COUNTY NEWS.

Patea Mail, 14 August 1880, Page 2

COUNTY NEWS.

The Weekly Supplement will be issued with the Mail next Tuesday.

A Member of tlic Legislative Council says all secular education is “ the education of the devil.” It is well to have fundamental truths laid down by some one who knows, and that some one is Colonel Brett.

The Ministry have a voting majority of 14 in tho Lower House. It is naturally asked why tho majority did not make a greater reduction in the honorarium, while reducing other persons’ salaries. It is not for the majority to take credit for effecting reductions in the public service, when they stuck to their own allowance, conceding only a trifle for tho sake of show. Our opinion is that if tho other side had been in a majority, they would have been just as selfish. What we object to is that politicians of any party should claim a false credit, assuming a virtue which they have not. Honor bright, sirs.

“The Colony cannot afford, after so many blunders and such a waste of treasure, to run the risk of what the Taranaki Land Board may do.” So say the West Coast Commissioners, in their third report; and having seen that the Taranaki Land Board is incapable of managing the whole district within the old provincial boundary, the Commissioners recommend the formation of a new Land Board, to administer the land within Patca County. It is an evidence of political lethargy in this district that no effectual effort has been made in in this direction before. It is particularly surprising that there should have been no members from the Patea end of the district to sit on the Board. Can this old sleepy arrangement be allowed to continue ?

Hunts are fixed for next week, at Hawera on Monday, the settlers preferring that day instead of Saturday; and at Kakaramea on Wednesday.

The Patea football team which is to play at Waverlcy to-day will include, besides those mentioned, Messrs Adamson and Turner.

The late Mr Hunter, of Wellington, died intestate. Our correspondent telegraphs last night that the property, which is valued at £135,000, will be divided amongst the children, two sons and two daughters.

The Cricket Ground at Patea is again a subject of controversy of a foolish kind. Some cattle bad been seen grazing on the land, and straightway one or more busibodics set the story going that these cattle had been put on the ground by the order of Mr S, Taplin, or with his knowledge. Whoever made that statement must stand convicted of a stupid and malicious perversion of truth. To say that a man has done a thing which he has not done is a libel; and wo feel the more disgusted with this story because we were asked to publish the libel in the Mail, with an assurance that it was an ascertained fact. Now no malicious tattle shall have a place in this journal. We refused to publish that libel ; and it now appears, upon the evidence of the persons who did put the cattle on the land, that Mr Taplin knew nothing of what had been done until he returned from the country and found cattle on the ground. It is to be regretted that persons should have assisted in circulating an injurious statement without ascertaining that it was a fact, a thing easily done ; and it is surprising that the manifest absurdity of the story did not prevent its circulation. Surely differences of opinion can be maintained in a spirit of fairness. Is the world so small that we cannot afford to differ without annihilating each other ?

Unemployed arc flocking to this district from all parts of the island, in expectation of finding employment plentiful. These poor fellows arc three or four weeks too soon. The Railway contract at the harbor is not likely to be commenced for two or three weeks. Mr Proctor is on his way to Patea from the South Island, and he and Mr Downes, who is here, will start the work as soon as timber and materials can be shipped here. Pile-driving along the foreshore of the wharf will be the first operation, and then the reclaimed frontage can bo filled in with the earth that has to bo lowered. The large bridge up the river will be delayed until the ironwork already ordered can be imported from England, probably four months hence. Three smaller bridges may be gone on with at an earlier date. The contractors arc confident of completing their work within the 15 months from date of contract, having probably a month or two to spare. By that time there ought to be two more sections of the Railway opened to tenderers, completing the missing links from Normanby on the one side to Wavcrley on the other, and thus giving a clear run from Foxton to Taranaki. We understand there is no room at present for more laborers at the Government works up the valley. Applicants will only be disappointed.

The Mahuiage of the Patea Postmaster) Mr Long, with Miss Derritt, Whcnuakura, was celebrated on Thursday, in the Church of England at Patea, the Rev. Mr Dasent officiating. The “high contracting parties” arc so well and agreeably known, no Postmaster being more popular than Mr Long, that a considerable number of friends and observers assembled to witness and hear the “ Wilt thou” asked, and the “ I will” said. The bride was “ given away” by her father. It was a pleasing scene; and indeed a bridal group in a chancel, with surpliced minister solemnly expounding the duties of this great contract, the bride a pale sweet picture of blooming womanhood, bending under that pretty cloud of lace and orange-blossom ; the bridegroom very much like a strong man unnerved ; the bridesmaids grouped in arch observation, making mental notes in anticipation of their own turn coming. These several parts of a picture are so pleassingly perfect, that a marriage scene has a more enduring place in the memory than any other event in one’s life. They who have not witnessed a marriage are to be pitied nearly as much as those who haven’t been married.

The “ worm disease” is again playing havoc in Queensland. The Queenslander states that this disease is reducing the number of lambs in some instances at the present time to an alarming extent. Napoleon 1., Napoleon 11., and the Prince Imperial in succession wrote and left their wills on British soil.