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Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1259, 16 April 1883, Page 2

Mr E. Wakeneld reached Timaru yesterday evening, and expects to leave again for Reefton in the course of a week or ten days. . A reward of £3 is elsewhere offered for the recovery of the body of the Chinamen whujh wai're.movedjr^ijijthe fiemetery on Saturday; bight. ' . . [ Mr E. ;Shaw, one of the candidates for the Inangahua Beat, reached Reefton on Friday evening last, by coach from Nelson, 'jjtod on Saturday evening adfellow's Mr. W*;M 'Lean reached Reefton from Welling^i wither.' E. Shaw on Friday evening laßt. We are not aware whether it is Mr.. Af 'Lean's intention to press his candidature for the Inangahua seat, but it is rumored that he will retire in favor of one of the other candidates. A most sensational telegram reaches us from Westport. It is therein stated that the newly-appointed manager of the Great Republic Company reports, that stone has been struck in the mine, which will yield a pound weight of gold per ton, and that the reef is said to be of extraordinary thickness.* »■'■' Mr Wakefield's election committees are now actively at work in almost every centre throughout the electorate. The Reefton, committee will meet on Wednesday evehiilLg'next, at a time and place to be fixed. T All outside committees are invited to "6pen communication with the Reefton committee. Mr Bowman submitted* to auction on Saturday last, the remaining . portion of the stock of boots and shoes in the estate of Mr W. J. Shaw. The attendance was very, large :but" prices ran-' rather low, owing to tfte sizes. being jrather too small for the average adult. The Chinese, however, went in heavy the sizes and prices just suiting them. We have, been asked by the Chinese storekeepers aC the rear of Jacobson's j Hotel to call the attention of the police to the nuisance to which they are nightly exposed by^ boys ithrbwing stones' on their roof. Reefton is fast becoming a perfect hotbed of larsikiiiisnvand .there are many others besides the Chinese who have reasonabgrcaute dEflomplainTih UHs feapect. It certainly behoves parents and' the police alike to do something to check the . evil. Mr R. ■"B;' Bfcck for some years past teller at the ; National Bank, Rd^fton, has been appointe<J]manager of the National Bank, Tapanui, and left for his new sphere' of actwn this morning. While greatly regretting Mr Black's departure from Reefton; the public here will learn with pleasUfe of his well deserved promotion. In Kirn, the institution has undoubtedly a most worthy and estimable officer, whose advancement will always l>e heard of with pleasure, by his many Beefton friends. Under section 14 ♦of the 1 "Licensing Act Antdndmeht," applicants lot renewals of publicans Kcenses are hot required to advertise theft 'applications; The following Is the wording of the Act on the subject:— All persons applying for the renewal of a license, shall conform with the requirements of section £6 of the said "Act, as if the application were for an original license,, except as in the said section mentioned, and excepting also that it shall not.be necessary to advertise such applications in the ■newspapers, as is required in the said" section. The following reply has been received from the secretary of the Central Board of Education, Nelson, to the memorial signed hy.209 parents and householders of Reefton, praying for a full and careful investigation into the charges preferred by the local School Committee, against Mr R. Chattock. Education Office, Nelson, April 10th, 1883. Sir.— ln answer to the memorial forwarded by you [ to the Education Board on the 23rd of February, v asking that the Board would cause a thorough investigation to be made into the charges preferred against Mr Chattock, by the Reefton School Committee, I beg ij<v hand you copy .of resolution passed by the Board on the. subject at its recent nie'eting. I have the honor to be, SivYour Obedient Servant, Stead EiiiS, Secretary. Resolution. above referred t0. 4-" That in reply to the petition from, Reefton householders, asking that an inquiry be held as to the charges laid against Mr Chattock; the petitioners be informed, that such charges had not been substantiated." -True copy, Stead Ellis, Secretary.. A large party of Chinese were engaged in the Reefton Cemetery on Saturday disinterring the bodies of their departed countrymeii. Soifue five or six Chinese grave* had ty> be re-opened, and up to noon five of the bodies had been transferred to the zinc shells provided for their reception, and the whole work will probably be completed by .to-night. The shells will be placed in irough coffins and conveyed to Greyinoutty and thence on to Dunedin for shipment to Canton. In some cases the graves were found to contain nothing but a few of the larger bones of the body, the whole of the inferior ones having returned to dust. A good many Europeans were

in attendance and watched the proceedings closely, interest apparently centered upon the coffin of a Chinaman who was buried about a month ago, there being some curiosity to known how the corpse would look. As soon as the new-looking coffin was brought to grass the spectators gathered round for a favourable glympse and one of the resurrectionists drove in a chisel and raised the lid. The odour which escaped soon cured their curiosity, ' and in about two seconds there was 1 nuta 1 European -left in the cemete y. . The Chinese resurrectionists themselves, however, went about the business with the utmost unconcern, and the solitary Englishman engaged in soldering up the shells, pulled away composedly at his pipe, just as though he could'nt wish for any better occupation. A most dastardly inhuman act was committed by some person or persons unknown during Saturday night last. It seems that the Chinese resurrectiqni^|Qn > Saturday lasyaised fiv&bodies of their , cpuntrymen 'from the Reefton Cemetery, | and having enclosed them in rough coffins ; left them there until the following day when they were to be removed to. Greymouth. Durinjt the night, however, one of the coffins, ffiie lightest of theHttomberwas surreptitiously removed. The coffin was missed shortly after daylight yesterday morning, and word having been conveyed to the Chinese, they soon mustered at the cemetery in strong force, and commenced a diligent search, but up to nine o'clock failed to find the least trace of the missing coffin. Information was then conveyed to the police, -and Constable Kelso was at once told off to direct a systematic search of the bush surrounding' the cemetery. The search was kept up all day by the police, assisted by some hundreds of Chinamen and Europeans, but no clue whatever could be found. The country round the cemetery is covered with fern from 4ft.' to 6ft.. high, and is blocked .in all directions by fallen timber, so that the search was very' tedious. Towards evening the task wity given up as hopeless, and the remaining' four coffins having 'been placed on a dray; the procession left for town It is the general impression that the body wm,removed by jsome larrikins as " a lark," and the police are in possession of information which rather : favors this view. Others believe that the body was snatched for the purpose of "duffing" a few pounds 'but of the surviving relatives and countrymen. In either case the crime is none' the less heinous, and the heartless perpetrators merit the most exemplary punishment,. , The, affair created quite a sensation in tow.n yesterday,- and] people nocked to •the cemetery in hundreds. \ : ■•: • In the "Court and Fashion Notes.?; of the European Mail the foljo>ing item re? garding the recent sojourn of the Prince of Wales at Cannes pectins . :— ♦' The, only drawback to HU Royal Highness's unal-' loyed enjoyment j was the deafchiof bur favourite' Chinese dog, who wasiuriedrin the pretty garden of 'the Hotel Pavlllion." Readers will join with us in wondering why Reuter failed to forward full par-, ticufarg «i the incident; ' Through ' his' neglect sbine people have been^eprived 1 of a splendid opportunity for. the despatch of telegrams of condolence. But. perhaps it's not too lafe yet. At Wellington, Mr Jacob Joseph, the well-known merchant,, was- assessed on sixteen properties, at £60,610, whereas Mr Joseph had assessed them in his Property Tax return as being worth £44,000, and he therefore appeared before the Reviewers to claim a reduction of £14,710 on the whole.' Mr Bell, representing the Property Tax department, elected to take over two of Mr Joseph's properties at, the. official valuations.' T6 this Mr Joseph declined to agree, ahd preferred to keep his properties and withdraw his objections. Another such a case was a property in' Manners street, belonging- to the trustees of the late Wl W Rhodes, valued officially at £6500. Mr Brandon, for the trustees, contended that as the property had been sold for £3500, that should be taken as its present value. Mr Bell, for the Department, thereupon elected to take over the property at the official valuation. Mr Brandon afterwards agreed with the official valuation, rather than part with the property. . , The most w6nderfut race on record (says an ' exchange); was that between Messenger and Beach the other day in Australian waters. Largan the English sculler, was also in the race,' but had his boat cut in two by a 14ft open sailing boat shortly before, the start. He, however, started in a borrowed feutrigge^r, but retired after going; SQflMj' yards. JThe weather was very rough, and after changing places repeatedly, Messenger, who waa leading, had his boat burst open and Bwamped'forward by a sea, the after part sticking up in the air about three feet! Beach, who had broken his slide, and was pulling on a fixed seat, then shot up ahd yelled out, "I've beaten you now." Messenger was, of course, .inclined to give 1 in, but the. people on the steamer, yel'ed at him to go on in hopes something would happen to Beach 'also. ./Sure enough they were right for in a few minutes the stern of his boat sank and the bow cocked up at an angle of 45degs. Then Mes- \ aenger, seeing hope once more, removed his feet from the straps took off his roller slides, and held them in his mouth, and then standing up in his boat, half of which was completely buried under water, he turned round and Bat straddle leigs across the boat, his legs dangling in the water, a tempting bait for any shark m the vicinity. He faced the nose of the boat, and after an hour's hard rowing, during which the water was breaking over him, he rowed his boat stern first the last quarter of a mile, and passing the flag-ship a winner of one of the most

singularly contested races ever recorded. ( After swamping, Beach gave up the contest.