Untitled

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8055, 2 November 1897, Page 2

The result, of the Melbourne Cup should reach us shortly after 6 o'clock this evening, and will be announced on receipt. The Borough Council meets at 7.30 this evening. The vital statistics for the month of October .ai-c : Births 22, Marriages 5, deaths 3. A private wire received in Gisborne last night stated that the locally-owned mare Taulici was cut about- the hocks and legs while being landed at Auckland. Unclaimed letters lie at the post ollice for the undermentioned persons : F. Arcns sent-., MissL. Brown, G. .T. Colvill, Mr Loarmoutli, Robert Noble, J. Wallace Price. The Committee of tho Harbor Board held a meeting last night to consider the Gisborne Freezing Company's lease. Nothing definite was decided on owing to there only being five members present, and another meeting will be held at 2 o'clock on Thursday afternoon. A concert in aid of the Catholic Church funds will be held in the Makauri schoolroom on Friday evening. An excellent programme of songs and recitations has been arranged, nud there is every reason lo expect a full house on the occasion. The concert will be followed by a dance, and for the convenience of townspeople a brake will leave Mr McKcnzie's stables at 7 o'clock .shacp, returning to town immediately after the dance. Refreshments will be provided, and a very pleasant night's amusement may be anticipated. « The fatality at Wyudlnun last week was a particularly sad one. Mr Alex. Mitchell, a young man newly married, was crossing a swollen river on horseback in front of a four horse waggon driven by one of his employes. Mr Mitchell had actually readied the other side safely when lie noticed the team in diflicultics and put back to their aid, but in doing so missed the ford and ho and his pony were washed down the stream and drowned. The driver of the waggon stuck to his horses until they all succumbed, and tlieu swam ashore and conveyed the terrible news to Mitchell's wife. The Wellington branch of vhe New Zealand Natives' Association has obtained the "special" permission of the Colonial Secretary to hold an art union in connection with its annual sports carnival. Among the prizes are a piano valued at £110, and four bicycles valued at from £27 to X'3l, and the committee guarantee lo find purchasers at these amounts subject, to a commission of 15 per cent. Very like offering straight out money prizes. A case under the Stock Act was called on before Mr J. Booth, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court this morning. Hemi Porou, of Whareongaonga, was proceeded against by Mr Campbell Thomson, Stock Inspector, for failing to dip his sheep from Ist February to 30th April, without having obtained an extension of time from the Inspector ; and j also with having falsified a return, as follows, that he did on the 30th April certify that on the 23rd April he did dip ISO sheep, whereas he did not dip the said sheep as aforcasid. Mr Nolan appeared for the Inspector of Stock, and Mr Jones for the defendant. As Eiimc material witnesses for the defence were not in attendance, the case was adjourned for a fortnight to enable them tv be present.

At a meeting of the directors of the Building Society, held- last evening, it was decided, to conserve the business of the Societv, t<> reduce the rate of interest to borrowers from seven to six per cent, per annum. This action, whilst encouraging those who at the present time are borrowers from the Society, should also lend to induce those who may require assistance in obtaining homes of their own to avail themselves of the benefits derivable from the easy terms of repayment which the Building Society all'ords. New Zealand owes a good deal to institutions of this class, as through their aid a class of thrifty settlers has beenestablished who have made, or are making, homes of their own, and thus gained a stake in the country which, without such assistance, would have been beyond their reach.

The monthly meeting of tho Kaiti Road Board was held this morning. Present: Messrs Harris (Chairman), Matthewson, Harper, and Bull. The Town Clerk wrote stating that the Borough Council were prepared to accept the oiler of the Board to remove fever stools from the Board's district for £7 10s per annum, and they would undertake the work for one year commencing October Ist, payment lobe made half-yearly on Ist January and Ist July. — Tho Chairman said that was not half-yearly. The Board would be willing to pay half-yearly. Mi- Matthewsoii brought up the question of the upper end of DeLautour road drain, which ho waid required cleaning out, and thin was the proper limo to do it. — It was decided to call for tenders for the work. — Mr Matthewsoii also referred to the nuisance caused by cattle straying on the district toads. Ho thought the Board should take some notice of it. — The Chairman : We threaten bub we do nothing. —lt was decided that the ranger's attention be called to the matter.

All effort is being made to establish public abattoirs at Palmerston North, Two doaf and dumb men were convicted of drunkenness in the Dunedin Police Court the oilier day. A man named O'Neill was fined 5s and £1 10s costs at Hastings the other day for slapping another man in the face, "just for a joke." A dear joke that. One of the new members of the Legislative Council not so long ago wrote in his paper — he is a newspaper man down South— that the Upper House was " the receptacle of frowsy nondescript political puppets." i The life of a sailor is becoming every year safer with the improvement in the construction of vessels. Twelve years ago one sailor iii every 100 who went to sea lost his life ; now only one in 256 is lost. The following icmiirk concerning the employers concerned in the engineers' strike, made by him in addressing a meeting at Christchuroh, shows what sort of a firebrand Ben Tillctt is: "He would, ask if these callous, cruel, hellish hounds were to be their masters ':" The Auckland proposal to borrow £150,000 for the carrying out of certain works in the city having been discussed in the Council, it was decided to refer the subject of water supply to the Waterworks Committee, and that of drainage to the Streets Committee to report. All other works proposed by the Finance Committee and characterised as " luxuries" were struck out. In a case County Council v. the Bank of New Zealand Estates Co., an action for rates on Tawapata South, heard at Wairoa last week. Mr Shaw (County Clerk) appeared for the Council, and Mr DeLautour for the defendant company. Plaintiff maintained that tlie roll and rate-book were conclusive evidence. Air DeLautour contended that the defendants should only pay half rates, as the land was Native land, though managed by a company of Europeans. Judgment was lcservcd. The ci-ime of sheep-stealing is (the Clutha Leader says) still carried on with a great measure of impunity, chiefly owing tj the difficulty of the identification of the sheep. Sheep change hands so often and have so many different brands and marks upon them that it seems a difficult matter to prove the ownership of a few hundred where some thousands are dealt with. For the past year or two Messrs Begg Bros, have had stolen off their turnips a hundred or two of sheep, but this year topped the list, for no less than 450 were annexed by some person or persons unknown. These sheep were lit for freezing, worth )5s or 10s apiece, and have no doubt by this time found their way to the London market. A settler at Manuka Creek also lost 100 sheep. In both cases the most diligent search on the part of the police and others did not result in the discovery of anything sufficiently conclusive for tlie issue of a warrant.

The Brunner News learns of a bare-faced and atrocious robbery in connection with subscriptions raised for the Brunner relief fund. A large sum was raised in Beaconsfield (Tasmania), but, the amount was never forwarded, the secretary clearing out and forgetting to forwaid the amount. H is understood that other moneys were missed in this way, which led thu miners to make inquiries, and on discovering that amounts subscribed for the bcrcavefil in Brunner were nuver sent they thoughtfully raised more funds, and forwarded the same to the mayor (Mr Ward), to be devoted to the erection of a monument, the Public Trustee having closed the relief fund. Mr Reakcs, Government Veterinary Surgeon, in a lecture before the Farmers' Club at New Plymouth, said he had seen beasts in such a condition that he wondered the owners could display such a want of humanity or lack of common sense by letting them continue to live. He also commented on the manner in which some settlers halfstarve their cattle in the winter, remarking that there was no excuse for such neglect in such a country as New Zealand. Here' it was possible to grow almost anything with very little trouble. He had several times felt tempted to prosecute some owners for their neglect in this respect. Fifty miles of idle rail way running through 000,000 acres of unoccupied Crown Lands ! Thus the New Zealand Herald, and our contemporary proceeds to point out how this railway into the King Country has been, much of it, in running order for a number of years, the rails rusting for>ant of use, the sleepers decaying as rapidly as if they had borne a brisk trallic, and "the trucks and rolling stock rotting in the sidings. Little wonder is it that so much difficulty is found in making our railways pay interest on the cost of construction, when such a state of things as this is allowed. Here is a capital outlay of some £350,000 lying absolutely idle, to say nothing of the cost of the land through which the line runs. Perhaps, it may be said, to make use of the line would make the annual loss the greater. If so, then there is all the less cause to wonder at our railways not paying belter when in the past sncli a length of line has been constructed for no purpose, save perhaps a political one. But there arc those 600,000 acres of Crown lands, which, whether good, bad, or indifferent, are surely worth making | some use of, and to which, we are told, the Government can get a proper title whenever it chooses to ask the Native Land Court to locate its interests. The land is paid for, and, as the saying is, is eating its head off, therefore the soouer something is done to turn it to account the better.

A great Methodist Parliament is to be held in Auckland next week, where the General Conference of the Australasian Wesleyan Church meets. There will be 112 representatives, elected by the five annual conferences, Ihe i>roportioiis being as follows: New South Wales 34, Victoria and Tasmania 36, South Australia 18, Queensland 10, New Zealand 24. The representatives include an equal number of Ministers and laymen. On the opening day, November 10, after an address of review by the retiring president, the Rev. W. Morley, the new president, who it is thought will be the Rev. H. T Burgos, of Adelaide, will be elected. On November 12 speakers will describe the "forward movement" work that is being done in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. The City Hall lias been secured for two Sunday afternoon services, to be addressed by some of the ablest speakers of the Conference, the second Sunday afternoon being devoted to temperance, when tiie strong convictions of the Methodist Church on this subject will be voiced. There will also be a foreign mission meeting, at which the good work that is being done by the church in the islands of the Pacific will be described. United choirs have been preparing for some time past for the Conference meetings, and the oratorio " KJijah " will be performed in connection therewith on November 17. Over 100 of the Australian visitors arrive in Auckland by the Mararoa next Monday. The importance of the Conference is shown by the following returns : Churches 2921, other preaching places 2101, colleges 11, schoolrooms 404, ministers and probationers 667, local preachers 5396, class leaders G899, church members 91,16'?, on trial for [membership 8357, catechumens 17,021, Sabbath schools 3192, teachers 18,730, scholars 192,832, Bands of Hope 569, members 42,122, nUen. hints oil public worship 486,320.