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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 6, Issue 332, 8 November 1862, Page 3

Death of James McCabe, Esq.— lt is our painful duty to record the death of James McCabe, Esq., late Editor of the Daily Soutiiern Cross. He departed this life at an early hour yesterday morning, at the age of 35 years. For the last five months his health was very precarious, and he gradually sunk from exhaustion of strength, caused by pulmonary disease. We need not eulogise the deceased gentleman as a writer. His great capacity and talents were widely known and recognised, and his loss will be keenly felt in this community, where his labours were concentrated. He possessed a piercing and cultivated intellect, and lent a charm to every subject on which he treated. His clear judgment and strength of mind remained unimpaired to the last. The subject of these remarks was of an Irish family, several members of which have earned fair literary reputations ; — one having written a history of Ireland, besides having been a political writer in the United Kingdom, during the stormy days which preceded, and immediately followed the decline of, O'Connell. The lately deceased was born in Cheltenham, England, we believe, where his father was in practice as a physician. He was chiefly educated at Heidelberg. His rare talents and genial temper made him a general favourite. He was, as a correspondent remarks, a thoroughbred gentleman. It now only devolves upon us to announce that his remains will be removed for interment, at three o'clock to-day, from his late residence, Parnell. — Daily Southern Cross, Oct. 20.

The Govebnob. — His Excellency Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., arrived in Auckland in H.M.S.S. Harrier, Captain Sir Malcolm Mac Gregor, Bart., on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7 a.m., and shortly afterwards debarked, under a salute of seventeen guns from the sloop. His Excellency took his departure from Wellington on Friday the 10th instant, and, with the exception of a sharp blow on Tuesday last, experienced a fine weather passage, which, with but an interval of twenty-four hours, was performed under steam. We are happy to hear that the general aspect of Native affairs bore a pacific tendency at the date of Sir George's leaving. — Nem Zealander, Oct. 18.

65th Regiment. — It affords us a very sincere pleasure to be able to state that Captain MacGregor (senior Captain of this gallant corps) has at length received his Brevet majority, and now takes his proper place in the Army list ; how Captain MacGregor should have been so long overlooked is altogether inconceivable to us who know his merits, and to the many constituencies of this colony who have neither been slack to acknowledge his services or appreciate his deserts. — New Zealander, Oct. 11.

Earthquakes.— lt is an old saying that one must go abroad to hear news, and certainly it would appear that the proverb applies with unusual force to this colony. We have long known that earthquakes were occasionally to be felt in Wellington and Nelson, but we always looked upon them as rarities even there. It, however, appears from the statements of a worthy judge in Victoria, that earthquakes are not only of frequent occurrence, but that it is the exception rather than the rule for the earth to be at rest, and that not only in Wellington and Nelson, but all over New Zealand. Some of our old residents will be rather surprised to learn, on the authority of Judge Chapman, that for three months at a time there has been an average of thirty-three shocks every day ! Yet that is what Mr. Chapman says. We quote the Argus of 29th September : — " On Tuesday evening last, His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman, at the Town Hall, Hawthorn, delivered a lecture upon " Earthquakes in New Zealand." From the statements made by the learned gentleman, it would appear that New Zealand must be anything but a pleasant, and rather a dangerous country to reside in. He said that during the year 1848, and within the short space of three months, he experienced no less than three thousand shocks of earthquakes, and that, on several days during that period, there were no less than 150 distinctly felt. — Otago Daily Times.

Cotteagb OP the Maoeis. — Worthy of an ancient Boman was the conduct of the chief Mokau, at the close of the action of Mahoetahi, in November, 1860. When the Maoris were driven from the old pah on the hill by the spirited charge of the 65th, and the militia and volunteers, they became whakawawa, or dispersed, and took to the Bwanip below. Mokau, retreating, saw at the edge of it a friend lying mortally wounded. He stopped, and though the avengers were close behind, he seized the hand of the dying man and stooped to say farewell, and to press noses in the native fashion ; raising himself up, he himself was shot through the heart, and fell across the body of his friend. This noble act of friendship had thus this fatal result. Of endurance and determination in a Maori there was a remarkable instance at Huirangi, in the summer of 1861. Katawa, a wild character, tired of firing away all day in his rifle pit, got up into a tree, ten feet above the ground, to fire with better effect at the 12th, 14th, and 40th, and other skirmishers, but he was dropped by a ball in the forehead. Having perhaps a tbiok skull, the Minie ball stuck fast over one eye without passing into the brain, and Natawa, recovering himself, went on fighting for two days afterwards. The second evening some of his friends tried to get the ball put by moving it with their fingers, but perhaps a portion of bone was dislodged and touched the brain, and Natawa, after five days' raging madness, died.— > United Service Magazine.