The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

Poverty Bay Herald, 19 November 1880, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

FRIDAY, . NpVEM BER 19, 1880.

We have been informed that Mr.' 'J. R. Davis of the firm of. Connor and Davis, who is at present in Gisborne, has expressed his willingness to construct a breakwater at Gisborne, and to accept an equivalent ' in land as payment for the undertaking. The breakwater is estimated to cost hot less than £50,000, and Mr. W. L. Rees, in order.to enhance the value of •the large areas of land at his disposal, has undertaken the difficult task of inducing certain Maori land owners to alienate as much of their land as will pay for the construction of the breakwater. We are told that Mr. Rees is likely to be successful; but ' we Have riot learned what compensation the 'Maori' land-owners are to " receive ; nor in what way it is to be done. ; W_. only know that the Maories have expressed their Willingness that the work should be carried out through their instrumentality, and that the scheme proposed has not any thing visionary about it. Mr Davis, as is- well known, is a large contractor, and was atone time connected with Messrs Brogden and Sims in some of their large enterprises in connection with the construction of docks and railways. . All yesterday and to-day, a large number of hands were actively engaged in executing the necessary preliminary work before making the supreme effort to float the . Lochnagar.. The- plan, so far as we see it being carried out, is very much the same as that adopted for getting the Great Britain into deep Water. On each side of the . Lochnagar a number of piles are to be driven' deep into the sand. These will be closely planked. The tide then rushing up : along* the planking is diverted inside, caus'•ing ah. outward flow, and with the flow " carrying with it the sand in which the ship has settled. The tide is, in short, to ",b^: inade^ tot do. the work of excavation. The ship, by this means, having all the water under her which can be obtained, - will then, by the aid of a large number of men, be canted over so as to allow her <" drawing the least amount of water, when her anchors which have been placed out, will be hauled on, and so it is expected she will be floated out in water sufficiently . deep for her keel to be clear of the bottom. - " The efforts being made we trust will be found tp.be successful. The Union Company's s.s. Penguin, which will in future trade between Auckland Tauranga, -and Russell, may be . expected on the 25th instant, from Auckland. '■-.•"_ Among the passengers by the Rinparooma, this afternoon, came Mr. G. M. Reed, whohas caused to _ome out to Auckland a number of intending settlers from the North of Ireland. These Mr. Reed proposes, if feasible, to locate on unoccupied lands in Poverty Bay. Who that has long known Mr. John Dick will not be. pleased to learn that he • ?iwi_iM_m-T* Msumedhis old occupation Ba a wheelwright and engineer. Many months ago John Dick made his first great mistake in life. He left a business he was -. _b»*___H_>ly adapted for and took to hotelkeeping, for which .he was as little fitted . ns would be a mermaid to figure in a polka. ' John has resumed his old occupation- On Monday next his smithy fires will be alight, •his A bellows again raising the wind (which nothing but a pair of bellows 'can do at this „ present time) and the cheerful ring of the ''-Kam_ierw.il sound upon the anvil as of yore We wish' Mr. Dick all the success his genial nature and his skill as a workman fully entitle bim to expect:

Our sporting readers will be interested to learn tbat Atalanta, the well-known racing mare recently imported into this district, has just dropped a fine colt foal by Perkm Warbeck. In her time, Atalanta was a tip-top performer, having won several of the most important events in the South where Perkin Warbeck is now considered to be the best sire in the Colony. Friday is usually a grand field day at the R.Ms. Court, this morning there was not a solitary case, criminal or civil, to call before the Court. • Messrs Parnell k Boylau, since they have i taken the establishment lately carried on by Mr. W. Teat, have made many alterations and improvements which will be found of great convenience to their customers. The shop portion of the premises have been considerably enlarged. A well-lighted show-soom has been] added, and a large addition made to their stock ,of general goods suitable for the present and coming season. Hurrey's Flour Mill was again to-Jay the cause of no little excitement. First it had been in possession of the owner, then in that of the Bank of New South Wales ; then again in possession of the trustees of the estate. There have been bailiffs put in on both sides, to say nothing of numberless men in "possession." There has been much law brought to bear on this property, and many lawyers. One set of lawyers maintain the property belongs to the trustees. Another set say it is nothing of the kind, and that it belongs to the Bank of New South Wales. Both sets of lawyers laugh in their sleeves, and book any amount of money for all sorts of things done or written, or undone, or to be left alone, or to be moved for, with notices on one side, followed by counter-notices pn the other, and the quesstion of the legal ownership of Hurrey's mill has not nearly reached that stage which is said to be the " beginning of the end." The lawyers are still grinding at the business, and so long as the lawyers grind, it will bring them grist, but there will be no grist come to the mill. If prizes were given for "cheek," the hero of the following story, reprinted from the Lyttelton Times would have a chance :—- --"In a recent case brought before a Magisstrate's Court in the Northern district, where the accused had taken for his use sundry bottles of stout, some of which had been discovered before he had an opportunity of consuming them, an instance of thorough impudence has come to light. The remaining bottles were placed in a convenient position iv the Court-house, when the thirst of the prisoner proved too strong a temptation for him ; for while the officer's attention was called away on other business, the accused coolly opened aud drank two of the bottles before it was noticed, and on being reprimanded, he said he could not possibly resist slaking his inordinate thirst. The puuishment was not moderated by his action in Court. The only case to be dealt with at. the Police Court at Christchurch recently was, says the Times, one which had been held over from the previous day, in order to allow the lady to give effect to a stated resolution—that of joining the Good Templar body. His Worship wanted to know something of the past history of the case, and— addressing himself to Sergeant Morice— he asked, " What has been her previous career? "No !" broke in the new abstemiously disposed penitent, '■' I don't want no bottled beer." His Worship quietly remarked that although the lady's thoughts seemed to gravitate bottled-beer-wards, the Court was rather a bad place for hearing in, and the misconception was on that account pardonable. Then the husband was examined, and in reply to the usual proforma question, What are you? "I'm an invalid now.;" and he went onto "hope yeu'll take a lenient case of the view. This was echoed by the lady's " I hope you'll be kind enough to succeed to my husband's wishes." Oddly enough, everybody laughed. A correspondent at Hokianga, writing to the New Zealand Herald of the death of Raugatira Moetura, says :— Rangatira was ninety years old, and was, believe, the last survivor of those Northern chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Before his death, his people had his coffin made and bought large quantities of food ready for the tangi. I wonder did they show the old chief what a lot of good kaikai they had got ready. The Brisbane correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald has the following : «« A more astounding difference between professional men upon an apparently simple matter could not be that displayed during a recent lawsuit. The case was what is called ' protracted, ' and it had a few curious points about it. Imprimis, it was a dispute between two insurance companies, the New Zealand and South British — of itself an edifying spectacle. The solicitors and barristers engaged were vine in number, and it was a dispute about a fire. The action was a policy of insurance issued by the South British Company on the fine new premises of the New Zealand Company, and the amount claimed was £2700. The facts reposed in a nutshell, as the saying goes. Last September, soon after the new building was in occupation, a miserable little greengrocer's shop next door was, fortunately for lovers of street architecture, burnt down. The New Zealand Company alleged that certain cracks in the wall under which the fruit shanty nestled were due to the firedamages as above. The South British reI plied to the action by paying a frugal £69 into Court. That was their estimate. Two professional men swore the fire had injured the building to the extent of £3000, another gave from £1500 to £2000, another stood by £1500, and stood was ready to sink or swim by £2000, the Colonial Architect said £115 was enough, and Mr. Cowlishaw put the correct figures at £180. The jury had thus an ample scale varying from £115 to £3000, and they assessed the damages at the lowest amount. A correspondent writes to the Timaru Herald:— lt may interest some of your readers to learn that two mock suns were visible on Saturday afternoon last at 5. 15. There was a yellow haze extending from 15 deg. above the Hunters Hills, and as soon as the sun entered this he threw out two mock suns one on each side of him. This curious appearance lasted about a quarter of an hour, when the bright spots gradually faded away. A somewhat curious difference has occurred at Dunedin between the Bishop (Dr. Nevill) and the vestry of v§fc Matthews Church. With a■\ iew to raising funds for their new organ, the Vestry arranged for a I recital in the church, for which they issued tickets at 2s 6d each. Bishop Nevill expressed his strong disapproval of this course, as did also, Archdeacon Edwards, and even, it is stated, the incumbent of St. Matthews (the Rev. C. J. ByDg). The Vestry declined to accede to his Lordship's wishes, and the Bishop thereupon stated that he would not be present at the recital and would take no part in the services at the church on the following Sunday, as originally intended. At the last moment, however, the differences weae arranged, the Vestry agreeing to admit any parishioner presenting himself at the church, without ticket on payment if he demanded entrance. His Lordship was present at the meeting and formally opened the prgap.