EAST COAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6565, 1 December 1882, Page 6

EAST COAST.

Seyere Hailstorm.—The weather f 0 months back has been, except occasional]/ strange. Whether or not the comet has t do with it, your correspondent does not care to risk his prophetic character. Jfeitiirf does he care to risk his astronomic And all for the very simple reason that h lias no standing character or pretensions in either of these lines of science. After winter of uncommon, some old hands say mf precedented severity, both for rain, cold m 1 wind, we had in September and October total absence of rain, so much so that th* farmers complained bitterly. Grass indeed 6 in these light soils of Poverty Bav and north' ward, seemed to be drying up and returning barren to its mother earth, without having produced its annual crop of seed. Then at the end of October, a few days after fall moon, it came on from the southward with wind, ram, thunder, a low temperature "and occasional vec'v heavy hail showers. On this last-named subject a very severe occurrence is recorded, which your correspondent is in a position to vouch for. What would you « av to hail lying on the ground eighteen inches thick on the sea coast near th"e East Cape? Such, nevertheless, is the fact. Two white men, of unexceptionable reliability were riding along on the forenoon of the Prince of Wales' Birthday, from the East Cape towards Kawakawa a:id Hicks's Bav Their road lay mostly along the beach, which here faces the north, aud is sheltered from the bleakness of the south. One remarked to the other an unusually white appearance ahead of them. The other said "Oh! 'per. haps its some white clay we never noticed ( before." On coming up to it, however, their ! astonishment was great on finding It to consist of a deposit of inch big hailstones, about eighteen inches deep and well up the' horses legs, who had to work their way through the unaccustomed mass. It was in a melting condition, and the horses'feet got so hailed up that they had difficulty in walkin-r Seeing the tracks of other horses eoicc into aud emerging from the frozen ihev inferred that some one had been caught in the force of the hailstorm. On eomini* to the adjoining settlement of Horcera, thev were told that the travellers whose tracts thev had seen had passed before the hail full an fl that they at the settlement had heard an unusual nois?, but that (Maori like) thev had not been sufficiently scientific to go forth aud explore the cause of the phenomenon. Suffice it to say, more wretched unseasonable weather tiian lias prevailed in County Cook for the past fortnight, it would be difficult to imagine. During tile two past days, however, che sun has asserted itself, "and the world, &c., seems to be going round and summor approaching as due matters of course. A similar hailstorm, though much more severe, occurred in the townships on the Loddon River, Victoria, on the 21st October last, and is minutely described in the Australasian of 2SLh October. Without a Resident M agistrate. This coast has been for a long time without a resident magistrate abiding in it. Its judicial affairs have been looked after by three constables, and there is at present only one J.P. residing in all the extent of coast line between Uisborne and Opotiki. A Resident Magistrate, Captain Preece, does indeed pay a visit at uncertain intervals (from three to six. months), and clears off the criminal and civil sheets of cases which l ave accumulated since his previous assizes. The consequence of this slack state of affairs has been found that offenders frequently escape punishment on account of Uie tardiness E.ud the expense attendant on prosecutions. Inckka.se of Chime.—A natural result of this state of affairs would be an increase of crime, and there are indeed many offences committed in this benighted region which could not staud the blaze of light which a : speedy access to justice and law would shed around. Amongst such may he cited a very decided case of taking the law into one's own hands. This occurred at Tokomaru, about two months ago, and was heard lately at the Court-house, at Tolago Bay, by Captain Preece, R.M. For some years back Mr. A. C. Arthur has leased a nin at Tokomaru from the Maori owners. There are a good many of these owners, as is usual in such cases, hut there is this advantage that the lands have been through the Native Lands Court, and the list of owners is complete and definite. Some of these ha .'e all along objected to the lease, while a large majority have signed the lease and received the rents agreed upon. Some of the objectors, acting as they alleged under advice, laid violent bauds upon a quantity of sheep and lambs, the property of Mr. Arthur, and somewhat severely injured the animals by their rough usage. Mr. Arthur has determined to prosecute the offenders, and in taking thi3 step deserves the gratitude of the whole community. The charges preferred are :—l. Riot; 2 Forcibly entry '(under statute law); 3. Forcible entry (under common law); and 4. Malicious injury to certain personal property. The trial of this cause was looked forward to by all classes with great interest, affecting as it does the progress of the country and the position of the white men amongst the Maoris who in this case are in the position of t'ne unreasonable naughty boy who expected still to have his cake, after he had eaten and enjoyed it; for it is to be observed that these Maori owners who object to lease any land in which they have an interest are permitted by the others, and by the lessee cither to cut off a portion of tbe land fqr their own use, or to run a due proportion of their own cattle on the land held under joint proprietorship. The Maoris indicated, therefore, had nothing really to complain against, and were simply desirous of riding j roughshod, or being " King" over their I fellow proprietors' free actions. A goodly : aisembh'ge, therefore, mustered at the Court ' House, and the accused all appeared except one who was excused as being sick. Mr. ! Nolan, solicitor and Crown Prosecutor at GisLorne, appeared for Mr. Arth'ir, and Mr. Rees, solicitor, also from Gis'orne, for the defendants. On the informations being read over, Mr. Nolan said that Mr.jArthur had no . wish to proceed with these charges, and with the leave of the Court would withdraw them. Since tilt issue of the summonses, the Maoris had bee:i tilking the. matter over and seemed ! >e con viuet d that they had taken a false step. Under these circumstances, therefore, the prosecution considered that the ends of justice would be satisfied by what had been already done, and that more would only engender ill feeling, for every allowance must of course be made for the ignorance of the accused. They were also entitled to the consideration that in what they had done or were alleged to have done, they were acting under the instigation of their chief, Henare Potae, who was equally if not more to blame thau the defendants, although, from his being an infirm man, a martyr to gout and dropsy, lie had kept in the background himself. lie, therefore, seeing that the native* had appeared at the bar of justice, craved permission to withdraw all the charges made against them. After a few remarks from Mr. Rees, the defendants were discharged and the information allowed to be withdrawn. TKLrjK.vrii Extension.—A petition has lately been got up and iufluentially and numerously signed for the extension of the telegraph wire from Gisborne to Tolago BayThe distance is thirty six miles by road at furthest; probably the line could be taken at thirty. Two members of the Legislature head the petition—Mr. Allan McDonald, tue M.H.R. for the district, and Honourable Sir George Stoddard Whitmore, K.C.M-CJ., M.L.C., who last year acquired in extensive run at Tnparoa, about ten miles south of the East Cape. The petition eontains a promise by way of guarantee that the Government, if they put up the llD®> will bo secured from loss, provided the traffic does not pay expenses and interest. Tin's surely should get over any objection that be urged t»y the most economical Kxecutive. Tolago Bay is the only harbour of refuge on the coast between the Cape ana Gisborne, or, in southerly winds, NapierVessels lie safely in Tolago Bai" in all winds except east and north-east. There is there also the only nucleus of white population between Gisborne and Opotiki, wheress the Maori population there is numerous also. A aiii, such a step would be one in the right direction, as, were it onc« made to Tolago, a little more pressure would get it laid on to Hicks's Kay, a place conspicuous as being the chief place of resort for steamers and sailing ves.-els disabled. Even during the last six months the wrecks of the Jessie, cutter, and of the Saucy Las 3, schooner, were heard of after many days and much uncertainty and anxiety. Steamers, too, of the Union Co. have been known to put into Hicks's Bay in a disabled state, and to be reported missing for many days. But reslly the question " \Vill it pay ?" ought not to be a hard and fast rule of action to Government when human life and large commercial interests are at stake.—[Own Corresponded November 18.]