Poverty Bay Herald PUELISHED EVERY EVENING GIBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31,1887. THE CLOSING YEAR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 5056, 31 December 1887, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald PUELISHED EVERY EVENING GIBORNE, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31,1887. THE CLOSING YEAR.

The year which closes to-day has been an eventful one both for the colony and tho East Coast. A general election has taken place, and tho result bids fair to change the whole conduct of public affairs. The reign of extravagance has given way to economy, and men are now at the head of affairs in whom the public have complete confidence. The reform haa not been brought about by the commaudi'.g influence of a politician or set of politicians, but is the result of the verdict of the elections recorded at the ballot-box. The people themselves have decided the future policy of the colony, and history teaches that only by such means can lasting reforms be secured. In a democracy thj^ Government is only the reflex of ti?^ viewß of the people. The current of the national will is now flowing in, the right direction, and there is every reason to anticipate that prudence and economy will henceforth characterise the management of public affairs. Great will be the resul>s from an industrial standpoint. Owing to j past administration, the confidence of the investing public, both inside and outside the colony, had been completely lost. W« have most trustworthy authority for stating that in the large towns of the colony large sums were lying idle, the capitalists i fearing to invest in New Zealand property, not knowing wtiat the immediate future would bring forth. For the first three quarters of the year the ouUooU was mos: gloomy, and men were asking each other ! what would happen next 1 The result of I tho general election helped to lift the | colony out of the slough of despond. The accession of Major Atkinson and his colleagues to power was the outoomo^nd when it was seen that the new Ministry were in all probability likely to remain in office for the duration of the present Parliament, there wob & very pronounced feeling of reassurance. The policy of the Government was framed on stitearwanliko lines, and met with the approval of Parliament ana the country. It is not too much to say that public confidence ha 3 been restored. Only a few weeks have elapsed since Ministers gubmitted their policy to tho Legislature, and, consequently, there is not yet time for the practical results to appear on the surfneu ; but most assuredly with returning ontidence the depression will pass away, and the colony enter upoi, a period of solid piosperity. At the commencement of last session strom: hbpas were entertained in this district that reform would take place ii Native Land Administration, but tha anticipations of tho settlers have n A Loen realised. Still there is not long to wait.

Parliament will meet again in April, when in nit likelihood reform will be effected in a matter which more than any other affects the people of the Bay. The Government have promised to make full enquiry during the recess, and bring down a comprehensive measure next session. Perhaps, it is just as well that legislation <>ti th 1 subject has been deferred. Past experience proves that small amending Bills in nativo affairs have aco'Jinpliahod littlu good. The whole system i 3 so radically bad that it requires complete alteration, and if Ministers grapple with the matter boldly next session p oplo hen will forgive them for the few months' delay. Tin? best authorities- on the subject say that reform is easy of accomplishment, ani that it will be the simplest matter in the world to frame a measure which will both suit the interests of the Maoris and promote settlement. Let U3 trust that beforo long the Native Land question wiil be placed upon a satisfactory footing, and that the end of 1888 will witness marked progress in the settlement of the lands of the Bay. The soil is equal to any in New Zealand, and it is a colonial as well as a local loss to allow it to remain in its present unproductive state. It is almost needless to say anything upon the subject of Crown lands. Mr Richardson is one of the most enlightened and competent Ministers that has ever presided over this most important Department of Government, and is tolerably sure to adopt the right means to place the people upon the laud in every port of tha colony. He will shortly visit Poverty Bay, when he will see for himself the resources of the district. The necessities of the colony demand increased settlement, and consequent production, and no stone will be left unturned to place the people upon the land. The flow of oil at the South Pacific well has been the great local event of the year. The Company manfully stuck to the work, and every additional foot bored gave further assurance of success, till at laat the oil gushed out in full volume twenty five feet above tha top of the pipe. Circumstances have since conclusively proved that the flow was no temporary spurt to the surface caused through the escaping gas. The oil has remained in the pipe almost level with the surface since then. If there were not immense quantities of oil underneath, the fluid would have leaked from the pipe before now. There is, therefore, undoubted evidence that the well is a valuable one. Already arrangements have been made for sinking other wells, and probably a score will be flowing before the end of the incoming year. The Minerva Company is making rapid progress, and the manager is fully confident that he will tap the petroleum before three months have elapsed. The industry may be regarded as an assured success, and Bhould alone be sufficient to create a nrosoerity never before attained by thia district. The unexpected discovery of splendid building stone in the neighborhood of Gisborne Bhould have an important bearing on the future of the place. Of course it is not of anything like the same importance as the oil flow, but quarrying of the stone will probably give employment to a largo number of workmen, and in thia way the town will be greatly benefited by the development of this newest of our industries. It will also be highly advantageous to Gisborne to have an abundant supply of first-class building material close at hand ; and maybe before the close of 1838 the erection of handsome edifices in stone will be undertaken. However, ib is as an article of export that the output of the quarry will be most valuable. Seeing the scarcity of good building stone throughout the Australasian colonies, the Whataupoko quarry may be the means of bringing a considerable pum of money annually into the district. The rate of development of the industries of the Bay must largely depend upon the progress in construction and the ultimate euccesß of the breakwater. A Go vcrnmeut enquiry will sinnly be held into the practicability of the scheme. No one ► competent to judge fears the result of enquiry ; in fact, the supporters of the harbor scheme are highly gratified at the action of the Legislature in this respect. Meanwhile, the prosecution of the work will bo carried on vigorously. The amendments of the Council in the Harbor Bill were not intended to delay the work, or to inflict hardship and loss upon the settlers of the Bay. The Government enquiry will also include the resources of the district. The report of the Commission is certain to be printed, and the people of other parts of the colony and England will thus be afforded thoroughly reliable information as to the capabilities of this part of the East Coast for settlement. As to the state of basiness, both commercial and productive, in Poverty Bay during the past year, there are, as might be expected, very conflicting opinions. Each person is liable to form a general opinion from his own individual experience. Some have done well and some have done badly, as is always the case ; but there are good reasons for believing that during the past twelve mouths people here were as fully prosper us as their fol-low-coloimts elsewhere. Trade has been placed on a sounder footing, and during !h? last half year there have been aurpntsint>ly few bankruptcies, less probably than in any other district in proportion to population and number of people engaged in business. This is a remarkabiy good sign, for it shows that the shaky and unprincipled traders have been weeded out. Their absence from business life is a gain to all honest men. Altogether 1887 should be regarded as a satisfactory year by the settlers if the ♦Bay. They have suffered in common with the rest of the world through the low values obtained for the products of the soil. Let us hope for better prices, though it is just as well not to be too sanguine in this respect. However, there can he little doubt that as far as this districjtifl concerned there will be in 1888 an inimStasely increased production of articles for export.and thia will in a large measure make up for low prices. The Bay had never so bright a prospect, and with the earnest wish that no cloud will obscure the sky of the coming prosperity we accord to all our readers the customary greoting of " A Happy New Year." The Herald will not be published on Monday next. At the R,M. Court this morning a man named Thomas Scott, was fined 10s 0' 24 hours' imprisonment, on a charge of drunkenness. The publio are reminded that the Karaka Club's races will be held on the Waerengaa hika course ou Monday. A good programmes been provided, ahd judging from the class of horse* entered the sport should be excellent. The totaliiator will be worked by Messrs Barry and Cooper, who have given every satisfaction at previous meetings in running their maohine. Ths? Committee of the Church Fete desire to thank Messrs Tansley, Stevenson, and Little for conveying visitors to and from Te Hapara on Thursday last. The Cot mitte* also wish to acknowledge the valuable services rendered by the Garrison Band. Mr Piesse, the Returning Officer, was in attendence ?.fc the Borough Council Chambers at noon to day to receive nominations for the vacanoy caused by tha election of Cap* tain Tucker to the Mayoral chair, but no candidates were nominated, and the borough has been put to the expense of another election fixture. Considerable headway is being made in opening up Mr Gannon's quarry on the Whatanpoko. Two splendid eampjes of dressed atone were brought into town thia morning. Yeßterday a solid block of over fifteen feet in length, and containing about 200 cubic feet, was quarried and lifted out with wedges. In a few days' time a much larger block wiil be got out,

Owing to the strict nature of the Volunteer regulations, tho J Battery are unable to fire their usual saluto to-night (New Year's Eve). A Watchnight service will be held in the Wesleyan Church to-nitfht, commencing jat a quarter-past eleven. Tho rale of theSylva Virk yearlings takes p'acc <•■> Wednesday m-<\ so tho steamer whiuii 'awes to-morro-<r f ■:" Auckland will be tlu: l.nt opportunity i' -n- nitcn-iiuy buyerß to pru u'.v Ito the sale. The s ile of sections in N rth (Jisborne held by Mr Joyo this in"rn ; n;» \vi\r well attenilfil, bub the buMin^' noS lu.iuhiug tht upaet p- ice the sections weio iviihdrawn, and a:o now on sale piivateiy by the auction joy. The Court Journal s-ys : — " An American daily paper ia shortly to appear in London. It will be ' run ou American wheels" in every department, and expeeta to astoui9h U3." The editor of a newspaper that has adopted phonetic spelling in a measure, received a postal card from an old subscriber in the country, which reads as follows : — " I have tuk your paper of l«ven years, but if you kant spel enny bettor than you hey been doin 1 for the laa to mnnths you may jea stop it. The North Otago Times states that Messrs A. and T. Burt have completed the work of fitting up the refri^eratine; machine taken i from the ship Lyttelton, wrecked at Timaru, and a satisfactory run has been made. This will enable the New Zealand Refrigerating Company to store 11,000 carcases at Oamaru. George Macdonald, the novelist, poet, and preacher id a man of 63 yeara of age, though ! he does not look more than 40. He derives a handsome income from thirty volumes of novels and nine volumes of poetry. He receives an andual pension of £100 from the Queen's civil list as a compliment to his literary ability. A soiree and concert in aid of the Roman Catholio Building Fund will be held in | Bruce's Hall, Ormond, on Monday evening next. Tea will be-on the table at 6 o'clock, and afterward* tho concert will take place. There is expected to be a large attendance, as a number of townspeople have signified their intention of being present, and several of our beat local amateurs are to take part in the concert. According to the Lancet, a discovery has just been made of great importance to tho>e in the neighborhood of consumptive patients. Some flies that had been seen to enter opittoons containing the sputum of phthisical patients were caught and examined, whjn it waa found that they were full of tubercle bacilli. This indicates that the disease may be widely spread by this means. Mr D. Booth reports on the Bharerarket for the week ending 31st December : — Salea — South Pacific JCompany (contributing) 9a to 9d 6d, sellers 10s ; promoters 133 to 13s 6d, sellers 143 ; Minervas 2s 9d to 3s, sellers 3s 3d. On account of the holidays values have varied somewhat throughout the week, but there is every prospect that a firmer tone will be established during the incoming week. Dr Radcliffe Hall says :— " A young man should walk in the open air six miles every day ; a young wemau three or four. When still, we use 500 cubic inches cf air in a minute ; if we walk at the rate of ooe mile an hour, 800 ; two miles an hour, 1000 ; three miles an hour, 1600 ; four miles an hour, 2300 ; if we run at six miles an hour, 3000 ; trotting a horse, 1750 ; cantering, 1500." A young man named Hawkins, living at Islip, Long Island, New York, invited his mother on Oot. 30 to go out with him, and after they had reached a secluded spot deliberately beat her to death. The lady was an old and respectable resident of the place, and her son only 22 years old. The cause of the matricide was the opposition of the mother to her son's marrying a servant girl living in the family, The female employes in several of the large tailoring establishments in Auckland, have leased the premises used as wo»k rooms, and will carry on their work by contract. They will thus evade the Act, for there is nothing to prevent a female working as many hours as she likes on her own account This only shows the folly of passing such ridiculous Act-* as our sapient legislators are continually doing. How circumstances alter cases was instauced in Chambers in tho Supreme Court, says the Christchurch Press. One learned counsel was making an application iv a certain case, and the counsel on the other side, though bodily present, did not appear. Having made his application, the first counsel then proceeded to apply to his Honor to en« able him to take out a sum of money deposited for cost*. " Oh," exclaimed counsel No. 2, "I appear now." "Ah," retort. d counsel No. 1, " I knew how to draw you." Tableau. Some months ago the floors of many Austrian garrisons were painted with tar, and the results have proved so uniformly advantageous that the method is becoming greatly extendel in its application. The collection of dust in cracks is thus prevented, and a const qu :it diminution in irritative diseases of thu eye has beon noted, Cleanliness of the rooms has been greatly facilitated and parasites are almost completely excluded. The coating of tar is inexpensive, requires renewal but ono.e a year, and presents but one disadvantage — viz, its sombre color. Some idea of the extent to which mechanical ingenuity and efficiency have advanced may be obtained from the following statement : — lt i 3 now possible to construct a complete sewing maohine in a minute, or 60 in one hour ; a reaper every 15 minutes or leas; 300 watches a day, complete. in all their appointments. More important than this, even, is the fact that it is possible to construct a locomotive in a day. From the plans of the draughtsman to the execution of them by the workman, every wheel, lever, valve, and rod may be constructed, from the metal to the engine intact. Every rivet may he driven in the boiler, every tube in the tube sheets, and from the smoke stack to the ashpau a locomotive may be turned out in a working day completely equipped, ready to do the work of 100 horses.