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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7080, 4 February 1885, Page 2

An article entitled " Men Living in Trees " will be found on the fourth page.

The trophies to be rowed for by the Napier Rowing Club's junior pairs on Saturday next are now on view at Messrs Hardy and Sidey's.

Mr Maogregor, Government inspector of machinery and boilers, is at present at the Spit inspecting the machinery of the locally registered steam vessels.

Mr Adams, of the Government geodesical survey, is now in Napier engaged upon survey work connected with his department. He is likely to be engaged here six or seven weeks.

A violent lunatic was brought into town from Taradale yesterday in custody of two policemen. He will be brought before the Resident Magistrate this morning, if fit to appear in Court.

Hastings is moving in the direction of forming a building society, and a meeting of gentlemen interested in the success of the project is called for Friday evening next. Particulars will be found in another column.

' Mr Rochfort, who has been engaged in a re- survey of the town for the past three years, has nearly completed his task. He is now engaged making check surveys of that portion of the borough on the Spit side of Battery-road.

By an oversight, an advertisement relating to Mr Margoliouth's sale this morning was not inserted in our yesterday's issue, as ordered by the auctioneer. The notice will be found in Mr Margoliouth's list of sales in this morning's Herald.

The north-west wind blowing yesterday was felt very much at the Spit, several ships' boats making fruitless attempts to reach their respective vessels. The Trevelyan's boat managed to get outside the piers, but was then blown away towards the Bluff, and had to be beached opposite the lighthouse. The Waitangi's boat, which tried later on, could not get outside at all.

The United Methodist Free Church congregation not being in a flourishing financial condition, have decided to do without the services of a pastor. This resolution was agreed to at a meeting held recently, when it was determined not to invite the Conference to send a pastor to Napier. The spiritual needs of the congregation will be ministered to by local preachers, assisted occasionally by clergymen of various denominations in the district who have kindly promised their services whenever practicable.

Among the business to be brought before the Council this evening will be the recommendation from the Public Works Committee that the shopkeepers of Hastings-street be "directed to put the footpath in a proper state of repair forthwith." The Council would do well to remember that the footpath has never been formed ,to its proper slope. If the , residents of the part of Hastings-street involved can be compelled to restore the footpath to its condition before it was broken up, the Council may also be compelled to step in afterwards and do the work over again.

There is great need in Napier for the establishment of a Sailors' Home. The port is visited by a large number of vessels during the year, but their' crews have no place ashore where they can enjoy themselves rationally. Some of our philanthropic citizens would confer an immense boon upon a large number of mariners by taking this question up, and any efforts made would no doubt be largely supported by many in the district who have sympathy with the hard lot of " Poor Jack." A scheme for the establishment, of a home is worthy the consideration of the churches.

We understand that the road overseer will shortly suggest to the Council the advisability of laying down a new form of footpath composition. It is fonnd that the present method of forming the paths, though economical when judged from the standpoint of outlay alone, is but another illustration of "cheap and worthless." The overseer is of opinion that a greater first-cost would result in a large saving in the end, by better returns being secured. It is to be hoped that the Council will do something definite in the matter of footpaths, and quickly, for at present they are in a very bad conditirn.

At a meeting of the committee of the Napier Rowing Club, held last evening, it was decided that the pair-oar races to be rowed on Saturday next, in the inner harbor, should be contested by crews stroked by the following:— Seniors: T. Sidey v. J. Begg, W. J. Tabuteau v. R. J. Hogg, F. Duncan v. G- W. RavenhiU, H. Tylee v. E. P. Mountfort. Juniors : J. Cato v. J. Rochfort, H. C. Skeet v. W. Cato, C. W. Cato v. F. Wake. R. Lamb's crew row a bye. It was also decided to send a four-oar crew to compete with Gisborne on the 22nd of March next.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday, before Captain Preeoe, R.M., Patrick Feeney, on remand from the. previous day on a charge of drunkenness, was remanded for eight days pending an order for his removal to the asylum, * medical examination of Feeney haying resulted in a certificate that he vraa insane.— The

following civil cases were also heard : — Hayman and Co. v. Colledge, claim £22 2s 3d, Mr Cotterill for plaintiffs, Mr Cornford for defendant; judgment was reserved till Friday next. — In the case of J. Campbell v. M. J. Gannon, judgment debt of £49 3s, defendant was ordered to pay the amount within 14 days, or be imprisoned for 30 days in the Gisborne gaol.

A meeting of the Napier Hospital Committee was held yesterday afternoon to consider a letter from Dr Keyworth, surgeon-superintendent, on the question of increased accommodation for patients requiring to be treated ia separate wards. The latter suggested that, pending the erection of tho contemplated fever and Maori wards, use might be made of a portion of the old barracks. It was decided to lay Dr Key worth's letter before the Hon. Mr Buckley on his arrival in Napier, and to urge upon him the necessity for the suggestions made being carried out. The members present at the meeting were Messrs H. S. Tiffen (chairman), S. Oarnell, C. L. Margoliouth, and H. Williams.

The Napier and Spit Fire Brigades' representative teams arrived here from Dunedin last evening. The men left the train at Awatoto and were driven into town in a biake. They were met at the end of the White-road by the Garrison Band and the members of both brigades, who formed a torchlight procession, and escorted the representatives to the Napier fire-station. The sight was a very pretty one,, the colored fires that were burned contrasting nicely with the glare of tbe torches, and the effect of the whole was heightened by the excellent playing of the Garrison Band. The evening was wet, but a very large number of townspeople turned out to witness the procession. After the Napier team had been welcomed at the fire-station, the Spit team were escorted to their station.

The annual meeting of the Napier branch of the Blue Ribbon Temperance Mission was held last evening in St. John's school-room. The President and Vice-President being absent from the district, the Rev. J. Parkinson, secretary, was voted to the chair, and opened the proceedings with prayer. The annual report and balance-sheet were read and adopted. The following officers were elected for the ensuing half-year:— President, Rev. De Berdt Hovell ; vicepresident, Rev. J. G. Paterson ; secretary,

Mr R. 0. Harding; committee, Messrs F. E. Saunders, F. Townshend, W. H. Clayton, 0. Wilson, H. Ellison, and R. Gardiner. Votes of thanks were passed to the Revs. E. 0. Perry and J. J. Lewis, the retiring president and vice-president ; to the committee of Mrs Hampson's Gospel Temperance Union for a liberal donation of funds; and to St. John's vestry for use of the school-room. The approaching visit of the renowned temperance lecturer, Mr S. Capper, was considered, as also the probable visit of Mr Booth, at present in Auokland. The committee were instructed to make all necessary arrangements. The discoverers of the goldmining reef in Hawke's Bay have been in communication with the Government on the matter, and acting under instructions from the Hon. Mr Larnach, Minister for Mines, have registered their claim with Captain Preece, Resident Magistrate. This does away with the fear of any outside persons "jumping" the privileges which the discoverers are justly entitled to. The owners of the land upon which the reef is situated have consented to Messrs Collins and Greenwood working the claim without hindrance, and operations will be commenced as soon as the locality is gazetted as a goldfield. The discoverers nope to be able to secure sufficient machinery for thoroughly testing the reef on the ground, thereby avoiding the trouble and expense of conveying the stone to Napier, and then shifting it to the Thames for crushing. Messrs Collias and Greenwood will be happy to show to any persons having a view to business, the gold from the last 1501 b sample of stone crushed at the new Prince Imperial Battery at the Thames. The battery manager's certificate in respect to this crushing was lately published in our columns. Mr Gladstone's memory has just been tested in a singular way, but with the happiest result. Speaking at a luncheon sixteen years ago in connection with the opening of St. Seriol's Church, Penmaenmawr, he promised to contribute a bell, providing the parishioners would erect the tower. Through the exertions of the vicar the tower is nearly completed, and the rev. gentleman reoently reminded Mr

Gladstone of his promise. A reply has been received from the Premier, to the eifeot that a Loughborough firm had received orders to cast a bell which will weigh 21cwt.

Kissing in England was certainly known and practised in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and practised with an easy familiarity which shows the custom was general. Indeed, so general was the use of the kiss that it. was as usual as the bow. A gentleman taking a lady to her seat from the dance invariably kissed her, and if he had not, would have been voted a very badly bred fellow. The literature of kisses is curious. There is a story retailed in. the " Broad Stone of Honor" of an English knight riding through France to the Field of the Cloth of Gold. His horse cast a shoe at a certain village, the seigneur whereof had departed to the same rendezvous, but the seigneur's lady hospitably entertained the traveller. She came out of her castle attended by twelve j damsels fair to see. " And," said the dame, " forasmuch as in England ye have such a custom as that a man may kiss a woman, therefore I will that ye shall kiss me, and ye shall also' kiss these my maidens." Which thing the knight straightway did, and rejoiced greatly thereat. The quaintness of the last phrase undoubtedly indicates the young man's feeling at the salute with considerable exactitude.

A romantic episode in connection with ' one of the members of the New South Wales permanent force is current. Some few months back a soldier named Wallace was missing from the barracks. Searoh was made for him, and at length his body, identified chiefly by his uniform, was found floating in the sea near Botany. An inquest was held, and an open verdict was given. As he had a good record in his company he was buried with military honors, and his untimely fate was regretted by his comrades. Some rings and other trinkets found on the body were sent to his sister in Melbourne, of which place he was a native. But within the past few days the lost soldier turned up in the flesh, having been comfortably enjoyingv himself in the bosom of his family ever since his reputed death ; and where he received, to his great astonishment, the rings and other mementoes of his own disease, so kindly forwarded by his comrades in arms. The key to the mystery is that Wallace and a friend exchanged clothes, and that the former treated himself to a holiday surreptitiously. But how the young man who was buried with a warrior's rites came by his death will probably be a mystery until the great roll is read. — Town and Country,

Only the other day a sentry-post at the Government offices in St. James's was discontinued after some twenty years of needless vigilance. Some time about 1864 a military commission sat in a back building abutting on the park. In order to mark the solemnity of the occasion a member of the rank-and-file was appointed to do duty on the spot, which was thus held at the point of the bayonet from ten till four o'clock every day. The commission accomplished its work, which was, no doubt, to draw up a report which was relegated, as such documents are, .to the pigeon- holes of the department

moving in the matter, and there left to: mildew and dust. Anyway, the commission disappeared, but the sentry re- . mained. Two decades passed away, and * still Thomas Atkins, with his red coat, his fixed bayonet, and his twenty yards of sentry-go, passed up and down, up and down the brief parade fixed by his superiors. There was nothing to guard, and he guarded it. He had been forgotten, in fact. The magnates had overlooked th 9 fact that the purpose for which he had, been -instituted had ceased to exist, and it was only last week that a chance dii ~^ closed to them the waste of fighting stuf\ jp. they had been committing. The sentry ?/ was discontinued, and the post which knew him so long will know him no more.