The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1882.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1188, 27 October 1882, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1882.

Mails for the Australian Colonies, United Kingdom, per Rotorua close at Bluff, on Friday 27th inst, at noon. The first cricket match of the season will be played in Smith's Paddock, tomorrow afternoon, wickets to bo pitched at 2 o'clock sharp. The whole of the new cricketing material ordered some time ago from Christchurch arrived here on Wednesday last, and will therefore be available for future playing. Players are requested to roll up punctually. j We were yesterday shown some stone taken from the Red Queen Company's lease, Mokihinni, Westport. The pieces on view had been broken from the cap of the reef, one lump being about 41b weigh*, and showed really splendid gold. The gold is not of the paint order, but is to be Been in coarse specks embedded in the eolid stone, and well distributed throughout. The stone being discolored, does not show all the gold it contains, but sufficient of the precious metal can be seen to justify its being estimated at full 2ozs to the ton. The Red Queen comprises two leases, south of the Guiding Star, and the reef, which has been traced ricdit through the ground, shows a thickness on the -surface of 2ft. Such a property ia the Inangahua would undoubtedly command a yery high figure. The speci-

mens, which are in the possession of Mr J Fritz Norman, at Dawson's Hotel, aro to be forwarded to Dunedin, and we strongly recommend those, if any there be, who are at all sceptical as to the value of t! c Mokihinui reefs, to call and inspect them, and judging of the stone as we do by comparison, have no hesitation in predicting a great future for the locality in questiou. The following mining lease applications set down for hearing in the Warden's Csurt, yesterday, were adjourned for survey : Sydney, Richmond, Golden Hope, Beaconsfield, Medea, Gladstone Extended, Geelong, Ada, Admiral Seymour, Gre it Britain, Pcabody, Britannia, Nimrod, Lone Star, Queen of Beauty, Famous, Stella, Cure, New Holland, Meeting of the Waters, Nevis, Sultan, Claremonfc Terrace, Favourite, Golden Monarch, Cuckoo, Fox's Creek, 'loyal Oak, Royal Oak Extended, .Moonlight, St. George, and Surprise. Tho battery manager of the Imperial company, yesterday reported to the directors that the improvement in the appearance of the plates, which was reported in the early part of the week, continues. The clearing up will take place to-morrow. The Adelaide Observer is responsible for the following :— " A lady engaged a raw new servant, who, of course, professed to be worthy of fabulous wages, and had only left her last place because the locality or the society did not suit her. The new Phillis was instructed to prepare a hare for dinner, and an hour afterwards came up in great trouble ' Sure, ma'am, was it to prepare the cratur for dinnerr ye axed me ? Its me arrunis is aching wid picking the baste and sorra a bit clane is it now.' She had been trying to pluck the hare like a fowl ! " An old Victorian colonist, Mr John West, of Essendon, passed away on the 28th ult. Mr West arrived in the colony in 1850, and settled at Essendon, where he commenced business as an agricultural implement maker, being the first to start this industry in Victoria. He made the first colonial iron plough in 1855, and since that time has done much to improve agricultural implements. He was the inventor of tho hayrake and other implements, and was presented with a watch by the farmers of Victoria for the firstnamed invention. Mr West was one of the promoters of the Port Philip Farmers' Society, and always evinced a very strong \ interest in farming industry. In politics jhe was a Liberal. The funeral took place on Saturday last, at the Melbourne Cemetery, and was largely attended. Remarkable quickness of repartee was displayed by an actor of a certain theatre, when some one threw, the head of a goose on tho stage. Advancing to the front the player said : ' ' Gentlemau, if any one among you has lost his head do not be uneasy, for I will restore it at tho conclusion of the performance." The New Zealand Herald in an article headed "Stories of Old New Zealand," gives the following information in regard to the price of provisions, at Auckland in 1841. In regard to the price of provisions, we learn that " Occasionally a few sheep were brought from Sydney, but they were scarcely saleable for the want of enclosures and pasturage, and after a sea voyage they were not in a condition for the butcher. Beef had been also sometimes brought ready slaughtered from the Bay of Islands, but the price placed it beyond the purchase of persons of moderate means. Pork was the only fresh meat generally to be obtained. Fish was plentiful and cheap, supplied by Europeans. T>rice of provisions at Auckland, July 1841 :— Beef (per lb), Is 4d : mutton, Is ; pork, 7d ; flour, 5d ; bread, 7d ; cheese (English), 2s ; butter (Irish), 2s 6d ; tea, 10s ; coffee, 2s 6d ; sugar, (brown), 6d; sugar (refined), Is; rice, 4d; potatoes (per cwt), Bs." Then as regards accommodation : — .'Such was the scarcity of accommodation for new settlers, as well as the demand for labor, that the following are not the highest rates paid at Auckland in September, 1841 : — Rents and lodgings — Wooden houses, unfurnished, two small rooms and kitchen £60 to £80 per annum ; | lodgings, unfurnished, one small room, £1 per week ; board and lodging — board being without malt or spirituous liquors, and lodging a bed in a room with others— £2 per waek." The ruling wages were as follows : — Carpenters, 16s to 20s per day ; brickmakers, 10s ; laborers, 8s ; men servants, £4 per month and board ; maid servants, £36 per annum and board ; boya, 10s per week and board.