NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume IX, Issue 1755, 15 October 1887, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

In another column, we reprint an article .from the Auckland Star on the Stratford Route. We haVeJhe opinions of Major, Atkinson, Sir J. Qrey, and^ dther men of mark, in support of the view we have consistently maintained, that tbe adoption of tbe central route was a mistake. Those who have a strong case, backed up by .the truth, as against one supported eitber by misrepresentation or by a misconception of the true state of the case, well known that time is on their side, and must daily strengthen tbeir hands. The history of the contracts on tbe central line, tbe later reports as to tbe character of that route, the enormous additional expense involved beyond the original estimate, have already caused some revulsion of feeling in favor of the Stratfor line. On Monday we propose to contribute some further evidence in support ' of a reconsideration of the decision given in favor of the central route. Private advices from Wellington lead us to believe that there is a good chance that the House of Representatives would seriously reconsider tbe question of the route of tbe Main Trunk Railway in view of the notoriously one-sided data on which the decision was based. It has been suggested that the Mayor of the Borough and the Chairman of the County Council should jointly call a public meeting to consider the question, and support the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The Waveyley cannot get in till tomorrow morning from Wellington, leaving on Tuesday morning at 7 o'clock for Westport. The train from New Plymouth was delayed for. more th m an hour at Normanby at midday by some accident to tho machinery to the engine. The passengers reached Hawera about 1 p.m. Subscriptions are being actively canvassed for towards the bonus for the erection of meat tinning works. Between £400 and £500 have been promised, up to the present, exclusive ot Pa tea contributions. We are informed by the hon. secretary that a majority of the Roman Catholics here have asked for an enquiry into the expressions used by the Bey. Father Mulvihill on Sunday, September 18th. Until it is known whether such enquiry will take place, we regard the matter as sub judice, and shall exclude comment upon it from our columns. Mr. H. Southey, who took out a fishing license on Thursday, brought in a very handsome trout at noon yesterday, which he caught with a marohbrown in the Tawhiti in the morning. It weighed 2flbs, and measured about 16 inches in length. He proposed to present it to Mr. J. Livingston, the President of the Acclimatisation Society, in recognition of that gentleman's services in procuring trout for liberation in district waters. Later in the day Mr. G. McLean caught a smaller, but much better conditioned, trout in the same stream. A letter has been received in town from the Rev. W. H. Root to the effect that he is shut in at Hobart, and does not know when he may be able to get away, as no steamers will call there now on account of the small pox epidemic. Mr. Root has applied to the bishop asking the latter to provide for the carrying on of services at Hawera pfnding his return. Mr. Root has also forwarded resignation of the incumbency here, to date from December 31st, he having been offered and having accepted a euro in Tasmania, at New Norfolk, some fifteen miles from Hobart. Mrs. and Miss Root are, we regret to hear, suffering from the influenza epidemic. Tenders are invited for the conveyance of mails between Hawera and Opunake, between Opunake and Normanby, via Okaiawa, and between Opunake and Okaiawa daily. We regret to see that no mention is made of an occasional service from Manaia to Kaponga or from Manaia to Eltham, via Kaponga. There is sufficient settlement to warrant it, and since tbe establishment of the parcels post the mailman would be called upon to carry many articles besides letters and newspapers. As to the Hawera-Opnnake service or Normanby-Opunake service, until the - whole of the road between Manaia and Normanby is metalled any daily through mail service to Normanby, via Okaiawa, is out of the question. Persons interested in bush farms may remember that in July last the Chief Justice upheld a decision of the R.M. Court that a person who had lit bush fires was responsible for damages to a neighboring settler, whose property was injured by the fire spreading, even though it had been shown that there was no negligence. The law as it at preseut stands is such that any settler burning his felled bush is likely to be ruined if the fire should spread to adjoining land. Mr. Marchant's Bill makes it legal to burn tolled bush from the 20th January to Ist September inclusive, and provides that no person lighting fires within the period named shall be liable for damage inflicted if no malice or negligence be proved against the person starting such fire. This week's Egmont Star contains a full account of the wreck of the Derry Castle ; an interesting column of AngloColonial notes ; a short review of an American book on China's possibilities ; an extraordinary murder case, in which the criminal was convicted on circumstantial evidence alone ; a pithy extract from the Hermit of New York, contrasting the extreme poverty with the extreme wealth in that city ; an account of the running of the A.J.C. Derby ; three columns of Australian News, in addition to Reuter's telegrams, and nearly a full page of farming matter, the leading feature of which is a description of an Auckland Jersey herd. The 6erial tales are both continued, and the ■interest therein is well sustained. Full telegraphic and very complete special Parliamentary intelligence mark this week's edition.