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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3906, 4 May 1877, Page 2

The sea wall on the western side of the harbor works has been finished to its full length, but the coping on the top of it has not been completed, because the engine has to travel along there for the pile-driving, which will be commenced early next week. We have heard a good deal of complaint from persons resident in Carlyle-street, because of the difficulty of obtaining water for domestic use. The railway authorities will not allow any water to be taken from the station, and the tap at the trough in front of the Provincial Hotel having been boxed, in that source of supply is cut off. The residents consider that as they pay water rates the municipality should provide some means by which water can be obtained Avhen the rain water tanks have been exhausted. At a meeting of Oddfellows, held at the lodge room on "Wednesday evening, it was decided to celebrate the anniversary on the 2Sth May by a soiree and dance. It was also agreed that the proposed alterations and additions to the Hall should not be proceeded with for the present, the reason given being that the cost of the alterations would amount to more than the lodge felt disposed to expend on them. We think this is to be regretted, as it is certainly time that more accommodation in this direction was provided both for the convenience of the public and for theatrical companies visiting Napier. We understand that J. M. Tabuteau, Esq., Collector of Customs for Napier, has received four months' leave of absence for the purpose of recruiting his health. Mr Tabuteau intends leaving for the South by the ttangatira.

Tho committee of the Church, of England Day School, at Taradale, met on Wednesday last, to discuss matters of moment in connection with the school. The principal matter tinder discussion was the appointment of a new master to the school. Applications from three duly qualified teachers were submitted to the committee, and after due consideration the application of Mr James Smith was the one most favorabVy entertained. Mr Smith, avlio has been appointed accordingly to the mastership of All Saints' School, arrived from England recently. He is a duly qualified teacher, holding a second-class certificate from the education authorities at home, in addition to which he holds excellent testimonials, and has had several years' experience in large schools, after beingtrained for educational work at the Training College for Schoolmasters in Durham. Mr Smith has also other recommendations which qualify him in a special way for the office to which he has been appointed. The committee, befoi'e separating, discussed the desirability, or otherwise, of letting and lending the school-room for public purposes of amusement. On going over accotmts it transpired that the wear and tear to the room and furniture was not covered by the rental paid by lessees ; and, moreover, that as the room was built for educational purposes it was not desirable to let or lend it for public entertainments. At the same time exceptions were made in favor of any societies or clubs established for philanthropic purposes, especial reference being made to Temperance and Total Abstinence Societies, and clubs for Mutual Improvement. We publish in another column an article from the Lyttvlton Times on the Animals Importation Prohibition Act of last session. It appears to find something very reprehensible and very foolish in the policy which New Zealand has pursued in the matter. It is hard, however, to perceive where the folly or reprehensibility lies. By our contemporary's own account, New Zealand, after three years of safe importation, is now in a position to command the Australian markets for piu'e bred stock, which is surely not a bad result to have achieved. In the Resident Magistrate's Court, ; yesterday morning (before E. Lyndon, I Esq., J. P.), Joseph M'Cabe was lined os for drunkenness. George Jackson was charged by Constable Harvey with being drunk and wilfully exposing his person on two occasions at the Spit the previous night. He was sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment, there being no option of a fine for such an oft'ence. Another inebriate, Michael Rooney, who acknowledged being a " little tipsy," was also fined ss. There was no other business. We observe that a rival to the Davenport Brothers has lately appeared in Dunedin. The Daily Times of Saturday last, in its account of the performance, says : — " A cabinet somewhat the same in outline as that used by the Davenports was placed on the stage last night, and two gentlemen were appointed by the audience to make Mr Gooddy secure. The rope used was about the thickness of a clothes line, and probably 20ft in length, with this Mr Gooddy was tied to a chair in the cabinet, but it was soon apparent that he has discovered the trick of freeing his hands, for on the door being closed, his hands at once appeared at the aperture in the cabinet, and he also succeeded in doing the coat trick as performed by Professor Fay. It was announced that Mr Gooddy, in conjunction with Mr Hose, would give further manifestations at the Queen's Theatre in the course of next week." Advices to hand from Canterbury (says the IV. Z. Herald) go to prove that the grain market is considerably overstocked, and that producers and wholesale purchasers, owing to the present low rates, are storing the grain in anticipation of a rise in the article. It is even stated that it is difficult to get any charters for vessels there at present for any provincial products. Business generally is reported dull, and this is increased, it is stated, owing to the large number of home immigrants who have been landed on Canterbury shores during the last few months. The Wellington Argus says : — Mr J. H. Pollock, of the City Butchery, met with a strange accident on Saturday last. He was passing through a glass-panel door in the shop, when the door slammed upon him and broke the glass, one large \aecc piercing his side, and cutting a large blood vessel. Mr Pollock has been laid up since, and though out of all danger now, the accident might have had very serious consequences, as internal hemorrhage was greatly to be feared. The accident is certainly a remarkable one. The " Intelligent Vagrant," writing in the New Zealand Mail, says : — " A Wellington jeweller was heard telling of an inexpensive manner for appearing at a ball in very costly ornaments. You have only to occupy a certain station in life, then on tho day of the ball to direct the jeweller to send you several ' sets' on approval, wear the nicest, lend the others to your friends for the night, and return the whole to the jeweller the next day, with a polite note stating that none of them would suit." A question being asked in the House of ■ Commons on February 20th as to " Russia in the Pacific," Mr Hunt, for the Government, replied:- — "The hon. and gallant member seems by his questions to anticipate an outbreak of war between this country and Russia. That is an anticipation in which I do not share, our relations with that empire being of a friendly character. Should, however, British interests be threatened from any quarter in any part of the globe, I hope the House may rely upon Her Majesty's Government taking proper steps to afford them protection." — (Loud cheers.) Dr. Wallis, the member for Auckland City West, has addressed the electors. These J are his sentiments. " There had stepped forth from retirement a sagacious, wise, intrepid, and honest public man to be the champion of the rights of the people. He meant that worthy man the ' Knight of Kawau.' (Cheers and laughter.) Sir George Grey had his sympathy since the moment that able man again entered ' public life. He would repeat the chief topics of his own political belief. He was opposed to centralisation and in favor of local self-government. Abolition of provinces meant centralisation ; but abolition had taken place, and he would oppose centralisation by every constitutional means, because it tended to create a bastard aristocracy; because it tended to delude the people ; because it was the great promoter of cliquism. His political motto, therefore, was 'Decentralisation.' The county system had proved a delusion; it was a machine to induce people; h> t.ix themselves. He thought the road boards, if equalised in respect to area, and endowed with the waste lands within their separate districts, or the money equivalent for such waste lands would provide an excellent local self-government. Let the electors beware of borrowing, which was bad for the generation that allowed it, ' and ten times worse for the generations which followed. Next was tho question ' of separation. Mr Whitaker, in an admirable and statesmanlike speech, had proposed the colonial appropriation of the land fund. He was defeated. Having bean denied justice, there was no alternative but to advocate separation. (Cheers.) He would have supported the financial separation resolutions proposed in the last session, because they would uliinvjitely conduce to complete inpular separation. The sooner the present Ministers were out of office the better." The Ohtr/o Time* of the 25th April says :— " The extraordinary feat of eating twelve dozen oysters within an hour was accomplished by a young man of slim proportions at one' of the city oyster saloons on Monday night. He easily won tha wager that was laid against him."

The Napier Artillery Volunteers will parade for carbine drill at 7.30 this evening, at Messrs. Routledge, Kennedy and Co.'s stores. Dr dimming has a competitor in the line of prophecy. A Bombay paper publishes a telegram announcing that the Akhoond of Swat was taking the initiative in appealing to the religious fanaticism of the Mahomedans, and had preached a jehad, whatever that may be. The telegram is to this effect : — " The Akhoond of Swat has preached a jehad to a large assemblage at the musjid after prayers on Friday. He said that the end of the world and the day of judgment were drawing near ; that the only large kingdom of Islam was in imminent danger by Ferngees ; that if Roum fall into their hands, j Islamism will be at an end. Therefore, all true believers should prepare for a holy war, offering their lives in the name of God and religion. Meantime they should assist the Sultan with subscriptions and money like as the believers in India and Arabia are doing." One of the local papers says that to assert Masterton was rowdy on Tuesday night can convey but a faint idea of what actually took place. For some unexplained reason a number of Maoris in town had imbibed more than was good for them, and consequently some twenty or thirty made as much fuss as possible. An unusual number of Europeans, nearly all strangers, were in a state of semiintoxication, and many of these got into disputes with the natives. Several tights were stopped by men who had their senses about them. Among these must be mentioned two Maori lads, who more than once pacified their Maori relations. Some wool from the station of Sir Samuel Wilson, of Victoria, recently brought at the London wool sales the extraordinary price of 5s Okl per lb. The Edinburgh correspondent of the O(ogo Times writes : — " On the 15th February a fishing boat picked up at sea, four miles south of Boulogne, a bottle containing a letter from the AgentGeneral of New Zealand, addressed to Alfred Scribben, Bristol, on the back of which was written in pencil, " Waipa lost with all hands, October 30, 1876." The publication of the discovery elicited an immediate response from the manager of the New Zealand Shipping Company, to the effect that the Waipa arrived at Lyttelton, all well, on January 24th. The supposed message from the sea must, therefore, have been another of those senseless and criminal hoaxes which are so shamefully common now-a-days, and which will some day be productive of serious consequences." We understand that a young man employed in one of the leading drapery establishments in this city this morning received letters from America, originally ! addressed to him in Dunedin, where he resided up to a few months ago, announcing the death of a rich aunt who had left 00,000 dollars devisable equally between himself and his two sisters. — JS\Z. Times-. On dit that another theatre (in Thorndon) is to grace the Empire City before long. Wellington will soon have as many theatres as churches. — Argus. Wine of Nelson manufacture is gaining in repute. The Nelson Mail notes that Mr James Smith has gained a prize for Nelson wines at the Philadelphia Exhibition, and also that in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney Mr Smith finds his principal market, his Avino being sold there at prices ranging from 36s to 42s per dozen. The Canterbury Bar are complaining of the difficulties imposed upon them by reason of the extent to Avhich they are obliged to commit themselves to something like direct conflict Avith the Bench. The Press points out the impropriety of a judge fighting counsel at every point instead of listening impartially, and says if this defect could be got rid of it should confidently predict for Judge Johnston a career of usefulness on the Bench Avlrieh it would be a hard matter for any successor to attempt to rival. The following passage, which occurs at the conclusion of lectures on the "History of the Turks" by Dr Newman, published in 1554, has a remarkable significance just now : — ' "' Many things are possible. One thing is inconceivable: that they (the Turks) should as a nation accept of civilisation ; and in default of it, that they should be able to stand their ground against the encroachments of Russia, the interested and contemptuous patronage of Europe, and the hatred of their subject populations." " Cherubino," writing in the Figaro, says : — " Miss Alice May, I learn, played 'La Belle Helene,' for her benefit, at Belfast recently, and, between the acts, sang Mr George B. Allen's song, ' Unrest,' Avhich Avas encored. Indeed, there was only one thing to militate against the complete success of the affair. Miss Alice May was presented with a poem, printed on white satin, in her honor. The first verse of this poem ran as follows : — The dawn through the darkness breaks, And a rush of musical winys Winnows the air, and awakes I The music of things. | After that the lady might have been for- | giA'en had she been ' indisposed' for a Aveek or tAvo." Mr Fitzroy, the member for Sehvyn, recently addressed his constituents. In ansAver to a question in reference to his purchasing land at Hawke's Bay, with a view of leaving the province, ho said there Avas no authority whatever for such a statement having gone forth. His constituents might depend upon it that the day he intended to leave the province, that day Avould lie place his resignation in the hands of the Speaker. Mr Fitzroy expressed himself in favor of disbanding the volunteers in the South Island. The following interchange of questions and answers folloAved : — An elector : Will you tell us if you disband the volunteers what Avill become of us in the event of Avar Avith Russia, and the visit of a Russian cruiser to Noav Zealand ? Mr Fitzroy : If a Russian man-of-Avar came on a hostile expedition to-morroAv I think you Avould lie as Avell oil Avithout the Volunteers as you Avould be Avitli them. At the same time I don't wish you to suppose 1 mean anything disparaging to the Volunteers ; but in the present state of the finances, the indebtedness of the colony, 1 don't think Aye are justified in spending money to keep up this force. ■ The elector : I would like you to express an opinion on the question of the defences of our harbors and their utility as a safeguard against the sudden appearance of an enemy. Mr Fitzroy : I should like to sou them defended by means of proper guns — if they could be obtained — and by torpedoes. As a means of defence, T belioA-e in a good body of artillerymen, if they could be made thoroughly elihcient. The Wellington Artillery are second to none in the colony. This is certainly a question that some members take a great deal of interest in, and there is a great deal of reason in it. At the same time I hardly think Aye can be ready for the Russians iioav that Aye are on the eve of Avar. Extensive preparations are making at Hurlingham for a mediaeval tournament, in Avhich four Saracens and four Christian knights Avill participate. The Prince of Wales Avill be present in the field as the Soldan Suleiman, and ■will have command of the Saracen Avarriors. The designs for the Prince's costume are supplied from Uic South Kensington Museum, and Avhen completed will represent days of antiquarian rOoCiiroli. Princess Louise lias laboriously oA'crliaulcd the British Museum for a design for tho needlework embroidery on the Prince of Wales's tunic. The spectacle Avill bo one of the most splendid soon in London for years. The delicate question Avill come, hoAveA r er, Avhen a choice is to be made for the Queen of Love and Beauty. It has already been decided to settle this point by ballot, but it is currently reported that the cl:oic» has as good as fallen upon an Irish belle,

By the death of Dr William Smith, of Leith, nb the comparatively early age of fifty-seven, any possibility _ of preventing a conflict between the rigid and the lax supporters of the Confession of Faith in Scotland seems to be removed. Dr Smith was a man of robust judgment and Liberal views, and so long as he .lived, and was able to command a majority in the General Assembly, anything like heresy-hunting on a large scale was imposible. His own faith was simple and essentially evangelical, but lie was modest, and had a large tolerance for the opinions of others. The only blunder he made in an upright and active career as an ecclesiastical politician was in courting Dissenters to enter the Church after the passing of the Patronage Act, instead of allowing them to enter of -their own accord, and in virtue of their ability and | orthodoxy. Now Dr Smith is dead, there | can hardly fail to be a hand-to-hand combat between the Evangelicals, com- ! manded by Drs Pirie and Phin, and the Broad Church, under such leaders as Dr Story and Dr Tulloch. The Times' correspondent at Alexandria makes an important announcement. He states that a Copt living in the province of Menouf, 1873, noticed a cotton-plant in a Held which he had not seen before. He planted the seed, and found that the new plant, while producing double the usual number of pods, took up less room than the familiar description. Seed from this plant is now selling at a high price, and CTiltivaters, who may be enthusiastic, talk of doubling in 1880-82 the cotton crop of Egypt, and their own 'profits from the cultivation. The story as yet requires confirmation, " a Copt," living "at Berket-el-sab, in the province of Menouf," being an indefinite sort of person ; but it is added that Mr Calvert, the Vice-Consul, has forwarded a specimen of the plant home to Kew Gardens. The discovery, if it has been made, may in ten years revolutionise the position of the cotton trade, for it implies a great and permanent reduction in the price of the staple. The following is from the Echo : — Our feminine readers who so deftly ply their needles may think that £10,000 is a very large sum to pay to remove a needle from one country to another. But then the needle in question is nearly 70 feet long, and is made, not of steel, but of stone. Presented to the British Government as long ago as 1819, Cleopatra's Needle has been lying in the sand at Alexandria because the British House of Commons has always been too economical to pay for the removal of the gift. It is an illustration of the power of female beauty that Cleopatra should have given her name to an obelisk made long before she was thought of. It is constructed of the red granite from the quarries of Syene, and is one of a pair of obelisks that originally stood at the door of the temple of the setting sun. But in Cleopatra's time it was removed to the temple of Oiesar at Alexandria, and from that date forward has borne the name of the conqueror conquering beauty. The land on which the obelisk lies was some time ago leased by the Egyptian Khedive to a Greek merchant, and as the great relic was in the way, and the owners would not remove it, it was covered up ■with sand. What the national Treasury would not do, the resources of a private English gentleman are about to accomplish. He has given £10,000 to pay the cost of the removal to London of this long-neglected present. The mode of doing this suggested by the engineers is novel and ingenious. It is in fact nothing else than to enclose the big needle in a needle-case, and in that way float it out of the Mediterranean and up the Atlantic to the hyperborean shores. The sand istobedugaw.Tyfromtheobelisk, and an iron cylinder built round it. This cylinder is again to be sub-divided into watertight compartments. When this has been done, the whole concern is to be rolled into the sea, in which it will float like a huge cigar. The reserved manholes are then to be opened, and ballast enough to steady it is to be stowed away. A rudder, a mast, a light deck, anchor, chains, and pump are to be attached ; and in this way, under the convoy of a steam-tug, the pillar of the Sun-god in the preparation of which hundreds of Egyptian slaves toiled 4000 years ago, is to be carried oft' in triumph to the Thames Embankment, where it is to be re-erected. It is an illustration of the economy of modern engineering that £10,000 will cover the cost of the removal of this obelisk, while it cost £80,000 in 1833 to remove a similar one to Paris. A report of the tx'ansactions of the Oamaru Harbor Board for the year ending March 31st, 1877, was read at its last meeting by the secretary. The following clippings are of general interest : — At the close of the financial year ending 31st March, 1877, the breakwater had been carried out to a distance of 638 ft from the shore ; 338 ft of wharf had been constructed, together with railway line to the works, streets, tramwaj T s, &c, the sum expended on works to that date being stated at £80,708 18s 3d. The port was visited during the year b3 r 391 vessels, 388 of which cleared outwards, the remainder being in harbor. The tonnage inwards was 44,861 ; outwards, 44,845 — being a slight increase on last year. There were no casualties. Divine services will bo held on Sunday next as follows : — Church of England, at St. Luke's Church, Hav clock, at 11 a.m., at Hastings at 3.30 p.m., and at St. Mark's, Clive, at 7 p.m. ; by the Rev. A. Shepherd, at Maraokakaho atSp.m. ; by the Rev. J. M. Frasev, at Kaikora at 3 p.m., and at Waipawa (in the Oddfellows' Hall) at 7 p.m. ;. by the Rev. R.. Fraser, at Wuipukurau morning and evening, at the usual hours ; by the Rev. J. White, at Hampden at 11 a.m., at Onga Onga at 3 p.m. , and at Waipawaat7p.m. On Monday evening next the Rev. S. Macfarlane will preach at Norsewood, and on Tuesday evening at Woodville, at 7 p.m. Wesle} r an service will be held at Hastings on Sunday evening at 7 o'clock.