The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1884.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1362, 15 February 1884, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1884.

Under section 44 of the "Counties Act " the Receiver of Gold Revenue is '. required to furnish the Council before the Ist of April in each year, with a, list of all miners rights issued by Him during the twelve months ending 31st December previo-18. Tlie list for last year having been supplied to the local body, application was made to the clerk of the Inanga* hua County Council on Wednesday last, by a ratepayer, for permission to inspect it. The permission was, however, refused, on the ground that the document in question was not one which the clerk of the Council was compelled by law to submit for inspection. Of course, in the face of the revelations recently made regarding the large number of miners rights taken out at the end of ecember last by a servant of the Council, the refusal referred to was only what might have been expected. , Applications are invited from persons desirous of leasing the property known as Breen's Hotel, situated on the Grey road, within ten minutes walk of Reefton. Mr Milner Stephen, who is making a second tour of the Colony upon his healing mission, will vibit Reefton next week. Mr Stephen has been requested to come here by a former resident of Reefton, now in Wellington, who is firmly persuaded of the professor's remarkable faculty. v The suspension of work by the Tittle Boatman's Creek Low Level Tunnel Co.. which was decided upon at a meeting of the committee of directors last week, must be taken as significant of the depression now existing in mining affairs. This venture was floated during the flush times of 1882, for the purpose of driving a main low level from Little Boatman's Creek, to a point somewhere in the Homeward Bound ground. The line of the adit passes either through or near eight mining leaseholds, the occupants of which were to jointly defray the cost of the project. The distance to be driven is about 2,500 ft. or 3000 ft. but of this about 700 ft. only has been accomplished, and owing to several of the contributing companies heing either unwilling or unable to pay the calls, it has been found necessary to stop the work. Some of the defaulting companies are, we understand, heavily in arrears, three only of the number having contributed their full quota upon the work done, and they, not unreasonably, refuse to pay further until all the arrears are covered. When this latter is likely to be accomplished it is hard to say, but until it is the driving of the tunnel is not likely to be resumed. The hitch is a rather awkward one for the companies immediately interested, as, not being in operation themselves, a prolonged discontinuance of operations in the tunnel would render some of the leases liable to an application for cancellation. Registration of the tunnel, not protection, as stated, was applied for in the Warden's t ourt on Monday last. Woodyear's great electric circus is announced to open in Reefton this evening. The Btud of performing horses, dogs, and monkeys is said to be one of the largest and best that has yet visited the Colon}'. The staff of equestrians, acrobats, contor-

tioniats and clowns ia also very large, and 1 includes some of the first artists of the I ring. The circus cavalcade will reach I here ahout mid-day, and two performances I only will he given. The electric light will no doubt prove a novelty to many. The directors of the Just-in-Time company have accepted the tender of Hefferuan and party for extending the low level north, a distance of 200 ft., the price being 23/6 per foot. The annual meeting of shareholders in the Equitable Insurance Association, will be held at the head office, Dunedin, on 3rd March, to receive the directors report and balance-sheet for twelve months, ending December 31st last, and to elect two directors and two auditors. The tender of Mr B." Rodgers has been accepted by the Imperial Company, for bailing the winze. At the last meeting of the Nelson Board of Education, the resignation of Mr Thornton, of his position of headmaster of the Reefton State School was received and accepted. A le:ter was received from the Reefton Committee, asking permission to call for applications for, and to appoint, a teacher and probationer at the local infant school. — On the motion of Mr Tarrant, it was resolved that the Board advertise in the usual way for applications for the teach ership at 1100 a year. The Reefton Committee asked that a gratuity be granted to Miss oiler and Miss Prentice for increased j work and responsibility. Mr Tarrant \ moved that they be voted £'5 and £2 2s respectively. Carried. On the recommendation of the Reefton Committee Mrs S. Hopkins was appointed assistant teacher. The piece presented by Mr Willmott's Combination Company on Wednesday evening was Paul Merrit's clever and ingenious melodrama entitled "The Golden Plough," and tho representation fully realised the high anticipations which the public had formed respecting it. The plot of the piece is in a way simple enough, making no undue tax upon one's credulity, and yet is sufficiently involved to rivet interest and attention to the end. The first scene introduces the audience to the Golden Plough, a Yorkshire inn, kept by a middle-aged widow, Grace Royal (Miss Louisa Crawford). At the rising of the curtain there are discovered Dr. Jordan, , (Mr Herman), Jerry Drake, (Mr Wilkinson), Tom. Carroll (Mr Simmonds), Alfred Middleton (Mr Alexander), and the Rev. Martin Preston (Mr Rede). They are discussing a murder that had beeti committed in the neighborhood, and for the supposed perpetration of which one Joe Trimmer stood committed for trial. On Mrs Royal joining the group she is informed that Sir Francis Claud (Mr Teece) is about to visit the village on an electioneering tour, and purposes to take his quartersiat the Golden Plough. She startles at the mention of the baronet's name, and to the astonishment of all present declines to accommodate him. But it transpires that Martin Preston (who is her son), i 3 wooing the baronet's daughter, and in" order ' to give Martin an opportunity of suing for Sir Francis' consent, Mrs Royal agrees to accommodate the visitor. At the interview which follows the baronet haughtily refuses to allow his daughter to wed the parson, who confesses to being a foundling. In a subsequent scene between Mrs Royal and Sir Francis it is revealed that in her younger days the baronet had wronged her, and that Martin is their mutual off-spring. To obtain her forgiveness for the past Sir Francis consents to .his daughter's (Miss Lizzie Lawrence) union with the parson, and having written a letter to that effect he is about to retire to bed for the night when a hand obtrudes through the window curtains and snatches the money which he has just counted, and the other hand of the unseen villian deals Sir Francis a deathblow with a knife. Mrs Royal rushes in and going to the window she beholds the murderer, whom she recognises by his voice and clothes as her son Martin. After extorting" from her a promise to never reveal the name of the assassin, the baronet dios. Suspicion at once falls upon Carrol who is engaged to be married to May Royal (Miss Amy Johns). Mrs Royal entreats her son to conceal all proofs of his crime, and to save the innocent Carroll from the gallows she resolves to avow herself the perpetrator of. the deed. Martin amazed at her belief in his guilt denounces himself as the murderer in order to save his mother. In the end, however, it is clearly shown that the deed was committed by Jerry Drake, who had disguised himself on the fatal night in Martin Pres. ton's clothes, and imitated his voice so well as to deceive Mrs Royal. In the closing scene we have the identification of Drake with a notorious criminal named Shadrach Jones, who was supposed to have died in gaol, but* who confesses to the murder for which Joe Trimmer was in the hands of the law. The plot is well constructed, embraces several thrilling scenes, holding the sympathies and interest of the audience to the fall of the curtain. The parts were well sustained throughout, and those who missed the performance lost an undoubted treat. Last night was presented Byron's amusing comedy "Our Boys," while for to-night is announced the charmiug comedy " linprduence," for the right of producing which, as one of the highest class modern dramatic productions Mr Willmott pays a heavy royalty. We hope to see Mr Willmott's enterprise suitably rewarded. The following letter headed "Macetown Reefs, " appears in a recent issue of the Otago Times : — "Sir, - Can any of your readers afford " Inquirer " reliable information as to what becomes of Dunedin shareholders' money extracted from them in the shape of calls, as this is about all that one hears of the existence of several mines in this once-promising gold-pro-

during locality. Some of your correspondent's observations are occasionally in- I structive, not to say amusing, as to the distance driven in a tunnel before a call is made ; then silence reigns until another call is about to be declared, when the distance driven is enlarged upon, and, of course, the probability of getting good .stone ultimately very much increased. One thing seems to me very certain : that the sooner shareholders make up their minds to wind up and be done with claims that are only a source of outlay, with purely transitory prospects, the better will it be for all concerned. Although not placing the Tipperary mine under the above category, here is a company who, I understand, have abundance of s one of their own to crush, yet, for reasons best known to the management^ they proceed to crush for other companies at a possible trifling profit - surely not a very satisfactory arrangement for the shareholders.— l am, &c, Inquirer."