LOCAL AND GENERAL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 838, 18 July 1879, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL

We again remind shareholders that the annual meeting of the Poverty Bay Printing and Publishing Company will be held this evening, at the Masonic Hotel, at 7 o'clock. Mr. E. ff. Ward, junr. is now m Wellington, where he will probably remain to assist m the defence of Mr. R. Cooper. Weather permitting, a scratch football match will be played on the Waikanae to-moorow afternoon. Play to commence at 3 o'clock. Tne following comprised the whole of the business at the R. M.'s Court to-day : — H-riana Pioaka was charged by William F. Hales with unlawfully and maliciously injuring a door. The charge was fully substantiated, and the prisoner was sentenced to two months' imprisonment with hard labor. The following were the civil cases disposed of : — lO. Arthur v. E. P. Joyce, adjourned on 29th inst. ; Eruera Brown v. Kochei, adjourned to the 22nd inst. ; Thomaa Cloud v. Robt. Cooper, adjourned for 14 days ; Michael Mullooly v. J. Sampson, claim £33 lis 9d, judgment for plaintiff; J. Bromley v. K. McLean, claim £5 7s 6d, nonsuited. We are requested to remind the local Volunteers that the usual weekly Instruction parade takes place this evening at MacFarlane's Hall, at 7 p.m., when ad members will be expected to attend m uniform with rifles and side-arms. The drill Instructor is anxious to see a good muster, and hopes that the members will endeavor to atteud if possible. Volunteers must also bear m mind that it is imperative that they should become efficient m all branches of their duties, and unless they go through the proper course of drill, they may never hope to become eutitled to the capitation granted by the Government. In addressing his constituents, Mr. Stevens is reported to have said : — 1 am of opinion that an appeal to the country should be made, and that at an early date. I am not a strong partisan, nor have I any strong party feelings. I would give any support to any Government which will bring you m electoral reform, solid finance, fair taxation, and other measures of minor importance, such as will ensure that advance of the colony which every one must desire to see. But, Sir, I regret to say — and I am bound to do so, after careful consideration — that I am not able to place my confidence m the present administration. Much as I deplore changes of Ministry, much as I deplore the shortcomings of the late Ministry — for governing is no light task — I must express a hope that we shall have a change, and that, too, before the year is over. I shall feel that I am doiu^ my duty io the country if we succeed m getting something which is free fro n the stain of the past, and free, Sir, from the very great obloquy of the present. Reuben Venue, the young native artist, whose pictures have been very favorably noticed lately, died ,at Putiki recently. Just before his death (says the Wanyanui Herald) he requested that his easel, together with his pictures, should he buri d with him. Considering the circumstances under which the littl- fellow picked up his knowledge of colors, he certainly showed remarkable talent. The Wellington Chronicle thus describes the member for Geraldine : — Mr. Wakefield is, m truth an ass disguised m a lion's skin. He has had to abase himself m the very dust oftener than any man iv New Zealand. Mr. Wakefield is a vegetarian, he lives upon "leeks," and has swallowed more of them than would sicken an ostrich. The s.s. Staffa, (Says the Bay of Plenty Times) which arrived here from Whakatane, brought a large M iori whare for the Sydney Exhibition. In length it is about 60ft, m width 30ft, and m height 20ffc, and is one of the most artistic pieces of work of the kind m the colony. It is a present from the Whakatane natives to the Colonial Secretary. Its departure from Whakatane was a signal for the natives to turn out en masse. They fired three volleys as the Staffa drew away from the rude stone wharf, which were answered by Captain Baker by a salute from his ship's gun, and also- by hoisting and dipping the British ensign. It will likely be transhipped to the G.s.s. Stella, en route for Sydney. _ We must call our readers Special Attention to Leonard & Co.'s advertisement, and also to the fact that their Stock must be disposed of at once. — [Advt.]

The Auckland portion of the antiChinese petition, bearing 2,504 signatures, was forwarded per Mr. Swanson for presentation to Parliament. The petition was mounted on a very handsome mottled kauri roller with elaborately-turned ends. I'm always glad to welcome a new phase j m your journal, (writes the "Loafer "to the Canterbury Press) but it's as well at the same time to bo able to understand it. I see m a report of a recent festive meeting up country that " the incoming officers were enthusiastically drunk." I have heard of being very drunk, drunk and disorderly, drunk and incapable, and many other drunks, but how is a man supposed to shape when he is m the enthusiastic phase of iutoxication ? Miss Dargon having recently read " Beautiful Snow " to a Melbourne audienec. a discussion has taken place m the Argus as to who wrote .the poem. Miss Dargon herself writes to that paper: "Every time I recite "Beautiful Snow" the same question arises — " Who wrote it ?" It has been given to Dora Shaw, a most talented, beautiful, and accomplished — and equally unfortunate — woman. She once held a high position m American society. She is still Jiving, I believe, On one occaoion I placed the poem to her account on the bill. She wrote me — "I should be willing to die now if I could claim it, but 1 cannot. It is not mine." Then it waa given to a person named Sigourney, who called, himself nephew of Mrs Sigourney. Three years since the subject was settled, and you will find the poem m a collection by Waston. James Harton, I believe, was the last person, to whom I mentioned the authorship, and he endorsed Wasbon. I rish though I am, I must refuse to give i the poem to Miss Kelly. Dora Shaw wrote a poem — "Out m the Rain" — ou the same subject which was considered very tine, but I never happened to see it. I have always thought the lines more like the expression of a woman, but I am not so learned as those who have decided the question." At a temperance meeting at Feilding the other day Mr. Halcombe suggested that the liquor traffic should be carried on m places separate from public-houses, so that those persons, whether travellers or boarders, staying at a public-house, could', have some comforts of a home by day and by night, instead of being, as now, disturbed by the bar trade, which is carried on m the same house they are staying at. This ideaof Mr. Halcombes' has been already taken hold of by a good many persons, and it is thought that if drinking bars were licensed where no other refreshments but drinks were allowed to be supplied, and without either sitting-rooms or sleep-ing-rooms, or secret places were drunken men could get sober and begin again to drind, sobriety would be greatly promoted. The Wellington Post has started a "Ladies' column," m which- household recipes are given, contributions being requested. One fair correspondent sends a recipe for making sweet biscuits, accoinpsuied by a sample. The editor thereupon remarks " that the lady m question evidently has a proper appreciation ot the responsible duties of an editor." The Canterbury Press says : — In the Kaiapoi Magistrate's Court on Monday the followiug agreninent was produced, during the hearing of a civil case, and read amid roars of laughter : — "Twelve months after date I , undertake to pay to the sum of eleven pounds if I should have an increase m my family, and the said agreement is m respect of a set of harness, and the said is prepared to do vice versa, to find a set of harness without price if the said increase should not happen. Signed, ■ 'and ." As it happened, the increase*, came during the week after the expiry of the agreement, and instead of the baby transaction being for cash only, the interested party recieved a suit of harness value £11. The judgment of the Court was iv his favor.