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Marlborough Express, Volume XXVI, Issue 302, 5 November 1890, Page 4

Eusby Union Pebfobmance. — The entertainment given by the Eugby Union , members last night m aid of their funds was not well attended, but the manner m which the various items were reached quite made np for any deficiency m the attendance. During the evening Mr H. Dodson presented the trophies won during the season, and the evening's entertainment was brought to a clos9 with the farce " Hard Times Eocks." Bankruptcy.— At the adjourned meeting of creditors m Mr 0. JEarp's estate to-day there were present Messrs T. Horton (Levin . and Co:), J. Lees, M. Connor, and J. Holmes (Holmes and Belli The D.O.A, read an opinion from Mr W. Sinclair, stating that Mrs Earp's trustees have a right, under the marriage settlement deed, to prove for the sum of £2000. . A statement of the expenditure and receipts m the estate -was also produced, and it was resolved on the motion Of Mr Holmes jseconded by Mr Connor that the debtor's offer of 2s m the £ should be accepted by the creditors. There was no opposition and the meeting adjourned immediately afterwards. Potato Planteb. — Among the labor-; saving machinery of the day, one of the longest delayed necessaries has been a potato planter. This has at length been overcome by the Aspiriwall Manufacturing Company of America, who have tecently. forwarded to the order of Messrs Clouston and Co., one of these machines. The advantages of drill planting of potatoes are considered by many experienced growers to be so clearly much greater than the other systems m vogue that the wonder is it has not been universally adopted long ago. The manufacturers guarantee that their machine ■will plant from five to nine acres a day with one man and a team opening a furrow, depositing the seed at regular intervals and , covering it up again as it goes along. Mr Clouston informs us that he has sold the machine which is the first of its kind m the Colony, that a trial will be made of its qualities very shortly.- It must be satisfactory to the farmers of the Wairau district to know that we have m the place business firms with enterpriee sufficient to import novelties of the sort. MusiNGSiN MAOBiLAND.-"Paddy Murphy," as the genial Mr Thomas Bracken, the poet of New Zealand, used to be known m the days when he wrote political squibs of a humorous character m New Zealand Public Opinion, is with us m Blenheim at the present time. The years that have passed have not aged the author of " The Land of the' Maori and the Moa," nor among the vicissitudes that make up colonial life has he allowed bis poetical gift to remain unused. The consequence is that we find him with a new work, "'Musings m Maoriland," which contains all the old favourites, and also many new ones that retain the same pathos and fire that characterised the old ones. This is an edition de luxe of his poems, and is dedicated to Lord Tennyson, who has been pleased to accept the dedication, Sir George Grey will write the preface, and Sir Eobert Stout supplies a brief historical sketch of New Zealand, while there are 20 beautiful sepia illustrations by the best of New Zealand artists including the well known Kate Sperrey. The book is to contain some 400 pages, and is handsomely bound. We recommend it to our readers as a work they should add to their libraries, and we wish the author a fuller share of that fortune than falls to the lot of most poets, who, like prophets, seem to fall under a ban m their own country. Mr Bracken's address is the Criterion Hotel.