NEWS AND NOTES. The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1880.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 47, 22 September 1880, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

The Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1880.

C. A. Wray, Esq., has been appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands for the West Coast Laud District.

The amount to be competed for by the Wanganui, Patea, and Rangitikei rifle corps is £54. 155. 7d., of which sum £5 Is. goes to the cadets in the form of prizes.

A publican named Eobson has been fined 40s. for allowing "Yankee grab" to be played for drinks in his hotel, at Auckland.

During 1879, 80,000 acres of prairie lands in Miuneesota were planted with forest trees, and-Tows of trees were planted along country highways to the extent of 280,945 rods, or about 878 miles.

Mr. Finnerty, Government surveyor, who has been lately camped near the Waingongoro bridge, has been ordered to proceed to Opunake to peg off the town and rural sections at that place, which will shortly he offered for sale.

From Grey town we learn that there is a probability of the railway line being opened to Carterton forthwith, but it will depend on Mr. Blackett's report whether the ballasting of the line beyond will be interfered with by the traffic.

Over 70 steerage passengers left "Wellington by the Hero on Friday last. Most of them were laboring men out of work. New Zealand appears to be losing a number of the best of the immigrants imported to the colon}' at a cost to the taxpayer of from .£ls to £20 per head. 'T is true, 't is pity : and pity 't is, 't is true.

A few slight alterations were made by the committee in the rales of, and the prizes to be given by, the Patea Agricultural Association on Saturday. The cooperation of the ladies was solicited in the horticultural and produce departments. The addition of a 12ft. water-jump to the list is sure to add greatly to the fun of the fair.

A correspondent, signing himself " Observer," writes to us as follows : — To the Editor Star. Sir, — I observe that the Patea Mail of to-day states that Mr. "Wray has been appointed Commissioner of the Patea Land Board Distinct. A reference to the Gazette of the 16th will show iliat no such district exists. Mr. "Wray is Commissioner of the West Coast Land District. Sept. 21.

The population of Wellington is 21,582 ; the deaths during August were 49. The combined population of Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland number 54,137, and the deaths numbered 54. The average being in the first instance 227 per 1000, and in the other barely I*o per 1000. In Wellington, no less than 12 deaths were from zymotic diseases; the other three cities recorded 6 between them.

A public meeting has been summoned to take place at Normanby to-morrow, at 3 p.m., to discuss the advisableness of extending the boundaries of the new road board district of the Ngaire, so as to ine^uie ihe whole of fcbe N#aire survey district. Afc the same m efciug an opportunity will be given of sounding the feeling of the public on the much wider proposition which has been mooted of merging all road hoards within the district into the proposed new county of Egmont. The settlers of the district ought certainly to attend, as their interests and their purses are concerned in the matter.

The Stamp Act Amendment Act of the enrrent year exempts from stamp duty all receipts given by local bodies. On the other hand, all receipts given to Her Majesty will henceforth have to be stamped. Policies of life assurance will be exempt. All appraisements or valuations will have to be stamped henceforth with a stamp of Is, if it does not exceed £2JO', the fees increasing up to 20s in a valuation up to or over £500. This does not apply either to valuations made simply for the information of one person only, nor yet to valuations made for the Government or for any local body.

In addition to the cricket match between the first eleven and second twentytwo, which has been arranged to take place on Saturday, at Hawera, a parade of the Cavalry and Normanby Rifles has been summoned at 2 p.m. It is sincerely to be hoped that some arrangement will be made so as to allow both events to come off without the one interfering with the oth' r.

The Picton coal discovery seems to be what miners call a " duffer." The Government geologist, Mr. McKay, has sent in his report, which concludes as follows : — " While admitting that a certain amount of coal can be placed in the market, it is extremely problematical whether the seam can be worked with profit, and I would suggest that other parties purposing to siuk for coal on adjoining sections should await the success which may attend the opening up of the present seam. I still hold the opinion previously expressed that the reasons above given, together with the very limited area of the whole field, preclude the possibility of coal being found under workable conditions in such quantities as to materially affect the export trade of Picton."

There was a little excitement in front of Prosser's Hotel in Hawera yesterday morning. A fine "upstanding colt had been yoked up for the first time in a break, but did not seem to approve of the trammels attached "to him, and made a desperate struggle to free iumseff, rotted over on to his back underneath the pole, and then by' a sudden effort vegamed his feet, but got up on the wrong side of the pole. At this stage of the proceedings, things looked decidedly mixed, and a general smash-up seemed almost inevitable. However, both horses stood quietly while the bystanders unbuckled as much of the harness as they could get at, and ultimately both horses were freed without any more damage being done than a saddler would repair in half-an-hour. However, the trainer did not seem inclined to give the young horse another trial until atter he had undergone a little more schooling with less opportunity of doing damage.

This is what the Sydney Mail says about the exodus from this colony: — " Its really rather too amusing to find a section of the so-called working men of New Zealand seriously agitating for emigration to America. They find themselves placed on the shores of one of the most prolific countries in the world, but because forsooth employers do not rush after them with offers of big wages, they take to the stump and talk nonsense by the yard. I can almost guarantee that those grumblers are for the greater part newly-arrived immigrants; fellows who have had a comfortable passage provided for them, and four months' idleness on hoard ship, with food of the best kind ; medical attendance, spoons, forks, and pannikins, &c. Possibly, if they were met on their arrival by the offer of first-class farms, ready tilled, fenced and furnished, they would grumble because the proceeds of the crop reaped before their advent had not boen placed to their credit. But the New Zealand grumblers quite overlook the fact that Americans are fast emigrating to Australia. Ship-loads have come, and thousands of men of the right stamp, now in the States, would willingly accept a passage to Australia or New Zealand."