Local and General.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume V, Issue 487, 16 May 1877, Page 2

Local and General.

We understand tlfafc: Mr E. Gk Morris' h>a i-;, sent in his resignation as 'a Trustee of the "^ Tauranga North Township Highway -Board; An adjourned meeting of persons interested in the institution of Free Templary in Tau»> ranga, was held at Mr Jordan's Auction Room, on Saturday evening, when the necessary preliminary steps were taken towards applying for a charter, and forming a lodge. Mr Bodell anaounoes that in accordance wibh instructions he has reoeived from Mr 0. N. ttoberts, who has left the district, he will sell the whole of that gentleman's honsehold furniture, and effects, at the Tauran«a Auction Mart, on Saturday next, afr eleven o clock. We draw attention to'the list of the various articles to be offered for sale which appears in the advertisement. •It may not bo, generally known, for we believe that it bas'not appeared in aoiprinted — . account of the Arctic Kxpeditionj/thXt while, with his sledging party, the beard fof oam- r mander Albert -Markham turned white, but resumed its usual dark colour in about a month after getting back to the ship. This, moreover, was not a, solitary case. AH the pthera turned white, like the foxes and hares. —-Newcastle Daily Chronicle. The natives living near the Rofcorua Hotel, have been busy during the past week, in ex" huming the trunk of a large torara tree. The tree is exposed now to a length of about 46ft, The trunk is about 28ins. diameter, ' and is encased in a bed of rock, the top layer of which is over sir inohes thiok. The wood ia quite sound, but muoh darker in colour than Totara generally. The natives suppose that the tree might have floated into its present poaition afe the time of the deluge ! The ceremonial of the installation of the officers of the "Hope of Tauranga" Juvenile Temple for the ensuing quarter took place at the Temperance Hall, on Saturday afternoon last. The following officers were installed by Bro. Gillman, Superintendent : — Thomas Allely, O.T. j Eliza AJlely, V.T. ; Dunoan ,Munro, 0.-j Henry Rhodes, P.T. • Peter . Munro, R.S. ; Henry McKellar, T. ; Arthur Oarr, P.B. j Jemima Robertson, M. ; Isabella Butler, I.Gh } Thomas l.eraon, O.Gh j Jamas ■ Bedfern, A.S. ; William Harvey, D.M. ; Jamea Salt, R.H.S. ; Biohard Rhodes, L.H.S. The Seoretary of the Auokland Acclimatisation Society writes to Mr Norris, that 200,000 Salmon Ova a*re ordered from the States for next spring, and that it has been contemplated establishing a hatching establishment some* where in a central position of the Bay of' Plenty, for a large proportion of the. ova to be sent to. Mr Oheeseman adds, however, that if the number of Tauranga subscribers falls off (referring to the intimation of some of the subscribers to withdraw their names on ao< count of a difference of opinion about the shooting season) there will not be muoh inducement to carry out this intention. The Secretary is afraid that jellow hammers will not be able to be sent this season, as the funds of the eooiety are so low that it has been obliged to dispense with the services of one bird oatoher for a while. ; Great complaints are made by tourists of the want of proper management in regard to the trip from Te Wairoa to Rotomahana. A p-irty of tourists left Wairoa for Rotomahana last week- :• on their returning ia the eveningthe wind had got up, and the natives proposed camping for the night about halfway, to which the party, consisting of four ladies and three- • gentlemen, agreed ; next day after the horseswere harnessed in their conveyance, the natives headed by the Sergeant of Police, demanded payment fop two- days, for the services of the rowers, and canoes, and on being refused, they took the horses oat of thetrap. We hope that the Resident Magistrate for the district will take steps to prevent thePolioe giving their assistance to this system of levying black mail, as we cannot expect . tourists always to submit quietly. We believethat the natives were in this oaae pressed toact as they did by a ' Pakeha Maori who lives among them. Is there no- olause of the Vagrant Act that could be brought to bear so as to induce theae^ mischief making loafers to change their residence ?• ' Considerable excitement was caused on the-, wharf, on Saturday night, about nine o'clock,, by the breakage of the after hawser of the s a Wanaka. .The Wanaka was moored at the end of the T, when without any previouswarning, her after h(jwser,.w-hich was fastened . to the wharf, snapped, and caused her to-, heel over at a considerable angle. ,*"Hptam. Marks, harbour maßter, went on bo^^^once and extricated the vessel from her critical' position, by clearing her away from the wharf, and letting her drop a shortdistance down the stream. At the time of the accident, which is attributed to atidal disturbance, oaused by a sudden rising of the tide, the gangway, was brought to a perpendicular position, on the side of the steamer, and- two- persons who were ooming down it had; a- very narrow escape. The aaRowena was lying outside the Wanaka, and her line also-parted at the same time, but shewas equally fortunate with- the Wanaka, in esoaping without injury.. Our Maketu correspondent sends us thefollowing particulars of the destruction of theOourt House during the late gale, of which we briefly Btated the facts in our last issue : Last Wednesday about a quarter to 10 a.m., during a violent squall from theS.W,, a large willow tree that waß growing about twentyfeet from the Oourfc House, without- any warning, suddenly fell across- the- building, completely orushing ifr. Fortunately therewas no person inside, but had it bern twenty minutes later, there is no doubt there would have been a fearful loss of life,, as^cases we*e to have been heard at ten o'clock. As it was, the only sufferer was the old Court House,, which is so far injured as to be unrepairable, and I presume if the Government intend to continue this on as a Resident Magistrate's station, they will have to build a new one. Some assert that it is a dispensation of Pro> vidence for the fearful amount of hard swearing that has been perpetrated there during the last few day?, and would pro' bably have been continued lor another day or two longer had not this damage to the Court: House taken place. The casea were not of sufficient public interest to be reported, but | the Maori evidence brought forward was • j something frightful — it was equivalent to. A. •• swearing a horse was white, and B imnie— diately ooming forward and asserting it was-

Mack. Everything id quiet hero. Tho weather has been frightful all the week ;. I Buppoee the Baine tiaß been experienced in other partß of the Bay. Captain Blair, I istrict Officer, ißßtfll inland}. and no intelligence has yet been received as to the sitting of the Lands Court. The Burvey at Te Puke is pro- ••' ceeding. without interruption.