NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume II, Issue 116, 25 May 1881, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

/ Manaia township has grown so rapidly that there is already some agitation in favor of a Government Post and Telegraph Office being opened there. There is an estimated population on the Plains of fully five hundred persons, and it is rapidly increasing ; the Government have retained ample reserves suitable for such / The sale— of the township realised several thousand pounds, consequently the residents feel that they have a strong claim now for special consideration, and hope very shortly to have a much stronger one/ At Opunake there is already a post and telegraph station, and it is to be hoped that it will not be necessary to bring .petitions and political pressure to bear on. the Government in furtherance of the present plea. The public dislike being put to trouble, and are not properly grateful for concessions for which they have first had to beg and pray ; especially if they are satisfied, as in the present case, that they are asking for no more than they have a perfect right to expect.

A tariff of charges on .N^Z. Bailways covering all changes to date is published in a recent Gazette.

Nominations of candidates for the Hawera Eoad Board will be received up till noon to-morrow. Forms of nomination can be obtained from Mr. Gr. V. Bate, Hawera.

Although yesterday was the 62nd anniversary of the Queen's birthday, and all the shops were shut on the strength of it, there was not a single flag unfurled in Hawera in honor of Her Majesty.

After a trial extending over a number of days, before Judge Hardcastle and a special jury of four, a verdict on the second claim of £1566 was given late on Friday night in favor of McLean for JS3B2 ss. This amount would carry costs against the Council. It was arranged, however, that in both cases costs were to be arranged between solicitors for the parlies, with an appeal to the judge in case of difference.

To-night the third conoert of the season given by the Hawera Choral Society will be held in the Hawera Town Hall. From the programme, which appears in another column, it will be seen that a good and careful selection of music has been made, and that there is likely to be a novel and varied entertainment. Several new members of acknowledged talent have recently joined the Society, and some careful training and practice has been gone through for the coming concert, in consequence a pleasant evening's entertainment may be confidently anticipated.

A large audience attended the "In Memoriam " service in connection with the Tararua disaster, on Sunday evening. The sermon was preached by the Eev. Mr. Luxford who took, as his text, the twenty-third verse of the forty-ninth chapter of Jeremiah — ''There is sorrow on the sea, it cannot be quiet." In the course of his remarks, the Bey. gentleman alluded to the statement made by the Eev. Mr. Sidey that the wreck was a judgment on the U. S. S. Company for running their boats on Sundays. It was a common thing for people to make a scapegoat of somebody over a disaster of tbia sort, but he thought in this instance before a scapegoat was made we should wait for the result of the nautical enquiry now being held. The Eev. gentleman further stated that he believed most people had now come to the conclusion that' the wreck had been caused through there being no light on Waipapa Point, and he hoped the Government would now see the necessity of placing a light there without delay. During the evening the Wesleyan choir under the leadership of Mr. S. Dixon, Bang some appropriate selections very creditably. At the conclusion of the service a collection was made on behalf of the widows and orphans of the ministers and lay -preachers who were lost, andiesulted.iu the Bum of £10 Is. Id. being collected, . .

Mr. Ballance, M:H.R., will address the electors at Waverley to-morrow.

Tenders are called for fencing, on the Normanby railway contract.

The Governor held a levee yesterday at noon in honor of her Majesty's birthday.

Manaia is gazetted as one of the places within the colony where additional post offices have been lately opened.

On Friday next, Mr. F. B. Jackson will bold bis monthly sale of stock at Hawera. About 200 head of cattle and several hundred sheep are advertised.

Mr. F. E. Jackson has received instructions, from the County Council, to offer, by action, at Hawea, on Friday next, the lease, for ten years, of the Mokoia reserve.

On Saturday next, Mr. C. F. Barker will hold his second fortnightly sale of farm produce, wool, skins, &c. Full particulars of the entries appear in another column. -

Mr. Barker's monthly stock sale will be held at Patea to-day. About 100 head of cattle, 600 sheep, and a number of horses, pigs, &c, are advertised.

The Caswell Sound Marble Company is now an established fact* 9200 shares have been taken up, out of 10,000 issued, leaving only some 800 for allotment. «

A meeting of the settlers in the Upper Ngaire will be held . on the 4th proximo, to ascertain whether the residents of the district are still willing to amalgamate with the Lower Ngaire district.

An emergency meeting of the Masonic Lodge was held on Monday night, when there was a good attendance of members. Three brothers were raised, and three new candidates were proposed,- after which the lodge adjourned till the next general meeting.

E. H. Nolan and Co. have moved into the large and commodious premises lately occupied by G. H. Armstrong and Co., in High. street, the lease of which has been secured by them. The first of a series of general sales of produce will be held on Saturday next.

The Wellington Monthly Price Current reports that applications for shares in the Wellington and Manawatu railway are coming in steadily, and it is anticipated that the full number required will be taken up within the limited time, namely, by the 31st instant. The scheme has an important bearing on the future of that city and district.

We hear that a large consignment of kauri timber, for Manaia, has been ordered, and the consignee has been trying to arrange with Messrs. Mace and Bassett to deliver the timber at Normanby, instead of having it left at Eltham or Ngaire. It would be very difficult to secure carriage for it now from either of the two lastnamed places. It is to be hoped that the contractors will be able to let the timber pass along the railway.

An exchange gives the following as the correct list of how the ministerial portfolios are now held : — " The Hon. John Hall, Premier and Commissioner of Customs ; Hon. F. Whitaker, AttorneyGeneral ; Hon. H, A. Atkinson, Colonial Treasurer, Commissioner of Stamp Duties, and Minister of Marine ; Hon. W. Bolleston, Native and Defence Minister, and Minister of Lands, Immigration, and Mines ; Hon. T. Dick, Colonial Secretary, and Minister of Justice and Education ; Hon. W. Johnston, Postmaster-General, and Commissioner of Telegraphs. Mr. Oliver was to give up his portfolio on Monday.

The Wanganui Herald says: — "Its fortune-favored absentees are very numerous. Some of them have directed affairs in the colony ; the majority are of the selfish, grinding, money-making class, who look on the colony as a sponge, to be squeezed — who think of laborers as beasts of burden, made for their special benefit, and have no other god but the moneymarket." Nevertheless, Mr. Tollemache, one of the richest of them, lately for. warded £1600 of property -tax to the colony, when it was very doubtful if the tax could be legally enforced. We doubt (whether the Herald could name half-a-dozen out of the numerous class, against whom the above libellous description could be substantiated.

When Major Atkinson was at Normanby, it was pointed out that, though there was a population in the township ot nearly 500, besides a large population residing near it, yet no J.P. bad been appointed to do the large amount of work which necessarily devolves upon the unpaid magistracy. Mr. C. E. Gibson's name was mentioned as that of a suitable person, and Major Atkinson promised to attend to the matter. Two months have now passed, and yet no appointment has been made, and there is much grumbling among those who have to come to Hawera to sign before a J.P., or to take out summonses, &c. The matter has been mentioned to several of those now on the Bench, and they are all agreed that such an appointment is much needed.

On the 17th of May, Mr. C. Pharazyn brought a case before the B.M. at Christchurch, for the recovery of two fares paid for and marked on the tickets as being for box seats on the coach to the West Coast and back. Finding a lady ill with asthma in his seat on the Canterbury side, he gave it up. On returning from I the West Coast, he found they were again ' occupied, and he could not get them. He 1 alleged that he had gone on a pleasure trip, which was spoiled by the inconvenience thus occasioned, and now sued for the return of his fares. Had he only claimed for one fare, the right would have been generally conceded ; but, as the magistrate pointed out, be bad voluntarily given one up, and had also made the journey in the coach, he could not claim the return of the whole of the fare, and gave judgment for £5 and costs.

The Patea Mail thinks it is " a moot point whether the Government will accept the responsibility of defending the actions, McLean v. Patea County Council." The Government handed over to the Council certain money to expend on the Mountain road ; if the Council made loose contracts, and rendered itself liable at law for more than the amount advanced, the Government are not in the least likely to undertake any responsibility for the blunders of the Council. It is to be regretted that the interests of the ratepayers are likely to suffer, but we altogether fail to see how the Government can possibly be expected to pay for a local body's mistakes. It would be neither just or politic for them to do so. In short, it would be "very naughty, but very nice," and under such circumstances the elasticity of the publio conscience is remarkable.* • • • . '