NEWS AND NOTES.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume X, Issue 1847, 6 February 1888, Page 2

NEWS AND NOTES.

There was a heavy frost near Inglewood on Saturday morning.

Showery weather is not improving the cooksfoot. As to market it is poor 3d being the best offer made.

The Hawora Town Band went through a programme of music on Saturday evening. The night was cold, but nevertheless a large number of people gathered to listen to the performance.

The Wellington -Manawatu Railway Company fiuds that the earnings of the, railway do not pay working expenses and interest on construction ; and have to draw upon revenue derived from the land sales to supplement revenue.

There is a fine row in Wanganui over Churton's College and its financial condition. The latest development of a paper war is that the trustee of the estate, Mr. W. McCaul, proceeds against Mr. H. C. Field for alleged libel, contained in a letter to one of the newspapers.

It is officially notified that all the members of the late Ministry are, by approval of Her Majesty the Queen, to be permitted to retain the title of " Honorable " within tho colony of New Zealand. We believe that this is the rule when Ministers have remained in office for three years, that term being required, it seems, to make politicians " honorable " men for life.

The Government (says the New Zealand Times of Friday) experienced a rather disagreeable surprise a day or two ago in receiving from the Agent-General an account for defence material to tbe amount of .£20,000, ordered by the late Government without the slightest authority, and without even an official record being kept of the transaction ! How many more of these little surprises are pending, we wonder !

We regret having to record the death of Mrs. Wilson, a very old settler. Deceased came to this colony about 30 years ago with her husband, the late Robert Wilson, and bravely faced the especial trials and difficulcieß incidental to early settlement in the North Island. Deceased and her late husband were widely-known and respected in Wellington and the Wairarapa and on the West Coast of this island. The body will be interred alongside that of the late Mr. Wilson in Wanganui cemetery.

Captain Baker, says the Wellington Post, is another of the officers of the Permanent Force selected for retirement. It is also rumored that. Lieut.- Col. Roberts is " down upon the list." The same journal also says: — The services of Mr. Dunbar Johnson, Native Agent atßotorua, are about to be dispensed with, on the score of retrenchment. We understand it is probable that the whole of the land purchase agents will receive notice at an early date.

It is said that the Government intend to make proposals for reforming procedure at next session. The suggested changes are that the Houee shall do its business during tbe day time instead of at night, commencing its sittings at 10 a.m. and rising at 6in the evening ; that three days in the week shall be devoted to Government business from the outset, instead of two as at present ; and that there shall be closure to prevent talking against time and such obstruction.

The following is from Typo, the Printers paper: — The Hawera Star invited tho public to look into their office on Christmas Eve and see the decorations. ' Our machinist, MrEkdahl, ' says the Star, •who takes a pride in this matter would consider Christmas Day spoilt it he failed to celebrate the occasion in true Christmas fashion.' Typo had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ekdahl in Wellington some years ago. That he is a first-rate machinist is evidenced by the uniformly excellent work turned out from the Star office.

A statement recently appeared in a daily paper that, upon a sample of the Thames at Blackwall being placed in a small glass bottle, and permitted 30 minutes to settle, a letter of complainc was written with the sediment instead of ink. It this be so, the epitaph of a great poet, the modesty of which has excited the admiration of two generations, will lose all its significance. " Write upon my tomb," he Baid, " Here lies one whose name was writ in water." We must now add, to be precise and even correot, " but not in Thames water."

Intending visitors to Wellington, who enquire for a good house to stay at, will find an answer to their enquiries in an advertisement in another column, which notifies that Mr. John Prosser, who was for some years a resident of this district, has taken the Panama Hotel. Mr. Prosser has one of the oldest established houses in Wellington in the Panama, but though the connection is old the building is in keeping with modern Wellington, lor it has recently been re-erected, and is certainly one of the finest hotels in the city. John was famed for his geniality when he ran the Hawera Hotel and, no doubt, West Coast people will find him a good host in the new hotel.

Mr. Newton King writes : — Very large shipments of butter continue to bo made to England, the Tongariro and Arawa taking about 2500 kegs. The Home market is still fairly good, and probably will not show much change until April. The Tainui and Ruapehu butter, which left Wellington in December last, arrived in good order, and, I am informed by cable, my shipments made 81s to 87s per cwt., or about 9d per lb. Great difficulty has been experienced with the steamship lines in arranging for space. Since my last report, the Arawa has made room for about 1200 kegs, which has been eagerly taken up. This, of course, is in the freezing chamber, and not the cool, and I have been tortunate enough to secure space for 800 kegs in the Tongariro, leaving next Thursday.

Mr. J. E. Evans, the well known saddler of Wellington, has a business announcement in another column. He imports and manufactures all kinds of solid leather goods, and quality of his saddlery and harness is well known.

Following the report as to the capital sales in London of Manaia Dairy Factory cheese comes the report of the first consignment of butter to the Old Country, made by Mr. E. Milton, of Manaia. It will be remembered that that gentleman bought three tons from the above company, the first ton being shipped early in October, the report of which is now to hand. It states that the butter arrived Home in first-class condition, and superior to first Cork, but the price realised has not yet transpired. "We understand that already there is a brisk demand for this season's cheese, both local and for shipping.

If we English — despite our little Trafal-gar-square experiences — were not the most law-abiding people iv Christendom, it would be impossible that the wrongs of our jurymen should go solongunredressed. They form the most important factor in all legal cases, yet (except the witnesses) they are the least paid and most hardly used. Not the slighest consideration is given to either their comfort or convenience. " The worst; feature of the system," writes a sufferer, " is the keepiug of 30 or 40 jurymen waiting their turn to serve, when, at the most, only 24 can be required, and who sitrestless and annoyed, from 10 to three o'clock, when they ate told they may go, but are to come again to-morrow." This is bad, indeed, but; is not " the worst feature " ; all that time they have to listen to the arguments of counsel.

At a meeting of the Taranaki Education [Reserves Commissioners on Thursday, a letter from Mr. Cowern, the board's agent at Patea, was read with regard to sections 19 and 20, block 3, held by Ehody Slattery. A letter, dated August 18th, 1887, sent by Mr. Cowern to the holder of the sections, was also forwarded, in which the rent in arrears was put down at £79 0s 6d. The board decided, on Mr. Parris' motion, seconded by Mr. Bauchope, " That the improvements made by Mr. Slattery on one of the sections— 20 — having been valued by Mr Cowern at 10s, and the arrears of rent on the same being £41 9s Bd, the board do not accept the surrender of the said section in consideration of the improvements made, and will remit tbe payment of such arrears. Mr Monkhouse was to be informed, in reply to his letter of January 13, that section 21, block 8, Kaupokonui, would be advertised for lease.

In alluding to the question of Disestablishment recently, the Bishop of Peterborough, probably the ablest prelate in tbe English Church, remarked that when the time came for redistribution of church revenues the bishops must bear their share, and that he had never shrunk from the responsibility. But with a reduced income he must be allowed to cut his coat according to his cloth. At present, the bishop said, he lived in what was called " a bloated palace," not because he wanted to do so, but because he could not help it. He was quite willing to surrender his palace, which had cost him .£6500 in repairs and dilapidations, and to live in a smaller and more convenient house. A palace is part of the " plant " of the diocese, according to Dr. Magee, and one may just as well talk of the ''bloated" factory of a manufacturer as of tbe " bloated palace " of a bisbop. "My house," he continued, "is said to be a very picturesque one, but I should be glad to get rid of the picturesque, and the expenses too. lam told we should be surrendering historic houses. lam not insensible to the value of history ; but there is one thing we have to do — we have to make history. And if the church surrenders these palatial abodes for the sake of the work of the church, there would hang over them during all time to come a halo even more interesting than the history now attached to them. I for one, am perfectly ready to do it."