Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 50427, 3 May 1878, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

The Auckland Star gives the following, on authority, as the purport of the Native Lands Bill to be introduced next session : — " It will," it says, " constitute Courts for the investigation of titles, composed entirely of native assessors chosen from the various tribes. When these have settled the ownership, they will call in a European Judge, who will register their decisions, which will be final. The. lands thus settled will be submitted to public competition from time to time in small blocks, not exceeding a thousand acres under any circumstances." This, apparently, is primarily applicable to the land on which the agents of the late Government made advances, and over which they obtained liens ; but will, we imagine, also be applied ultimately, if that can be effected, to native land generally. If the Government can succeed in getting this system to work they will earn the gratitude of the country, and confirm themselves in their positions for years to come. " The main difficulty to overcome," as our Auckland contemporary remarks, " is the native antipathy to individualization of titles, a system which the Maori mind is hardly sufficiently educated to appreciate, bvt by judicious management and patience, and especially by the plan of casting the responsibility of settling the ownership upen the natives themselves, the obstacle may be surmounted."

If the Berry Party in Victoria have gone into extremes, there is no question that they have been outdone in that respect by their antagonists. A correspondent of a contemporary writes :— "The President of the Legislative Council, Sir -W. H. F. Mitchell, told Sir George Bowen in confab that ' responsible government was all humbug' (vide published correspondence). That is the deliberate opinion of the party which is led by such men as Sir W. Mitchell, Sir C. Sladen, Sir John O'Shannassy, and Sir James M'Culloch, the renegade Liberal chief. They consider responsible government played out altogether, and the bulk of them would shrink from no means, however violent, to capsize it." This last, perhaps, must be taken cum grano. The gentlemen mentioned might perhaps desire to capsize responsible government if they could, but it must be clear to them that the attempt •would be ' as hopeless as an attempt to make the sun go back on the dial of Ahaz. It is amusing to learn that Sir George Bo wen's reply to Sir W. H. P. Mitchell was "of course it is all humbug. I could govern the country much better myself."

The- project for the formation of a National Agricultural Association was recently brought forward in our telegrams. The Hon. Matthew Holmes has addressed a lengthy letter to tlie North Otago Times, in which he forcibly urges the formation of a National Agricultural Association on the plan of the Royal Society of England, the Royal Society of Ireland, or the Highland Society of Scotland, and argues that such an institution would have greater power in developing the agricultural and pastoral interests of the Middle Island than any merely local society can possess. "By a colonial show the specialities of each district would be fully brought out, and the mutual interchange of these would be adcomplishod, to the manifest advantage of the several districts in the Middle Island. The time is opportune for taking steps to have a colonial show, as it will require twelve or fifteen months to organise it and prepare for the first exhibition. By that time it is to be hoped that railway communication will be an accomplished fact between Amberley, the Bluff, and Kingston, so that the chief obstacle to the undertaking will be removed." He expresses the hope that the North Otago Association will take the initiative and invite kindred societies to co-operate in carrying out the suggested institution.

A meeting of the Board of Education was held yesterday. Present — The Chairman (J. D. Ormond, Esq.), Miss Herbert, the Rev. 10. Sidey, Captain Russell, Messrs Lee, and Harding. A full report of the proceedings will appear in tomorrow's issue. We may, howover, mention that in dealing with the question of tlie inspectorship, the board selected Mr Hill, of Christchurch, and "Mr Dixon, of Hokitika, as the most suitable for the office, and requested tlie chairman to communicate with them as to the salary to bo attached to the office, and as to tho date at which each could assume its duties. The chairman was also requested to convey to Mr Colenso the board's sense of the valuable services he has rendered to the cause of education in this district,

It ia to behoped that in the matter of salary the board will not be guided by what in such a case may justly be termed false econony. The position of inspector is of the highest importance, and it is essential that the services of the person best qualified should be secured, even if the salary to be paid should be larger than was at first contemplated. We learn that Mr H. Monteith has leased the Horse Repository in Hastingsstreet, where he intends to open .-as general auctioneer, stock and estate agent, &c, in about a week's time. A meeting of the committee of the Napier Bath Company was held last evening at the Criterion Hotel; J. M. Batham, Esq., in the chair. A large number of new members were admitted, and other business connected with the j baths transacted. The Dramatic Company that has been playing in Napier for some weeks past will give their final performance in the Theatre Royal to-night with the assistance of gentlemen amateurs^ ihe pieces to be produced are the "Corsican Brothers" and the "Serious Family." The company intended opening on Saturday night at Wanganui with Mr Sothern, who left Napier overland on Monday, but being unable to make arrangements with the coach proprietors to convey them to Wanganui, they cannot now leave Napier till Saturday. We have no doubt there will be a large attendance to witness the last performance of Mr Walton, Mrs Fitzwilliam, and the other members of the company. We have received the first two issues of the new Wellington morning paper, the New Zealander. It is printed on a sheet of the same size as the morning papers in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, aud Napier, and contains an immense amount of reading matter. It is not necessary for us to say what its politics are, and it is premature to pronounce an opinion on its management. So far, however, there is nothing that can be said about it that is decidedly and warmly favorable. Sir , George Grey, accompanied by hi 3 private secretary,. Mr Mitchell, was a passenger by the Hawea yesterday, on his way to Waikato to hold the longcontemplated meeting with the Maori King. Sir George spent a few hours in Napier. We have received information from the .telegraph office that the Batavia. and Singapore cable is interrupted, and that arrangements are being made for- a steamer to convey telegrams. We have been requested to state that the youth Frank Sebley, who met with the severe accident at Kaikora, which we mentioned a few days ago, is not under the attendance of Dr. Todd, but is at the Napier Hospital, under Dr. Hitchings' care.

An amusing instance of the unreliable : nature of Maori evidence, as far as dates are concerned, was afforded in the R.M. Court yesterday during the hearing of a case of larceny brought by one native against another. A Maori named Arona having been called to give evidence on behalf of the prosecution, he stated that the prosecutor had given him his purse on the Monday night to keep for him, and that he did' not return it till the Wednesday following, the alleged larceny of the purse by another native having been committed on Tuesday. He then said that he returned the purse about dinner time on Tuesday, although admitting, at the same time, having kept it for two nights. When asked by Mr Hamlin, the interpreter, how he reconciled those statements with each other, he coolly repeated that he did not give up the purse till Wednesday ! Mr Beetham remarked that such evidence was totally worthless, and quite unreliable. He could not understand how anyone could, in the space of a few minutes, make such directly contradictory statements as the witness had done. The Bruce Herald mentions that an address and presentation, together with a silver purse of 60 sovereigns, and a double silver inkstand from the ladies, was made recently to Mr W. Nichol, Missionary of the Tokomairiro Presbyterian Church, on his leaving that district for Clydß, Hawke's Bay. An error occurred in the transmission of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency's telegraphic market quotation published on Saturday. The price of mutton tallow was stated to be 37s 6d, whereas the real price was 39s 6d. A report is current that Sullivan, the Mungatapu murderer, has been seen at Havelock, in this province, and that he was present at the last Easter sports at Farndon. Amongst the passengers by the Wanaka, which left Auckland for Napier yesterday, is Mr John Harde Anderson, who has been arrested in Auckland for larceny as a bailee of £200, the property of his partner, Mr Berry. The case was remanded to Napier. If Sir George Bowen is recalled, a Victorian letter to a contemporary says : — " There are two eligible candidates for the billet, speaking merely of claim from actual position — Sir Hercules Robinson and the Marquis of Nornlanby. Sir Hercules has a strong notion of retiring from business altogether as a Governor, and settling in New South Wales. Any idea of playing the role of Grey? But the offer of the Governorship of Victoria would be very tempting to Sir Hercules. He is of a combative turn, and nothing would delight him more than to upset Bowen's apple cart. Sir Hercules has been one of Sir George Bowen's severest critics, and hates Berry out and out. The Victorian Conservatives have lately been ka-tooing a good deal to him. He is hand-and-glove with Sir W. H. F. Mitchell.

We published some time ago a summary of the agricultural statistics for the electoral districts of Napier and Olive. In another column in this issue will be found the full statistics for the counties of Cook, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, and Waipawa. The Lyttelton Times remarks on the Hawke's Bay Agricultural statistics : — ' ' The Hawke's Bay returns only show a few thousand bushels of grain, and the statistics are not of much importance. It is worthy of note, however, that the acreage of grass lands is given at the large figure of 399,881, which exceeds the amount of such lands in Otago, though it falls far short of Oanterbury in this respect." A certain lady (says the Evening Chronicle) will not take a vapour bath soon again, though the one she did take was not lacking in extraordinary and quick results. She had been induced by one of her dear friends, who knew the personal effects of a vapour bath, and she resolved to try it. The extemporised bath was arranged by filling a saucer with Avhisky, in which was placed boneset and sassafras. Then she placed that saucer on the floor, and she pieced a canebottomed chair over, dressed a la Eve, save that a huge blanket enveloped the whole outfit. A modest attendant then lifted the coAter of the blanket and applied a match to the whisky, in order to produce the 'gentle, soothing vapour which was supposed to arise and do worlds of good. A veil might be drawn over the subsequent proceedings, but an ordinary veil wouldn't cover them. That gentle, soothing vapour did not arise, but a redhot scorching flame did arise, like lightning, to the height of about five feet from the saucer ; there was a terrific report, and tho bath-taker was lifted off that chair on the wings of a sirocco, and deposited, half-grilled, in a corner of the room. And now she is nearly well, but opposed to vapour baths. Church of England services will be conducted by tho Rev. J. C. Eccles on Sunday noxt, May 5, at St. Peter's, Waipawa, at 11 a.m., Kaikora school-room at 3 p.m., at the church To Aute, at 7 p.m. }

by the Rev. H. W. St. Hill at St. Luke's, Havelock, at 11 a.m., St. Matthew's, Hastings, at 3.30 p.m. at St. Mark's, Clive, at 7 p.m. Mass will be celebrated by the Rev. E. Reignier, next Sunday in the school-room, Olive, at 11 a.m.

We {TBangitikei Advocate) learn on good authoriry that the Hon. Mr Campbell, of the Douglas block, has already constructed 33 miles of railways in the Middle Island, under the District Railways Act of last session, and has expressed his determination to carry out the proposed Foxton and Sandon line."