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Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9099, 18 March 1901, Page 4

A movement is on foot to estblish a Maori hostelry at New Plymouth for the convenience of Natives going into town by the late trains, or to meet the early ■ trains and steamers. The Hawera Acclimatisation Society have taken steps for the introduction of 100 brace of English partridges and 100 brace of Virginian, quail. As Western Australia continues to surcharge a halfpenny on matter from New Zealand, it has been decided to fix the postage of that State for commercial and printed papers at Id for the first 4ozs. An offer has been made to construct an electric tram service from Upper Willis street, Wellington, through Brooklyn to Island Bay, for the sum of £530,000 and not to ask for any payment till ithe work is actually completed. Mr Kyrle Bellew and Mrs Brown Pot> ter are to visit Australia again. Under engagement to Mr George Musgrove, they will open m) Melbourne m April m "Sweet Nell of Old Drury," a play which has achieved! great success m England and America. The principals will be supported by an English company, and the repertoire will include several pieces entirely new to Australia. It was reported to the, police at Toorak (Victoria) recently that the house of an elderly widow named Pike, who lives a somewhat secluded life, had been broken into, and £2310 m money stolen. The moneyw as the' accumulated interest' on valuable properties which, instead of being banked, Mrs Pike chose to <. keen; m a hat box m her bedroom. She refuses to allow the police to make an investigation into the robbery, -saying, "God has been good to me all my life, and I have money" enough to live on still." Mankind' does not yet seem to be ready for the socialistic ideal to be put into practice, and the socialistic colony is often a thing of short existence and sometimes of unhappy ending. Only la.st week the Commonwealth Colony, which was founded m 1893 near Columbus. U.S.A., as a socialistic community, dime under the hammer, and the land went back into the hands of private owners. Its members are described as "of more than usual intelligence," and they starUd with considerable capital. Prosperity was theirs for a time, but soon came di* sensions, and then the end. The suggestion has been made timl while the general census is being taken. at the close of the present month, an effort should be made to ascertain the number of cycles m use m the colony. At a meeting held m Christ church a fewdays agQ. one speaker estimated the mini ber of cyclists iti Christchurch and ihv suburbs at 8000, which is probably below the mark. An Auckland dealer stated that there were about 3000 bicyclists m his city, and the statistical information was complete when a member of Parliament ventured to guess that there were 65,000 cyclists m New Zealand. Melbourne papers contain lengthy reports of a case m which £1000 damages was claimed as slander. A mining investor named Ford was the defendant, and the plaintiff was a housemaid named Constance Palmer, born m Dunedin. She went to Melbourne m 1897, because (according to her story m the witness box) her mother would not let her marry the man of her choice. She met Ford at the White Hart hotel, where she was m service, and, according to her statement, was seduced under promise of marriage. She served Ford with a writ for £1000 for a breach of promise of marriage. To the law clerk who served the writ Ford made allegations against the young woman's, character, whereupon she served him with another writ claiming £1000 for slander. The latter action came before the Cliief Justice, who m delivering judg- 1 ment said he found for the plaintiff, because the only defence on record had failed ; but though she was not that form of bad character, she still had a ■. character, upon which it would be duncult to cast any . lasting or damaging aspersion. He therefore assessed the damages at £5. Ho refused to give more than County Court costs.