NAPIER NOTES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 57, 2 July 1896, Page 2

NAPIER NOTES.

[Fbom Oue Own Correspondent.]

Napiee, July 2. Yesterday when the waves were thundering over the parapet on the Parade and depositing tons of shingle along the footpath and on to the road to the breakwater, the salt water w T as forced through the upper beds of shingle on the beach and so through into the basin below the town. Very soon this water came ozing through the gardens and back yards in Tennyson and Emerson streets and in other parts of thefflat. The Deanery grounds represented a miniature lake, as did Mr Cohen's front garden and Mrs Randall's grounds. It was a somewhat novel spectacle —the spring flowers and many shrubs just peeping above the water. I am afraid that many choice flowers will thus be ruined. In this connection a very good story is told, and as it has come to me from one of the parties concerned in it, I can vouch for its authenticity. A certain church officer, who shall, of course, be nameless, was informed in the most solemn manner by a local manufacturer that Napier is marked out for destruction. He would bet on it if it were not such a solemn thing. " Well," said the church officer, " how long do you give us ? " " W T e shall not see 1897," said the solemn man. Here w T as a chance for the wordly wisdom of the churchman, " Look here," said he. " Will you give me five shillings for the Church fund if we survive ? " "I will," said the manufacturer in a glad voice. " Very well," said the churchman, " and if I lose, I'll pay you a penny in Paradise ! " What is the matter with our Harbor Board officials, that they are permitting the breakwater harbor to be prejudiced by the action of the steamer people or the harbor master ? I ask the question, because passengers by the Flora were ordered to embark on the Ahuriri at Port Ahuriri yesterday, instead of being taken off* from the breakwater wharf and on to the waiting steamer. It is perfectly true that a wild sea was raging in the bay and that it was not pleasant to go along the roof of the breakwater, but surely when it is a fact that the steames lay quietly near to the Glasgow wharf there was no necessity for dragging the outward passengers down to the Port to be tossed across the bay to the Flora ! There are those who give it as their opinion that the steamer could have been made snug enough at the Glasgow wharf and very little discomfort have been experienced by the outward bounders. It is a mistake, to make so much of the fact of a heavy sea running outside when the breakwater area is as calm as a mill pond. Such an arrangement as that made for embarking the passengers yesterday is calculated to give the harbor a bad name, and the Harbor Board should see to it. The Marios Parade Eotel, of which

so much was heard recently, is now open to the public, or at least that portion of it which is now in a sufficiently forward state for occupation. Mr Luke Falconer, the licensee, is an unassuming man who will, it is believed, show to those who fought so determinedly against the issue of a license to him that- he can conduct his business in such a way as to give no cause for fault-finding. lam credibly informed that he has already had enquiries from quite a large number of persons at a distance as to the extent of his accommodation and the rates to be charged. This matter of seaside accommodation is destined to a very important one in the near future, and I should not be at all surprised to find that our worthy Mayor is again setting about the revival of the agitation for the purchase by a syndicate of a large number of the frontages now occupied by a very poor class of buildings. If the tumble-down, and in some cases, disreputable-looking, shanties which now front the Marine Parade could bo removed and in their place a number of large residences be built ifc would not only enhance the beauty of Napier but create the demand for seaside residence that does not now exist. Napier should be the resort, during the summer months, of a very large number of persons in search of health, but at the present the Marine Parade offers no facilities for residence, and thus the way is effectually barred to our becoming the Scarborough of New Zealand. If I were to suggest that there are one or two hotels at present in Hastings street which could be turned round, as it were, and made to face the Parade, I should likely enough be denounced as a publican's or a brewer's man ; but I must accept the risk for the sake of saying something that may lead to a vast improvement not only in the appearance but also in the trade of Napier. When the Masonic is rebuilt—or I should say that portion of it which went down before the fire, I venture to think that the idea I have now in my mind will present itself in convincing shape to quite a large number of our residents who are at present asleep, or nearly so, and quite oblivious to the future of our splendid inheritance in the shape of our sea front. I am not aware what plans the proprietors of the Masonic have in view but if they are guided by Mr Moeller, the popular host of the Masonic, then I should say that the new portion of the hotel will have a very fine appearance from the parade. If these thoughts of mine on the subject have the effect of awakening an interest in the subject of improvement of the I Marine Parade, these notes will have served a very desirable purpose, j The Borough Council committed it- ! self to a dangerous precedent when it went to the trouble and expense of repealing and then re-making a byelaw so as to permit of Mr John Dinwiddie turning a wooden building • which had been used as a sani}>k-iot,)H into a dwelling-house. The Intildiuj.' stands within No. 1 district, 10 which ' it is compulsory to build in.brick, and in which no wooden building i:;tn •<<, rebuilt or even extensively altered. Mr Dinwiddie's success has emboldened Mr E. W. Knowles to apply that several sections of his—some of them fronting Shakespeare Road—should be exempted. If the Borough Council should accede to this request and violate not only the letter but the spirit of a law made for the protection of the lives and properties of the burgesses, it will be a very corrupt act indeed. I feel sorry to have to say so, but ill Napier one ratepayer may do almost anything he pleases, while another is harried out of all reason. It is a case of " one man may steal a horse, the other mayn't look over the edge." These improper acts of the Borough Council give to the advocates of an extended franchise the very handle they need. I should not be at all surprised to find that the Public Work.-} Committee has recommended that Mr Ivnowles be permitted to have his Wiiy, The same person has been permitted by the Inspector of Buildings to put ■ ip at the corner of Tennyson street and Milton road something between a cow shed and a wash-house. No one else but one of the clique such as that to which Mr Knowles belongs could have placed such an unsightly structure on one of the thoroughfares of the town. One section of our Town Council controls the actions of the Council's employe's, and the few who arc not bound to the favored majority rarely open their mouths. It is a very unfortunate state of things—except for the selfish party. The Druids' social last night at the Drill Hall was a success in every way, and some seventy couples enjoyed the delightful and exhilarating exercise of dancing to the strains of a first-class quadrille band. Fancy dresses were not much in favor, but the toilettes were all very pretty and tasteful. "Why does not the .Junior Club strike out in a new line and discuss somo question or other of real live interest —something concerning the social life of the people ? It doesn't matter a fig whether King Charles was properly or improperly put to death. These debating societies always put me in mind of Mr Dick. Last night the time waa not much better than waste 1 '-i *> discussion as to whether constitutional government has been a success in Now Zealand. Of what use (in it br diseuss such a lame-duck question ? The next subject for discuesiou 'S equally as stupid, " Should Briiian aJIy herself with one or more of the nations of Europe in the interests e£ peace ? " Bosh. Better discuss some question of moment to the young men who, like the members in" the -Junior Club, are interested in the future well-being of the colony in which their lives have been cast. Bury King Charles's head and with it all the other equally nonsensical discussions gotten up by those who do not actually realise what the trend of public opinion is at the present time; or if they do, keep the young fellows as far away from that fcrejjd possible.