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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8418, 18 January 1899, Page 3

From an English exchange: "Any houae where two old M'omeri are working ata waßhtub is called a 'factory' inthe New Zealand Acts." Ifc is nofc at all an unusual thing for horses, cattle, and pigs to be fed on good fruit in this district, upou apples, plums, and peaches, for there is no better means of getting rid of surplus stocks (says the Wairarapa Times). It was only this Aveek that an up-country settler told us of an apricot orchard where delicious fruit ivas literally rotting on the ground. The Hon. R. J. Seddon stated at the end of last session that as the backbone of Native Land Court Avork had been broken they could do with less Judges, aud accordingly two Judges were retired. Now, important Courts arc gazetted for the East Coast, Thames, Otorohanga, Taupo, and Greytown, to say nothing of Hastings. Besides the two Judges retired, Judge Butler is sitting as a Commissioner under the Urewera Native Beserve Act, and Judge Gudgeon lias been appointed British Resident at Raratonga. There are now seven Judges in the Colony, and most of the Court 8 gazetted are Appellate Courts. It is impossible, therefore for the present Judges to cope with the work: It is rumoured, however, that to meet the difficulty Mr Seddon intends retiring another Judge. — Hastings Standard. No section of raihvay in colony is so starved as the service between Napier and Wellington, says the Hawke's Bay Herald. The engines are not powerful enough to cope with the traffic, they are old, the carriages are, M'ith few exceptions, antiquated and uncomfortable, and the permanent Avay has been so neglected Bince the railways were taken over by the Government that the time-tables have had to be extended, because it is not safe to travel at a decent speed. Yet this section is the most profitable in the colony, and carries the most traffic in proportion to its length. No raihvay in the colony is so badly equipped as that between Wellington and Napier, on no lines are the trains so unpunctual, and on none are accidents so frequent. The Department is importing some neAV and powerful engines, but it is questionable Avhether the line would bear them, so that they are being sent to the South Island, and the cast-off engines from there are being brought up for our line. The traffic is seriously affected by this neglect.