Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5306, 13 February 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1879.

TfiERE were two or three things that Mr Alfred Saunders, said in his speech. ;to his constituents at 'Waikari-^tp which we referred yesterday-rthat merit more than a .passing notice. Speaking in reference to e'du'eatfon, he remarked that in the grants made last session the Government didi not put down enough to nissfc the requirements of the Boards of Education, and it was only upon pressure being put upon the .Government that they promised to bring down ft vote next year isi £IQO,OOO 'for buildings, which the boards Would be allowed to .anticipate this ye&r. Mr Saunders cOnipUincd that while .the Government ttould not find money enough tot education, they yet could propose reduction's in the revenue. ," It was indeed a wretched piece, ,qf policy/ he said,, "to take, ,23. per poilnd from tea and a halfpenny pet pound from sug£, rj ariel to' lessen the actual amount required "for education." In this we think Mr launders is scarcely just to the Ministry. Ho forgets that they were pledged to reduce the duties on tea and sugar, and he also forgets that the amount of that reduction would have been more than made up by the beer tax and the tax on joint stock companies, had the House allowed those two measures to pass. Mr Saunders, in fact, should have taken to himself a share of the blamo in this matter which he heaped with so generous a hand upon the Government. Mr Saunders admits that he voted for the reductions in the Customs duties, and' yet he says "it would have been better to have retained those than for the Go* vernnient to have shown its illiberal spirit in this vital question of education." Mr Saunders should have thought of that when .the question for reducing the Customs duties was before the House, instead of voting for the reduction and j then making it a matter for complaint in his post-sessional speech. Then, again, Mr Saunders was one of the members who were opposed to the beer tax and the companies' tax, and so he contributed) as far as it was in his power to cdntribnte, to tho financial disability which prevented a sufficient sum being voted for education. We quite agree with Mr Saunders that it is an anomaly to have an Act on the statute book which vir- , tualiy requires the attendance of every J child at school, while accommodation is , not provided even for the number of ] children who will attend school Without compulsion; but we scarcely thiuk the Government are wholly to blame for tho anomaly* After all, the Government can only do what the House permits, and we are r quite sure that if the House had evinced a strong disposition to provide in a liberal spirit for the requirements of education, the Government would soon enough h&ve found a way of making the provision. On another point Mr Saunders had far better ground for complaint. Speaking with regard to the recent additions the Government have made to the Legislative Council, he said that the £1500 a year increase in the expenses of the Council might have been better expended in the employment of ten additional teachers in the schools of the colony. As ■ Mr Saunders very correctly observed, there was nothingwhatever to justif y.the i appointments. The persons that had been appointed had nothing to recommend them for appointment beyond their ■wealth, and it was Very inconsistent, to say the least* after Sir George Grey's I description of the Council, as representing wealth rather than brains, that he should add to that Chamber persons who would bring no superior knowledge to it, and who did not possess any qualities which specially fitted them for the position. j Possibly Sir George is intent upon bringing the Council into disrepute, by rendering it an expensive institution, though mainly composed of individuals of mediocre ability. We should think, though, that the Lower House will have something to say on this point,and the Premier will find that he cannot degrade the Upper House to the level he wishes to bring it to quite as easily as he thinks.

The San Francisco mail steamer had not arrived at Auckland up to the time of telegraphic communication closing this morning between Auckland and Napier. Yesterday afternoon the usual halfyearly meeting of the Hawke's Bay District in connection with the Independent Order of Oddsellowship, Manchester Unity, took place at the Loyal Clivc Lodge, "Farndon. The following delegates -were present : — Napier Lodge, Bros.. Fielder, T. Watt, and and Krogh ; Abootsford Lodge, Bros. Browne, G. Peebles, and O'Leary, Meeanee Lodge, Bro. Tiffen ; Clyde Lodge, Bro. Combs ; Clive Lodge, Bro. Hardy ; Porangahau Lodge, Bro. C. Mogridge; Hastings Lodge, Bro. Somerville. The Takapau Lodgo was unrepresented. The officers present were E. H. Grigg, P.G.M. ; A. Robb, P.D.G.M., and Corresponding Secretary F. Bee. The Grand Master delivered an address, in which he gave tie following statistics as to the progress of the society :— Since the last meeting three new lodges had been opened, viz., one at Porangahou, one at Takapau, and one at Hastings, which he estimated numbered over 70 members. Exclusive of these three new lodges, the number of members in the district was 405. During the half-year ending December 31, 1878, 53 persons had joined the Society, and 19 had left the Order; £67 4s 2d had been disbursed as sick pay, and i>4o paid away as funerals donations. The amount of funds in the district was £2798 17s 9d, which showed a gain during the past half-year of £366 0s Bd. The code of proposed new district byelaws, as recommended by the district officers, was adopted with a few amendments. . The new district rules embrace a new scale of initiation fees and a graduated scale of contributions for all new members joining the order, subsequent to the Ist July last. This scale will be sufficient to satisfy the Registrar of Friendly Societies, so that no impediment will be offered to the due registration of the rules under the Act, An application from the Napier Lodge to hold their meetings weekly instead of fortnightly, as at presont, was granted ; this will take effect after the Ist July i next. After other business in connection with the order was conolnded, tho meeting dissolved, and at 7.30 o'clock p.m. a dinner was held in the Clive Lodgeroom, to commemorate the third anniversary of that lodge, at which Frederick j Sutton, Esq., M.H.R., presided. After full justice had been done to the good things provided by host White, tho usual loyal and complimentary toasts were given and responded to. A 9 p.m. I the tables having been cleared, dancing commenced, which was kept up with groat spirit until an early hour this morning. At a meeting of the Waipawa County Council, held on Monday last, J. D. Ormond, Esq., and Colonel Lambert were elected as members of the Napier Harbor Board, to represent tho Waipawa County. A correspondent writes to us as follows with reference to a paragraph that appeared in yesterday's HERALD : — " Sir, — Perhaps it would interest your readers to know that the Mr W. G. Harrison, who figured so conspicuously at the presentation of the Californian testimonial to Earl Beaconsfield was for many years a soldier in the ranks of the 65th Regiment, having arrived at Wellington in the Lancashire Witch in 1856, with a draft for that corps. He them held tho rank of lance-sergeant, but was shortly afterwards tried by court-martial for being under the influence of liquor, and reduced to the ranks. The proceedings of the court— from the fact that a host (

of witnesses swore to the prisoner's perfect sobriety — produced considerable regimental comment at tyie, time. . Har- ' rison soon after this inaugurated a tern- ; perance sociqty in the regiment, and; .continued to do.voto his whole energy to ' the cause of regimental tempraranco. In he married the daughter of the then barrack sergeant, arid shbrtly after purchased his discharge from the fl^y. It may be added that c present Ser-* geant-at-Ari£s to the House of RepresentsioiVGswas the ofiicer who presided at Harrison's court- martial, What a turn of the wheel!" The following items of theatrical Intel- j iigenCC may prov6 of interest, to some of our readers, several of tne artistes men- ( fcibned being, well ,kn6>vii, in. Napier.:— : Miss L\ydia Howarde, was, at latest dates, . playing with' great success ■ in Sydney as ! " Robinson Crusoe," in the burlesque of that name. The Cheevers, Kennedy^ n^ Bent Minstrels were also playing at Sydney. J. P. Hydes' Gem Burlesque pomr^y", including Miss Jennie Nye and Miss Lizzie Morgan, are performing in Auckland, and Mr George Darrell's "Henry the Fifth" Combination at Dunedin. Mr Haygarth's new dramatic company, including Mr James O'Brien and Miss Lizzie Lawrence (both lately playing in Napier with Mr Hoskins), are m Wellington. At latest dates Mr and Mrs J. C. "Williamson (Miss Maggie' Moore) were doing good business in the .Brooklyn Park Theatre, Now York, oxtending over five weeks ; Mr J. K. Ernmett (Fritz) played to crowded houses at Titusyille, Pennsylvania; Signor Susini, lima de Murska, and Levy (the cornet player) were giving popular concerts to good houses at the Brooklyn Theatre, New York; General Tom Thumb and wife were appearing at the Brooklyn Music Hall to good houses ; Mrs Scott Siddons was playing in New Yorkj Johnny Gourlay (of the Goiirlay Family) was with, the . Salisbury Troubadours in St. Louis in December. ' t The Dunedin Herajid gives the names Of members of the New Zealand Rifle Association in Otago whd have become qualified to compete at the ensuing meeting in Nelson. Amongst others we notice the following well-known names : — Messrs "Wales, Goldie, Christie, Eichardson, Donald Reid, Muir, M'Laren, Wilson, Waugh, and E. R. Smith. By advertisement in another column it will be seen that Mr Frank Pell has been appointed to the agency of the North British and .Mercantile Insurance Company in Kapler. In the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday morning, before R. Stuart, Esq., R.M., Robert Scott and John Thomas were each fined 5s for drunkenness. There was no other business. At the Police Court on Wednesday morning . (says the Lyttelton Times) a diminutive-looking man named William James Nankarvis, alias Major, was charged with vagrancy. He had told a pitiful aiid plausible story of destitution and hunger, and had thereby induced a tradesman to give him a shilling. As, however, he went direct to a publichouse, the tradesman followed him, and satisfied , himself that he had been imposed xipon. It turned out that the 1 man had only just been discharged from the gaol at Addingtdn, After undergoing a term of throe months' imprisonment, that he was not without money when he sought aid from the tradesman, and that his previous career justified the Resident Magistrate in styling him an accomplished beggar. He was again sent to prison for three months with hard labor. Messrs Bennett and Brooking have been appointed the Hawke's Bay managers of the Manchester Fire Insurance Gonipany* It is related of a Chinaman that, having lost his umbrella, he hanged himself to avoid the trouble of looking for it. A suicide has been committed in Paris under circumstances equally ludicrous and melancholy. An honest binder, employed for more than twenty years in a Rouen house, had been sent up to tho Paris Exhibition, his expenses being provided out of the Lottery Fund. The poor fellow enjoyed himself immensely, and would doubtless have felt grateful ever after to the administration which had provided him ■with so delightful an entertainment for nothing. Unhappily, however, workmen thus favored are expected to draw up a report of their experiences for tho commissioners of tho lottery. Now the binder had no sooner returned to his native city than his literary labor began to weigh on him like a nightmare. He was afraid he should be expected to give a full account of all the sections of the Exhibition, with copious observations on the wondrous things contained therein. If he did not do this be was convinced that the Government would sue him for the cost of his trip. It was to no purpose that his comrades tried to cheer him up, and even oifered to compose his report for him. Lesage — such was the miserable man's name— lost his appetite, grew morose and , sullen, and one day disappeared from his home. His body was shortly afterwards found in the Seine. The immense services rendered by chloroform, ether, &c., in the alleviation of pain has been somewhat depreciated by the danger to life incurred in their use, and the numerous fatal cases recorded as the result of their administration. Many efforts had been made to find a certain and rapid antidoto, but without success, until a very simple remedy was discovered by the late celebrated surgeon, Dr. Nelation. His son, quite a lad, was in the habit of amusing himself by catching mice and harnessing them to toy carriages like horses. In attaching them to the miniature vehicles they frequently bit him, and ho induced his father to give him some chloroform to enable him to perform his operations without the inconvenience of being bitten. On one occasion, having administered the anesthetic, he raised the little animal by the tail in a perpendicular direction, when it immediately turned and tried to bite him. He mentioned the circumstance to his father, who, upon reflection, considered that tho explanation was due to the fact that the brain, while the being is asleep, is almost destituto of blood, but that on the position of suspension, head downwards, being attained, the circulating fluid, rushes to the head and awakes the animal. Not long after he had an opportunity of testing his theory. Two eminent surgeous had to perform an operation at Saint Germain-en-Laye, and requested the assistance of Dr. Nolaton. He happened to miss the train, and, when he arrived by the subsequent one, the proceedings had already commenced. The patient was under the influence of chloroform, and the medical men feared, from the symptoms, that a fatal result might ensue. Dr. Nelaton at once advised that the head of tho patient should be hung over the side of the bed, and the feet raised in the air. The experiment was successful, consciousness returned, but upon the person being replaced in bed all the somnolency recurred. The trial was repeated, and after a suspension of ten minutes, head downwards, the effects of the chlorofoi'm wore entirely dissipated. So simple a remedy is one which may be of valuable assistance to medical men, and may be tho means of saving many lives. — N.Z. Times. An advertisement in another column requests those members of the Hawke's Bay County Cricket Club who have not paid up their subscriptions to do so a,s soon as possible. The return match between the club and tho Star Club will take place at Hastings on Saturday next. The team of tho County Club will consist of Messrs Sladen, Gillman, Joseph Williams, Fitzroy, Brathwaite, Sainsbury, Tanner, Kettle, Moore, Dowes, and Newton, with Major Richardson as twelfth man. ,

Striking a coroner's jury in the country is sometimes a lively proceeding, and the efforts of the local cpnstable are taxed to the uttermost to get together the necessary ' ' twelve good men and true." Constable Stewart was hard at work yesterday, saw« the Wellington Post of Tap;£ ay f O]P fiome hours before he gftt h { a men> ftnd the ln -S«mouß devices adopted to evade the summons Wei's at onde both amusitig and exasperating to the. constable. He siw two itteh ploughing in a field. They Alßo saw him> and when he arrived at th]B field they were invisible; I?liey weie not in , the house *, .the^r. wete. not in the barn ; they were not in the stable., The cppstab],e cogitatedjor a )l moni.entj\and,tlwn.»?>ade off at a rabid, pace 1 ,, jfy it He Had abandoned the 'cha'ee^ but, suddenly doubling down a side lane, he saw one of J;;~ men j ju t ' lifting hi» nea< j f rom the middle of acorn-.' s tr.ok. Walking up, he " bagged his bird," and, on poking the straw, discovered ploughman No. 2. Another man. was so. hopelessly deaf from cold that he. could not hear the constable, and, of course, was useless as a juryman, but he managed to interpret an invitation to a glass of beer, although the invitation was given in a very low voice. Another man pleaded that he was going for a bottle of brandy for a sick person, and humanity compelled the constable to lot him go. Various were the oxcuses offered, but at last the jury was got together in time for the coroner's arrival. " Atticus," in tho Molbourno Leader, says : — " In a letter from a friend well up in London gossip, I am told that the Marquis of Lorno> the new GovornorGoneral - of Canada, Was desirous of .leaving England on account of his little differences with his wife's eldest brother. The Prince of Wales 5 With all his good naturej is a stickler for court etiquette, and On one dr two. occasions lias protested against his bfdthef-in-law; partaking of tho privileges of royalty, even if lmiite'd to the use df particular doors and staircases. The Marquis resented the distinction drawn between the position of himself and his wife, the Princess Louise, and the Earl of Beaconsfield, acting upon a hint received from high quarters, afforded him the means df making an honorablo escape from the snubbings to which he was continually being subjected." Mr John Bright being asked whether there was any truth iii a statement made in a public lecture at Nottingham that he had proposed conditions to Dr. Kenealy, by which the latter might restore himself to his former position in society, says : — " The whole story is false from beginning to end. It is one of the thousand lies which have been invented by knaves and believed by fools, to assist j in supporting the most gross and wicked case of imposture which has in our time come within the cognisance of our courts of justice." The Chinamen of Greymouth celebrated the advent of their New year (January 24) with great rejoicings, and pyrotechnic displays. The Argus, says : — ' ' The Celestials mustered in great force from all j parts Of the district, and during the evening kept the town in an uproar with their crackers and other fireworks. The j Town Clerk had. given them permission to use the lower end of the protective 'works for this purpose, and from 8 p.m. till 10 p.m. all the Chinamen and larrikins were assembled there. 'John' behaved with good nature, and seemed to exact as much pleasure from supplying the boys with fireworks gratis, as he did from letting them off himself." A romantic life has just come to an ond in New Orleans. Sister Celeste, who had with untiring courage and kindness nursed the sick through the dreadful epidemic of yellow fever that recently devastated that district of the United States, was, it appears, the assumed name of Annie M'Keene, the wife of a quasi soldier. The band of which M'Keene was a member rode up on a certain occasion in the year 1862 to. the farm of a man named Harris, and proceeded to make themselves at home there. Harris had no objection, and his daughter, Annie, regarded the proceedings of the band with admiration and sympathy. But the penalty which Harris paid for harboring such mcix was severe. He was shot, . and his farm burnt ; whereupon M'Keene returned to the spot, and heard the story of his death from Annie Harris. The two pledged their vows of eternal vengeance. There was more than that. She said she would go with him and deal the blows of death as he did. On horseback they went to a humble preacher's house, and, without alighting, had him make them man and wife. She threw away her woman's dress, and donned a male attire. She put on a belt besides, and two revolvers, and her long hair she tucked up under her hat. She looked as much like a soldier as many a young boy that went out with Quantrell, the leader of the troop. But their union did not last long. On a June morning, in 1863, as they, with half-a-dozen others, were riding along over the prairie near where now stands the little town of Lee's Summit, they were met by a detachment of the 6th Missouri State Militia. There was a desperate encounter, in which John M'Keene was shot dead, and Annie M'Kean was shot through tho shoulder, and would have perished with her husband had she not proclaimed her sex. She was taken to Memphis, joined the Church, and resolved to devote her life to the care of the sick and distressed, pursuing which noble design she lately came to her death.