NAPIER NOTES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 66, 13 July 1896, Page 3

NAPIER NOTES.

[Fkom Our. Own Correspondent/ N.'-p:kr, Julv 1 •'». Once aga ; n I would draw th. tion of the niemh. r - of our Board to the h ir\i th it i ; ben g <t"i e to the brcakw.it- i a- a harbor l>. neglect of the officials or the design of shipmasters. 0:io t f the excuses g, given for not bringing some of the K steamers into the breakwater area during the recent storms is that there is no good holding ground for anchors. But what nonsense this is to be sure. Where comes in the necessity for anchoring '? If a steamer cannot moor at the Glasgow wharf it can surely make fast to one of the mooring buoys, and if there are not enough of these, why not put down others ? On Saturday the intercolonial boats went into the bay when they could have been brought alongside the wharf, and at any rate if they could not be made snug there, they could have lain quite peacefully within the breakwater area. For some reason or other, not understandable, the harbor has got into bad odour recently, and it is high time the members of the Board began to bestir themselves. There is either carelessness or indolence in all this, and I should like to know under which of these two heads I am to place recent occurrences. There were many who viewed the breakwater yesterday and this morning with very mixed feelings, and those who have opposed it from the start were—l was going to say jubilant satisfied that they were wise people who had never believed in the possibility of a successful artificial harbor in a place where the whole force of the Pacific Ocean comes rolling and roaring in. These point to the Iron Pot and the inner harbor and say : —" If Sir -John Coode's plan had been carried out in its entirety, or even extended, the entrance would have been deep enough for the largest of the boats coming here at high tide, and the Inner Harbor could have been maintained as one of the finest shipping pools in any part of the world." I am not engineer enough to quite follow this reasoning ; but I admit there is force in the argument which is based on these assertions. The fact remains that we are committed to the present breakwater, and I cannot see anything to be alarmed at in the latest breaches made by Father Ocean. We have had a succession of imprecedently high seas, and it would have been surprising if something serious had not happened ; and I take leave to say that if the apron is now strengthened by the addition of a greater mass of wave-breakers where it is now seen the impact of the sea is greatest, there need be no alarm felt for the stability of the structure. The damage done will take some time to repair and will cost a fairly large sum of money, hut I do not hesitate to say that, taking all things into consideration, the havoc worked by the storms has not been so great as we were all, at one time during the prevalence of the high seas, led to expect. I can confidently recommend your readers to go and see the Kinetescope. It is a really wonderful exhibition, but I would advise you all to take the trouble to ask the courteous proprietor to give you an explanation of the principle of the thing, when its matvels will be more apparent than if you just passed in, paid your money and looked at the startling results of photography and electricity in a casual way. The football match on Saturdayonly serves to emphasise what I have before declared to be a fact : that there is too much risk in the plav, too much roughness' displayed towards individuals by individuals. It has come to this, that if a .man distinguishes himself, he is really attacked by the other side and early in the game an effort is made to " flatten him out." Football has just come to this: that some men know too much about the game and others not enough, while the crowd just go wild with delight when there is rough, play and deem it too slow when the game is played decently. On Saturday, two men on the weaker side, the Caledonians, were disabled, and not a match goes panin the colony that someone is not injured. The Pirates played well, but they had the game all their own way, the Caledonians being short of players. This is shown by the score : Pirates, 22, Caledonians, nil. At the Magistrate's Court this morning, Mr Turnbull, S.M., presiding, a Native woman named Ivehu was fined 5s and costs 8s for allowing four horses to stray on the Omahu road. Henerangi, for allowing three horses to wander in the same locality was fined 7s 6d, and costs Bs. Mary Martin was charged that she did on Sunday, July sth, throw a stone on the house of John Skews, cabman. Mr Dinwiddie appeared for complainant, and Mr Cress well for defendant. John Skews, John Page, and Lillie Gillies gave evidence in support of the charge, from which it would appear that at 9.80 on the date mentioned defendant, who was returning from church with her little daughter, and for no reason apparently, threw a stone at the house. Skews remonstrated with the lady, and received a severe blow on the face with an umbrella. Skews deposed that Mrs Martin was in the habit of throwing stones at his house, and in fact his insurance agent had threatened to cancel his policy on this account. Mary Martin gave evidence in her own defence. She denied having thrown Ihe stone, and had struck Skews with her and not with an umbrella as stated. After he had accused her of throwing the stone, witness's anger was aroused by Skews calling her by an unmentionable name. \\ itness characterised, the evidence of Skews and Page as downright perjury. Mr Turnbull, S.M., said he could not disbelieve two men on this point, and would bind accused ovpr to keep the peace for one month in the sintt of £5, and order her to pay costs 9s and pgJictor'B fee £X Is.

\t th< vble Aid Board meeting I to di\ the mi=:er of ibe Eefugo re'rd t' 1 t<h of an inmate, Mrs : • \I-- S mt Mitchell recomi 1 t ml nuance of rations to a j '; tii'i -r> orient: granted. The Otago [ J.-it* c * Institution wrote asking i inform i- m u o itdoor relief which was j• 1 ! e t It> h 1 supplied. A number of J heal ca-"3 of destitution were dealt ; With.