The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1885.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1589, 19 August 1885, Page 2

The Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1885.

We learn from Dunedin that Mr W. Cummings has been appointed mine manager of the Golden Treasure Company, and has received instructions to make au exhaustive report upon the mine, with suggestions as to the work necessary in the future. Mr Cutnmings enters upon his duties at once, and upon the receipt < f his report the Dunedin directory will decide upon the future plan of operators. At the extraordinary meeting of shareholders in the Energetic Company held at Greymouth on Friday last, a resolution was adopted authorising the directors to dispose of the company's crushing plant and mine, and take the nucessary stops to wind up the company voluntarily. The Volunteer movement appears to be very popular, the number of members enrolled being already very largely in excess of the regulation strength of a single corps. There is some talk of forming a second company, to be styled the Black's Point Contingent, but. it is rather doubtful whether the Defence Minister would accept the services of a second corps There does not "seem much prospect at present of the Government granting the money necessary for the erection of a drill-shed, so that a temporary shift will no doabt have to be made. The only buildings at all suitable an> the Fire Brigade Hall, the Oddfellows Hall, and the. Church of England Sunday School. The latter would certainly be the most suitable for the purpose on account of its greater width. Mr Bevan wishes to sco Mining Advocates licensed, and put through a test examination. He intends asking the Minister of Justice, on Wednesday next, whether he will, during the recess consider the expediency of introducing a bill, having for its object the licensing by payment of an annual fee, of mining advocates practising in the Warden's Court, and regulating a scale of fees chargrable by them to their clients, and for imposing an examination to qualify them for such position ; also, to provide that commission agents, broker and money lenders, should be rcgistard and licensed, all license fees to become local revenue. "Civis" writes in the Otano Va : hf Times:— We sadly need in this courrry some piece of machinery, simple and trustworthy, for infallibly determining the truth in any political question submitted to it. The jury is such a piece of machinery in the administration of justice, and though juries are not always trustworthy, and never infalliable, yet what confidence would a man have in committing any crime unless secure of his right of trial by jury ? Someone has said that the final cause of the whole British Constitution is "to get twelve men into a box." An apparatus with the same function, if not of the same nature, as a jury is what we are perishing for the want of in politics. Look, for example, at the state of the discussion re the proposed East and West Coast Railway. Men bless or curse the railway as they happen to live near, or not near, to the districts to be benifited by it, or as they happen to belong, or not belong, to the party of the Government. That which the Duued ; n Chamber of Commerce denounces as madness and folly the Christchuroh Chamber of Commerce extols as tho , quintessence of wisdom. Mr Holmes j (Canterbury) says the railway is salvation; j Mr Hobbs (Auckland) says the railway is damnation. Tn the view of Sir Julius Yogel, Mr Meiggs, the contractor, is a capitalist of unquestionable reputation, and benevolent disposition, who proposes to enrich the Colony by making a railway for it on ridiculously easy terms. In the view of Mr Pyke (who is politically opposed to Sir Julius Yogel), Meiggs is a Californian adventurer, of shady antecedents, whose design can only be to bamboozle us, and decamp. Now what is an honest man, who loves his own soul and would no willingly believe a lie, to say to these things ! Whom and what is he to believe? Politics is evidently the last occupation that a young man of good principles should think of turning to. Horse dealing 13 bad ; so is share dealing. Teetotal lecturing and billiard marking both have their moral perils. But politics is the worst of all. Become a politician, and you must swear tb-.it black is white and white black, as interest and party may require, and yet, with all this, must feign a tender interest in the moral wellfare of barmaid" nml groan in spirit over the oniquity of half-crown sweeps ! Th" following notice from the Colonial Secretary appears in t!ie Gazetto :— "The compound prepared :wl «».M for Hx; destruction of vermin, -*>»d known as ' Hough on Uatß,' contain* arsoniu or [(reparation of arsenic, and ia therefore si 'poison* within the meaning of 'The Sain of Poisons Act, 1871.' The attention of chemists and o{hi:ra is called to the provisions of suction 12 of that, Act, which \)T< -i ibt-s th« regulations to be observed :i, fiio sale of }) ■i.-.-iii.-,-, .».-• i.h'ji".. lv. ;easo:i

to believe that these regulations are not always strictly carried out as respects the poison above referred to." ! The Post, in noticing the performances of the Oaniaru Hand at the Exhibition, aays : — The greatest interest was apparent among the audience as Mr G. D. Mackintosh, the judge of these musical competitions ascended the platform and distributed the copies of the "sight-road ing tost." It was amusing, too, to a physiognomist at any rate, to observe the varying expressions on the competitors' faces as they awaited the word to open out the music sheets, and thus obtain a glimpse of the task set them. Mr Mackintosh briefly addressed those present, stating that the piece selected by him was a ve v y j difficult one, and that the players would be allowed live minutes in which to look over their parts. This interval elapsed, the band gallantly began the attack, and an exceedingly good interpretation of the music must be put down to their credit. The piece was a spirited march, abounding in chromatic passages, intricate runs, and for the cornets a plethora .if "double toiiguing." Nothing daunted, the warrior band advanced steadily upon the foe, scaled the heights, carried the even country at the charge, and filially disposed of all difficulties, scoring a brilliant victory, which wa<- vociferously applauded. It iniißt be thoroughly realised how very severe a test of this naiure is, to proportionally comprehend the excellent manner in which the band passed through the ordeal. " Reminiscences of Verdi " and the National Anthem brought a most enjoyable evening and a rich musical treat to a close, the hour then being nearly a quarter past the closing time, 10 o'clock. «At the conclusion, three cheers were given for the competing band, and they richly deserved the compliment. A new route has been suggested for the railway from Christchurch to the West Coast through a recently discovered pass near the head of the Harper river, a tributary of the Rakaia. This newly proposed line (says the ' Press ') would diverge from the White Cliff* line, and take its course through the Malvern Hills by the Rakaia Gorge near Windwhistlo House, thence up the Rakaia an 1 Harper Valleys over the above pass a!Iu:li-d to, towards the River Cass, and would join the Arthur's Pi--s route tr\u- th« Hen.V. The difference in favor of this route over the one proposed fro:ii Springfield it was stated would be that in the event of the line being taken from Springfield the land for thirty to forty miles beyond this place and through which the line would pass was comparatively worthless in mineral products, and. of very little u<e for agriculture and pasture, so far as was at present known or reported. Oil the other hand, the projected route would pass through some of the most valuable portions of the Malviin district, and the Rakaia and Acheron Valleys, in which coal is reported as plentiful, and the Wilberforce reefs woiilj be brought within reasonable distance and become loss difficult of access. Nearly all the land along the route would be of such a description as to give employment to a large mining population, as well as being otherwise adapted for settlement ; and though the distance would be a few miles more, say er;ht or ten, the cost estimated by a thoroughly efficient engineer, would be about £80,000 less than the route via Springfield. The route over thi3 new pass would be of greater benefit to Canterbury, as it would be more central, aud could be reached with loss trouble by residents in Ashbnrton and other districts ( south of the Rakaia.