The Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1880. NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 58, 30 October 1880, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1880. NEWS AND NOTES.

The general opinion about the prices realised for tbe land yesterday was to the effect that the best sections for cash sold cheap, and that the inferior fetched full values. Upon the whole, the prices were very level, the sections having ranged from about £5 to £6 10s. on the average, comparatively few going above the latter or below the former figure. The deferred payment selectors are to be congratulated upon having, in most instances, secured their sections at relatively much lower values than the cash sections. A few cash sections were bought by speculators, but they all fetched fair prices.

We understand that one of the settlers of the district, in reply to a telegram sent by him to the Hon. Major Atkinson, was informed that the Public Works Department intend to call for tenders immediately for plate-laying from the end of Messrs. Berry and Newman's contract to Normanby. In addition to this, tenders will be called for the erection of a stationmaster's house at Hawera, and for the fencing and formation of the line from Normanby, without delay.

There was a large attendance at the sale of the Town Acre Reserve, and the sections fetched £27 more than the aggregate reserve placed upon them. Section 1, 41 feet frontage to Princes street, and 140 feet to High street, was purchased by Mr. E. Pulford, at a yearly rental of £37. Section 2, 41 feet to Princes street, was bought by the same purchaser at £26. Section 3, 41 feet to Princes street, G. V. Bate, £22. Section 4, 41 feet to Princes street, J. K. Ferguson, £26. Section 5, 40 feet to Albion street, J. K. Ferguson, £3. Section 6, 40 feet to Albion street, E. Puiford, .£8 7s 6d. Section 7, Galvin and Co., £16. Mr. W. M. Thomson a ted as auctioneer. The leases are for twentyone years, and the rente axe payable halfyearly in advance.

Mr. Cowern will hold a large sale of timber at Carlyle on Saturday next.

Mr. Freeman E. Jackson will hold his monthly stock sale at Waverley to-day.

Mr. Pitcher, watchmaker, has received a consigment of new music> and it will, doubtless, realise a ready sale.

We have been request d to draw attention to the fact that a pure-bred mastiff will be sold at Carlyle on Thursday next, immediately after the show.

Another loan is freely talked about in Wellington, and it is stated that the new Agent- General will he instructed to float another as soon as the three years expire.

The sale of Okaiawa will take place on Wadnesday next, and the contested deferred payment applications will be afterwards decided by lot. A Waingongoro settler thus comments on the sale — " Thank God, we are no longer the outlying settlers on the West Coast."

We regret to learn that Mr; Whitcombe, Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Taranaki Land District, has been seriously indisposed for some time, having been suffering from a painful affection of the ear.

We hear that the inspector of the Patea wharf has condemned a quantity of the timber delivered there. The correctness of the local inspector's decision has beeen challenged. Probably, the contractor will appeal to the district engineer.

Four applicants for a deferred payment section appeared before the Commissioner of Lands yesterday after the cash sale. A by-stander remarked, "The old man will get this section cheap," and so it proved, for he bid one shilling more than the upset price, and secured the land.

Mr. Wray, whilst on hie way to conduct the sale at Hawera, accompanied by Mr. Bagett, clerk at the Land Office, Carlyle, had a narrow escape from an accident. The spring of the buggy got broken at this side of Manutahi, but they managed to get to Hawera without anything serious happening.

Well done; Hawera Light Horse ! No less than sixteen out of a possible hundred (to use a shootiug expression) turned out at parade yesterday afternoon ! The few who attend regularly should procure the services of a medical galvanist. He might be able to restore animation to the languishing corps(e).

The following tenders were received in Wellington for the Urenui Road Bridge contract: — Cleary. Wellington (accepted), Declined— Pell, Wanganui £993 ; Alexand r and McFarlane, Wanganui, .£1114 : Bassett, Stratford, £1161 ; Berry and Newman, New Plymouth, J1175; Harris and Gorie, Patea, £1387.

At the land sale, about one o'clock yesterday, when Mr. Isaac Bayly proposed that the Commissioner should adjourn for lunch, one of the bidders, a Tarantki man, we believe, suggested that the Government should provide a free lunch for the bidders. The proposal was received -svitli acclamation, "bixb tbe Commissioner tor Lands dz<3 not take the hint.

The tender of Mr. James McAra has been accepted for the conveyance of mails between Wellington and Foxton. The seivice is to be tri- weekly, instead of daily, as heretofore. Mr. A. Young's tender for the Waitotara- Ngaire service (daily) has also been accepted ; also for a service (twice a day) between Waitotara and Hawera.

The adjourned meeting of the Church of England congregation took place on Wednesday afternoon, at Mr. Wanklyn's office, the chair being occupied by Mr. Mbrecroft. After some discussion, it was decided that the church should be built on the site near the railway station, and that tenders should be invited from architects for competitive designs for a building to seat 150 persons, the cost not to exceed £400.

The meeting of settlers desirous of forming a Co-operative Association, which was to have been held last evening, was adjourned until 4 p.m. next Saturday afternoon, so as not to interfere with the concert in aid of the Institute. The conveners of the meeting, however, met together, and we understand that a general expression of opinion was given in favor of forming a Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, as a first step towauls a Cooperative Association of a more extended nature.

The consignment of trout ova, which the Acclimatisation Society sent to Canterbury for, arrived by the steamer Patea. Mr. Wanklyn went to Carlyle, when he heard of the arrival of the steamer, Oue thousand was given to Mr. Sherwood for distribution, but as none .of the Waitotara people put in an appearance, the remainder were brought on here. About 1500 will be put in the streams on the Waimate Plains, and the remainder in the Tawhiti, Waihi, and Waingongoro.

Towards the conclusion of the Choral Society's concert, on Thursday night, Mr. J. W. Partridge, president of the Hawera Institute, came forward, and announced that the society had kindly consented to repeat the entertainment in aid of the Institute on the following evening, and that Mr. Charles had also promised to assist them. Very few, however, turned up on Friday night, and it was therefore decided not to go on with the entertainin nt. If the public will not assist the committee in their efforts to keep the library free to the gen ral public, it is to be feared they will not be able to do so much longer, on account of the withdrawal of the subsidy.