Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6892, 13 June 1892, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

GISBOUNE, MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1802

THE KANAKA

News from Brisbane states that the Kanaka's boxes on thu brig Para, which was to sail with returned Islanders to the South Seas, were examined by the Custom's otricer. Two boxes were discovered to have false bottoms, and in one were found a riflo and rounds of ball cartridge, two flasks of gunpowder and' caps. In the other there were ammunition and whisky, all of which were confiscated, the export of arms, ammunition, and liquor to tho South Sea Islands being prohibited. This incident strengthens the argument of the missionaries against the colored labor traffic. They complain that the conduct of the returned islanders has a had effect on the morals and lives of members of their own race. The child of nature is not improved by contact with the white man when the two first meet together in the way of trade. In former years, the returned laborers were one of the greatest sources of trouble to the missionaries who were zealously working to elevate and instruct the islanders. Noble and self - sacrificing labors in the promotion of Christianity have been neutralized by the return of a number of Kanakas, after having served their time on the plantations, to th*nr native home. The incident of the rifle and ammunition being found in the boxes of islanders who were taking their departure from Queensland calls to mind one of the most destructive wars which occurred in New Zealand. Two great Maori chiefs visited England in 1820. One was the famous liongi. The dusky children from the distant South created quite a sensation in England. They were received by Royalty, and left the Old World loaded with presents. At that time, and for many a year afterwards, communication between Europe and New Zealand was by way of Sydney. When in the capital of New South Wales, Hongi sold all tho presents he had received in England, except a suit of armor which had been given him by George IV, and with tho proceeds he purchased three hundred muskets and ammunition, a fnct which shows that the presents must have been of considerable value. Hongi belonged to the Ngapuhi tribe, and on his reaching the Bay of Islands ho lost no time in instructing his tribe in the use of the weapons of civilisation. Hongi had, when in England, learned how to handle a gun. A hostile expedition set out. The Waikato tribes, after a gallant resistance, wore amongst the first to succumb. The war extended over a considerable portion of this island. Tho Ngatiporous on this const suffered heavily. The war did not cease until about two thousand lives were sacrificed. The experience of the war showed the tribes that their existence depended upon the possession of firearms. They hastened with all speed to equip themsolves with European weapons. Mr Gisborne, in his work "New Zealand," states that n few muskets purchased a small shipload of flax or a territory of ten thousand acres. It is calculated that about twenty thousand Maoris were slain in the eighteen years following the introduction of firearms There may bo little danger of a similar state of things occurring in tho South Sens from the introduction of firearms from Queensland, but judging from the restriction imposed on the importation, there is evidently some danger. The Queensland Government may bo trustod to minimise as much as possible the. evil effects of the traffic. As the subject is creating a good doal of interest both in the Home Country and throughout Australasia, it may be worth while publishing some of the most important of the new regulations in connection with the traffic. No person is to be permitted to proceed to the islands as a passenger in a licensed ship without the permifsion of tho Minister. Any door or other means of communication between the qunrtera for men and women which may be opened for convenience when in port, has to be kept locked or nailed up when the ship is nt sea, and when islanders of both sexes are on board. The scale of clothing and provisions has been altered, and is now on a more liberal character. The daily ration is as follows : — Beef or mutton, IMb ; bread or flour, 21b ; sugar, soz ; potatoes (or rice 6oz) 3 lb ; tea, £oz ; tobacco per week. Hoz ; salt per week, 2oz ; soap per week, 4oz. The yearly clothing allowance is as follows : — Males (each) : Four flannel shirts, four pairs trousers (moleskin or serge), two hats, one pair blankets. Females (each) : Four chemises, four wincey dresses, four flannel petticoats, two hats, one pair blankets, Ths meat allowance has been increased by half a pound, and the same addition has been made to tho bread and flour. The trousers for tho male laborers have been increased from 3 to 4 annually, and the hats from one to two. The women are to have four flannel petticoats instead of two and 2 hats instead on 1. All provisions and clothing are to be subject to the approval of the innpector. Blankets, except with the special permission of the Minister, are to be of not less than 61b weight. Tiansfers of tho services of laborers before the expiration of six months from the dnte of the arrival of the ship by which they were introduced will not be allowed without the special sanction of the Minister ; nor will transfers from an employer residing in 0110 district to an emp'nyer residing in another district be allowed without the like sanction. On expiration of the engagement of an islander his employer is to at once inform the inspector

of the fact and to state what arrangements he has made for the return of the islander to his native island, or for his re-en^age-ment, as the case may bo. The provisions as to the appointment of the conunitiee for the management of kanaka hospitals are the same as in the past.

Section 32 and 33, consisting of 32 perches each, at the corner of Whitmore street and Ormond road, Whataupoko, were submitted at auction by Major Pitt on Saturday, Mr J. Ollivier being the purchaser at £71. Mr J. Wairen, County Clerk, has received a notification from the Government that the loan of £2600 to the Okahuiatiu special district has been granted, subject to the papers in connection therewith being forvrarded to Wellington and approved. The City Rink was opened on Saturday night for skating under new management, and was well attended by both rinkists and spectators. Delightful music was discoursed, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The Rink will be open again to-morrow evening. James Ryan was arrested by Constable Norman on Saturday night on a charge of drunkenness in the bar of the Argyll hotel. He was admitted to bail, and receiving more drink on Sunday conducted himself in a disorderly manner in Gladstone road, Constable Brooking taking him into custody. For these offences the Magistrate this morning fined him 20s and 4s coats or three days imprisonment. A man named Peter Jensen, of the Motu, was brought to town this morning by Constable Farmer and placed in the dock at the Police Court. The charge against him was of stealing blankets and clothing valued at £4 of John Kcllar, also of Motu. Jensen pleaded guilty, and Sergt. -Major Moore stated that the articles had been recovered, and read extracts from the Police Gazette to show that Jensen had been in gaol before for drunkenness and larceny. The Magistrate ordered his imprisonment in Napier gaol for three months. The Weather : — Weather forecasts for 24 hours from 9 a.m. to-day : Wind between south and east and north-east at all places ; barometer further rise everywhere ; sea decreasing on west and moderate on eastern ooas's ; telegrams to expect frost have been j sent to all places. Synopsis of last 48 hours : A steadily rising barometer everywhere with strong westerly winds and generally colder weather.— R. A. Edwin. J Mr Robert Gourlay, representative for Mr Snazellc, the well known entertainer, reached Gisboruc yesterday to make arrangements for a season here. In order that Giaborne might not be left out, the Auckland dates have been postponed a week, and Mr Snazclle commences his season of music, song, and story here on Monday evening next. Yesterday morning by the s.s. Tarawera Mr T. Simms, well-known in aquatic circles in Gisborue, took his departure, his removal to Te Aroha having been ordered by the doctor. Mr Simms has been suffering from Bright's disease, and was in a very weak state, having to be carried about. A number of friends assembled at the wharf to bid him good-bye. The Turanganui footballers meet for practitfa this evening at the City Rink ; also, on Thursday after the general meeting. The time is now fast approaching for the annual match with. the Napier Pirates, and it behoves our local players to get into their best form. It must be remembered that they this year have to meet the first fifteen of the Pirate Club, and not the second as formerly. If the Turanganui Club can raise as good a fifteen as played against Gisborne the other week they will make a big struggle for victory on July 2nd. But this is considered improbable, as some of the players are doubtful about getting the necessary leave of absence. It is to be hoped that every endeavor will be made to send the best team possible, and make things even by scoring a victory. At the meeting of the Acclimatisation Society on Saturday, it was agreed to spend £2"y in obtaining a supply of rainbow trout, or in the event of rainbow trout not being obtainable £15 in English trout. Mr Smith stated that hawks were more plentiful now than for years past. They were walking off with bis turkeys If they had not spent money previously in destroying hawks, the district would have been overrun with them. Several other gentlemen expressed a similar opinion. It was proposed that a sum of £1 "> be allocated for the destruction of hawks, 6d per head to be paid, but an amendment waa carried on the motion ot Messrs Wethered and Trotter, that the £15 be spent in the introduction of hares. Considerable discussion arose over the proposal to introduce hares, it being stated that there would be much dissatisfaction in the country. A motion was carried that in future the duck shooting start on April Ist, and pheasant shooting on May Ist. A vote of thanki to the late secretary, Mr Grant, was carried. At a meeting of the Charitable Aid Boa 11 1 on Thursday it was stated that a man who had recently arrived from Australia, hail through the report of a local clergyman received assistance from the Board. We are informed by the person whom it was intended to relieve that the affair arose out of a misunderstanding ; that he never intended to come upon the Board for anything; and that when he learned how matters stood he returned the tickets which had been issued. Mr McKay, the Secretary of the Board, tells us that the orders have been returned, and that the institution has been put to no expense on account of the family. At the same time ha desires to state that the proffered help was in the shape of an advance, to be repaid when the head of the family obtained work, and was made in the usual way. Of course, the Board is not displeased at discovering that help is not needed. We have much pleasure in giving publicity to the facts, as the Australian immigrant seemed much grieved at the thought of his being looked upon as a burden on the community. Independence of that kind should be encouraged, though at the same time oi\e cannot prevent the sorrowful feeling that poverty in the eyes of some people should still be looked upon as a crime and injurious to a man's prospects. , It is creditable that our Board should be ready to relieve a stranger who was in need of help, though fortunately in this case it was not required from a public source. The experience of the barquentine Coquette, which arrived here at 3 yesterday afternoon from Newcastle, illustrates the perils of the sea. The Coquette has made a rather lenghty passage of 25 days, during which she encountered the recent terrific storm which' caused damage to the steamers Taupo aud Southern Cross. The barquentine, which is as good a seaboat as will be found in New Zealand waters, met with the full foroe of the gale and was considerably knocked about by the immense seas which did their best to overwhelm the vessel. Captain Brown, the master, states that during a long life spent at sea he never experienced heavier weather, and only once, when caught by a typhoon, in the China sea, was he ever in a gale of equal force. For three days the vessel was hove-to, and on Sunday sth was abreast of Cape Turnagain. The sea ran mountains high, and though the vessel showed exceptionally good seafaring qualities, the immense waves came aboard sweeping her decks fore and afe. Both the ship's uoats were pounded to fragments and washed away, the lee bulwarks stripped and the weather aide stove-in in many places. The sea came down with crashing force, filling the forecastle, and stove-in the top-gallant forecastle deck, and for four hours the vessel was under water unable to rise to meet the sea. This was a most anxious time for all on board, for' their fate depended entirely on the hatches holding tight. The pressure on these must have been very great, and if they had gone the ship surely must have succumbed to the. fury of the storm. It can easily be understood that it w is very dangerous to be on deck in such weather, but this danger was heightened by the topsail yard being carried away, and this swinging loose added greatly to the confusion on board. Nothing [ could be done to secure the yard until tho gale had moderated. Portland Island was sighted last Wednesday, and as the wind was northerly the Captain decided to bear away for Napier to obtain provisions, the beef cask having been washed overboard and all the water damaged by salt water. One of the crew was very ill from cold and exhaustion, but the Captain decided to bring him ou to Gisborne. The vessel obtained a supply of fresh water and provisions, and left again'ou Friday evening, reaching Gisbor >c as above. She has 218 tons of coa f Messrs Kennedy and Evans, and alter being lightered will come into the liver.

The annual football fixture between the Turanganui Club and the Napier Pirates will be played on Saturday, July '2nd. Mr Mceks received 34,327, and Mr Short 29,(511 votes, for the directorship of the A.M. P. Society. Over 1000 children have been made orphans by the disaster in the Berkenbergh mine, Austria. The new valuation rolls for the County of Hawke's Bay show an increase of £340,000 over those of 1889. The New Zealand athletes were to have made their first appearance in London at Tufnell Park on Saturday last. They visit Bradford on the 13th, ana Creweon the 25th. The Marton Mercury, a Liberal supporter of the Government, asks if it is not time Cabinet Ministers were prevented acting as own correspondents of newspapers. John Galvin was arrested by Constable Law in Peel-street last evening for making use of obscene language. Mr Booth, R.M., sent the offender to Napier gaol for six weeks. The Hawke's Bay Co-operative Association balance-sheet shows that the net profit for the year amounts to £1121 4s lOd, being 50 per cent, on the paid-up capital, aud this is available for distribution. Joseph Greenfield, an Oamaru publican, has been committed for trial at the sittings of the Supreme Court to be held at Timaru, for alleged rape on a girl fifteen years of age. Many men were drowned in the Oil City disaster because they would not desert their wives, whom they believed to be in danger. The list of fatalities in the oil districts has increased to 500. " The Napier Harbor Board Empowering and Loan Bill, 1892," was duly deposited last Monday in the Court, in accordance with the Standing Orders of the General Assembly. The Bill is to enable the Board to raise a further loan of £200,000, making an indebtedness of £500,000. The Times says that the aborigines in Northern Queensland have been treated like wild beasts, and it would be politic on the part of the Government of the colony not to provoke discussion. It believes it may be possible to use inferior races for the development of the country, and at the same time avoid settling them permanently on the soil. Impure water has been a potent cause of the sheep disease, says the Bay of Plenty Times. Evidence goes to show that the mortality is not due to any particular disease. , but to a variety of diseases and parasites, encouraged and rendered fatal in their attack by enfeebled condition, the result rather of the absence of the necessaries of healthy life than of the presence of matters injurious thereto. A Timaru telegram states : — At a large meeting called by the local branch of the New Zealand Alliance, resolutions were carried supporting the Rev. Mr Gillies in his controversy with the local press,, and strongly protesting against the granting of a license within the King Country, in opposition to the will of the Natives. The Dunedin Acclimatisation Society are greatly concerned about the disappearance of their stock of English salmon during the past year from the ponds, the number having decreased by one-half. Various causes have been suggested, but the matter is still a mystery The Council has decided to send Home in a frozen state a couple of pairs to secure a report from authorities as to whether they are really salmon. Here is an instance of the dire distress in Melbourne. A young married woman, who bore a good character, was prosecuted in Melbourne for stealing a watch, which she pawned to raise the means of buying food. She said her husband had been out of work for months, and she had had nothing to eat for days. The Bench released her on her father entering into recognisance that she be of good behaviour for twelve months. A little girl, the daughter of Mr Bregnan, of Aotea (N.S. W.), was playing with her brother near where a fire had been lighted in the bush to boil water, and the skirt of her cotton dress caught fire. When aid, called by her little brother, came, she was enveloped in flames, and her danger was heightened by her running wildly about. The unfortunate girl died next day from her injuries. The Hutt Park railway, which was severely damaged in the gale of three weeks ago, has received additional injury from the heavy southerly sea which prevailed in the harbor on Saturday week. The line for a quarter of a mile is in a most delapidated condition, the ballast and subsoil being washed away in patches varying from 10 to 50 yards long. Repairs will be carried on as quickly as possible. The damage is galling to the shareholders, who were about to have received a dividend, but the money in hand will now be needed for repairs. Mr Sievwright, when in Wellington, interviewed the Premier and the Public Trustee on the subject of the charges in connection with the unexpended balance of the Harbor Board funds. The result has been a reduction in the charges to about ono-hajf, effecting a saving to the ratepayers of between £70 and £80 a year. The finances of the Board have of late been improved to the extent of over £350 a year, the conversion of the fixed deposit of £59,000 into five per cent. Treasury bills ■ having increased the Board's revenue by nearly £300. Mr Booth, our Resident Magistrate, who is said to be over sixty years of age, has a very large district to travel over, aud is kept exceedingly busy. It is a wonder how a man of His Worship's years gets over the country and through the work. A fortnight or bo ago he travelled to Wairoa, via Napier, and then after a few days in Gisborne left for Awanui. Holding a Court there, he returned to Cisborne overland, holding Courts at Waipiro and Tolago. The overland journey is a very rough one. Mr Booth reached town on Saturday, and will be off again en Friday next for Waipiro, where he holds a sitting of the Native Land Court, lasting a fortnight. Besides the ordinary Resident Magistrate's Court civil and criminal work, His Worship is a Trust Commissioner, and and also has the functions of a Judge of the Native Land Court. His intimate knowledge of the Maori language and Native customs enables him to get through a great amount of Native work. From the above it will be seen that the local Resident Magistrate is not allowed to be idle. Complaints are made by members of the profession in Gisborne that Mr Booth is shifted away from the town so often, causing inconvenience to suitors and to people who are desiring to register conveyances. An act of great heroism on the part of a boy is reported from Springfield, Minnesota. Early one Monday morning fire broke out in a dwelling-house while the occupants, a family of seven persons, were asleep. Some passers-by, who noticed the names, broke into the house to rescue the inmates, but owing to the progress of the fire were only able to save one of them, a boy 14 years of age, whom they carried into the street. The lad, however, immediately inquired for his father and brothers and sisters, and on being told they were still iv the burning house he could not be deterred from attempting to save them. At great risk to himself he made his, way back through the smoke, and eventually discovered his father lying insensible, and already much scorched by the flames. The boy dragged his father out of the house, then returned to save the other inmates. He was, however, driven back by the flames, and five children who remained in the house were burned to death. As President of the New Zealand Alliance, Sir William Fox has addressed a letter to the Premier in reference to the proclamation creating a special licensing district of one acre of land in the King Country. Wi^h regard to the consent alleged to have been received from the Natives, he says :— " The Alliance is informed that no such consent has been expressed, nor request preferred, by the collective owners of the block in which the issue of licanses was prohibited in 1884, and I am instructed by the Council of the Alliance respectfully to request you to inform it who are the Natives who requested the revocation of the proclamation of 1884, and the creation of the one-acre licensing district referred to in the proclamation of April lust, and when, where, and how their consent was obtained, I will only add that the creation of the one-acre licensing district, and the granting of a license to a public house within the original limits, would practically mean the abolition of prohibition over all the rest of the original district, as it would become the centre of distribution over the whole of it,"