NAPIER NOTES.

Hastings Standard, Issue 81, 30 July 1896, Page 2

NAPIER NOTES.

[From Oue Own Cobkespondemt.] Napier, July 30. Some very strange rumors are afloat as to some Napier cases against an exresident, and if all be true that is told me, why then the cases in question will far outweigh certain cases at present known to the public. The man in the street says that some time ago a couple of our citizens were approached by the person in question with a view to buying off a certain person who charged them with something they would not care to have known. The sum of £SOO was paid to him, £440 by one and£6o by the other. Another case is spoken of where some people in Hastings were concerned, and again hush-money is said to have passed. It is not for me to attach importance to these statements, but I believe your readers will find that I have not altogether misled them when all the facts are brought out in open court. But the worst report of all is one wherein the ruin of a girl was compassed and sent'away to Sydney. If the truth of this charge could be established the culprit would deserve severe punishment. Inspector Emerson has been very ill lately, and is only now out of danger. He had a sharp attack of la grippe and rather neglected it, I think, with the result that he was laid aside for some weeks. The Inspector is a very popular officer, and deservedly so, for he does his duty in a quiet and effective manner. But even he could not be left alone by that class of persons known as Prohibitionists. Ido not know a more meddling, falsehoodloving lot in the whole wide world. The sea is calming down at last, and we shall have time to reckon up our losses at the breakwater. I don't think they will be very heavy after all. Yesterday I took part in a discussion as to the probable result of our breakwater works, and I was sorry to note how anxious some people are to make little of the structure and to talk about failure. These people lack the true spirit and would growl betimes at everything and I was glad to know that my remarks concerning the apparent enmity to the breakwater displayed by certain persons in Napier and at the Spit have borne fruit, and that there is a determination on the part of the true friends of the town and district to prevent a repetition of the conduct which caused the carrying off of passengers and mails when they could have been landed. The Port Ahuriri Drum and Fife Band appears to be in a bad way for funds. 'Twas ever thus. Some enthusiast starts an organisation of boys or men. For • a time all goes well. Then the funds run short because the organisation has been more mindful of the needs of others than for itself. Collapse comes later, and whilom enthusiasts are turned into cynics. The Drum and Fife Band at the Port has been a most useful and beneficial institution. The boys have been profitably employed, and their parents have been most liberal. The instructor has done his very best with the material at hand, and more than one charity has benefited from the efforts of the boys and their master. It is matter for regret that on one of the very first occasions when the Band sought to augment its own funds it had to spend £4 6s to get £6 14s lOd. This is not as it should be. The question as to the desirableness or otherwise of the Bible being read in day schools has been settled by the Junior Club. The Junior Club has said "No " very pointedly. That's enough.