The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY. 29, 1883.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1226, 29 January 1883, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI- WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY. 29, 1883.

It has excited some comment in tho neighboring colonies that while. New Zealand obtained a loan pf one million, the. ipolony Of Victoria was refused a loan of four millions. New Zealand, it i§ true, offered mor.e favorable terms, but on the, other, hand her indebtedness, compared with Victoria, as per .-head .of .population, e%ettsiidt^blony;- SirDfflpirß&lTs veiy able paper on the resources .of this colony, published at an oppor-i tune time, doubtless carried weight with British financiers. ' The protective policy pursued by Victoria has not raised her in the opinion of English capitalists. Qn the other hand, it is plainly manifest that New Zealand has not lost by pursuing an opposite course. When Sir' William Fitzherbert filled the position of Colonial Treasurer in the Weld administration he remarked, while making his finaneia! statement, that' the'" resources of New Zealand were so varied and elastic, that despite what parfcv obtained political power her career was destined to be a prosperous one, Nearly twenty years have elapsed since that prediction was made, Since tl ion the West Coast of this islandlras been settled upon, and its vast mineral resources partially developed. British capitalists have shewn that they have.- faith - in the future of New Zealand, and those who witnessed its foundation, and progress for the past forty-three years . must be alike convinced that, however heavy her present indebtedness may appear to be, it is a burden we shall at a futnre period of our history have little difficulty in removing,

The meeting of the County Council which was to have been held on Friday evening, was adjourned for a week, there not being a quorum of members present at the appointed hour. Immediately after the declaration of the poll on Tuesday night last, or rather on Wedneday morning, the new School Committee met at Cochrane's Hotel, when Mr J. B. Beeche was appointed Chairman, and Mr W. H. Jones, hon. secretary for the current year. The new fire-bell has been hung up, and the old cracked one has been sent to Dunedin for repairs. The new bell weighs 350 ibs, while ita predecessor only weighed 2751ba. The bell gave forth an utterance on Friday afternoon, and its tones caused no disappointment. The only battery return to hand for t]:e past week is that of the Golden Fleeco Extended. Neither the Welcome, Keep-Tt-Dark, or Oiieutal cleaned up on Saturday. although a good deal of rain has fallen at intervals since Saturday last, the atmosphere continues hot and oppressive, but the low readings of the barometer would indicate ijhat we are not remote from* geaeral break up of the weather, j .We leaxn that in reply to theMfcny cdmpUuWinade^regwdiag the discpßtinu-; ance of the daily^mtt'tarvfce on&e Gi'rey-' Reefton road, . the postal authorities in Wellington have stateVt, that the Department will not subsidise the daily servioe, even to the extent of the tolk chargeable for the mail coach, which amounts to 5s per trip. The Duke of Edinburgh is repbrted, according to the latest telegrams, to have accepted a million sterling to surrender hia claim on the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg. Judge Johnston gave a curious piece of information at Timaru a few days ago. Ah Sin, a Chinese witness, being -called upon, his Honor observed that, as "Ah " meant bachelor, or unmarried man, the witness was Bachelor Sin. The Government has decided riot to ippoint a commission to enquire aa to the best route for a railway between the East md West Coasts of tliis island, until. the report of the last commiaaion is publiahed. Sir John Hall once stated that these royal ;ommissions wero a species of political lumbug. We agree with him. Sir William Fox has recently forwarded i paper to the Colonial Institute in Lonlon in which he deplores tho impolicy of he promises made to the Maoris oy the ,I'eiity of Wialangi. There is iv existence

a work published by this old I\ew Zealand statesmen entitled, the "Six Colonies of Now Zoa'and " which take 3 quite an opposite, view. It is notified in the Government Gazette of January 18th', that William S. Muuday ha 3 boon appointed Superintendent Collector of agricultural statistics for the Bullev and luangahua districts. Mr Ings, who is an old West Coast journalist, has retired from the position of sub-editor of the N.Z. Time 3, his position being taken by Mr Greville, who was first introduced into journalism on this Coa3t. An Auckland jury found that Priestly and Mrs Hamilton -were not guilty of the murder of Mr Hamilton. The case excited great interest in Auckland. Mr Wilson, of Westport, has been engaged for some days making a reconnoitroing survey of the country lying between the junction of the Buller and Blackwater;rivers, and Christy's, with the object of ascertaining whether a practical route exists in that direction for a dray road. It has beon long supposed that by following .up the Black water Creek, instead of the Buller, the drayroad between Reefton and Westport could be shortened by cloven miles. This would be an all-important saving, no doubt, bufc it is also said that the .country to be passed through would be of a much more uniform grade, and entirely free from all the influences of either land-slips or floods— an equally important consideration. At all events, Mr Wilson has been sent Out to explore the line, and his report is looked forward to with interest by the business people of Westport, as it also will be by the inhabitants of the Inangahua. At the sitting of the District Court held at Reefton on Tuesday last, Mr. Guinness applied oh behalf of Thomas Davis for a rule nisi for the rectification of the share register of the .Oriental Company; -in respect to one hundred shares which, -it was alleged, had been improperly loir-" fdited by the company. •• He moved on the affidavit of Thomas David, which- s& forth that the shares were bought hi by" thee orapany. " The rule was granted, notice to be given to the company to show cause why it should not be made absolute ; atjthe.next sitting of the. Cpurt at Reefton, His Honor Judge Broad remarked in the course of the hearing that a very strong ruling on the point of forfeiture of shares had been delivered at Home. Forfeited shares in a joint stock concern were put up to auction and bought upby ,a clerk in the. employ of the company, and although the purchaser proved that he bought the shares on his own private account, the snle was set aside upon appeal, the Judges ruling that the purchase by a servant uf a company was void. Mr Cox, of the Geological has been ordered by the Government to explore the country from the Top-house ■to Cannibal Gorge for indications of coal. Mr Cox is now at Top-house ami will examine the country thence to Mataktaka and on to the Maruia and Cannibal Gorge. That' coal exists thereabouts has long been an established fact, for near the Top-house on the overland Nelson road there is a seam several feet thick, and numerous veins of coal have long been exposed near Cannibal Gorge, so that Mr Cox will experience little difficulty on that head. What the quality of the mineral may be, or ita extent, are questions which have yet to be decided, and the present exploration will probably throw some light on the subject. Mr Cox will be absent about a month or six ' weeks, and will return via Reefton. The Willmott Combination Company, arrived la3t evening, the ladies and gentlemen filling two of Mitchell and Campbell's coaches. The company is a very strong one, and far and away the most complete dramatic organisation that has yet visited the West Coast. They have been playing to crowded houses at Hokitika, Kumara, and Greymouth, for nearly two months past, and open in the Oddfellows Hall this evening, for a few nights only. The repertory of the company is a most extensive and varied one, embracing all the latest and most popular gems in the drama, comedy and burlesque, with speciality artists in each line. A company of such undoubted excellence certainly deserves well of the public, and its visit to Reettonisa rather big undertaking, but we feel confident that the measure of support it will receive from the residents will be such as to leave Mr Willraott no reason to regret Mb venture. The West Coa&t Times saya :— A firm in Sydney has secured the sole patent fight for the Colonies of the, Maxim ,m 4 Weaton electric light, and ii i» promoted to form a company to work the patent. A large number of forged bank-notes are in circulation ia Sydney, They are imitations of Bank of New' South . Wales paper money, and are so cleverly executed as to defy deteptioa. . . • The proceedings iii the City of Glasgow Bank liquidation came to .a termination on November 21, and at a meeting at Glasgow it was announced that, in spite of predictions to the contrary, the bank had after all paid 20a in the pound. The solvent shareholders had been called upon to pay £2,750 per £191) almve. The Westport Colliory Co.'s steamer Kawatiro arrived at Westport direct from Glasgow on Thursday. Sihe left Glunack on Oct. 28, putting iiilo Queenstown under stress of weather, and calling at St. Vincent for coal. Sho brings a large quantity of machinery for the collery works. The Kawatiro was built by H. M 'ln tyre and Co., of Paisley, with engines by Fleming and Ferguson of the samo place. The Kawatiro is an iron boat, 28(> tons register, 176 feet in length 2Gfl beam, and 90 horse-power nominal, and should ba able to take between 450 and 500 tuns of coal.

liliigiatvatGs ar? sometimes asked for legal advice on queer points, but seldom is 3uch an extraordinary question put as was laid before, t)r Giles, 11. M., at Kumava, a few days ago. • TheLcase was one of the validity of the Mayoral election, and tho Mayor, I, whoso retnm wa3 di3pate9, informed the Magistrate that he had engased counsel, but had received a telegram from his lawyer that morning to the effect that he ;had overslept himself, and consequently could not appear; and he innocently asked D'r Giles whether in such a case the lawyer ought to be paid. Tho worthy Magistrate naturally demurred to expressing any opinion upon so momentuous a point.