NEWS AND NOTES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1518, 6 January 1887, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES

A large number of people left by train this morning to attend Stratford sports. Several good sized trout have been seen in the Inalia and Waiokura streams lately. Trout are bslieved to be well established. A very large trade has recently been done in fungus from this district. Laige quantities have beeu gathered by the Maoris on the Pining, and Mr. G-. Hormr and others have purchased and sent away many tons of it dm ing the past few weeks. The sitting of the Resident Magistrate's Court on Wednesday was occupied mainly with an information in which Tocker, ranger for Normanby Town Board, charged Beddings, a settler, (1) with illegal rescue of cattle, and (2) with using abusive language ; and Redding charged Tocker with assault. Mr. Matthews appeared for Redding. The Magistrate heaid all that the parties had to say, and then dismissed the three informations. Settlers in the bush round the base of Mount Egmont, who are out of reich of the dairy factories, have much difficulty in making boll) ends meet now that the price of butter is so low. We hpar that some of '.hem contract to bike all young calves from farmers who milk for the factories, pa\ ing from 2s Gd to 5s per head. Thesp calves are commonly sledged up to the b.ick country, each calf being put mio a sack, the mouth ot which is tied round the calf's iif ck, leaving only his head out. The animals are said to travel well thus packed. The bush farmers feed the calves on the milk, instead of making butter at from 4d to 5d per Ib. Here is a hint for the New Plymouth Harbor Board or the Opunake people or the Waingongcro Harbor Board : — A leading London journal, Invention, contains an illustrated supplement, issued in connection with the Liverpool Exhibition, and containing portraits of English inventois. Among them is Mr. Greenw.iy Thomas, tho inventor of the breakwater and dredger, to which special attention has been drawn in Blenheim (says the Marlborough Express) by the advocacy of Mr. Douslin. Models and diagrams of the inventions were shown in the Liverpool Exhibition. The journal now before us states that 100 acres with seveu fathoms anchorage could be provided by this system for .£IO,OOO. A company has been formed to work the patent. To show how the new departure taken by the Government in relation to deferred payment money will affect roads in this dibtrict, we may mention that a little time ago tho Hawera Road Board received a couple of schedules showing j"2b'4 payable to it. Tlip schedules have now been amended in accordance with the new reading of the law, and the amount pay able is reduced by no less than It must 1 c remembered that it is the defer ted payment settlers — the special care of a paternal Government — who directly suffer. The Go\ eminent giant them relief in the way of capitalisation, charge them interest for the accommodation ; but deprive them of the roads which iucontrovertibly formed an e-sential part of the original agreement. A more barefaced instance of bad faith on the part of the control Government we have never previously heard of. And this from a Government which professes such anxiety for the settlement of the country. A Gazette notice, dated December 21st, repeals a proclamation in respect to West Coast settlement reserves, and in lieu thereof declnres that in future " there shall be deducted from all monej's received by the Public Trustee on account of the siiid reserves a commission of seven pounds ten shillings per centum on the total amount so received in any way whatsoever in the course of his management of the said reserves, which commission is to and shall include all expenses of any kind soever other than legal expenses if and when incurred, and othee expenses heiein otherwise provided for. All costs and expenses of receiving and distributing rents, travelling, and other disburseniFnts that may be required, incuired, and paid shall be borne and paid by the Public Trust Office as ordinary office expenditure. The Public Trustee may charge a fee of ten .shillings for and in respect of his consent to any assignment or other disposition of any leasehold." The question of taxing bachelors has again arisen in I'Vance. A psfcition to that effect has been sent to the Chamber of Deputies. It says (hat in Paris aloue there are nearly half a million, whereas the number ot married men is not more than 879,000. We are reminded that the tax, singular as it may seem, has already existed in several countries. The French Convention adopted it. So did the old Republics. In Sparta the women were allowed todrag bacbelorsintoiheTirnpleof Hercules and give them a sound thrashing. Plato condemned them to a fine. Rome made them pay a round sum. Camillus went further, and forced them to marry the widows of citizens killpd in defending the country. The petitioners say the tax ought to be doubly welcome — first, became it will increase the declining population by inducing bachelors to marry ; and secondly, because it will help to make up the growing deficit in lhe budget. London with the single exception, possibly, of Rome, is the only capital in Europe where the festivities of a court are to be enjoyed. Berlin was never very gay, and now that the Emperor .has become so very old, the social elements of con 't life have become extremely primitive, as well as formal and restr.ctcd. The haughty aristocracy of Vienna decline to receive at their, entertainments any foreigner below the rank of a prince, even the attaches of the different legations having but a dismal time of it. Since France became a 'republic the so c ial pi estige of Paris has wholly vanish? d . Spain and Portugal are too far out of the beat n ti ack, and especially the latter, and the siff etiquette pervading at both courts renders ihem anything but popular. Since King Humbert ascended the throne of Italy, he and his fair wife have done much to make Rome a brilliant and attractive social centre. Bujt it is now an undoubted fact I hat London, during the season, has t il en the place which was ocpupipa under the second empire by Paris in the, affections of soicety lovers on both sides of the Atlantic.

From an article in another column it will be seen that thtre is a reasonable prospect of several woollen factories being shortly established in Japan. The Australasian Insurance and Banking Eecord has a leading article on the Australasian bank returns, which thus concludes :—": — " With the encouraging material prospects of the pastoral and farming interests and ot cheaper money, there is a fair ground for anticipating a prosperous 1887. The cloud on the horizon is the unsettled condition of military Europe, but even that might not affect ns so unfavorably as is learcd in some quarters." '■ Clerical Magistrates," writes a correspondent of a London paper, "do not often err on the side of mercy, but I venture to suggest that for severity of sentence, the enclosed beats any English record : — Durham Quarter Sessions. — (Before the Rev. G. P. Wilkinson, Chairman, and Mr. Rich.irilson). — Stealing a cotton sliirt, the property of Joseph Chambers, at South Shields, on September 2nd. Five yeais' penal servitude." Through Administrator's fractiousnoss at the post in the liangitikei Hundicnp, Torpedo got badly kicked in the head, and, on coming up the straight for the first time, blood was seen to lie pouring from his nostrils, as if he had broken a blood vessel. He then, as if in a fit, commenced to roll about, and with difficulty was brought into the saddling paddock and washed down. This was a jjreat pity, as ho was thought to have a big say in the Handicap. The circumstances attending the death of a Mr. Bainbndge at Waiioa during the eruptions at Eotomahana will be fresh in the memories of our readers. We note by our Eu»lish files that an enthusiastic and larp:e meeting of Wes-leyans was held nt Newcastle-on-Tyne for tlicpnrpose of pushing on mission work amongst the poor of London. Ono of the speakers, Mr. T. H. Bainbridge, in the course of his remarks, announced '" that his father was going to give \ery thankfully a>id freely iIOOO. For himself lie should be very thankful in memory of his nephew, who, on the 10th of June, died, as some of them knew, like a Christian hero — he would be glad to give this yenr £'100 in memory of him, and for the next four years a year towards the London mission." As an instance of the success which attends good management we question if anything more striking could he cited than the statistics for 1880 of the Hawera Library and Institute. During the first six months of the y^ar the total number of volumes issued was 420. Dining the second six months tho number booked was 1263, so that the circulation has increased threefold. This literally speaks volumes in favor of the present librarian, Mr. S. Dixon. A curious fact was brought under our notice by one of the committee. Shortly after the arrival of the new hooks was advertised, several subscribers called to select books ; one or two, after having chosen, expressed grpat satisfaction with the class of works received. Their praise would have been more highly appreciated if they had not happened to have selected works which had been for years on the shelves. The librarian of course kept " liisself to hisselt," but nevertheless enjoyed the joke. A case of usury was heard in the Equity Court, Sydney, recently, when A. H. F. M'Quade applied for an injunction against Isnac Herman, Aaron Waxham, and Mark Moses money lenders, of Melbourne, for having extorted money from him in 1880. M'Quade became of age, and wanting money borrowed on valuable property he possessed from Herman and the other lenders. The sum of £1000 was lent to M'Quade at twelve per cent. The latter afterwards borrowed further sums," ir all amounting to not mora than £14,000, 100 per cent being charged. The money lenders iv September last sued M'Quade in the Supreme Court of Victoria for £25,254 and interest. A writ was served upon him, and he not appearing, the defendant signed judgineut in an action and applied to lhe Supreme Court in Sydney for an execution order. The order was dismissed, whence the present aciion was commenced by the defendant. His Honor granted aa injunction. A point of some interest in connection with registration of electors has just occurred here. The registrar for Egmont district (Mr. A. Trimble) received applications from Griffith Jones and John Thos. Maber to be placed on the electoral toll for that district. On making enquiries as to the qualification, he found that they held land and resided at Midhirst ; but held none within the limits of Egmont district. In accordance with the Act he requested them to withdraw their applications ; but they failed to do so, and alter waiting bej'ond the prescribed time, he, according to the mandate of the luv, caused a summons to issue, calling upon them to show cause why their application should be granted. The hearing was fixed for Wednesday. After the summons was issued the notice of withdrawal was sent ; but meantime the cost of mileage for serving the summonses had been incurred. There was no appearance of applicants, and of course the applications for enrolment were dismissed ; but the Resident Magistrate also »aye judgment against applicants for costs, 2Bs, in each case. The costs had necessarily beeu incurred under the direction of the law, and as the parties wpro to blame for having in the first iusUiuce made an improper applicatiou, and in the next pace for having tailed to withdraw the application after due notice and more than due time had been given them, they must pay the costs.