NAPIER NOTES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 55, 30 June 1896, Page 2

NAPIER NOTES.

« —— [From Our Own Correspondent.] Napier, June 29. A meeting of Presbytery is to be held here this week to moderate in a call to the Woodville Presbyterian "Church. Reference to matters ecclesiastic serves to call up the fact that wherever the public most do to congregate or perambulate for the healthy purpose of obtaining a supply of ozone, there will always be found the noisy exponent of a seculiar form of the Christian religion. It is not well to interfere with the preaching or teaching of this or that form of worship, or to dispute one or, indeed, any dogma or doctrine, but I must say it is rather annoying that the 6nly breathing space available to the populace should be rendered unattractive and at times quite repulsive to the citizen, by reason of the shoutings, the raucous singing, and — save the mark ! —the noisy prayings of well-intentioned but foolish faddists. The Marine Parade is to the people of Napier like a ewe lamb. Why, then, should the enjoyment be marred 011 Sundays by the brayings of Salvation trumpets and, later on, by the loudvoiced proclamation of a hell-fire doctrine by a little knot of persons who make night and the Parade hideous ? These foolish people need not run away with the idea that they are doing Cod service. They are the means of creating more scoffers than any other agency, if our young men, or our old ones either, for the matter of that, treat sacred things with levity, and there is noticeable in their converse at the street corners a ribaldry that is repulsive, these open-air preachers are responsible. Do we live in the neighborhood of a volcano, or has any agency caused some distinct volcanic region to get 011 to a line of the rock formation whereby earth tremors are specially provided for the shaking up of Napier ? I ask the question because of late wo have had rumblings and shakings enough—and all entirely local —to furnish the stock-in-trade of another Eugene. Recently of nights the folk here have been awakened from their beauty sleep by anything but mild shocks of earthquake, and the peculiar part of the occurrence is this, that nowhere else can we hear that they have been similarly visited. I hope that these ■"Shakes do not furnish a reason for the bdftef at one time expressed that one time Napier is to be blown sky-high. What will you do fov your port, then, when Hastings has become the Christchurch and Napier ought to be its Lyttelton, and I think I hear that sententious townsman of yours (Mr George Ellis) saying : —" My dear sir, don't alarm yourself. We have a seaport all ready and waiting at the Kidnappers !" A great many men are leaving here for the northern goldfields. It is reported that nine shillings a day is paid to good workers in the north, and that employment is becoming more . and more plentiful. It is a pity, all the same, that we should lose so many stalwart fellows, but it appears that not only those who are out of work, but a percentage of the men who have been working at the breakwater are dissatisfied and are going away. I am told on what I believe to be reliable information that the workmen have barely made more than half of what they were paid under the Harbor Board, and that their rate of pay is in most cases over three shillings per day less than it was 011 the day labor system and one shilling less than the rate paid by Messrs Palliser and Jones, the former contractors. A story has reached me to the effect that, in answer to one or two of the men who not only complained of the slackness of the work but of the danger that attended the carrying of it on, the coiltractor's son said he did'nt care, though all hauds gave it up, as he " could get enough men in Wellington," who would be glad to get what the local men were complaining about. Quite a flutter has occurred here in connection with the advertising of Drs de Lisle and Moore of a new idea in which old or young, rich or poor, might have medical attendance—with free physic—for a moderate sum paid in advance. It is argued that this would have enabled many who do not belong to clubs or rather benefit institutions, to receive considerable benefit. On the other hand the doctors say it is a most improper thing for the doctors in question to have started such a society, it being contrary to the laws of the Medical Association in such case made and provided. Anyhow the offending doctors have withdrawn from the new society and are awaiting the decision of the medical organisation on the question. Some people say that there has been something akin to a > row among the medical men. hut a- to j that I cannot say. .1.,.:.- so. Those who read Bellamy's •' Looking Backward " voted the mar, not many removes from a lunsoir: when !,<: pictured the resident of a t;r.y tii,,v;jr | on opera, drama, or concert- wii { witnessing from within his own homo j any or all of the popular > j.;,; : iah:- j ments provided for the delectation u. r j the whole people. But we live far j-.i the./j'M </c xieclc. There is 01: Jiibition in Hastings street one .if iJ« triumphs of that marvellous ma.". Edison, in the kiueoscope into what appears to be a one sees the dance of a vohipfir n, lady of color, then, movi i on one is amused by the ot. =1 couple of acrobatic actors, -M isnaih the gyrations of the most ..•ieornt.-ti skirt-dancer of the age. All u> -e performances are wonderfully r.>:iii«tir. and when we understand the: they an: actually the result of a succession of thousands of photographs passing along with lightning-like rapidiiv u i an endless bank, one is inclined to exclaim- -Oh, misrhty rv--"<-nn : 'j| But there is no mai/ie in it. ' "is the : prod uc .. .• .cbi- - a 1 t and i perfection ■ >'. . .3 the j

showman would say, " It must be seen to be realised." A capital story conies to me from the meeting of the Crown Lands Board yesterday. Some time since a inunber of village allotments were offered for occupation, the stipulation being that whoever was successful in obtammg cnf must reside on it perm.a<. ■ »tl\ ■ Cue man, who had f,lsv,i<ly a -mum, was anximv tn atUI u> hn <?oil po^ssloiTJ*^" and he iuni urn- r. tho viliturc nlLilnent-' ,wrtioned out :o him. The rangei' >rt il, however. Ehfi-t t'jo individ : ; r> -niesti. j. was not fulfilling the residential regulations. And this was L-ne si-ory he told the Board : He found that the settler had a house and land within a few hundred yards of the allotment and as a pretence at residence 011 the latter he erected a tent, wherein lie slept when tlv night? were warm. When there o: ■<e ,i roM snap, he wandered back to t iu, bcvom of his family and shared four-poster with the partno;W ln« joys anil sorrows. The members of t.hc'jbu'nrd laughed concernedly at this clever piece of studied evasion of -he t.-guia-lations, but, their laughter having subsided, they hardened their hearts and ordered the settler that lie must either permanently reside in his tent or other necessary abode on the allotment, or make way for someone else. Morris-tube shooting has become very popular with our citizen soldiers, and it has awakened in them quite a new spirit, which will go far to popularise the Queen's cloth among our young fellows. Lieut. Thompson has done a great deal for the Volunteers here," and his work just goes to prove how much one earnest- onev<-.-« man may do. The lliti; - of v. oi-b company he is lieut-eniut', >e".. b.-nefited largely by his entho.-,.: The corps is getting up a social :>>.« .trr.n«; iu u, week or two, and I vm!;-.-:, IW it j* big success. The railway people 'ww daie well in piecing together the traffic so soon. We grumble a good deal about slow trains and imperfect services, but when that same is disorganised we know how really well we are served. Before leaving here, Sir James Prendergast made it plain that the arrears of work are more than the present number of judges can overtake. Why such delay in the appointment of a Judge in Sir Patrick Buckley's stead ? It is not easy understandable. 2 p.m. Rain is again falling and the weather has grown cold and miserable. At the Magistrate's Court, before Messrs Cohen and Large, Justices, J. R. Crichton, charged with stealing brass rivets, value 2s Gd, was remanded. Accused had just been liberated from sentence for petty thefts at Gisborne. A civil case at the Court, S. T. v. Friday Tomoana, was adj'ld'eai.-! u>>ou ir, a peculiar manner, 'j'he claim «-«•. tut i'i l :M.- wages •,Ll>'p 5 to dne. o[: - hearing a lot of rvioi-'.o'e T ':i ro'c-:; i:ng Justices tbyogb; t.hobv: »v;sv *■«> iis-.iisitnnpc tho Ut-r v.*:- mid defendant •u> adjourn ami '-nduivru ;.o <ert]c ttio - """ difference. Iliey accordingly, but 110 settlement was .imv:-d at. Plaintiff on coming into Court again said he was willing to take £lO. Defendant thought £8 sufficient. Th« Bench gave judgment for £B, each party to the suit to pay his own costs. This was quite a Solomon-like judgment. The Plumpton Coursing Club were unfortunate in having such a bad day for their meeting. As there is no connection with the grounds by telegraph the results will not be available to-day.