FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

EXTRACTS FROM THE HERALD. The following are extracts from the New Zealand Herald of June 14, 1881: During their inquiries to effect the arrest of two men in connection with tha burning of the Wade Hotel, Detective Strathern and Sergeant Pardy cam© across a wholesale system of smuggling in the Wade district. It appears to have been going on for years, the goods being spirits and tobacco. A telegram states that the West Coast coach had an arduous trip over the Southern Alps. At the top of Porter's Pass there were several hundred yards of ice and snow 2ft. or 3ft. deep. All the passengers had occasionally to assist the coach over bad patches. As an instance of the severe weather in North Canterbury 10 head of cattle were found dead from the cold near Amberley. Charles Dickens has told us something of the horrors of Chancery. The case of a domestic servant, Anne Richardson, seems to outdo fiction. She had saved £240, and her master added £6O. The money was lodged with trustees, who paid the interest. The woman, desiring to take her little capital to New Zealand, found it necessary to institute a " friendly suit." The costs of obtaining permission to withdraw her money amounted to £216. A disturbance has occurred at the Waiwakaiho native settlement, a native who had returned from Te Whiti's Parihaka camp having his whare destroyed. The man, Hiaka, had been under Te Whiti's protection for two years, his own tribe declaring him to be a wizard and that he had performed incantations over two sleeping Maoris, who subsequently died. Thinking the prejudice vanished Hiaka returned, only to find the hatred of hia people as great as ever.