The Northern Advocate. OUR HARVEST.

Northern Advocate, 2 February 1889, Page 2

The Northern Advocate.

OUR HARVEST.

Harvest operations are now in full swing ; and we believe a much greater area of wheat and other grain crops have been planted this >ear than at any other period. As the prevailing opinion is that our districf is fit for little but fruit-growing, and now that the utterances of the Minister of Lands in respect to our soil, is so flattering, we should like our settlers to send us the yield per acre of their grain crops, so that Aye may publish the average yield, thus proving our ability to produce grain as well a3 fruit, grass, and root crops. This is a most important matter, and we hope our fellow settlers will aid us in respect to it. Returns as to the average weights of our fleeces will also be received for the same purpose.

Acasoof considerable interest is occupying the attention of our coroner, Wm. Bedlingtou, Esq., as we are going to press. It is therefore impossible to 'give our readers a report, nor would it be wise to do. so in the present stage, as it is possible that the affair will come before another tribunal. The business of the eortmer is to enquire into the .death' of Uin illegitimate child, the offspring of one Amy Dent, which is said to have been prematurely born and buried in the garden without jefeyence; to, the/ipolioe or to a medical man. But two witnesses have been examined as we go to pi;esa; anil, as the evidence of Dr. Clark,j^io held a post mortem examination has not yet been given, no opinion can be hazarded. . There 'iß nmohauapidipus mystery' about the incident,; £.nd considerable excitement prevail^ A. f ull report will appear in our next issue* "-■-"' '■■•' .-•■■'

Tho vovdict, ii ju.--.l- givo!) ( o tho, cltccfc thai. litr iiifimt child oi. Amy i/(.-nt;\vafi fouiwl (loadiiiTur biilh, iiml tiiat 'lxo priliw l»e Instructed .to take piT ; ."(H'i:liif(rS -all "persons implicate. l. 'visitors' staying at Morvion's Commorcial lintel,- Whangarei, weok Gilding February 2nd. Messrs Bell, Cooke, (2), Cockers, HaiTop, Edmiston, 'Dickens, O'Gorman, Port. Witt, Hunt, Major Campbell, J?ov. Kobjohns, Mason, Kprccldc,Y,.B.., I*. George, McKollcr, WjlSbh,'3S'orsji, Walker, Mr and Hrs Wright, arid-'jklrahd Mrs -Walker. : Visitors staying at Pierces Settler's Hotel Whangarei, for week euuin", February 2nd. Messrs Chtipman,'l)avis. U f imshawtToddJ Eit^ son, Mills, Taplin, Gough, Waters^ Dent, /ameisou, McLeod, Dwyer, Kine, Cox, Roth, Stevens, Smith- Johnsoil, Campbell,; Craig, Robertson &nG Mrs Cohlton.' w- - ■•-'" It is with/not a, little pain we hearVof petty fjyjitsjtetiinig.oii' all hands. It -appears an unaccountable ,thiug to us that chilcbren (and many parents' too) seem to regard orchard robbing as anything but an immoral act,.aiid ,so it go"es on without chick; If, some of tho perpetrators ot this disgraceful thievery fall into the hands' of fne police their illusion will be dispelled, they niay depend upon it The severe sencteric.es recently passed oji mere children in Auckland is pi-6'of . that the childfeh sentimentality encouraged last year is. passfed away, and that punishment and disgrace will follow conviction. W,o 'advise those amongst us who hold loose views in this respect to hesitate before thisy again apprbpiate to themselves their neighbours' fruit. ... ■; A case surrounded with' ihosfc peculiar circumstances was reported to the police at Wellington on Saturday. It appears that on Frulay night Mr and Mrs G. H. Scales, residents at the Hutt, eight miles from town, . wdrW present at a ball in that suburb, aud on returning honie at one "b'ekock on Saturday inorniner cries of murder were heard from a room occupied by a domastic servant named Lydia Elliott. Mrs Scales rushed to the room and fouud the girl tied to the bedstead, and she complained oi being outrage by two men. ■ 6'omulaiut was at once niade to tho local constable, who wired to Inspector Thomson, and by the live minutes past two p.m. train Detectives Kirby and Campbell were despatched to make inquiries. Enquiries were at once made of Lydia Elliott, who is a strappidg country 'girl ot eighteen summers, and in her statment to the detective officers, she declared that about eleven o'clock on Friday night she heard the dogs connected with the house barking, and on getting out of bed to ascertain the cause, two men dressea in moleskin, with shirt and boots on, and faces masked, rushed into the house and dragged her into the bed-room. She then described how one of them, who was of small stature, had held her while his companion committed the outrage. They had, she said, also cut most of her hair off, and on the detectives rearehing the room they found hair, evidently from the head of the girl Elliott, strewn all over the room. Continuing her story, the girl said that the men, whom she gave a most minute description, tied her to the bed, and then departed by means of a window. The woman was closely examined by the officers in every detail, but her testimony was not to be shaken. On being asked if she had any objections to be examined by a medical officer, who would be able to state if an outrage had been committed, she at first gave her assent, but being requested by the detectives to visit the local medico, lefuscd and made a confession that the whole thing. |vyas«a hoax. Tho girl had first tied her arid then her body to the bed, finally binding her wrists Mx/lhorsanie, and the detective's ' state thiit the manner' in which she accomplished it was quite a work of art. What could have possessed the girl to cut her hair off and aft in. a manner which created quite a sensation : in the Hutt the detectives are at a loss to explain, unless it was to gain notoriety. M.jde Lesseps estimates that the amount required to complete the Panama Canal is 450,000,000 francs. ■'..•• One' of the greatest works ever undertaken in this town has just been completed by those talented and enterprising builders, Messrs Holman aud Woif. Some time since it was proposed to remove the large two-storied hotel built 911 the site of the old Whangarei , Hotel, to a wpvii central position in Cameron ; Street. Wheu it was . proposed to reinovp this largp, structure, without taking it to pieces, many. were, the doubts expressed" by the " wiseacres usually comprising •' The men about town," and not a few prophiaied a complete collapse '-. of, the undertaking even when the building was in transit. Notwithstanding, these, ominous, re-: marks, however, the enterprise JLs now an accomplished faob, and] effected"' -With- so little wracking or 'damage -that not a single window, and but one' door had to be cased or in any Avay attended to. The internal alterations have been made with great care and despatch, and tho building is now iitted up for the carrying ou of an extensive business. Tlie whole workhas been carried out in a manner which reflects the greatest credit on the contractors, and must be regarded as evidence .that Aye havo. amongst us mechanics equal to very formidable undertakings. ■" . ' . • , i At Maungakaramea, a meeting was held, on Wednesday night, at Mr ~W' f . - G. Harp^s £tqre, to consider the getting up of the annual races. sTot many settlers attended. _ ,Mr Harp was voted tq the chair. It was .proposed that the races bo held ; on ''March : % wheiL^, good programme will, bb carried out. ,FulJ , jjtirticulars in 'a future issue. '.. ' .' •, V.;"'" /.-".'." . :> We i( are glad, to' learn ' that ' volunteering amongst us 'is "about, to^assuiae a new and more popular form.; Thenyichtalke^of change^ to a mounted infantry Corps^ has bean resolved on, and we hope to' see enrollment taken, up witli spirit by our rural' yplmg men. 'It'is difficult to conceive a more" laudable occupation in which they can be engaged, and the value to them of efficient training and drill is incalculable. We shall have more to say on this subject hereafter. The . officers of > the present infantry 1 Corps will give propos ed recruits any information they may require. 1 On Sunday last s'eririqns were preaped by the Rev. Mr Robjohns; .at various places of worship in the interests of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and on Monday trie usual annualmeeting was held, at which the scope' and objects of the Society were fully pourtrayed most efficienily bythe various speakers. The meeting was not. so well attended as could be wished, nor is 'the interest in the Society so great as itsimportants demands. In tho course of a few days tho people will be .called- upon io elect gentlemen to perfonv the function of licensing committeemen for the ensuing year. There .are eight names on the, nomuiE.tion list, and '_as these gentlemen, we believe, hold . widely ;divergeant views, it would be well, perhaps if they were to address the electors, that the people may have a better opportunity to decide who are the proper persons to place in so responsible positions. The Kensington Sports to be held on Thursday promises to be a' most attractive aud successful affair, and likely to attract a large concourse of people to « the grounds. The match between the horses owned by local representatives of Vulcan and St. Crispin is creating a I great' amount of interest, feeling is running high, and wagers freely made. The combination of horsemanship and athletic sports is a judicious one, for we think that •much more encouragememVshould -be given to of the physical development of our youth, thus producing a more robust body and mind. The Melbourne Argus of the 2Gth in an article on Mew Zealand, congratulates the colony on the return of porsperity, and gives reasons for beliving that, greater ■ progress will be. manifested in the next few years. ' Twenty tons of molten metal' exploded in a foundry at Crewe owing to, cold water coming into contact with the glowing mass. Twenty workmen received- dreadful injuries, and' some are not expected to live A Sydney cable says :— welcome showers are falling over the colony generally...,. .