TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14883, 10 April 1919, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

An English mail, consisting of 450 bags, arrived at Auckland unexpectedly by the Westmoreland from . Liverpool on Sunday.

The general Synod of the Church of England m New Zealand meets m Napier at the end of the month. A civic reception will be accorded the delegates.

Sub-Superintendent Dew, of the Gisborne police district, is at present relieving Superintendent J. McGrath at Napier, whilst the latter is engaged on the Police Commission. The Public Service will not observe a holiday on St. George's Day, April 23. The celebration has been postponed by Order-in-Council until April 25 — Anzac Day — which falls on the Friday following Easter. The position m regard to the disposal of this season's wheat is reported to l%ave reached an acute stage, states advice from Ashburton, and it is estimated that there are 60,000 sacks awaiting delivery, with iio apparent outlet.

A Tribune reporter asked Sir James Allen why the Hawse's Bay portion of the Maori contingent which arrived by the Westmoreland did not come on to Napier. The acting-Premier replied that the Hon. Ngata and Sir James Carroll had "pulled the strings" sufficiently to have the whole proceedings take place at Gisborne. A vote of the Maoris was also taken and they decided unanimously that the full reception should take place at Gisborne, and that the returned men would leave for their various destinations via Rotorua and Wairoa.

His Worship the Mayor of Napier, (Mr. H. Hill) interviewed Sir James Allen, m. regard to getting a. subsidy from the Government for the purpose of entertaining the Maoris at the peace celebrations. The acting-Premier promised to lay the matter before his colleagues, and will notify the Mayor as soon as possible. Sir James also expressed the opinion that he did not think the celebrations would be very spontaneous, as the people were a little cold over the matter, and the same enthusiasm would not be displayed as on the occasion of the signing of the armistice.

The auxiliary schooner Fairburn, of 75 tons, under the command of Captain Brown, had a narrow escape from serious damage at the harbor entrance about noon to-day. The vessel had completed discharge of cement, and sailed at noon for Auckland. When near the entrance the propeller fouled, a piece of rope, and the vessel facing, a southerly wind, and being practically m ballast, was helpless and was lifted on to the sand bank at the entrance. In answer to a signal for assistance the Tiroa (Sheepfarmers' Company's tug) proceeded to the vessel and then towed her back to port, where it was found that some of the sheathing had been torn off, and the vessel was making water, but not to any serious extent. The buffer line had been ripped, off and the railing smashed, m addition to other damage.

Apart from the arrangements made for taking moving pictures of the historical Maori hui at the Park racecourse, Gisborne should obtain a good "boost" as a result of the visit of the cinema experts, Messrs. Mence and J. Zachariah. To-day photographic records were secured m town, whilst polling operations were m progress, and thanks to the chairman of the Harbor Board, Mr. F. J. Lysnar, the 'Board's launch was placed at their disposal m order to obtain cinema pictures of the picturesque Waimata river. Photos were also secured of the scow Fairburn m difficulties at the end of the breakwater on the Kaiti side. Yesterday a film was secured depicting the unveiling of the Wi Pere memorial by the Hon. Sir James Carroll. It is anticipated that the pictures will be on the screen locally m about a fortnight.

A Wellington writes: — The bookmakers are driving such a flourishing business m Wellington and, indeed, all over the country without attracting any serious attention from the authorities that it is not very surprising the recent police descent upon the pak-a-poo houses is provoking a good deal of merriment and some indignation. "Why is this activity directed against the Chinese?" one of the local papers asks. "Why are not worse offenders dragged before the Court? Why are bookmakers allowed to practise their calling with impunity and prey on the public?" The whole business certainly is a little incongruous. People who have played pak-a-poo say it is not easy to lose half-a-crown at "the game m an hour, but many a patron of the bookmakers loses £5 or £10, or even more, to these gentlemen m two minutes.

When out on a deer stalking expedition, among the mountains, a few mornings ago, some Hastings deer stalkei'B are reported to have made a. bag of which any party of guns might well be proud. Arising m the early hours, amid the grey mists, they saw the dim outline of a lordly stag against the sky, and a sure shot lay the noble beast low. Fearing the deadly attacks of these sturdy brutes when m their death extremity, the sportsmen took the very proper precaution of protecting themselves from his savagery by lodging a coup de grace m his still heaving side. Then they 'cautiously approached the quivering carcase— only to find that they had slaughtered their hired, but faithful packhorse, who had so loyally carried their impedimenta through their journey to the hills. Hie sports are more or less silent about their exploit, but the owner of the packhorse is said to have imposed no lock upon his lips.

The Nelson Colonist remarks: In spite of all that has been said and written, there are some people who believe that sharks of large* size will not come into shallow water. Some visitors to the Maori pa on Wednesday witnessed a scene which proved to them that, provided the shark is sufficiently ravenous, shallow water will not .deter him from pursuit of his prey. Some fishermen left a very large stingaree on the beach below high-water mark. As soon as the tide .made sufficiently io bring the gtringaree awash, a 10-foot shark dashed mto snatch a meal. So shallow was the water than fully half the body of the shark, was out of the water. In fact, for a few seconds he was. actually stranded, but the next roller floated him off. The sliark tore the stingaree into ribbons and devoured it. He had a big tussle with the head, and one of the onlookei-s stoned him off, but he did not go away more than 50 yards, and then dashed back and finished his hundredweight meal. An interesting arid hitherto unpublished; incident m connection with the late Wi Pere was related to a Herald representative last evening by" the Hon. Sir James Carroll. At the outbreak of war strong representations were made to the Government respecting the services of a Maori contingent, to which, however, the authorities were somewhat indifferent. A deputation, comprising Lady Carroll, the Hon. A. T. Ngata, Wi Pere, Te Hen Heu, and himself, waited upon the -Defence Minister at Wellington when it was proposed to accept 260 Maoris for garrison duty at Samoa. Wi Pere, however, was highly indignant, and strenuously urged the acceptance of 2000 Maori soldiers. As to their services being utilised at Samoa, he would not entertain the idea, of their being sent there to "eat bananas." If the Maori soldiers were to go, they were to leave as a fighting force to face the enemies .of the King. Ultimately, by way of compromise, the * Government agreed to accept 500 Maoris, and afterwards, when the call came for "men and still more men," the late Wi Pcre. 'with others, organised a recruiting campaign, which Hoourerl reinforcements for the Maori contingent. ! A sal© of moat will be conducted at ilip hui at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday. ' A meeting of players and intending membe.wi of the Allies' Hockey Club is Convened for 7 p.m. on Friday. ' Members of the Druids' Lodge are notified that the usual fortnightly meeting, to 'have been held to-night, has been postponed until to-morrow night.