HASTINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1265, 28 May 1896, Page 17

HASTINGS.

A good deal of tho machinery which vv.ts in Knight's building, which was burnt on Sunday, is practically uninjured, so that ihe loss will not be so bad after all. It is rumoured that the owner of the premises reckons he has saved about £BOO or £OOO by not. insuring at ruinous rates - £7 loi per £IOO is said to be the price asked for die lisk. Mr McKittrick has been appointed to the position iu the teitgraph office vacated by Mr F. Niecol. The new c nierisfiotn Pahiatua, which must be neatly depopulated judging by the number of people who, coming from there, are now resident in Hastings.

Tiie proprietors of the Standard having published a paragraph respecting tho Times and Mail cm respondent, had their attention called to the fact, after which they inserted the following “We are in receipt of a letter from Messrs Garble and McLean demanding an apology for stating that the Magistrate’s Bench said the [listings correspondent of the New Zealand Times made a deliberate .slanderous and false attack on the police in connection with tile accident to I’etcr .Jarvis. As wc received our information second hand and as the words complained of were not used by the Bench, we fipolu-.i.io to the correspondent of the Times and express our regret that the appearance of the paragraph complained of has caused the gentleman in question any annoyance, and are prepared to pay his expenses in the matter.'' The fact that I do not go to bed at eight (.’clock every evening possibly accounts for the fact that 1 see a good many things which could ho seen by oilier people if they wanted to see them. On Friday and .Saturday evenings I got a friend to walk up the street with me, and we counted no less than seven vehicles between seven and eight o’clock to which no lights were attached. Besides this, one of the J.’sP, who was on the Bench on Thuisday informs me that a few nights hack he was run into by a person driving a vehicle without lights, and ho attributes the avoidance of a fatal accident to the fact that his own horse was a particularly quiet one. The police have actually found two cases since Jarvis’s accident of persons driving vehicles without liglils. They were two prominent and well-known old residents who might have been caught any night during the last three or four years if desired. The other case they have found is that of A"derson, who has been driving his coach between Napier and Hastings daily for the last eight years. He was charged with having only one light. He has seldom had more.

These aro tho only three cases of the kind which have been brought since tho accident to Constable Gordon two years ago. Truly it is a prodigious record, and I am not surprised that tlm police who have many times thought it necessary to thank your own for helping them over a difficulty, should have found it necessary to make public misstatements in court because their laxity in the matter of attending to tho enforcement of the borough by laws has been pointed out. Similar remarks to those 1 made also appeared in four other papers, arid in one of them there was a leaderette bearing on the same subject, but these not having been seen (or else tho writers being in court while 1 was not), the police took occasion to heap a lot of personal abuse on the correspondent of the New Zealand Times. If the police want their ladies more prominently referred to, there is not the slightest difficulty about doing it.

For instance, not lung since the chimneys of two houses in Market street took tire on the same day. They were both seen by tho police. In one case a summons was issued, but not in the other. Why was that ) After seeing the Standard paragraph, I wrote to the chairman of the Bench (Mr Fitzroy), asking what actually did take place, and Ims written reply is that after listening to .Sergeant Mitchell's tirade he conferred with his colleague, Mr Beilby, and they decided that, it, was no part of their duty to take any notice of what appeared in newspapers regarding the police, either one way or the oilier. This being so, it would he interesting to

kimw who misinformed tho Standard reporter, who was not in court when the remarks were made.

A grand piano is not often seen in Hastings. Happening to go down the*

street, I. mentioned something about a piano being brought from Napier for Mr Barnett’s concert. The person to whom 1 was speaking looks upon himself its an authority on musical matters, and lm informed me that he saw a dray from Napier go up to the hall, lmt what they had on the dray was nut a piano, it. was a round thing something like a bath ! 1 left hurriedly. Mr Maughan Barnett gave one of his famous piano recitals before a Hastings audience on Thursday evening, and from 3tart to finish kept them enthralled with the themes of Liszt, Schubert, Arditi, and others. Mr Barnett also gave some of his own compositions, which were highly appreciated. Tho vocalists were Miss A. Ft. Hill and Miss Tanner, and

each of the items given by these ladies were encored. The accompaniments were beautifully played by Miss Williams. Tho recital was a great treat for musical people. The Good Templars had a fine turn out

at their ‘'social'' on Wednesday night, there being about 50 visitors from places beyond Hastings. A long programme of musical items was given, and a speech by the Rev. Dr Hosking was one of the prominent features of tiie evening. Would it not be well for our temperance friends to discuss the advisability of being temperate in other things besides the use of intoxicating liquor l For instance, there is nothing temperate in a ’bus load of people, male and female, shouffng and singing scraps of songs with concertina accompanist at eleven o’clock at night, an hour when many decent folk are in bed. People w.th “ kites '' full of viands such as Lois Brou n can provide may (and no doubt do) feel in the very best, of spirits, hut that is no excuse for making objectionable and unnecessary noice. Take the hint, friends, and moderate your exuberance. It does your cause no good to howl through the streets at bed time, or at any other time for that matter. Be temperate in all things. Hastings people are now supporting four quadrille assemblies. ft must lie a sign of progress that we are to have another up-Lo date professor 1 of the tons: rial ai t.

A sensational attempt at burglary is repotted. The story goes that a man, conversing with a few friends, stated that there was £I2OO in his house. This appears to have been overheard, for it is said that later on a man wearing a mask made his way to the house and gained admittance, but before he had time to find what ho was in search of tho good lady observed him. Sin* lost no time in making her presence felt, for she tore the mask off in hopes of recognising the intruder. Ho managed, however, to make good his exit, and now it would not ho safe for any man to appear in public with li is face scratched.

Mr Arnold, son., a very old and wellknown West Coast journalist, arrived by the express on Tuesday evening.

Something akin to amusement was experienced when tho train left on Tuesday for Napier, leaving tho Premier and his party, Inspector Emerson and other notables standing on the platform. A number of othei intending passengers were also left behind. The usual signals to stop tho train wore ineffectual, most probably because they wore not seen by those on board.