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Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3054, 9 April 1881, Page 2

The total amount of property tax received in theHawke's Bay district to this date is £15,232 8s lid.

Mr C. B. Hankey, late sub-manager of the Biverhdad and Helenaville railway, was a passenger to-day by the Hotomahana from Auckland. This gentleman has come here to'relieve Mr W. J. Miller during the latter's temporary absence at Wellington.

The bazaar in St. John's schoolroom came to a conclusion last evening. To-night the unsold articles, supplemented by other goods, will be offered at auction (without reserve) by Messrs Hoadley, Routledge, and Liddle. The sale will be held at St. John's schoolroom, and will commence at half-past seven o'clock.

The Rev. W. C. Oliver leaves in the Albion, this afternoon for Auckland. Mr Oliver was stationed in Aucldand sis years ago, bo that he goes amongst old friends. We wish him a pleasant journey, and a sojourn in Auckland as agreeable and as profitable to his people as his ministry in Napier has been.

A remarkable egg was laid by a black Spanish hen belonging to the manager of the Working Men's Club yesterday. The egg was of enormous size and weighed a quarter of a pound. On breaking the outside shell it was found that there was a second and complete egg inside. The outer egg had no yoke, but the inner one was complete in every way.

The number of natives in town during yesterday and the day before was due to the forthcoming consecration of a Maori churoh at Wairoa that ha < lately been erected for the Rev. Tamihana Huata. At the opening ceremony there will be a very large number of Maoris, whose presence is intended as a sort of counter demonstration to that of Te Kooti's settlement a mile or two further up the river.

A case of furious driving occurred to-day in town which it is no credit to the driver was unattended by accident. The horse had been jibbing in Emerson-street, and to punish him when he did start, and to encourage him to go when wanted, the stupid driver kept on flogging the animal while it was going at a gallop. The horse and cart turned round the Criterion Hotel corner at full speed, the driver using the whip all the time. We heard that the vehicle belonged to a country butcher of the name of Selby.

The Fire Brigade have determined to hold their competition on Easter Monday, and to request the Holiday Association to declare that day a full holiday, as their programme is a long one. It is intended that the competition shall take place in Hastings-street between Emerson-street and Tennyson-street. Committees were appointed to canvas for prizes, and we trust that tradesmen, both in town and at the Spit, will show themselves appreciative of the very efficient manner in which the Brigades have done their work.

The New Zealand Accident Insurance Company paid away £700 15s in the three months ending march 31st last. The largest item was £500 to the heirs of a " merchant, thrown from a horse and killed." A builder, struck on finger by a cricket ball, received £14. A carpenter got £i for an injury to his leg by a rusty nail. A laborer, whose leg was jammed by a log, received £18. A brokeu arm got £21, a sprained ankle £1 10s, a cut on the finger £3. According to the policy taken out so is the weekly renumeration while the effects of the accident incapacitate from work.

We understand that Mr Henry Williams has presented a Wesley-Richards doublebarrel rifle and fowling - piece combined, of the value ef £12, as a prize for the best shot in the Grand Handicap at the Olive pigeon match on Easter Monday. Mr John McVay has presented a game bag of the value of 50s as a prize for the best shot in the Champion Stakes at the same meeting. There is some talk about the rules under which the match is to be fired. The published programme states that the Hurlingham Club Rules will be adhered to when applicable. What does this mean ? Does it mean that the judge's rules will be carried out when the Hurlingham ones won't suit his fancy ?

At the Resident Magistrate's Court this morning, before H. Eyre Kenny, Esq., R.M., James Pilcher was charged with failing to provide for his child, and leaving the child, a boy of five years, without adequate means of support. His Worship ordered that prisoner should pay to James Swain, in whose charge the boy was, the sum of 7s weekly until the toy attains the age of ten years. The wife of John William Henry Scott applied for a protection order. It appeared that the husband was guilty of habitual drunkenness and of cruelty to his wife. His Worship granted the order, and instructed the applicant that if her husband interfered with her in anyway she should seek the protection of the police.

A church is now in course of erection for the Roman Catholics at Hastings. _ The walls are up, and the roof partly finished. The body of the church will be 40 x 24 inside measurement, wilh a sanctuary 16 x 16, with priest's vestry attached. The style adopted for the building is Gothic. The roof principals are framed with laminated arch ties, filled in with tracery ; the bays between principals are to be panelled and molded, and the roof will be surmounted with a neat octagonal belfry. The interior of the building is to be finished with picked rimu timber. The cost of the church, without seats or altar, will be about £600, and it is expected to be completed in about two months from date. The contractors are Messrs Thomson and McLean, and the architect is Mr W. A Dugleby, of Napier.

The Tablet publishes the following somewhat extraordinary piece of information : — " Apropos of the new regulation introduced into the gaols of the Colony by our brandnew Inspector of Prisons, we learn that it is intended to reform the whole prison system. A Prisons Bill, we understand, is even now being prepared, by which the superintendence of Visiting Justices will be abolished, and the whole management of the gaols entrusted to the gaolers under the control of the Inspector of Prisons, who will thus be lord paramount, and free from all responsibility to any superior—at leapt virtually. Under the now Act also it is intended, as we learn, to do away with the employment of prisoners, as hitherto, on the public works of the Colony, and that they shall instead be occupied within the prison walls with the time-honored tread-mill, or witL cranks and other machinery useless for everything else except penal purposes—a very questionable improvement, we should say, on the present system by which the gaols are made of considerable use in developing the resources of the Colony, and providing for the convenience of settlers at a great saving to the public purse. The Lyttelton Gaol is to be the central penal establishment under the Act alluded to."

At Gisborne the investigations of Messrs Batkin and Seed have disclosed defalcations in connection with the Native Office.

A High Church clergyman, curate of St. Mary's, hiverton, has been publicly charged with idolatrous practices in his church.

The Road Boards in Otago are sending out postal cards demanding payment of _. rates, instead of sending round a collector.

The manufacture of -walking stioks from the native supplejacks, is another industry that has recently sprung into existence in Wellington.

The Victorian Railway Department are now manufacturing several machines to prevent sparks from being omitted from locomotive engines.

A considerable reduction in the A.C. Force may be shortly expected. Already come of the finest of the men have been selected for the Police Force. There is some talk of the depot at Wellington being done away with.

A Home paper compliments New Zealand on retaining the native names of its towns. A Southland paper says the smaller townships do not deserve the credit given, else we should have fewer " Gladstones," or " Palmerstons," or " Beaconsfields," and more indigenous names.

The calling of a gold miner is not (reports the Mount Benger Mail) always the " rosy" billet that some people imagine. When on a run of gold it may be well enough,but in a case heard before Major Koddel, R.M., at Roxburgh, a witness stated that a party of four working a claim at Waikaia washed up only an ounce and a-half of gold for a whole season's work.

The Wellington correspondent of the New Zealand Herald hears that private letters received from Sir J. Vogel indicate the probability ot his coming out shortlyto press hia claims against the colony for remuneration on account of services in rais* ing the last loan, but that there is not the remotest prospect of his remaining in the colony or re-entering New Zealand politics.

In Victoria the frauds on the revenue, as regards the evasion of the full amount of probate duty, have been somewhat extensive. In one case an estate worth £20,000, paid duty on £16,000. In another, an estate was said to be valueless, owing to the legacies charged upon it. An officer ■was appointed to watch the disposal of tbo estate, and he found that the " valueless " estate brought from £3000 to £4000. There is reason to fear that in New Zealand similar malpractices exist.

They have no truant officers in New , South "Wales, but by meane of various rewards the attendance is fax more regular than is ordinarily the case in Victoria. Nicely printed and framed certificates are distributed to the children who have not been absent from school a single half day during the year, and others of a similar description to those who have not been absent more than six times. These certificates —which are sufficient to cause a regular attendance—entitle the holder to a prize ranging in value from 9d to 2a 6d.

The Minister of Education in Victoria occasionally issues some extraordinary ukases. It being found desirable at a certain oountry school to appoint a married teacher, the Minister gave "the then teacher a given period in which to get married, on pain of removal. In the meantime the unfortunate teacher did his best to ingratiate himself with the fair sex. At the end of the period allowed him he forwarded an application for removal, which was at onoe enforced, his efforts to secure a wife having been fruitless.

TheChristchurch Globe says:—"MrA. Mills, one of the party who recently visited New Guinea in the Courier expedition, bas brought some excellent photographs of the country, people, &c. They give a very good idea of the country, &c, on the N.B, coast, being views near Drury Sound and Astralobe Gulf. A eecond expedition for trading purposes, with a capital of £20,000, leaves New Zealand for Kew Guinea about August next. It ie intended to form a settlement and open up a trade in the products of New Guinea, such as sugar, tobacco, &c.,"with New Zealand.

The Bay of Plenty Times has the following :—A volcanic eruption has taken place on White Island, resulting in the conversion of the flat which formerly existed on the far eide of the hot lake into an active volcano. The new cratur reaches from near the landing to Big Ben, the name of one of the blow holes on the island, which is also snowing unusual aotivity. The changes on the left-hand side of the island are greater than those on the right. The_ steam from the crater is visible for a considerable dietance at sea. The long stretch of land lying between the hot lake and the shore on White Island has been covered with a fine black deposit from the new crater formed on the far side of the lake. The wooden tramway has been altogether hidden, and the change in the face of the country is very remarkable. We are informed that there appears to be more pure sulphur on the island now than formerly."

So much has heen written concerning Sara Bernhardt which, whether in praise or blame, is manifestly exaggerated, that it is pleasing to meet with a criticism that neither contains fulsome flattery nor indiscriminating fault finding. Such a criticism has been contributed by Mr Richard Grant White, a writer of good, repute in America, to the Atlantic Monthly. Mr White confesses that he went to gee Mdlle. Bernhardt with a strong prejudice against her, nor was that prejudice removed by the first appearance of the actress. This is the description :—" A face which at the first glanoe appeared almost ignoble, and quite incapable of lending itself to the expressions of the finer and grander emotions; a figure deplorably deficient in all womanly beauty; a carriage equally without grace and dignity; nothing worthy of remark but a flood of wavy golden-brown hair deliberately poured down her back—this was the woman, this the tragedian I had come to see. Heu drapery hung upon her like bunting on a flag-staff on a breezeless day. Such curves as she had curved all the wrong way; and as a mere physical phenomenon it is somewhat startling to find concavity where convexity is the order oi nature." But the critic's mental attitude quickly changed, and he seems to have been fairly electrified by Mdlle. Bernhardt's acting. He does not consider her a great actress—that is, not able tD give expression to the highest emotions—but in such parts as Adrienne Lecouvreur and Frou Frou he thinks that " the present day has not seen her superior —hardly her equal."

The s.s. Orient completed her fourth voyage to Melbourne on Saturday. From Plymouth the Orient took nearly 300 passengers, of whom about 60 were in the saloon, 57 in the second saloon, and 180 in the third-class and steerage. In the list were several for Capetown, and four were booked there for Sydney. Amongst the dead-weight portion of the cargo for Melbourne is some iron necessary for the carrying , out of the repairs of the Sorata. The mails brought by the Orient are comprised in 31 bags, and her dates of English papers are to the 5 th ult. The Orient, on her previous voyage, was (says the Argus) fitted with a Bell-Coleman's freezing appa« ratus for the preservation of fresh meat, fish, poultry, fruit, &c. The experiment was frund to answer admirably, and it resulted in such success that it was resolved to enlarge the area of the freezing-chamber, and fill it with fresh provisions for the use of passengers during the voyage. The Orient consequently left Home without a single head of live stock, and had all her requirements in these articles, including fish, fruit, &c, contained in this enlarged chamber. A great deal of extra trouble and expense was thus saved in the feeding and care-taking and subsequent slaughtering of the live stock, and there was also a great economy of the space taken up on deck by the bullocks, sheep, and poultry. The experiment of bringing out Home products by means of this cold-air principle has also been tested on this voyage of the Orient, Saturday there were brought forth

from her frigidarmm hampers containing codfish, turbot, soles, capons, &c, all in excellent preservation. A portion of this consignment was for the Melbourne Club, and also for Mr George Coppin, whose visions with regard to thi3 long and devoutly wished-for consummation have at last been realised. The joints on view on Saturday had quite a natural appearance, and showed no sign of the juices of the lean portion of running into the fat and colouring it. The freezing-chamber has been increased in size, and is now equal in capacity to 58 tons measurement, so that it can hold a large quantity of provisions. The engine continues to work satisfactorily, and is quite equal to the demand made on it. Ice-making is also carried on on board by aid of the Bell-Coleman apparatus. No hitch of any sort occurred with the machinery during the voyage. The Orient loft Plymouth at 1.45 p.m. on the sth ult., and leached Adelaide shortly after midnight on the 16th instant, after a passage of 39 days 10f hours over all, or 37 days 9 hours' run, making allowance for detentions en route and for difference in time in longitude.

Mi , T. K. Newton is selling off the stock of the late firm of Newton, Irvine and Co. The stock comprises a largo assortment of drapery goods, fancy goods, and ironmongery. Oysters are to be had at Prebblo's, in Hastings-street, and at the Theatre Eoyal, and also at Miles', Hastings-street. Money to lend in large and small sums is advertised. The Eev. J. Hill will conduct a series of mission services at Taradale, commencing to-morrow. Messrs Blythe and Co have cheap lines in hats and shirts to-night. A number of new advertisements will be found in our "Wanted" column. DIVINE SEBVICES TO-MOEROW. fAt St. John's Church as follows :—At 8 a.m., Holy Communion ; at 11 a.m., morning prayer and sermon ; at 3.15 p.m., children's service ; at 7 p.m. evening prayer and sermon. By the Eev. J. Hill at Taradalo at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., and at Puketapu at 3 p.m. (mission services). By the Eev. J. Spear at Meanee at 7 p.m. By the Bey. J. J. Mather at Clive at 11 a.m. By the Yen. Archdeacon Williams at Hastings at 11 a.m. at Clivo at 3.30 p.m., and at Havelock at 7 p.m. By the Eev. W. Nichol at Havelock at 11 a.m., and at Maraekakaho at 3 p.m. At the Free Methodist Church, Shakes-peare-road, at 11 a.m. by the Eev. C. Penney, and at 7 p.m. by the Eev. J. J. Mather. By the Eev. E. Eraser, at Waipukurau at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., and at Tamumu at 3 p.m. By Mr W. 0. Eobb, at Patangata at 11 a.m., Kaikora at 3 p.m., and Waipawa at 7 p.m. By the Eev. E. Barnett, at the schoolhouse, Kaikora, at 11 a.m., and at the Methodist Churoh, Waipawa, at 7 p.m. By the Eev. J. C. Eccles at St. Peter's, Waipawa, at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. By the Eev. G. Sass at 11 a.m. and 7p.m, and in the German language at 2 p.m.