LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1064, 9 July 1880, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

The charge -against Mr. Robert Cooper for a breach of the Arms Act, which was adjourned from yesterday evening until this morning, was still dragging along as we went to press. There is no interest felt in the proceedings whatever. Every- j one, Sergeant Kidd alone excepted, knows i how it will go. Two or. three small debt cases comprised the whole of the business of the it.M.'s Court this morning in its civil jurisdiction. The Free and Accepted Masons, residents of Gisborne, and the districts of Poverty Bay, propose to give a ball and supper on the night falling on the second Friday in August. It will be one which is intended shall be worthy of an ancient and noble order of which His Koyal Highness, the Prince of Wales is the Grand Master. Each subscribing Mason will be permitted to introduce a gentlemen (outside the craft) and lady, names having first been submitted to, and approved of by the committee. The affair is creating much delightful excitement among the fair sex. An application in due course will be made to the P.G.M., to allow the Masons in their respective degrees and offices to appear in full rogaliii. The dispensation will no doubt bo grant >.il. This will add i to the interest of re-uuiou. i An ancient Maori woman, the oldest living inhabitant of the Bay, came into town this morning. She was hoary with age, much bowed, but not so infirm but what with the aid of a stout sapling, she was stout on her feet. She is known among her tribe as " Rebecca " and she is upon undisputuable authority, one hundred and twelve years of age. She was a young girl at the time Captain Cook landed on the beach, and states she remembers him well. Rebecca may have been in her early days' accustomed to feed on the enemies of her first husband ; but this day she showed a decided preference for bee--and tobacco, as when the writer of this presented her with a shilling, she immediately invested sixpence in beer, and the remaining sixpence on a stick of " nail-rod." Last week, at Napier, a man named M'Minti, a ahepherd in the employ of Mr. Farmer, of Longianrls, brought into town 111 pair of hawks' feet, for which he received £5 11s. A number of people who were previously receiving aid from the Charitable Aid funds are now engaged destroying hawks and shags. .Since the Hawke's Bay Acclimatisation Society increased the reward for hawks' feet, on Muy 19th, or little over a month, 586 pairs have been brought in, besides 57 pairs of shags' feet in the same period. During twelve months past 2097 pairs of hawks' feet and 128 pairs of shags' feet have been paid for. Bravo, A xch deacon Thorpe ! (exclaims the " Rangitike Advocate.") That reverend gentleman, when questioned to his intention of building an English church at Bulls, said that the Presbyterian and Wes: leyan clergy stationed there were good men and true, and evidently quite able to cope with the sins of their congregations or administer to their spiritual necessities, and that he for one would not attempt to split up the congregation in any small place A few more such men and we shall hear nothing of sectarian strife. Considerable solicitude is felt of the health of the Pope, which has become very precarious. Always of a nervous temperament, the anxiety, worry, and wearisome official ceremonials he is compelled to undergo'are telling seriously upon his physique. He is known to be very conscientious in the discharge of every official duty, and the consequence is great mental depression. A good deal of comment h.-is been caused in the lobbies by the receipt of a new work entitled " Todd's Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies." which has just been published in London by the author of " Todd's Parliamentary Practice." The writer rcfejs in unconpliinentary terms to the means used by Sir George Grey, when Premier, in his attempt to thwart Mr. Hall in leaving the Upper Hous..: ■ for the Lower. He says that Sir George Grey afterwards undertook to assail the now Premier (Mr. Hall) on extraordinary aud in a most unprecedented and discreditable manner. It is expected that ah opportunity will shortly arise for some member to refer to this in the House, when some lively scenes may be looked forward to.

A conesponclent writes in a contemp Ory : _I don't know if it matters a groat deal to a man, after he has, by becoming : a corpse, made his title clear to the customary freehoM of six by two. whether a parson :or auyone ; else, reads a burial service over him — I don't think it does. . But it matters a little to those whom he leaves ibehind. I notice that a poor fellow, a laborer named Deacon, who was run over by a railway train at a place called Wai-, holaj somewhere down South, was immediately after the inquest '•.buried in a newly dug bole, without rite or ceremony." The paper from which I quote adds— "The recipient of this- dog's -funeral had been several years in the colony but had no relatives. ' Hard lines for a Deacon ! Where was the Clergyman ? Surely a

The district "historically remarkable for its temperance, its freedom from crime, and the order-loving character of its inhabitants," referred to in the report of the Civil Service Commissioners,; is Tauranga. Two Years ago a second-class sergeant at 8s Gd per day was considered sufficient" to attend to alFtbe troubles of this Arcadian village, and he acted a^ gaoler in addition to his other duties. Now, " without any increase '6i population or other assignable reason," it requires an inspector at £390 per annum, a first-class sergeant at £190 per annum, and five constables to do the work. We really believe with the Commission that -'in this direction immediate economy could be effected."