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Opunake Times, Volume VI, Issue 266, 26 March 1897, Page 2

The Glenelg is expected to arrive here from Wellington on Sunday.

Messrs Nolan, Tonks and Go. sell stock at Opunake on Tuesday nest. We give a reminder of the football meeting at Knowles's Hotel to-morrow evening.

Applications for the oilice of custodian of the Town Hall will be received np till 7 a.m. on Monday next.

Mr Blakeley, dentist, of Hawera, will visit Opunakn on next Tuesday, and may be consulted at Middleton's Hotel.

The sitting of the S.M. Court, fixed for Friday, April 16th, has been adjourned till the following Friday, as the date first fixed is Good Friday.

The Wellington Suburbs licensing election resulted in the return of Messrs Buckley, King, Shaw, Cathie, and Baker, all temperance candidates, by a large majority over the moderate ticket.

Notice is given by the Town Board of the terms on which badges for grazing cattle will be issued.

The steamship companies have reduced the wool rates till they are the lowest they have ever been.

Mr A. H. Moore has a replace advertisement in this issue, to which we call the attention of our readers.

A Wairarapa blacksmith is turning out aluminium horse shoes which only weigh four ounces the set.

A, man named James Carr, a resident of Arahura, dropped dead while walking into Hokitika on Tuesday morning.

A general meeting of the members of the Opunake Racing Club will be held on Saturday evening, 3rd April, at Middleton's Hotel.

The Feilding Star says that a case is reported of a bush settler who recently mustered his sheep and found them already shorn.

A meeting of the Eltham Road loan ratepayers will be held at the school-room on next Tuesday evening, when a full attendance is requested.

Mary Arps, aged five years, a daughter of a farmer at Marshlauds, Christchurch, was kicked on the forehead by a horse, and only lived for a few hours after.

It is rumored that Messrs Budge and Good, the well-known auctioneers of the Waimate Plaims, have disposed of their business to Mr Bradley Corrigan, of Otakeho. It is stated that Mr Ward, managing director, and Mr John Fisher, the late manager of the Ward Farmers' Association, have applied to be examined by a judge regarding the affairs of the company. Mr Rua Moetahuna cut his foot very severely on Tuesday with an adze which he was using. The cut is just below the ankle, and an artery was severed. He was driven into Opunake, and the wound attended to by Mr J. Feaver. He is now progressing satisfactorily.

At the Supreme Court, Auckland, Caroline Parry sued George Crothers for £2OO for breach of promise of marriage. There was no appearance of defendant, and the full amount claimed was awarded the plaintiff. It is stated that Crothers got £l2 10s in money from her, besides a ring valued at £5.

A young man named George Retter met with a peculiar accident at Levin on Tuesday. He was wielding a sledge-hammer in a carriage factory, and one of the blows on the auvil caused a piece of steel to fly off the side of the hammer, striking Retter on the arm and opening a vein. The flow of blood was stopped as soon as possible. After the recent cyclone it will be remembered the side of fruit trees exposed to the full violence of the storm was withered up and destroyed, foliage and fruit disappearing. Within the last few days, in the case of a large number of apple and pear trees on the blighted sides, tender foliage and blossoms have made their appearance. Thus on one eide of the tree is the ripening fruit; on the other a bloom as though of early spring.—Auckland Herald.

The committee appointed to open and accept tenders for tollgates in the Taranaki County met on Saturday and accepted the following :—lnglewood South gate, B. Morris, £23 0a 6d; Mountain Road, B. Morris, £6 0s Gd; Junction Road, W. Robertson, £lB 0s 6d; Waiwakaiho, F. P. Lownsborough, £47 14s : Omata, J. Mace, £32 ; Puniho, T. Leedham, £l7 5s ; Heimama, E. J. Dudley, £ls. Eighteen tenders in all were received, the highest in each case being accepted.

A Maori named Pe Hohepa was charged at the Auckland Police Court with having committed a breach of the railway regulations by gambling in a train. Ngata officiated as interpreter. Mr A. Devore appeared for the Railway Department. Defendant said he did not know he was breaking the law. He was induced to play with Europeans and lost £9. When he got to Mercer he gave information to the police. Mr Brabant convioted the defendant, and fined him Is without costs. This was taking into consideration that he had been put to expense to attend Court.

On Tuesday evening the Brass Band gave a farewell social to Mr C. F. McGregor, who has resigned from the band. Mr McGregor has been one of its most consistent and energetic members for a number of years, and one of the best double bass players on the c>ast. He will bo very much missed from the band ranks. We are unable to give any particulars of the evening's entertainment asthe secretary did not think it worth his while to give us any intimation of the event. If he was carrying out the intention of the band, then they will not feel annoyed at the omission. If they wished to have it reported then they will see it is not our fault. If the omission was owing to his ignorance of the ordinary courtesies of life, then we hope his band mates will forgive him, as we do.

One day a wonderful bird tapped at the window of Mrs Nanseu's home at Christiania. Instantly the window was opened and the wife of thG famous Aretic explorer in another moment covered the bird with kisses and caresses. The carrier pigeon had been away from the cottage for thirty long months, but it had not forgotten the way home. It brought a note from Nansen, stating that all was going well with him and his expedition in the polar regions. Nansen had fastened a message to the bird and turned ft loose. We boast of human pluck, sagacity, and endurance ; but this loving little carrier pigeon, in its homeward flight, after an absence of thirty months, accomplished a feat so wonderful that we can only give ourselves up to the amazement and admiration which must over-whelm every one when the marvellous story is told. Mrs Nansen's pigeon is one of the wonders of the world. —Exchange.

It is said that prior to the recent visit of the punitive exhibition to Benin not half-a-dozen white men had ever seen the King, and not twenty had ever visited the country. The few who have been there are eloquent of the horrors to be seen. Fetish priests, it was reported, ruled the King, and they and he celebrated the rites known as " juju " with large numbers of human sacrifices. The horrors did not stop at mere murder. One of the few Englishmen who has visited the town saw in several parts of it evidence of atrocious cruelty. The body of one man was seen " on a crucifix tree with arms and legs outstretched ; another corpse was that of a man who had been tied to a tree and starved to death on account of their being too much rain. Another had been similarly treated because the weather had been too hot, and at various places the white visitors came upon dead bodies, some headless, some armless, and all mutilated."