Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7546, 29 January 1896, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

GISBOBNB, WEDNESDAY, JANUAEY 29, 189 G. The Royal Burlesque Gaiety Company, of 50 performers, opens in Auckland to-night. The locally-owned racehorse Disturbance ran second in the Handicap Hurdle Race at Takapuna (Auckland) this afternoon. Mr Frank Arthur dislocated his arm whilst swimming yesterday. The telephone office at Makaraka has been closed for a few weeks owing to the absence of the telephonist. The s.a. Rangatira will leave Auckland on Saturday, calling here on Sunday, when she will ship 4,000 sheep, 400 bales wool, and 40 casks tallow from the Gisborne Freezing Works. Mr C. A. Foote, of Waerenga-a-hika, showed us a sample of wheat grown by him, which was very largo and firm. He states that he has two acres under crop, and estimates the yield at 40 bushels to the acre. Percy Crawford, a son of Mr W. F. Crawford, met with an accident at Mr Reynolds' station, Tolago Bay. Whilst jumping a horse ovor a fence ho was thrown off, and the shaking he received brought on an attack of an old complaint. Dr Inncs left town last evening to attend to the young sufferer. Mr J. M. Arundel, of Mangapapa, informs ua that last Sunday, before Mr Wethered's reported discovery was made, his son, aged twelve, told him that ho had seen a rabbit on his property. The lad, who is well acquainted with rabbits, is positivo that it was not a hare. Mr E. W. Wells, of Patutabi Valley, had tho misfortune to loso three fine stacks of ryegrass this morning. The grass had been stacked, and the men bad just finished thatching the stacks when the fire broke out. Fully 900 bushels of seed were destroyed in the fire. The Htacks were insured with the Now Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company for about £100, and Mr Wells' loss will be about £150 above that amount. A ten-roomed house owned by Mr James Macfarlaue, on his property at Broadlands, Tolago Bay, was destroyed by fire at four o'clock on Thursday morning last. Thero was a fierce gale blowing at the time, and the occupants had little chance of escaping with more than their lives. Air Maefarlane's children, who were living there at the time, lost all their clothing, and the whole of the furniture on the premises was destroyed. The house was insured for £200 in the Liverpool, London and Globe Office. Townspeople ahould be extremely grateful to Messrs Barker and W. F. Crawford for their generosity in supplying water free of charge at tlii3 time of water famine. Had the surplus water from the brewery main not been available it is hard to say how the town would havo fared, for from other sources water would have been both difficult and expensive to obtain. The carters have been kept very busy during the past few days in carting water to replenish the thirsty tanks, and from early morning till dark there has been a call on tho brewery supply. Somo of the Whataupoko settlers have also been supplied from a spring on Mr Lincoln Rees' property. There was a good deal of truth in a remark passed by Cr Nasmith at the meeting of the Borough Council last evening, that a fall of rain after a long opcll of dry weather is somewhat to be feared as likely to bring epidemics about. Townspeople should take advantage of the fine weather to get their back yards and the grounds surrounding their dwellings in as good a sanitary order 'as possible. There is no doubt that much of tho fever, diphtheria, and other sicknesses aro caused by the careless manner in which waste water and refuse from the dwellings is disposed of. Rain falling on the refuse polluted earth will breed disease germs innumerable. The residence of Mr I. C. Taylor, North Gißborne, was destroyed by fire at about 5 o'clock this morning. It appears that Mr Taylor's son, rising early, lighted a small methylated spirit lamp and went to his work. Soon afterwards the house was observed to bo on fire, and was quickly consumed, there being no time to save more than a fow articles of furniture. The fire, Mr Taylor states, was nob unused by the spirit lamp, but started somewhere about the kitchen fireplace. The kitchen fire had not been lit, aud be is at a loss to account for tho origin of tho outbreak. Mr Taylor's house wns insured for £180 and bis furniture for £100 in the London, Liverpool, and Globe. Somo day in the not vciy distant future the local bodivu will liuvu to coii.sidur the necessity of renewing r>r ntiengtlu'iiiug tin: Whataupoko Bridge. The. slrnuliiio luis ti> beur a largo and grenl.ly inerradng vo'um« of traffic, nnd wbrn hi-avy lo.ulo |msr uvci it, ' shakes considerably. 'The biitlgc i.-i lumlly wide enough for the rcquit'cmenls ul Liupublic, and eveiy day blocks oemir in consequence. Stwk-di'ivci'H os|H;i'ially experience difficulty itigeUing thi'ir mobs of sheep across the bridge, as people continually passing cause the stupid animals to turn timid and stubborn. Some horsemen, too, arc so inconsiderate that when a drover has a Hook nicely running on tho bridge tliey will force their way through it. The result ia that the sheep break back, and the drover has endless trouble in getting them again on the structure. Yesterday, at midday, some men with a mob of sheep were stuck for a long time, the animals breaking away down to the mudflats and getting into the river. Ai;ain, in the evening, another mob jibbed at the bridge for nearly two hours, continually breaking away.

The Maoris prophesy that thore will bo no rain till April. The Auckland Harbor Board have referred to their Works Committee an offer on behalf of Crompton and Co., Ltd., London, to install the electric; light on Queen street wharf. Messrs Huddart, Parker and Co. have been served with a writ for £1500, claimed as damages by a lumper named J. G. Cassell for injuries sustained by him when working on board the s.s. Anglian at Auckland. Cassell is lying in Auckland hospital. On page two will be found a new "Cleanser" soap advertisement calling attention to the superior qualifications this soap has for washing in hard or brackish water. During this dry season, and owing to tho scarcity of soft water, tho "Cleanser" should be invaluable in all households. At Waipiro the dearth of water is so great that for the use of the hotel and residences they have to bring the water iv boats fiom a creek five or six miles from the township. Many of the creeks along the Coast have dried up, and the district presents a thoroughly burned up appearance, for not only has the sun parched everything, but bush and grass fires have ravaged the whole face of the country on the seaboard. These are the ethics of Mr " Sydenham " Taylor, a candidate for the Christchurch seat : — " Well, any young New Zealaoder who could go Home and take-in those financial swindlers the way he has done and cheat the English money lenders, was — well, he was a credit to the colony !" This is a form of commendation for which Mr Ward, we fear, will not feel as grateful as he ought. Christchurch " Liberals " apparently resent Mr Reeves going Home as AgentGeneral. At an election meeting this remark of a Government candidate was loudly applauded. For a man who professed to be sincere in his labor measures as Mr Reeves did, for him to desert them as he had done and then to go away without saying good-bye to his friends, was not the kind of treatment they expected from a man who had professed friendship so strongly. A very successful meeting was held in the Ormond Presbyterian Church on Monday evening, under the auspices of the Waiapu Prohibition League. Rev. R. M. Ryburn and Mr E. G. A. Reynolds formed a deputation from Gisborne to lay before the meeting the advisability of forming a branch of the league at Ormond. Afber the objects of the league had been explained, the meeting heartily and unanimously decided to form a branch, and a large and influential committee was appointed to give effect to the resolution. To-morrow being a half-holiday, there should be a large attendance at the garden f«te. There is a good racing track in the centre of the grounds, and anyone wishing to watch the races can do so in tho shade of the trees planted round it, the grounds being well supplied with that necessary article at' this time of the year. The art gallery and curio show will be held in a room placed at the disposal of the committee, and under the management of Messrs W. F. Crawford and Stubbs is sure to be a success. At a meeting of the shareholders of the Consolidated goldfields of South Africa Company, held in London recently, at which L 2,500,000 was paid as a dividend for two years to come, the Chairman of the Company (Mr Rucld) said no one could realize what Johannesburg was coming to. People talked about the growth of American towns, but how could they compare with Johannesburg ? It stood in the middle of a mining country, which, within the next fifty years, would produce L 1,600,000,000 sterling. Could any city in the world rival it ?