho, in the Hawera district, was , riding home from a dance one night last i week, when someone challenged him to race. Off they went till they reached a hill leading to the Otakeho bridge, where ,he was shouted to, to pull up. This he would not or could not do and his horse slipping on the wet planks dashed him against the bridge. Death was instantaneous. But the most terrible thing ; was the appearance on the scene of his ; daughter, who had been coming along in j a trap. There lay her father, with whom I she had been merrily chatting but a few j minutes before, dead under the midnight j sky, and the poor girl's anguish could scarce be kept within bounds. Medical assistance was ' obtained, but of no avail, as the skull had been fractured at the base. Messrs Watt and Co. of Dunedin are making two totalisators for a Napier firm. They are the largest yet turned out in the colony, are 10ft x Bft. Their mechanism is also of an improved style, for which a . patent will be taken but. At Putae, near Gisborne, a party of ; Maoris have established a whaling station, i Near there, off Potokakino, on the 21st . ultimo, two boats were out, and one got fast to a whale, which, owing to the • entangling of the line, which was new, and " kinky," pulled the boat completely under water. The crew were reduced to ■ swimming, each on his own account, and , thanks to their ability, suverally, to do , so, and the proximity of the other boat all,, were safely rescued. The boat was under water for half-an-hnur, and was probably towed to a great depth. When recovered it was damaged only by the breaking away of the chocks in the extreme bow. A painful and alarming accident happened in Wellington to a lady who was travelling in a tram car. A large cinder escaped from the funnel of the engine And alighted on her neck. In an instant her clothes caught fire and for the moment she was in imminent danger. Prompt assistance was rendered, however, by a gentleman who happened to be i ft passenger in the same car, and the flames were extinguished. The lady, in addition to being greatly alarmed, re(Cejivetl some rather severe burns.

Tho Evening Post says :— "Two little boys, aged 12 and 14, went into a toy shop in Manners-street, kept by Mrs Phillips, on Saturday evening, and asked for some some pocket-books. They were shown some, and having selected two to their liking, one of tho lads tendered what seemed to be a half-sovereign inpayment. They were given 0s Id in change after which they left. To Mrs Phillips' disgust she aftfcj*wards founds that the fancied half -sovereign was not gold at all, but only a brand new English farthing. Information was given to the police, but the boys have not been seen since.

A bovine monster, known as the Tichborne bullock, has been exhibited in Auckland recently. It was bred at Powerscourt station, in Gippsland, and weighs 32001 b. The owner talks of taking the beast to England for exhibition.

New Zealand ia affording "facts for Darwinians " (writes the scientific correspondent of the Australasian). Trout were only introduced thoro in 1860, from the Thames and streams' in the West of England. Nevertheless, Mr Arthur, a naturalist, states that great structural changes have takfja. place in the meantime. Tim troqlJ^Viiig^ in different streams in New Zealand have assumed local peculiarities of siw, ami oven change of form. Owing doubtless to increased food supply, their .annual increment of weight has risen from li to 2Alb, and one specimen was caught which weighed 201 b.