WANGAREI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 274, 28 September 1864, Page 6

WANGAREI.

[fbom oub own cokeespondent.] Sept. IG. Ni;vs hiis been rather more rife hero during this last wick than for some time post. A KcsidentMagistrate's Court. luis been held before .1. iiogim Kmj., K.M., W. A. Perston Esq., and It. Reyburii, J.P., when sv ease, Keg. v. Lowrie was adjudicated upon ; Isaac Lowrie was charged by P. C. ill Her with supplying 5 gals, of rum to a Maori called Jemmy Peru. Prisoner said he would plead guilty, ami urged in extenuation that lie made no money by the transaction, having acted merely as agent for the .Maori, and giving him the rum for the &ume money winch he hiul paid for it. 'J lie iiench imposed a tine of .£lO. It appears tliat the unfortunate Maori had been eonlined for the purpose of preventing him from absenting himself when the ease came on, which was, I think, rather an arbitrary act, to say the least of it. After the ease was concluded the question arose, what should be done with the rum which had-been seized? And what should be done with the money ? After deliberating for nearly a clay it was determined to leave the money in l)r. Perston's hands till such time as the Attorney General could be communi- | cated with. I Wo received, tho oilier day, the intelligence of the death of one the old Wangarei characters named I " l'atldy McKearn." Deceased was discovered sit- j ting in a whare near Pataua with a half emptied I bottle lying near liim, on being spoken to, lie j returned' no answer, and on further examination it. uppouved that tho unfortunnte man ivia dead. tvjray |

Maonc3 "brought the news to Wangarei, and wanted tho coroner to go over and liold ail iiiqucsfc on the body ; but somehow or other there is no coroner at W angarci. Surely the evil can be remedied, let us liopo that it may be done speedily. 'Xhcre is a Total Abstinence Society at "Wangarei, anil last Monday night the teetotallers lield their monthly meeting in the Scotch Church. The Rev. Ml". Gorrie in tho chair. The proceedings were somewhat | enlivened by an argument as to whether moderate driuking or teetotallism was preferable, Mr. Mather argued 011 behalf of moderate drinking, and Messrs. McLaughlin and Hobl'S argued on the other side. Tho arguments were, however, of rather too personal a character. Mr. Itogau assisted by two native assessors, Manihern andTe Keene, has been for some time investigating the titles to Maori hinds. Several disputes were anticipated, but as yet all differences have been amicably adjusted. In a short lime we may cxpect to have pheasants at AVangnrei, as one of our settlers, W. Mair, Esq., is about to turn a pair out on his land, whence, doubtless they will spread throughout the whole of tho settlement. The correspondentofthe Southern Cross wrotetothat paper some time since, suggesting the advisability of changing the name of Wangarei to Egl in ton, or some other such name, and he discoursed very learnedly, as he thought, upon the Maori places round. But, with all due deference, I heg to inform him that the Maories gave the name of "Wangarei to a rock near the mouth of tho river, mid not the river itself, and that the name was never applied by thum to (he river which runs through the district so called, the name of that river being Hire "Ota. Allow me to suggest to that correspondent to ascertain the real facts of the case before lie ventures to express his opinions ill print, and not to trust so much to the ignoiance of his readers as to attempt to palm oil'mis-statcments, solely bymeans of long-winded Maori names.