HASTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1198, 15 February 1895, Page 18

HASTINGS.

The Hastings people are taking up the Hospital afternoon project with great spirit, and the town will be thoroughly well represented. I was very pleased to hear Councillor Crosse at the last Council meeting, when the hospital was under discussion, soundly rating the church vestry for being so niggardly as to decline the assistance of a collection for the hospital. A few weeks ago I was at a meeting of delegates in Napier to arrange matters, when Mr Cohen generously offered the use of the Gaiety Theatre for an entertainment in the evening. Ihe secretary and a director of the Royal also or,4vs an &3sur&nco tha-fc th&fc building also would be placed gratuitously at the service of the committee. When the formal application was made, however, the committee were informed that they could have the Royal on the usual terms. Generous hearted people—they must allow their miserable wretched politics to dominate everything. The Ram Fair this year was not as great a success as some of its predecessors. They tell me that one reason is that there are too many people breeding stud sheep there are more breeders than buyers . The low price of wool and consequent lessening of incomes may have something to do with it. Some months ago I pointed out the folly of the Borough Council spending between LSO and L6O to make a footpath alongside the new railway platform and got fairly well abused for doing so. At the meeting last Thursday the Mayor said that the best thing they could do was to take the kerbing and channelling up in sections and put it on the other side of the road. The result would be precisely what I suggested before the money was wasted. j The Council have had a report prepared showing the state of the slaughter-houses (of which there are three) in the borough. The report states that two of them were a receptacle for 44 putrid heads, offal filth in which pigs were wallowing." One would have thought the Council, who are also the Board of Health, would have spoken out pretty plainly on such a state of things, but, to the surprise of those

outside the barrier, all the member* seemed imbued with a desire to keep the thing a secret, and it was actually resolved that the inspector was to be complimented for having drawn up his report in such a way that the names of those who owned and used these filthy places were concealed from the public. Others pointed out that probably when the provisions of the new Act became better known theie would be improvement. The question naturally suggests itself: Had they not been compelled by the new Act to take some steps, would the Council have done anything at all ? For the filthy state of these places has been referred to in the press constantly for years past. For the protection of the public health and for the credit of those who do keep their premises clean the Council ought to have made the matter as public as possible ! One Councillor said the report was a strong argument in favour of the establishment of public abattoirs. I should think it was. That was the only sensible remark made on the matter. The idea of complimenting an inspector for concealing the name of a person whose premises reek with “ putrid heads, offal and filth !" No wonder we have typhoid fever periodically. The law of libel is the only thing that prevents my pointing out certain truths in connection with this matter.

A deputation is to wait on the Premier with regard to running Sunday trains, the excuse being that now the Union steamers call at Napier on Sundays, passengers from here have either to go to Napier on Saturday night or else drive down, which is comparatively expensive. If that is the only reason, it is not worth consideration. Sunday trains never did an atom of good to Hastings, while their running means the virtual opening of the public-houses to all and sundry. This is not at all desirable, if only for the reason that it would interfere with the liberty of the employees, and I am quite certain the publicans themselves don’t want their houses open on Sundays. The number of people from the country who travel by the steamers is so small that the few shillings they have to contribute to the livery stable keepers owing to the lack of Sunday trains is not worth notice. Mr Seddon will confer a favour on the majority of the inhabitants by declining the request for Sunday trains. * Fancy a man being silly enough to expose his own littleness by saying he would second a motion “if the Council did nob ask him to wait on Mr Seddon I" Poor creature, how he must suffer ! There was an unmistakable political bias about all the remarks made by the Councillors when a circular, was read asking for certain information which was to be used in the preparation of a ‘’Fair Rent Bill." The information asked for cost nothing to give, and as a similar Bill has been in force in England for years it is long odds in favour of its being passed when brought forward in New Zealand. This being so the Council would have shown more knowledge of the world by following the example of the Napier body, and giving the information asked for without comment.

The Gourlay-Stokes Company paid us a return visit on Thursday, but were indifferently - patronised. Ttie entertainment is good enough in its way, but it won’t do for Hastings. The fire brigade have unanimously chosen Lieut. A. A. George to represent them at the annual conference of the United Fire Brigades Association to be held next month at Hokitika, A Napier paper makes the wicked assertion that Hastings people were taken down to Napier to act as claqueurs at Captain Russell’s meeting. Horrible ! The steam merry-go-round having collected all the threepences, has left us. Mr Dan O’Reilly has got fairly settled down as -successor to Mr H. L. Jullat the Hastings Hotel. There are rumours that a certain wellknown newspaper promoter, with twelve women compositors, is about Napier waiting for something to turn up. Working bees are getting the dresses ready for “ Phyllis." The Hastings Rifles mot their Napier comrades on Saturday on the Tutaekuri rifle range and gave them a most awful dressing down, beating them by 111 points. At drill on Friday evening a number of highly complimentary speeches were made in saying farewell to Sergt.Major Huddlestone, who has been the Rifles’ instructor for several years. The Sergt.-Major has been transferred to The Native Land Court will start an inquiry this week, under section 118 of the Native Land Court Act, relative to a block of land known as Eperaima 6n block and Purimu 15n block. . The unevenness of the rainfall in December was very remarkable. At Hastings it was 0 32 inches, at Maraekakaho, only fourteen miles oft, it was 0 84, while at Woodville nearly two inches of rain fell. . . _ T What would they say in Hastings i 1 see by a Home paper that the local board in one of the county towns has ’ roused the ire of the rector by using the side of his church steeple to dry the fire brigade hose on. They said the steeple was not fulfilling all the requirements of which it was capable in merely housing a peal of tells and being an ornament! . Some time ago the Council took a dram through certain private lands. One of the owners made a claim for L6O. The case was submitted to arbitration and [ Ll 5 was given as the proper price. And

yet they tell us a Fail Renta Bill would be meddlesome and vexatious. Bah ! The district school and the three private schools are now in full swing. Quite a thousand children are being educated in Hastings.