Hawke's Ban Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1877. OUR HOME LETTER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3939, 30 June 1877, Page 2

Hawke's Ban Herald. SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 1877. OUR HOME LETTER.

We are now upon the eve of a fresh session of Parliament, and political rumors are, as is usual at such a period, rife. Dissensions in the Cabinet were the theme of a good deal of talk some little time ago, without, however, apparently any other foundation than that of their antecedent likelihood. There is no doubt that the present Cabinet has a large amount of centrifugal force bottled up in it, and no one would be much surprised to see it fly to pieces at any time. If there is to be a revival of last session's Opposition under Sir George Grey, however, with aseparationist programme, that will keep the Government party together and strengthen it by fresh accessions. Mr Travers, the new member for Wellington City, for instance, who was looked upon, in some quarters, as the hope of a new party, will find it necessary, in such circumstances, to be with the Government, when matters reach a crisis. A new Native Lands Bill has been circulated, based on the principle of free trade in native land. If it is passed, of course, we may bid farewell to the hopes entertained in previous years of the acquirement of a landed estate by the Government in the North Island. The only question is whether this is to be accomplished by any means that can be adopted. Certain it is that such means as have been adopted hitherto have failed signally, and have, at the same time, introduced a very unsatisfactory element into administrative business. The House, therefore, appeared to have made up its mind that Government purchases should cease, and if Goment purchases cease, too many facilities cannot be given for getting the land brought into European occupation by other means. If the House should revise its decision on the main question and determine to make one more effort to enable the Government to acquire an estate, it might be that that would do good service to the public, but there is no intermediate

course that we can see between such a revision of its decision and an act something like the bill now drafted. In regard to this district, efforts are, at the present moment, being made to complete the purchase of the Seventy-mile Bush blocks, the incompleteness of which has, of late especially, been proving itself a bar to the extension of settlement. We are happy to say that these efforts are conjoint effoi'ts by the two parties who have long opposed each other, and who, in most matters, oppose each other still. We trust that they may be attended with success. While the litigation understood to be carried on of late under the auspices of the persons known as the Repudiation Party has been, to a large extent, as tricky and as vexatious as at any former period, it must be said that, in some other respects, a change seems to have come over the spirit of their dream. They heave made vigorous efforts, as those hostilely disposed towards them might say, to obtain popularity —or as an impartial observer might say — to merit it. Mr Sheehan, as alluded to above, is co-operating with Mr Locke in endeavoring to settle the Seventy-Mile Bush question, and Mi' Russell is doing his best to promote the success of a variety of undertakings calculated to benefit his district, the last of them being an Inland Horticultural Society, which may do invaluable service by promoting tree planting in that part of the country. The extraordinary extension of wheat culture in Canterbury, together with the late rise in the value of grain and the precarious aspect of the wool market, both of the latter resulting from the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish war, have drawn much attention to the desirableness of bringing about if possible an extension of agriculture in this province. Whether it will end in discussion or not, it is premature to speculate. We see reason, however to hope for some better result. Among the best signs of the times, in this direction, has been the favorable manner in which the late ploughing matches have been taken up. For several years, nothing of the kind was known here. Last year, however, a match was held under the auspices of the Agricultural and Pastoral Society, and another shortly before last month's summary was written. This was not enough, however, for the district this year, so a movement was started among the smaller settlers mainly for another match to be held at Taradale. It was accordingly held on Thursday last, and was a remarkable success in every respect. The movement, it is anticipated, will result in the permanent establishment of a branch Agricultural Society for that district. The Napier sittings of the Supreme Court commenced on the 11th instant. The criminal business was not of a heavy nature. There were altogether ten persons for trial, seven of whom were acquitted. Among the convictions there was one of larceny and one of forgery, the latter of a petty nature ; in both cases the prisoners pleaded guilty, and were each sentenced to two years' hard labor. The other conviction was for an offence not of a very common occurrence — that of forcible entry into premises that were in the peaceable possession of a person who was holding possession under a bill of sale. There were four persons indicted for the ofience, but only one of them was convicted, and he was a person to whom the premises had belonged, but who had given up possession under the bill of sale only that very day. In attempting to regain possession he had acted under the impression that he really had never surrendered possession, that he had been in a measure ejected, and that he was justified in re-entering in order to guard against been unfairly dealt with in the stock-taking that was being proceeded with by those who had taken possession of his store, &c. He was sentenced to pay a fine of £100, or be imprisoned for three months. The fine was paid on the rising of the Court. The civil business was commenced on the 14th instant, when the cases for trial by common juries were taken. Of these there were only two. The first, Goldsmith v. Powdrell, was a claim for damages in connection with an alleged agreement for the purchase of a sheep-run. The plaintiffs were two brothers residing in Poverty Bay, the defendant was a sheepfarmer in the Hawke's Bay district. The declaration in the action originally consisted of two counts— one alleging an agreement for the sale of a run and some sheep by the plaintiffs to the defendant, and the other alleging that the plaintiffs had suffered damage through their sheep being mustered and ear-marked by the defendant. The first count was demurred to at the sittings of the Supreme Court here last December, when Mr Carlile argued in support of the demurrer, and Mr Lascelles in support of the clause in the declaration demurred to. The result was that the count allowed the demurrer, and so the count alleging trespass in mustering and ear-marking the sheep was all that remained. When the case came for trial, and the evidence of one of the plaintiffs had been partly heard, it became evident that the claim as for trespass could not be sustained, as the plaintiff admitted that he himself had assisted at the mustering and the ear-marking, that what was done in that respect was done under the plaintiffs' directions and with their consent, and that as a matter of fact the defendant had little or nothing to do with it. The plaintiffs accepted a non-suit. Mr Lascelles and Mr Cornford were for the plaintiffs ; Mr Carlile for the defendant. The other case was an action for malicious prosecution, Winter v. Schultze. The plaintiff and defendant had, been in company together one evening and defendant afterwards alleged that plaintiff on that occasion stole from him £146 in bank notes. Plaintiff was arrested on the information of defendant, was locked up one night and was twice remanded on bail, the charge against him. being ultimately withdrawn. The jury gave a verdict to the effect that at the time the defendant took against the plaintiff the proceedings complained of he had reasonable and probable cause for believing that the plaintiff had taken his (defendant's) money. This was, of course, a verdict for the defendant. Mr Cornford was for plaintiff, and Mr Rees for defendant. The first special jury case heard was that of Kennedy v. Carlile and others, a claim of £1000 damages for alleged libel. Mr Kennedy is one of the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, and Messrs Carlile and others are the proprietors of the Hawke's Bay Herald. This case virtually also decided two similar claims against the same parties made by the two other proprietors of the Telegraph, Messrs Newton and Knowles. After being amused by a humorous speech from the counsel for the defence, and elevated by an ecstatic one from the counsel for the plaintiff, which closed, we may remark, with a polite but emphatic request to the jury to consider themselves as occupying a position closely similar to thatj occupied by Almighty God, the jury retired, and after considerable deliberation, returned, bringing in a verdict for the plaintiff, with damages assessed at |d. His Honor, of course, declined to certify for costs, remarking that in his view the action never should have been brought. In the other two cases a discontinuance was iiled by the plaintiffs, the defendants having waived their claim to costs, the amount of which, of course, was nominal. It is unnecessary for us to make any comment on the matter, Judge Richmond having very fully anticipated all that we could wish to say. Mr Cornford was for the plaintiff; Mr Wilson (instructed by Mr J. \V. Carlile) for the defendants. The next special jury case tried was Neal and Close v. Keith and Hunter. It was an action for specific performance of an agreement to sell to the plaintiffs a parcel of land in Napier. The land had been devised by Alexander Blair (the first husband of the defendant Keith) to both the defendants, Hunter being, however, only a

trustee in the matter. The property in question was sold by Hunter,' but the defendant Keith afterwards refused to sign a conveyance, alleging that the sale was made without her knowledge. Hence the action. The jury found for the plaintiffs on all the issues, and specially to the effect that the defendant was aware of the sale, thus exonerating Hunter, who was a consenting defendant. Mr Wilson and Mr Bell were for the plaintiffs ; Mr Gordon Allan and Mr Lee for the defendant Keith. The sittings of the Court were brought to a conclusion with the case of Canning v. Henare Matua. The action was brought to recover £1200, the amount of four promissory notes of £300 each. The defence was that the £1200 was advanced in consideration of the passing of some land through the Native Lands Court, and leasing the same to the plaintiff ; also that the defendant was not aware of the nature of the promissoi*y notes when he signed them. On the part of the plaintiff, it was admitted that the money had been lent on the consideration stated by the defendant, but it was contended that the promissory notes were taken to guard against the contingency that the defendant should neglect or refuse to carry out his agreement as to the land, and that the contingency had in fact arisen, because, though the land had been passed through the Court, it had been made inalienable at the request of the defendant and his Juipu, and he had thus rendered himself unable to carry out his agreement. The j ury found for the plaintiff on all the issues. Mr Cornford and Mr Sainsbury were for the plaintiff ; Mr Rees (instructed by Mr Sheehan) for the defendant. The annual meeting of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute was held on the 4th instant. The chair was occupied by the Mayor (Mr R. Stuart). The report and balance-sheet were read by the hon. secretary (Mr Colenso), and* were adopted by the meeting. The Hon. J. D. Ormond was elected President ; Mr R. Stuart, Vice-President ; Mr Colenso, Secretary and Treasurer ; and Messrs Kinross, Holder, Newton, M. R. Miller, J. A. Smith, and Dr Spencer, Council of the Institute. The Napier Fire Brigade had a grand celebration on the 7th inst. , the occasion being the christening of the steam fire engine. The christening ceremony was performed by Miss Miller, daughter of the Superintendent of the Brigade. A procession was then formed, consisting of the members of the Fire Brigade, the brass band, a detachment of artillery (with gyms on gun-carriages), the steam fire engine, the manual engine, hose reel, &c , a carriage conveying the members 6f the engine fund committee, and the cadets. As the firemen had torches, and burned both red and blue fire, the procession presented quite an imposing appearance. The procession marched through the principal streets which were lined with spectators, who, at several points of the march, greeted the procession with very warm cheers. After returning to the engine station, a cold collation was served in the reading-room, at which nearly 40 gentlemen sat down. The chair was taken by F. Sutton, Esq., M.H.R., who had presided at the ceremonial in the early part of the evening. A number of toasts were proposed and duly honored, songs were sung, and the company kept up the conviviality until a late hour. The Courts for the revision of the Napier and Clive electoral rolls were held during the month, and a large number of objections in regard to both were sent in. In the case of the Clive roll they were fought out, and, where they could be sustained, the names objected to were struck out. In the Napier roll, on the contrary, they were dropped, first by one side and then by the other. The objections to native claimants were in the hands of one of the local solicitors, Mr Cornford, to manage. His principal or sole witness, — not having received due notice, we believe, — was absent in Wairoa, and for some reason which we cannot profess to be aware of, no adjournment of the Court was asked for pending his return, though it could have been had for the asking. The electoral suffrage of the district is therefore, for the present, tinged with a very considerable native element. The most important matter that has been dealt with by the Hawke's Bay County Council during the month has been in relation to the Ngaruroro bridge. In a report presented to the Council by Mr Bold he stated that it was xirgently necessary to take steps at once in order to bring the bridge into a condition so that it should not be in danger of being swept away by the first flood, which was really its condition at the time of Mr Bold's reporting upon it. He suggested that an expenditure of £600 would probably make the bridge safe for a year or two, but to put it in thorough repair would involve a much larger outlay. The Council considered that it would not be expedient to lay out any large sum upon the bridge pending the anticipated alterations in the Counties Act, and, after consulting with Mr Bold, a plan which he suggested was adopted whereby the bridge could be made safe for some time at an expenditure of £450. In the Waipawa County Council the seat for Waipukurau has again been rendered vacant by the last election being annulled on appeal to the Resident Magistrate. The ground upon which the election was upset was that cumulative voting was not allowed. In consequence of the bakers in Napier having raised the price of bread, a project has been set on foot for establishing a cooperative baking company. We believe the project is in a fair way of becoming successful. A series of scientific lectures were delivered in Napier in the course of the month by Mr H. A. Severn. The subjects were " The Earth and its Satellite," " The Sun and modern solar discoveries, the solar spots and eruptions," " Spectral analysis," " Galvanism," &c. The lectures were largely attended, and being diversified with microscope and kaleidoscope views, they became highly popular. Although we have not had lately a visit from any dramatic company, there has not been much lack of amusements. We have had Professor Taylor and Lillie, the Queen of Skates, and there have also been several amateur performances presented. The last of these was given on Thursday evening by the Hawko's Bay Dramatic Club, and was in every way a great sucoess. A good deal of attention has again been directed to North Island properties. In this province Mr M. R. Miller has sold during the week the following proporties : — Property of J. Joshua to H. Ford, of Canterbury, consisting of ' the Kereru freehold estate of 15,000 acres, and tho Whana leasehold run of 19,000 acres (rent £190 per annum), together with 27,000 sheep and station plant for £37,000. Property of M'Lellan and Chandler to John Hindmarsh, of Adelaide, sisting of the Rakamoana freehold of 7000 acres, and Kaiwaka leasehold of about 23,000 acres, with 8000 sheep, 40 head of cattle, 8 bullock-drays, 8 horses, and all station plant, for £15,000. Goodwill of leasehold property of Alfred Cox to H. M'Lellan, of Pohui, consisting of Terawara block, containing 90,000 acres, and Tatura-a-Kina block, containing about G3,G00 acres, making together the goodwill of 153,500 acres leasehold for 15 years, the rental being £210.,