The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1882. NEWS OF THE DAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 967, 4 December 1882, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1882. NEWS OF THE DAY.

We have to apologise for the lateness of onr issue. On Saturday one of our oo.wpaotr.—- ritir/r tefr" T(7r "fresh' fields of labour and wo are importing .a new “comp” from Wellington who should arrive by the Waihi, She ought to have been in early this morning but the fates willed it otherwise. The Borough Council meet this evening at 7 o’clock. Mr W Dale reports the sale of Sections 60 and 67 Woodvillc each acre for £B. Our Waverley correspondent’s letter and other matter are unavoidably held over. Messrs Nicholson Bros, Waverley invite'tenders for the carting and stacking of 100 acres of wheat. Eleven designs have been received for the new Town Hall and will come before the Council this evening. The Waihi came in this afternoon, having had to wait some hours outside for the tide. She leaves for Wellington tomorrow, at 3 p.rn.

Mr Cowern will hold a sale of stock at the Lincoln-street sale yards on Wednesday at 2 p.m. The entries are numerous. The County Council have issued 157 summonses to those whose rates arc in arrear. They are returnable on January 6th.

Mr E. Barton, one of the candidates for the vacancy in the Borough Council, will address the Burgesses this evening, in the Harmonic Hall. The Hawera County Council docs not see its way to join with the Patoa Council in the Purchase of a stone-breaking machine. The Wbenuakura Railway bridge is now finished, except a touch or two which will bo given by Wednesday evening. The first engine was expected to have been taken over the bridge to-day. Mr Joseph Handley of Nnkumaru lias a notification in another column to the effect that a reward of I*l will bo paid to any one giving information that will lead to the recovery of a chestnut marc and a black pony.

We notice that the Albion Hotel is being advertised for sale in the Wellington papers. We should have thought it hardly necessary to go so far away for a buyer for a good properly like the Albion. Mr Chadwick is now making a collection towards the Caledonian (Society’s gathering on New Year’s Day. The Society’s Sports are rapidly assuming an important position, and as we have no race meeting, there should be no difficulty in obtaining a handsome amount by way of subscriptions.

The wife of the " Claimant ” has become ■hi inmate of the South Stoneham Union, near Southampton. She is entered in flie parish books as “ Lady.Tichbornc,” the name and title given by herself.

The fourth son of Ismail Pasha, Prince Ibrahim Pasha, wished to serve in the England army in Egypt as a private.

& novelty in the way of boats has been introduced on the Thames. By means of an ingenious joint in the oars the rowers sit with their faces to the head, and while pulling in the ordinary fashion the boat moves forward.

A heartless young scoundrel at Oaraaru on Saturday tied a dog’s legs, and placed it in such a position on the railway line that the whole of its legs were cut off by a passing train. The police had to destroy the animal.

The Union Company’s fine new steamer VVairarapa Is ably sustaining a reputation for fast passages, her last record being four days from Sydney to Auckland, including a detention of two hours at Russell, for discharge and loading of cargo. A the other night from the shop of Mr Bills, Gcorgc-street, Dunedin, and was found half-a-mile away next morning, coiled up asleep in a hen's nest, On its rambles it had visited several henroosts, killing three ducks, two hens, one rooster, and eighteen chickens..

The manner of unloading coalboats by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company at Goole, Scotland, is unique and expeditious. The boat and cargo, weighing 30 tons, is lifted bodily out of the water by an hydraulic crane, and at a certain height the boat is turned over and its cargo dropped into a larger vessel. The appointment of a head master for the High School has become rather mixed. It appears I hat (here was a committee appointed to examine into the qualifications of the candidates, and Ihej r -selected one quite different from that chosen by the Education Board, and, so far as we can learn, the Board are in. the wrong. At any rate they will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to consider the matter.

Mr Humphries, Chief Surveyor of Taranaki, has a staff of twenty-one surveyors all engaged on field work ; eleven being set apart for the West Coast Commission. Five surveyors are engaged at the north of Waitara, and sis on the continuous reserve, Parihaka block, &c. The remainder of the staff are engaged on settlement work, railway land plans, and Native Lands Court awards.

The elective licensing system|d’oes not seem to work well at Hawcra. Since the election of the Committee last year, there has always been a difficulty in getting a quorum ; and on Friday, which was the last meeting, only the Chairman put in an appearance. The meeting was consequently adjourned for a week, without any business being done. The Manawatn Times of Wednesday remarks that at the meetiug- of the Manawatu Highway Board on Tuesday it was evident that the Chairman (Mr Skerman) had struck a 'sympathetic chord when he alluded to the unsatisfactory working of the county system. His remarks were received with geneial expressions of approval, every one of the members apparently being firmly convinced that not only should the Council be abolished, but that this s.iould be accomplished as speedly as possible. The London correspondent of the Dunedin Evening Star says ;—“ Considering the growing popularity of natural mineral waters in England, it is scarcely surprising that speculators should be tinning their■ attention to the rich iron and sulphur springs of north New Zealand. All sorts of waters are now bottled in Germany and sent over here for sale. I hear on firstclass authority that three gentlemen, well up in the details of the trade,' will leave for the colony via San Francisco next month, and intend doing their utmost to obtain the right to bottle from one of the best-known springs. It seems odd that the idea should not have occurred to any enterprising resident before this.”

The Timaru Herald reports a curious accident from Waimato. A plasterer named Hawkey, who is working at the new school buildings there, on Friday was at work on the scaffold, when something gave way, and he fell. It happened that immediately beneath him was a well 35ft deep, and he tumbled down this in addition to falling from the scaffold. Some boards and tools accompanied or followed him, so that it appeared inevitable that he must suffer serious injury. There was only about a foot of water in the well, not enough to drown him, nor enough, on the other band, to break bis fall. Ho was immediately helped out, when to everyone’s astonishment, be declared himself none the worse for his fall.

The Fall Mall Budged says :—There seems no end lo the inventive faculty of our neighbours, over the water, A few days ago we chronicled a novel form of betting on oysters. The latest development of Ic apart, which serves both to fill the columns of our serious contemporary the Journal des Doha!.*, and the vacant hours of its less serious readers who are making holiday on the coasts of Normandy is crab-racing. The “ interesting crustaceans ” are weighed and handicapped. They are (hen placed in lino. Kach “sportsman” lays his first finger on the back of the crab which carries his colors; the starter waves his handkerchief for a (lag, the backers lift their lingers and lot their crabs go, and impelled by instinct (a Frenchman must be scicnliiic even in bis spoiling descriptions) the crabs race zigzagging to the sea. Tiie sport has become so developed that the length of the course has been definitely fixed at twenty metros. For those who must have something to bet upon, crabs have the advantage over raindrops on a window-pane for racing purposes that they cannot defeat their backers by running into one another, and crab-racing lias the advantage over coursing that it is not attended with pain to any animal.

It has been decided to enlarge the Suez Canal, and the cost is estimated at thirty million francs.

The Star says that the Rev. T. F, Jones has arranged definitely with Mr Gibbs, of Wanganui, to have an Old English Fayre in Hawsra about the middle of January, in connection with the bazaar. Could we not go in for something of the sort in Patea. The attractions of a “ Fayre ” have proved irrisistible elsewhere, and if it were held in connection with some deserving object, say the -Institute, there is no doubt that the funds would receive a substantial addition.

It may not be generally known that our now Governor, Sir William Jervois, furnished to the Government, some eleven or twelve years ago, a report on the defences of New Zealand. He was asked to do so by Sir Julius (then Mr) Vogel, when the latter was on an official visit to England, and Sir Wiiliani Jervois supplied it accordingly, using the infoirnation lie could obtain from books, charts, &c., as his basis, in the absence of a personal inspection. That report Is still in existence among the Parliamentary papers of the period, but has never been acted upon.

A romantic story conies from Balclntha an up country township in Otago. A few days ago a man named,McNeil attempted to shoot a Miss Chirnside, and having been arrested the case was brought on on Wednesday last. The Court was clen°ely packed, ns it was expected that the evidence taken would have revealed some very interesting features, but the case was withdrawn without any evidence being taken at all, and what was better the respective parties, acting under their counsel’s advice, adjourned to the nearest Registrar’s office and were made man and wife before they had been twenty minutes out of tiie Court.

The Family World of May 20ih, 1882, lias the following paragraph, which reads curiously at the present time. It is “No More Shipwrecks” 'The new Australian passenger steamship Delonging to the Orient Company and christened the Austral, is so constructed that at short notice she can be turned into a powerful fighting cruiser. Her hull is so built that bales of compressed wool could bo stowed between her inner and outer “skins” right round the ship, thus affording an admirably efficient armour, easy of adaption, while her machineiy can be doubly protected by layers of coal several feet thick, which can be stored both for use and defence, in the bunkers each side of the steamer’s “ vital spot.” The ship is so constructed that it is practically impossible to either sink or burn her—two points which cannot fail to make her a favorite with the continuous stream of passengers between England and the Australian Colonies.

One of the finest specimens of flax-seed ever grown in the colonies is, says the Christchurch Telegraph, now on view at the Western Mining Exchange. The sample in question was produced in Southland, where a company for the introduction of flax-growing on a large scale, have taken up a considerable quantity of land. The samples on view are in bunches, the lowest number of pods contained on a stalk being 131, and the highest 301, each pod containing, on an average, eight sound seeds. Persona thoroughly conversant with the flax industry have pronounced the opinion that the samples forwarded from Southland arc equal in every respect to the best Irish flax ever produced. At the Balclutha Court on Wednesday William Wilson was commitecl for trial at Dunedin for indecently assaulting a Mrs Twaddeil, at Waitepeka. From the evidence of the prosecutor it appeared that the accused called at her residence and asked for some food. She supplied him with some. After lie had partaken thereof he attempted to throw her down, but she escaped, and soon afterwards informed her husband what had happened. He followed accused, and overtook him some distance on the road.

The Oamaru Mail reports that a very painful mishap occurred to a man named Moore, in the employ of Mr Lewis Fenwick. A number of cases of phosphorous which wore lying in the store at the railway station ignited, it is thought in consequence of the extreme heat of the weather. Moore, observing smoko issuing from them, proceeded to remove them. While attempting to do so, the chemical, which had boon rendered liquid by the heat, ran over several portions of his body; and so severely burned him that Dr Do Lautour. who was summoned to attend him, ordered bis removal to the hospital.

Some curious revelations were made (hiring the examination of Win. Halstead, a debtor applying for bis order of discharge in the Timaru District Court recently. A number of receipts were produced, purporting lo be receipts for stock sold by (bo debtor to bis son during several years between 187G rnd the present timej and the opposing counsel pointed out that three of these receipts, whose dales varied as much as six years, were written on exactly the same kind of paper. Little might have been thought of this, but two of them, of dates differing by over (wo years, were clearly shown lo have been written on the two halves of one sheet of note paper, the torn edges corresponding exactly. Two other receipts of the same kind, dated different yems, were seen to have been written on two pieces of paper that had mimistakeahly been torn together from a copybook. One of the receipts again, was dated 1881, but boro a stamp that was not issued till 1882. It is not surprising that a man who could make these blunders also made others. The result of bis examination was that instead of obtaining bis discharge, an order was issued for his prosecution for fraudulent baukuptcy.

A boy, sixteen years of age, was at Christchurch, a few days ago, fined five shillings for drunkenness. Nothing is stated as to what was done to those who supplied the lad with the drink. After waiting for two hours on Saturday afternoon a quorum of the Fanners Club was got together and a meeting held. It was resolved to carry on the Club for another year and officers were elected as follows:—President, Mr W. Wilson VicePresident, Mr R. B, Hamilton ; Secretary, MrT. Eyton ; Treasurer, Mr H. F. Christie ; Committee, Messrs J. Ball,L. Gr. Bremer, J. Burke, A. Palmer, Honcyfield, Shield, R. Horner, Norman and W. G, Symes, It was decided to get in all outstanding subscriptions without delay.

W. Cowern’s sale rooms were crowded on Saturday, the attraction being the long list of eligible properly to be submitted. Money seemed to be scarce among those present, at least that would seem to be the case, judging by results. The only properties sold wore Sec. 26 Block 44 with a four and two roomed cottage, fronting Victoria street which was bought by Mr A. Williamson for £220. A-half acre in Egmont street, adjoing Mr Hurst’s property brought £95, the purchaser being Mr Nicholson. There was an offer of £6OO for Block No. 21, 23 acres, formerly Patea suburb, but that sum was not up to the owner’s reserve.

The Rev. Mr Byng, of Dunedin, has instituted a series of sermons for working men, allotting to each a special address. One paper slyly hints that the rev. gentleman is clever in texts, and wonders what he will find for the butchers, the bakers, and the milkmen. Could he discover a text which would hint, in the most delicate way in the world 2 that the 41b loaf ought, as a rule, to weigh not less than 31b Boz, and another to say that when we buy fresh milk we prefer the cream left in it?

A letter has been received from Tawhiao by Hutana, an Awapuni chief (according to the Manawatu Standard), stating that the former will leave on his trip to Manawatu on the 29th of December. Great preparations are being made for his reception.

Alligator leather, which has within the last two or three years come into fashion for dressing-cases, pocket-books, kc., is fast becoming an important article of commerce. Along the Gulf of Florida where these ungainly reptiles abound, farms are being established for their breeding and preservation.

It is understood that the Speaker of the House of Commons will not fill the chair after Parliament is prorogued. It has been pretty well known in the political world that this was to be Sir Henry Brand’s last session, and when he has done his part in seeing fair play over the new rules, he will go to “ another place ” and sit as a peer in the Upper House,

The Oamaru Times states that on Thursday evening a boy named Barraclough, 13 years of age, was standing with his father in Tyne street, when a tame Australian magpie hopped on to a neighbouring fence, and without warning or provocation made a dart at the boy’s face, striking him in the left eye. Medical assistance was called iu, and on examination the sight was found to be completely destroyed, and it will be necessary to remove the injured eyeball. To be a tax-gatherer in Hungary has its disadvantages, and the duties are at times dacidedly disagreeable. One of that species of Government officers, while at Kopalna, was insulted "by some of the inhabitants, and drawing a revolver, ho shot and killed a man. His act roused the people to a furious pitch, and to escape their violence he took refuge in a house. The building was immediately set on fire, and the unfortunate man was burned to death.

Dr Hinders, of Taurauga, recently mot with a severe and somewhat singular accident. It appears (according to the loca[ paper) he was called to sec a patient on Monday night, or rather early on Tuesday morning, and on arriving at the house attempted to seat himself upon alow folding hammock chair, placing his right hand between the bars forming the seat and the legs, which, not being properly adjusted, came together under his weight like a pair of shears, cutting off the ends of two lingers as cleanly as if done by a knife. Dr Armitagc, who is attending him, thinks it will be quite three' weeks before he will be able to make much use of his right hand.