The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1888.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5171, 16 March 1888, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 1888.

Tiiehk seems to be a little trouble looming in connection with the Wanganui river. Ti> improve the upper navigation of this .stream the late Government expended a large sum of money in snugging- i'-nd removal of rocks. It was hoped to make the river a part of the great public highway connecting the interior of the Island with the town of Tho scheme would have been laudiblo enough if there had been any justification for it from a commercial er a colonising point of view. .But there was nothing (if that kind to bo urged iv its favor. The river ottered a long and expensive route for tho conveyance of stores, aud could never have attracted any heavy traffic. Jealousy of Napier being the natural outlet for the interior of the Island was theught to bo at tho bottom of the. Hon. Mr Ballan. c's persistent and extravagant expendil-.iv of money to please the good folks of AViiegiM.i. But to so little purpose -was the money spent, (hatthe road parties working nt the head of the river, and who were expected to draw their supplies from Wanganui, found it cheaper to get what they wanted at Wellington, send the goods by .steamer to Napier, and then have them drayed up the inland Patea-road to the Murimotu plains. For all practical purposes, we believe the river route lias been quite abandoned. And now comes another trouble. The Maoris arc pretty thickly settled all up the river, and they derive a conshientble portion of thcirfoodby eel-fishing. In pursuance of this industry they tire now engaged in constructing weirs, which, when completed, will entirely neutralise the effect of the works on which the Stout-Vogel-eum-liallance Ministry lavished so much money. JMi- Ballauce's organ, the AVanganui Herald, accordingly hopes that the Government will prevent these weirs from being finished, and says : " The river as a public highway should be protected from stoppages of the kind, and it is the duty of the Government to see that the natives arc not allowed to carry their designs into execution." So the " good father of the I Maori race," the gentleman who wished to 1 follow in the footsteps of the late Sir Donald M'Leau, and to revive the system of personal government of the natives, now culls on Ministers to prevent the Maoris from getting food, that a tea-kettle punt may go up tho river. Mr Ballauco's solicitude tor the AVanganui tradespeople is rather a lop-sided philanthropy when it involves the starvation of a large Maori population.

small pieces of auriferous been picked up in the water- a from some cause or another it \* piite recently, comparatively G at prospecting Ims-'beeix 'en- t] n the early days, when men's o inflamed by the boundless vas. being unearthed in Victoria, - Otago, and afterwards at the s i .good. pe..plo of Wellington le "gold fever." They were £ tho money they made out of i, )tatoes and horses whioh werp 8 the goldfislds, aud they pooh- j. dea of gold being found in their c rhood. The fact was that the £ gton colonists „ ere frightened if "new iniquity" should corals of New Zealand. Tho same J g existed amongst the settlers .t the rush came at last and was r profitable. Public opinion, has t in consequence, and the dis- f rold-fiold is the one thing that * ■ everyone. AYe certainly hope l hiti will be found so rich in *> tone that thousands will find iployment there. (

is termed by the Woodville Examiner discovery of "natural plaster of < at Umutoroa, is, of course, gypsum. is amorphous sulphate of lime, anil of Paris is made from it by heating mn to about 250 degres Fahr., and powdering i W the calcined mass. Samples of the deposit i have been sent to Dr. Skey who heated them j "to such a degree as to drive off the sulphurous compound," and then was left the pure plaster. AYe do not know that. - plaster of Paris is particularly valuable; : at all events gypsum is largely used as j manmo in the Old Country.

To-morrow being St. Patrick's Day the j banks will be closed. At the last, quarterly meeting of Court Redclyffe. Taradale, of the Independent Order of Foresters, there was a large atten- • dunce of members, and a considerable , amount of business was got through. The , anniversary of tho formation of the Court, which comes off in May, is to be celebrated by a fancy dress ball, and if a good committee, with liberal instructions from tho Court, can make it a success, wo shall have one. Mr Nathaniel Craig was again appointed secretary of committee. The Court will shortly number sixty members. Another fino vessel, the Pleione," has been stranded on tho coast of Cook's straits. The Pleione was 1092 tons, and sailed under Shaw, Savill and Albion Company's flag. She was commanded by Captain A. Culbert. A considerable portion of thePleione's cargo was destined for Napier. The correspondent of the Wellington Post, referring to the ton of ore from the Maharahara which has been forwarded to Newi castle for smelting, says if it goes 40 per cent, a company will be formed. Perhaps it would interest the correspondent to know that ore containing less than two per cent, of copper is now being profitably dealt with in Germany, aud that the Cornish ore, after picking, only occasionally exceeded live per cent, of copper ;is the result of the smelting. A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but to many country correspondents, who doubtless mean well, it would be an [ advantage to know something of that of which they so confidently write. The following are to day's mercury readings : —Russell 06, Auckland 72, Thames Cambridge 00, Tauranga OS, Gisborae 70, Napier 75, Wanganui 08, Wellington 00, Blenheim 09, Nelson 00, Westport 00, . Greymouth HO, Hokitika 00, Lyttelton 6U, Timaru 00, Oamam 62, Dunedin 51, Clyde 58, Queenstown 53, Balclutha 50, Invercargill .)2, and Bluff 01. . Messrs Neal and Close are suffering from some fatality in the matter of a consignment of earthenware. In the first place there was a long delay in its shipment, and then it was sent out by the Northumberland, which was wrecked here, before landing cargo. A duplicate consignment was then forwarded by the Pleione, of the stranding of which vessel on the Waikanae beach wo heard to-day. To-night in St. Paid's school-room an entertainment will be given by tho Band of Hope. We hear that some good singers have entered for tin competition, and Mrs Begg aud Mrs MeDiarmid will act as judges of the singing and recitation respectively. The entertainment is given for tho object of providing the children with a picnic on Good Friday. .As the admission will ouly be sixpence we hope to see a large attendance. If there be any particular magic in the figures which compose dates, tho year which began on Sunday should be an eventful one (writes the Pall Mall Gazette). Tho fact that the three final figures of ISSS are • alike is itself portentoun. Fortunately for England this does not occur very often—as - a rule only once in 111 years—but even that is too often. The year 1555 (to go no further back) witnessed the Marion prosecution in its full fury, when Ridley, Latimer, and about a hundred others perished at the stake. The great fire of London makes ltitjO for ever memorable in our domestic history. The surrender of General Burgoyno and his army at Saratoga in 1777 was tho turning point in the struggle in which we ~ lost a big slice of our American colonies. In this view tho out-look for the new year is dark, but still there aro gleams of hope. The year 188s is the centenary, the bi- , centenary, and the tercentenary of events closely associated with the progress of' British liberty. In 1588 the Spanish Armada was destroyed, and England was saved from Papal domination. In 10S8 the evil Stuart; dynasty came, not too soon, to an end. In 17SS tho Common Council of London petitioned in favor of the abolition i if the slave trade, and in that year commenced the trial of AVarron Hastings, which demonstrated to all Englishmen having charge of subject races that any abase of the power entrusted to them would not escape punishment. A quantity of quartz showing no gold ■" has been forwarded to Sir James Hector for assay. The stone was discovered by a man prospecting in the vicinity of Terawhiti, but the exact locality is a secret. The three samples have yielded eight, six, and fortyeight ourccs of gold respectively. The stone is similar to that of the Golden Crown, Terawhiti, and the gold is of good quality. The discoverer has a quantity of specimens, and when asked why he had notbrought in any he said that knowing they contained gold he did not trouble, but onfy brought stuff to be tested that did not show gold, so as to ascertain whether it was anygood. The following story of the Crown Prince of Germany has just reached me, says "Ruffles'* in Vanity Fair:—"When in I Ravena a little while ago Sir Morrell Mackenzie's daughter used to stay with the daughters of the Crown Prince, and one day, whilst the young ladies were talking, and the Crown Prince was, as usual, j- listening in silence, the conversation turned upon the merits of English ladies v. German, Miss Mackenzie maintaining that the latter were more graceful, in which opinion she was opposed by one of the Princesses. On , the discussion growing rather animated, tho Crown Prince suddenly rose from his seat, and crossing over to the youug ladies, said, ' You '.ire both right. I am of my daughter's opinion, that your country - ► women are as graceful as ours, but I think they generally lack something which, I at all events like—l mean a fringe. Without it your high foreheads give such a serious expression to j-otir faces.' Miss Mackenzie wore no fringe, but the next, mornimr at breakfast she made her appearance with a mass of little curls all over her forehead. !' Immediately on her entering, the Crown 1 Prince noticed the change, and taking her 1 hand, exclaimed laughing, ' AVhat a rapid 1 cure I I wish the advice tho doctors jrivo me were as effective.* '" f . Tho Napier Fire Police met last night, ■ when the Rev. J. Edwards was elected 1 a member. A vote of thanks to Mr J. • Stephens, of l!>e National Bank, who had forwarded a cheque for three guineas was - passed. At tho Provincial Hotel last night medals were presented to Sub-Superintendent Gilberd, Foreman Bogle, Branehmon Laws , and Hatheral, and Fireman 80.-s. Branch- [ man Ilatherall during tho evening was presented with a silver watch and chain, as ; lie is leaving for Melbourne. Bars were presented to the following :—Superintendent , AVatenvorth ; Sub-Superintendent Gilberd ; Foremen Robson, Hartley, and Boglo; ; Assistant-Engineer Holland; Branehmen ( Yuill aud Simmonds: Firemen Parker, j Cowlrick, and Starkey. A convivial evening was spent, Mr P. A. Herman proving j a very efficient pianist. \ A story was current in Auckland on l Friday that enquiries were being made by the police with a view- to the institution of "' proceedings against a well-known news- ~ paper runner for manslaughter. It is a " fact that such enquiries were being made, ' but they have resulted in showing that the * person who set them on foot was cither hoaxed iv a remarkable maimer or has some 'i object of his own in circulatiusr tho report. » The enquiries were made in consequence of the receipt of the following telegram by Inspector Shearman from the Politic Dopartiuent at Christchurch :—" Paul Pur- s chase, one arm Star runner in Auckland, reported to have beaten Hy. Hyland so badly in December List that lie died. Hy- v land's step-father very anxious for particulars. Reply paid." The matter bore a very serious aspect, and the case was placed in Detective AValkor's hands. The detective saw Purchaw, but ho denied positively that he had ** ever used any violence to Hyland, or had been tho cause of his death. Not only that, lint he took the detective to his residence ill l' Orey-street, where ho introduced him to Hyland himself. It is generally supposed , that detectives aro not surprised at- anything, , but this circumstance certainly took Detective AVaiker aback-. Ho found that Hyland, n who is Purchase's brother-in-law, lives in ' the .same house with him, and looked as 'j lively as is consistent with tho general i depression. Walker said young Hj-land is j " 1!) years of age, has no recollection of his death or resurrection in December last, and / has never been beaten yet." Purchase now . talks of proceeding against the persons L ' responsible for setting the report afloat. Advise al! your friends to usj Wolfe's. \y Sciin'aits. If asked to drink call for WOLHS'g <-" Scukaits. U!J

Native game, excoptina: tuis. white heron arid crested grebe, may be taken or killed within the colony except iv the borough of GreJ-mouth and in the "Wairau lasroons in the Oounty of Marlborough, from "the 30th of March till the 31st of July.

At Christchurch yesterday afternoon two boys named Homer and Brown wsut out sailing in the Akaroa harbor. About halfpast 3 o'clock a heavy wind came on, capsizing their boat. Brown held on to the b6at and was saved by some Maoris who saw the accident from Onuku. Hemer attempted to swim ashore and was drowned. Several, boats went out to search for his body, but it has not been recovered.

At the Christchnreh Charitable Aid Board yesterday a conference took place between delegates from various institutions as to retrenchment. Tho general opinion was that there were too many separate institutions and Boards, but consideration of a motion in favor of amending the Act inthc direction of abolishing separate institutions was postponed.

The Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovitch of Russia is on board the Rynda, which arrived at Auckland yesterday. Ho is serving as lieutenant.

Tho Doctors recommend Wolfe's Schx API'S.

"Rough on Rats."—Clears out rats, mice, roaches, flies, ants, bed-bugs, beetles, insects, skunks, jack-rabbits, sparrows, gophers. At chemists and druggists.

" Buchu-Paiba."—Quick, complete cure, all annoying Kidney, Bladder, and Urinary Diseases. At chemists and druggists. Kempthorne, Prosser & Co., Agts., Wellington.

WEBBER AND WILSON, Emersonstreet, offer great inducement to those requiring any description of Ironmongery, being under very light expense, we are in a position to sell at small profits. Orion Ranges (an improvement, on Garton and King's) are guaranteed to give every satisfaction. Call and inspect before buying elsewhere. Webber and AVilson, street. —[Advt.] *

1000- inhabitants of Hawke's Bay are now wearing Watches bought of us, and each one would willingly give a testimonial testifying to their utmost satisfaction. Bring your watches to us and have them repaired by practical tradesmen. All work warranted for 12 months, A T . Jensen and Co., the Emerson-street, Napier. —[advt.]

John M'Vay, being greatly overstocked, is offering saddlery and harness of al] kinds, portmanteaus, Gladstone bags, &c., &c, at largely reduced prices for cash, Hastings-street, Napier, and at Waipukurau.—[advt.l

Koromiko Cordial, as a remedy for dysentry and diarrhoea, is unequalled. Care should be taken to purchase the original preparation as made and introduced by H. Owen, Chemist, Hastings - street Napier, as tho success of this compound has induced others to imitate it. Price, 2s Gd.—[advt.j