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Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1270, 13 July 1883, Page 2

Mr G. C. Bowman offered a piano (by Broadwood), at auction on Monday last, the purchaser being Mr J. Dawsoa at £50. The members of the newly, formed Reefton branch of the Elue Ribbon Army met in the State School-room last week. There was a numerous attendance, the room being tilled. The Rev. Mr Sedgwick presided. Fifty odd members subscribed to the required obligai ion, and were presented with the mysiic bluer ribbon. Addresses were then delivered - ■vr M ..-iw»M 1 oocgwicg-an-trarerrTßj" Penny, after which a number of songs and recital-tons were rendered by the rank and tile, and altogether a pleusuut evening was spent. A contributor, who evidently formed oae of the Royal Commission on the East and West Coast railway, is furnishing the Christchurch Press with a very readable account oi the doings of the party. It is showu so far, that the Commissioners arrived at Greymouth by the coach from Christchurch, and took a trap thence to the Twelve-Mile, where saddle horses were provided. They then proceeded via Maori Gully to Lute Brunner, where pack-horses were in readiness, aud the party crossed over the ranges into the valley of the Teremakau, following the latter up till reaching the confluence of the Hurunui. The latter river was then followed to its source, and the dividing range was crossed at a spot where it presents an almost perpendicular face, 900il. high. The par-'.y then proceeded to Late Sumoer, at which point the narrudve of the jouroey at preseut closes. The weather has been very boisterous on the sea coast during the hisfc few days, and accompanied by heavy falls of rain. The Westport couch left as usual for JReefton on Monday last, but had to return owing to the flooded state of the rivers. Yesterday another effort war* made to get the mails through, but the coach was again unable to proceed. Should the weather permit it, the coach will co in c through to-day. The late excitement in Wellington over the Terewhifci reefs turns out, as most people fully expected it would, to be utterly spuriou3, and the New Zealand Times has considered it necessary to warn the public against the traps being laid for them. The fact that the craze, or whatever it might be termed, was got up while the House was iv session, audihe Empire city fall of "young men from the country," showed at all even! s that the promoters meant business. Wellington people as a rule, however, are very hard to " get at " in the matter of quartz mining. They have about the same kind of reverence for a scrip merchant that a sparrow has for a hawk. A very good story is told in illustration of this. When the . reefs at Terewhiti were first discovered Wellington became fairly agog with excitement. Visions of another Bendjgo within a stone's throw of the city of lava and palaver were at once opened up by the press to the admiring gaze of its inhabitants. In the " heat "of this jubilation, a well known West Coaster, formerly an auctioneer in Reef tun, aa secretary of a projected quartz prospecting company, waited upon a number of the principal buisness residents there to get them to take shares in the venture. The company was only a miniature one. the capital being in 20,000 shares of one shilling each ; one penny payable on ap-

plication j one penny on allotment, and the balauce in calls of not more than one penny per month. The secretory went into the business establishment of a genileman who nowr occupies, if he doe 3 not exactly adorn, a leading position iv the present Government, ami sitting dovn on a keg of naila or ca*,!c of cried fish, we forget which, commenced to explain the features of the proposed company. He enlarged, as only a West Coaster could be expected to do. upon the enormous advantages Wellington would derive commercially and otherwise from the opening up of a payable reefing field at Terawhiti. In short, he talked himself out, while the object of his eloquence slood behind the counter with his hands buried to tlie elbows in his (not the West Coaster's) trousers pockets. At this sia^e the indefatigable secretary, glad of the impression he had apparantly made, was requested to wait a moment, and then followed an animated and very ominous conversation at the rear of the establishment, conspicuous in which was the shrill sound of a feminine voice in unmistakeably hostile converge. Presently, however, ,the proprietor re-appeared as radiant as though he had just returned from a hpney-n^ooo trip, and said that he quite endorsed all that the secretary bad said as to the prospects of the company, and the collateral advantages to be derived therefrom, and as an earnest of his belief in the soundness of the undertaking he would take (ko shares. Two minute's later there was a fearful scarcity of West Coasters round that establishment. This story, unlike most of the stories which reach us from Wellington, has the merit of being per.'eclly true. A proposal has, we believe, been mooted for starting a BuiMing Society in Reefion, and from f.he names of those who are connected with the project, there is good reason to believe that the idea will be carried out. Building Societies have been firmly established at Greymouih Westport and Hokitika, and have dove useful work in settling the people in permanent homes, and lieeflon should present a good field for the same kind of business. There is now no manner of doubt as to the permanency of the district, aod the disposition is general to obtain settled homes, and there is no possible way in which this object can be belier aud moro easily and inexpensively achieved than through the medium of a properly organised Building Society. We shall be glad then to see the proposal take a definite shape, and do not doubt that the shares will be readily subscribed for by those who are, iv the best sense of the word, residents of 'he diairich. The Southland Times of July 2nd says : — "Yesterday, in one of the Presbyterian churches in town, the minister somewhat startled his congregation by praying the Lord to have mercy on our representatives in Parliament, and to rebuke their folly and aelf -seeking ! Thejisriiamenfawy correspbiadent of ihe "Cfreymouth Star contributes the following items :— The feeliug against Wellington and its centralising proclivities ia gaining ground every day, and the number of questions asked by Mr Shaw, member for Inangahua, but resident of Wellington, is not teuding to allay the feeling, and his attempt in Committee to get on the Bankruptcy Bill to get the -Appeal Court presided over by two Supreme Court judges wa3 struck out in favor of an Appeal Court at Wellington, aud his speech centralising educational matters in the same town was somewhat roughly dealt with by Mr Holmes, who referred to Mr Shaw as one of the Wellington city members. In the Bouse last night Sir George Grey's motion for the second reading for his Constitution Amendment Bill, which provided that in the event of the two Chambers of the House disagreeing, an appeal should be made to the electors, was negatived ty 46 to 24. Of the West Coast members— Measrs Shaw, FitzGerald, and Munro voted against, and Mr Petrie for. Mr Seddon, who has not been in the House for some days, being also absent on the occasion. The Eight Hours' Bill was then slaughtered, as was also the Law Practitioners' Bill, on the vote of the Speaker. During the evening there were no less than three divisions decided by the vote of the Speaker, and considerable excitement prevailed. The Juries Amendment Bill (Mr Steward) provides for the payment of jurors at the rate of 7s per day, or 3/6 if the enquiry only lasts three hours. The number of jurors is reduced to sin, and it is sought to be enacted that the dead house of every public Hospital, in cases where no building is specially set apart for a morgue, shall be deemed a public morgue, and that no publican shall be required to receive a dead body if there is a morgue within two miles.