LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 709, 3 June 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

# Sergeant Langtry and the three footconstables of the Armed Constabulary stationed at Ormond, have received orders to proceed at once to Wellington. This is intended no doubt to help to augment the force already concentrated there for the purpose of quelling any outbreak that may occur on the West Coast. The City of New York, with the English mail, had not arrived at Auckland up to the time of our going to press. The civil cases which were to have come ! on at the Resident Magistrate's Court this | morning, at theususal hour, were postponed until 2 o'clock, in order to hold the sitting of the Licensing Court. At the time of our going to press the Court was still j sitting. At the, R. M. Court this morning, in the case of Villers v. Cooper, Mr. Bromfield applied for a re-hearihg, which was granted for Friday next. Messrs. Bourke and Smith will sell by auction on Friday next, on the premises ofiv Mr. Sigley, tinsmith, a number of articles'" of the stock, tinware, &c. On Saturday they will hold a large sale of cattle aud agricultural implements, at Makaraka. At the Licensing Court to-day, Mr. Brassey, Solicitor, represented the interests of the Licensed Victuallers' Association. Erratum. — In our issue of yesterday appeared a letter under the motto of "A Stitch in Time Saves Nine." There were 1 several misprints, the most important of i which is where the printer has made the I writer say : — " The great object of the j Maori agitators is to get the whole of the tribes incited, and for tbeir purpose, they have selected the only sure ground on ' which it is possible toget them me led. The I land-owner got then imbued with the idea ' that their lands are being " stolen " (to use j thoir own odious expression) they will act jas one man." The words should have I been : — " To get the tribes united, and for their purpose they have selected the only sure grounds on which it is possible to get them united — the laud. Once get them imbued with the idea that their lands are being "stolen" (to use their own expresi sion) they will act as one man." Will correspondents write legibly to save us much trouble, and themselves much vexation. The present indeed are the days of "packarapus" — which is the Maori for bankrupt—as a "yarn" told some years ago fully explains. A Waikato chief went to Auckland, and on his return when asked what took him there said that he had to go to see a man who had become ' ' packarapu . " This word rath er staggered the aboriginals, who immediately demanded an explanation. It was given as follows : — "A pakeha who wants to become packarapu goes into busiuess and gets lots of goods and does not pay for them. He then gets all the money he can together, say £2000, and puts it away where no one can get it, all except, £5. With this he goes to the Judge of the Supreme Court and tells him he wishes to become packarapu. The Judge says he is very sorry, but of course it cannot be helped, and then calls all the lawyers together, likewise all the men to whom the packarapu owes money, and he says : " This m«.n is packarapu, but he wishes to give you all he has got, and so he has asked me to divide this (the £5) among you all." The Judge thereupon gives £4 to the lawyers aud £1 to the other men, and the packarapu goes home." Referring to the comparative distribution of property among the citizens in the chief towns of New Zealand, the New Zealand Times says that in Auckland and Wellington property is the most widely distributed, the per centage being about the same in each case ; in Auckland 13 persons out of every 100 are ratepayers ;in Wellington about the same proportion ; in Christchurch 11 per cent., and in Dunedin 10 per cent, of the population are ratepayers. If the rateable property were equally divided among all the ratepayers the average value of that held by each in Wellington is very considerably less than in any other city. In Wellington the average annual value of the property owned by each ratepayer is about £68, .in Christchurch and Dunedin more than £100, and in Auckland about £79. One of the most barefaced attempts to impose on the credulity of a jury that it is possible to imagine was made by one Donnahy at the Wanganui Supreme Court, to .account for a sum of money found planted in the toe of his boot, and with the stealing of which he was charged. According to that every plausible gentleman, be had a pouncl-note in his trousers pocket but there being a hole in the garment the money slid down hia leg, entered through the top of bis laced-up boot, worked its way along the foot, until it reached the place where the big toe quietly reposed, and there it took up its quarters. A sceptical jury, however, evidently doubted Mr. Donnahy's veracity, and, as their verdict not only questioned his truthfulness, but also his honesty, hie future provision became a matter of the Court.