NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume II, Issue 108, 27 April 1881, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

A report on the local nursery gardens of the district, and also one of Sir William Fox's lecture are held over for our nexb issue. The gross proceeds derived from Sir Wm. Fox's lecture last night amounted to M ss. The net proceeds in aid of the funds of the Institute will be about £<k 10s. The lecture was very interesting, and was fairly well attended. The Rate Book of the Hawera Town Board is now open for inspection, at the office of the Board, every Tuesday and Friday, up till the 2nd May, when the r.ite will be struck. The rate will be payable on the 17th May. Objections must be lodged before the 2nd May. The Branding Act declares that the word " brand, in respect of all stock, includes an ear-mark," nevertheless the registrar at Wanganui declines to register "both a brand and ear-mark, unless he first receives a double fee. It may be news to him to hear that one Minister has expressed a decided opinion that his refusal to register both cannot be upheld. The framework of the new English Church at Hawera is now up, and the contractor is making fair progress with the work. The meeting of those who propose to organise a bazaar in aid of the church fund, will be held at the Institute on Thursday afternoon. It is said that several settlers intend to appeal to friends and relatives at home to assist in making the bazaar a great success. "We observe by the New Zealand Gazette that the Government have acceded to the application of the Hawera Town Board, so far as to declare that part of section 19, Hawera, known as Albion street, between High street and section 18, Hawera, a public road, but seem not to have considered it expedient under present circumstances to open the road through the northern half of section 19. The railway traffic returns, for the four weeks ending sth March, show that the receipts of the New Plymouth line were .£844, as against £722 in the corresponding period last year, the percentage of expenditure to receipts being 85.32 in the current year. On the Wanganui line the receipts were i' 3214, as against J12700 last year, the percentage of expenditure to receipts was 67.77 for the current year. On the North Island section, the total receipts, from the commencement of the financial year to the termination ot the four-weekly period above noted (on 440 miles of line), were i>161,950 11s. Bd., and expenditure, for the corresponding period, £115,401 Bs. On the South Island section the total receipts for the period named (on 845 miles of line), amounted to 6d., and expenditure £365,950 3s. lOd. The total receipts, £760,935 12s. 2d.; expenditure, £481,351 115. lOd.

At the English Church on Suuday morning next in Hawera, holy co:umunii n will be celebrated. The Wakatu brought 57 tons of general ' cargo from Wellington to Patea on her lasi trip. It is somewhat curious that despite the insufficient supply of water in Wellington, the death rate during March should have been much lower than usual. A list of the number of claims paid by the Accident Insurance Company during the past year has been published, showing that thirty-five claims have been recognised, and £700 paid during the term. Captain McGregor is said to be building a steamer in Auckland for the Wa'tara trade. The new boat is to be somewhat larger than the Wakatu, and will be built so as to provide comfort for passengers, as well as to carry cattle. An unusually large sale of cattle will be held by Mr. F. R. Jackson, at Hawera, on Friday. About five hundred head of cattle are already advertised, and we have heard of others coming forward, which have not been catalogued. One thousand sheep will also be brought to the hammer. Mr. William Cameron, Wairarapa, has purchased a section near the Manaia hotel, and intends opening a blacksmith's shop in the township, in the beginning of May. Messrs. E. H. Nolan and Co., through whom the section was sold, informs us that nearly one hundred per cent., over the price, at auction was obtained by the owner. Almost every one about Hawera seems mildly interested in the question as to whether the Wellington people will really suffer from a perfect water famine or not. A recent arrival describes the liquor, which is distilled through the corporation pipes and charged for under a water rate, as of " the color of coffee, the consistency of pea-soup, and of the odor of what is politely termed on board ship eau cle bilge." The Taranaki News, in an article on the frozen meat trade, says :—": — " It costs about id. a lb. to convey meat from Waitara to Auckland to sell at say sd. ; it costs about 2d. a lb. to freeze and convey meat from any port in New Zealand to En&land, to sell at say 7(1. This gives the frozen meat the advantage of £d. a lb. But supj)osing this id. is absorbed by other expenses, the export to England is in as good a position as the export to Auckland." Changes are contemplated in the Patea s.s. Company. A contemporary reports that shares have been changing hands lately, and it is now proposed to reduce the number of directors i'uom seven to five, and to fix five shares as a minimum qualification for a director. It has become necessary, in the opinion of some directors, to work the trade with a boat of larger tonnage ; while others are opposed to this change, because an immediate loss might result in exchanging the present boat for another. At the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand in Auckland, one of the proprietors asked for some explanation with regard to the item bills discounted and other debts due to the bank, £6796,416 19s. sd. He wished to know if it would be available within a reasonable time in case a financial crisis occurred. Mr. Murdoch replied*— The chairman permits me to answer the question. This amount of £6,796,416 19s. sd. is invested m the ordinary operations of the bank. A large proportion of it is on very short dated bills. There is no doubt ordinary accommodation is granted to customers by overdraft, but if the gentleman wants to know if such a large amount is locked up in the bank transactions, I may say that there is not £1000 invested in that way .' we do not go into land operations at all." In the case of Middleton v. the Bank of New Zealand, which was heard at the District Court, New Plymouth, on Friday, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £28 10s., on the ground that the sum of £419 13s. Bd. was not paid to the Bank of New Zealand until 2nd June, 1880. Mr. Halse applied for a new trial, on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of evidence ; and the court granted the application. On the case being resumed on Saturday last, a fresh jury of four was empanelled. In the course of the new trial, as reported by the Herald, the following passage at arms occurred: — "Mr. Buller — I produce a copy of an account in the bank's books, showing Mrs. Middleton's debt to the Loan Agency Company. — Mr. Samuel — The notice waa to produce the books of the Loan Agency Company. — Witness — There are no books kept exclusively for the Loan Agency Company. The Loan Company is a separate institution from the bank. . . . Mr. Samuel — Is it the habit of the bank manager to use the name of the Loan Agency whenever he pleases ? — Witness — It was probably an oversight that the advance was not made to appear sooner." Three-fourths of the jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff, which was duly entered by his Honor Judge Hardcastle, with costs £60 3s. Bd. The circumlocution office of *he district is undoubtedly the brand registration office office at Patea ; not through any fault of the local registrar, but by reason of the centralising policy pursued at head quarters. At present, a settler who is not an adept with his pen, and who would sooner face an enraged bullock than an official correspondence, calls at the Patea office. He asks to he allowed to see the registration book, so that he may avoid choosing a brand bearing much resemblance to that of any of his neighbors. A book is handed to him, showing copies of all brands in the Patea subdivision. He then names his brand, and requests that XXX may be registered. He is informed that the registrar at Wanganui must first be communicated with, his proposed brand be compared with Wanganui brands, and approved by the Wanganui registrar. The settler mentally curses the system, asks with as much show of politeness as he can muster up, why the deuce they don't keep copies of the Wanganui brands at the local office, or why a deputy registrar cannot approve of a brand as well as a man 50 miles away, and rides home muttering something about that " adjective red-tape." A week later he may be informed that the brand he had fixed upon is already taken up, and he has then the pleasing prospect of going through the whole business over again. Under such circumstances, it would not be surprising if an enigmatical official letter were despatched, couched in some such terms as this : — Sir, — I have the honor to append a copy of my brand (please for- j ward to Mr. , chief registrar), ASS.

Mr. John Ballance intends to address his constituents next lnonih. All the piles of the new wharf at Waitara have been driven. Tenders for gravelling contracts between Stony river and Opunake close at noon on S.i turday. One hundred and six thousand Germans left the Yaterland during 1860, more than thrice the number of emigrants in 1579. The proprietor of the Auckland Free Lance has been committed for trial on a charge of libelling Mr. W. J. Hurst. A new weekly journal lias been issued in Melbourne, entitled the Federal Australian. Its title sufficiently indicates the object of the proprietors. On Friday evening, at 7.30 p.m., a meeting of persons desirous of forming a Hunt Club will he held at the Empire Hotel. i Mr. Nolan's yards, at the back of Mr. Prosser's Hotel, are being fitted up ready to receive stock for his first sale on Thursday, the sth proximo. A meeting of the Hawera Acclimatisation Society will be held on Friday afternoon, immediately after Mr. Jackson's sale, at the Egrnont Hotel. Louis, who was charged with a criminal assault on a youug lady at Patea, will be tried at the Supreme Court at Wanganui during the week. Mr. Barker's monthly stock sale at Patea will be held to-day. About 100 head of cattle, and 3000 sheep are advertised. The cement manufactured by Mr. D. Atkinson has been lately tested at New Plymouth, and, according to the Herald, withstood a strain of 311 lbs., equal to that of average Portlaud cement. A special general meeting of the Hawera Choral Society will be held in the Town Hall to-day, at 7.30 p.m., when members will be called upon to consider the advisability of winding up the so iety. Several of the members of the Patea Agricultural and Pastoral Association think that, as the late flower show was held at Patea nominally under the auspices of the association, members at the northern end of the county might have been invited to exhibit, or at least to attend the show. To-morrow. Mr. Cowern will sell by auction, at the farm near Patea, the whole of the stock of Mr. W. Fairweather, including about 50 head of cattle, nearly 1000 sheep, and a number of excellent draught horses and brood mares, besides the usual implements, &c, always to be found on a well appointed farm. Owing to the legal action taken by some bookmakers at Christchurch, the proprietors of the totalisator withdrew their instrument during the races, as the Jockey Club refused to protect them. It is said that proceedings are also to be taken against the club for allowing a totalisator, which infringed Mr. Franck's patent, to be used on their ground. The first meeting of members of the Hawera Football Club will be held at the Empire Hotel on Saturday next. The business of the meeting will be to elect officers, pass the annual balancesheet, and provide for a small deficit, which has bean incurred tor new uniforms remaining on hand unsold, from last season. Visitors and new comers to the district, who are anxious to support the club, either as active or honorary members, are requested to attend. The local paper states that the long drought at present existing has brought the people of Marton sternly face to face with the absolute necessity of making a determined effort to obtain a proper supply of water. The great majority of the burgesses are even now depending on the filth of the Tutaenui, for all exbept drinking purposes, and if the drought continues, as to all appearance it will, for another week, there will not be half-a-dozen people in Marton who will have a bucket of pur ! water in their tanks or wells. Since then they have suspended boring, and are carting water round from the town well to the burgesses at a rate just sufficient to cover expense. The Oamaru Mail says: — "We have lost count of how many hay stacks and piles of grain have been reduced to tinder during the past few weeks. But we can authoritatively assert that thousands of pounds worth of agricultural produce, with an accommodation house thrown in, by way of variety, have within the past few weeks been sacrificed within the County of Waitaki. It is somewhat peculiar that now that insurance policies on stacks have expired, we are enjoying an immunity from these destroying fires. . . . The late wholesale burnings have exposed a rottenness of the insurance system that is truly disgraceful to all concerned." The Evening Post says, in reference to the stamp case recently tried at Wellington: — "The Land Registrar admitted that persons known to the department were allowed to enter the deeds safe, and inspect the books, and that while so engaged anybody could easily reach the pigeonholes and abstract documents undetected. This is an extraordinary plan of conducting a public record office, and one which assuredly will not tend to inspire confidence. It is all very well to say that only persons known to the department are admitted within the safe. But persons known to the department may, nevertheless, abstract deeds. In the present case, it is certain that documents have been removed by somebody, and stamps to the value of some hundreds of pounds stolen." The Waikato Times reports that steady progress is being made at Te Aroha al- | though hitherto, only preliminary work p.nd prospecting has been entered into. Speaking of the prospector's claim, it says : — '"There are about eight tons of material, from which good prospects have been obtained, ready for the batterj' ; and the stuff turned out every day shows promising and steady traces that may, according to very trustworthy judges, justify confident expectations of an average continued yield of from two to two and a-half ounces per ton. Wonderfully fine patches have been found near the surface, but stray specimens are not taken into account in the estimate of what may be expected as a return. The reefs that have given the largest returns in the Thames diggings have been those that have given a steady average of 2£ ozs, rather than from others with patches yielding from 19 ozs. to 20 ozs.

The Wanginui County Council are taking action to have a road made from Wauganui to Taupo. Legal proceedings are to be taken again t all defaulters under the Property Tax Act. Twenty-five of the "unemployed" in Oamaru recently declined the rate of wages offered by the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company — 7s. per day, and Is. per hour overtime. His Excellency the Governor, while at the ball given in his honor at luvercavgill, is sa : d to have remarked that he thought a ball one of the most agreeable modes of reception, as it enabled him to meet citizens and their ladies in a more friendly and intimate manner than he could do at any other assembly. On Saturday last a man named Henry Wheeler was arrested in Wanganui on a charge of having an illicit still in his possession. In the course of the day A. C. Leslie, plumber ; J. Calden, baker ; and Richard Wm. Hugh, cook of the p.s. Manawatu, were a rested on a charge of complicity m the affair. The prisoners were remanded for eight days, and bail was allowed, the former in two sureties of £50 each, and the others in two sureties of £25 each. The Inangahua Times says : — " Relying upon the faith of the information already in their possession, the promoters of the West Coast (Middle Island) Railway Company, in Christchurch, have been singularly vigilant during the past few weeks, and we understand that they have already received no less than five different offers from colonial and European syndicates to float the company and undertake the work ; one of the offers being from Brogden and Son, and another from Sir Julius Vogel." £1000 reward is offered by the U.S. Co. in the Gazette, in the following terms : — " Whereas a box containing five bars of gold, weighing 1255 ounces, valued at £5000, was stolen from a safe in possession of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand (Limited), between the sth and 13th November last, in transit from Port Chalmers to Melbourne, the above reward is offered by the said company for such information as shall lead to the conviction of the off nder or offenders, and recovery of the said property. This is in lieu of the 'offer of reward of £500 previously issued." The notice is signed by Mr. Dick, for the Minister of Justice. In the course of his lecture on Monday night, Sir William Fox raised a laugh against himself by an amusing little slip of the tongue. He was referring to the so-called " confidence men," in the States, who are simply swindlers, who endeavor to first draw a stranger into conversation, and then lighten his pockets for him, by selling lottery tickets, or the like. He said — " I met them upon several occasions : in the hotels, in the streets, at the public dining - tables, at the drinkingbars — " There was a laugh, and then he stopped. " No," he said, " I did not meet them at the bars, because, as you all know, I never patronise those institutions." And, pointed attention having thus been drawn to the mistake, the audience laughed heartily, and enjoyed the joke. As an instance of the amount of trouble and inconvenience which may be caused by delay upon the railway, we may mention the case of one of the new Waitnate settlers, who ordered the timber for his house from the mill at Inglewood, and made arrangements with a carrier to fetch it down for him. The timber was, however, delayed for a week waiting for a truck to take it. The earner went to the Ngaire for it, but returned without it. When he went the second time, he was told that the timber had come later on in the day specified, but by a special train, and was asked to pay some £2 for demurrage. This he declined to do, sent a protest to the traffic manager, who reduced the charge to a few shillings. Meanwhile, however, all the time at the disposal of the carrier had expired, and he had to go on with other work. Consequently, the settler referred to has been prevented from building during three weeks of exceptionally fine weather.