USELESS ARTILLERY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10658, 12 July 1897, Page 2

USELESS ARTILLERY.

The colonial Premiers, la the expansive geniality Induced by a long course of turtle coup and'obampagne, bare spoken many "prave "orta" about what the colonies will do la the way of selfdefence, Mr Scddon being no wblt behind the rest. Yet the volunteer system Id New Zealand la so starved that while plenty of money oan be found for snoh outrageously rldloaloai experiments as State poultry farms, the few hundreds required to equip the artillery with modern guns are related. Oar readers are already aware that the F Battery of Artillery at Napier, whloh in general drill and effiolenqy is acknowledged to be the bast artillery oorps in the oolony, have to ba disbanded or turned into a rifle oorpi, because their guns are not only obsolete, bat dangerous, and modern gnn drill oannot be taught with them. In Satur« days issue we quoted a paragraph from the Ghrlstehorch Frets, In whloh it was stated that the artillery there have no better guna than the F Battery, and with the exception of Wellington, and perhaps j Auokland, the same thing map be said of j the artillery oorps throughout the oolony, Things do not appear to be muoh better aorosa the water, at any rate in Vlotorla. Some ten years ago two batteries of artillery were raised and maintained at the expense of the late Sir William Clarke and Messrs Cbirnelde. These gentlemen patriotically provided overythine; except the guns, which were promised by the, Government, There were, however, no modern big guns In the oolony, so the two oorps were asked to make shift with old field guns until ; proper weapons oonld be imported. Time went on, tba matter of those new guns was always "under consideration," and at last, after a few years of life, the Werrlbee battery, founded by Messrs Cblrnside, was disbanded. Its dtillshed was turned into a Dreamery, a very modern and np-to-date rendering of the Scriptural propheoy about beating aworda into ploughshares. Sit William Clarke, however, kept on theKupertswood battery nn til bis death, although its expense amounted to some £1500 annually. His ion, who has succeeded to hU title and his Sunbnry property, where many of hit corps reside, decided not to oontinne the personal maintenance of the battery after the end of June, and Informed the Minister of De/enoa to that eSeoi, The battery there* fore made what was believed to be their last appearance in Melbourne at a review on Jubilee Day, and general regret was expressed by the publlo and by their brothers in arms that this abould be the oase. The corps has always been a popular one, being oomposed of a fine body of men, in the same handiome uniform as is and have attained a high state of effiworn by the Imperial Horse Artillery, olenoy, as was demonstrated by their anooess in the military tournaments In London and Dublin some few years baok. Their last publlo appearance was on the day after the jubilee, when they aoted as esoort to Lord Brassey as he went to open the new session of Parliament, and they then divided the oheering with his Excel* lenoy, Slnoe then a private) Individual, Who prefers to remain unknown, has offered to contribute £200 a year towards the cost (estimated at £1600) of maintaining the Rupertswood battery, either as an artillery corps or ai a light cavalry troop. The idea has been warmly taken up, and it is possible that the Knpertiwood corps may yet retain Its existence as " the only battery of horse artillery south of the line," and as a witness of the public* spirited generosity of its founder.

On the fourth pege will be found an aoconnt of the eporo at the Wellington Raolng Ciab'i meeting on Satnrday and oar Ormondvllle oarreapoodent's letter. The eieoailve of relief fund meet this afternoon at 3.30 p.m.* The eeoretary of tho hoflpltal acknowledges with tboiika the teoelpb of a parcel of papera from Miss Campbell, Ponkawa, The Alnmeda, whtoh arrived at AnokIsnrt on Saturday from Sydney, en route to Sao Francjseo, btouahtt qvqt 9 Bilndid

The wife of Mr E Mnrlpv, purser of - the b.b. Tarawera, died at Danedln on> Monday. The flawke'i Bay hoaudi met at F/lmley on Saturday, open to subscribers ooly. There was an excellent tan, In , whloh a large nnmber took part. Mr J. 8. D'Emden, manager of the Ualon Baak kt Haßtlngs, has received orders of removal to Wellington, and Ma plaoe will be filled by an offioer from the Danedln branch of the bank. The assault case ol E. G. Lys v. J. Sootb was oonolnded at the Haßtlng* Maeletrate'a Court on Saturday before Messrs M'Leod and Fraier, J.'sP. The dtfendant was fined £2 and oosta £5 B>, in default 14 days' Imprisonment. Amongat the Daaaenger* by the Alaineda on S*tuid»y for San Franeiaeo en route to .Knglaad, was Mr J. C. Ohaytor, of Blenheim, who goes Home to olaicQ r fortune of about £50,000 wbloh has fallen to him. Apropos of onr new Jmtioes, a ooires* pondent Informs tha Anokland Herald that a person oalled at a store Id town and asked for come work. He waa told they had nonp, whereupon he remarked that he wais a J.P. and hla aervlcca might he naefnl abont the premises, The mine manager of the Golden Tokateß, Coromandel, reports :— Fair progress is being made linking winza irom.No. level, wbloh li down 26 feet. Beef baa widened to 18 laches tblok. Driving pushed ahead on No 3 reef, which Averages eight inches, and give* fail dish prospeots. , , ! *A, Hit Worship the Mayor wlllpreilde tonight at a meeting of those interested In the forthcoming band contest to be held , at Napier. The meeting will be held at the Maaonlo Hotel at 8 o'olook, and Mr |t. D. D. M'Lean, M.H.R, will bo i present, All those Interested are requested to attend. The Minister of Publio Works le to be , present at the opening of the Waitara liver at Tlkoraogf, Taranaki. to-morrow, and expeotß to leave New Flymonth for Aaokland on Friday. He Intends to Inspect the proposed, continuation of the HeleDßville railway, the Thames.jPaeroa line, and the North Island main trnnk I line. The Shamrook Hotel, at Awatoto, was broken tnto on Saturday night. The burglars oartled away a cash box and several bottles of whlaky. There was no money In the cash box, which only contained a nnmber of cheques, It Is believed that the midnight prowlers got into the premises by means of one of the windows There Is at present no clue to the perpetrators of the robbery. Captain Edwin wired at 2 68 p.m. on Saturday as follows -.-"Wind between south east and north at all places ; barometer farther rise; sea heavy on eastern ooasts of both Islands ; tides high on eastern coast of North Island ; unusually gold weather on the eastern coast between Castlepoint and East Cape, and ' frost in all parts of the oonntry." . A very old resident) of Napier, in the person of Mr Charles Etnmett, died In the hospital yesterday. Deoeased bud been in the employ of Mr Holt for 22 years. He was a prominent Forester, the members of whioh society will hear of bis death with mnoh regret. Members are requested to meet at the hospital at 3 15 p m. today to attend deceased's funeral. Tho meeting of the Hawke'a Bay Philosophical Institute this evening will be exceptionally lnteiestloe. Mr H. Hill will deal with the reaent floods and their bearing on the origin of the Heretanoga Plains. His addresn will be Illustrated by plant) and sections thrown npon the serean. Mr E. E. Adams will also read a short paper on "The Construction of Bloyole Tracks." A curious application waa made fait week to a member of the Nelton Education Board. Abont 42 residents of Wakapuska bad signed a representation complaining that one of the State sohool* rooms in the district had been 1 , lent to the Mormon elders who arson a mlrt;lon there, tbtiH enabling them to promulgate their teueta with greater facility. The signatories aeked the Board to prohibit, if possible, the use of school buildings for suoh purposes. The reply given was that the Board could not Interfere, as the looal school committee bad fall control over the buildings, the memorialists being referred to the local committee. For some weeks past the Napier Ga» Company's collectors have found that the money from a number of " shilling alotiy 1 placed near the gas meters at private residences, baa been abstracted by someone. The scenes of these depredatloni have been Sea View Terrace, Sbakea-peare-road, and Coote-road. From Information received Detective Ghryatal on Saturday arrested two youths, brothers, named Frank and .Robert Streeter, aged 19 and 16 yean respectively, who will appear before the Magistrate this mornIng. The father of the lads was murdered In Poverty Bay some years ago, for which crime a man named Black was acquitted. Blaok, It will be remembered, was burnt to death subsequently at Dannevlrke. One of the principal featnrea displayed io connection with St, John and Hayman'i dramatic Benson is a photo of Mrs Harrie Marshall, on view at Howe Bros 1 . It la in the new American patent raised prices", by whioh the features of the sitter and the more prominent portions of th* photograph oro brought into relief, and tbe coloring is qnite lifelike. The idea is novel and attractive, and tbln Is the first ploture of Its kind yet exhibited in Anntralaela. Mm Marshall is tbe widow of Harry Marshall, tbe clever young New Zealand actor, who died seme two yean ago, and though a young woman, bai played some very important pstte, one of which Is " Camllle." This pleoe will be produoed during the senson here. The box plan is now open at Howe Bros', '* That pohntnkawa trees are oi very alow growth is evident from the two trees of that variety whioh were planted some . three years ago at tbe Thomdon Esplanade by Messn Seddon and Ward on tbe occasion of the letter's glorious return from England after floating the 3 per cent loan. These trees are now only a little over a foot in height. A onrious differ* enoe has made Heelf manifest in the growth of these blatorlo plants. That planted by Mr Seddon, rejoicing in its planters series of triumph?, hae spread out luxuriously, almost "swelling wlelbly" with a senae of its own importance ; while that Btuok In the ground by Mr Ward bears all the algoa ofj^a. life* long struggle against adversity.* It* branohes are wilted at the ends, asd a blight seems to have fallen npon it. What coincidences ocour In life I— Pott, When the Flora left Fiji the Jobo Williams had called there with tbe Rev. B, Wardlaw Thompson and Mr W. Crossfield on board. These gentlemen are making a toar of inspection on behalf of the dlreotors of the LoDdon Mlulonary Snolety. They reoeived in Fiji a hearty welcome. Whtlo passing -Erromanga, in the New Hebrides, where the martyr missionary John Wllllamß was killed In 1839, tbe party landed, visiting tbe spot wbere the massacre occurred. At Lira and at Uvea, in the Loyalty Islands, the John Williams was reoeived with a great outburst of joy from ihe people, who Insisted apon making to the ship presents of tons ot yamß, fanoy baskets, poultry, &a, to help the teachers along In New Guinea and at other spots leaa favored than the Koyaltys. Dating the orrjiie a native woman teacher who was returning borne from New Guinea died on board the missionary steamer yaoht. About 40 were present at a meeting of the unemployed, held In the OoonoU Chambers, on Satnrday afternoon, the Mayor presiding. The meeting waa addressed by Mr Swan and Mr B. D. D. M'Lean, M.H.B, The latter explained > the aotion taken by him In response to the representations made to him by a previous meeting. He suggested that the 1 men should, In order .to facilitate matters, hand in their names, together with par. (lca)ara as to how long they had been oat , of work and the size of their families. Mr Browett, of the Napier Labor Bureau, said it was likely that very shortly the Government would hare work for abont : 12 men. A large number of tboao present i banded in their namei, and expressed their willingness to leave Napier to get work, After a general discussion of a conversational nature votes of thank* were passed to Mr M'Lean and the Mayor, and tbe meeting adjourned. A wedding of mnoh Interest took place laßt Tuesday at the residence of tbe Bey. E. Beat, Colltagwood-atreet, Poosonby, namely, tbe marriage of Mr W. R. WIU ton, second son of Mr W. S. Wilson Oeoior partner of tbe firm of Wilsons and Hortoo, proprietors ot the Sew Zealand ' Herald), to Mis* Louie Bar, youngest) daughter of the Rev. E. Bast (formerly In charge of the Wealeyau Goutch, Napier), The father of tbe bride waa the officiating 1 clergyman. Miner Casile and Ada Beat i (sister* of the bride) were tbe bridesmaids, , and Dr. Sometville, a oonaln of the bride- [ groom, beat man. The bride waa dreaaed la a handsome brown costume, with veaux de roae trimmings, Immediately fitter ' the ceremony tbe happy couple leffby the i I afternoon Walkato train to Bpend the , . | honeymoon in the Hot Lakes district,. ' I The wedding presents were numerous and . handsome, and ioolnded a nnmber from friends in the South. : 1 The teaching profession used to be j looked npon as a very desirable oee,apa» ' tlon, and its wants were always more than met, but. latterly the competition for ) admission to its ranka has been . anything ': . bot keen. , There is at present a much* . -i felt lack of pupil teachers, particularly ' [ malea. At the meeting of the Anokland Eduoatlon Board held last Tuesday {say* . : 1 the Auckland Herald) the selection oom- ' ' mlttae recommended that pupil teaohera " ' s should be appointed to, iten school* Jn V> 1 various parta of the province 'where they ' i wete. .asiifxifwkvujit .^ww^;;:;;^