WAIKOA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6051, 23 August 1881, Page 3

WAIROA.

(from our own correspondent.) August 20, 1881. Captain Preece arrived on the 15th and held afi R.M. Court on the 17th and 18th, Messrs Powdrell, Steele, and Strachan, J.P.s, assisting. The following cases were disposed of : — W. U. Burke v. Paora Rerepu, of Mohaka, claim £45, for trespass, &c, in refusing to deliver up a dwelling-house at Mohaka. (Mr Carlile for plaintiff.) Judgment for plaintiff £5, and costs £4 3s.— W. U. Burke v. B. Stevens, claim £50, value of two horses named Naughty Boy and Gipsy. Defendant pleaded having purchased the horses from Mr Sutherland in January last. Mr J. W. Carlile for plaintiff proved the horses to have been in possession of plaintiff's manager in the following March. The Bench decided that Mr Stevens had not completed the purchase by taking delivery of the horses. Judgment for plaintiff £50, and costs £6 2a. — Judgment was given for the County Council in rate cases against Maney, Smyth, Huata and Sanders. Eleven other rate cases were settled out of Court. — J. B. Flint, chairman of the Wairoa School Committee, summoned H. Pickard for using insulting and abusive language to the schoolmistess during school hours. Defendant was fined 3s, and costs 7s. — The County Council sued a native of Mohaka named Hare Hemi for perjury alleged to have been committed in a dog registration case. The case fell through through want of sufficient evidence. The assembled natives were very jubilant, as this was thought to be a test case. — Several purely native cases were also disposed of. In the course of watching the proceedings of a case at the R.M. Court I made the, to me, astounding discovery that all natives whose progenitors lived on eels, such as the Whakaki natives, have curly hair, while the descendants of fern-root-eating natives have stubbly heads like blacking brushes ! Can Mr Colenso explain the connection between fish diet and curls 1 The trustees of the Wairoa cemetery have been planting the reserve with trees. This is a Government reserve of 18 acres in all, securely fenced, which would if leased not only bring in a small revenue, but would also be improved from year to year. It is now, however, lying absolutely useless, solely because the Napier Waste Lands Board will slavishly adhere to the letter of the law. If they placed the whole reserve under the control of the cemetery trustees no one would be harmed and good would eventuate. I suppose we must wait till the Board be swept away and we get control of our waste lands. The sum of £40 has been subscribed to the building fund of the Mechanics' Institute ; the trustees want £100, I believe, before building. People who wish to aid the cause of temperance cannot do b9tter than send a cheque to the treasurer of this institution. A public reading-room is badly wanted here. Good works ai'e not solely comprised in building churches, and charity can be laid out in other ways besides dropping a shilling in the plate weekly.