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Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 58, 16 March 1880, Page 2

Mr. Halcombe. — On Thursdny next, tho spltlers of Feild. ng will give a farewell banauet to Mr a. "VY. F. Halcombe, who will leave for Europe by the outgoing Sun Francisco mail The gathering on the occasion will be representative of the whole district, numbers of gentlemen having signified their intention of being present, who reside outside ihe boundaries of the Man cheater Block. The demonstration of [ Thursday will, we ore siim, be a genuine tribute of respect to Mr Halcombe, for to | his un'iring exertions, both as agent for the Feilding Corporation and iv his various public opacities, the settlers on the Man ches'er Block are largely indebted for the vprv rapid progress that part of the district his made. We do not, of course, support Mr H loombo in every view he has adopted, nor in every course of actiou he has pursued. Nevertheless, we willingly bear testimony to the unflinching manner in which he sticks to any project calculated to promote the interests cf thoso he represents. He is a gentleman whose experience nnd "hility thoroughly fit him f'-r a leading place in any District, and he is ona whom Manawatn could ill afford to lose. We therefore wih him a safe and prosperous tour, and a speedy return. The Game Skasox. — The information contained in our last issue Uiat lhe shooting season for native and imported game will hegin on April 1, has led to considerable comment amongst sportsmen. It has bei-n stated to us on every sido that so far as pheasants are concerned, the season is at. least a mon*b or six weeks too earlj. To back uo his statement a settler brought to our oflice on Saturday lust, a pheasant chick he had found the previous dav. Being engaged on the road line some miles out of town, he noticed his dog "on the scent," and following him a few yards into the flax scrub came on a hen phoa-saut with two broods of chickens, one brood behig weli grown, whilst, the second were chicks, evidently hatched only about three days Accidentally the horse trod on one of the latter, and the settler referred to (who is an ardent lover of the sport) brought the chick to town and requested us to mention his discoV' ry as proving his assertion lhat the first of April is far 100 soon to open the -j"i«oii. Amongst other disadvartages o allowing the pheasants to be shot too early in tii.-. season, one which has been partieilarly l*r.->n**iit under our notice is this : that in ihe event ol a novice shooting by mistake a h n pheasant who has a young brood, the | latter would probably succumb, and a large per cent aire of the year's increase thus be lost. The g-neral opinion, we may say, is that if any extension of the season is de sired, it wonld be far better to allow pheasants to be shot up to the end ».f Afugust, as it is stated the birds never begin laying till after that date. If this were done the game would of course be fully matured, and there would be more genuine sport than in the -•laughter of those only hoif-grown. A letter on the subject appears in another column. Highways. — The Manawatu Hio-hways Board met on Thursday last, at Palmerston. Present — Messrs. Dalrymple (chairman). M'Ewen, Rockel!, Farmer, M'Pherson, Bruce, and M'Kenzie. Tbe bushes? transacted waß mostly of a routine character. A letter waa read from Mr Bockell (member

for No. 2 Ward)} vesignintt hi** pasiM*'**! its » member; Arid liiitiiijr thit tlie atrioiWt of travelling allowauca due to him mi'»ht bo paid. The request wa? granted, and resiinaioi accepted. The following contracts w*>re let to the person-* nanvd: — Faean's lin-.— John D.»m, at £1 4s 61 per eluin. Penny's line.— J. C. Nathan, 18 chain*), at £2 los per chain. Freoklington'* line. — Henry Snur'y, 130 chains of f >rmation nt 14s 8 1 por en-tin. Cemetery 1 up. — FI Made! v, cloari ig and sornhni"**?. Nt 3i 3 1 ( wnt'k tn the vane of 1650 to be don> Building bridges on t'eihlitii Hiid jHaiconibe line— John 4______sn» at £">S 19. .JBuildi-tg nine h *"'<lgos^H___lp« and Co., at £11. The following is thcWnancial condition of the various \»'ard*s np to March 11.— Wards in debt— N T o. 2, £207 9s Gd • No. 4, £10 12s 6d : No. 5, £213 7s 6d ; No. 0, X2*l9 l3s fld ; No. 7, £138 os 0d ; total of Wards in debt, £929 8s 9d. Wards in credit-No. 1 (Sandon), £140 15s 0d ; No. 2 (Foxton), £262 5s 9d ; total of Wards in credit, £403 0s 9d ; balance remaining of indebtedness, £5*20 8s Od. The following sums were paid to the various Wardens as travelling allowances • —Mr Dalrymple, £G 6s ; Mr JPEwen, £4 14s 6d ;Mr Bruce, £5 15s 6d ; Mr Farmer £10 10s; Mr M'Kenzie, £12 12s; Mr Rockell, £9 9s ; Mr Jl'Phersnn, £10 10s; total £59 17s.— We Rave condensed the above from our Palmerston contemporary Sal*.— Messrs T. K. Maedonnld k] Co. announce a sale of valuable pioperty. Land at Moutoa. — Mr J. H. Wallace wiU sell a valuable property at Moutoa on Tuesday, March 23. The Commission.— The Royal Commission on Railways had a splendid view of the country to be opened up by the Wellington Foxton line. They ascended the Poroutawhao hill, and subsequently the Moutero hill, noar Horowhenua, from which point the whole of the open counti'y alon«/ tho coast was visible. Wo shall look with great interest for their report, and judging from the painstaking manner in which they aro performing their duties, ihey should be well qualified to arrive at a just estimate ni* th.! relative merits of the i***sp**ctive linos. Local Boaut).— Tno Chairman of the Local Board hns received notice from ihe (jovdrnment that tiu half yearly subsidy, amounting to £113, has beou pail in to tho board's account. Highways Sithsidy. — The financial troubles of the Manawatn Highways Board shonld be greatly relieved by tho arrival of the subsidy from the Government, amount ing to £554. As will be seen by the report in another column, the actnal debit biilance of the Board on it arch 11 wan £526 8s In addition to this sum, however, the sum of £41 3 0s 9d is owing to the Foxton and Sandon Wards, those districts having ostensibly that amount to credit. Insolvency.— Mr Jno, Tompkins, of Pandon. storekeeper, has filed a declaration of insolvency. Cuicket. — At a meeting of the committ' c of tbe Foxton Cricket Club, the fo lowing cricketers were chusen to represent the Clu*> a l -" the nvitch nt Otaki to-morrow : — Messrs Olivier (Captain), Cxx, Shor-*, Robinson, J. Russell, Edwards, Murphy, Draper, if *we, Reeve, aud Ingram. Emergencies—Connor, C'dlins, and Birchley. Sooier — Mr J. Yiun,?. The Secretary was instructed to write to the Sandon Cub, challenging them to play a match ou Good Friday. Choral Society. — Owing to several members of this Society playing in the cricKet match at Otaki, the usual weekly practice will not be held, but will take place on Friday evening. The Pheasant Season. — A facetious correspondent who saw the pheasant chicken at our office yestprduy, suggests that " if licenses are issued for shooting while the liirds are so young, tho next best thing to do will be to is-me license-- fo** shooting at pheasants' eggs "'