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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3876, 19 March 1877, Page 2

The Hon. Dr. Pollen arrived here from Wellington yesterday afternoon in the Hinemoa. He proceeds to-day to Taupo, to attend tlie great native meeting and to meet Rewi. We understand that the Hinemoa, before leaving here, will be employed in raising the Pania buoy and lengthening the chain, so as to avoid the chafing respecting which so much complaint has been made. She will afterwards proceed to Portland Island. j At the Resident Magistrate's Court, on Saturday, Thomas Floyd, who had been arrested on the supposition that he was of unsound mind, was brought before R. Beetham, Esq., R.M., and discharged, there being no certificate produced as to the man's insanity. The young woman Rose Ayers was not brought before the Court, but it was intimated by Sergeant Moffit that the result of the medical examination showed that the girl was insane. His Worship said that at any time that the medical certificate was laid before him he would sign the warrant for the girl's committal to the Lunatic Asylum. The annual meeting of the Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society will be held at 2 o'clock this afternoon in the Council Chambers. Considering how large are the benefits accruing from the operations of the society, the support it should receive from the public should be commensurately great. We trust therefore that there will be a large attendance at the meeting this afternoon, and that a goodly number of new members will be enrolled. It is now definitely arranged that the Chicago Minstrels will open at the Oddfellows' Hall at the latter end of the present week. Mr James O'Brien, the agent of the troupe, arrived here on Saturday, and has made all the necessary arrangements for the commencement of the troupe's season next Saturday evening. They have been playing to large houses in Wellington, where their season closed last Saturday. From Wellington they will come overland, playing at Greytown to-night, at Masterton to-morrow and "Wednesday evenings, and at Waipawa on Friday evening. The Australia, with the February mails from New Zealand (says the Post of last Saturday), arrived at San Francisco on Friday, the 9th instant. The February mails for New Zealand left London on the 10th, instead of the 9th, as per time table ; the City of Sydney sailed from San Francisco for Auckland on the 3rd instant. A man was arrested at the Spit on Saturday afternoon on a charge of stabbing. He had been boarding at Willis's Commercial Hatel, and while at dinner it is alleged that he had some words with the housekeeper, and that he made an attempt to stab her with a carving knife, but he was prevented by one of the persons present. On the other hand, it is stated by the prisoner that he was carving a joint, and that his hand having slipped the motion was mistaken as that of intention to stab. The prisoner will be brought up at the Eesident Magistrate's Court this morning. Mdlle. Atlanti gave on Saturday evening the second of her series of entertainments at the Protestant Hall. The audience, though not large, was appreciative, as was evinced by the applause with which the songs, recitations, and pieces played were received. The third entertainment will be given this evening, and to-morrow evening will close the series. We understand the Poverty Bay cricketers leave for Waipukurau to-day, where they play against an eleven of that place to-morrow, and probably against an eleven of Porangahau on Wednesday. They intend returning to Gisborne some time on Thursday. The programme of ihe Musical .Society's concert, which will be giveu at the Oddfellows' Hall on Thursday evening, will be found in our advertising columns. It will be seen, that there is promise of a capital evening's entertainment. The proceeds of the concert will be in aid of the funds of the Napier Hospital. The Assessment Court for the Patangata Highway District will be held at the Railway Hotel, Kaikora, on Wednesday next, at 11 a.m. For the North Ruataniwha District the Court will be held at the Kaikora Hotel on Thursday at 10 a.m.; -

The Wananga of Saturday last has the following : — (< "We are informed tliat notices have been served upon the undermentioned parties demanding that accounts be furnished containing particulars with respect to their transactions in the undernarned properties, including all monies due to them by the native owners, and also monies received by them for the native owners. To Mr F. Sutton, in the matter of tho following blocks :— Mangaroa, Ngawhakatatara, Ngatarawa, Peka Peka No. 2, Te-awa-o-te-Atua, Kaukawa "West, Mangateretere Weat, Tautitaha, Mahanga Forth, Kakirawa, and Raukawa East. To Mr T. K. Newton, in the matter of Koparakore, Peka Peka No. 2, Te Wharau, Wharcrangi, and Turarnoe Blocks. To Mr J. Gr. Kiuross, in Raukawa East, Peka Peka No. 2, Raukawa West, and Peka Peka No. 1 Blocks ; also, to Mr F. M. Chapman, in the matter of Waikareao Block." The destruction of rabbits is proceeding apace in Southland, The News learns that, within the last eight months, j 70,000 have met their death on Mount I Beaumont station, and on the adjoining station of Mount Linton not fewer than 100,000 have been slaughtered in the same period. One fact, furnished by Captain Stevens, will illustrate the costly nature of this warfare. It is, that he has paid the handsome sum of £300 for dogs alone. Another significant statement is that at Avondale there will be 7000 fewer sheep to. shear this year than last season. On Mr Holme's station 127,000 of the pests have been destroyed, and yet at this, as at all the other places mentioned, the forces of. "bunny" have not visibly decreased. This is the most disheartening feature of the warfare. _ In reference to the state forests question, -which is daily attracting more and more attention in all parts of the world, we take the following' fronr a letter pub-*-' lished in the Argus, written by Mr Charles D. Hunter, M.8., F.C.fcS., of London, aad principal author of " Ten Years of Gentleman Farming '.' : — "It would be difficult to tell of all the advantages that would follow the planting of a few million acres of timber in Victoria. ' The increased area of the island lakes .alone would work wonders. The rivers would be more constantly navigable, land at present too arid for cultivation would rapidly become; valuable. And not to speak of the great value of the timber itself, what an increase of wealth, would accrue from the large crops that would soon follow. Your million of acres under tillage would yield, taking wheat as a criterion, for the same labor, seed, &c., say eight bushels more, which, at 5a per bushel, would represent £2,000,000 a year more of wealth, without any extra expenditure. Wool, too, would increase, the greener runs carrying double the sheep. Victoria, it seems to me", is at present well placed for such an enterprise. Much land is yet in the hands of the Government, and surely the planting of trees would only enhance its value. In France, the forest laws had their main origin in the terrible devastations committed by floods, an inconvenience from which -you are not wholly free. And it would be well, before allowing any clearance of your mountain forests, that the experience of France should be studied. Once the forests are gone, the soil soon' follows, and then whatever rain falls on the bare mountain slope rushes ?.t once into the valleys, and floods result. To repair the mischief will take France 1 several hundreds of years, for the formation of soil is a slow process, and the folly of a few years cannot be undone in a century." Says the Thnaru Herald : — " A man whose age is about twenty-six years was found strangled at the Hinds railway station yesterday morning, his head being suspended from a place behind the goodsshed, about three feet from the ground. His swag was found not far from him ransacked. The guard of the early train, when he reached North Rangitata station, telegraphed the particulars of the finding of the body to Sergeant Fulton of the Ashburton Police-station. From enquiries made when the train reached Timaru, we learned that the man had not been identified up to a late hour in the day. Whether the man committed suicide, or whether he was murdered, is not known." In the New Zealand Ga-ette of March the 8 tb. is published a comparative return of the number of telegrams forwarded, revenue received, and the value of the General Government telegrams transmitted for the quarters ending 30th of December, 1875 and 1876. In the month of October, 1876, the number of telegrams forwarded decreased to the extent of 7327 ; but during the last two months of the quarter there was an increase of 34,319, and the increase of cash revenue received was £1591 16s ; the decrease in the month of October amounting to £601 16s lid. There was a decrease in the value of Government telegrams transmitted during the first two months of the quarter of 1876, £411 4s lOd; but the last month (December) shows an increase of £709 5s lOd. The changes which have lately taken place at the mouth of the Wanganui River are regarded naturally as being very serious. The Chronicle explains the position to be this : — " The new channel is daily widening and deepening, and a point or spit is being rapidly thrown outinto the river, which will have the effect of hourly increasing the volume of water now taking this shorter route to the ocean. The question arises, in view of the possible future, which channel should be kept open for navigation ? It stands to reason that if no steps are taken, the whole of the South Spit will before long form the shallow unnavigable outlet, or rather series of outlets, to our river. This means neither more nor less than ruin — absolute and irretrievable ruin — wherein our port is concerned. After carefully viewing the question from every practical standpoint, to us no other course seems open but to take immediate steps to check the tendency of the tide and river current . towards this new channel." The London Daily Telegraph says the first day of the year 1877 will long be memorable for a gale surpassing in its violence ajiy tempest that has visited our coast since the memorable hurricane of 1703, in which the eld Eddystone Lighthouse was washed away, It would seem ■ as if, for some reason, or other, which it must be left for scientific men to determine, our: planet were at this moment passing through a sort of zone or whirlwind, hurricane, and cyclone. " It is certainly a fact that, if we look back over the records of past centuries, we shall find that about once in every hundred years the whole surface of the world is swept by gales and tempests. As regards the damage caused in Lambeth, the extraordinary thiug is that it should be possible for meteorologists to predict, as they do, with the greatest accuracy, the occurrence of an inundation such as that which yesterday swept the southern bank of the Thames, and that yet no precautions should be taken to guard against emergency. I A great many people pay their two francs just now to inspect a marvellous talking machine which, is exhibited at the Grand Hotel, Paris. Theingeniousinventor of this toy (for it is difficult to discover its practical utility) has devoted a quarter of a century to his hobby, which must be considered as crowned with success, since the machine really speaks, although. , it finds the vowels rather tough work. It is stated that the speaking machine is to^nuike a Europeau tour shortly. The I'iuijabi Ald/ar, after extolling (lie pomp and grandeur of the approaching Imperial Durbar at Delhi, recommends au increase in the amount of state pensions granted to the Princes of Delhi, aa tho condition of these princes is really deserving of compassion. Some of them get not more than four rupees a month, and may be said to be actually in a state of starvation.