The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 21, 1902.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 395, 21 April 1902, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, APRIL 21, 1902.

Some local reports arc held over unti next issue.

On Saturday a prohibition order was issued against Louis Gordon Glassford. Mr J. Hussey, formerly of the Gisborne Customs Department, has been transferred from Napier to Dunedin, >' Should the State Departments of New Zealand be Increased ?” will be debated at the Mutual Improvement Society tonight. ■

Messrs J. D, Burgo3s, IV- Hutchinson, and A. M. Lewis have been nominated for two vacant seats on the Wuikohu Iload Board. Notice of the appointment of F. E. N. Gaudin to be captain and adjutant of the First Battalion Auckland Infantry appears in the Government Gazette of April 3rd, Mr F. Hicks’ fifth son, Robert, who ha s been ill for some years past, died yesterday, Death was a merciful release to the lad, though naturally it came as a severe shock to the parents. The funeral will take place this afternoon. At auction on Saturday Co-operative Building Society shares were disposed of as follows Three shares with £2l 6s paid up, £l9 10s ; two shares, £l4 paid up, £l3 ; two shares, £2l 9s paid up, £l9 10s.

On Saturday a flag was showing from the tower of the new post office, for which

Messrs AVehb and Sous are the contractors. The tower was illuminated at night, emphasising thb fact that there is no clock yet in position. The Shaw-SaviH Coy.'s mammoth steamer Athenic arrives from the South early this morning. We understand that arrangements have been made for the senior scholars of the District school to visit the steamer this afternuoh, hut as yet no public excursion has been announced.

The following cable has been received by Messrs Dalgety and Co., Limited, from their head office : —" Antwerp sales opened with average attendance of buyers ; fair selection; competition animated. Merino as compared with average rate of last Antwerp sales is at par to ,}d higher ; crossbreds Mto ;?-d higher. Expect a rise in prices at the next sales here.” Mr W. Coster, of the local Post and Telegraph staff, leaves for Mastorton on Wednesday next, to which office ho has beeon transferred. During his residence in this district Mr Coster has made himself extremely popular, both in official and social circles, and will carry with him the best wishes of his many friends. At the sale of Colonel Porter's sections on Saturday, the results were : Section 3, 6 acres 2 roods 37 perches, L’2l per

acre, C. J. Parker ; section 4, 5 acres 3 roods 2 perches, HIS per acre, D. Morico ; section 2. 6 acres 1 rood, j£l2 10s per acre, C. J. Parker ; section 1, 9 acres 3 roods 11 perches, 1218 10s per acre, C. J. Parker ; section 5, 1 acre 3 roods 17 perches, .£25, E. G. Reynolds. Mr J. H. Gittos, of Auckland, arrived by the Te Anau yesterday to make arrangements for the opening of the premises to be occupied by the London Berlin Company and A. Eady and Co. of Auckland. It is very’ pleasing to note that one of the leading music warehouses in this colony is opening a branch in Gisborne, and wo are sure that Mr Gittos will soon become as popular in musical circles in this district as he is in the Northern City.

A meeting of the Wainpu Licensing Bench was held on Saturday. Present : Messrs W. A. Barton, S.M. (chairman), Hepburn, Macfarlane, and Gray. In regard to the reported deviation from the plans of the Argyll Hotel, Mr W. D, Lysnar attended on behalf of the owners, and gave an assurance that tho balcony would not be omitted. The Committee weie unanimous that the plans as passed by ilie Bench should not be departed from. In consideration of Mr Lysnar's statement, the matter was deferred until next quarterly meeting. Some heavy scoring was seen at the bowling green on Saturday in a pairs match between Massey and Simson, and Ponsford and Gaudin. It was arranged that two games of thirteen heads should be played, and the first resulted iu an easy win for Ponsford and Gaudin by’ 21 points to 2. A change of skips was then made, and‘on the seventh head Gaudin and Ponsford had 26 to their opponents’ one point, and the Whataupoko champion skip decided to throw up the sponge. The score in the second game included an eight, a six, a five, and two threes. Quigley and Sidebottom were defeated byMcGowan and Ferris by 28 to 15, whilst Bright and .Tohnston went down before Harris and Brown. The championship single matches will he resumed this afternoon, when Ponsford plays McGowan.

There was a large and appreciative audience at the Theatre Royal last evening, when the Rev. C. E. Beecroft, of Napier, delivered an address on “ Prohibition.” Mr J. Somervell presided, and the Rev. B. F. Rothwell was also on the platform. The speaker dealt with the subject chiefly from the patriotic point of view, and urged his hearers to do all they could to secure the carrying of the noliceDse poll. He gave a number of instances of the success in prohibition in England and New Zealand, and specially mentioned several villages in the Hawke's Bay and Auckland districts, which were practically under prohibition on account of the absence of public houses. The speaker was accorded a most attentive hearing, and was frequently applauded. A vote of thanks w’as proposed by the Rev. B. F. Rothwell, and carried by acclamation.

The annual meeting of the Te Kareka branch of New Zealand Farmers’ Union will be held in the Te Karaka Schoolroom, on Saturday, at 7.80 p.rn. All members and gect'emen wishing to join are requested to attend. A fowl yarn comes from Waavarapa. A citizen was charged before the local J’s.P. with stealing a hen. He protested he had not stolen it, hut that

the bird had just strolled in and took up her quarters in his fowl-house Why didn’t he return the bird ? He

had kept it for a week, had lie not ? He knew to whom it be.onged, did he

not ? Yes, he did know to whom it belonged, but he had backed a favorite hen to lay agin’ anything in tne neighborhood, and he was keeping A’s bird to see if she could beat it.

The “ pushes ” have been playing up at l’rahran (Vie.) lately, and the other day two hard cases were hauled up for belting a citizen who had offended them by buttoning his coat in the street. After dealing out much bash and boot, the toughs compelled their victim to buy them drinks. For this flagrant assault and robbery the accused were fined £3 in a placid tone of voice, but the bench subsequently told the offenders with some warmth that they ought to be ashamed of themselves for committing such an offence on the Sabbath. Truly the common cheap justice is a comical animal. Break as many citizens as you like, but don’t break the Sabbath,

Thus the Free Lance: —King Dick made favewelliug Gisbornites uncomfortable recently by glaring at a committee and telling them there had been a “ discordant note struck.” One thousand Poverty Bay faces thereat lengthened, and one thousand hearts beat with fear. “ I don’t like Poverty,” said Dick. Then, each of those one thousand people swore he would “ anto-up ” handsomely to Dick’s “ purse,” and make amends. *• The name is a disgrace to this lovely district. Why should people suffer for a misfortune of Captain Cook’s ?” At once, the people saw what Dick was hitting at, and grew glad. King Dick said he wouldn’t receive an address from Poverty Bay, and then all the people wondered if they would get their money back. But he didn’t mean

that. He intended them to alter the name. He wanted to know what people at Home would think of sheep grown on Poverty, and, indeed, there is reason for deleting that name from the map of New Zealand. Why not call one of tho richest spots in New Zealand Seddonia or Carrollina, or something that suggests affluence ? Tho following paragraph from the Wellington Lance will interest Gisbornites : Mr H. D. Pike, who has held the position of shop-walker and manager for Mr C. Bmith for some years, is about to leave Wellington, and is proceeding South in search of gold. Some years ago, when residing in Auckland, Mr Pike suffered like many others, in the collapse of the mining boom, and lost a considerable amount of money, besides being left with heavy liabilities. Ho was advised by friends to seek the protection of the Court, but preferred to face his difficulties in another way. He sold his home and property, paid up as far as possible, and asked his creditors for time in which to pay the balance, and we understand he has since

paid everyone 90s in the pound. He had very bad health on first coming to Wellington, and we hope in his new sphere of labor he will be more fortunate in that respect. He leaves Wellington with the best wishes of a large number of friends. What consistency is there in a Government that raids a gaming party on Friday afternoon and that shares, on the following day. the profits of a public gambling machine at Ellerslie ? For, after all, the gambling done in Swanson street was a mere circumstance to that carried out at Ellerslie with the concurrence of the Government on Saturday. Indeed, one of the men fined on Saturday morning was actually the manager of the Government gambling venture on Saturday afternoon. It was an offence to play for a few shillings on Friday—it was lawful to handle thousands of pounds of gambling stakes on Saturday! Evidently,'the prin oiple that governs tho authorities in this matter is that it is wrong to gamble in private and right to gamble in public—so long as the Government shares in the proceeds. Verily, Pecksniff is not dead so long as Seddan and his colleagues live. For our own part, wo fail to see why people should not gamble as much as they please, so long as they gamble with thenown money. But if we aro to be dragooned into strict morality by the law, why should the law not bo strictly impartial in its raids? Why should it confine its periodical descents by the police to Chinamen and bookmakers ? These two classes ot the community are generally supposed to bo beyond redemption, and they are not likely to corrupt the morals of each other. —Observer.