NEWS OF THE DAY.

Bush Advocate, Volume I, Issue 51, 1 September 1888, Page 2

NEWS OF THE DAY.

4 Parliament has been prorogued till December 6. ■ Mr O'Reilly's price list of boots and •shoes appears in another column. The Harwood Concert Committee meet to-night at the Beaconsfield Hotel, Makotuku. > We remind our readers of the Key. E. Robertshawe's lecture in the Town Hall to-morrow evening. Mr Davies, the Woodville tailor, intends to visit Danevirke regularly during the summer months. The general meeting of the Makotuku Amateur Dramatic Society has been postloned till Wednesday evening, when it will be held in the Town Hall at 8.15. We notice that on Wednesday next Messrs Baker and Tabuteau, the Napier land auctioneering firm, will offer for sale the properties lately in the occupation of Mr Duncan Mackay. The sale ia by the order of Mr Birch, the Registrar of the Supreme Court. The new school at Norsewood was opened on Thursday evening 'by a tea meeting, followed by a lecture delivered by Mr H. Hill, the inspector of schools. There was a large gathering, fully 150 people being present. The Norsewood Brass Band waß present, and played several selections in a style that was admired and shewed the rapid progress they are making. The building, which has been faithfully erected by the contractor, Mr J. H. Maynard, of Ormondville, was thought to be admirably suited to sohool purposes, and the Norsewood people are to be congratulated upon having such a conveniently arranged building. After refreshments, which were supplied on a liberal scale, had been partaken of, Mr Hill commenced his lecture upon "Volcanoes," and very interesting it proved. The audience' listened with that atttention which, while gratifying to the leoturer, shows, at the same time, that the subject is being handled in a way that affords pleasure to the hearers. Mr Hill was frequently applauded, and at the conclusion of the lecture received a very hearty vote of thanks. Previous to the lecture he Bpoke in feeling terms as to the causes that led them to meet in the new building that night, and earnestly hoped that, although a new school might be needed some day, it would not have to be erected through such a cause as had led to the building of the present one. Hearty votes of thanks were passed to those wLo provided the refreshment, and also to the Band for their valuable asoistance, and the gathering separated, having spent a very pleasant evening indeed. A well-known Danevirke resident sends us the following : — Having lived in Melbourne for many years, and so knowing well the geography of the city and suburban surrounding districts for many miles, I can well imagine (when informed of its present condition) the great contrast between what it was 20 years ago and what it is now. I am just in receipt of a letter from Mr Hector McKenzie (now in Victoria), well-known in this district to not a few, and he describes the progress made there generally to be astounding. The immensity of the Exhibition buildings in Carlton Garden may be conceived when it is mentioned that they cover 34 acres of ground. But outside the Exhibition, the general topic of conversation to be heard is scrip and land. The land boom, he says, is past all comprehension. A small fapin at Spring Hill, near Essendon, about 6 or 7 mll^s from Melbourne, '. which he (Mr McKenzie) rented some few years ago, and which be could then have 1 purchased for £4000, was bought latelj i by a land syndicate for £75,000, The> surveyed it into quarter-acre allotments | and sold about three-fourths of the whole for £150)000, Mr McKenzie expects tc 1 obtain the contraofc $o build a piece oi 1 railway 18 miles long at Wangaratta • about 2?0 miles from Melbourne, the bridges of which will take 28,000 linea 1 '. feet of piles, 1,760,000 feet aup. timber in \ superstructure, besides 84 tons of iron >• works and 174,000 cubic yards of side i cuttings for the formation of the line i But the biggest thing in bridge work now L in hand there is an iron bridge which 1« saw, now being built by Americans at s 1 place called Hawkesley, It has 7 spans oi J 416 feet each and 900 tons of iron in eaofc f span, (

The price -of ooalis advancing rapidly. A lamb with two heads is on view in Napier. Mr W. 6. Smith returned from Wellington yesterday. The Wellington Racing Olub made a profit of £260 last season. A smart earthquake was felt in Canterbury and Westland on Thursday night, and also in Wellington on Friday morning. The evening train from Napier on Thursday was delayed for some time at Te Aute through the bursting of one of the engine tubes. The cutter Carolina was capsized by a squall yesterday when between Great Barrier Island and Auckland. The vessel sank, but the orew took to the boat, and were picked up by a passing steamer. Whilst Mr A. McCool was on his way to Palmerston with a load of Pahiatua lime last week he lost his freight in a remarkable manner. He stopped the night at Ashurst, securely covering the lime as ' he thought ; but the rain got at it, and the lime took fire, destroying it all. In a few more hours the. dray itself would have been burnt. — Star. The Pahiatua Star says :— The Maharahara Road Board, in the Woodville district, is perhaps one of the most flourishing local bodies in the colony. It has, after paying clercial expenses, etc., about £25 a year from rates to spend on roads ! The Woodville-Tiraumea Road Board, when formed, will beat this record ; they will have nothing y to spend on I roads from rates. The contractors, for Mr Bierre's auction room have been so expeditious in their work that the building was completed, except a few finishing touches, this morn,ing, and the auctioneer was enabled to sell in his own premises this afternoon. The vigorous ringing of a bell was attracting the people to the room at two o'clock. The building is well lighted, and in every way suitable to Mr Bierre'e requirements at present. A distressing wreck occurred near Wellington yesterday morning by which three men lost their lives. The schooner Colonist, bound with, produce from Lyttelton to Waitara went ashore near the old pilot station at 11 o'olook and broke up immediately. Captain Bailey and two of the men were drowned, but another man escaped by swimming, having jumped into the sea before the vessel struck. Captain Bailey suceeded in reaohing the shore alive, but died a few minutes after. There are a good many unemployed in Woodville, and some of them applied to be taken on the.relief works. They were told they must get an order from the Mayor of Napier, and accordingly they tramped to Napier to get the order, but on reaohing there were informed that no more men could be sent up. The Htrald says that these facts seem tQ disclose a condition of bungling and red-tapeism the reverse of creditable to the Public Works Department. When Mr Ormond yesterday learned the state of affairs he addressed a strongly worded telegram to the Minister for Public Works, and it is to be hoped that it will result in a little more activity on the part of the department, and a little less display of red-tape.