The Inagahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 1884.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1345, 7 January 1884, Page 2

The Inagahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 1884.

We learn from the Lyell that the Croesus Company finished a crushing of 60 tons of stone on Saturday last, which yielded an average return of 12 dwts per ton. The yield is said to be payable. As the different batteries only resumed crushing about the middle of last week, there was no cleaning up on Saturday last, and consequently no returns for publication to-day. At the recent Ahaura races the jockey and trainer ahill, otherwise " Sprightly " was detected in malpractices, and disqualified from ever again riding on the course there. The secretary of the club was also directed by the stewards to write to all the other racing clubs on the West Coast, inviting them to endorse the disqualification and thus ridracinginthispart of the ' olony of his presence. It may be s well to point out that no disqualification can be effective unless made to apply to " owner, trainer, or rider. " Now that the holiday festivities are ended we may not inappropriately recur again to the question of town water supply. Messrs Hobby and 1 ittle have matured their proposals on the/ subject, and are prepared to lay the details before the residents as soon as a public meeting is called for the purpose. It is hardly necessary to point out that a town water supply is just as much needed now as it was a month ago, but the scare caused by the recent fire having blown over, unless someone takes the matter in hand it will no doubt be quickly lost sight of, until another great fire arouses attention. The District survey staff is just now engaged making a re-survey of the northern suburbs of Reefton, and we gather that the result will probably show inaccuracy of the original survey under which that portion of the town was occupied. The displacentent of the boundary lines of the sections will, however, not be greater than from nine inches *o one foot, and the rectification will havo to be made by common agreement amongst the owners. The survey and plan will not be completed for a few weeks. A report is current that the law courts will shortly be called upon to investigate a scandal arising out of the late contest for the Inangahua seat. It is also said that certain affidavits relating thereto have already been filed, bnt where they have been filed, or to whom they particularly refer, we are as yet wholly in the dark. For the rest •we shall very probbably soon see what we shall see. Fisher's Comedy and Burlesque Company have enjoyed a succession of crowded houses during the week, the attendance on Saturday night last, being fully equal to that of their opening evening. This is a good test of the popularity and merit of the company, and few theatrical troops have been able to maintain such a long hold Upon public favor here. The company possess an extensive and varied repertory, enabling the management t© avoid repititions and present an entirely new bill of fare each evening. Mr St. Clair, sp-cality artist, joined the Company on Saturday afternoon, and in the evening made his first appearance before a Reefton audience. As a clog and pedestal dancer and character singer he has few superiors on the colonial boards, and his reception by the audience was very enthusiastic. The Company will give one more performance this evening, after which they purpose playing one or two nights at Boatman's, proceeding thence to Greymouth, playing en toute at Ahaura. To-night Mr Fisher and •'rSt. Clair will present their celebrated Salvation. Sisters. Lawn tennis, which, last year, was in such favour in Reefton astoaupersede to a great extent all interest in cricket, has been utterly neglected during the present Beason. The departure of ,\'!r W H Jones, who was the "father of the gam* " here, and one of its most enthusiastic supporters, had a good deal to do with the waning of interest in the game, and the consequent sale of the play-ground, and its conversion into a garden, completed the wreck of snor*. We notice by the Argus that a tennis club has 'eon formed •

n Greymouth, and a court opened for play, i i fact which should lead to an effort being 1 made to revive the game here. We commend the suggestion to those of our rising young '• colts " who are in danger of blue mould for the "want of physical I exercise. Just before dark last evening an alarm of fire was sounded by the fire-bell, and directly after smoke was seen issuing from the kitchen at the rear of 'Gaffin's Hotel, Broadway. Fortunately, the churches were just out, and the street being full of people, assistance was immediately at hand, when it was found that the cupboard or safe in the kitchen was on tire. A few buckets of water quickly removed aU cause of danger. How the tire occurred is not known, but it is supposed that some person arriving late for tea had proceeded to the larder to help himself, and incautiously thrown down a lighted match on one of the shelves, which, being greasy, quickly ignited, and . bo caused the mischief. The wood-work of the safe was pretty well charred, but there conld not have been much blaze, otherwise it would havo communicated to the dining-room petition, against which the cupboard stands. There were a good many people in the bar of the hotel and parlors at the time, so that the chances of the fire extending were very slight, there being several large tanks of water on the upper story, which could have been brought into immediate operation, as also the force pump in tin* yard. It is fortunate, however, that the accident happened so early in the evening, otherwise the consequences might have been more serious. We have already elsewhere to-day referred to the question of a town water supply, and the oocurrence just related will perhaps, induce the inhabitants to bestir themselves in. the matter. We have received result slips of the drawings .of "■ Robin Hood's " and "Phoenix's" consultations on the C.J. C Christmas and New Year's Day races. We. have not ye>t received the particulars of the drawinga, but these will no doubt reacl| us by to-uight's mail . It is known, however, that; several Reefton ticketholders in each have drawn non-starters. " Robin Hood's " event was filled three days before the advertised date, and a No. 2 event opened, the result of which has not yet come lo hand. It will be seen from our advertising columns this morning that both "Robin Hood" and " Phoanix " have opened consultations on the Wellington Cup, to be run early in February next. The result of "Nugget's" drawing has not yet come to hand, but the locel agent is informed by wire that three njn-starters have fallen to local investors, and that the first money goes to Riniu, the second to Greymouth, aud the third .'o Hokitika. Th. Union Shipping Company have issued a handy little publication styled "The New Zealand Tourists Vade Meoum," being a handbook to the company's colonial and intercolonial services. It affords full information of the dates of airival and departure of the steamers from all New Zealand and Australian ports, with the distances and time occupied from port to port, dietary scale, rates of passage money, and a mass of other information useful and convenient for seagoers to know. There is also given in the form oi an appendix a list of the routes, embracing what may be termed " The Grand Tour " of the Colony, and those most followed by tourists and visitors from abroad, together with approximate cost by each, and time required. A brief description of the principal towns and natural, wonders of the Colony is also given, as well as much other information which cannot fail to be of great advantage to voyagers in general. The work may be obtained on application to any of the company's agencies. The Lyttelton limes, referring to Mr Mitchelson's utterances in Dunedin, says : — " When the veteran carpenter, the inventor of the * Continuous Cabinet,'returns from Sydney and finds out what his young apprentice has been doing, there will be trouble. If Mr Mitchelson does not suffer a mauvais quart d'heure we shall be surprised. A man who has achieved a local reputation through attention to number one and the preservation of a discreet silence, is bad stuff from which to make a Cabinet Minister. There are so many occasion.! on which he has to speak without any chance of a lip from a mentor. But it was certainly rash of the Premier to let the boy make a debut during his absence in Australia. " The Christchurch correspondent of the .Otago 1 aily Times writes : -If the Exhibition is regarded from a colonial point of view, it can scarcely be termed altogether satisfactory. If, however, it is considered as an exhibition of the producing capabilities of Canterbury Pro vincial District, it must be pronounced to be excellent. It is extremely creditable to the people of Canterbury that they have made such rapid progress in local industries of many kinds. It is not at all creditable to other Provincial Districts that they have not more forcibly aided the exertions of the Christchurch Industrial Association. Is it not lamentable that I even in such affairs as these, petty local jealousies should be allowed to have influence ? But so it is. Tb-i'o are few exhibits from Otago, and loss from any other district. What is grandiloquently placarded as the " Westland Court " contains a few sticks of timber and a counlo of lumps of coal. Nelson is represented by a screen, a painting in monochrome, some bottles of wine, jams and jellies, hematite paint, and a bag of bonedust. Auckland sends hydraulic lime and concrete, groups ofTuatara lizards and Cook's petrels, sawn kuauri planks, samples of rope and twine, wines made from locally-grown grapes, and sulphur from White Island. Marlborough ha~ a "self-acting gaseous ver- '

mm and rabbit exterminator." Welling- I ton shows wines from Wanganui, and a very handsome assortment of leather and leather work. All these exhibits are extremely creditable to the manufacturers, and are usefully shown as indicative of the resources of the colony. But the fact remains that much more might have been shown, and beneficially so if New Zealand were indeed federated. Otago, the nearest neighbor of Canterbury, has been unpardnnably backward in the important work of demonstrating what can be produced within her borders.